Monday, October 11, 2010

oh boy...climbing out of a big hole

If anyone is still out there possibly reading my blog I am so sorry I haven't written in forever. My life has changed alot in the past few months. I got a new job and moved, so I am trying to adjust to both of those. Because of this my exercise has been really slacking...read...I haven't worked out in a long time. EEEKK! Now I feel horrible about my body...not in a "I'm so fat, I look horrible, gross me" type of way.....but in a "I don't feel strong at all, I feel gross" type of way. I am going to go sign up for a gym membership tomorrow (barring any strange happenings like the ones in past week, more about this another time.) and I am hoping that will help me get motivated and get going on the healthy eating, working out system. The gym I am joining has spin classes almost every night, so I am hoping to continue training throughout the winter. I missed the tri I was supposed to do in September because I hadn't been training and I happened to get a bad cold that weekend, so I just skipped it. I was disappointed in myself but I had so much going on at the time so I let myself off the hook..I need major motivation, and I have been reading training payne's blog (as I do every day) and trying to get motivated by watching him on his journey to Kona. I am so proud to say he is inspiring to me...now if I can only get back on the "tri wagon." Anyway, that's all for now....hopefully tomorrow I will be on here blogging about my first (probably painful!) day back at the gym. Goodnight!

Thursday, August 12, 2010

In need of a Boost!!

The good news is I got the job! The bad news is my training has severely been lacking. Ever since my tri I have been slacking on my training. My sister had a baby, then I got the job, and I have just been running around like a chicken with my head cut off trying to finish my summer course and get my classroom ready and help my sister and travel back and forth to and from Boston and see Bryan and I would like to see my friends but that hasn't happened yet. I guess what I am saying is that I haven't had the time (or motivation!) to get back on the bike/feet/in the water....and I know that is a super shitty excuse...I mean if Training Payne can have 2 kids, a wife, a blog that is read by thousands of people, and still find time to party all the time, stay up all night, smoke, drink, train and rag on cowardly commentator, then who the hell am I to be complaining? So here is where all of you help me...I need equal parts sympathy (yes, we understand you are busy, take care of yourself and don't beat yourself up) and ass-kicking (get off your ass and get going!! You have a tri in a month and a half!) So...help me please!!! Thanks :)

Friday, August 6, 2010

Shippin' up to Boston...for an interview!!!

Sorry for all the short posts lately...to those of you who are still actually reading my blog. I have been so super busy, as I keep saying! So this morning I woke up and was feelling all motivated (mostly motivated by nerves!) because I had a phone interview for a job at the Boston Children's Museum. I was trying to stay busy until 11:30 when my interview was because I was nervous...and man, I think I should be nervous more often, because I got so much done! First I added color, font, animation and timings to the power point my group made. It looked pretty cool when I was done, and hopefully the group will be happy because I was able to consolidate it down from 11 slides to 6. The max for the project is supposed to be 5, hopefully the teacher will let 1 slide..well, slide. Haha...That's a bit of computer humor for my computer geek boyfriend who I love so much...hehe love you Bryan! Haha...anyway, I also applied for maybe 6 jobs and then took a break and read some of the book I am reading: Handle With Care by Jodi Picoult...she is an awesome author! Anyway, I was feeling depressed because I counted 48 jobs that I had applied for on SchoolSpring since about May, and probably 20 more that I had applied to through other sites. Thats 68 jobs, and I had one phone interview, which, by the way I don't think will be the job for me because the pay is worse than what I get now and there are no benefits...and for those of you who know how much I make now, you know I could NOT possibly survive on my own on any less. Lol. Anyway, I typed this message into facebook saying how I was feeling down about not getting any interviews from the 68 jobs I applied for. I pushed "post" and as soon as it posted my phone rang. It was the principal of a school in Boston asking me to come in for an interview! She has a 1st grade position available and my friend who used to work there had recommended me to her. I have an interview on Monday at 11, which explains the title of my post, I am going to Boston...probably I will leave early tomorrow morning and go to Bryan's parents house, because that's where he will be. Then on Sunday I will go back to my apt. and get ready for the interview. Eeek! Wish me luck! I'm going to have lunch now and then go out for a long bike ride to clear my mind and practice interview questions in my head while I ride..yes, I'm a dork, I know. Haha. I am hoping to ride to my sisters house and back, which is about 20 miles...20 very very hilly miles...let's hope I make it through the heat and humidity! Anyway, off to have some spicy pad thai for lunch...yum yum!

Thursday, August 5, 2010

Ketchup and gummy bears

The past week has been a blur of childcare-induced exhaustion. My sister had a baby last Thursday, as I mentioned in my last post, and since then I have been driving her places and taking care of my other niece, who is 4 and full of energy! I have enjoyed spending so much time with them because I don't get to see them much when I am in Boston, but I am freaking exhausted!!!! I also have had pretty much no time to train...which isn't good since I have a tri coming up at the end of September, I should be training now. I did manage to run yesterday, but only went about a mile...I was hoping for a bike ride tonight but by the time I got home from my sister's house I was too exhausted to do anything. I am hoping to have the day to myself tomorrow so I can train and get some other things done. This pseudo mommy thing is exhausting! Oh...and my purse smells like ketchup and gummy bears. Eh...I guess there are much worse things, right?

Monday, August 2, 2010

pseudo-parent

Well, the past few days have been so busy that I haven't even had time to train! My sister had a baby on Thursday, and since then I have been shuffling back and forth between her house, the hospital and my parents house...taking care of my other niece, cleaning and visiting with my sister, brother in law and the new baby. I am EXHAUSTED! They are home now, and  today I spent part of the day taking my niece swimming so my sister could nap, and now I am home. Tomorrow I have to be up early to take my sister to doctor's appointments and take the baby to a doctor's appointment. I haven't had time to train except to take my new bike out on a 5 mile ride...I am getting up early tomorrow to go to the gym before I have to be at my sister's house at 10. More later when I have more Time!

Friday, July 30, 2010

Two exciting happenings!

I see no one has commented on my last post...come on people...give me your advice!! Haha!

Anyway, two exciting things have happened in the past 2 days....the first, and MOST exciting thing is that my sister gave birth to a beautiful baby girl yesterday! Her name is Shaelyn Michelle Cargill and she is 6lbs. 11oz. and 19 1/4 inches long. She is absolutely beautiful. I couldn't be happier, I have the two most adorable nieces in the world  and I am such a proud auntie, and a proud sister. My sister is such a great mom and I love seeing her so happy with her two little girls. Congratulations Amy, Pete and Maren!

The other exciting thing is that I finally bought a bike! My brother in law Pete has a friend who owns a bike shop...Garden State Bicycle, for those of you who live in NJ, you should check it out! So anyway, Pete's friend Tim called me the other day and said he just got a used Cannondale CAAD 4 from 2001 in the shop in amazing condition. It has Shimano Ultegra components, some really nice wheels that I can't remember the name of, and it is all in great condition. I bought it from him and he helped me pick out shoes and clipless pedals. Now I am all set! Once I learn how to post pics I will be putting up a pic of my new bike and some pics from my first tri...I have just been too busy lately.

More tomorrow or the next day...too tired now to write more!

Monday, July 26, 2010

FUNtastic Nantasket!!

I signed up for my second triathlon today! It is on September 26, and it is a sprint distance in Nantasket, which is a beach somewhat near my house. I am nervous to do ocean swimming, but sooo excited to be able to get in another triathlon this season! I am working on getting a bike and am keeping up my training. Here is my question for those of you who are triathletes and read this...give me some suggestions for speeding my time up and for upping my training for this next race. I know I can finish, now I want to go a little faster. What should I do? Please comment and let me know what you think!

Oh, a big Shout out to Training Payne, who raced IMLP yesterday and finished in 10:20:20!  Awesome job, can't wait to read your race report!!

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

A post that has (almost) nothing to do with triathlon...

So...it has been just over two years since I moved to Boston, so I think it is a good time to reflect on some of the changes and some of the growth that has happened in the past two years.

When I first graduated college, I moved back home even though I knew it wasn't what I wanted. I had always had this thought in my head that you go to college and then you move out on your own. I guess in my head I had never thought about the fact that it takes a job and money to move out on your own. When I graduated I was looking for a teaching job, and all the professors at my university made it seem like we would all get jobs easily...that was bullshit, in fact I'm still looking for a teaching job two years later. But anyway, I digress. I moved home and kept looking for jobs. I thought I wanted to move to the Boston area, and my reasons were many. For one, I was born here and have always loved the area. I was also dating someone who lived in this area and we had been dating all through college long distance. I wanted to be closer to him. I also wanted to live in a city while I was in my early 20's, I thought it would be really fun. One Saturday in June of that year I was applying for jobs and I haphazardly applied to a job as an art teacher in a summer camp. I really didn't think much of it until they called on Tuesday and asked if I could come for an interview on Thursday. I said yes, hung up the phone, and then started packing to drive to Boston. I called my friend Jess who lived in Boston. She was my best friend as a young child and we had lost touch and then gotten back in touch in college. I asked if I could stay at her apartment the next night, and she said yes. I drove up on Wednesday, slept on what is now my living room floor, and interviewed on Thursday. I drove straight from my interview back to New Jersey...because I was working at a daycare center and had to be back for work on Friday. I got a call on Friday saying I had the job and I needed to be there Monday to start. I packed up all my stuff...called my friend Jess again and asked if I could move in with them. She said one of their roommates was moving out and so on Sunday I drove to Boston and on Monday I started my job. I worked there all summer and then got a job as a teaching assistant in the fall at the same school. That is the job I am still doing now.

But anyway, onto the interesting things. Here is a list (in no particular order) of things I have learned, experienced, ways I have changed, and reasons I am so glad I made this move two years ago.

- I learned how to "really" live on my own. In college I lived on my own, but my parents were kind of paying my way and I always knew it was only the school year. I feel like now I am really on my own. It feels good.

- I learned that sometimes long distance relationships don't get better when you get closer. In fact, sometimes they get worse. For 5 years I thought my ex and I would be blissfully happy when we were living in the same state, but I found out when I moved here that we were actually less happy together. I'm glad I found this out when I did.

- I learned how to ride the T. Haha...I know this sounds crazy, but when you grow up in a rural area, riding the T (subway for those of you who are non-Bostonians) is something you never learn how to do. It's an awesome thing and makes it much easier to go out in the city.

- I have changed my outlook on money. I know now that you don't have to make alot of money to have a fulfilled life. I never was the type of person to really care too much about money, but I am extremely proud that I make a very little amount of money and I have still managed to live for two years completely on my own without having any credit cards.

- I have changed my outlook on love and men. I used to try so hard to make my ex love me. I tried everything I could to try to get him to want to make time for me, to want to be with me, and to want to try as hard as I was. None of this really worked. Now that I am with Bryan I realize that if someone really loves you they will want to spend time with you, they will care about your feelings, they will want to do special things for you, and they will want to introduce you to the important people in their life. My outlook now is that if someone likes me they will call, they will try, they will show me, and if they don't do these things then, to quote the movie "he's just not that into me" and then why bother with him anyway?

- I have discovered a passion for triathlon. (The title of the post said ALMOST nothing to do with it!) I NEVER thought I would be able to do a triathlon, or that I would ever want to. When I went through a break up in March I decided I needed to rediscover myself. My friends and family had been telling me that I had lost my glow, my passion and the spark that used to make me the funny, perky, bubbly girl I always was before. My mom said that for the past few years it was like I had a dark veil over my face,  like I just seemed depressed and sad alot of the time. I wanted to do something for myself, something that would give me satisfaction without feeling like I was depending on someone else. I also wanted it to be something healthy. I mean, it would have been easy to start baking cupcakes in my spare time, but I don't make alot of money and couldn't afford to buy bigger clothes, so that was out of the question, hahaha. I decided I wanted to do some sort of exercise, but I didn't really like running, master's swimming was too expensive and I didn't really want to join a team sport. I wanted this to be an individual journey. That is when I decided on triathlon. I went online and signed up for one that day. I knew if I didn't do it then that I never would. I completely immersed myself in learning everything I could about the sport, I started training, and I started reading blogs about it (slow, fat triathlete and Brybrarobry). I completed my first triathlon on July 11, 2010 in 2:15. I am so proud of that accomplishment and I cannot wait to do another one. As much as the actual acomplishment of finishing the race was wonderful, even better is all the other things that have come from discovering this sport. I joined a triathlon group and met some great people, I came out of my shell and tried things  I was afraid of before, namely swimming in a very deep lake, running on the treadmill at 9 mph and biking 25 miles.

- I have learned what it feels like to be in a truly loving, respectful, no drama relationship. My past relationship was riddled with stupid drama, there were fights literally nearly every day, there was no trust, and it almost seemed like we thrived on the pain we caused each other. Basically it was really messed up and unhealthy. The relationship Bryan and I have is amazing. There is no drama, there is trust without question, our love is true and pure, and we are together for the reason we should be together, because being with each other makes us happy. I never realized how simple a relationship could be. There is nothing for us to fight about because we just want to be together and we are simply happy for the time we get to spend together. It feels great to be loved and to be living in the moment. I am content.

- Family is even more important to me now than ever. It is hard to be away from my parents and my sister, especially now when my sister is pregnant and my niece is so young. I love my family so much though and it is so important for me to keep up with what is going on with them. I talk to my mom almost every day  and my sister and I text all the time. My dad gets the scoop from my mom, he's not much of a phone guy! Haha...love ya dad!

I'm sure there are more lessons I have learned, but I am tired of typing for now, haha. These  are the most important ones I think, if I think of more then I will have a part 2 for this post. And yes, I realize the longest paragraph in this post is about triathlon even though I said this post had almost nothing about it in here...so I lied..what can I say, I love to "tri"!

Monday, July 12, 2010

Time splits

Ok, as soon as I posted that last blog my time splits were posted.....so here it is:

Swim: 17:49- 214th place
T1: 2:27
Bike: 1:15:31- 350th place
T2: 1:30
Run: 38:02- 3:49th place

Final time: 2:15:19
Total # of athletes: 444

I am disappointed in the run time...38 minutes is pretty bad for me, but I guess considering what came before and the fact that it is trail running that is ok. My goal for the next is to cut some time off of that run!

Randolph Lake Tri Race Report

Here I am...officially a triathlete! I really couldn't have asked for a better race...On Saturday night I was so nervous that I couldn't sleep. I know I got a few hours, but I definitely felt like I had just fallen asleep when the alarm went off at 5:15 on Sunday morning. I woke up and my eyes were sore...which is never good, and is a sign of the fact that I did not get much sleep. I forced myself to eat a bagel with peanut butter, but I had to read Bryan Payne's blog while I was doing it to calm myself down. There's something about reading about him drinking copious amounts of beer and completing hours and hours of training that was calming to me after a night of very little sleep and a big race coming up.

I left my house at 5:45 and got to the lake at around 6:20...which was good, I was 10 minutes earlier than anticipated. I was amazed by how well run the race was. I was expecting long lines of people waiting to get their bodies marked and lines to wait for race packets, but it was so well organized that I got my packet, got my body marked and put my number on my bike all in about 5 or 10 minutes. I was impressed. Then I set up my transition area. I wasn't really sure what to do because this was my first tri, but I have practiced transitions, so I kinda went off of that, plus I just put things where I thought they would be easiest to reach. I left some space at the end of my towel so I could step on it and dry my feet off while I was drying myself off and putting on my helmet.

While I was setting up my transition area I met a girl named Heidi. She said this was her second tri and she and I started talking. It was really nice to have someone who had done this before but who wasn't an expert to talk to. It's nice to talk to experts, but sometimes I want to know that I am not the only one who is nervous, and someone who has only done one other tri is more likely to remember the feelings I was having. She was great, she told me that she was nervous too, and we talked about the butterflies in our stomachs.

I was all set up and ready to go by about 7:00, so I called my mom. I knew she would be really nervous, but I knew it would still help me if I talked to her. She said her and my dad and my boyfriend were leaving the house and would be there before the race started. That made me feel good because I was nervous they would miss the start. I really wanted to see their faces before I started and I was worried that I wouldn't.

Around 7:15 I took a short jog to warm up my legs, and at 7:30ish I put on my wetsuit and took a short swim. The water felt warm, and, to my surprise I didn't freak out when I got in. Usually I get all short of breath and nervous even when I just go for a practice swim in open water. I took this as a good sign that it was going to be a good race. It boosted my confidence to know I didn't freak out.

We had our pre-race meeting at 7:45, and that's when the butterflies really kicked in. I couldn't even stand still during the national anthem, my legs were shaking like crazy and I was kinda jumping up and down a little. I have a new respect for kids with ADD because that's how I felt, like it was impossible to keep my body still. Finally the first wave got into the water. I was in the 4th wave, which was good and bad. It was good because I got to watch 3 waves and see how the start looked, but bad because I had to wait about 10 minutes before my wave went. My parents and Bryan showed up around this time, and they were taking pictures and looking at me the whole time. It was nice to see how proud they were.

Finally it was our turn to get into the water, and as we walked over the timing mat to get into the water for the in water start I joked with Heidi that I felt like we were at camp and getting ready to take our swimming test. It was pretty funny and it lightened the mood. As soon as I jumped in the water I had to pee...haha...so I took care of that before we started swimming...and when the horn went off I felt ok. I didn't panic, I didn't get short of breath, I just started off swimming. I did a few strokes of breast stroke first and then I started doing freestyle. The swim went really fast! My results haven't been posted yet, but when they are I will post them on here, but according to my family, it was under 20 minutes...which is amazing for me if that is true.

When I came out of the water I felt great, and I ran up to T1. My transition was pretty quick, although I wanted to give myself enough time to get my heartrate down a little before climbing on the bike. I realized when I got there that my bike had fallen over, and had a brief fear that I would be disqualified because my front tire wasn't standing on the ground...but then I got over that and realized no one cared. Haha...I also saw that I had beat Heidi out of the water, which really surprised me.

Once I got on the bike I took a few deep breaths and a sip of water/gatorade and I felt good. My heartrate went down and I got into a good groove on the bike. Heidi passed me on the bike. She was really trucking along. She said hi to me and we exchanged a few motivating words then she hammered on up the hill past me. I felt happy to see her pass me. She worked hard and had a goal to beat her last time, which she did. Nice job Heidi! The bike course was very hilly. I did most of my training on a bike path in Boston, which was very, very flat. These hills were killer. I knew there was one big hill called "cemetary hill" on the course, but it turns out there were 3 or 4 other huge hills as well. When I was on these hills I just kept saying "right, left, right, left" in my head and told myself one more pedal one more pedal and focused on going one foot at a time until I got to the top. I was proud that I didn't have to walk at all, I really pushed myself and it felt good. I actually smiled all the way up cemetary hill....I just decided that if it was gonna hurt, I may as well smile and try to make the best of it. It really worked. I felt happy the whole time, even when my legs felt like bricks and my muscles were so full of lactic acid that I thought they would explode.

I started eating my GU chomps around 2 or 3 miles into the ride. I was eating them whenever I wasn't climbing a hill, and Everytime I ate one I took a few sips of water. This seemed to work well for me, my stomach felt good the whole time and I ate all of them by about 10 miles, which worked out well because then I had 6.4 miles to get them digesting before I had to start running. I timed my water/gatorade drinking well, because I finished it about a mile before the end of the bike ride and during the run I didn't have any stomach sloshing. I felt good the whole time.

Once I got into T2 I hopped off my bike and started running it back to the rack. The ground was really uneven and I was feeling a little out of control so I slowed down and walked a little over to my rack. This transition was super quick because all I had to do was rack my bike, sip water and then grab my visor. I don't know how long it took me, but I felt like it was under a minute and a half.

The run was kinda crazy. I have never done trail running, and that's what the majority of this run was. We had to run out into the woods through some pretty large pot holes. The good part was that I was so concerned with not falling and hurting myself that I was focusing on skipping over the rocks and sticsk so I didn't think about how dead my legs felt. I did stop and walk about 20 steps because I just felt so dead, but then I decided I knew I would be dissapointed in myself if I walked alot, so I decided to stop "being a pussy" and I ran the rest of the way. I passed Heidi on the run, or I guess I should say she passed me...she was on her way back in and I was on my way out. We tried to give each other a high five but we missed....she said "you go girl!" and it was motivating to know I had a friend out there. After about a mile we came out of the woods and ran a half mile out on the road. The water stops were really cute because there were little kids giving out the water and when you ran by they would say "can we splash you?" and everyone was saying no. On my way out I took some water and gulped some of it down and then threw the rest over my head. That felt amazing. The turn around made me laugh because it was literally a little orange cone in the middle of a house lined street and  there was a guy there watching to be sure you went around the cone. It was pretty hilarious.

On my way back I ran through the water station and said "ok, splash me!" Those kids went nuts! I had probably eight kids dumping cups of water over me, and one kid actually chased me and when he wasn't able to catch me he said "darn, I missed her!" Haha...it was so funny. On the way back, we ran on the same course as we did on the way out, so sometimes you passed people who were on their way out. I smiled at everyone I saw and gave thumbs up to the people who seemed unhappy. I probably pissed someone off because they might have been really not in the mood for my cheeriness, but oh well..I was happy and I wanted everyone to know. So I ran back, and then the trail split and this time we turned right to go around the lake. Apparently this part of the trail is actually a BMX bike trail, so we were running over moguls. It was actually pretty fun. My back is killing me today from the impact, but it was pretty cool at the time. I felt like I was galloping because one foot would hit the top of the mogul, the next would hit the bottom and then back to the top. It was funny. I'm sure I looked really ridiculous galloping along the moguls. After that, the rest of the run was a nice shady run along a trail by the lake. I actually really enjoyed this part. I knew I was near the end, I was full of endorphins, and I was so proud of myself that I felt like I could run forever. Then I passed what I call the "triathlon papparazzi." There was a guy squatting in the bushes with a camera, it was pretty funny. He was there taking pictures of all of us as we were about 1/2 mile from the finish line. I guess this was supposed to be the "pain picture"....so instead I put my arms up like a muscle man and gave a huge shit eating grin. The photographer seemed surprised that I had so much pep, but I was totally running on adrenaline at that point.

Coming out of the woods was weird, it was a tiny little track of dirt up a small hill when we ran out, and then we ran along the outside of a baseball fence and then around and inside the fence. I saw Bryan standing at the final corner, and when he saw me he gave me a huge smile, and that was when I kicked it up and starting sprinting to the finish.

I crossed the finish line strong, and I saw my parents standing right at the fence in front of the finish line. I looked up and my mom was balling her eyes out. She said "I'm so proud of you Lauren" and I almost started crying too. I felt so good that I can't even describe the feeling. I felt like I could do it all again because I was so high on endorphins. After the race we hung around for a while while they did awards because I wanted to wait for them to raffle the bike. Heidi won 2nd place in our age group...nice job girl! Then it got too hot and we decided to leave.

I spent the rest of the day relaxing and eating with my family and some friends. It was a great post race party and I was just on such a high all day. I was exhausted last night. Today I feel pretty good. I am not too sore, my knees kind of hurt and my back is sore, but other than that I feel pretty good! My final time was 2:15:19 I think. I am happy with that. I wanted to finish in 2:15, so I think that is great! When the final times are up I will post my splits. Thanks everyone for the support while I trained...I can't wait to begin the next adventure of training. I haven't signed up for another tri yet because I don't have a bike. I am returning my bike to Caroline this week, so if anyone knows where I can get a bike super cheap, please let me know! For now I will just keep swimming and running and biking at the gym I guess...oh, and blogging of course!

Saturday, July 10, 2010

SWIM...BIKE....RUN....PARTY.

Well, tomorrow is the big day...and I am pretty nervous. I have trained hard and I think I am ready, but I can't help freaking out and thinking I am going to drown 200 yards into the swim. I am a strong swimmer, but I tend to freak out and hyperventilate when all those people are around me. I hope that doesn't happen tomorrow. I am going to try to focus on breathing slow and steady, and if I need to I will roll over and look at the sky for a bit. Those are my techniques for relaxing. It's raining today, which is nice because it has been record breakingly hot this past week, and the rain seems to be cooling down the air a bit...although it is still gross and humid. Tomorrow morning is supposed to be cool-ish and cloudy, which sounds perfect to me. I don't want it to be too hot, or too sunny...in fact, a nice gentle rain while I am on the bike or running would be wonderful, as long as it isn't thundering or lightning or pouring so hard I can't see or my brakes don't work. Can you tell I am a little nervous? Haha..I think of everything that can go wrong...but I am also really excited! I can't wait to feel the rush of triathlon, and I can't wait to feel the accomplishment of finishing the race and knowing I did it! I think it will be such a huge rush! I also can't wait to party afterwards with my friends and family. I'm looking forward to kicking back and enjoying a sub and a beer....or two. Haha...anyway, I have alot to do today, I am cleaning the house and drinking water and gatorade. Later I will pack my bag and put everything including my bike into the car so that when 5:15 rolls around I can just hop out of bed and be out the door by 5:45. EEEEK! I will be back tomorrow with a race report...lets hope its a good one!!

SWIM BIKE RUN!

Saturday, June 19, 2010

Robotic duck in Walden Pond...

Pretty creative title, right? Haha...this describes me this morning. Lemme first explain where the robotic duck came from. I had personal training on Wednesday and my trainer had me doing some crazy hamstring stuff. At the time it didn't feel too bad, but, to give you a visual of what I looked like walking around work the past two days, just picture a robotic duck...waddling around with straight knees and an amazing inability to walk without shaking my ass in a completely un-sexy way. Haha. So anyway, I opted out of the social training ride last night, as I came home from work and layed down...and couldn't really get up. I ended up rolling over, taking tylenol and sleeping. This morning I was able to get up and go to Walden Pond to do an open water swim. It was warm enough to not need a wetsuit, which was a plus seeing as I don't yet have a wetsuit. The swim was amazing...it felt so nice to be swimming with the early morning sun beating down on me. It was also really cool because the pond was full of triathletes....no one else is crazy enough to get up early on a Saturday to go swim in a pond when they don't have to. Haha. You feel alot of comradery when you swim in a quiet lake with a bunch of other triathletes...even if you don't talk to them, you can just feel the support of everyone, it's really nice. I met this guy who was swimming the same distance of me, so we kind of became swimming buddies..I used his red shorts as my sighting point part of the time haha...it was easier than looking all the way up, and he was sighting alot so I used him as my point of reference....until I passed him. Then I had to start sighting for myself. Damn. Haha...we did a triangle in the pond, so when we got to the first corner we stopped and treaded for a minute and chatted about which cove we were supposed to be swimming to next. We decided on where we were going then we took off. This was where I passed him and got pretty far ahead. I wanted to wait for him, but I also wanted to get a good workout...so the selfish triathlete inside of me came out and I swam to the second point by myself. I turned to check on him and he was fine (which I knew he would be, he was a strong swimmer) and then I planned on treading and waiting for him to get to the second point....but then I felt something hit my leg. I looked down and there was a whole school of fish swimming around my body. They weren't big, but it freaked me out. I'm used to swimming in chlorine, where the biggest thing floating in the pool (hopefully! Eeek) is a band-aid! Haha...so anyway, I freaked out and swam away as fast as I could. There I was again being a jerk and not waiting for my swimming buddy. It turned out fine though, we both made it back and it was ok. Anyway, it was an awesome swim, and it's so cool to say that I train in Thoreau's Walden Pond. People say things like "from that book?" or "Who is Thoreau? (That one really kills me!) or "Whoa! Is his house still there? He was famous...you are so lucky!" Haha...it's pretty funny when people say that because it's open to the public..they could go too...anyway, I'm rambling. Time for some food and homework. Yay.

Thursday, June 17, 2010

oh...one more thing...

one more thing I meant to write in that last post...I have been trying out different energy gels/bars/chews/beans....I am wondering what all of you who read this and are triathletes/athletes use? What is your energy "food" of choice, and are there any that you really don't recommend? Thanks!

I can barely walk.

Well, after about 2 weeks without a personal training session, I had another one last night. It was a great session, I ate some Jelly Belly Sport Beans before I went and I felt energized and strong the whole time. Today, however, is another story. My body feels like it has been hit by a bus. It's nice to know that I worked so hard that rolling over in bed or trying to put on underwear is painful, but damn, is it painful! I would ideally like to get out for a short run today to loosen up the old hammies, but I just don't have time today. I have class this afternoon and then I have to go straight from there to the 5th grade graduation for the kids at the school where I work. I guess I will take today as a scheduled rest day and will get out tomorrow for a short run.
I am starting to get really excited for the Randolph Tri on July 11th. It is getting so close, 23 days! I really feel like I am ready for the race. My distances have been significantly farther than I will have to do in the race, and I feel good doing them. I am hopeful that I will be able to finish the race feeling ok, but I am prepared to feel like shit and still keep going. Looking forward to an open water swim this weekend at Walden, and the last 3 days of work for the school year next week! Yay!

Sunday, June 13, 2010

BRICKS and GU Chomps

I just got home from spending the weekend with Bryan. It was a great weekend! We spent Friday night just hanging out having fun. He took me out to Legal Seafood to celebrate my passing the MTEL Reading Specialist exam! Yay! I had a yummy meal and we got a great lobster bib picture...classic. Haha. On the way home we saw a carnival on the side of the road and decided to stop. It was hilarious and completely spontaneous. We stopped and walked around a little, and decided we were way too old to be there. All the people who were there were 15 and wearing mini skirts or pants that were 2 sizes too big for the guys and 2 sizes too small for the girls haha! We did play Skeeball though, that was fun! We also took pictures by this ride that we decided would probably have made both of us puke if we had gone on it. It was called the "freak out." Hahah!

Then yesterday was kind of a weird day...it was long, and we kind of did alot, but we were also kind of really lazy. We woke up and went to get breakfast, that was fun, we had a delish breakfast and got some caffiene pumping through our veins. Then we went to REI so I could get a new bike computer. (More on this later.) After that we went back to his house and we called his sister and his parents because we had thought we might hang out with them, but they all ended up not really feeling like doing anything haha...so we watched a weird movie on Netflix. I think it was called "The Management" but I'm not positive if that was even the name. It was the weirdest Jennifer Aniston movie I have ever seen...haha! We also tried out some energy gummies that we bought at REI. They were called "Sharkies" and they sucked. Haha...we both felt tired after we ate them. Note to self: Don't use Sharkies during triathlon. Haha

By the time the movie was over we were both in semi-coma's from a big breakfast and a rainy day. We kinda layed around for a while and then I tried to get Bryan off the couch to do some stretching...he wasn't too happy about that. Haha. Finally we were getting kind of bored, so we were thinking of what to do. Bryan's dad loves pie, and one of the first things he ever asked me was if I made pie. He was amazed that I said I know how to make key lime pie, so yesterday we decided we would make a key lime pie and bring it to his parents' house which is about an hour away from Bryan's apartment. We decided we wanted to make something else too, so we went with coconut macaroons because we thought it went well with the key lime tropical theme hahaahaha! We laughed for a while then we went to the store to get the stuff to make the pie and macaroons. I said we should just get key lime juice, but Bryan saw real key limes and decided he wanted to "squeeze those limes!" So we bought those. He was pretty hilarious standing at the counter squeezing these tiny limes...it took forever just to get 4 oz. of lime juice...but he was a man about it, because after all, there's no crying in lime squeezing. Haha. My challenge for the night was to make homemade whipped cream without an electic mixer. I think I got an arm workout from whisking for so long. Anyway, the pie came out great, his parent's loved it, and we had a great time at their house!

Today we went shopping and out to lunch with his family, and his mom made us pumpkin waffles in the morning. Those were pretty amazing. We played scrabble last night and his mom won...she managed to use all 7 letters to make the word decanter and get a bonus 50 points! I was impressed! Today we also played boggle...that was pretty fun, I love playing board games!

I had a really great weekend, and I'm not looking forward to starting another busy week. I better get to bed soon, but before I do, I have a little training info to share too. On Thursday afternoon my class was canceled, so I decided to take advantage of that and go for a long BRICK. I went for a 25 mile bike ride and then I ran a 5k. It was really great...I felt so good, and I got to test out my race day nutrition. I ate a packed of orange GU chomps while I was on the bike, and I really noticed the difference in my energy level. My energy picked up immediately and lasted throughout the bike and run. I was pretty happy with that. I didn't have any digestive issues with them either, so that's good. I bought some other energy options at REI yesterday, so I plan to try those out in the next two weeks and see which I like best for my race day nutrition. I decided I will use some sort of energy "food" during the race because it made me feel so much more energized the other day, and I don't see how it could hurt me as long as I pick something that doesn't bother my stomach and something I can eat easily on the bike. Anyway, I was pretty damn happy that I was able to do that long of a brick. I hope to do another one this week sometime.  That's all for now! Goodnight everyone..

Monday, June 7, 2010

Things I Learned This Week...

Here is a list of things I have learned in the past week or so:

1) A marathon is no longer a ridiculously crazy thing that only "crazy athletes" can do...I actually can see myself running a marathon sometime in the future.

2) I LIKE running. What the hell is that about!? I have always hated running!

3) When running up a large hill, it is best to do one of three things: 1) blog in my head...this solved two problems...I don't have to think when I blog later, and I get up the hill without thinking about it. 2) Stare at the sidewalk about 5 feet in front of me. This keeps me from staring up the hill and thinking about how much further I have to go. 3) Practice chords on the air guitar...haha...this sounds hilarious, but really, it works! Today I was practicing what Bryan taught me this weekend, and I got up a big hill before I even really thought about it!

4) I can run faster and farther than I ever thought I could. Last week I ran 6.5 miles, and today I ran 5km in 30:30. That is a minute and a half faster than I ran the same course a month ago. I am impressed with my progress. Go me!

5) Cold beer tastes amazingly wonderful after biking 20 miles. It's like an orgasm in your mouth. There is no other way to describe it. Oh, and triathletes will find any reason to "carbo load" with Bertucci's bread...even if it means pretending we need it after riding only 20 miles. Haha!

6) A few months ago a "short run" meant like 2 minutes of running and then walking for 10 minutes. Tonight I only had time for a "short run" and it was 3.2 miles. I find that pretty F*$#@#$ amazing.

and last, but not least....

5) When given the choice between running now or running at 5 AM tomorrow, I will always pick now. 5 AM and I are not friends.

Saturday, June 5, 2010

Finally time to blog...

Well I finally have some time to blog...so the other day I ran 6.5 miles...which was amazing for me! The furthest I had ever run before that was 4.5....so this was a huge jump! Last night I went on a training ride with my triathlon group, and that was fun too! My training is going really well, and I love belonging to Triumph Triathlon because it gives me people to talk to about triathlons...I mean, I'm sure my family, friends and boyfriend never get sick of hearing about it (haha) but it's nice to have people who understand when I say things like "my ass was so sore I could hardly walk after that run yesterday" or "I don't think I fueled right before that ride, my stomach was churning and I had no energy." Haha...these are things that people who aren't triathletes just don't quite understand. Lol. Not to mention it's awesome to have people to chat with while drinking Sam's Summer and eating pasta and bread. It was funny last night, we all went to Bertucci's and if you saw us from across the room you probably would have thought we had just undertaken some serious workout...we were crowded around the table, wearing spandex bike shorts and jerseys. We ordered a round of beer and water...haha...and then the bread came and we started gorging ourselves on carbs. Haha...you would have thought we were carbo loading for an Ironman...but in reality we had only ridden 20 miles. Haha....it was pretty hilarious to see triathletes gathered around a table on a Friday night.

On other fronts, I am trying to decide whether I want to carry an energy gel or some energy chews with me on the bike during my tri. I have read some things about people saying they didn't need any nutrition other than water and gatorade during a sprint, and other people say they needed a powerbar or energy gel...so when I do a brick this week I am going to try taking a couple energy chews and see how I feel. I think I will only need a half a packet of GU chomps if I decide to use those, or maybe one energy gel if I decide to use that.

That's pretty much it on the training front....time to go get some cleaning and homework done!!

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Holy sh#%.....

....I just ran 6.5 miles!!! More on this later...now I have to get ready for my date...just couldn't wait to post this though!

Goal for today...

Just a quick post....I am going to try running about 5 miles today. This is the furthest I have ever run, and if I do it I will be soooooo happy! I figured if I write it down it might be more attainable and force to actually do it. Go me!! As Bryan Payne said in his latest post "suck it up and stop being a pussy!" This is going to be my mantra today as I run in the 80 degree weather. Hahah! Thanks for these words of wisdom Training Payne!!

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Sushi for dinner and being truly happy :)

Well here it is, probably 5 or 6  days since I last blogged...sorry again...life is just getting in the way of blogging! In fact, I have so little time these days that I am multitasking (no Bry, I'm not pumping gas and talking on the phone! Haha) but I am stuffing my mouth full of sushi as I blog. Haha...anyway...the training took a bit of a back burner this weekend because I spent 18 hours driving, and probably far fewer sleeping. Last week I stayed out until almost midnight every night of the week...hey, that's what happens when you are dating a sweet guy :) and I still managed to get most of my training in. This weekend I just couldn't do it. I had other things I had to get done like babysitting and seeing friends and family. As important as training is to me, the people I love will always come first...and thats what happened this weekend. But, today I climbed back in the saddle (or should I say the pool) and swam 1000 yards...or for those of you who don't swim...40 laps. It felt great to be training agian, and I am really looking forward to a 4 or 5 mile run tomorrow. Wow...never thought I would hear those words come out of my mouth...crazy! Haha...I am also excited because I get to see Bryan tomorrow and we are going to get strings for my guitar so I can master ode to joy and be a rocker chick! Hahah....ok...maybe not a rocker chick...but ode to joy is a start...right? Haha. Anyway...I cant believe the triathlon is 39 days away..that's pretty scary for me...but I think I have trained hard so far and plan to continue..and I have alot of people saying they are going to come support me...so I am really getting excited! If this month of working full time, going to class 3 nights a week, training for a triathlon and spending time with my wonderful boyfriend so he doesn't decide to dump me, then I will be in good shape come July! Anyway...the sushi is almost gone, and I don't have much else to write, but I will try to write again  tomorrow.

Oh! One more thing...I saw a guy I know from my triathlon group tonight at the pool. It felt great to see someone I know, it made me feel like an athlete and like part of something bigger. It was awesome.   :)

I can honestly say I haven't felt this happy in a LOOONG time.   :)

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

sorry!

So sorry that it has been forever since I last blogged!!! I promise I haven't given up on triathlons, I am still goin strong! In fact, this weekend I ran 4.5 miles in 48 minutes. This is the farthest I have EVER run, so that was pretty awesome! I also had personal training on Monday and my trainer had me running intervals on the treadmill that got up to 8.5! I'm not sure how fast this is in mph...if anyone knows, let me know, but I do know it's f*#$ing fast! Haha. He then had me doing squats, and today, 2 days later, I can hardly walk. I think I look like a duck. It's pretty hilarious actually! Haha. I have been so busy running around the city having a social life...with my new boyfriend :)  Things are great with him and I am super happy. We are having so much fun getting to know each other better while we explore the city. He's like my personal tour guide..he takes me all these places I haven't explored yet. It's great :) I know some people are worried that now I won't make time for my training or that I will just give up...but fear not doubters! I am in the world of tri for good! I love the sport and I am not going to let my social life take me away from my passion for this sport. This is something I am doing for me...and one thing I like so much about my new guy...he enjoys talking about...well, it's mostly me talking about triathlons. Haha...I think I am slightly obsessed with this sport...it's kinda funny. People who know me know by now that if they get me started I am gonna talk for a long time...it's amazing how interesting wetsuits and running shoelaces can be. Haha! I was reading Brybrarobry's blog and he is collecting money for his beer fund. Haha...I think this is an awesome idea, he just added a paypal spot on his blog and people can donate money. I want to do this too, but not for beer. I really need a wetsuit and I need to start saving for a bike if I am going to stay with this sport...which I plan on doing. I only have 9 followers though...so I don't really think I have enough people reading my blog to actually raise money for anything. So, here is my shameless sales pitch for my blog:

Help out an aspiring triathlete with big dreams and a small wallet! After all, I spend my days shaping the minds of the young people of our society...some may call this being a teaching assistant. I call it a great job that pays shit. If you donate to my blog I will thank you....I don't have much to offer in terms of prizes or anything, but I would be happy to send you a beautiful commemorative photo of me using the equipment I buy with your money! I will even throw in a free bike ride or walk with me and an afternoon filled with laughter and smiles...what could be better than donating your hard earned money to a young triathlete and getting nothing in return? Haha! Donate now...or maybe I should say donate as soon as I can figure out how the hell to get a paypal thing on my blog...and expect your commemorative photo within several years of your donation date! I am accepting cash or check sent to my house...email me for the address, or credit card donations on the blog...again, once I can figure out how that shenanigans works.

Hmm...well, it worked for Bryan Payne...perhaps it will work for me too?

Monday, May 17, 2010

Chugging right along...

Well, as I said in my last post, last week was very crazy. I had an awesome weekend though to end the crazy week, so that was good. After finally getting my cake done, I spent Friday night at my friend's house hanging out while her daughter had her birthday party. That ,fun. On Saturday I slept in a little and then I hung out around the house cleaning and having a kind of "relaxing" day. I also went swimming on Saturday and then I went to a graduation party and out to a movie. Sunday I woke up early for practice with Triumph Triathlon. We were supposed to do a mock tri, but Walden was closed for swimming, so we just did the bike and run legs. I bikes 13 miles then ran about 3 1/2. I was happy with that, seeing as I have never run that much and biked that much all in one day. I went home and took a nice nap, I needed it after getting up early! Then I went out kayaking with someone I have recently starting hanging out with. We had alot of fun and then we had dinner and watched this crazy movie that had an all women cast! I have never seen a movie with all women...although the movie was called "The Women," so I guess that makes sense! Haha...we kept looking to see if anyone was a guy...but they were all women, the cab drivers, waitresses, people walking down the street. It was pretty funny to see that! Anyway, start of a new week today, and I don't have too much planned for the week, which is kind of nice...I have been super busy so it's nice to have a week where I don't have too much to do. Who knows what will crop up for me to do, but it's exciting to think I have some free time to do what I want with.  :)

Saturday, May 15, 2010



Busy week...

This week was super crazy, which is why I haven't blogged in a long time. I haven't had any time to sit and collect my thoughts! Monday I had personal training and then I went out to dinner after...Tuesday I went to the Red Sox game...Wednesday I had grad. class and had to bake a cake....Thursday I had tutoring and had to start decorating the cake...and Friday I had to finish decorating the cake and then bring it to my friend's house. Add into that trying to get my training in and going to work every day, and you can probably see why I haven't had a chance to blog!

Anyway, the week was overall a good one though. I got to have some fun, and I got to get some stuff done. Today I am cleaning...yay....and then going to a graduation party tonight, so that should be fun too. I will go running today and possibly bike too....I haven't done my brick for the week, so I might do that. Tomorrow there is a training session at Walden Pond, so I might go to that, but I don't have a wetsuit, so I don't know if I will do the swim part. Anywho, I better get started on my cleaning before I lose my motivation and go back to bed! Here's a picture of the cake I made. Sorry it's sideways...I'm still learning how to do this blogging thing! Haha!


Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Personal Training

I had personal training last night...finally! After both of us having to cancel a few times, we finally got it together...and my trainer can be happy (or freaked out..haha) to know that he was the first person I thought of this morning, because I rolled over and sat up to get out of bed, and I felt like aliens had abducted my entire body and replaced with it that of a 90 year old. I'm really sore, but I guess that's good, and kinda the point. Haha. Anyway, once again I'm writing this before work because I don't think I will have time later. This week is super busy. I am taking today as my rest day for the week for 2 reasons. First, I am sore and want to let my muscles properly recover...and second, I am super busy today/tonight and have no time in my schedule anyway to work out.

Monday, May 10, 2010

M.O.M's run 5k road race

Yesterday I ran the M.O.M's run 5k road race. I had set a goal for myself of coming in under 32 minutes. I ran hard the whole time and felt good pretty much the whole time, except when I was running up the big hill! Haha....but...I made my time! My final time was 31:57. Haha...I made it by 3 seconds! I am so happy that I reached my goal, and I am proud of myself because I see a difference between my running a few months ago and my running now. Not only am I faster, but I am also better able to think about how I am feeling during the run and adjust accordingly. In the past I would have just said to myself "I feel tired" and I would have slowed way down or walked...now, if I feel like crap I slow down for a few seconds, catch my breath, regroup and then speed back up, or I just run through it and it usually goes away. It's pretty cool to be able to do that now. Anyway, sorry this is a short post, but I have to get to work!

Saturday, May 8, 2010

pissed off running...

I took my MTEL exam today...I think it went ok. After that I sat around for a while and watched the end of Bride Wars and the beginning of Angels and Demons. Then I decided I better get my bum to the gym before it closed.
I went to the gym and got myself really pissed off about a certain someone and I started running. I allowed myself to think about all the things that have been pissing me off and disgusting me, and I ran so fast and so hard the whole time, it was awesome. I guess I have a strategy for the race tomorrow...GET PISSED! My goal for the race is to come in under 32 minutes. Yes, I know this sounds super slow to most runners, but I have never run a race under even 33 minutes, so to be under 32 would be great for me! Ok, gotta run, dinner with a friend!

Friday, May 7, 2010

forgot the important part!!

Wow...how could I forget this important part of my post!?? I had 2 pretty cool things happen to me tonight. First, I was riding along the path, taking in the scenery, and I happened to look down for a second. As I looked down, right in front of me, in white spraypaint on the pavement was the word KONA. I had to giggle and think, could this be a sign of things to come for me? It was pretty neat, totally random, and made me smile. Who knows, maybe even I could make it to Kona someday.

The other thing that happened was I got in the car ride after my ride to go to the Summer Shack, and turned on the radio. The first line of the first song that was on was "my best days are ahead of me..." Now obviously both things that happened to me were complete coincidences, but it was a nice boost to think...yeah, my best days are ahead of me...and I'm going some place. It was pretty cool. I think I'll go back someday soon and ride over that KONA spot on the bike path...who knows, maybe it's a sign. :)

turning anger into productivity

Well, I had some pretty miserable/frustrating/piss-me-off news last night on the boy front. I wont go into details here because I don't like to talk about people in a bad way on my blog. Let's just say I am now an angry, cynical, bitchy woman. And people wonder why women are crazy...it's the damn men, they drive us to be crazy...or to drink, whichever comes first.

SOOO, anyway, after spending all day with a stomach ache...this time emotion-induced instead of stomach bug induced, I came home from work and crashed into bed for a 2 hour nap. I was supposed to go out with work friends for a "first Friday" celebration after work, but I was too emotionally and physically exhausted...after all, I hardly slept last night and woke up an hour early this morning only to lay in bed and pout.

After my nap, I got myself out of bed, and pulled on my bike clothes. Before I go on, let me just say this, there is something magical about bike shorts and tight spandex shirts. They make you feel like an ironman...even if you are like me and are just becoming athletic...as soon as I put on my spandex, my muscles feel tight and I feel damn good. So anyway, I put on my clothes and (by this time I'm late!) ran out the door to meet up with my triathlon group for a bike ride. I have been nervous about this ride all week...it was 22 miles, which is more than 2 times as long as any of my training rides so far. The longest ride I have done yet is 10 miles, so, needless to say, I was freaking out about possibly not finishing the ride. I didn't want to be that girl waiting at the restaurant when everyone else was out doin their thing...although my group is so great that they would have been totally happy even if I did do that.

Anyway, long story short, the ride was AMAZING, it was super easy, (mostly flat), and I easily finished the whole thing. The biggest problem I had was that by the end it was getting cold and I was wearing a tank top. I met 2 awesome women, and we ended up chatting the whole time we were riding, and all through dinner. After the ride, we all went to the Summer Shack, a yummy seafood place and had dinner and a beer. Let me say this, and I think you can all agree, never does beer taste better than after a good workout. There's just something about the cold, bubbly taste of beer when you are tired and your muscles have been worked hard. Mmm...I wish I had some more beer now. Haha...anyway, I chatted with my 2 new friends all through dinner. I shared a yummy grilled calamari appetizer with one woman, and then I had a broiled fish sandwich for my meal. I topped it all off with a tall Sam's Summer....mmm, delightful. Now it's about 11:30 and I'm ready for bed.

I'm pretty bummed because our open water swim at Walden Pond was cancelled for tomorrow due to a 70% chance of thunderstorms. Booo...I guess that means I will be swimming in the pool tomorrow. In the afternoon I am taking my MTEL (teaching exam for reading specialist)...I am pretty nervous, but I guess there isn't much I can do now other than get a good night's sleep.

Thursday, May 6, 2010

Not bad for a sick day...

So....being the new triathlete self that I am these days, by about 2:45 I was bored of being sick, and I was feeling somewhat better...I was at least able to eat lunch and not feel nauseous after, so I took that as an improvement. Judging by the length of this sickness and how I felt, I would say it was a minor case of the 24 hour bug. Anywho, back to 2:45, I was bored with being sick, so I decided I would go running and see how I felt. I was feeling ok, but felt weak, probably since I haven't been eating too much the past day or two. I decided I would run the flats and the downhills and I would walk the uphills. This worked well, and I ran the 5k course I have been running lately in 38 minutes. This is not bad at all considering I probably ended up walking about a mile of it. My walk was very slow too, It was by no means a power walk! Haha. Anyway, time to go relax now.

sick day!

I stayed home from work today. After feeling really nauseous and sick all day yesterday, and not falling asleep until really late because of it, I just decided why torture myself and pop pepto bismol just to get through work when I still have about 5 sick days left for the year? So, I stayed home. I ate a yogurt when I first woke up around 7, then started feeling nauseous again so I went back to bed. I slept until 10, woke up, and felt hungry. I ate an english muffin with peanut butter...felt ok, still kind hungry, so I ate a banana. That was about 20 minutes ago and so far I feel ok..not nauseous yet. Let's hope I am getting better. I really dont want to miss another workout today, so I am hoping this was some sort of 24 hour virus and that I will keep feeling better as the day goes on.

Bryan posted something really inspiring today. His post is all about enjoying the experience of triathlon instead of thinking of the actual race as a destination. He talks about how when he was preparing for Ironman China, he didn't drink beer, he didn't eat crappy foods, he trained a ton, and then he had the worst race of his life because he got a virus/food poisoning and had to DNF. Then he trained for IMSG, and he drank beer, ate some crappy food, trained less and enjoyed the experience, and the race was amazing! He talks about how he feels like this was a good lesson for him to learn, because now he knows to enjoy the experience and not just think of the tri as a destination. If you want to check out his actual post, where this whole thing is written much better, check it out here: http://trainingpayne.blogspot.com. Bryan is probably going to start thinking I am stalking him because I keep mentioning him in my blog and saying to go read his post. I hope you don't mind Bryan, I just find your blog inspiring and want to share it!

Anyway, my plan for the day is to relax for a few more hours...see how I feel. Then if I feel ok I plan to either take a slow jog or slow bike ride. I also have aerobics tonight, so if I don't feel good enough to workout earlier, at least I will get some exercise in aerobics. Let's hope this goes as planned!

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

bummer....

So, I had to cancel my training session today. I just feel sick. My stomach has been bothering me since last night...I have been able to eat a little, but I pretty much feel constantly nauseous, and I didn't wanna toss my cookies in front of the trainer! Haha...but I was totally bummed that I couldn't train. I guess this will force me to take a day off this week though, as the rest of my week is pretty jam packed with exercise...tomorrow is either a bike or run and aerobics, friday is a long bike, saturday is early morning swim at walden pond, sunday is the MOM's run 5k road race....so I guess perhaps this is a good thing??

Eeek...I have to present tonight in class and I am FREAKING OUT...I have no clue what to say about this stupid paper I wrote. Ugh!

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

BRICKS!!

Well, the water boil order was finally lifted...yay for clean water! I mean come on...I live in Boston, I love that dirty water..haha...but clean water is nice! So, today was my first BRICK workout...it was awesome! Unfortunately I spent the ENTIRE afternoon after work online looking for bikes on craigs list...haha...so by the time I was ready to work out it was about 5:15 and as I was putting on my shorts the clouds rolled in and it started thundering. Sweet. So much for a nice outside brick workout. I was kind of dreading going to the gym, yesterday it was so hot in there and I was really looking forward to working out outside today. I guess that will teach me not to spend all afternoon searching craigslist :( But anyway, triathletes must persevere...so I headed to the gym to cycle and run on the machines.

I started feeling kind of nauseous when I was cycling..I ate a Luna bar about 20 minutes before the gym...not sure if this is the culprit or not, but I just kept on going, taking deep breaths whenever I felt nauseous. The ride was actually awesome despite feeling kind of sick the whole time. I was sweating like crazy, working my legs hard, but still keeping my heart rate totally aerobic. It was great! I rode 8 miles in 30 minutes...not bad for me.

Then I hopped off the bike and headed to the treadmill. I ran for 10 minutes like my training schedule said, then I walked for 20 minutes. I wasn't so nauseous anymore, but I was having stitches in my sides while I was running and walking. I don't know why, probably gas...haha...but I realized something while I was walking. My mentality has COMPLETELY changed. Two months ago I would have said "ugh, I don't feel good, I'm going home to nap." Tonight I said, "shut the hell up Lauren, a few cramps is not the end of the world, keep moving your ass!" It's pretty crazy that someone's mind can transform like that so quickly...pretty awesome too!

I also noticed how much my running ability has improved. I have gotten to the point where I can monitor myself while running. By that I mean that it used to be that when I was running, all I could think about was how much this sucked. I have noticed lately though that I am thinking about my heart rate...is it stil aerobic? Do I need to control my breathing? I'm also thinking about my form...are my shoulders relaxed? Am I trying to keep my feet hopping off the ground as quickly as possible? Am I "sticking my butt out" and relaxing my back? It's pretty neat to be able to think about all this stuff while running...definitely an improvement.

I also am able to push myself to run harder. Despite my cramps today I pushed myself to run a few intervals at 6.0 (which is the pace of a 10 minute mile...fast for me), and I ran the last 30 seconds at 6.2. I was proud of that.

During the walk I got super bored. My music just wasn't keeping me occupied, so I started playing with the incline on the treadmill, increasing it by .5 every 30 seconds. I got up to an incline of 9 before my time was up. It kept me occupied and gave my glutes a nice workout. This is another change in my psyche...the fact that I am bored walking is pretty cool.

My stomach is still not feeling perfect tonight...just kinda crampy, but I am proud of myself for still getting a hard workout in. I was soaked with sweat after my workout, and that felt damn good! Tomorrow I have personal training...yay!!

Monday, May 3, 2010

I am actually excited about a running race....

....which is weird since I usually hate running. I am actually enjoying running lately..well, not today because for some reason my legs felt like they had lead in them. I think it is from A) being tired because yesterday I put all three events together in a hard workout, and B) it was a billion degrees today and my body isn't used to the heat yet. Every step of my run today felt like I had to tell myself "step" "step" "step". Even just walking, which I eventually ended up doing, was hard. I just had no strength in my legs. I guess it's to be expected, I am training hard 6 days a week and yesterday was a super hard workout. I am really getting sick of this water boil order...it's just an extra problem to deal with. Making dinner tonight was difficult, and doing the dishes is even worse. Anywho, I'm tired tonight and I don't really feel like writing too much...more tomorrow!

Sunday, May 2, 2010

I "tri"ed today!!

Ok, I know the "tri" jokes are getting old, but I just think it's hilarious...more proof of my turning into a complete dork. Haha. Anyway, I wanted to update about my early morning training this morning.

I took tylenol PM last night at around 8:30 because I didn't feel tired but I knew I needed some sleep if I was going to be able to drag my butt out of bed at 5:15. Well, in what seemed like 5 minutes, my alarm went off. Let's just say the tylenol PM was still pumping through my body...it was kind of a hazy wake up. After getting dressed and eating a bagel with PB, I headed out to Walden Pond. I brough along my bottled water, since I couldn't prepare my own bottled water because of the boil water order I just had to make sure the water bottle I bought fit in my cage on the bike. Luckily it did. I got to Walden around 6:30, thinking other people would be early to set up too. Turns out this wasn't the case.

I was the only one there for about 10 minutes, then this other guy came, and we chatted a bit while we waited. After driving around to about 3 different parking lots while adding more people to our group, we finally found the right parking lot and headed down to the swim start. Luckily the leader of the group, Barry, had an extra wetsuit that I managed to pull onto my body. Barry is much thinner than me, so it was kind of a struggle to get the suit on, but once it was on it felt very comfy, and it kept me warm on the swim so I was happy about that!

So after I got the suit on and had Ruben help me set out my transition area, Barry explained what we were going to do. He had set up bouys to make a short course...only about 200 yards. The plan was to do the swim three times...the first 2 would be practice and to get used to the cold water...the third was going to be the "real" thing...well, as real as you get when it's just practice.

We all put on our double layers of caps and headed into the water. Barry yelled go, and we all went running. This was my first mistake. I dove forward and started swimming. No sooner had I put my face in the water and taken 2 strokes than I started feeling like I was hyperventilating. I wasn't expecting this...when I swim in a pool I am completely calm, in fact I love the swim so much because I feel so relaxed during it. I knew open water swimming in a group would be different, but this scared me. I struggled through the first swim, stopping to tread water several times, and focusing much more on just breathing than on my stroke. I ended up near the back of the back, and when I climbed out of the water it took a few minutes to get my breathing back to normal. I talked to a couple people about this sensation, and the consensus was that this is normal, it happens to most people most of the time, and the cold water certainly doesn't help. It also didn't help that that was my first open water swim and my first time swimming in a wetsuit. Let me just say I am SO GLAD I had the chance to feel that before the race. I think I would have freaked out if that happened in a race and it had never happened before. Now I know to expect that feeling.

The second swim was a bit better. Some people gave me suggestions for things to do if I feel panicky or short of breath. They suggested rolling over on my side or back and looking at the clouds for a few strokes, this is supposed to be calming. They also said I should sight for 4 or so strokes, which is good to know, I was only sighting for 1 or 2 strokes. One person gave me the best suggestion, she said to go when I was ready. Since my goal in the triathlon is to finish, the 20 or 30 seconds I might wait while the pack thins out is not going to be a big deal. I did this on the second and third swims and it was much better. When Barry said we could go, I just kind of started to slowly wade into the water. I took a deep breath and then started swimming when most people had already gone and I felt comfortable. This was MUCH better. I still felt a bit panicky and short of breath, but I rolled to my side and looked up at the clouds, taking long, slow breaths and letting my stroke extend. This time I practiced taking my wetsuit down to my waist when coming out of the water. Getting it back on while still wet was NOT easy!!!

The third swim was great...I still had that nervous, panicky feeling a bit, but now I knew to expect it and I knew what to do about it. Just knowing that I could deal with it made it feel less scary. The swim was 200 yds....so about 600 yds all together.

I practiced everything I remembered from reading about the swim and I talked to myself (silently in my head! Don't worry, I'm not that crazy girl chatting with herself!) ....swim until your fingers brush the ground...pull on the neck of the wetsuit before standing up to let in water...stand up and start run/walking to the shore...while you walk/run, pull the cord on the wetsuit and start working your arms out and pull the suit down to your waist. Pull off goggles....pull off cap...run to T1 area and throw down goggles/cap. Pull off wetsuit (which, by the way is hard to do because when you come out of the water you are dizzy...so standing on one foot is NOT easy!)....throw wetsuit down (not on towel!)....step on towel to dry feet...grab other towel and quickly dry legs and body...pull on bike shorts....decide not to wear shirt, throw shirt on ground...pull on socks and shoes...tie shoes...put on helmet, decide not to wear sunglasses, take quick sip of gatorade....pull bike off rack and run up the HUGE hill to get to the road!

The bike was pretty good, it was challenging to get my heart rate down after running with my bike up the big hill to the road...we were down by the swimming area of the lake and there is a big ramp to take you up to the road...it was actually a relief to get on the bike and start pedaling, it felt at least like I could get in a rhythm then. The hills on the bike felt huge...and they really weren't huge..but I think that since my heartrate was so high to begin with and I had a little trouble bringing it back down, that the hills felt huge. Right before the turn around there was a huge downhill though, so that was really nice. I made sure to remember to drink water on the bike. Even though today's ride was short, and I would have been fine even if I hadn't had anything to drink the whole time, I want to get in the habit of drinking while I'm riding so when the real thing comes I will be ready. The bike was about 5 miles.

I hopped off the bike at the bottom of the hill, where Barry had drawn a dismount line. This is really important because in the real tri, if you pass the dismout line while still on your bike you can be disqualified. I jogged/tripped/shuffled my bike over to the rack and started T2.

T2 was super quick..I racked my bike...took off helmet....sip of gatorade...grab my visor, and I was off....I jogged/walked up the huge hill again to the road, and then started jogging off on the run. I put my visor on while I was running to save a little time. The run was hard...even though it was only 1 mile. I got a cramp in my right side again...I don't know what is causing this, but it has happened in the same spot the last 2 times I have run...not fun! Anyway, I walked a few times...but only 5-6 steps each time....I think it was the slowest mile I have ever run...it took me about 16 minutes, but that's ok, I finished it and that was my goal. I felt so good when I ran back down that bastard of a hill and into the transition area. Everyone in the group was so supportive and they were all saying I did a great job. I felt awesome afterwards!

The whole thing was a great experience, and I am really looking forward to our training ride/social on Friday night. I'm really glad I joined this group. I am proud of myself for doing that today, because I haven't even done a brick workout yet. A brick is when you do two events or three events together...so far I have just been training each exercise separately...so it's pretty good that I put them all together and managed it without feeling too horrible!

I came home and took a nap....and now I am gonna put in my AC and then get to work on some homework and job search stuff. I think I need to go to the store too at some point...boo.

Saturday, May 1, 2010

Contaminated water...and a practice Tri

Before I start talking about my training...let me just say I make a damn good date...I buy snacks at the movies...I let myself watch the movie without worrying about trying to hold my hand or makeout during the good parts...Don'tcha hate that?...and it wasn't awkward at the end of the night...I just took myself home :) Hahah..anyway...I stuck to my goal of getting up early this morning to go swimming...ok, so it wasn't THAT early, but 9:00 is early after being up past midnight on a hot date! So I got up, and went to the pool. I ended up doing my whole swim in the morning because I just didn't feel like going back later in the day...it was so beautiful I wanted to be outside. So I did my swim, and then I heard this guy in the next lane talking about something to do with triathlons...and seeing as I am now obsessed, I asked him what he was talking about....talk about nosy, huh!? Haha...he told me about this club online called meetup...its like an online place where you can join clubs for things you are interested in near you. The one that he was talking about was called Triumph Triathletes...and it's a place where triathletes near Boston talk and meet up to train together. I was super excited, so when I got home I joined the group! Turns out, tomorrow there is a training for the whole sprint triathlon experience at Walden Pond at 7 AM. We will practice swimming, transition 1, biking, transition 2, and running...so basically the whole tri. I might not do the swim if I can't find anyone to lend me a wetsuit, because the water in Walden is about 57-60F right now, which is waaaaayy too chilly for not having a wetsuit! But that's ok, if I don't swim I will still do the rest. It will be good experience to get up super early and go through the whole process. I'm pretty excited. Now let me move onto the not so exciting news...there was a huge water main break in Weston, and so all of the surrounding areas are in a boil order for their water because of possible contamination. Of course the water main broke around 11 this morning, and I heard about it around 4:30. This is after I had been drinking tons of tap water that I had packed in my water bottles for the day....awesome. Let's hope I don't get sick...that would just suck. I'm trying not to think about it...I'm trying to focus on the excitement for the practice tomorrow...and also I have been watching Bryan Payne on Ironman St. George everytime I was home today..now I'm excitedly watching the finish line because I saw that he passed the 20 mile point...so I think he should be crossing the line within the next hour or hour and a half! Exciting! Anyway...I'm gonna go pack my bag...then watch Bryan finish the IM and then head to bed!! I'll blog more tomorrow about how the practice went.

Friday, April 30, 2010

Taking myself on a date...

So it's Friday night, and most people that I know are spending it doing something fun....hanging out with friends, family, or a significant other. Seeing as all my friends seem to be busy, my family is 6 hours away, and I don't have a significant other, my options seem to be narrowed. After a wonderful Friday afternoon nap and cooking myself a yummy meal of meatloaf, sweet potato fries, and salad, I lounged around watching tv and feeling sorry for myself. I felt myself swiftly changing back into "Lauren who lays in bed all weekend crying and feeling bad for herself." I decided this weekend I am not going to allow myself to do that....ok, maybe only an hour or two..but not ALL weekend! So anyway, I got my lazy bum up and went to the gym for my planned strength training workout. I was proud of myself for doing this even after a heavy meal that made me sleepy. While I was workin' my bod (haha) I decided to take myself on a date tonight. I have been really wanting to see the movie The Backup Plan, and I figured who says I can't go on a date by myself? I love myself...therefore I should be able to take myself on a date. Ok, so I didn't think all of these things, it was more like "hmm, I wanna see that movie, I wonder if it's playing tonight....ok, cool." but the first story sounds better. So anyway, That's what I'm off to do...tomorrow morning I have a swim workout, and the pool is only open I think from 9-10:45, so I will have to get my bum out of bed. That's ok though, because I have alot of work to do, and also Bryan (One of the triathletes who's blog I have been following) is competing in Ironman St. George tomorrow, so I'm gonna try tracking him online while he races. Good luck Bryan!
Ooh...I gotta go, I'm late for a date! Haha!

Thursday, April 29, 2010

Run like the wind!! Or....into it.

I just got back from a run. I have a 5k coming up on Mother's Day, and so I decided to run the course for it today while at the same time getting in my longer run for the week. I remembered from last year that there was a big hill towards the end of the course, and I wanted to see how big it looked to me now. The hill was just as big as I remembered it, but it wasn't as hard. The thing that gave me the biggest problem on this run is I got a HUGE stitch in my right side, and it was hurting and tightening so bad that my body was actually crunching up on that side. It was really painful, so I did stop and walk a little bit, probably about the length of a football field. I ran 5km in 32:39. I was super happy with this time because I think this is the fastest I have ever run 5km, even in a race. I am pretty sure I haven't ever run a 5k in less than 33 minutes, although I can't quite remember all my times. I did look up my time from this race last year though, and it was 33:59, so it's pretty awesome that on a training run I am already running more than a minute faster than I ran in the actual race last year! My goal is to run the race in under 32 minutes...let's hope I can shave off 40 seconds and do it! Something funny happened when I was running today. I ran by a glass storefront, and I saw myself in the window (ok, I admit, I was checking myself out!) When I looked at myself, I looked like a real runner. Usually I look like a slow, slumpy person shuffling along, but today my stride was long, I was standing tall, and I was moving at a pretty good pace. I was happy to see myself looking like I half knew what I was doing! Oh! I forgot to mention why I titled this blog what it is titled...today the wind was RIDICULOUS! All day I was debating whether to go run at the gym or run outside, and finally I decided I should run outside, since who knows, the day of the triathlon could be hurricane force winds..haha...so anyway, I ran outside, and the wind didn't even bother me at all! In fact, it felt kind of nice to be running along with the wind. Anyway, enough of my blabbing, I have to go refuel and head to dance aerobics with the girls! Let's hope I make it through the class feeling strong!

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Yup...I changed the name!

Well, I decided to change the name of my blog for 2 reasons. First of all, I don't think I am really "on the bandwagon" anymore, cuz I have been blogging for a while now and it's no longer novel. Second, since I have decided to dedicate the blog mostly to my triathlon training, I figured I should have a name that fits the topic. I like my play on words, and it is kind of a motivating pun! That's it for now...so here are my words of wisdom at 10:23 on a Wednesday...go out and TRI something new tomorrow!

I'm dreaming...of exercise?

Happy Wednesday! Well, in my case it was rainy, cold, slightly miserable Wednesday, but for the sake of the blog and my own sanity, let's pretend it was sunny, 75 degrees and that everything in my life was perfectly peachy! I didn't train today, because I took the day as my mandatory once a week day off. I am having a hard time identifying myself these days...I used to dread the days I HAD to work out...now I find it hard to force myself to take a day off! Where the hell did that transformation come from? Today I told myself I would take the day off from training, since I had a late night of emotional stress last night and then was really tired today and I don't have too much planned for the weekend so I figure I can get in some good long workouts those days. So, I fully enjoyed my day off by taking a long nap and relaxing from the time I got home from work until I had to go to class. I also indulged in a peanut butter brownie for dessert...oops. Haha! However, even though I have to say I REALLY enjoyed my nap and didn't want to get up, I did have a hard time laying down, because I kept saying to myself "maybe I'll just got for a quick run" or "hmm..maybe I should do my strength training today". It's crazy! I am becoming an athlete...I know I keep saying that, but it's still absurd to me...I thought my "athletic" days ended after high school when I stopped cheerleading and softball. Apparently it's never too late to become an athlete again! My trainer called me last night and apologized a ton for missing our appointment today. He said he had accidentally thought it was next week. He called me today again and we rescheduled for next Wednesday. I am pumped, I love training when someone is telling me what to do. It takes out all of the mental energy of having to think of what exercises to do. Tomorrow I plan to go for a run..possibly at the gym, depending on how cold it is. I am saving my long bike ride for the weekend because it is supposed to be warm and beautiful. I am also saving both swim sessions for the weekend, mostly because I haven't had the time so far this week to get to the pool when it is actually open. I plan to do both swims on the same day, one in the morning and one in the afternoon on Saturday. I know I am supposed to leave one day in between sessions of the same exercise, but that's just not gonna work this week, so I figure getting them both in is better than not at all. Here are the things I have planned for the weekend (I'm hoping that if I write them down I will actually get them all done!)
1) swim workouts- Saturday AM and PM
2) Strength training workouts- Friday PM and Sunday (either AM or PM)
3) long bike ride- Sunday
4) Apply for jobs for the summer and next year (ugh!!!)
5) Do my final paper for my class (double ugghhhh!!!!!)
6) clean up my room- Friday night maybe? (I know, you wish you were me)
7) Hopefully stay busy enough that I don't spend too much time wallowing in missing a certain someone. :(
8) Oh...and of course spend lots of time procrastinating by obssesively reading about and watching things about triathlons! :)

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

GRRRR

Wow, I hope none of you are leaning on me to give you a dose of random blog-ness each day, because once again I have fallen off the blogging bandwagon...I guess I better either jump back on or change the name of my blog! So anyway, the end of my spring break was uneventful, I think I have mostly recovered from my hamstring pull, it feels alot better. I helped my mom and dad start building a patio over the weekend, it was fun to get some physical activity without even thinking about the fact that I was exercising! I have also kept up with my training, and actually I have gotten in 2 runs, an 8 mile bike and a short 10 minute bike ride since yesterday...I don't know what has gotten into me, I'm like a workout machine! Haha..or perhaps I can just blame it on the fact that I am using exercise to keep my mind off of other things in life, and also on the fact that my trainer didn't show up today, therefore leaving me at the gym, where I would have felt dumb if I just left! This brings me to the GRRR title. My trainer, remember, the one I said was sooo motivating, etc? Yeah, he didn't show up tonight! I think it was just a miscommunication type thing, because one of the other trainers looked in the book and my name wasn't there, but I distinctly remember him writing it down. The other trainer said there are 2 books and he probably wrote it in the wrong one. Just my luck. So anyway, I was kind of deflated after getting all revved up for an awesome session, and really didn't feel like doing much, so I just did a short run and a short bike and called it a day. At least I did something, right? Anyway, not much else going on, other than I have been obsessively reading triathlon blogs..I know, I'm a loser, but seriously, check out http://www.trainingpayne.blogspot.com. This is where I spend alot of time reading and learning. So, that's all for now..time to go relax...

Friday, April 23, 2010

my first "injury"

So I have been pretty busy during my vacation..mostly doing fun things like spending time with family and training, but also doing some boring stuff like getting my oil changed, doing laundry and attempting to apply for some jobs. I have managed to do some great training while I have been home, but I hit a snag the other day. I injured my right hamstring while I was strength training the other day. It doesn't feel too bad, it hurts when I step forward in my stride to walk or run and I feel twinges while biking. I iced it the first night, and then took yesterday off to let it rest for a day. today I decided to try my regular ride and see how it went. I went 10 miles on the bike and it felt pretty good. I had some twinges when I came out of the saddle to hammer up the hills, but other than that it was not too bad. I stretched when I got home, and it is tender, but so far I don't think I did any more damage today by using it. Tomorrow will be interesting because I am going to try running and see how that feels. Let's hope for the best! I can't be injured yet, I feel like I just started!! Anywho, that's about all that's going on here. I found a new blog I like reading...its trainingpayne/blogspot.com. It's about this triathlete and it is pretty inspiring and interesting. Check it out if you get a chance. Also, if you haven't checked this out yet, do it! The triathlon song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMvX6zRYgw8 Sorry I still don't know how to make that link active, so just paste it in your browser! Ok, time to shower and off for sushi with the girls tonight :) I'll post tomorrow about how the run went.

Monday, April 19, 2010

New Jersey is hilly!

I am home for spring break! Yay! It is nice to have a week off from work and class, and to be able to spend time with my family. I have been keeping up with traning while I am home, in fact I just got back from a bike ride. I forgot how hilly New Jersey is! My legs feel like jello. It could also be the fact that I am still sore from Friday. I had a personal training session on Friday, and have signed up for 4 more. I really like my trainer, he is so motivating and definitely had me working hard. I am still sore today, on Monday! Anyway, training is going well, yesterday I swam the whole distance I will have to swim in the triathlon. I wanted to see if I could do it, and it made me feel good to know that I can. I don't have a whole lot to write about today, I will update more when I have more to say! Off to do laundry!

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Planet Fitness....and youtube

Ok, so this week has been great with training so far! I have been sleeping (thanks to some help from Tylenol PM!) and therefore have had energy to train. Also, my Friend...let's just call her C, has been soooo kind as to lend me her bike! It is a "hybrid", but compared to my fat tired, low to the ground "hybrid", hers seems like a high class racing bike. It is soo light (I would know, I have carried it up and down my apartment stairs about ten times!) and it puts my body in a good riding position that allows me to pedal faster and therefore go faster. My legs also don't get as tired as quickly, which is good. Plus, I feel really cool on it! Haha. So anyway, we switched bikes on Tuesday afternoon (sorry C for sticking you with my crappy bike for the next few months!) and then I went to the store to buy some accessories, like a visor to wear while I run, a bike computer to track my miles, a running watch to keep my time, and a water bottle for the bike. I have been doing a pretty good job of doing this whole triathlon thing on a budget. I am buying things that I feel like I need (ok, so I don't NEED a visor, but it was on sale!) and not buying the highest class things...I mean, if I decide I love triathlon and want to do more races then I can slowly upgrade my equipment, for now, as long as it works, its great! Anyway, I came home and hooked up my bike computer, which was much more complicated than I expected, and then I went for a ride. I did 6 miles, and it was easy! I know that isn't that far, but on my other bike it felt like a million miles, so this was great. Today I went for a run. I ran for 23ish minutes, and felt great afterwards. I feel like this is the first time I have ever actually been able to feel the difference in my fitness level over a period of time. When I started running two and a half weeks ago, I could run for about 4 minutes before I started feeling miserable, grumpy and like I wanted to stop and lay down on the ground. Haha. That is pretty pathetic, lets be honest. Today the run portion of my run was 14minutes. I know I said 23, but each run I do consists of a 9 minute jog/walk/stretch warm up, so I only count the part I am actually running when I calculate how much I ran. So anyway, that means I have increased my running ability by 10 minutes in 2 and a half weeks of running about 2 or 3 times a week. That's pretty good! On that track I should be able to run the whole 5k comfortably (eek!) by the triathlon. So after my run I was feeling great, and I knew I needed to get in a strength training session, so I rode my bike (it's easier to call it "mine" for the sake of the blog, but don't worry C, I know it isn't REALLY mine!) to the gym. I quit my old gym about a month ago because they were charging me 84 dollars a month! Ahh! I joined Planet Fitness, which is 10 dollars a month, and I worked out for about 45 minutes. I also signed up for a personal training session for tomorrow with a....very "smart" man...(read: HOT!)I am looking forward to that :) And I have to say, it is nice to workout with the male population again...I haven't really done that since college since my old gym was all women. Men smell bad, but at least it's good scenery while I pump my little 10 lb weights. Haha. So then I rode home, and then I was still feeling energized, so I rode my bike to class tonight. I kind of regretted that decision when I got out of class and it was freezing out, but oh well.
I found this on Youtube while I was obsessively watching triathlon videos. I love this song, it pumps me up and I think it is hilarious! There are a couple different videos to go with it, but I like this one. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMvX6zRYgw8 Let me know if that link works. I don't know how to do it right.

Sunday, April 11, 2010

nicely manicured triathlete..hmmm.

I'm sorry, it's been a while again! I don't really know who I am apologizing to, I don't know who reads this, but I like to assume I have seven billion readers (hah!) and that they feel sad when I don't blog. So anyway, I haven't blogged in a while because this week was ridiculous, and I haven't been feeling great. I have yet to figure out if I had a virus or if it was all stress and lack of sleep related, but I was having dizzy spells, stomach aches and exhaustion. Add to this alot of other things going on that I don't really want to blog about, plus long days, and you can possibly see why I haven't blogged in a week. But anyway, I'm back, as are my workouts. I tried to get in as many as I could this week, but ended up missing one or two and kind of ad libbing the rest. I just couldn't work full out this week, everytime I ran I felt extremely nauseous, and my body just felt sick. So, I decided that since it is so early in my plan and since I am stretching the plan longer than it really is, that one week of less intensity would be better in the long run, and my body could heal. Today was the first day of the week that I really worked out hard. I went on a bike ride to the Charles River and then locked up my bike and ran for about 30 minutes by the river. Well, I ran and walked...I still can't really run for 30 minutes without dying..haha. Anyway, that was my workout today, and tomorrow I plan to get back on the right/real workouts for the plans. In other triathlon news, I have read almost 2 triathlon books in the past day and a half...and watched about a million youtube videos...you might call me obsessed, I call it healthy passion? Hmm. That's about all I have to say today...I'm not really in the mood to write a super long blog and ramble forever like I sometimes do...oh, but one more story to explain the title of this post. I came home today from working out and realized I had broken three nails...my pointer, middle, and ring on my right hand. I don't know how I managed to do this while biking and running, and I don't remember any specific situation that left me saying "shit, I broke a nail!" but, alas, I did. I guess my dream of being a nicely manicured triathlete has gone out the window. Ok, so that wasn't a dream of mine, but it would have been nice to have pretty fingers while I sweat like a pig, right?