Shopping!

I don't remember if I mentioned that I went shopping for some basic tri gear and I am too lazy to go back and look at my previous posts, lol! Nothing too major - I don't want to invest too much into this sport until I determine if I even like it. Ya know?

Last week, I went to Tri On The Run twice, because it's not too far from where I work and they seem to carry several different brands of tri gear. The folks at TOTR are very helpful. The guy there suggested I try on each of the brands, since everyone likes something different. They had 5 brands – Zoot, Orca, Craft, TYR and Louis Garneau. They only appeared to have men’s stuff in TYR, so that’s the only brand I didn’t get to try on. Apparently, the more expensive stuff is made better and some shorts have the compression fitting. The guy who was helping me laughed when I told him I was still using my $10 Speedo goggles from Target. Time to upgrade! I went twice, because I wanted to check out the sizing 1st and see if I found some comparable stuff on-line at a better price - bad, I know but when your monthly childcare costs are almost the size your mortgage payment, you gotta do what you gotta do!!! LOL!

Here’s my review of each brand:

Zoot – tends to run a little small. I needed the large tri shorts and I was somewhere between a Med and Large for the tri top. The large felt a little big in the back between my shoulder blades, but I felt like a stuffed sausage in the medium. What I liked about that top was that it offered some support for “the girls”, if ya know what I mean! I actually liked the Zoot $40 tri shorts the best. The $100 tri shorts fit great, but they have the compression fitting and they made the flab on my inner thighs stick out like balloons - can we say SCARY?

Orca – tends to run big. I could wear a medium in the shorts. The medium top felt too big, but they didn’t have a small in the same style, so I’m not sure if it would have fit. The shorts were super comfy though and very flattering. This tri top also offered some support, which was nice.

Craft – Shorts were comfy in a large, but the stitching was not very flattering at all. When I turned around to check out the backside, I was mortified at how much they accentuate the cellulite. I think it’s because they have some super-gripper rubber on the shorts, which is probably good because they won’t ride up, but OMG does it grip! The tri top they had in stock was cute, but I just didn’t like the cut (also a large). The top also didn’t seem to have any built in support.

Louis Garneau – This was the last brand I tried on. The shorts fit well in a medium, but TOTR only had them in a bright, royal blue. Trust me, my lower half does not need to be bright blue! The only women’s top they had in stock seemed a little short and barely made it to the top of my tri shorts…I don’t wanna expose my midsection if I don’t have to!

So here's what I ended up with:

And, I did end up buying it at TOTR. Their prices are pretty comparable to what I found on the web and of course I'd rather give my money to a local business if I can.

Unfortunately, that isn't my body in these pictures and I do not look anything remotely close. Think sausage, or as my SIL would say chorizo! Lumpy chorizo at that, lol! This stuff does absolutely nothing from one's body image. Although it did inspire me to start following my healthy eating plan more closely. :-)

Operation "Get Faster" - Week 1

Treadmill Run - 30 minutes, includes (2-miles of intervals) & P90X "Ab Ripper X" - 15 minutes

Well, I said last week that I wanted to do speedwork consistently and today the process began. I skipped my Monday run to watch the TI dvd, but today I would not miss another run. I decided that since I've been whining about not getting enough family time, I'd run at the Y during lunch and have my evening open for the family. Again, I know speedwork on the treadmill is not as effective as running at the track, but you gotta do what you gotta do, right?

I did 6x400 with a one minute recovery between each - overall it was somewhere around 2 miles at a 10:30 pace. I'm not completely sure, because I had to change treadmills midway through due to a mechanical malfunction. That and a warm up and cool down (and a little more) gave me 30 minutes on the treadmill.

It felt weird to not have a workout to do at night, so I did the 15-minute P90X Ab Ripper X once the kiddos were both in bed. :-)

Spin & Swim

****Warning - long post with self pity and venting ahead****

Tuesday, April 21 - Spin Class, 1 hour & Swim, 40 minutes

Spin Class
This was my 1st lunchtime spin class in almost 3 week. I didn't go the Thursday before the Zooma 1/2 marathon, because I didn't want sore quads on race day. I didn't go the Tuesday after, because I was still recovering from those damn hills! The other days I couldn't go due to work stuff - lunch meetings, training classes, travelling to Austin, etc.

Fortunately, I survived. I sweat like a pig, but I survived!! The instructor made us progressively increase our tension for what felt like forever! I do take a quickie shower after these classes (but don't have time to wash my hair), but I still feel sorry for my coworkers who get near me after the spin class...I swear it takes at least an hour for my face to not be beet read and to just feel like my body has really cooled down!

Swim
The whole swim thing didn't start out quite as planned. I arrived at the YMCA pool only to find that it was closed for maintenance. Grrrrr...yes, it adds at least 20 minutes to my commute just to get there, so I was extremely annoyed. Fortunately, the Y with the indoor pool is about 10 minutes away, so off I went. At this point in the game, skipping a swim workout is NOT an option. Of course, that pool was filled with kids taking swim classes...and they all swim better than I do. There was one lap lane open, but there was a swim instructor with 4/5 year olds at the deep end. She was having them jump in and the paddle to the side of the pool. The lifeguard told me that they'd be done soon, so I waited. After about 5 minutes, I just hopped in and started swimming 1/2 way down and back. They eventually finished and I had the entire lane to myself for about 15 minutes!

I don't know what the eff my problem is, but I am still having difficulty breathing. I practiced some of the TI drills, but still can't freaking breathe. It's better than it was a couple of weeks ago...I can at least go 50 yds without stopping, sometimes 75 - but any more than that and I get winded. It's so frustrating! At one point, I almost said "screw this" and hopped out of the pool with the intention of forgetting about this whole stupid tri-thing. I started having serious thoughts about not doing this tri, even though it's only 200 yds. I started thinking, "Who am I to get out there and possibly put myself in danger because I can't get my shit together?" or "Do I really want to be rescued by some 18 year old lifeguard?" or even "Maybe I'm not cut out for this...maybe I wasn't meant to do triathlons". I thought to myself, "Seriously, if the water is choppy on race day, I'm gonna bail." Then I calmed down and remembered - you can always flip over onto your back for a second if you freak out...you may not do freestyle well, but you have sidestroke, lol.

After my freakout, 3 others arrived to swim laps. Somehow, I pulled myself together and managed to hammer out another 400 or so yds ...although there were rest stops between every 50 yds thanks to the breathing. Grrrrr........I just hate that this breathing thing could keep me from being successful at this. And, worse it means that I might never make it beyond this baby "super sprint" race and move onto a "real" sprint or any other distance.

Okay, I'll stop now. I am getting over the angst and will be back in the pool on Thursday. And Friday. And Saturday. And Sunday.

Well actually, I signed up for the First Timers Tri Clinic and open water swim at Lake Woodlands on Saturday. So yeah, I can freak out there and hopefully not on race day. Say your prayers people!

I am not kidding. Pray hard.

Total Immersion

Monday, 4/20 - No workout

Okay, rather than do my usual Monday workout, I decided to use that time to watch the TI dvd. If I can swim just a fraction as well as the people on this video do, I'd be thrilled. They make it look so effortless! While it's a little cheesy, the dvd does show several different drills that help you get the feel of how your body should be positioned in the water when you swim, how you should stroke, etc. I could definitely see that there is a major difference in what I do, and what the TI program suggests! I do not roll as much as I should, I think I stroke too often and I am pretty sure that I wear myself out by kicking way too much. My only complaint is that many of the drills are supposed to be done with a partner.

I'll be trying some of these drills at the pool tonight! Let me see if I can survive my lunchtime spin class first...it's my 1st in almost 3 weeks.

SCORE!!!

Guess what came in the mail today???

My Total Immersion "Freestyle Made Easy" book and DVD. Whoot! I know what I am watching tonight when the kids are in bed and the hubby is at Hapkido. :-)

God, I am geeky. Who would have thought I'd get so excited over such a thing?

BOSTON MARATHON DAY!

Good luck to everyone running Boston today...especially those 1st timers. I'll be checking the live commentary on the Boston Marathon website. 'Cuz I'm a dork like that! :-)

And, congrats to all the peeps who rode the MS150 this weekend. So sorry that Day 1 was cancelled, but would you really wanna ride in those conditions? It sounds like yesterday was beautiful, but with a wicked headwind...great job to those who toughed it out (Jessica, Veronica, Jeff, Hal, Cassie, Mike, Cat, Roberta, Joe and anyone I missed)!!!

Another weekend re-cap!

Crazy busy weekend...but let's start on Friday...

Friday, April 17 - no workout. blah!
Very annoying and disappointing day as far as workouts go. I knew there was an 80% chance of rain, but the weatherman has been known to be wrong on this stuff, right? So, I brought the bike to work just in case....

Yeah, didn't happen. The heavens opened right as I was leaving. I don't mind running and even biking in the rain, but I don't mess with thunder and lightening! Instead, I thought maybe I could head to the indoor pool at the Y. After 2 hours of driving in intense rain (think 25 mph on the toll road with wipers on high, people with flashers on, etc) and 2 errands done, I made it to the Y. Yep, it's closed due to inclement weather. Drats!

Yes, I could have stayed and run...but I didn't bring my shorts. Only some old sweats. Instead, I headed home to visit with the in-laws who were in town, get the baby's b-day party invites out and get ready for the next day's garage sale. Shit, um I mean, life happens!

Saturday, April 18 - treadmill run, 1 hour, 5.25 miles (11:25 pace)
Dang rain! We had the garage sale and for a few hours, I thought the rain might actually stay away. No such luck though. Again there was thunder and lightening. I originally thought it was going to be a run in the rain kinda day, but it quickly became a run on the treadmill kinda day. I probably should have done more mileage, but I can't take more than an hour on the dreadmill.

Had planned a girls night out, but it was cancelled thanks to the flooding. Naturally, the rain stopped by 6 pm and it was a rain-free evening....oh well, maybe we can reschedule.

Sunday, April 19 - BRICK #2! Bike - 11 miles (16.1 pace), Run - 1.25 miles (10:06 pace)
Glorious sunshine!!! After spending some quality time with the family, I headed out on the bike. (And after DH showed me how to use the adapter with the pump to get some air in my tires! Doh!) I did the same neighborhood route as last week, but was 1 mph slower this week...I blame it completely on the headwind! Then, I rushed the bike into the garage, changed my Garmin to run mode, gulped a little gatorade and ran 1.25 miles. Once again, I started out WAY too fast - after about 2 minutes I was at an 8:50 pace! I slowed it down a bit, but still not enough - 9:20 pace. I was breathing hard and thought my chest was going to explode. Slowed down more. I held steady at the 10:07/10:06 pace the rest of the way and took a walk break so I could sip more gatorade.

Next weekend, I am going to try to put everything together with a mini-tri in the neigborhood - swim in the neighborhood pool with T1 set up there, then bike the loops around the hood with T2 set up in my garage and then run.

Operation "Get Faster"

I am on a mission....a week or two before the Zooma 1/2, I decided that once that race was over I was going to go back to some shorter distances and work on 2 things:

1) Getting faster! Must.do.speedwork.consistently.

2) Throwing out the 5/1s...especially on shorter distances.

Speedwork may be tough to get in, since a 99.9% of my weekday runs are on the dreadmill. But I can be resourceful, so surely I can figure something out, right?

Most of the time, I don't do 5/1s on my shorter weekday runs anyway, but I realize that sometimes it's my crutch - and it needs to stop. I decided that for now, I would give 9/1s a try on longer runs and see how that goes. I would like to get into the habit of not doing intervals for anything shorter than a 10k and eventually do away with them forever.

So that's it - it's in writing, which means I have to do it, right? Oh the pressure! What brought this on? It was quite an eye opening experience to look at my race times from before I had the munchkin - even my slowest 1/2 marathons were faster than my "fast" 1/2 marathons of this year. Yikes!

Party's over. Time to set goals again.

And let's be realistic about this...I have 2 kids, I work full-time, have a helluva commute and have to work around the hubby's oddball schedule...running is not in the top 3 of my priority list. Heck, it may not be in the top 5. But, I do need goals to keep myself motivated and I will do the best I can to meet those goals. It's not like I'm trying to qualify for Boston or anything, but it would be nice to PR my 1/2 marathon time....maybe a 2:10? :-)

Sllloooowwww

I left work 15 minutes early so I could get to the pool a little earlier. Heck, I had been coming in a little early, had worked late one day, had worked through a couple of lunches, so I figured it was okay. As soon as I was about 3 miles from the Y, it started raining. Just a sprinkle or two, but rain nonetheless. I asked the woman at the desk if the pool was open and she assured me that it was. I changed clothes and head out the door. Well, almost. The door from the dressing room to the pool was locked. Great! I put clothes on over my swimsuit and head toward the other door that heads to the pool. That's where the life guards were hanging out...turns out there was thunder and it would be another 10 minutes before the pool would be open. So much for getting an early start!

I was eventually able to get in the pool and do some laps. When I had my private swim lesson with Connie at the Y, she would tell me to think sssslllllooooowwww as I swim. Going slow and concentrating breathing out would help me not get all out of breath. Well, for some reason when there are two life guards hanging out and I am the only one in the pool, I turn into SpazGirl again. It wasn't my best time in the pool. I did the 1st 50m and was completely out of breath...yeah, apparently I wasn't going sssllllooooowwww enough. I finished up about 800 meters, but there were lots of rest breaks in between. It was not a pretty swim day.

I am going to hit the pool again tomorrow after work. My goal is to swim 3-4x each week from now until the tri...I need some improvement or else I'll be backstroking the tri course.

Sporadic

I have been incredibly sporadic with my posting...must be all the time I've been spending on FB instead, lol!

So, here are my workouts so far this week. I have cut waaaayyy back on my workouts last week and this week. Mostly due to life stuff, and then work conflicts have kept me from my lunch time spin class...don't these people know I have a tri to train for????

Sat & Sun, April 11 & 12 - No workouts
Between getting stuff ready for Easter festivities, the hubby's work schedule and Easter itself, there was no time to workout.

Monday, April 13 - Treadmill run, 10 minutes
I procrastinated about getting on the treadmill all evening and when I finally did, the baby started crying once I had been on the treadmill for about 10 minutes. Darn procrastination and darn teething!!!

Tuesday, April 14 - Treadmill Run, 37 minutes
No spin class and no pool - I went to our Austin office and didn't get home until around 7:30 pm. That left me with the option of running, so running it was! The first few minutes were just a warm-up, then I did 3 miles progressively increasing my speed followed buy a few minutes of cool-down.

Wednesday, April 15 - Rest day (unplanned)
Wednesday nights are usually my run nights, but the kiddo was not cooperating at bedtime and by the time I got lunches and clothes ready for the next day it was almost 10 pm. I did manage to watch LOST while I was getting everything done, but no workout.

BRICK!

Brick – Bike, 15.41 miles @ 17.1 pace –and- Run, 1 mile @ 10:06 pace

With Friday being a holiday from work, I had a list of things planned to do – take the kiddos for Easter Bunny pictures, take Riley to the movies, dye Easter eggs, get in a bike ride!!!

I managed to get through all the stuff I needed to get done, but had a little help from the hubby on the Easter eggs. I'll post some pics of their masterpieces asap, lol!

And now on to the training...

This bike ride was my best yet. I decided to stay in my neighborhood, using both the 2 mile circle around the ‘hood, as well as some of the streets where there are still no homes being built. There was a little bit of a head wind on ½ of the circle, but somehow I managed to maintain a 17.2 mile pace each time I went around the circle. I did the circle 3 times, then went riding around the curvier streets of the neighborhood – that’s when my average pace dropped down to about 16.8. I am not brave enough to go whipping around those curves, so I tend to slow way down when I'm turning. After about 4 miles, I headed back out to the main circle and did a few more laps and managed to bring my pace back up with an end result of 17.1. Apparently the spin classes are working, because when I did a similar ride 3 weeks before, I was doing good to keep my average pace around 15 mph. Thank God for spin since I can never seem to find time to ride my road bike…well, at least not as much as I’d like.

When I made it back to the house, I dismounted the bike, jogged it up the driveway and into the garage. I threw off the helmet, grabbed some Gatorade, closed the garage door and then headed off for a run. My goal was to just make one mile. Hey, it’s my 1st real brick…I wasn’t brave enough to go any further.

Turns out 2 times around the little loop of our section of the neighborhood is a ½ mile. When I went out for my 1st loop, I looked down at my watch and saw that I was running a 9:34 pace and my legs felt a little jello-y, but overall not too bad. I knew I would not be running a 9:34 pace on race day and slowed it down a bit. I managed to finish my mile in 10:06…for me this is excellent even when I haven’t been on the bike 1st! I’m not expecting that pace on race day because 1) I have another mile to add and 2) I will be adding swimming to the mix…but, it made me feel a little better about this whole triathlon thing. I hope to get in a few more bricks before race day!

Catching Up

Monday, April 10 – Rest

Tuesday, April 11 – Swim, 45 minutes

Wednesday, April 12 – Treadmill run, 2 miles, 11:04 pace

Thursday, April 13 – Swim, 45 minutes

Zooma Austin (Bastrop) 1/2 Marathon

FRIDAY, 4/3
Most of the 15 people staying in the B&B headed to Bastrop on Friday morning and arrived just in time for lunch. After unloading the cars and checking out the B&B, we headed out for the 2-block walk to Main St for some lunch. Maxine’s was pretty good, but the service left much to be desired. I won’t go into details, but lets just say they weren’t ready for a party of our size and made it quite known that we should have called ahead.

Once our tummies were full, we headed over to the Lost Pines Resort. We decided to make it a lazy day and just hung out around the pool, trying to get in some relaxation before the race. We also decided to drive the route just to see how hilly it really was. We accidentally took a wrong turn that lead us down a gravel road with some interesting trailers all around us. I could hear the theme to deliverance playing in my head and we all thought, “Surely we’re not running this way!!”. Once we figured out where we made our wrong turn, we headed back to the house. We had an early dinner and turned in early. Well, sort of…our room turned into the giggly, slumber party room and several of us stayed up much too late telling ghost stories…not such a good idea when you’re staying in a creaky house that was built in 1903!

SATURDAY, 4/4 - RACE DAY!
The alarm clocks started going off at 5 am and we were off. We ate our favorite energy food (PB&J for me) and headed to the parking lot where we would take the shuttle to the resort. The whole race is a “girls weekend” theme, so it made complete sense that there would be pink porta-potties and hand washing stations!

The race was pretty small, so lining up at the start was a non-issue and before we knew it the anthem had been sung and we were off. It seemed like the hills began the minute we made it across the start line….and they never stopped. Some were bigger, steeper hills and a lot were just those llllllooooooonnnnnnggggg, ssslllloooowwww innnncccclines that never seemed to end.
I started out extremely slow. There were 4 things I was thinking about going into this race:

1. I had not been running as much as before…kinda hard to do when you have to split your time between biking and swimming. I run 2x a week, swim 2x a week and bike/spin 2x each week – gotta have one day for rest, right?

2. No amount of training at Flintridge could prepare us for these hills! It was an out and back course and the out hills were a doozy, so I wanted to conserve a little for the return trip!

3. I wanted to baby the Achilles. No point in pushing hard in the 1st ½ only to aggrevate the Achilles and not be able to finish.

4. And finally, “Damn, it’s HOT!” and “What happened to temps in the 50s???”

Luckily, the miles did tick by pretty quickly - even at my slow pace. The only drawbacks were that everyone was restricted to one lane of a two lane country road…and that one lane had cones in the middle. Those heading out were supposed to stay on one side of the cones and those on the way back were supposed to stay on the other. This made it almost impossible to pass anyone for a majority of the race. The other drawback was that only a couple of the aid stations had Powerade and even then it was really watered down…yuck!

This was the 1st race where I was behind most of the peeps in my group. Fortunately, after the turn around I ended up running with some of them….thank God because the hills were brutal. It was nice to have others to not only commiserate with, but to also keep each other moving forward. Before we knew it we were back at the hills that we had run at the beginning at the race. This, of course, was when the sun started coming out from behind the clouds and making it even hotter. I was losing my steam and walked a lot of the uphill sections. At one point Katie said I cracked her up when I saw the next hill and said in my best ghetto girl voice, “HELL no, I ain’t runnin’ up that SHIT!”. LOL, I am pretty sure those were my exact words but I hardly remember it at all – darn runner’s brain.

All I know is that I was very happy to reach the resort again. I could see the 13 mile marker in the distance and was sooo ready to be done. Normally when I make it to the finish line, I am picking up the speed and getting ready for my photo crossing the finish line. This time, I don’t think I did either. I was pooped.

As we crossed the finish line, we received our “finisher’s necklaces”. I didn’t take it out until later, and was surprised to find my little pouch empty! I managed to get another pouch that actually had a necklace in it. In all honestly, this was the worst part of the race…the after party and finishers necklace. The necklace looked like something that you could get out of a gumball machine. The “catered brunch” was a soggy, cold egg and cheese breakfast burrito (could ya slap some bacon on there please???) and coffee (juice maybe?). The upside was that we enjoyed a band and each other’s company at an awesome resort with awesome weather! Plus, the champagne and wine didn’t hurt either.

After we had a chance to recover, we headed back to the B&B on the shuttle, changed clothes and then went back to the resort to enjoy the pool a little more. We hung out by the pool, enjoyed a few frosty adult beverages, floated on the lazy river and even went down the waterslide a few times…yeah, I could get used to that life!

We ended the day with dinner at a different Bastrop eatery and had another slumber party in our room until midnight. Overall, it was a great girls weekend! I told the hubby that it was very relaxing and he cracked up saying, “You ran a freaking ½ marathon! How relaxing could it be?” Just more proof that running is my therapy. And when you combine that with a girl’s weekend, life's good!

Race Report...

I'm working on the Zooma Race report...all I'll say for now is that hills suck! :-)

In the meantime, here's a random thought for you:

Why is it that no matter what time or day I go to the grocery store, the parking lot is full and I have to park wwwwaaaaayyyyy in the very back???? Then, when I leave, the parking lot is empty and I look like one of those goof balls who parks waaaaayyyy in the back so her car doesn't get dinged? As if I'd be worried about anyone dinging my mommy-mobile, lol!

Ugh!

No workout yesterday.

Wednesday would normally be my running day, but that's out due to the achilles issue. To make matters worse, I felt like I was coming down with the stomach flu that has been visiting our house. I left work a little early and went home for a nap before taking the kiddo to dance class. Between that and getting into bed as soon as LOST was over, I think I kicked the bug! Thank God, because I saw what the hubby went through with it and trust me when I say that if I caught what he had, I would NOT be running on Saturday!

I am feeling good today. Focusing on eating the right stuff, getting plenty of rest and still babying the achilles - I think I will actually be good to go on Saturday. I still might be walking a lot of the uphill (and there is a LOT of uphill!), but I will be okay. And I cannot wait for the celebratory margarita's afterward! Wooohooo!

For the 1st time, I am not overly obsessing about the weather. I did check this morning and it looks like it will be not too bad - lows in the upper 50's, highs in the 80s with low humidity. As long as those 80s are after the race, I'm all good! :-)

Good Stuff

Yesterday was a great day…good work stuff, good spin class and good swimming. Just good stuff all around.

Nothing that exciting with the 1st two, so let’s talk about swimming. First, I love the outdoor pool so much more than the noisy indoor one. And, it was nice and warm last night when I got in. But, as always, the problem was breathing!!!

Does everyone have issues with the breathing when they swim? Or, is this problem only reserved for loser runners like me? Seriously? Everyone says, “You breathe just like you do out of the pool”. Oh really, so you exhale into a pool of water all day? Hmmmm, I thought not. Or they say, “Try not to take such a big breath” or “Try to take a breath more often – like every other stroke”. I’ve tried both tactics and I end up gasping for air by the time I make it from one end of the pool to the other. I’m surprised I’ve never hyperventilated. Yet.

Okay, okay, so last night really wasn’t that bad. In fact, I swam the 1st 50 yds with only a quick breath at the wall. Then, I swam the remainder of my laps with much less rest in between than before. I lost count of how many laps I did, but I think it’s safe to say that I did more laps in the 45 minutes of pool time than I’ve ever done in 45 minutes. So, it is getting better. Some laps are better than others. I have to constantly remind myself to slow down and take it easy. I did flip over to my back a few times, but overall I think I made a little bit of progress. I am trying to take a breath every 3rd stroke, but I still have issues keeping my head down and doing it quickly. After the ½ this weekend, I am going to have to find a way to get in the pool one additional time each week…not sure how I’m going to do that, but I need to.

The achilles? It’s better. I stopped taking the meds and it only aches a little…I haven’t run on it and I think I won’t until Saturday. Oh, and the stomach thing the hubby and kiddo had…maybe I am being paranoid, but I have been nauseous since late yesterday. Please keep your fingers crossed that it’s really nothing.

Oh, and keep your fingers crossed that my shoes make it here tomorrow from the Houston Luke's store. They were supposed to be in yesterday, but someone forgot to send them and they weren't there when the hubby went to pick them up for me today! I would go to the Houston Luke's store since it's not that far from my office, but I have a Market Street gift card to use and I can't use that in the Houston store!

Achilles Update

Feeling better! Not great, but better. I can walk like a normal person now...even when I am not wearing heels. :-) Of course, I am still taking the mega-pills, so that helps.

I have an appointment for Thursday, but honestly it's not going to do much good before Saturday. In the meantime, I've been icing and stretching, and stretching and icing. I'm hopeful that if I take it easy or even walk the uphills, I might be alright. I'm just playing it by ear and will make my final decision on Friday afternoon. Whether I run or not, I will be enjoying the girls weekend in Bastrop!

3/31 - Spin Class - 1 hour
No problem with the achilles here. As usual, I sweated my arse off in this class and my legs fet like jello when we were done!

3/30 - P90X, Ab Ripper X - 15 minutes
Can't run, but I can work the core! I love feeling the burn in this short, but tough workout.

On second thought...

I've been googling treatments for achilles tendonitis just to see what I should be doing at home in the meantime.

Every single websites recommends NOT doing sprints (no problem there) or HILLS.

Hmmm...and this 1/2 marathon is in the "HILL COUNTRY".

Sigh.

Maybe I won't be racing afterall.

Shiat!

Well, apparently Dr. P no longer treats achilles issues. That was okay, because he was booked for the week anyway. His associate, the other Dr. P, is available...

On THURSDAY!!!

Don't these people know I have a race on Saturday? What the frick? LOL! Okay, so I guess I get to ice and continue my rx until then, and of course not run all week. I just hope the PT Man will be available to work some of his magic on Thursday! Although I know it will take more than one day to really do something magical. We're leaving on Friday, so Thursday is it.

@#$%&*#?~$%!!!!

Okay, that's enough ranting. All I have left to say is that I will get this 1/2 done, even if I'm walking it! BTW, this is the 2nd time I've had this injury. I had it back in 2005, when I was training for Houston (my 1st post-baby marathon). It was a week and a half before the 25k. I went in on a Thursday, got a rx for a corticosteriod and did my 1st ultrasound treatment. I did 3 more ultrasound treatments the following week and ran the 25k that weekend with no problems. Doesn't lool like I'll be getting in the same about of treatments this time. Sigh.

Not sure what I'm doing for my workout today. I was planning to ride the stationary bike at the gym during lunch, but once again, I have a working lunch. Oh the joy! So, maybe I'll do some P90X arms. I hate my bike trainer, so I doubt I'll be doing that...plus there's spin class tomorrow, so I'll save the biking for then.

Lovely Sunday!

The weather was amazing again! If only it could be this awesome every weekend!

The kiddo started the day with more stomach issues...I don't know if she was still recovering from the bug she had earlier or if she was getting the bug again from the hubby. Anyway, we ended up skipping church, just in case there was more stomach trouble. There wasn't, so we went to the TeamiTri picnic and transition seminar. It was held at a local park, which is pure torture for a 4 year old when Mommy says, "We'll go play after the seminar". I finally caved and walked over to the swings with her. The rest of the time, I let her play on the playground and 1/2 listened while I watched to make sure she was okay.

The seminar was great! It answered a lot of my dumb questions and my not-so-dumb ones too. I am excited to practice my transitions! In fact, we have a member of our little group of tri-girls who has a pool, so we will be doing a mini-tri to practice our transitions. We also received our TeamiTri technical shirts!

We ended up coming home and playing outside for a couple of hours, so I have some supah-sexy tan lines from my v-neck t-shirt...I only wish I was wearing shorts because my legs are ultra-glo white!!!

The achilles still hurts, but with the ibuprofen, it's bearable. Still icing and stretching! I will call Dr. P's office tomorrow to see how quickly I can get in...hopefully soon!

The hubby is still sick and the kiddo is still not quite 100% (but you couldn't tell that from the way she wants to play...only from the lack of eating). I didn't want to make my sick hubby try to entertain the kiddos while I rode my bike, so I skipped it. Life happens! I am just hoping and praying that the baby and I can get through the week without catching the bug!!!

Gotta Run!

The weather was awesome on Saturday, so I was really looking forward to my afternoon long run. The kiddos and I got to begin enjoying the day early, by going to the neighborhood Easter celebration. I pushed the baby in the stroller to the park and the kiddo rode her bike. During our walk, I felt a weird feeling - my achilles felt, well, weird. Not pain, just weird. It didn't hurt, so I just pushed the thought out of my head. We had a great time and made it home in time for some grocery shopping and lunch.

When the hubby arrived home from work, I headed out for my run around the 'hood. I wanted to get in between 7 & 8 miles as my last run before the 1/2 marathon. I decided to get a bit adventurous and jog the extra mile around the currently-being-developed section of the neighborhood - that would make my loop a little more than 4-miles. It sounded like a good idea at the time, but as I was jogging around the deserted streets, I realized that anyone could just zoom around the corner, throw me in a van and I could never be seen again. About that time a Hummer came zooming around the corner. Talk about picking up the pace, lol! I decided that on my 2nd loop around the neighborhood, I would not go this way...maybe 7 miles would be okay.

As I got closer to our house (a/k/a "home base"), I noticed the achilles acting up again. Again, not pain...just uncomfortable this time. I didn't like it. I refilled my hand-held bottle with the gatorade I left on the front porch and kept going. In hindsight, I probably should have stopped here. But no, I did another loop - 3+ miles this time. By the time I made it back home, there was pain. I immediately iced and took an Aleve. The pain was still there that evening, so I grabbed the 800mg of Ibuprofen that the Dr had prescribed after I had the baby. That seemed to help! I iced again later that night.

Oh, and when I came home it seemed that the hubby had contracted whatever stomach flu the kiddo had on Thursday. He even had fever, aches and chills! Yuck!

Tomorrow - bike ride after the hubby gets home from work...if he gets to go to work.

TGIF!!!

I was so happy it was Friday!!! But, leaving work early the day before meant I would be at work Friday afternoon until 5 pm. We have dinner plans to celebrate my Grandfather's 85th birthday, so no after work workout for me. I brought my clothes to workout during lunch only to remember that I had a lunchtime webinar. Drats!!!!

See, this is why I worked out 8 days in a row...because then I have a week when I can't seem to get any workouts in!! Gotta take advantage when there is time!

Luckily, the kiddo is much better now. And the baby? His God awful diaper was a fluke, because there were no more to follow. Hooray!

Rest you say???

Today was the weirdest of weird days...it all started with a big stinky poop.

From the baby of course!

I seriously think the baby was going for some kind of all-time world's record for the biggest, stinkiest poop ever! I usually get up, shower, get dressed then wake up the kids. Although they almost always wake-up before I get to them. This morning, I heard the baby on the monitor - awake and happy, just talking to himself. I walked into his room and it hit me.

worst.smell.ever.

Make you gag smell. His sleep sack was all wet so I carried him at arm's length over to the changing table, because I already had my work clothes on. When I unzipped his sleep sack, there was runny, nasty poop everywhere! At first, I asked the Kiddo to get a wash cloth, wet it and bring that and the baby wash stuff to me. Then I noticed that there is even a layer between him and his onesie. OMG and the smell...it's the 1st time I've almost gotten sick from a smell!!! So on second thought, maybe a washcloth won't work. So, into the bathtub he went! Somehow I still managed to get both the kiddos to school and make it to work 10 minutes early.


I also had a lunch meeting, which meant no spin class. Bummer too, because I was really looking forward to it...especially since I had dinner plans and needed something to make me not feel as guilty for drinking a margarita. :-) As I was sitting in the meeting, I received a call from the kiddo's school...she was having stomach issues and needed to be picked up! I left to pick up the kiddo and fortunately, we made it home right before the skies opened up and the monsoon started. The hubby picked up the baby from school and as we're getting everyone settled, the electricity went out! Good grief! Fortunately, the power came back on about an hour and a half later and DH offers to take over so I can still make it to dinner.

Dinner plans were with the group of gals that I'd be sharing a B&B in Bastrop for the Zooma Austin 1/2. Dinner plans = no swim after work.

So, Thursday was a day of rest. I enjoyed it, but I can't have too many of these!

Test your own limits and keep going.

I broke down and had a Dove chocolate square today...my 1st one in weeks. That was what was printed on the inside of the wrapper. How incredibly appropriate!

Aggghhhh!

I did my spin class during lunch and as always, it kicked my butt. Never before have I sweat so much in an hour! And the instructor insists on making us race each other...I hate that, mainly because I never freaking win. For some reason, I am always paired with the lady who has been coming to the class for 2 years. When she goes fast, I swear you can't even see her legs - they're a blur, lol! Oh well, it's good to do intervals! Oh, and we also have to repeat whatever the instructor says and YELL it...it goes something like this....

Instructor: I'm getting up this hill!

Students: I'M GETTING UP THIS HILL!

Instructor: I'm bad. I'm tough. I'm leaving everybody behind me. (emphasizing the "everybody")

Students: I'M BAD! I'M TOUGH! I'M LEAVING EVERYBODY BEHIND ME!

LOL, yeah when you're out of breath, it can be hard to yell this stuff and sometimes the class ends up in a fit of laughter. Good times - masochistic, but good.

Yesterday was also my regularly scheduled swim day. I decided to head to the indoor pool…it was raining and I wasn’t sure what the rules are at the Y regarding rain and the pool. Naturally, there was only one lane open because the rest were filled with kids taking swim lessons. Fortunately, there was only one person in the open lane! The guy in the lane was going back and forth continuously with no breaks in between, so I couldn’t ask him if we could share the lane. I stood there for a few minutes, because I honestly don’t know what proper pool etiquette is - Do I just hop in and start swimming? Do I wait until I can ask? I didn’t want to screw up his rhythm by tapping him on the shoulder the next time he came to the shallow end of the pool and did his little flip-thingy, lol. Finally, I just hopped in and when he came back to the shallow end, he stopped to let me know he was going to be decompressing his spine and would stay out of my way. Okay, so here we go.

The 1st lap was not so good…it always seems to take me a minute to get into the groove. But the 2nd 50 was better, because I was working hard to remember to relax and breathe. Not great, but definitely better. When I got to about 350 yards, another guy hopped into the lane and asked if we could do some circle swimming. No problem. I’ve shared a lane with him before, so I knew he was faster than me and I let him go ahead. About that time, the 1st guy in the lane went back to swimming laps. A lap or two later and a girl joined us and then her husband. By then, I had been in the pool about 40 minutes and decided I’d do 2 more laps and call it a day. And to be honest, trying to share a lane with so many people freaks me out and I turn into Spaz Girl all over again…this of course worries me, because I know at a tri there are people in the water all around you with legs and arms everywhere. Anyway, by the time I had finished the 2 laps, I was out of breath and annoyed at myself for freaking out.

During my swim, I came to a conclusion: I am going to have to try to find a way to get at least one more swim day in every week from now until the tri. Seriously people, I am making this way harder than it should be. Need practice and more practice!

i CAN swim

Monday, 3/23 – Swimming, 30 minutes

Only 30 minutes of swimming today. It’s not my normal swim day, so the hubby was at Hapkido and my parents had the kiddos. I didn’t want to stay too late, so 30 minutes was it. I met with swim coach, Connie, for some help. I thought I was doing okay with my form, but the breathing is what gets me. Connie was awesome! She told me to keep my head down…apparently, I tend to let my head come up which makes my legs sink, causing more drag, which means I have to work harder to move forward. She also gave me some pointers on form and later told me my form looked “great”. For the breathing, she thought I was worrying too much about breathing in and needed to focus more on getting the air out. And finally, she said to slow down and relax…jeeze, what have I been trying to tell myself for the past two months? Slow down and relax! But seriously, I did everything she said and I had no trouble swimming 50 yds with no break at the wall. She thought that I should have no problem with the 200 meters with a few more weeks of practice. And she said there's no shame in turning over on my back if I am starting to freak out or feel tired, so that made me feel a little better.

Progress! Slow, but I’m making progress!

Oh, and just a little about Connie…she’s 59 years old, but looks more like 40. She has been swimming competitively since she was 9 years old and still competes today in relay races. She has also run 39 marathons and will be running her 40th marathon next year in honor of her 60th birthday. Plus, she loves to compete in triathlons. I only hope I am still doing all of this at 60!!!

Rest

Sunday, 3/22 – Rest

After 8 days straight of swim, bike and run I decided to take a break. Church and then some good quality time with the kiddos until the hubby made it home from work…then it would be off to the mall. The kiddo has been earning money for doing different things around the house (helping mommy & daddy, going to bed on time, sleeping through the night, etc.). We picked out a toy that she really wanted and put a picture of it on the fridge. We also tracked the money she was earning on a dry-erase board on the fridge. She finally earned enough to buy the toy – a big Snow White doll from the Disney Store! Of course, she had to put part of the money she earned in savings too. ;-) Then, it was off to Luke’s for a new fuel belt…I’ve had mine for 6 years and it’s disgusting! Unfortunately, they didn’t have the one I wanted so I’ll have to check out the Houston store.

Run

Saturday, 3/21 – Long Run, 9.85 miles

Ever heard the saying, “Attitude is Everything”? I think it’s so true and my Saturday run proves it. By the time the hubby made it home from work, I needed a severe attitude adjustment about my run. I had spent most of the day at my parent’s waiting for some work to be done on my car at the nearby autoshop…it took MUCH longer than expected. Then, we had to make it to the grocery store and take care of things around the house. I was tired and grumpy and just not fun to be around by mid-afternoon. When it was time to run, I just kept thinking about how much I didn’t want to run. It was hot, I was not in the mood, blah, blah, yadda, yadda.

I finally got outside and started running only to start too fast and get winded right away. I decided to walk and almost turned around and went back inside the house, but I didn’t. I kept walking, because I knew eventually I would start running. And I did. It was hot and I was not having fun, but I kept going. There were a lot of negative thoughts going around my head and I wanted to stop and walk, but I kept friggin’ going. Not to say I didn’t take more walk breaks than normal, because I did.

I noticed that as I went on, my attitude got better. At first, I decided to quit after my 1st 3 mile loop. By the time I was done with it, I figured I could handle another one. By the time I was done with the 2nd loop, I decided that I could do one more. I told myself that I could stop after this one. By the end of the 3rd loop I decided “what the hell, just get in your 10!” By this time, I had picked up my pace and was actually in a better mood. So I decided on a little out and back that should get me the extra mile to make it 10….I must have not calculated my out and back at the end of my run correctly, because as I started to get closer to my house again I realized that I was short by a little. I decided that was okay today….I just wanted to be done!

It was ugly, but I did more than I thought I would. The t-shirts are true - running is my therapy! :-)

Bike

Friday, 3/20 – Bike ride, 1 hour

I finally had an opportunity to get on the bike again! It had been 3 weeks since my last ride. I’ve been going to spin classes during that time, but I realize it’s not the same. It’s been hard to fit in the bike rides outdoors just because of the normal stuff – family, work, vacation, etc.

The weather was perfect! There was a bit of wind, but nothing too bad. It was Friday when I realized that I had worked out everyday since Saturday…because of that and my 10-miler (run) scheduled for the next day, I decided to take it pretty easy on the bike. My quads were still sore from Thursday’s spin class, so even more reason to not push it. The result? 14.8 miles! Not awesome, but not too shabby either. I’m still contemplating buying new pedals and shoes before the tri…we’ll see! With stuff happening at work, I don’t want to spend any more than necessary right now.

More workouts...

Thursday, March 19 -Spin Class, 1 hour & Swim, 50 minutes
Another fun, but grueling spin class during lunch! I hate the class, but yet I love it.

I met Katie at the outdoor pool after work. It's so much easier to be motivated when you have someone else there. Katie is doing much better than I am about consistently going back and forth from one side of the pool to the other....I still get winded and have to take a break every so often. WTF? I am seriously beginning to wonder if I am even going to make the 200m. I mean really, should it be this hard??? I might start practicing my doggie paddle, just in case.

Wednesday, March 18 - Treadmill Run, 30 minutes & P90X Ab Ripper X, 15 minutes
I procrastinated much less than I did on Monday and got on the treadmill as soon as the kiddos were tucked into their beds. I even decided to do the Ab Ripper X afterwards. Yay me!

Tuesday, March 17 - Spin Class, 1 hour & Swim, 50 minutes
It feels great to back into the swing of things after the mini-vacation. Spin class kicked my butt, so much so that I was sore on Wed!

Swim went well, but I had hoped to feel more confident with my swim after putting some of the things we learned at swim class into practice. Instead, it seemed harder to me...something about attempting to use proper form is really hard! :-) I am still having issues with the breathing and continue to feel out of breath pretty quickly. The nice thing - due to Spring Break there was almost no traffic and there were no swim classes! I made it to the pool in record time and all the lanes were open!!!

I'm bbbbbbbbbaaaaaaaaaaacccccckkkkkkkk!

Okay, so I've been back for more than a few days now. Sorry I haven't been blogging. I have great Vegas pictures, but our internet was down until just a couple of days ago. Hopefully, I can get them all into Flicker tonight.

In the meantime, here are my workout stats since returning home:

Monday, March 16 - Treadmill run, 30 minutes
I was having motivation issues last night....I really, really didn't want to get on the treadmill! But, I eventually got off my rear and did it. Thirty minutes at a fairly easy pace. In the final 15 minutes, I decided to add some incline to about 3.5 just to make things more interesting...hehehehehehe. When did I become so sadistic? :-)

Sunday, March 15 - Swim Lessons, 1 1/2 hours
Fellow tri-girl, Kelly, coordinated a group swim class for us at FINS. The instructor, Liam, was awesome. He took us through all kinds of drills to help break down every piece of the freestyle stroke and teach us proper technique. I learned a lot! I didn't realize there was supposed to be rotation going on...that alone helped me alot with being able to take a breath without lifting my head. We did zipper arms, shark fins, catch-up, etc. Now I just need to get back to the pool and put it all into practice!

Saturday, March 14 - Long Run, 6-miles
Actually, my original intent was do run 10-miles. However, Mother Nature did not cooperate. About 1 1/2 hours before the hubby was scheduled to come home from work, the heavens opened and it started raining. And it didn't stop! Since I knew I wouldn't be able to get in a run on Sunday, I said "screw it!" and ran anyway. The 10-miler turned into a 6-miler...there's only so much of the soaked clothes and squishy shoes a gal can take! By mile 5 the water had soaked through both shirts and my running tights and I was starting to get cold. I guess 6 is better than skipping the run altogether!

Friday, March 13 - Ab Ripper X, 15 minutes
No time for a lengthy workout, since I wanted to have some quality family time after work. I did get in the 15-minute Ab Ripper X workout though...my goal is to continue doing this at least 2x per week. Oh, and my quads were super sore from yesterday's spin class...all that "hill climbing" got me!

Thursday, March 12 - Spin Class
As usual, spin class kicked my arse. But, it was needed because I didn't get any type of cardio workout in during our trip. We did a ton of walking up and down the strip, and we did a little hiking at Red Rock Canyon one day, so that has to count for something!

Scary Things!

Katie and I decided to check out a new pool venue and headed to Branch Crossing. The cool thing - there aren't hundreds of kids taking swim lessons, which means there are open lanes! The not so cool thing - you are one with nature. We stopped at the wall between laps and all of a sudden realize there is a huge spider on the pool-lane-divider-thingy! Huge. Like this one.

Seriously, the one in the pic was the twin brother of the one we saw at the pool! Fortunately, the 2 high-school aged life guards jumped into action and managed to capture the beast. Well, okay they sat there while we shrieked like school girls and eventually got up when we asked them if they could get rid of the monster. We did manage to get some good laps in once the spider was gone. But hey, when you're at the Shadowbend Y, you have to dodge even nastier stuff like big clumps of hair and God knows what else is floating. It was kinda cool to swim under the light of the moon.

I'm planning to run a 10-miler with the peeps from Woodlands Fit tomorrow. Wooohooo, runs with the girls are few and far between these days, so I am psyched about that! I am sad to be missing out on the fun with my Texas Independence Relay team, but I have other plans for the weekend..........

Best of luck to the Battling Bloggers of the Republic!!! I'll be there with you in spirit!!!

See ya on Wednesday!

Out of it...

the funk that is!

Nothing like a kick ass spin class to get you out of your funk! I have a love/hate relationship with my lunch-time spin class....I hate that it hurts and that I sweat like a pig, but I love that I am getting stronger on the bike and the calories I burn! :-)

Tonight, I'm meeting Katie at the pool for more laps!

Funk

I don't know what's up with me today. I ate all kinds of crap foods at work and I didn't run. That's so unlike me lately...I haven't skipped a workout just because in a long time and I haven't eaten so poorly in months. Ugh!

Swimming

Today I tried something a little different...I met fellow tri-girl wannabe, Erica, at LA Fitness. She's a member there and needed someone to swim with, so I took advantage of her guest pass and tried it out. I really like the facility and the best part is that there are multiple lanes open, so we weren't sharing a lane with 3 people. :-)

Overall, I felt like the swim went well. I am getting better and better at the laps, with less rest time...but I do tend to get out of breath sometimes, which means I have to take some time to catch my breath. I still want some lessons though...I filled out a lesson request form at the Y a week ago and have yet to hear anything. I did find out that FINS is having a tri swim class, but it's the week that we'll be on vacation. Sigh!

Here's my take on LA Fitness vs. the Y.

The pros:

• It's much nicer than the Shadowbend Y where I've been swimming (of course the Branch Crossing Y is very nice, but they only have the outdoor pool there)
• The pool is MUCH cleaner
• There are 5 or 6 lap lanes - which are actually open most of the time (instead of all kinds of kid's swim classes going on)
• It's 15-20 minutes closer to my house
• It's cheaper than the Y

The cons:

• It has more of a "meat market" feel that's common at gyms (the Y has more of a family atmosphere)
• They have a water aerobics class from 6-7 every T & Th, which are the only nights I can go (which means I'd have to come home first and then go swim)
• There's only one location near me...there's a Y near my work and two in The Woodlands
• If I happened to switch, I wouldn't be able to take the spin classes during lunch
• There are swim classes at the Y - something we'll take advantage of this summer with kiddo

Some pics...

Just a couple of pictures I've been meaning to share:

The kiddo and I decided to try something new for Valentine's Day, so we made "Cake Balls" which are pretty much like truffles. Little did I know that we would be spending so much time making and decorating them...but it was worth it because they were both fun and delicious. By the way, I found the idea on the Pioneer Woman's blog. The recipe is here...and yes, I did throw my normally healthy diet out the window for these!

Here's the munchkin's 9 month snapshot. He's such a cute little sweetie, isn't he??? In the second pic, he's doing his signature hand up in the air, "hey, what's up" move. He does that a lot, lol!

Weekend Re-Cap

Saturday, 2/28 - rest (postponed run til Sunday)
Saturday, the kiddo was spending the night with my parents, so I took the baby to the "Cry Baby Matinee" at the Angelika. Ummmm, that would have been a great idea had there not been something called the RODEO PARADE going on! The traffic was horrendous and I ended up just parking at Landry's, since it was the only parking I could get to. The movie was "He's Just Not that Into You". It was cute with a great cast...I recommend it if you want a happy chick flick. That afternoon I had planned to go for my run, but we decided to have some much needed family time instead.

Sunday, 2/29 - Run, 8 miles (and some change), 11:18 pace
Sunday, the tri-girls of Woodlands Fit went to watch the "Take-a-Hike Ike" tri. We learned on the way there that the swim had been cancelled - it was just too freaking cold and the water was choppy. Instead, they had a dualthon - run, bike, run. I was bummed that I wouldn't be able to see the swim and the all-important transition from swim to bike, but it was still interesting to see the transitions. I had no idea that some people left their shoes clipped to their bike and would run out of the transition area barefoot or in socks and worry about getting into their shoes as they rode away. I was also freaked out about all the rules - don't mount and ride till you get past the red line, buckle your helmet before leaving the transition area, don't forget to take off your helmet before leaving the transition area, etc. It's so intimidating because there's so much to know!!! It was also great to see the variation in the type of participant:

• the hard core triathlete
• the not as serious, but definitely an experienced triathlete
• the this is my 1st triathlon, but I'm in super shape triathlete
• the I am working hard at getting in shape, and dammit I am gonna do a triathlon triathlete

It was comforting to see that not everyone has a $10,000 bike, the shoes, clipless pedals, etc. and that not everyone was super-experienced.

After the hubby made it home from work, I headed out for my run. Rather than drive 40 minutes to get to my run location and back, I decided to run in the 'hood. Hey, you gotta save some time for the family, right? One thing I've learned from doing my runs solo lately is to not think about the distance - just run. If you think about how far and how long you have to run alone, it sucks. Instead, I just take off on the run, get lost in thought (or in music if I have an ipod with me), listen for my watch to beep (for the run/walk intervals) and go. And go. And go.

It's much easier that way.

Before I knew it, my 8-miler was over and I was back at home with the hubby and kiddos.

Some R&R

Thursday, 2/26 - Spin class - 1 hour & Swimming - 45 minutes
Well, sort of. I went to spin class during lunch on Thursday and loved it. Again, the drill sargeant, I mean instructor kicked my arse...I was dripping with sweat in the 1st 10 minutes! I met Katie at the pool on Thursday night and we swam more and rested less than we ever have. It felt great!

Friday, 2/27 - rest
I had Friday off from work, and normally that would mean relaxing on the couch after the kids with a glass of vino and a snack (a healthy one of course)....but I had back to back dr's appointments the next day and one of them required that I fast the night before. Soooo...instead, I kept myself busy by organizing my closet and had some water. Such an exciting life I lead, lol.

After my dr's appointments, I headed to the mall to look for a couple of new pairs of cute sandals for the Spring and to have some lunch. I was planning to go to a movie before my 4 pm hair appointment, but decided to head home and take care of some stuff around the house that I have been meaning to do forever - putting the baby's bouncy seat and swing in the attic, hanging pictures that have been in boxes for almost a year, etc. While it wasn't the relaxing afternoon I had planned, it felt great to get it done.

Catching Up....

Wednesday, 2/25 - Run, 3 miles, 10:47 pace
I wasn't feeling like going for a run, especially on the dreadmill. But, as usual, once I got going it was all good! I worked on progressively increasing my pace throughout the run and decided to skip the walk breaks. It felt great!

Tuesday, 2/24 - Swim, 45 minutes (lost count of laps!)
I couldn't make it to spin class during lunch due to a dr's appointment, but there's still swimming after work. I had to share a lane with 3 other people...people who can actually swim. (Yeah, the Y is going a bit overboard on the freaking swim classes these days!!!) You know what that means? No resting at the wall!!! Okay, so I did rest a little at the wall, but less that I have before. At first I was worried about getting in someone's way, which caused spazz-girl to come out. Once I concentrated on relaxing and doing what I was supposed to be doing, I was much better. Some laps were better than others though...seriously, I am beginning to wonder if I'll ever be able to swim continuously!!!!

Monday, 2/23 - rest
I should have done an upper body or core workout, but after staying up late to watch the Oscars the night before (GO SLUMDOG AND KATE WINSLET!), I decided turning in early would be a better idea.

Sunday, 2/22 - Bike, 11 miles, 14.1 pace
I decided to ride around our neighborhood, since we have a few streets where the land has been cleared, but there are no homes going up...imagine that. :o) When I 1st started out, I was on the slightly busier streets and had quite a few stops and turns...my pace was only 9.12! I knew I needed to speed it up once I got into the less populated area. For the 1st time back on the bike in over 2 weeks, I think the ride went well! Once I got off my bike and put it in the garage, I attempted to run to the end of the block and back...wow! Wow! WOW! I thought my legs were going to give out on me at first. This is going to be very interesting.

Saturday, 2/21 - Run, 7-ish miles
Katie to the rescue again! Katie agreed to meet me for a hilly 9-miler in the afternoon. It was warm and sunny...actually, it was only 63 but when you haven't run in anything warmer than the mid-50s in awhile, 63 and sunny feels, well, HOT! Jeeze, how am I going to make it when I have to do my runs in the afternoon and it's 90? I had a little snafu with the Garmin, so I'm not sure of the exact time, pace or distance. Doh!

Friday, 2/20 - rest
Thursday was quite a workout day between spin and swim. It also happened to be our company's BBQ cook off and my Dad's birthday, so between the two I knew I would not be working out!

Thursday, 2/19 - PM - Swim, 50 minutes
Thank goodness Katie met me at the pool! It's so much more fun when there's someone else there. The pool is getting more and more crowded, as more and more swim classes are being scheduled. I started off a little shaky with the whole spaz thing going on, but by the end of the night I felt like I was getting back into the groove

Going.to.die.

OMG

Today, I made it to spin class during lunch. Within the 1st 10 minutes I thought to myself, "I am going to die. Right here. On this bike." Yeah, and then the instructor said, "Tension at 1 1/2. Okay now take the tension another 2." To make matters worse, he's an ex-military guy, so we had to repeat everything he said as loud as possible.

Rat bastard.

It sucked the big one, but I survived it.

And I will be back for more.

I am such a masochist.

And tonight...there's more swimming.

Run Baby Run

The kiddos actually went to sleep at a decent hour and I took advantage of the free time by jumping on the treadmill.

I felt really heavy at first, but once I got going I felt great! The goal was 30 minutes with a nice, consistent pace. The end result - 2.72 miles, 11:01 pace. Not so speedy, but considering the lack of running over the past couple of weeks, I'm pretty pleased.

Foiled again...

Drats, for the 2nd week in a row, I was going to attempt to make it to spin class on my lunch break. And once again, I remembered that I had a lunch meeting! Grrrrr...

Back in the swim of things

For the 1st time in over a week, I finally made it back to the pool! Hooray! I was a little concerned, because I am still hacking up a lung...but, it was all good. Well, except for the sensation that I had forgotten 1/2 of the stuff I'd been working on for the past few weeks!

I don't know what was up, but the pool was uber-crowded. Once again, lane after lane of 6 year olds were swimming like they were born in the pool. Okay, maybe they were tweens and not 6 year olds, but they were good.

Seriously, I don't know if it was the killer upper body workout I did the day before (not real smart!), the fact that I was recovering from this cold/allergy/sinus stuff, or that I hadn't been in the pool for awhile, but I couldn't seem to get things going. My stroke felt awkward and my breathing wasn't quite right. But, thankfully Kelly was there and watching her helped me remember what I was supposed to be doing....she makes it look soooo easy!

I did manage to get in lots of laps...how many, I'm not sure because I lost count. Lots and lots of laps, lol.

Feel the Burn

Ah yes, it's been awhile and I've missed it so.


THE BURN

For the 1st time in about a month, I did P90X. There's not much time for it when you're trying to train in 3 different sports, but I have missed it. And, I knew I'd be getting in a spin class at least once this week, so I decided my upper body needed a good workout. I used my favorite of the dvds - Shoulders and Arms. It's great because it does a shoulder exercise, triceps and then biceps - you repeat the set and then you do a different set of shoulders, tris and bis, repeat, etc.

LOVE IT!

Cough, Run, Cough, Bike, Cough

Between the back and funerals one week, and the lovely head cold the next, the workouts have been few and far between lately. I hate it, because I feel like I've missed two very vital weeks of training for both the Zooma 1/2 and the tri. To top it off, I still have a lingering nasty cough and my runny nose returned last night. Grrrr....

Thursday, February 12 - Brick - bike/run - 40 minutes
I was feeling great on Thursday, so I decided to head to the Y for a spin class during lunch. That plan was foiled when a 10 am meeting ran long and I missed the spin class. Sooooo...I headed over to the Y after my meeting and did 20 minutes on the stationary bike, followed by 20 minutes on the treadmill. Not much of a workout, but a good "ease back into it" workout I suppose - and my 1st brick. The only problem was the coughing. People looked at me funny and one guy asked if I was okay, lol.

Friday, February 13 - Swimming - almost
I was in a training class in The Woodlands all day and looked forward to heading over to the Y for a swim the entire time. Since swimming is my weakest sport, I didn't want to go an entire week without at least one swim! When I arrived at the Y, I saw a work truck parked near the pool and the pool doors open. Hmmmm....that's strange. Then, as I walked by, I noticed that no one was in the pool. Hmmmm...not looking good. When I entered the Y, I could see the pool through the windows. Even the lifeguards were not there. Dang! Next, I noticed a nice little sign on the counter - "The pool will be closed for repairs on Friday, February 13..."! UGH! I hadn't brought any other workout clothes, so home I went.

Saturday, February 14 - Long Run - almost
The goal was to head out for my run as soon as the hubby made it home from work. However, one of our friends stopped by before I made it out the door and by the time he left it was pouring down rain (complete with thunder and lightening). I still had to make it to the grocery store for stuff for our Valentine's Day dinner and finish the truffles I was making, so again no workout.

Sunday, February 15 - "Long" run - finally!
After church, I decided to take the car to NTB for some work. Turns out that I needed an alignment, a couple of new tires and new brakes....my car was there until 5 pm! In the meantime, I was hanging out with the kiddos at my parent's house since they live nearby. The hubby picked us up on the way home from work, so I could do my run. Unfortunately, my run was cut short due to all this. My 8-miler with hills ended up just being a 6-miler in the 'hood because that was all I had time for. Oh well, I'll just call it a cut-back week and hit the hills again next week! It was probably for the best, since I felt like I was coughing up a lung the entire time!

Omigod!

I went to see Legally Blonde: The Musical last night and had a blast. The musical is cute and funny with lots of fun, upbeat songs. I only wish I would have lucked out and seen Laura Bell Bundy in the lead role....Laura originated the role on Broadway and is filling in for the touring cast lead who broke her toe. But instead, I saw Lauren somebody, who won the MTV reality show Legally Blonde: The Search for the New Elle Woods. She was good - she has the acting and dizty Elle down, but her singing voice was not quite Broadway caliber. The rest of the cast was amazing, especially the gal who played Brooke Wyndam! She had to do an entire song while jumping rope - it was very impressive. Overall, I really enjoyed the show. I'd love to see it on Broadway when I make it back to NYC, but unfornately it closed this year due to lack of ticket sales. It seems like even Broadway has been affected by the recession. Sigh.

(Oh and by the way, the 1st song in the musical is "Omigod You Guys" in case you're wondering about the title of the post, hahaha.)

Nothing New

Nothing new to report here. Yesterday, I finally felt like I was recovering from that nasty cold. But, there was no time for working out, because I had to make a roadtrip to A&M for a presentation. We arrived home at 11 pm and I was beat!

Tonight, I'll be heading to the Hobby Center to see Legally Blonde, so again no workouts!

After the back issues last week (which are much, much better) and the cold this week, I am so sick of this not working out business! It makes me one grumpy gal (just ask my hubby!). Tomorrow, I'm planning to hit the spin class at the local Y during lunch. Friday, I'll be heading to the pool...wooohooo!

It's been a busy few days...between work (including a recruiting trip to A&M), 2 funerals, 2 kids, a sick kid, and a sick me (the back issues and now a friggin' cold!), etc. blogging has taken a bit of a backseat. And to be honest, there weren't a heck of a lot of workouts to blog about. I am planning to take today off and get to bed early again in an effort to fight off whatever it is I have. Tomorrow, I'm off to A&M again and won't be home until late, late, late. By Wednesday, I am hoping to get on the treadmill for a test run to see how I do. The back was feeling better until I lifted the kiddo, but it's still better than it was.

Sunday, 2/6 - Rest
The cold started coming on late Saturday...I noticed the scratchy throat on Thursday and the sneezing and headaches on Friday, but I refused to acknowledge they were there. I just kept telling myself, "I am not getting sick! I am not getting sick!" It didn't work, because by Sunday I felt like total and complete crap! After church on Sunday, the kids and I just hung out around the house doing as little as possible. I did manage to take my bike in to be re-fitted...turns out my seat needed to be moved forward. Jeeze, all that back pain caused by something so simple!

Saturday, 2/5 - Running, 8 miles w/hills
In an effort to prepare for the upcoming hilly Zooma Austin 1/2, I met up with the girls for a run on Flintridge. For those who aren't familiar with The Woodlands, Flintridge is the hilliest street in these parts. On our Saturday Woodlands Fit runs, you'd hear lots of groans from the group if the route card showed Flintridge as part of the run. It's that bad. So, we started at a nearby park, so we'd at least have a little warm-up first. Then we hit Flintridge. To make things even more challenging, we turned into one of the neighborhoods so we could run on even more hilly streets. Overall, it wasn't too bad and to my surprise, I didn't feel any of the usual fatigue later in the day (although I felt it in my hammies the next morning). I think if we keep using this route between now and Zooma, we'll be ready for the hills! And, it was fantastic to finally get to run with the girls again...I miss all the fun conversation and the trips to Starbucks afterwards!

Friday, 2/4 - Swimming, 45 minutes
With the back still feeling a little iffy, I thought a swim might be the only form of exercise that wouldn't aggravate it. For the most part, I was right. When I was relaxing and doing what I was supposed to, the back felt great. When I was getting tense and spazzing out, the back hurt like heck. I have no idea how many laps I swam, but I think I am getting better...I paid careful attention to the amount of rest I was taking between lengths.

Updates...

It's been a rough week in our household this week, so the workouts might be a little scarce.


First, the kiddo has been under the weather with a cold. Fortunately, she's better today and was able to head back to school.

Second, the hubby's cousin passed away on Sunday. Her funeral is today and the viewing/rosary was last night. DH's cousin passed away on Sunday. She was 55 and had cancer. By the time it was found, it had spread into several of her organs. She was diagnosed the day she was graduating from school as a pharmacy tech...her lifelong dream. The funeral is later today and the viewing/rosary was last night. There were a ton of people there last night and it was standing room only in the chapel! She was a happy, fun-loving woman and was loved by pretty much anyone she met...it's no wonder so many showed up to pay their respects.

This morning I received a call from my Mom and found out that my Aunt Mary had died. She was my Dad's oldest sister (she was in her 70's). She had Alzheimers, but was still the sweetest lady you've ever met. She lived with her daughter who said that she heard a noise in her Mom's room last night. When she went to check on her, she was on the floor and already gone.If you don't mind, please keep both my family and the hubby's family in your prayers.

And then there's the back issue...much better today, but I still can't bend over to get the muchkin in and out of his crib. I will probably take today off from working out. Then, I head off to A&M for college recruiting, so no workout on Thursday either, blah! Hopefully on Friday, I can at least get in a swim...something nice and low impact for the back!

I am just ready for this week to be over!!!!

Oh my aching back!!!!!!!!!

I’ve been a bad blogger lately…one of my goals this year was to get more sleep (anything more than the 5 or so hours I usually get). So, for the past 3 or 4 days, I’ve done just that! Of course, that cuts into my computer time, lol!

Here’s what I’ve been up to:

Back Issues!

Workout Stats: Monday, 2/2 - Bike (on trainer indoors), 5 minutes

Yeah, you read that right. I got in approximately 5 minutes on the bike when the kiddo yelled out “MOOOMMMMEEEEEE”. I went upstairs to check on her, came back downstairs, got back on the bike and realized that my lower back was really hurting. I started to pedal, but realized that the pain was not going away. I got off the bike, did a few things to get ready for bed and then laid down. About 30 minutes later, I got up to go to the bathroom and I couldn’t walk back to the bed.

Seriously.

The hubby had to come to my rescue and help me, because it hurt to move my legs! I applied a heating pad and took a strong Ibuprofen (leftover from after having the baby), but it still hurts today….not as excruciating, but not comfortable either.

What the funk?

Since I was feeling a bit better this morning, I actually packed my bag to go to the gym today during lunch…we have a funeral to attend this evening, so no pool time for me. However, given the back situation, I’m thinking resting might be a better idea instead.

Workout Stats: Sunday, 2/1 – Rest Day (went to friend's to "watch" superbowl)

"Long" Hilly Run Mishap

Workout Stats: Saturday, 1/31 – Long Run, 8 miles

The plan was 8 miles, but I didn’t quite make it. I parked at a shopping center in The Woodlands, so I could run to what’s known as the hilliest street in The Woodlands and get in some good hills to help prepare for the upcoming Zooma ½ in Bastrop. I was looking for a large intersection to get to this hilly street…what I didn’t know is that from where I was at, the hilly street didn’t have a large intersection. So, I ran and ran on the greenbelt until I was in between people’s backyards! Hmmmm, this didn’t look right…but since I still don’t know The Woodlands very well, I just kept going. I had to really be aware of the different landmarks, so I could be sure I’d find my way back. After awhile, I realized that I had made a loop…so I did the loop one more time before heading back to my car.

I debated about what to do…I had only run about 4 ½ miles and no hills! I certainly wasn't ready to head home. So, I decided I would find the hilly street, dammit! I hopped in my car and headed in the direction that I had run….imagine my surprise (and embarrassment) when I realized that I had actually crossed said hilly street, not once but twice. That’s a “DOH!” moment if I ever heard of one. So, I found a place to park and hit the hills. I was running out of time, so I just did 1 ½ miles out and back for a total of 3 miles of hills…or a total of 7 ½ miles.

At least now I know where the hills are and I know where to park! What I did find odd was when I ran the non-hilly section, my pace was 11:38. On the hills, my pace was 11:07! How'd that happen???

"Long" Ride

Workout Stats: Bike Ride, 14 miles, 14 mph

I headed out for my ride after work. The weather was perfect and there were no flat tires this time! I felt like I was keeping a pretty decent pace…I still haven’t bought a computer for my bike, so I was using my Garmin. My overall pace was 14 mph, but that included stops at 3 traffic lights and a stop to tighten my water bottle cage (because the rattling was driving me crazy!). Toward the end of my ride, I noticed that my lower back was a bit sore. I thought that was odd, since this would be the 4th time I’ve ridden the bike 10+ miles at a time and I’ve never had that problem before. When I finally finished, my legs felt like jello….jeeze, I’m supposed to run after that??? LOL!

It's Official...

I've known which tri would be my 1st for awhile now, but I didn't register until yesterday.

At first, I thought my 1st tri would be CB&I. It was perfect - it was practically in my backyard (The Woodlands) and 4 of my Woodland's Fit friends were also going to train for it (and it would be the first tri for 3 of the 4!). Plus, we joined a team for training and advice - this would be Team iTri, headed by a local, experienced triathlete. But, when I went to register for CB&I it hit me like a TON of bricks....CB&I is on the munchkin's 1st birthday!

Now, I know what you're thinking...the baby has no clue that it's his first birthday. But, he has two sets of grandparents who do. Much like the kiddo's 1st birthday, we'll have a house full of family there, kiddos running everywhere, tons of hoopla to commemorate the event and the munchkin will have no clue what's going on. But that's okay...in our family, it's just what we do (rolling eyes).

So, my 1st tri will be....

TRIGIRL SUPER SPRINT!

May 10

200 yd swim, 8 mile bike, 2 mile run

Honestly, I do feel better knowing that with my limited schedule, I will only have to pull off a 200 yd swim (CB&I was 500m). The bike and run are shorter, so that will be easy peasy (with some brick workouts of course).

So there you have it - my 1st tri! If I find that I actually enjoy this tri-thing, I do plan to register for a couple more (including ones with a 500m swim).

My heroes have always been 6 year olds...

Not really. :-) But, I found out that the kids swimming 2 lanes down from me are actually 10-year olds, not 6-year olds. Either way, they swim pretty darn good...then again, compared to me almost anyone does!

I headed to the pool after work. I was prepared to swim for about 30-35 minutes, then change into running clothes for an easy 20-minutes on the treadmill.

Yeah. Right.

I did my 1st 200 yards pretty quickly...I only stopped to cough and sputter once, I only rested for about 30 seconds between lengths, etc. I did pick my head up out of the water more than I'd like to admit, but managed to get back into the swing of things. Then I got tired. I started getting a cramp in my foot, I had to stop to cough and sputter a couple more times, blah, blah....I did a couple more laps, but this time I tried to relax, stay focused on breathing, and just took it slow. Much better! Sometimes I let my mind wonder which means I forget to think about what I'm supposed to be doing and I start to go into total spaz mode. I'm assuming that the more I practice, the less I'll have to think about it. (At least I hope so!)

After another 300 yds or so, the older man in the lane next to me commented about his shoulder pain messing up his stroke. I told him he looked like he was doing okay, bum shoulder and all. After we exchanged "why I started swimming" stories (he was a runner, but had bad knees), he gave me a few pointers - let your body float, relax, breathe, the "roll" and he gave me some tips on my stroke. He left the pool soon after, so I tried to put a few of the pointers into practice - between my long chat break and the pointers, I seemed to do much better and swam another 100 yds before calling it a day. When I made it back to the locker room, I was beat and decided the run would have to wait. I swam longer than I intended and well, this swimming stuff is tiring (especially when you don't know what you're doing!).

Workout Stats - Thursday, 1/29/09
Swim, YMCA, 24 slow laps = 600 yards

*** Edited to add - It's so funny when I think 600 yards is such a loooonnnnnggggg swim, then I read Viv's blog and see her 1500 yds...holy cow, I can't imagine that distance right now, LOL! And to follow it with the bike!!!

"Speed Work"

I haven't done speed work since before the baby. Well, since I was preggo with the baby. I haven't consistently done speedwork...well, since before I started grad school. That would be over 2 years! And yes, I know you can't do "real" speedwork on the treadmill...hey, I gotta work with what I've got, okay???

Since it's been soooo long, I decided to start from the beginning. I went and looked at my old Houston Fit schedules....way back to the 1st week of speed training. The schedule called for 8 x 30/30. I did a 10-minute warm-up, 10x30/30 (added 2 more for good measure) and finished with a 10-minute cool-down. Then, I ran a little longer just to finish up an even 2-miles. It's a start I guess!

Workout Stats
Wednesday, 1/28 - 21:15, 2 miles, 10:37 pace