Step Away From the Cake

I was entering my goals on the sidebar and realized that I had made an error in my calculations last night. I've entered the correct totals on the chart on the left. Check out the chart. I made that myself, colors and all. I'm also redoing my reading list but my computer was acting up so I'll have to finish that later..

Okay, no more negativity. From now on only positive things. The athlete in me is strong and I'm going to let her speak anytime she wants. The fat, lazy chick is going to get shut up whenever she pipes up.... My totals for January weren't too bad considering I didn't have a real plan just the desire to get out there. Running: 28 miles Swimming: 8350 meters Biking: 96.8 miles I'm pleased with those totals but I'd like to do better in February. My goals: Running: 35 miles Swimming: 10,000 meters Biking: 112 miles Strength: 10 hours (45 minutes 3 x week) Stretching: 15 hours (15 minutes everyday) Later I will post those on my sidebar. I think those are completly reasonable and well within my abilities. February is going to be a really good month.

Wow, yesterday was tough. I'm having these bouts less and less often and I'm pretty sure that's a good thing. I really am making the switch mentally it's just hard, really hard. But I'm getting there step by step. This morning I went swimming and the athlete was in fine form. I was going to swim 400m straight again and decided to push it - hard. I wanted to see just how fast I could swim 400m so I went for it. Plus, the last 25m I pulled some extra effort and sprinted to the end. It was hard but it was worth it. I took 1:30 off Tuesday's 400m, that's a significant increase (at least for me). I pushed the 100m too, too it easy on the 50 m, then cranked out the 25 m, it was awesome. After much mental gymnastics I have decided to post some goals for February. I'm still finalizing them but later tonight I'll post my January totals and my February goals. I'm glad the athlete is back and ready to kick some ass.

Okay, it's story time. In 1998 I weighed 225 lbs and had pretty much reached the end of my rope. For years I had been the aerobics queen and that kept my weight kind of under control, but in 1995 I went back to college and aerobics fell by the wayside. By 1998 I had gained a ton of weight and decided I needed to do something about it. I have a picture from that time of me holding our new puppy, Nala the pit bull. She has this look on her face that's like, "Please don't let the fat lady eat me!!" I keep this picture in a frame in my room because I'm never going back there. But I digress. So, it's 1998, I'm huge and need to get into shape. I start with walking. I live .2 miles from the entrance to one of the nicest parks on Oahu. The road into the park is .3 miles. So if I walked to the park in and out and back to my house it's 1 mile. I thought that is a great place to start. Do you know that first walk took me over 30 minutes!!!! 30 minutes to go 1...

I'm feeling much better this morning. I'm still a little nauseous but I can live with that as long as everything stays in their proper places. Since I missed my swim yesterday I went this morning. I did 1750 m total. I'm really stoked since I have never swam that far. I did 400 m in one shot and that was awesome. Soon, very soon, I'll be swimming 1 mile without stopping - woohoo!!!! I'm really up in the air about my races this year. I was reviewing the race calendar last night and I have found a sprint tri every month beginning in March. Now it's very appealing to do a sprint every month (and they all fall 4 weeks apart) since I've only done 2 and the thought of getting lots of experience really appeals to me. I think I would like get good at sprint distance before moving on (there is one olympic distance in June I may do, I don't know). Last year I had really set my heart on doing a 70.3 in June. I'm thinking now that I'll save that for ...

Oh, it has not been a good weekend. I've been on my back and very close to the bathroom since Saturday. Apparently something I ate did not agree with me (though for the life of me I can't figure out what it was). I have been nauseous and a frequent flyer in the bathroom. Ugh!!! No fun at all. Needless to say I didn't do my metric century (it hit me the worst on Sunday morning). I got up to go swimming this morning, feeling pretty good, but 10 minutes up and my stomach is acting up again. Think I'll pass on the swimming this morning and just take it easy. As a food lab tech, I know there is no such thing as "stomach flu." Pretty much any stomach ailment can be attributed to something you ate (I don't think a virus could survive stomach acid, but foodborne pathogens have evolved to live in your stomach). I have been going over everything I ate for 3 days prior to Saturday afternoon and nothing jumps out at me. Everything I ate someone else at too and n...