A Loooooong Way to Go

So with working 8 zillion hours and being sick, I really haven't been able to work out much. Which, as I might add, sucks hardcore since, as I mentioned before, if I take more than two days off it's like taking over a week off.

Since this absence has compiled itself into a pound of guilt crushing my brain (adding to my never-ending supply of mucus, i'm sure), I forced myself to go back to the gym today after work. Couldn't run much (depressing), but managed to do a few sprints then walk at a nice healthy incline before doing a bit more basic running (dragged that out for a little over 15 minutes). After that, I stretched and then slogged through 15 minutes on the step mill (a painful 15 minutes, i might add) and then 20 minutes on the elliptical (doing the built-in interval thingy).

Then I dragged my butt in the pool for the second time this week. The pool at work is 25 meters ... which translates to a 50 meter lap which means by August 8, I'll need to be able to swim 15 laps ... without stopping ... in open water ... with like 500 people around me.

Right now?

Yeah, I can maybe do 17 meters before I die. Haven't quite gotten the breathing-while-swimming thing down yet and this persistent head cold that WON'T GO AWAY makes my nose drip mucus while I swim which is so totally gross. I can make 25 meters without stopping on occasion, but it really depends on the nose and on the lungs. The body can make it a bit more, but it's jerky and stupid looking, I'm sure. I did get some very helpful advice from one of our now former trainers earlier this week when she talked me into swimming with her (she's a swim coach as well), but it's kind of depressing to know what I can do now and what I need to be at in two and a half months. :(

Maybe I should just spend money I really don't have on training sessions because right now, motivation is hard to find. Not only do I not work out as much as I should, but my eating habits have pretty much gone to hell too. *sigh* ...

... Wow.

So I kinda illegally* took a spin class at work this morning. Today is my only day off this week (crazy, i know), so I decided to join the masses of the insane and spend an hour sweating my ass off on a bike. I made it through ... somehow ... though regretfully I had to cut down the resistance from where I should have been at thanks to suffering three mini asthma attacks in the first 25 minutes. I also had to get off the bike about 10 minutes after that to get rid of mucus (since i'm still sick), but hey.

The good news is that it kicked my ass (literally). The bad news is, it means that I probably still have a long way to go in terms of bike training too. The good news related to that is that the tri is still about three months away.

In other news, quite a few of my co-workers are trying to talk me into running the Bolder Boulder (a 10k, so twice the distance of what i did last weekend) over Memorial Day, but I'm kind of thinking no.


*Illegally, because employees are only allowed to take spin classes if there's a free bike. Today's class was wait-listed, which meant I should have given up my bike. Luckily, the spin instructor and half the regulars love me and didn't want me to leave.

Baby Steps

While I've been bad about getting in the pool and forcing myself to swim, I got a new swimsuit today. I have a long torso and the one-piece I had for "sport" swimming just seemed to fit odd as a result. So, I went and spent $60 on a two-piece Nike swimsuit. The top is more sports bra-ish and should provide ample support for my not-so-big chest while I run/bike as well (since i am planning on wearing this suit in august for the tri).

Obviously now I have to wear the damn thing and get cracking on my swimming - the one thing I haven't been able to find much motivation for. Boo.

Oh, and I'm thinking of being crazy and taking one of the spin classes at work on Friday (my one day off this week) ... and the one with supposedly the best spin instructor on the planet where her regular students are basically her cult members. We'll see if this plan comes to fruition, though ...

Ditto

Hahaha. First of all let me say that my endorphins didn't last nearly as long as T's did. I kind of crashed and hit the wall pretty soon after finishing the race. BUT, I'm pretty happy with my results, too.
Anyone who knows me knows that ever since like the first day of college I have been a complete nocturnal insomniac. I am SO not a morning person. I tried to go to bed early last night but couldn't fall asleep. I think my head finally hit the pillow around 1 am. Then I kept waking up because I was cold and my cat was bothering me, etc. So when my alarm went off at 5:30 this morning, I hit snooze for an entire hour before finally peeling myself out of bed at 6:30 not very well rested.

Regardless, I managed to make it up to Boulder in about 40 minutes. T and I had some time to ditch our cars, check-in, stretch, and get geared up for the race. My legs were still KILLING me from a pretty serious leg workout on Wednesday, when I did some killer squats, lunges, and weights. When the race started, I was really worried that my leg, thigh, and hip soreness was going to hold me back but the running helped to stretch out my muscles and it wasn't an issue again until the end when I could really feel it.

I was able to keep up with T for the first mile, and then I had to let her pass me. My goal was to run the entire way and to finish the race strong. I ended up having to power walk up the first hill so that I could maintain my pace for the remainder of the race. Considering that I have never been a runner and just recently started running (about 2 months ago) I am really happy that I was able to run for the majority of the race. I finished at 38:02 and T was nice enough to wait at the end to cheer me on! : )

So, I ran about a 12.26 minute mile, which equates to 4.9 mph. My goal now is to try to get my time to under 10 minutes, or to maintain about a 6 mph pace. I'm also working on getting to bed earlier, because I think a good night's sleep goes a long way toward successful athleticism.

I'm glad I did the race so that I had a chance to get up early, enjoy the drive to Boulder, stretch my legs, and get a grasp on where I'm at so that I can take my training to the next level. (Oh, and the chocolate chip pancakes at the end were definitely worth it!)

Success! ... Kinda.

First of all, Happy Cinco de Mayo everyone! (if you care, that is)

Secondly, Amber and I did the KBCO Race around the Rez 5k this morning up in Boulder. I'll let Amber post about her run, but I am proud to say that while I didn't have the (or my) best time (32:33), I managed to run the entire race without walking once. For me, this is a big deal since my main issue with running isn't my legs, it's my lungs.

As I think I posted way back in the beginning, I have exercise-induced (sports) asthma. As a result, my lungs turn my breathing into what is known as "rusty pipe organ." To combat this, I use a few puffs from the ol' inhaler as well as concentrate on my breathing - two in, four out. Two in, four out. I wasn't paying attention to distance this morning until I saw the two mile marker ... soon after, my breathing was more of two in, two out which for me, is the beginnings of rusty pipe organ. I managed to keep it at two in, three out with some struggle for the rest of the race. Almost gave up and walked near the end, but I couldn't bring myself to walk when I could see the finish line in front of me.

In any case, I'm happy about not walking at all and have been so crazily wired that after coming back down from Boulder and enjoying a good chunk of Kinetics, I actually stopped at the gym and did 20 minutes on the stationary bike (7.2 mi) ... including the last five at a higher level than I ever usually do.

I know I'll probably feel it tomorrow when I'm at work at 6am, but for now, the endorphins still haven't seem to worn off yet.

Random Stuff

So Gen is officially in - I made her sit down and register this weekend. YAY!

In other news ...

Worked out Thursday and Friday with one of the girls at work and oh my god did she kill me! I'll be the first one to admit that I often get in workout ruts - if you spend too long doing the same things, your body doesn't react as well anymore. So, doing other, different things was a nice shock. My legs have recovered from Thursday, but my core is still dead from Friday (and it's monday!). Still, I haven't had that sort of workout pain in a while so it was awesome. :)

Dropped my bike off today to get tuned so I'll get that back on Friday, which is good. I then had the genius idea to try and run home from REI ... yeah, not so much. I'm still kind of sick which means I'm still mucus-y ... which means running isn't so pleasant outside. Saturday's 5k is going to be f.u.n., let me tell you. Still, I probably made it about halfway home (running/walking) before I gave up and called my mom to come get me.

Since I'm still kind of mad with myself for that one, I'm going to go force myself to run some more tonight at the gym on the treadmill.

Gripes and pains and all the joys of training! : )

Man, I suck at checking this thing lately. I've been soooooo soooooo sooooooo stressed at work, but luckily my job is over in two days (so now I am trying to find a new, hopefully less stressful job! Hurray!) Anyway, T, sorry to hear that things royally suck for you but exercise and forcing a positive attitude go a LONG way, surprisingly.

So I've been working out with my personal trainer Kristin for the past like 5 weeks and it's interesting, because it definitely helps and she created a super in-depth plan for me to adhere to during the week so that I can build my aerobic base and get to a point where I'm burning calories more efficiently. It's interesting, because I thought that I would be in super awesome shape (or at least getting there) but I don't really see that much of a difference. I'm guilty of weighing myself every single day, bad habit, and I gained weight! I guess I SORT of understand the whole "muscle weighs more than fat" argument, but damnit, I want to lose weight! I don't care that I'm building muscle, I don't want to ever have to look at that stupid number on the scale ever again.

So that's my gripe. But workouts are getting easier so I know that my fitness level is increasing, which is good. Two weekends ago I had the GENIUS idea to RUN from my house to the gym (7 miles on a concrete sidewalk the whole way). My hips and shins were killing me after that stint, but it was awesome to see that I could handle it!

I finally got my bike tuned and decided to go for a ride yesterday since it was sooo nice outside. I hadn't ridden my bike in approximately four years, so it was awkward at first trying to get used to my gears again, etc, but I got the hang of it pretty quickly. I ended up riding around town for two hours yesterday. Needless to say, my ass is pretty damn sore but it was sure fun and I'd like to get out to ride some trails soon. I definitely want to check out the trail at the Cherry Creek Rez, too, so that I can determine whether or not I should slap some road tires on my mountain bike for the race. If anyone wants to go for a ride sometime to check out the course, that'd be great.

I'm excited about the 5K in Boulder next weekend. I've been wanting to check out Kinetics anyway because it's basically just a big party by the beach in Boulder. It'll be great to get out and get a practice race in. Plus, a pancake breakfast at the finish line? I'm so there.

So I guess I'll keep on truckin'... but I wish the number on that damn scale would start going down! Maybe your two-a-day workouts aren't such a bad idea, T!