Flipping Out

What a dumb title to this entry. I like it because its too obvious. Last night was less of a swim workout and more of a lesson in flip turns. This has been my biggest issue with swimming in a pool. I can do the flip turns, but not without the pool cleaning out my sinuses. I have tried over and over again to breath out through my nose and never have been able to . Even under normal conditions, say hovering underwater, I can't push air out of my nose. I had always assumed it was just another defect, one of countless and as it turns out, I'm right!

Pete and I have deduced that because my nose has been broken, more than once there might be issues with my sinuses and thus breathing out of my nose underwater is just not possible. I can do it, but I have to push so hard that I'm damn near aneurysm when I do it. So why try so hard. I bought nose plugs a while back, popped them on last night and bam! I'm a flip turning maniac. Rather than doing laps I'd swim a bit but spent most of my time at the wall just practicing. Turns out, that's one hell of an ab workout. You know me, I need to be as efficient as possible and since I'm so hard on myself, I've go to get it right. I'm such a pain in the ass.

A Run That Feels Good

Marie's dog Zeli hates me. That's right, there is an animal on this planet that is scared of me and really dislikes me. What does that have to do with running? Absolutely nothing.

Marie and I did a 2.2 (ish) mile run last night and it felt great. Grant it the side walks were half covered in snow and ice because we were on residential streets. (Note: People of Minneapolis, please shovel your friggin sidewalks. Mine is shoveled, your neighbors can shovel. So can you!) Its quite annoying when in front of one house the side walk is bone dry, nice and clear and then the next house it glare ice and life-threatening. But the run felt good. I felt like I could have gone faster and longer without any trouble. Marie was right about the whole - needing to breakdown to build up crap. I need some better winter running pants. But by the time I feel like spending that kind of money, it will be spring and I won't need them anymore. I need better winter gear in general but I'm too cheap.

My next run won't be until next Tuesday, but between now and then my muscles will be challenged in new ways. More to come on that....

Getting My Head in the Game

First its important to understand how happy I am to be back in a workout routine. I didn't realize how important it was for my brain until I stopped working out consistently. Don't get me wrong, I have worked out since July but not in any way that felt meaningful or consistent. Its been a week and I already feel stronger, but more importantly, my head feels better. I can think straight and I know that whatever I wasn't able to work through during the day, I'll work through while I'm training. I am able to solve so many problems, answer questions, find meaning and be more forgiving of myself when I'm working out.















The training always leads up to something. In my case its doing the LTF Triathlon again in July. This picture was taken the night before last year's race. Molly and I had the opportunity to walk through some of the course and the transition area prior to the race. It was an amazing feeling to be in this spot. It took us six months to get there. Six months of not really knowing what we were getting ourselves into. I remember this moment, leaving the course, heading home to try and get a good night's sleep. I didn't know what a triathlon would feel like. And what I didn't expect was that I was going to love it.

This year my approach is so different. I know that I can be more forgiving of myself while pushing harder. I know I am capable of more, I know how strong I am and how strong I could be. I'm not afraid. Those are amazing words to say "I'm not afraid", pretty cool.

2010. My plan is to do a 1/2 marathon on June, the LTF Tri in July, the Iron Girl in September and the Medtronic Marathon in October. All that, and I have no fear. I have a lot of work to do and I know I'll have good days and bad, but I could not be more excited. Pete is unbelievably supportive and is even going to do the LTF Tri with me this summer. Its going to be a good year.

Marie Done Broke Me

I completed Week Eight of the Ironman Training program with Marie. Please note that I started the training on week eight because I'm crazy. It went well though. Saturday morning we ran around Lake Harriet. Its the middle of winter and this city does an amazing job of keeping the trails cleared. Its also amazing how many other people were out running. It was a balmy 20-degrees. Sunday we had a 35 minute swim that consisted mainly of light drills and then a two-hour bike. Now since its still pretty crappy outside we did the bike portion at the gym on stationary bikes. I brought all of my Runner's World magazines that needed to be caught up on. Read them all and then donated them to the gym (less my address label). I felt great.

After being at the gym for three hours on Sunday I went home and promptly took a 2 hour nap. Woke up and couldn't walk. My legs hurt so bad that it was laughable. Did some regular Sunday stuff and then was in bed by 7pm definitely asleep by 8pm.

This week is a "recovery" week. We have a light run Tuesday, swim Wednesday and then I'll spin on Thursday.

This weekend will be the most exciting!! I'll tell you about that another time.

Cheers!

Spin + Anger = Kickass workout

By the time I made it to class last night I was exhausted. Frustration and mental exhaustion make for a great combination when you need to kick out a killer workout. Of course I wouldn't recommend this often. I haven't been to this spin class in six months or more. I was so happy to see that my favorite instructor was still there to kick our asses. I also haven't been on a bike in quite a while, it being Minnesota and all. So I road like the devil was chasing me. It felt good. Then I went home, drank some wine, cried some more and enjoyed the evening with Pete. I miss spinning with Keeler though. That's for damn sure.

And we're off!

Marie and I had a great swim last night although it seemed as if all of Minneapolis as descended upon the Midtown Y. The pool was packed with people, some of which didn't understand the concept of sharing a swim lane. I remember looking up at one point to see if the lifeguard on duty would help to alleviate the unbalanced lanes of people, but there was no lifeguard in site. The swim was great. I did my best to keep up. I need to learn how to do these damn flip turns or else I'll NEVER keep up. Next time... I'll work on that. When we got back to the locker room is was so packed you could barley move. This was all very strange because its usually not that busy. We must have gotten out of the pool the same time an exercise class got out, or something.

Now that I'm back on a regular workout routine I'm hoping that my sleep will improve. I have a ton more energy, woo hoo! But I'm not sleeping well, I guess that will come later.

Tonight I spin! That's right my favorite class, although I learned that there is a new instructor... we'll see if he/she measures up to the last one.

Today I Swam

And the training has begun.

First, I received a wonderful message from Bret saying that he's registered for the Life Time Fitness Tri this summer. I am so excited to meet him! You never know who's going to inspire you, or for that matter who you might inspire.

Second, my cousin Jay, the person I did last year's triathlon in honor of, is starting chemo on Monday. He's going on four years of having non-Hodgkin Lymphoma and this will be his first round of chemo. I think about him often. It was such an honor to have him at the finish line last summer, such an honor that I don't even want to put it into words. I'd rather keep that feeling in my heart, all to myself, nice and safe.

Today I swam with Marie. This was the first of many swims as she is now my new training partner. I wish Molly were beside me, but she's busy changing lives as a trainer. I'm so proud of her. So without a training partner, I'm leaning heavily on Marie. Only problem is that Marie is training for the IronMan. What does this mean for me? Longer swims, longer rides, longer runs, harder, faster, stronger. I will be one hell of a powerhouse. But I will be doing the Life Time Tri again this summer along with at least one 1/2 marathon and the Iron Girl. The Iron Girl is a duathlon (run 2, bike 22, run 2) not nearly as intimidating as the IronMan. I want to beat some of my own records. And who's going to be with me? Pete of course. He's going to do the Life Time Tri with me, of course he'll beat me by a few miles or so, but he'll be there. Having him by my side through all of this training means so much. He understands when I need a strawberry milkshake with french fries and he understands when I eat my oatmeal at 6am before a long run. I'm psyched that I'll be able to push him and encourage him the way he has for me.

I'll keep you posted. This week's training is pretty light (thank GOD!). Wednesday we'll be swimming again, Thursday I get to jump back into my favorite spin class (woot woot!), 2 mile run Friday with weights and core work, 6 mile run on Saturday and a 2.5 hour ride on Sunday. That Sunday ride will be at the gym of course because we are in Minnesota! But the runs and the swimming are outside. Nah! Just kidding - we swim inside.... for now.

I quit smoking a few years ago. I don't know the exact date, doesn't matter. But I sit here and think about what I'd be doing right now if I still smoked... certainly not keeping a blog like this. I feel good, I'm proud of lil ole me...