Catching up in July

I can't believe how quickly this month is going by! But it's been a great time, fun training and consistency. I'm starting to see results and that is encouraging. I'm going to quickly get caught up here. Forgive my poor editing.

Let's see...after the tri...

I wasn't sore. Not even a tiny bit. It was an hour and half of exercise. I did crash and take a nap when we got home, but then I was completely fine! 

Tues 7/2

I didn't want to take a day off Monday but decided I needed to whether I felt like it or not. Tuesday I was anxious to get back to the pool and have a consolation swim. I wanted to get back in the pool the same day of the tri to prove to myself I can in fact swim. But of course I didn't do that. The swim Tuesday was OK. From my log:

Did 10 x 50s. Times were around 1:13. Then did 5 x 100 really trying to breathe and turn my head properly. Did those around 2:38, but the last ones got faster 2:33.

It wasn't bad. In the evening we did yoga.

Wed 7/3

Did the 5:45 spinning class and then Ultimate in the evening. Before the game I did a lap around the park. Then I wore my GPS for the game to try to get an idea of how much I ran. It was just me and Laur, so I ended up running around 3 miles. :)  Some of that was walking and some was running.

Thur 7/4

Day off for the fourth. Awesome grill-out at the Gways and general relaxing time. Ian and Erika came into town and I had a good time talking with E about the upcoming tri. 

Fri 7/5

The plan was for Erika and I to go swimming! I was looking forward to have someone who knows something about swimming watch me and let me know if I am flailing like a person being attacked by a shark or look like I know half way what I'm doing. She had a few calls to do for work, so I set my bike up out on the back porch and cranked Pandora so I could have a little ride. Her calls ended early, so I only got a little more than a half hour in, but it was still something.

We met at the pool and walked right in without having to pay :)   It was crazy crowded. We were three in a lane at one point. Eventually we got to swim in a lane together. We did all kinds of things - freestyle, she taught me breast stroke, some kicking, etc. After that we went to Loveland for lunch at Paxtons and then to Montgomery Cyclery where she got some good bike shoes. It was a good swim.

Sat 7/6

4.2 mile run in the rain. It was gentle and cooling.

Sun 7/7

18 mile bike ride with Casey! It was awesome riding with someone again. We drafted and pulled. Averaged around 19 total. I couldn't pull very fast, I was really getting worn out! It was great. I just can't push by myself like that. This is what I need for the bike... I've been reading about how to split time up while training for a tri. There are many ways you can do it. One thing that was pointed out is that the longest part of a tri is on the bike. So, it just makes sense to gain your time there and be the best cyclist you can. I'm going to up my cycling days from 2 a week to 3. One will be spinning, and two will be on my bike - either a spin on the back porch or on the trail. At least one of those will be a long ride on the trail. 

Mon 7/8

Took the day off.

Tue 7/9

I was tired from work and decided to sleep until I had to get up for Lux. Then I swam at lunch, and this could have been the best happen-chance decision ever. I met Diane, a 55 year old woman who has been swimming for 32 years. She asked to share my lane. When she asked if I wanted to do sides or circles, that sparked into an entire conversation about how I don't know how to swim and how she has instructed people....... Long story short, she was immediately giving me instruction on everything. It. Was. Awesome. After I tried swimming thinking about all the pointers she gave me, I took 6 seconds off my 50 yd time without even trying. I know how I'm supposed to feel in the water now. I just need to practice. I'm so excited!!! There may be hope for me swimming yet.

Wed 7/10

Spinning was easy and intervals. I didn't wear my heart rate monitor, but it really felt too easy. I am not sure - maybe will have to start adding my own stuff in to what we do. We never progress and add gear. I think that is key to making it challenging.

And now I'm all caught up! Too long of an entry, but hopefully I'll be better about short updates going forward. There was just too much good stuff that's happened in this first part of July to not write it all down!

So Tired

So Sunday night I stayed up until 3:30 a.m. working. It was late. And it sucked because I had to be at Lux the next day. Big difference from being able to take breaks the next day after a night like that. Monday was also my day off from exercise, which was good. However I felt antsy and went on a 2.5 mile walk when I came home from work. If I didn't, I would have just crashed and then not been able to sleep later. It was a pretty good walk, though slow.

Tuesday I swam. I chose to sleep a little more in the morning and went during lunch while at work. I'm not busy there and could get away for a while. I looked up a swim workout I have on a training schedule and ended up modifying it some because I just didn't have the energy to do all of it. I ended up doing 10 x 25 yards very quickly. This ended up being 30 sec each for me.  Then I did 6 x 50 yards quickly. These were about 1:08 - 1:11 for me.  Then I did 2 x 100 which were 2:33 and 2:28.

I'm slow.

Tuesday evening I did yoga. It was hard for me to breathe. I wasn't having an asthma episode, but maybe because I'm tired or maybe it is just acting up I had very shallow breathing and couldn't do the u-jai (sp?) breath. It was a very relaxed class, which was nice.

Today (Wed)  I spinned at 5:45 a.m.  And now... I. Am. Wiped. It was a great class with sprint intervals of sorts. Seating sprints, jumps, standing sprints, etc etc. All short amounts before things switched. But man. I am so tired I can't walk fast. If I could put my head down I'd conk out for sure. Last night there were a bunch of storms that came through, so I was awake comforting Harley a bunch and just worried about the storms in general. I'm sure that has something to do with my tiredness, but I'm also wondering if I am just a bit over-trained at the moment. It's frustrating because I haven't lost any weight. I can't believe I haven't with all the work I've been doing. Maybe I'm losing fat and gaining muscle? I don't know. I'm just really frustrated about it. I suppose I should eat less. I thought I already was.

Tonight is Ultimate... and I certainly need a nap prior to that! Then I am forcing myself to take Thursday off. Friday I'll run. Saturday will be another rest day. Then I hope to do really well at the triathlon on Sunday!!!!! :)

Yoga and Spinning and Pretty Consistent

Tuesday night yoga went better than I thought it would. I set my mind to breathing the entire class. I'm sure this benefits me to focus on this, since my biggest issues with things come down to being out of breath. Maybe I should break out the clarinet too...

This morning I got up at 5 a.m. and did my second spinning class at that hour with Kathy. It went well - it was kind of a hard class. We did half the class at a fast flat and the other half of the class on a hill. Then there were variations of standing runs, jumps, and sprints. The music was interesting. There were some wordless songs that were really driving. There was a Skrillex song that was pretty awesome. I don't know what it was though.

Tonight is Ultimate. I hope I do as well as I did last week.

Race Weekend and Yoga and Ultimate

The 24 Hours of LeMons race left me incredibly sore. For the first day, there was a mirror mounted low that I couldn't see over when turning right. So every time I turned right, I had to pull myself up as much as possible, extending my neck like a turtle (a racing turtle!). It got better as the day went on and I was more familiar with the track, but my neck and upper shoulders were left in a lot of pain. The other thing that hurt pretty bad were my legs...but nowhere I'm ever sore with my legs. It was a weird inner soreness, and my hips hurt. I think it was again because of my having to really extend my legs so much to reach the pedals. And then my lower back sides (love handle area) were tight and sore. That tightened up with every turn, which makes me think I wasn't secured down in my seat well enough.

Amazing how strenuous racing is! I really start to find my groove around an hour. So the next day when I drove for 1:45, it was pretty awesome. I was hot, but then started to sweat a lot and cooled off some. I was tired but elated at the fact that we were coming into 1st place. We kept it out there - that's the name of endurance racing! I am still reliving moments. It was so incredible.

Tuesday was back to yoga. It went better than I imagined it would given my soreness and missing last week. But I think swimming is starting to kick in with helping my strength. And things like my quads weren't sore. Oh, I had a charlie horse in my bicep Tuesday morning. Never had that happen - it hurt really bad.

Sunday night as we were driving back from Joliet, I started wondering if I was getting sick. I had had a sore throat all weekend. It definitely hit Monday - running nose and sneezing all day. Tuesday I wanted to just work a half day but all the emails and responsibilities piled on and I couldn't leave until 4. I tried to sleep a little before yoga but that didn't work too well. Wednesday morning I got up at 5:00 a.m. for a 5:45 a.m. spinning class. It was intervals and surprisingly easy! After an hour of that and then a stressful morning at work, I was pretty beat but feeling pretty energized at the same time. Good thing because Wednesday nights are Ultimate. And I happened to be the only girl that showed up at first. The news that I'd have to play the entire game (in only the second game of the season) didn't make me too excited. Luckily a girl on the other team came to our team, and one of our girls showed up a little late. So it wasn't bad, but I certainly played more than I planned. I was going to try to stay out as much as possible and let the other girls play since I was sick.

Today my lungs are hurting. My throat is scratchy and I'm coughing a lot. It might be a good day to just rest a bit and recover. I am looking forward to swimming on Friday!

Yoga and An Attempt at 5:45 a.m. Spinning

Did yoga again last night, for the second time after our 8 week break. We went last week and it was really rough. This week wasn't nearly as bad, though I was having a hard time because I was really sore from...well, everything I guess. Yard work, swimming, running.  Anyway, it was a good class despite being pretty difficult. And hot. It was warm in the room.

Last night I packed up my gym bag with work clothes and all the necessities in preparation for rolling out of bed at 5, throwing on bike clothes, and going to a 5:45 a.m. cycling class. And I was very successful...except I forgo the bag that had my bike shoes and water bottle. I could have made it without the water, but all I had for shoes was flip flops. So, after arriving at the gym and getting out of my car, noticing the absence of the crucial bag, I hopped back in and went back home. :)  It sucked, but I guess it was a good run-through for the 5:45 gym time!

I thought I'd run when I got back, but my back is so sore, I didn't think I would do myself any favors by pounding the pavement. It's my lower back, sciatic nerve area. I know it's from the excavation of the grass - using the shovel the way I did. It happens nearly every time I overdo it with the shovel :)  So this afternoon I'm going to go for a long walk instead, and run or bike tomorrow.

In other news, I'm having some annoying stomach issues. For the past 3 or so weeks, I've been bloating up like crazy after eating. I look like I'm 4 months pregnant, no kidding. It's really uncomfortable and I'm concerned. At first I thought I was just over-eating. But I've had barely anything and then will have a little bit of food and wwooooooooommmmmmm. Huge. I have also had problems with getting sick after eating certain things. If I have ice cream, that usually doesn't end well. But it's been all over the place with severity, so I'm having a hard time figuring it out. Last night I had a salad with blue cheese dressing, feta, and a beer. Maybe it's the beer? I don't know. I really want to figure it out though.

First Swim

Tuesday is swim day! I didn't even have to get up that early to throw on my suit, pack clothes for work,  and pack all the other stuff for the day. I did forget a towel for showering, so I had to use a couple little sweat towels provided by the gym, but no biggie :)  Other things I learned: I need to get "gym bag only" makeup, deodorant, etc. I'm just not that good at remembering everything, so this would make getting to the gym regularly even easier. Especially considering swimming and all the extras needed for that.

So, anyway...got to the gym, put my stuff in a locker and walked out to the pool. Another change since I've swam last is my hair is longer which means swim cap. Such an odd thing to put on the head. I got my ears tucked in such a way that I don't think I'll need to use my ear plugs.

Some people don't run and can't imagine being able to run 1 mile. I don't swim and can't imagine being able to swim a half mile. But that's the distance I need to work up to. I'm approaching it like a beginner runner; starting slow, taking breaks, methodically build up the distance. I don't know any other way to do it. I can't remember how long I've ever swam. I've gotten into the 1000s of yards I believe, between some different strokes and the kickboard. But I've never swam continuously more than 50 yards. Sooooo....I have some serious work ahead of me. :)

I started this swimming endeavor with 10 x 50 yards. So down and back 10 times. It was a workout suggested in my Multi-sport training book. I tried to make it super slow so I could go longer and not have issues breathing. For the first 25 yards, I was breathing every three strokes. Then turning around, I did that for maybe a quarter of the way then had to switch to every other stroke. And then at the ened I was out of breath. :/  A lot of work ahead of me. Depending on who you ask and how long the pool I swim in actually is (yards or meters - I should ask the front desk next time I'm there what the distance is of the leisure pool), I'm looking at a distance of somewhere between 33 - 36 laps. Continuous laps. Right now I can do...two :) It's a half mile to the end of our street. So it's like all I could do was make it to the neighbor's mailbox, lol.   It is a bit daunting.

I feel fine today from the swim. I was definitely tired for the 10th lap, my form (if you can call what I do in the water having any form at all) was really falling apart. I found something about a cross-over kick for long swimming. Sprint kicking will wear you out too fast, so it's recommended to barely kick at all. I had no idea! I thought you had to kick like mad while swimming. This makes me wonder if I can breathe easier next time if I take the legs out of the equation.

We did yoga for the first time in 8 weeks last night. It was pretty miserable. But also proof that yoga ws in fact making me stronger.

Monday off, Tuesday yoga.

Well, the week's not shaping up to be very consistant, but maybe it will end with more running since it hasn't started that way.

After all the rock moving Sunday, I was sore. Even my legs were sore from lifting. I think my back was less sore, so maybe I was lifting the correct way! Bring on the semis...I'm ready for Strongest Woman Contest.

I walked a little Monday but that was it. Oh and worked a lot. If only that counted towards training. Tuesday...that's today...working is all I've been doing. I got away for yoga. It wasn't a very good class for me, but the new mat I bought is awesome sauce! Then we ate wings and now I'm going to work more. Booooo.

Tomorrow is going to be another crazy crazy day. I hope to get up and run and then get my illustration stuff off to Jamie. But the running thing might have to happen later... Ug. I need more energy.