So, word on the street is that someone tightened up my trainer on Saturday morning, and then I tightened it more because I thought that it looked like I hadn't tighted it correctly. Now I know why the run was so hard, it was like 5 turns tight! Oh well, what don't kill you makes you want to kill....kidding! Turn around or payback, it was all good. Now I know I should have it tighter, so whomever did it, I thank you. No, I really do....I really, really do! So you can step forward and claim responsibility, I won't be mad or get even or anything....
Actually, I really am relieved that it was messed with, given how hard the run was, I was worried I was getting super wimpy too soon.
At swim lesson this morning, ProKaren was all fired up with hard drills, and now I am tired again. Plus she said I had to move from my super-sweet guppy lane to the normal slower lane, arrggghhhhh. I need to be "pushed". Whatever. Its pushing to get me in the pool, doesn't she know that? Of course I am not going to say no way, but I am going to miss this weeks masters! I already told her so it's cool.
My pet peeve of the week (nothing to do with training): Is it just me or are a majority of drivers now swinging out into an adjacent lane to make turns for some stupid reason? I've about been hit by several stupid cars, SUVs and trucks who feel the need to swing their nose into the lane next to them when they make a turn, any turn, not even U-Turns. Where the heck is this crap coming from? I could almost see it if it were only the bigass SUVs, but its all sizes of cars. I wonder if I did hit one of them, if it would be my fault? Hhhhhmmm...
Monday, January 28, 2008
Thursday, January 24, 2008
1/24/2008
Gee, I just realized that my titles are boring, everyone else seems to put some theme as their title, but not me! Oh well, my dates will have to suffice. Yesterday I totally did not follow my eating plan, but boy was the food tasty! I had some stupid meeting out of town and after lifting did not have time to eat my usual breakfast before I had to take off, so I stopped at 7-11 and got a coffee and a cheese danish. Yummy for my tummy but also not too good for the nutrient side of things. By the time I got back my office area, I was starving (it was after 2 pm and I don't know about anyone else, I need to eat something every couple of hours) and I still had to go get gas for the state car. So I found myself parking by some food shops on Broad Street near VCU, and somehow I also found myself standing in front of the order counter at 5 Guys...suffice to say, a cheeseburger and french fries is not part of my dieticians plan for me...I did, however, wash it all down with a Fresca (doesn't that make up for the empty but delicious calories?).
I apprehensively weighed myself this morning, but the expected gain from my cheating eating has not yet appeared. Maybe tomorrow. At any rate, it's back down to proper eating....
I apprehensively weighed myself this morning, but the expected gain from my cheating eating has not yet appeared. Maybe tomorrow. At any rate, it's back down to proper eating....
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
1/22/2008
I went to cycling and weights yesterday, so all I have to do today is run (probably in the rain, but what's the big deal, right?). Ed was mean. We did 2 sets of 3x3 minutes level 7 hard, with 2 minutes "recovery" and then some more hard 2 minute sets. Oh my legs were cooked, and of course I had just tightened up my trainer. Ouch. Maybe I need to rethink the whole workout on Mondays if Ed is going to be mean....
I did my timed mile on Sunday and much to my surprise, I did it in under 39 minutes. I think last year my timed mile was like 47 or so. I told ProKaren my mile time and she said that I would only get better, but that she meant that in a good way. She cracks me up. It was cold as crap yesterday morning, I was getting my swimsuit on before the crack of dawn, and thought that the thermometer said 19 degrees which is cold, but then realized it said 14 degrees, which seems a whole lot colder than 19. It seemed crazy to me to be getting a swimsuit on when it is that cold outside, so I mentioned that to some ladies in the Tuckahoe locker room. One of them said that it seemed like an extravagent pleasure rather than crazy. I love it when people turn my perspective around like that.
I did my timed mile on Sunday and much to my surprise, I did it in under 39 minutes. I think last year my timed mile was like 47 or so. I told ProKaren my mile time and she said that I would only get better, but that she meant that in a good way. She cracks me up. It was cold as crap yesterday morning, I was getting my swimsuit on before the crack of dawn, and thought that the thermometer said 19 degrees which is cold, but then realized it said 14 degrees, which seems a whole lot colder than 19. It seemed crazy to me to be getting a swimsuit on when it is that cold outside, so I mentioned that to some ladies in the Tuckahoe locker room. One of them said that it seemed like an extravagent pleasure rather than crazy. I love it when people turn my perspective around like that.
Thursday, January 17, 2008
1/17/2008
Yummy! Rainy and cold! That means I got to go run my 1/2 mile repeats at the Y!!!! What could be better than that! I can think of a few things. Actually, given that I HATE running on a treadmill, it wasn't that bad. Of course, being able to walk out of work whenever I damn well please makes it even better, since I was able to beat any lunch rush by getting to the Y at 11:15. One reason I hate running on treadmills is that they are inevitably located with a freakin mirror for one to look into as one runs. Maybe I am alone in this, but the last thing I want to see when I run, is my wiggles, wrinkles, flops and fat as I am struggling to run on the darn treadmill. Of course, like any good train wreck, I could not look away. It was kind of mesmerizing, the jiggles of my thighs, the swing and sway of my uni-boob, the look of pain on my face. I was afraid to not pay attention to my running, for some reason I think I am going to stumble and fly off the treadmill when I run on one. But, for this one time, I was safe!
At Masters Swim last night, I was sent to the super-slow lane yet again....sigh, I am a swimming idiot, at least I am a "catching" idiot because I just don't get the whole "catch" thing or even the pull thing, maybe I just am a land-lubber not fit for the water. But, good news is that I am finally exhausted after swimming, and my arms are tired a doo-doo, so I think that means I am least pushing more water around as I flail about down the lane. I hit hands with one my lane-mates last night, twice. I think it was her fault since Pro-Karen kept telling her she was coming over too wide, but it may have been my fault since at that point, I was flinging my arms over any way they would go. Oh, the joy of swimming....
I was pleased to see that the non-Brazil group doesn't have to show up until 7 am this Saturday. While it is nice to get the workout over with so the remainder of the day can be spent sleeping and lounging around, its much nicer to sleep in just a teeny bit longer on the weekend.
At Masters Swim last night, I was sent to the super-slow lane yet again....sigh, I am a swimming idiot, at least I am a "catching" idiot because I just don't get the whole "catch" thing or even the pull thing, maybe I just am a land-lubber not fit for the water. But, good news is that I am finally exhausted after swimming, and my arms are tired a doo-doo, so I think that means I am least pushing more water around as I flail about down the lane. I hit hands with one my lane-mates last night, twice. I think it was her fault since Pro-Karen kept telling her she was coming over too wide, but it may have been my fault since at that point, I was flinging my arms over any way they would go. Oh, the joy of swimming....
I was pleased to see that the non-Brazil group doesn't have to show up until 7 am this Saturday. While it is nice to get the workout over with so the remainder of the day can be spent sleeping and lounging around, its much nicer to sleep in just a teeny bit longer on the weekend.
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
1/15/2008
I had my bike fit last night with Dr. Jim. Turns out I know his wife, small world. Summmary of the fit session: I have weak hip flexors and kind of tight hamstrings, he raised my seat and moved it forward, he raised my cockpit (I love that term, sounds so fast) so I'll need to buy a different stem. I'm to take it easy riding tonight, so I don't hurt myself and end up as his patient! With Karen out of the country, its hard to get motivated to run in the morning, so I don't. Plus it was freaking cold this morning. I going to meet TriLynn to run this afternoon, it will be nice to have someone to run with on my week day runs, plus it is nice to run in the light. I tripped and fell a few months ago running in the dark, and banged up my knee ( and made the best thud sound ever) so now I am paranoid that I'll realy bust myself up. Really, I hate running first thing in the morning, in the dark, in the cold even though I am always glad when it is done.
Monday, January 14, 2008
1/14/2008
Ahh, another weekend workout done, and yet another to look forward to! How great is that? Strange how one's perspective changes over time. We only had a 2 hour ride followed by a 3 mile run followed by 4 1/2 mile repeats, and it seemed like a light week. I suppose I should enjoy the feeling of slackness now, because I know the time of sustained pain is coming. Swimming is coming along, but I will worry about that until it's done on November 1st.
Friday, January 11, 2008
1/11/2008
So, this blogging thing is another strange subculture for me to learn. I thought tri-culture was hard. Evidently, I've been tagged by someone to reveal 7 weird things about me. Now, I wouldn't even know that I had been tagged unless someone told me, so I am totally on top of this blog thing. And I thought all I would have to do is write some inane sentences a few times a week. My 7 weird things in no particular order:
1. I rub my feet together when I read.
2. I bounce my legs when I sit (It is very annoying so I've been told. I think its just my way of trying to burn more calories.)
3. I seperate MM's into colors, eating them by color from the most to the least.
4. My feet are triangular in shape and probably too small for my height.
5. I wring my hands when I am nervous. (I guess on the BIG race day I will rub them raw.)
6. I think I was a swashbuckler or some sort of swordsman in a former life.
7. I believe that UFOs are real. (I mean, why not?)
I'm sure there are more, and maybe even better weird things, but these will have to do for now.
1. I rub my feet together when I read.
2. I bounce my legs when I sit (It is very annoying so I've been told. I think its just my way of trying to burn more calories.)
3. I seperate MM's into colors, eating them by color from the most to the least.
4. My feet are triangular in shape and probably too small for my height.
5. I wring my hands when I am nervous. (I guess on the BIG race day I will rub them raw.)
6. I think I was a swashbuckler or some sort of swordsman in a former life.
7. I believe that UFOs are real. (I mean, why not?)
I'm sure there are more, and maybe even better weird things, but these will have to do for now.
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
1/9/2008
So I can't even remember that its 2008, not 2007. Wow, 2008. I actually didn't even swim on Monday, I had what I call a "cricky-crack" appointment, which is a chiropractic adjustment followed by a 15 minute massage. After that, I just went home and vegged. Prior to actually going to a chiropractor, I thought they were worthless, but now I love it! I had been having problems with my right hip when running, to the point that I was having pain just walking. In desperation, I went in because I was trying anything that did not involve drugs or shots (I hate needles). Anyway, even though the Dr. said that it may take a few visits to have relief, my hip felt better immediately. It's been a love-fest ever since. I also slowly came to realize that I needed some professional advice on eating and have been more than pleased with the results, both in terms of weight loss, but also with my energy level. And, as I've said in previous posts, I am taking private swim lessons to imrpove not only my actual swimming, but my perception of my swimming. All I need now is someone to hypnotize me prior to the IMFL! Moral of the story is this: If you are struggling with pain, eating, running gait, swim stroke, etc. GET PROFESSIONAL HELP! Don't be all macho and think you can fix it all yourself, you can fix some things, but you need to be able to recognize when outside intervention is needed. It won't make you any less of an athlete or diminish your efforts, but we all need help sometimes!
Monday, January 7, 2008
Janaury 7, 2007
It's early on Monday, and I'm already dreading my swim today. I really wish I liked swimming, but so far, not so much. The weekend workout was, in effect, an Olympic distance tri, without the swim. Funny thing was that the prospect of running 6 miles after biking 1.5 hours didn't even make me pause. Maybe some day the prospect of running 15 after biking 50 will feel the same. Somehow, I am having some difficulty imagining that, but hard work will pay off in the end. I had Chinese a few weeks ago, and my fortune was the best I've had in a long time: "The pain you feel today will pay rewards in the future." I'm totally going to tape that to my top bar on my bike.
Thursday, January 3, 2008
1/3/2008
Gosh, the drama over signing up for White Lake just went on and on! It seems like signing up for triathlons is getting harder and harder. I guess the crazies are getting more numerous. I wasn't even sure I wanted to do White Lake, but now that I am in, I guess I'll have to do it. For the record, I will not be racing it, I'll just be doing it!!!!!! It was cold last night and I almost didn't go to Master's because I couldn't imagine taking off my warm clothes and getting into the water, but it was a good session so I am glad I went. A few of us TGs also ran the New Year's Day 10k and we all did well, I was 9 seconds off my best time ever and the course was hilly! So it was kind of a combination hill run, tempo run. Does that mean I am done running for the week? I wish!
Catching up from last year's entries
November 16, 2007
Still have not actually signed up for the Florida IM, guess I can still back out. The window for signing up is between yesterday and December 1st. My guess is I’ll put my money where my mouth is this weekend and plunk down the $475 to suffer for a whole year. At swim lessons this morning, I was lamenting on that lady that drowned at this year’s event (well, aspirated, but that’s just fancy for saying drowned) and Pro Karen says she would bet that she didn’t know how to swim properly and was probably in the back of the pack. When I said that is where I will be, she glared at me and said, no I wouldn’t be. If I was, I suppose I could not say she was my swim coach. Ha. So, the point of this blog is to let everyone know that if I, a 48 year old fat girl can do the IM, then pretty much anyone can, if they are stupid enough to sign up. I may wax poetic at points, but I hope I don’t sugar-coat this experience. Its gonna hurt and hurt lots.
December 4, 2007
Ok, signed up for Florida IM, guess I’ll really have to do it. December 1st, started back training for real with the first indoor cycling of the winter, followed by a short run. It was packed! So many people, the air was kind of that dry, bad air that I hate, but since it was the first day, we didn’t work too hard. Did the Bear Creek 10 miler on Sunday, which was fun, but harder than I remember. A few of us TriGirls were running along and came upon a kid who was steps away from crashing hard. So the nurse and the mom and I sat him down, gave him a goo and some Heed and water to drink. He was ok after a few minutes, but by then we had been joined by another TG, and we walked for a bit to make sure he was OK. He had never heard of goo…how is that possible? End result is that is was not a PR by any stretch, but it was good that we were all there with our stuff. We had breakfast afterwards at a Cumberland dive, great pancakes!
December 7, 2007
So at master’s swimming the other night, I got so frustrated that I nearly cried. It doesn’t seem to matter how hard I try, I just can’t seem to swim even close to fast, and I am always the slowest swimmer in my slow lane. Oh well, everyone tells me to stop paying attention to the negatives and to focus on the positives, but its damn hard when one cannot seem to do what one wants to do. I imagine that as I go through the process of this training thing, that I will have many, many more such moments, so I guess I better try to get over them as quickly as possible. Weight training has begun again in earnest as has indoor cycling. I’m trying to crank down my trainer more this year, as the fear of IMFL is looming, well not looming, but in my head every day nonetheless. This morning’s swim lesson was good, Pro Karen says I need to swim fast to swim fast, makes sense in a nonsensical way. So I did 5 or 6 25 meter “sprints” which made me tired. My biggest fear is the swim, and I can’t even really explain what it is that I fear, its not that I won’t be able to cover the distance, because worse case, I’ll either do breast or even side stroke, (even though the side stroke is not a competition stroke, if that’s the only way for me to get through the swim, I’m doing it!), its that I’ll be the last out of the water or worse yet, not make the cutoff. Coming out of the water way towards the back just makes the rest of the day that much harder, since you are already so far behind, it’s just disheartening. Well, I still have lots of time, so I’ll try not to obsess about that!
December 28, 2007
Slack on the blog, oh well. Training is picking up, I’m following the White Lake schedule even though I am not sure I will be doing it. I don’t want to do 3 half-irons and then a whole one in a year, but who knows. Indoor cycling is fun, even if I do sweat my tail off, no wonder some of my bike bolts are rusted. Running is going fine, I did my ½ mile repeats and managed to meet my times. I am not looking forward to the longer runs, but so far so good! I cannot decide what I am doing this spring! I kind of want to do off-road stuff, just for a break, but then I’ll have no one to train with, so I can’t decide. Waaah. I did weigh myself, afraid of the scale since its been a Christmas eatfest, but I am right at my 1st goal weight! Wow, now I need to try to get to my “secret” goal. I’ll see how that goes.
Still have not actually signed up for the Florida IM, guess I can still back out. The window for signing up is between yesterday and December 1st. My guess is I’ll put my money where my mouth is this weekend and plunk down the $475 to suffer for a whole year. At swim lessons this morning, I was lamenting on that lady that drowned at this year’s event (well, aspirated, but that’s just fancy for saying drowned) and Pro Karen says she would bet that she didn’t know how to swim properly and was probably in the back of the pack. When I said that is where I will be, she glared at me and said, no I wouldn’t be. If I was, I suppose I could not say she was my swim coach. Ha. So, the point of this blog is to let everyone know that if I, a 48 year old fat girl can do the IM, then pretty much anyone can, if they are stupid enough to sign up. I may wax poetic at points, but I hope I don’t sugar-coat this experience. Its gonna hurt and hurt lots.
December 4, 2007
Ok, signed up for Florida IM, guess I’ll really have to do it. December 1st, started back training for real with the first indoor cycling of the winter, followed by a short run. It was packed! So many people, the air was kind of that dry, bad air that I hate, but since it was the first day, we didn’t work too hard. Did the Bear Creek 10 miler on Sunday, which was fun, but harder than I remember. A few of us TriGirls were running along and came upon a kid who was steps away from crashing hard. So the nurse and the mom and I sat him down, gave him a goo and some Heed and water to drink. He was ok after a few minutes, but by then we had been joined by another TG, and we walked for a bit to make sure he was OK. He had never heard of goo…how is that possible? End result is that is was not a PR by any stretch, but it was good that we were all there with our stuff. We had breakfast afterwards at a Cumberland dive, great pancakes!
December 7, 2007
So at master’s swimming the other night, I got so frustrated that I nearly cried. It doesn’t seem to matter how hard I try, I just can’t seem to swim even close to fast, and I am always the slowest swimmer in my slow lane. Oh well, everyone tells me to stop paying attention to the negatives and to focus on the positives, but its damn hard when one cannot seem to do what one wants to do. I imagine that as I go through the process of this training thing, that I will have many, many more such moments, so I guess I better try to get over them as quickly as possible. Weight training has begun again in earnest as has indoor cycling. I’m trying to crank down my trainer more this year, as the fear of IMFL is looming, well not looming, but in my head every day nonetheless. This morning’s swim lesson was good, Pro Karen says I need to swim fast to swim fast, makes sense in a nonsensical way. So I did 5 or 6 25 meter “sprints” which made me tired. My biggest fear is the swim, and I can’t even really explain what it is that I fear, its not that I won’t be able to cover the distance, because worse case, I’ll either do breast or even side stroke, (even though the side stroke is not a competition stroke, if that’s the only way for me to get through the swim, I’m doing it!), its that I’ll be the last out of the water or worse yet, not make the cutoff. Coming out of the water way towards the back just makes the rest of the day that much harder, since you are already so far behind, it’s just disheartening. Well, I still have lots of time, so I’ll try not to obsess about that!
December 28, 2007
Slack on the blog, oh well. Training is picking up, I’m following the White Lake schedule even though I am not sure I will be doing it. I don’t want to do 3 half-irons and then a whole one in a year, but who knows. Indoor cycling is fun, even if I do sweat my tail off, no wonder some of my bike bolts are rusted. Running is going fine, I did my ½ mile repeats and managed to meet my times. I am not looking forward to the longer runs, but so far so good! I cannot decide what I am doing this spring! I kind of want to do off-road stuff, just for a break, but then I’ll have no one to train with, so I can’t decide. Waaah. I did weigh myself, afraid of the scale since its been a Christmas eatfest, but I am right at my 1st goal weight! Wow, now I need to try to get to my “secret” goal. I’ll see how that goes.
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