Step Away From the Cake

Okay, I've put up a tentative 2008 schedule. The only month that's really in question is May. 3 races in 3 weekends?? I'm not sure about that, I'll have to see how things are going. If there is a choice to be made the Oly will win. This is not all the races I want to do this year by far. There is the Tinman Tri in July (I think). The Na Wahine in September. I might do an off road one in August. So there is still some flexibility and things will change as time goes on. One thing is, I am really looking forward to having a full race schedule and something really good to focus on. Maybe I should get myself a notebook computer to keep track of everything.

2 weeks from today we will be facing the end of 2007 and the beginning of 2008. It's always exciting when a new year begins. I went through this last year so I'll spare you, but I do love beginnings. 2007 was really great in a lot of ways, almost none of which are what I envisioned in 2006. My primary goal in 2007 was to lose the last of this excess weight. That didn't happen. I will most likely end the year at exactly what I started at. But that's okay. I've learned that I was aiming for the wrong things. I've learned that you can't head for a negative, you have to focus on a positive. I've learned that where my mind is is far more important than where my body is. I've learned that I have to be working towards something, not trying to get away from something. All of these lessons are far more important than the few extra pounds I carry. Last December I had plans for racing this year, I just went back and reread my old posts, but I remember ...

I made a mental connection this morning. I've been really fit in the past and I know how that feels. One of the problems I've had this year is that, in spite of my working out regularly I haven't felt a higher level of fitness. Since I started running again in October, I've been really consistent in my workouts. I've been getting in my runs, extra cardio, and strength training. For the past week and a half I've been really pushing the strength training. It's all starting to pay off. I awoke this morning with that really fit feeling. So the connection was made in my head. First, I have to build up to really fit. I have to keep at it and let the work accumulate, which it does. Also, I have got to keep pushing myself. Pushing may only register as a tiny bit harder then the previous time, but it all adds up and it all takes it's toll on the muscles. So it's taken me 2 months to feel this good again but I do and I plan to keep pushing. This mo...

Over on my sidebar, right below my profile is a new button. This is not a paid ad, this is something I'm doing out of my love for pit bulls. That company, The Unexpected Pit Bull, is selling calendars and the proceeds go to pit bull rescue organizations. Most of you know the love of my life is a pit bull. I'm very passionate about the breed and wish I could do more to help them. If you're interested in a calendar just click on the button. If you're not interested in a calendar still click the button and go look at puppy pictures. Who doesn't love puppy pictures??? Now, if I could only find a place that would provide some American tax relief I'd be very, very happy.

I'm still riding high from this morning's run. I have to be careful not to get to cocky and do something stupid, like try to run again tomorrow. My next run day is Thursday for only 2 miles and I will wait and do only what's on the schedule. Tomorrow is my easy day and I will stick to the schedule. I have worked out everyday this month so far and I'm very proud of that fact. I'm going to do it through to the new year. I'm very much looking forward to my New Year's Day 10k. I can't wait. Hubby really wants to go somewhere. He's been talking about it a lot lately. I don't want to go anywhere over the holidays but maybe early next year. Flights to Las Vegas are really cheap from here. I'm sure we could locate a cheap hotel Las Vegas is full of them. I would rather wait and take a big trip a little later in the year. We'll see. Maybe he'll forget :) Okay, so now it's out there, I can't run tomorrow and the entire blo...

I began running again in earnest on October 2nd. That puts it at exactly 10 weeks I've been running. Initially every run was great and I was just so happy to be back running. It seemed I made improvements every single run. Something was going right. Then I had one crappy run. But then it got better again so all was good. Then I had a couple of crappy runs in a row. But then I would have an awesome run and things would be good again. Well, for the last couple of weeks each run has been crappy in it's own way. I couldn't figure out what was going wrong. I was having breathing issues and thought I was going too fast. Then Saturday I ran with my HRM and found my HR was much lower than I thought it was. Which then got me concerned that something might be wrong. I really was having breathing issues and was starting to think asthma, allergies, I don't know...... I was a little worried. Watching the news last night, I saw that we would be having our normal windward a...