Step Away From the Cake

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!!!! This is actually my boss's dog but I just could not resist. Little Bear is an Australian Shepard who is 18 months old. Smart as a whip and cute as a button and apparently part Irish :) On to serious things. Today was swimming. I had planned a fairly light day; 200m warm up working on form, 500m at (what I think is) race pace, 300m drills; that was it. I did the 200m warm up and felt like I was just gliding through the water. Total Immersion says to roll and glide slightly with each stroke and reach with your stretched out hand. I was really working on reaching and rolling and just felt like I was going really far on each stroke - I like that feeling. Then I did 500m at what I think race pace will be. I didn't try to go superfast but I tried to keep it up so I was a little bit out of breath but tried to hold it pretty steady. When I finished the 500m my right hand was numb. Ummm, this is not right. I stopped and stretched out my shoulder ...

I wish but that's a whole other story. This morning was strength training. I managed to get up just a little earlier but I had done nothing last night to get ready for this morning. So I was still running around like a chicken with my head cut off. I'm hoping that by next week I can get it all together. Anyway, strength training. Now generally I work out at home with free weights, but since my room is loaded with boxes I'm heading to the Y every morning. I went Tuesday and did the machines for the first time in years - very different from free weights. I decided to start slow this week, high reps, low weight, long rests. Yesterday I was just a tiny bit sore, nothing serious. This morning I was still a little sore and debating on sticking with my plan. I ultimately did and am actually feeling pretty darn good I love strength training because I love feeling my muscles - LOVE IT!!!! So both Tuesday and today I did full body weights. That's all the strength traini...

This may ramble a bit, I have a few things on my mind today. Let's start with the swim. This morning was swimming. Sidebar: I have got to get up just a couple of minutes earlier. I HATE rushing around trying to get out the door. Okay, swimming was good. My tri in 2 weeks is a 500 m swim so I've decided that's will be the base amount of my laps. I did 500m warm up in 14:37 - slow working on form. Then I did 150m in 4:28 (I had a small crisis and could not complete my planned 500m). Next I did 100m at a brisk pace in 2:37 - I could have gone faster but I wasn't sure if I'd be able to hold up. Finally, I got to do another 500m in 14:16. Then I did 50m side stroke; 50m backstroke; and 50m breast stroke. Totals: 1400m in 46 minutes. I'll take it. I was having some issues with my goggles. I guess goggles can wear out because they were leaking and fogging and really annoying me today. Maybe time to switch them out. Oh yeah, please note the entire swim was done with fli...

Just before the alarm went off this morning it started raining. Raining super hard and the noise was incredible!!! Well, 15 minutes later when the alarm went off I said, I'm not getting up- it's raining. Also, my husband decided to take the day off - that makes it twice as hard to get up. So I hit the snooze like3 times firmly convinced I was going to stay in bed. Then, I don't know what happened, but I literally jumped out of bed and started getting ready to go to the Y. I ended up leaving the house 20 minutes late and due to traffic, arriving at the gym 30 minutes later than I wanted to, but I got there and I worked out!! Yeah!!! I did full body weight workout and 15 minutes cardio. I feel really good and I'm glad I got up. Working my way out of a dark tunnel is not easy or fast. I have set backs (like Sunday) and there are days when it just seems too hard. But every workout I get in makes it that much easier. Being able to force myself out of bed this morni...

So I go for my swim this morning. Now this is the first time I've been swimming in a week and a half what with the flooding, my tooth, etc.... So my only real plan this morning was to swim. I thought I'd just swim slow, work on my form, for like a mile or so. Well, after I started doing the laps I got bored, then around lap 8 I inhaled a ton of water and decided to take a short rest. I did those first 400 m in 11:11, I was like - sweet!! So I decided to do another 400m which I did with flip turns at EVERY wall in 10:43 - sweet!!! So I decided to do another 400m with bilateral breathing the entire time (I really need to work on this, I have the hardest time breathing to the left) and I did it in 12:28 - sweet!!! By now I'm getting pretty tired but, since that was 24 laps, I decided to do 1 more lap as fast as I could. That was 50 m in 57 seconds - I could not believe it!!! WooHoo!!!! So this morning's swim was just awesome. It really gives me hope that I may someday be a...

I was having a heck of a time dragging myself out the door. We've begun the serious packing/cleaning so my exercise room is a disaster. Then it was windy and rainy and I really didn't want to go out in it. But I managed to force myself out the door (that's always the hardest part) and once I got moving I decided to do a run I haven't done in a while. I decided to run in the park where this journey really began. So I headed off. I was also dragging and since I hadn't worked out all week I told myself I could run or walk or both or neither, whatever. So I started walking. By the time I hit the park entrance I was ready to run, so I did. I ran for a while, then I walked back along these 1.5' x 1.5' x 10' concrete pillars that are laying on the ground (I walk on top and balance like when I was a kid - this always makes me smile and I have no idea why). A rain squalll came through and I got soaked and I decided to run somemore and then I was walking for a whi...