Wednesday Weigh-in: Ups and Ups

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As expected, last week’s dip was not reflective of general trend.  Or, with all the snow we’ve had lately, I haven’t gotten outside to run as much.  I’ve been using the elliptical I have at home, but could tell that was not as effective.

I finally caved this past weekend and drove all the way to OSU to use the fancy gym (“RPAC”) to which I thought I was a member, only to find out that my membership was supposedly stopped in July.  Kids at the front desk (okay, technically adults, but college students look like kids to me) told me there was some error, clicked some buttons on the computer, and I should be good to go.  So, I went in and ran on the 1/8 mile indoor track.  I had dressed for cold, but it was so warm I thought I would pass out.  I averaged 11:54/mile, and was bummed since I was averaging 11:15 in November.

Yesterday, it was snowing, so I went back to to the RPAC and once again — no dice.  I was having a low blood sugar moment and nearly had a melt down when the kid swiped my card, waved me through, and then I crashed to a halt at the turnstyle.  It hurt.  I was annoyed and embarrassed.  The kids at the front desk tell me this time that the membership was a yearly renewal, so my membership really was cancelled.  They offered to put me on a monthly membership, but I thought, “If I haven’t come here since July is this worth my money?”  I also thought, “My thigh hurts from banging into that turnstyle.  I had to park 1/4 mile away and walk here through the snow. I’m hungry.  This blows.”  So I said I’d need to think about it with as much grace as I could muster (which was about this much ) and left.

Today was sunny and snow free, so I ran a 5K outside.  I averaged 11:21/mile for the run, with 11:10s on the second and third mile.  Go me!  I like being out doors so much more than running inside.

Columbus Weather

27°F
Feels like 16°

Cloudy

It’s below freezing, and though I didn’t feel like taking off my hat, I enjoyed the run.  We’ve even been getting bursts of sun.

Oh, yes, here’s the weigh-in:

December 18 2013 weigh in

 

Beer Bracket Round One – Akron Showdown

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It’s time for the third regional of our Winter beer competition, with an Akron face-off!  Which animal – dogs or frogs – will advance to the next round?

12 Dogs of Christmas vs. Frosted Frog

12 Dogs vs. Frosted Frog

Pours a darkish copper with a medium, white head.  Clear.
Ginger comes through strong on the nose, with some Christmas spices in back.
Very gingery taste as well, with stronger spices—cinnamon, nutmeg, maybe honey?  Not quite as good a mix as the nose, in [Josh’s] opinion.  Balanced malt, with a moderately dry finish.
Moderately warming.  Smooth.  It’s 8.3%, but drinks like a 7, tops.
A really nice Christmas ale.
J: 8/10 E: 9/10
Deep, dark, reddish copper.  Thin, off-white head.  Clear.
Huge spice nose.  Cinnamon stands out, with ginger, nutmeg, and clove hanging around as well.
Similar taste.  Cinnamon throughout, but particularly on the finish.  The spices are more balanced here than in the nose.  Behind the spice, sort of an Oktoberfest feel—malty and rich.  Overall, the beer falls a bit on the sweet side, but not overly so.  The spicing is too strong for Josh’s taste.  Erin likes it a lot, though, but says a snifter’s worth would be enough.
Definitely warming.  You can tell this one is a high-alcohol beer (8.6%).  One for sharing; the 22-oz. bottle this came in is far too much to drink by oneself.
Great smell, but a bit overwhelming.  Taken back a few notches, this would be a wonderful beer.
J: 7/10 E: 8.5/10
Our winner: 12 Dogs with an overall score of 17 to Hoppin’ Frog’s 15.5. 

I liked the Frosted Frog much more than Josh, but it must be meant for sharing.  I can see it being a fun pick to bring to a holiday party.

Fermentation Friday: Round One Distant Shores Bracket

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Round One: Distant Shores Bracket

Round One: Distant Shores Bracket

This ended up being an unfair match-up since it turned out Josh had picked up a 2011-2012 Samuel Smith’s Winter Welcome.  The ale held up well for a 2 year old, 6% alcohol, beer, and if Josh hadn’t been pulling so hard for its competitor, Anchor Steam’s Christmas Ale, it might have advanced.  We’re considering a rematch with the current batch of the Winter Welcome.

This round’s winner: Anchor Brewing, Our Special Ale 2013 with 16/20 points. 

Anchor Brewing, San Francisco, CA – Our Special Ale 2013 (Christmas Ale)

Dark brown in color with some reddish tones and a largish, khaki-colored head.  Nice lacing.

Great spicy smell: a mix of anise, clove, cinnamon, juniper, and others.  Smells almost like burnt sugar, but in a good way.  Quite strong, but not overpowering.  [Erin’s Note:  I found the nose a off putting at first, though I became used to.  I probably liked the aroma less over time, but that may have been partly in comparison to the much mellower Winter Warmer.]

The spice tones down on the taste, letting some dark maltiness through.  Dry finish.  Very nice.

Medium body, medium carbonation.  A touch of spice astringency on the finish.  Very drinkable from sip to sip, though definitely a palate-killer and maybe not something to have multiple pints of. [Erin’s Note: Half a glass was enough for me, but Josh is hoping to find this in one of the larger format bottles for the family Christmas gathering.]

Really good spiced Christmas beer.  My favorite of the Anchor vintages I recall.

J: 9/10.  E: 7/10.

Samuel Smith, Tadcaster, UK – Winter Welcome Ale 2011-2012

Light copper in color.  Very clear.  Medium-sized white head.

Smells strongly of malt–bready, mostly–with some earthy hops.  No spice, as far as I can tell.  A bit of butterscotch comes out as the beer warms.

Malty taste as well.  A bit sweet up front, with some light fruity tones, though the beer seems to get drier as it warms.  Dries out somewhat, but not completely, on the finish.

Medium body and medium carbonation.  No astringency.  Quite drinkable.

A nice winter warmer, but unfortunately the lack of spice doesn’t really fit with our theme here.  I wish it had either more malt or less sweetness; as it is, it kind of fits between two beers that I wish it was.  It feels very British in that way: not going far enough, out of a worry of offending.  (Barleywines notwithstanding.)  All in all, it’s good, but doesn’t do much to stand out.

J: 7/10.  E: 7/10.

[Erin’s Note:  One Brit who doesn’t seem worried about offending – Stephen Fry, who is in the new Hobbit movie, sporting a most theatrical comb-over.]

Stephen Fry as the Master of Laketown. It’s been 20 years since I read the Hobbit, so pretty much all I remember is Gandalf, Dwarves, Bilbo, Eagles.

 

Wednesday Weigh-in: Maybe a Fluke?

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My numbers this week seem a bit off given my intake and activity levels.  I suspect some water loss may be playing into this week’s weigh-in.  My scale says I’m down 1.6 lbs from last week and almost a full percentage of body fat.  Now, I’ve been following my Novice 5K plan and did the 30 Day Shred Level One on Monday (rest day from running), but I don’t think 20 minutes of aerobics with some weights is going to move the scale that fast!

December 11 2013 Weigh In

Monday Mantra: Coupons Aren’t Worth It

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I went shopping today.  At a strip mall adjacent to a larger mall.  It was exhausting, but since I just got a Fitbit (thanks, mom!) I walked the perimeter rather than get in my car and drive from the big box store at one end to the big box store at the other.  I think I’ve gotten too caught up in promotions and somehow gaming the shopping system this holiday, and I have learned that coupons are only worth it if:

you would have bought the thing in the first place.

Simple, right?  Everybody gets this, no?

Well, of course not, because coupons are there to make us buy things we might not have bought in the first place.

The thing that drove home the futility of coupons: Bed Bath & Beyond.  I had one of those 20% off coupons, but this wasn’t for one item, it was for an entire purchase.  Oh, goodie, I thought, I’m going cash in without having to rely on Amazon and shipping, and nascent guilt about excess fuel or putting mom and pops out of business (ahem, BB&B is big box store, yes, I know).  Once I got into the store and found the fancy kitchen electronic item I desired I pulled out the coupon to read the fine print and it said:

Here’s a list of 50 brands this discount doesn’t apply to, and every nice, expensive item in this store is on this list of excluded items.  Perhaps you would like some plastic mixing bowls or scratchy towels?  If so, you might find a brand to suit, but let’s just forget about kitchen electronics or designer bedding, shall we?

I like to picture Loki from the Thor movies delivering this message.

So, BB&B, I am done with you.  Unless you send me Loki.  In that case, we can be BFFs.

Reading a book, swoon.

Fermentation Friday: Holiday Beer Bracket

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I asked Josh to stop and pick up some holiday beers to try as a fun, Friday evening activity.  And did he ever pick up some beer.  I was expecting three or four beers, but we had eight.  What to do?

Enter, the Xmas Beer Bracket.

DSCF3101

Over the next week, we will pair two beers at a time, in three rounds to determine the 2013 Xmas Beer Champion.

Round One in the Lake Michigan Bracket –  Revolution Fistmas v. Dark Horse 4 Elf

Lake Michigan Beers 

These were two very different beers both from breweries that I like and respect, though neither one was a slam dunk for me.  Josh, as is his usual practice, took notes on the beers and I gave my feedback on appearance, aroma, taste and my overall preferences.  The notes below are mostly his, with a little bit of editing from me. We tend to consider beers along the lines of the Beer Judge Certification Program criteria: aroma, appearance, flavor, mouth feel, and overall impression.

Revolution Brewing, Chicago, IL – Fistmas Holiday Ale (6.1% ABV)
Copper, clear, med. khaki head.
Strong, hoppy nose of pine and spruce, with some citrus as it warms.  Some malt, but light.
Tastes more malty than it smells, though the bitterness holds its own.  Still some pine, with something else that I don’t really dig.
Medium body and carbonation.  Not really warming.  No astringency, but not particularly dry on the finish either.
An interesting take on the style, pushing piney hoppiness and leaving the spicing to play a supporting role (unless some of the spicing is from spruce or something, which wouldn’t surprise me).  Not really my thing, though.
Josh: 5/10 & Erin: 6/10

Dark Horse Brewing Co., Marshall, MI – 4 Elf Winter Warmer Ale (8.75%)
Dark brown, somewhat cloudy and pretty much opaque, with a small tan head.
Spicy nose: molasses, clove, gingerbread.  Roasty malt hanging back.
Heavy spice taste.  Clove, cinnamon, maybe nutmeg.
Medium body and carbonation.  A bit warming as it goes down, but not as much as one would expect, given the alcohol.  Nice dry finish, but with a touch of astringency.
More towards a traditional, dark winter warmer, but perhaps a bit more fortifying than the average.  I’d prefer a bit less spicing, but Dark Horse again does a great job making a high-alcohol beer seem significantly less so.
Josh: 7/10  & Erin 8/10

Winner of the first bracket: 4 Elf with a cumulative 15/20.

Congratulations, 4Elf.  You will be facing off against the winner of our upcoming Distant Shores Bracket: Anchor Steam’s Christmas Ale v. Samuel Smith’s Winter Welcome Ale.

Weigh-in Wednesday

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I’ll try to focus on Non Scale Victories on this blog, too, but here’s what my bathroom scale says today:

photo(1)

Take the body fat with a grain of salt.  It’s not a caliper measurement, just the scale’s.

I’m working on making this look nicer, but for now, here’s a visualization of where I’m at on my way to goal:

Mug of Beer Dec 4 2013

Monday Mantra: “inner tranquility comes from the development of love and compassion”

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I’ve been around the health and fitness block enough times to know that this is a mental effort as much, if not more, than a physical one.  It’s not my hand acting by itself that drives my car to Taco Bell on the way home from work.  It’s not my legs held to the carpet by cast irons that keep me from taking a walk or run.  My rear end doesn’t decide it needs to surf the Web a few hours longer.

One of my biggest projects as I work on reshaping myself, is bolstering my self-compassion, and my compassion for others.  As I’ve lost weight, I’ve noticed myself becoming more an more judgmental about how other people look.  But that judgment always ends up turning inward.  I need to learn to let it go.

The Dalai Lama

I’m not a Buddhist, but I have worked over the past five or six years on cultivating mindful awareness.  As part of that training, you end up reading a good amount of Buddhist philosophy, and the Dalai Lama seems to have self-compassion figured out, so here are a few excerpts from some of his writing on compassion.

Unless we are either gravely ill or deprived of basic necessities, our physical condition plays a secondary role in life.  If the body is content, we virtually ignore it. The mind, however, registers every event, no matter how small. Hence we should devote our most serious efforts to bringing about mental peace.

From my own limited experience I have found that the greatest degree of inner tranquility comes from the development of love and compassion.

Indeed.  I barely noticed the weight creep back on until I stepped on the scale at the doctor’s office and then – anxiety spike!  It wasn’t as if I hadn’t felt pants getting tighter, but I managed to ignore it and I continued to tell myself that other things were more important for months after that initial weigh-in.

The Dalai Lama goes on to speak about the inter-connectness of all things, and the need to have a “sincere concern for the welfare of others.”  It is important to be reminded at this time of year especially that being concerned about others is necessary for one’s own happiness.  He gives some examples of scenarios in which a person can exercise compassion for others:

If a teacher not only imparts academic education but also assumes responsibility for preparing students for life, his or her pupils will feel trust and respect and what has been taught will leave an indelible impression on their minds. On the other hand, subjects taught by a teacher who does not show true concern for his or her students’ overall well-being will be regarded as temporary and not retained for long.

It’s finals period where I teach, and I’ve been feeling punchy lately about my students asking for extensions on an assignment they’ve known about all semester.  Respect doesn’t mean that I’ll grant them that extension, but it does mean that I treat all of my students equally and give them the benefit of the doubt as to why they feel like they need that extra time.

I am going to work this week on cultivating a spirit of love and acceptance toward all the shapes and sizes I see out in the world.