A new swim

I did something new today.  Okay, I swam, but that's not new, what's new is the way I did my swim.  I took the distance out of it.  I decided to do something I haven't done in years, like since college!  I don't want to talk about how long ago that actually was.  Okay, what I did was I put on my husbands trusty little "lap counter" (go to www.sportcount.com)  and decided to just see what I could get out of myself in 60 minutes of continuous swimming.  I stopped twice for a gulp of water and have never completely mastered a flip turn, so that was the only wasted time I had.  I did a comfortable pace that ended up affording me 45 laps in 60 minutes.  I was counting a lap as 50meters.  I thought that was pretty good for me.  I know that almost everyone can outdo me in that time, but understand that I am NOT a good swimmer.  I'm just doing what I can....I'm "tri-ing".  And truthfully...I probably could have pushed harder, but I don't usually do a continuous hour and with my shady blood sugar and no gels (what the heck can't I remember those?) I didn't want to push it.

Little bit of irritation......
I'm in the locker room and these two women are in discussion, here is a piece of that.  Woman 1: "I worked out like 5 days last week and GAINED 4 pounds!".  Woman 2: " I hear you, it seems that all this exercise just isn't worth it sometimes".

My response (that I wish I had said then and there, but in reality I just kept my polite little mouth shut).  To Woman 1 "First and formost you can NOT use exercise as an excuse to eat whatever you want, secondly you need to pay attention to what you are actually doing, is it what you should be doing for the goals you have in mind, and thirdly, muscle weighs more than fat and if your activities are rapidly increasing your muscle composition you will most likely see a slight increase in weight before true weightloss is achieved" 
To Woman 2 "Exercise is always worth it.  Even if you're just dancing around in water aerobics, if you pair that with a healthy diet and good hydration, you'll see everything from mobility to bloodwork improve.  Injuries at an older age will be less likely, and quality of life will increase."

Ugh!  I feel like this should be common sense!  It feels SOOOOO much better to be in shape. 

Okay, sorry, I should have lectured these two today, don't know why I didn't, I'm just pretty sure I wasn't going to be nice about it. 

Just being a hater!

Just got back from my sisters bachelorette party in Nashville.  What fun!  However, that said, all this wedding planning, celebrations, visiting friends, etc, etc is wrecking my training!! 

The bachelorette party was on Saturday, but it takes me 8 hours to get there, so all day Friday I was in the car and then Saturday was set up, etc for the party and Sunday was driving home.  So I definitely did NOT make progress this weekend :/

Some things I learned about Nashville, though....first of all chivalry is dead there.  Gone, dead, done!  Second....skinny jeans are NOT for everyone ESPECIALLY guys!!!!  Third....if you are not a blonde you will not get served at a bar :)

Yeah, this weekend was interesting to say the least. We went to one restaurant where, including the guys, I was the most muscular!  Seriously, I live in the country, when WHEN did it become cool to be a stick figure as a guy???? Eeeeewwww!!!!!  Where oh WHERE are the good 'ol boys in Nashville?  It's all Audi's and Gucci, when I use to live there (15 years ago) it was pickups and blue jeans, no specific brand of either.  YUCK!!!!  I am wildly unimpressed with the city, I'm where I belong!  Sorry for all my city friends out there, not knockin', just venting ;)  A down side to the country is that you have to drive 20 minutes to get anything and some people have "brother cousins" and "uncle daddies", ROFL, JK!

Okay, venting aside.  I'm trying to make some decisions.  I'm feeling like I'm in a rut, and not b/c it's snowing for the four hundreth time this season, just b/c I'm wondering if I should up my distance.  I'm very comfortable at 5-6 miles running and over 20 on the bike, it's that darn pool.  Anyway.  I'm curious on any floating opinions about when/how to up distance. 

BTW, another side note....smoking sucks, don't do it!  I was in a bunch of places where smoking was allowed and I've felt like I smoked a pack myself.  My lungs are killing me!  SMOKING SUCKS!!!!!

Spring has sprung!

I'm here! I'm here!  I've been gone for awhile!!  I've had some health issues and then had a relative pass away and left town twice in 2 weeks (incidentally I'm leaving AGAIN for a 3rd weekend in a row!).

So, training....eh, so/so.  I did some sprint drills with a friend I don't normally see and that was crazy!!!  We went out to one of the only flat places to run in WV and did about 2 or 3 miles with using lamp posts as guides on where to start and each lamp post we got faster and faster and then walked.  It didn't feel too bad except that I was having crazy allergies!!!  It felt like my chest was collapsing, but I got out of my head and powered through! I highly recommend some good sprint drills, I often neglect this type of training, but I think my body needs it.

I'm running outside!!!!! YAY for spring!

I'll have a few weeks again here where I'm horribly busy, little sis is getting married!!!!  So I'll be doing stuff for that ;)

Hope everyone is having a Happy Spring!

Eating and Planning, Planning and Eating

Saturday we (the family) have been spending our mornings at the YMCA in the pool training then playing and/or running, lifting, whatever is on the plate for that training day.  Well this Saturday Mike had done a pretty hilly ride and was getting over the flu so I was going to go alone and decided I didn't want to drive in to town (a whopping 20 minutes), so I loaded myself onto the bike trainer and was about to put in my 50 minute Lean and Mean Spinerval DVD when at the last minute grabbed Tough Love, the 3-hour one.  I decided to take it 20 minutes at a time.  I did TWO HOURS on the bike!  30 miles (don't laugh, I'm not super fast inside).  I could have totally finished the 3 hours had my non-carb-loaded self actually had ANY gels, more bananas or even eaten to prep for this.  I was starving, no STARVING so I stopped.  I had to eat!  I have low blood sugar, so I'm a bit of a time-bomb anyhow, but this was crazy, I was shaky and could barely make a PB and honey.  But I felt good knowing that my body could have given me more, just need to work out my nutrition a bit better.  I may try the full 3 hours again with some planning.

The after shocks of this workout were that I was nauseous the rest of the day and bit tired, but my legs never hurt, not once.  So weird, long runs break me down for days, but this was like nothing ever happened.

I'm actually going to really take a hard look at my nutrition.  I'm getting back into a good training routine and find I have more of an appetite again.  I could easily quench this with pound cakes and cereal, but I'd be better serving myself and my waist line by consuming more training-friendly foods such as grilled lean meats and oatmeal and LOTS of veggies.  I usually eat pretty well, but the down side is that I walk around hungry the rest of the day.  What I'm planning to do....and I challenge everyone else to do this b/c it helps I promise...keep a diet journal with everything EVERYTHING you eat and what time of day you eat it and what you feel like, etc.  This is a great way to learn vitamin deficiencies too.   Give it about 7 days.  Dietitians are great consults if you feel lost too.  

Hope everyone is having a good intro to the season.  We received 6 inches of snow yesterday! Jealous?! LOL! 

A Dirty Quitter

I'm a dirty quitter!  I have now quit two things in two days.  Yesterday I had a brick planned; I was to do 18 miles on the spin bike and then a 4 mile run.  Well I got finished with my biking and then got on the treadmill.  I was DRAGGING at a 10 min/min pace!!!  My legs were just in pain, so much pain, not injury pain, but fatigue pain.  So after 1 lousy mile I QUIT!  I went and worked my super-sad abs and then QUIT and went home. 

Then today I taught a baking class at my house with the intention of going running outside after it warmed up (suppose to get to almost 60!), well after I taught I went outside and it was blowing COLD!  West Virginia weather is awesome, but irritating too.  So I donned my spin shoes and loaded my sad self onto my bike trainer to have Coach Troy tell me what to do.  10 minutes in to the DVD my legs felt like they did yesterday and I QUIT!  I did! I preach against quitting, but I QUIT!  My legs are so sore and tired and I am wondering if they need a rest or I need to take up Yoga or both. 

Tomorrow I'm praying for happier weather, although I am probably going to attempt 2 hours on the trainer with the DVD "Tough Love" by Spinervals.  I'm not doing the 3 hours, but I think 2 might be okay.   Let's hope this leg thing clears up.   I hate quitters, so you can imagine how I feel about myself right now!