Biggest Loser STARTS!!!

Ok.. so the title of my post isn't workout related but it kind of is...

First let's talk about my workout.. Today was sprint day. It kind of sucked that I do sprints the day after Jillian Michaels but hey.. c'est la vie.

So today for sprints I did 8 400 meter sprints uphill. It was hot and it was humid. It pretty much sucked bad. I honestly didn't time myself for each sprint but I gave myself 1 minute of rest between each set. I felt tired, hot, and utterly horrible lol. To warm up I ran for about 5 minutes and stretched out before starting. I then cooled fown for about 10 minutes. All together, I ran about 4.13 with an overall average 10 minute something pace.. not bad considering the heat lol.

On days like this it's really hard for me to be proud of myself. I struggled heavily, and have been struggling the past couple of weeks. I'm not sure if it's the heat, my exhaustion, stress, etc. but I really hope that my training gets easier. This sort of stuff makes me think I can't break two hours for the half marathon - or even run the whole thing. The thing is- on days like this you need to acknowledge these days and move on. Tomorrow is a walk and hopefully I can just take this time to relax my muscles and be social too!

Ok so now BIGGEST LOSER STARTS!!! I love this show. I love what it teaches people. I love how it changes people's lives and I LOVE how it inspires others. I'm sure I'll mention stuff about the show on this blog.. so be prepared :)

Jillian Michaels.. kicks my a$$ time and time again

So every Monday I'll usually alternate between swimming and a Jillian Michaels DVD (usually 30 Day Shred). Today's workout: Level 1 of 30 Day Shred... I always laugh and comment about how no matter what shape I'm in.. this lady kicks my a$$ every time lol.. Even Level 1 is a killer for me. I love her workouts though because they incorporate circuit training and are short intense workouts. What makes me laugh is that I originally heard about this video when I was planning for my wedding. Girls swore by this DVD and so of course I bought it. Now that I own it and have done it, I am also a true believer.

I'll go ahead and recap from the previous week since I was a lazy bum and didn't keep up.

Tuesday: 4 - 1/2 mile repeats (my pace alternated between 3:22-3:44). All together I ran about 4.1 miles. I felt good, but I realize I need to improve on this pace. Hopefully my time will improve is I continue to train.

Wednesday: I biked for about 30 minutes. Nothing too serious. Just parked my bike in front of the TV and rode comfortably.

Thursday: I biked for about 40 minutes and then ran for about 15 minutes. My 15 minute run was hard pace (again, I never know how fast I'm going but I know I'm booking it).

Friday: 5 mile run. It was a horrible run and I honestly don't want to talk about it. I rarely have runs like this, but when it happens there is nothing you can really do about it except acknowledge it and move on.

Saturday: 30 mile bike ride in about 2:17 and a 3 mile run/walk with my friend L at the gym... Let's just say I was exhausted Saturday lol...

Sunday: Off!!

This week I hope to figure out some good sprints and have a comfortable run sometime during the week. I'm walking with my friend S on Wednesday so it'll break up my intense workout schedule. I'll keep you all updated as I continue on my journey :)

Swimmmminnngggg

Ugh.. swimming lmao.... It's been a couple of weeks since my last swim and so it was back to the grind today.

I've got two girls who I'm "training" to do their first triathlon and so once a week we go and swim. I was teaching one of them proper form and helping them relax and just start tri- swimming for the first time. To me tri-swimming is totally different than regular swimming. You need endurance and you need to really conserve energy to get yourself through the whole triathlon. It went well, and just like any new swimmer, the two problem areas that she had were form and breathing. Honestly though, I had the worst time starting to swim and did absolutely horrible my first swim. I'm really proud of the girls though and think they're going to do well :)

While I was watching her swim and going through some drills, I got some laps in... I ended up doing 10 laps freestyle which is less than a half mile. I did a couple of other laps with the paddleboard and the buoy, but nothing too serious. It was fun though and I am pretty much forced to go to the pool which is what I need...

It was nice to be in the water since this weekend I focused only on running... I ran 7.5 miles Saturday and did 4 miles Sunday... the 4 miles on Sunday were a social run and nothing too serious. I definitely loved being back in the running groove..

Starting All Over Again...

So it's been a couple of months since I've given up on long runs.. I focused a little bit more on 5Ks and really working on my speed. I have been trying to run under a 24 minute 5K and am almost there... but now that I'm half marathon training again... I got to build up my endurance. This changes the way I train during the week and my mileage for the week.

My run today was a 7.5 mile run. I clocked in at 1 hr 13 min and 16 seconds. That averages to about a 9:46 min/mile. I didn't take away a minute from my time (which I should have) since I had to stop and tie my shoe and stop at a couple of lights to crossover which would be bring my avg time down a little tiny bit. I am pretty happy about my time right now.. Of course I've got to get under a 9 minute mile to get under a 2 hour half marathon time but I have under 5 months to get there which is more than enough time.

Next week I'll bump up my mileage to about 8 miles and slow down my pace to a 10 min/mile... I've also got to improve my eating habits... I'm definitely not giving my body the fuel it needs to go this distance AND I've really got to focus on hydration because I don't hydrate enough.. Another thing I really have to look into is speed work for endurance runners. I've been so busy working on quick short speeds.. I've got to find something to speed up my long runs... I'll be researching this week and let you all know what I find... Tomorrow I will be running 4 miles with some friends...and really just stretching out my legs.

OH I almost forgot.... yesterday I went walking with my friend S who just had a baby.. nothing too long since Florida heat is horrible! However, when I got home I saw a post on Facebook from Active that showed a 15 minute total body workout for runners... it was awesome :) It was a circuit workout with 4 basic exercises- step-ups, dips, push ups, and basic crunches. You start out doing 10 of each and work yourself to 1 of each without stopping... I'm not going to lie it was pretty tough but it felt really good... I might try to incorporate this at least once a week if not more... Anyways thought I would share :)

Back from my Hiatus!!

Hi everyone :) So I'm back! Sorry I took a brief hiatus but a lot has been going in my personal life. However with that being said, I still have been running and staying in shape. Having life happen does not give you the excuse to give up on exercise and all things healthy. Ok with all that being said, I will step off my soap box and tell you what I've been up to!

My newest athletic journey is the ING Miami Half Marathon. Yup.. I'm taking my half marathon roadshow to Miami :) I'm super excited about it and have heard pretty good things about the course in general. Now what's my goal you ask... I'm going to do it under 2 hours. Yup- I WILL do it under 2 hours. You got to get your mindset there in order to make it happen- think positively. Now my training schedule will be different than my half-iron training, but I'm still going to keep up my cross-training to prevent injury from over-running.

Newest purchases: I ended up buying the Garmin Forerunner 305. I had an older Garmin I would use for running that I inherited from a friend's dad. It finally kicked the bucket and I decided to upgrade and get the best tracking watch. It didn't break the bank and I got it for $142 with overnight shipping from Amazon... For those of you who don't know me personally, I pride myself on getting good deals lol. So far I am obsessed with it and it works wonderfully. It has so many features that I would love to learn to use.. and it also helps tracking your workout history which I love because you can see progress and results.

Another purchase that I'm currently waiting on is new shoes... specifically the Adidas Marathon 10. Now, I'm a Saucony girl and have been for a couple of years now.. however, I want to keep being open-minded and try these shoes out and get them in my shoe rotation. I have read good reviews about them and look forward to trying them out (especially long-distance wise). I'll let you know how it goes!

So now that I got all the new stuff out of the way... I'll start telling you my workouts on my journey to the half marathon :)


IT's Getting Hot In Here....

So I epic failed at posting again this week... There were some big lessons I learned this week:

Lesson #1 Don't be an idiot and carry water with you during the heat... If not you can suffer severe  consequences... like chills, diarrhea (sorry I had to go there lmao), a severe headache and a loss of appetite... Luckily I didn't die... But seriously, I was close to having heat problems and I want to prevent others from doing something stupid.. AND please drink water during the day..

Lesson #2 Realize what you want in your life... (i.e. racing life lol)... once you do...NEVER give up.. I promise it'll pay off...

Now that I've gotten that off my chest, let me get into my workout..

Tuesday we did a 45 minutes spin.. 10- 1 minute hills with two minutes of rest in between... Afterwards we did a 20 minute run with it being 20 minutes easy.. I went ahead and ran it at about an 8:40-9:00 minute mile pace..

Wednesday I walked with my friend S.. I love love love our walks.. they're what I look forward to now during the week :) afterwards I did my circuit training that I designed for the girls and... it totally kicked my butt lol...

Thursday: I did 40 minute interval training - 12 30 second hard sprints... yeah this i pretty much the day I almost suffered heat exhaustion lol... regardless- it kicked my butt but it felt good lol...

Friday: I took the day off :) but don't be too excited I did it to run errands lol.. BORING

Saturday: I ran over six miles with my friend V-no worries we did it early in the morning so we wouldn't suffer from heat exhaustion..

Thanks for reading :)

Speedy Gonazlez!!!

That's how I felt yesterday at my 5K... I'm not going to lie I really didn't have any high expectations for myself. I just wanted to go out and run. This run kicked my butt last year and I wasn't about to let that happen again :)

Now needless to say I burned myself out lol. I started off too fast... I'm not used to pacing myself in a shorter run. I ran my first mile in just under 7 minutes lol. At mile 2 I clocked in at 15:22. I ended at 24:10. Do the math... I did not so well on my last mile lol.. Regardless, I was super stoked about my time! I wasn't expecting to come near breaking 24 minutes. I mean I just broke 25 not too long!!! What???? Insane lol... Now I want to break 24 bad.. I'll start by sprinting :)..

Did I mention I won third in my age group?? Not bad lol!! Actually, what am I saying YESSSSSSSS lol.. I can't believe it lol :) Here's a picture of the medal


Sunday I was going to go run with my friend G but she wasn't feeling well so I decided to find a new path :) I ended up just taking whatever path my little feet led me to lol. I found a 2.8 mile loop (park) and it was beautiful!! I think I did a little over 5 but I can't be sure... It didn't matter. It felt great. I'm pretty sure I was going faster than I should have but it just felt nice ... I could always stop and walk... but I didn't.

I think I should find new paths more often... 

Another Journey???....

So... we all think I'm insane (which is probably not far from the truth lol)... and I would like to share my insanity with others lol... by being a personal trainer. Now I'm not talking about giving up my job, changing my whole career for this. I'm talking - let me try this out and help people who want the help or need the push to live a healthy and active lifestyle... I obviously don't know everything but I'd love to learn as much as I can (which I've already started doing).

Now.. to get certified you have to take a test. It's about 300-600 bucks depending on who you get certified from (I don't know the differences between the companies that give out certification so I have to do some research). I'm sure there's some other stuff I have to do - but this is a start. Another factor in starting this journey is finding people to actually listen to you. However... I think I found a solution... I think I found my first "fake clients"- well they're not fake but I can't charge money yet so they're fake clients lol. They are interested in helping me out and so I first needed to start off by assessing their nutrition, health history, routines and realistic goals. I also had them count their calories this weekend to get an assessment of their caloric intake. It was good for them to start counting on the weekend because that's when most of us tend to be bad... and I wanted to overestimate their calories for their nutrition plan.  So this is my starting point... I've got high hopes and am super excited... As I continue to learn some stuff I'll make sure to put it here.

Now onto my workouts:

Wednesday: I have been working out at a high intensity level and wanted to tone it down..I also promised my friend S I'd go walking with her (yes I like to socialize.. is that surprising lol)..So I worked out a little before I met up with her by riding my bike on the trainer for about 45 minutes. I also was making baked ziti during this time so my husband could have dinner when I got home. Betty Crocker?- I think not lol...  After getting off the bike I did 100 crunches and met up with S for our hour walk. She got me a new book "Your Best Triathlon" and I'm super stoked to start reading it.

Thursday: I was going to go to workout with the group buttt it looked like it was going to rain and I got out of work early-- so I ran on my cursed (pronounced curse-sed lmao) treadmill.. I ran my butt off on it for about 30 minutes. I wanted to get 3 miles in on it.. and I did even though that treadmill is wayyy off.... I would raise the speed on it after every lap until I finally sprinted it in on the last lap. I got up to 8.0 on the last one...

I defeated you!!!!! 


I'm taking Friday off so that I can rest for the 5K ... after the 5K I'm biking.. lol... I don't even want to hear it...

Hmm...

Now the last couple months I have thinking about possibly getting certified in personal training. I don't think I know everything, but I know enough to help others I think. If I don't know the answers then I google and research until I know the answers. A lot of people have been asking for my advice, wanted me to train with them, wanted me to design training plans/nutrition. So thats where I came up with getting certified...

Now enough of that... here is my last two training days:

Monday: Took the day off

Tuesday: I joined the group I train with to spin and run. The spin consisted of 5 one minute hills (two minute cool downs) with 10-15 minutes of warm-up/steady ride and 10-15 minutes of steady ride/cool down. After the spin we did 5 minutes fast follow by five minutes of moderate aerobic then turning around and jogging back. It was awesome... I've been really trying to push myself when training with the group because without training hard you can't race hard...

Wednesday: I was going walking with my friend SP which was awesome :) I love walking with her... It really clears my head and it's just nice to relax and take it easy. I did want to do something else so I biked on my trainer and did some bike drills... I just pedaled with one foot for two months really focusing on my foor and pedaling and then tried the other...

Just Breathe...

This weekend was nice.. It was nice to not really have the Garmin on or to spin a certain distance/time.

These next couple of weekends are pretty busy for me with baby showers, birthdays, etc. I'm pretty much booked until the end of August lol.. Saying that it's hard to get training in. Sometimes you either have to sacrifice time/distance or training all together. It's still important to get training in for me though. Working out to me is not just about the physical changes; its about clearing my mind and de-stressing. I think a lot of people see it that way.

Saturday: I went with my friend T to look at linens for her wedding (I'm a bridesmaid :)) The appt was at 10 so I wanted to spin before then. I also wanted to sleep in a little... So therefore I just let my body wake up on its own - I still managed to get an hour in of spinning on the trainer!!! Woohoo... I figured if I didn't wake up on time I would train on my trainer later that afternoon... It's all about compromise people..

Sunday: I wanted to go running with my friend R (who is a total bad ass at 70.3 races). So we decided to meet at her house at 6:30 to get 8 miles in. Insane right? No sane people do this lol. Anyways, we would get 8 miles in. I was pretty tired since I went to go watch Bridesmaids with some friends Saturday night (for the record this movie is hysterical lol) Anyways.. stay on topic- the 8 miles was crazy!! She kept a decent pace and had us do some hill work and a kick at the end! We had no Garmins with us which was nice... Sometimes runners spend too much time looking down at their watch focusing on their pace. I think while it's good to do that, you shouldn't do it all the time. Sometimes you just need to enjoy the view...

I think I'll take tomorrow off lol...I'm still super sore from my gym workout on Friday!

Gym Day

I rarely go to the gym to do a workout; so today was a nice change of pace! My husband mentioned going to the gym last night and I thought that would be a great idea! Now, granted I knew I would work out longer than he would so I went before he did and he eventually came and worked out later.

Warm up: To warm up I spun on the bike for about 15 minutes. I then did a couple of drills by pedaling with one foot at a time. Drills are important and I NEVER do them. However, I've been trying to school up on biking and thought today would be a good start.

Abs: I wanted to focus on abs next because I don't focus on them enough. Your core should be strong so that you can push yourself and your limits. To work out my abs I laid down on the decline bench and just rolled up (2x 25 each). These are realllyyy hard. After doing this ab exercise I did a set of 50 crunches followed by 10 pushups (and not the girly kind either). I then repeated this circuit one more time. To work on obliques I got an abs ball held it in my hands and rotated from side to side (2x 25). My abs are already hurting which is awesome :)

Weights: Yeah I suck at doing weights. Weights are good because they help you burn more calories for 48 hours after your workout as opposed to cardio which burns calories for 24 hours after your workout. I just did arm weights and focused on triceps, biceps and chest. I did four different exercises (not including the push ups which works arms and core).

Cardio: I'm running 13 miles on Sunday with a friend. I figured this would keep my distance up and would help her get ready for the half iron in about a week! Since I'm doing that I decided 5 miles would be good. I started off with about a 9 min/ mile pace and alternated between that and an 8 mile pace for a grand total of 42:35. Not bad. This is about a 8:31 min/mile pace... Not bad :) I really want to break 8 min miles consistently for a 5K so hopefully this will transfer into my long distances as well...

Overall, it was a nice relaxing day. I used to use my Fridays off to do dry-runs for the half iron... now it feels nice just doing whatever :)

Back with the Pack

So today I got to join my tri group again :) I've had to take a couple months off while they've been training just because my training needs have been different than theirs (focusing on the half iron).. On top of trying to juggle travel, work and my marriage it was hard to accommodate everything...

It was so fun to be social again with the group! I missed everyone a lot and I knew I would get pushed hard with them.. Today's workout: "Hills" during spin which consisted of about 50 minutes and a 10 minute fast pace with a 15 minute easy pace afterward for a total of about 25 minute run.

I was super surprised that my legs didn't feel dead after spin.. I really pushed it and figured I would get burned down for the run but nope... I darted off for the run and kept a 7:22 pace for the first mile.. not bad!!! Funny how losing 15 pounds puts some pep in your step (bwahaha I know- lame joke)... but seriously, I'm sure losing weight helped.

Today was a big motivator for me. It's hard to see your improvements all the time- especially if you are fatigued or just burnt out. So when you finally get to see them it makes all your hard work worthwhile :)

Trying to get Faster...

So most of my training has been geared up for the half-iron, therefore working more on endurance than speed. Since I really don't have a goal in mind as far as racing I figured I should work on my speed.. not just in running but on the bike as well.

This week I have been concentrating on shorter distances 4-6 mile range for running and 12-30 mile biking range. I really haven't been doing a tempo run or anything but I have been attempting to do negative splits each time I do a run or a bike. For those who don't know what a negative split is, it just means that whatever your training run is (i.e 6 miles), you want to run your second half faster than your first half. Overall, it let's you really kick it up a gear at the end rather than be fatigued.

This morning since it was a holiday I decided to just take a 12 mile bike and really just fly... I'm not a good biker so doing this makes riding fun for me and it's just a good solid workout. I really concentrated on my legs and getting a good cadence going... trying to not let lactic acid build up in my legs by just pumping through the ride. Having good music always helps :) This week's music artist is Lady Gaga... her new CD Born this Way really kicks my workout up a notch.

After biking my legs felt dead but I just wanted to get a jog in... so I tried to make it interesting and brought my dogs with me for about a mile slow jog... Needless to say they got their workout in too :)

Travel and Mile Repeats

Mile Repeats are no fun lol.... but they work...

So this week was kind of a wash. I was on travel and it's always hard on travel to workout and eat healthy.... Before I went on travel I biked about 40 minutes (Monday); I then ran 7-8 miles up the most gianormous hills (Tuesday); and finally I biked about 45 minutes (Wednesday). It sounds like good workouts but I ate a mixture of Dunkin Donuts, McDonalds, and random small Mom and Pop restaurants with no good healthy food.

Due to my flight coming in after midnight I decided to not workout because I was utterly exhausted... So I picked up with my workout Friday where I did three mile repeats. Let me tell you they kicked my butt. I started off way two fast and the next two mile repeats were not that great. I am pretty sure that I'm going to need work a lot on my speed work. I didn't time them, I just wanted to go run and run hard. I ran into some of the girls from running group which is always nice :) They kind of made me start thinking about what race to do next.... I think I might have something in mind :)

Finished my First Half Ironman

Again, I apologize for being a crappy blogger, but this time I should stay on the ball since my life is a little less busier. Let me tell you about my half ironman experience.

So one week ago today I was swimming 1.2 miles (literally I was in the water at this time), I then biked 56 miles and ran all of the 13.1 miles. It was one of the most trying races in my life. To be able to do something like that really takes a lot of mental focus. Even when you're tired you have to tell yourself to keep going and that you can do it. You also have to have fun. The guys who win these races are another breed. They eat, drink, and sleep this stuff and I can't compete with that, and thats okay!!! Because, the only reason I had for doing this race is to finish and know that I'm strong enough to do something like that. Let me tell you when I finished the race I cried. I had so many overwhelming emotions. It was an amazing experience and I honestly think it's something that triathletes should try at one point in their life. So let me break down the race.

Check-in: So you have to check-in the day before (or two days before). This is pretty nice because it allows you to come to the race and just focus. You don't have to worry about lugging your bike around or where your rack is or anything. It was slammed which was kind of surprising to me and there were people from EVERYWHERE. Overall, it was a completely awesome experience! I ended up buying two shirts, a mousepad, and a water bottle (you do get a shirt with your packet but I wanted everyone on the continent to know I did this ridiculous race). I left my bike behind knowing they would steal a $20,000 bike instead of my $1500 one lol. I called it a day and went home to relax...

Pre-race Jitters: So on my way to race it was POURING rain and lightening the whole time I was driving clenching the steering wheel secretly hoping they cancelled the race. Even though I was more than prepared I was just scared. Once I got to the race I had to take a shuttle to the race start where I did my nervous chatter lol.. I ended making a friend Tony who calmed me down before the race.

Swim: They actually delayed the swim because of the storm, and once it cleared up it was BEAUTIFUL!!! The water was warm (80 degrees) which was awesome. The swim was amazing. The water was nice and the venue was so pretty. Honestly, I would love to swim in that lake it was just so peaceful. My arms did get tired about 1 mile in but I didn't freak out. There were a lot of people in the water but as long as you just occasionally look up you'll avoid a lot of running into other racers. You will have people hit you but that's just pretty much expected. I just told myself to hang in there and have fun.


Bike: Ugh.. I was dreading the bike. We all know I hate the bike and its the LONGEST part of the entire race. I was terrified that I would get DQed somehow. So I was super cautious at the mount/dismount area. Now the course was wet from the rain earlier so that was an added stress. Once I got on my bike my shoe laces got caught in the chain (I have clips but pretty much NEVER use them.. I'm scared of them) so I went off to the side and tucked my laces in. Getting back in the pack took a little time but I was finally back on track. The wind was monstrous and we all pretty much got pounded the whole way. My bike computer wasn't properly on so I couldn't get a read on my bike. I just knew I couldn't get cut-off (another one of my fears).So off I went and I kept a decent pace. I made a couple of friends along the way and just cheered other racers on. I did have a lot of monologues in my head and some out loud (hey- its a long ride and without any music you have to find entertainment). I got to eat my GU Chews about half way through because I was starving and they did a good job of keeping me going and not feeling sick. About 50 miles in I was over the bike and at the end another girl and myself just chatted and pushed ourselves to the end.


Run: This was my strongest sport. Transitioning off the bike kind of sucked, especially since the chick next to me put her bike at a weird angle so I couldn't mount my bike up right away. I ended up tapping her bike over and put my visor on and took off. Once I got on the course it was packed (you do three 4 mile-ish loops). What was surprising to me was that a lot of people were walking. I told myself there was no way in hell I would walk because I wouldn't start running again. After my first loop I devised a system so I could finish. There was water/food/powerade/ice/etc at every mile markers so I grabbed water/powerade/ice at each stop. I would hold the cup of ice in between stops and pour it in my tri suit top and shirt back so I could be cooled off and would rub some ice on my face and chew on some it. I would drink the water and powerade to be hydrated. This system was my saving grace. I was in pain at this point (my knee was killing me) and just wanted to finish. The last mile marker I slammed coke down and took off...Once I saw that finish line I sprinted in. I can't even describe what I felt. I was just so happy and proud of myself.


Finish: I had a huge crowd of supporters and I was just overwhelmed by their support and encouragement. My friends knew how important this was to me and they wanted to be there for me. After I had my moment by myself they came over to say hi. I told them how much it meant for everyone to be there and lost it again. Two of the girls were pregnant and they started crying too. I did it... I couldn't believe it. I finished in 7:01... Not amazing but definitely not bad... Not only did I have people physically cheer me on, but online when I logged on tons of people wrote on my facebook wall (some were even tracking me during the race). It was unbelievable...

Reflections: I wasn't sure whether or not I would do it again. This race is pretty hard on the body. I did end up losing over 20 pounds training for the race which was good because the less weight you have on you the less stressful it is on the body. However, after really thinking about it I think I would love to do this course again. The venue was beautiful and I had a frickin blast. I mean who else smiles the whole time??? It'll be a couple of years until I do this race again but it would definitely be a good goal... and I was soooo close to breaking 7 hours (I attribute this to the show lace situation and weird bike racking situation). 

Time: 7:01 (about 50 minutes on swim, 3:39 on bike, and 2:23 on the run)

The question for me now is what should I do next???  I'll still be racing and will probably be working on my speed...I won't be giving up my blog anytime soon....

IT's About Time...

So I've been doing awful keeping up with the blog and I'm really sorry :( However.. it's almost time to put into play all the training and hard work I've been doing.

In less than three weeks I'll be doing the half ironman... I'm not going to lie I'm scared as hell. Even though I don't feel prepared, I know that I am. Last Friday I did a 48 mile bike and a 6-7 mile run in the heat and I felt fine (actually I felt pretty good). I have been practicing nutrition and have finally nailed it down: an English muffin with peanut butter and hydrating with some carb filled mix that I put in my CamelPak... When I transition on the run I take some GU Chews :) They're pretty good but I might have the jelly beans first... For any of those who know me I'm obsessed with Jelly Belly's Performance Sports beans filled with carbs. Recently they've been hard to find, but I just stocked up on them and have a crap ton. The problem with GU Chews is that some people have a bad stomach reaction with them and can cramp up.. I had some of that when I tried it, but I've never really had problems with the Jelly Beans..

I need to mentally prepare. I need to be smart and take the biking easy. I've heard that many first time athletes try to go all out on the bike hurting them tremendously on the run. Running is my strongest sport, and although I'm not amazing- I can make up some time. I've heard tons of great advice to just finish, and to back off the resistance on the bike and take the first half at a steady pace and pick it up slightly as you progress on the last half... I appreciate all this advice and hope it keeps coming. Honestly, I'm proud of myself and even if I can't finish (which hopefully i will)- I know I did a good job.  I think there will be a cheering group for me and I am just so grateful to those who want to support me. That will keep me going.. I promise.. Right now I'm just taking it one day at a time... I'm not sure how my training plan will go in the next two weeks, but I need to make sure not to over do it ... Thank you for everyone's whos given me words of encouragement and support....

PS. Hopefully I'll get on the ball and be consistent with blogging :)

Feeling the Heat!!!

Sorry for being flaky on posting...  I've just been so busy and drained.... So let's start with some good news :) I am just shy from being at my goal weight (honestly it's like at a pound lol)... AND I got second overall in the Biggest Loser contest lol I've lost over 12 pounds lol..

So, I've been training two a days almost every day this week and have been super tired... but I didn't want to workout too hard because I had planned to do a dry-run of the half-iron... epic fail lol

I wanted to try a dry-run so I could mentally prepare for the half iron, and I thought this would be perfect to do today. However, today's weather was not cooperating and it was in the 90's as well as humid... So off I went on the bike ride with every intent of running a half marathon afterwards but my plans were cut short.

I did end up doing the full 56 miles and let me tell you it hurt lol... Even though I gave up shopping for lent, I think I'm going to get a calf compression sleeve to minimize the pain... I did get a thigh compression sleeve but I wasn't super thrilled with it.. I also ended up also taking a break at mile 48.. and I ran out of water lol...

So what did I do... walked my happy butt to McDonalds to buy a Powerade so I could put it in my CamelPak.. however before doing that I took a hug swig.. and then another.. big mistake .. all that stuff made me feel bad and get pains when I started my run. I was just so thirsty. No excuse, it's my fault because I hate drinking water and live most of my life dehydrated.. So I will try this again in two weeks and hopefully get further than I did today...

Tic-Toc

Lol yes I am biting off Kesha's song but it's also... Less than two months until the half iron..

So my training has been increasing and I'm starting now to do two-a-days twice a week. The weather has been poopy so I haven't been able to get into the pool this week. Wah Wah... So let me give you a run through of my workouts starting from Friday...

Friday: I decided to do a mini training run :) So I decided to do 40 miles on bike and then a 7 mile run...It took me 4 hours and I actually felt good enough to keep going but I didn't. However, my knees hurt after the run... dude I feel like an effin old lady complaining about my hurt joints but they frickin hurt! Overall, I was happy with my mini training run, but I will attempt to go farther in two weeks.

Saturday: Training Break.. I got to go to a Baby Shower and eat a cupcake lol

Sunday: I wanted to do about 10 miles so I set out early for my "little" run lol.. My Garmin wasn't working so I decided to go longer.. yeahh almost 2 miles longer I'm pretty sure lol.. So in total I did about 12 miles and I'm not going to lie I was pretty sore.. go figure I wasn't sore from Friday but I was for my 12 mile run. I did do some strides during the run so maybe that was it.. IDK...

Monday: I woke up early to go to spin.. now I'm a pretty cheery person but 5:30 a.m. workouts are hard regardless if you're a morning person or not lol. Now I'm not the biggest fan of the spin instructor at that time but I go anyways. The biggest thing I have a problem with in that class is the music! It's not my cup of tea and doesn't make me want to spin... it is composed of 70-80s music that doesn't really have a fast beat. Look I don't have a problem with the music that period of time but cmon people... it doesn't motivate me to spin! Anyways, I finished the class and then went to the gym again with my husband  (YAY lol he never goes to the gym)... and I did a mile warm-up some arm weights and abs on a decline...

Tuesday: Spin with my favorite spin instructor :) Always a frickin challenge but so fun. I also attempted a new workout from Fitness magazine... It is a fat blasting workout that totally kicked my butt lol...

It's been a While..

Sorry for not posting in a while .... I'll catch you all up to speed!!

Saturday: I finally beat my 5K time!!!!!!!!!!!! This is like super duper exciting and might be a once and only thing but I don't care I did it and I am just frickin excited.. I came in at 24:33... yup thats right... I actually had a small stomach ache which sucked but still who would have thought??? Anywho, the race itself was amazing. It was for wounded soldiers and there were even some wounded soldiers who participated in the race. I'll tell you what seeing them cross the finish line really was amazing. Here were these men some blind, with one leg, no legs, etc. with smiles on their faces. I couldn't help but cry and really just look to them as heros. It was incredible, I'll do this race every year..

Sunday: Since I was bum and decided to actually have fun Saturday night I suffered the consequences of waking up late and so I spun on my trainer for THREE HOURS!!!! IT was ridiculously miserable, and I cramped in my legs at least there was March Madness (yes I play the brackets and I'm currently in the lead woot woot)...

Monday: Another two a day today... well... I took the early spinning class with the boring teacher and did pretty well. Nothing to exciting to report. Swimming in the afternoon of course was a cluster. So many people are there that it's just stressful. However, I caught one guy getting out of the pool and jumped in and did my half mile.

Tuesday: Did core workout (just focused on abs) and then spun. I spun my little heart out too. On a side note, while doing abs I realized how long its been since I shaved... lol I know... gross...

Swim Swim Swim

I swam again today... and it felt awesome!!! Plus there weren't that many people out there which makes it even better!!

So from now on Fridays, my day "off" I'm swimming at least a half mile. It definitely felt a lot better. I think if I just get in the water and keep it up I can do well in swimming again. Tomorrow I'm running a 5K and I think I'll just do that distance for Saturday and make it a fast run.. On Sunday I'll get a long bike and run in...

Started two a days this week :)

I needed to start incorporating two-a-day in and so I incorporated one this week...

Tuesday: I went to my usual spin class which is always fun :) I really like the teacher so I actually enjoy spinning for 45 minutes instead of hating my life lol...I have had some spin instructors who don't impress me, and its usually because they are quiet during the whole class. Before spin, I did some arm weights... I can't really do a lot of weights but I did about 5 different types of arm exercises with 5 pound weights/12 reps.

Wednesday: started my two a days... I did my usual 3 mile run in the morning which was quicker than my usual pace.. On Wednesdays I like to keep a 10ish minute pace but this Wednesday I kept a 9ish minute pace... then in the afternoon I swam a half mile. It was annoying to swim because the pool was BUSYYYYYY.. Wednesday's are my best day to do swim but idk man...

Thursday: 1/2 mile repeats .. only 4 but still... it was hard.. to start off we did our warm-up of about a 1/2 mile... then we climbed hills for 2 minutes. After hills we did our 1/2 mile repeats in which I kept a 3:41 for the first 3 and then 3:44 my last one... not bad... I then cooled down for about 10 minutes..

Overall good workout week.. tomorrow I'll go swimming again :)

Taking It Easy is For Weenies... lol j/k

So I felt pretty good this morning when I woke up which made me pretty pleased. Can my body really be getting used to all the craziness I've been putting it through??? lol - Guess so...

I wanted to do some sort of physical activity (because yesterday wasn't enough right?) and so I decided I would have a pleasant bike ride.. I pretty much conned my husband to go with me and so we rode... We rode over 11 miles. Nothing crazy fast or even close to race pace- just a simple ride to get my legs moving. Afterwards, I took my dog (the crazy spunky one) on a one mile jog. I felt good. I didn't want to overdo it. I just wanted to get something small in.

My quad is still acting weird- not always but only sometimes- and so I put icy/hot on it not too long ago.. So far, so good. Hopefully this won't be a nagging pain... Anywho... tomorrow I'm off to probably do weights and some spin :)

I conquered Wildman :)

Well folks this was my second Olympic distance triathlon and as we all know (or maybe don't know) I sucked wind the last one that I did in August. So it was super important for me to do well in this tri and assess my progress....I didn't do as well as I wanted to BUT I felt great crossing that finish line- opposed to feeling like death and laying on the ground for a couple of minutes refusing to move. Overall I came in a minute slower - 2hrs and 59 minutes (still under my 3 hour mark woohooo lol). 

So lets start off with an analysis of my tri times (bwahahaha I sound so smart here)

Swim- 13 minutes SLOWER than the last one... that is a HUGEEEE disappointment. However, I need to man up and say that I have to go to the pool and practice more - not wait 8 months and wing it in an Olympic triathlon. The wetsuit also threw me off, the water temp threw me off and also being inefficient  swimming from buoy to buoy (next time I need to NOT swim outside of everyone).. but excuses are excuses and I need to really improve on this.

Bike 1 minute faster than last tri :) Woot... Progress is progress nonetheless and I'm happy considering all factors. My hands and feet were definitely frozen from riding bike in the cold temperature and I can't believe how miserable it was the whole time I rode. I just need to keep practicing and practicing (and also up my distance).

Run- 15 minutes FASTER people :) Heck yeah... am I proud- I'm not going to lie if I got slower on my run I'd go crazy. Last tri I had to walk some of it because I was at the point of exhaustion. I came through the finish line fatigued and overheated and started hyperventilating when my friend E tried to pour water on my head to cool me off- I've never in my life felt so horrible after a race. So I was super happy with this time. Not only was I happy about my run, but I felt like I could longer and farther.  

Transitions- slower overall than last time. This is probably attributed to spending a good amount of time taking off my wetsuit and also dealing with being frozen. Need to work on these a little bit too. 

Overall, I'm pleased with today. I froze my hiney off which was miserable and not my way of spending a Sunday- but I'm happy I did it. Don't get me wrong, I wanted to find an excuse not to go... seriously I was thinking of all sorts of ways to get out of this race lol- but I didn't. Right now I'm sore and I am slow moving which is pretty funny coming out of a 25 year olds mouth but its true lol. I get to go into work late tomorrow so hopefully I'll feel better tomorrow :)

Oh side note: I'm 25 and my race number was 25.. How cool is that lol

Wetsuit

So after being pretty nervous about the tri situation- I decided I would go out and buy a wetsuit. Now this went against what I was giving up for lent- shopping. However, in my defense I think it was necessary. See I haven't swam for 8 months.. Some of you guys might think I'm an idiot for not even practicing the swim (and you are 100% correct). The reason why I'm telling you this is because that means swimming might not be the easiest thing for me tomorrow - add in cold water and I could have very well cramped up out there mid swim without a wetsuit. So I went off on my voyage to find a long-sleeve wetsuit.

So first I decided to set my sights on Sports Authority. I checked their website to make sure they carried wetsuits and they did so off I drove. I got to the store and only saw short-sleeve ones- that wasn't going to fly. You see, I am a person who hates being cold (no joke I was so anxious about attempting to swim in freezing water) and so short-sleeves would only cover some of me, not all of me. So I asked the guys who worked there where else I could go and they told me I should try a local surf shop.

So off I went on my second voyage. I walked in and right away someone helped me find a long-sleeve wetsuit (plus it was purple how frickin awesome was that?). The price tag wasn't great though (ugh 240 to be exact), but I knew I had to do it. I tried it on and it fit like a glove... I was sold :) Plus it ended up being 25% off for a grand total of $190...

So I came back with my wetsuit and started trying to read up online on what to expect and how I would feel. I read not so good things (problems dealing with the buoyancy, hyperventilation, etc) .... So I started getting anxious again. My neighbors had been outside pretty much the whole day and knew the story about me and the wetsuit so when I went outside with it on my neighbor suggested we try swimming in our retention pond. Now at first I wasn't too keen on the idea, but after a couple of minutes I figured what the hell I'm swimming in a lake tomorrow.

So I jumped into the water and it felt weird, but I could deal with it. It was frickin hilarious swimming in the back of the neighborhood in the retention pond but it calmed my nerves. I'm pretty ready tomorrow... I hope the rest of my body is ready too :)

Cold Weather

So I'm getting nervous about how cold the water is going be at tomorrow's tri, especially since I don't have a wetsuit. Before I go into my anxieties I'll summarize my workouts.

Thursday: I decided not to workout with tri club since I knew what their workout consisted of and I would be doing an Olympic tri on Sunday. So instead I decided to ride on my trainer for two hours. I especially wanted to do this because my quad has been acting up. It was actually pretty fun. I watched Fame and was motivated by all the music lol...

Friday: I took it easy... I feel like I've been saying that alot lately- so that's why in two weeks I'm starting two a days. This should help me get more mileage in and also more endurance. On the plus side I took my two doggies on two walks!

Saturday: I did a decent 4 mile run. I felt good but am pretty nervous about the temperature for tomorrow's tri. It's been pretty cold in the water and they're allowing wetsuits tomorrow- problem is I don't have a wetsuit so I don't want to buy one just for this race... I also haven't swam in 8 months lol.. I know - this is a bad situation. I gotta stop thinking negatively though and start getting in the right mind set. I'll be letting you know how I do tomorrow... sigh pray for me lol

Ugh Really??

So I think I pulled my quad.. ok so I don't think I did- I'm pretty sure I did. I've been feeling pain in it since yesterday but I chose to ignore it. Note to self- choosing to ignore it results in 50% of the times it going away and 50% of the time getting worse. Since I chose to ignore it and push myself yesterday I'm pretty sure my quad muscle was not happy with me when I chose to wake my body up at 5:30 and attempt to run three miles.

I tried to do my usual three at home but this morning my treadmill felt different- and not in a good way. It just started squeaking and made me feel as though I was going to fly off of it mid stride. So it was pretty much a blessing in disguise when my husband walked into the garage and groggily asked me if I could close all the doors so that he couldn't hear me. Instead I jumped off the treadmill and told him it would be better for me to go the gym. So I went to the gym and finished up my three miles and headed back home. Other note: girls in the gym are catty. When I picked up my run where I left off (I didn't warm up when I got to the gym) one of the girls specifically commented about how important it was to warm-up before you run... Listen lady- I don't tell you how to run your workout and honestly you don't LOOK like you should be giving athletic type of advice so please don't get on your soapbox and passively try to irritate me. So I held back from turning around and glaring and instead focused on not hurting my quad during my run. I ended up finishing but felt some pain in my quad.

I ordered my thigh compression sleeves and they came in this afternoon (Yay for Student Prime shipping from Amazon)... I started wearing one of them since my thigh was acting up and I must say that I think it's doing something to my thigh.. I don't know if its good or bad but we'll find out soon enough... Anyways we'll see how much I workout tomorrow and how hard I workout....

Happy Workouts Everyone :)

Stupid Mardi Gras...

making me eat delicious King cake.... ugh I ate so much CRAP today....

sooo I had to balance out and spend some good time in the gym.. AND....this week is my Olympic triathlon so I gotta make sure I'm ready..

So after being hopped up on sugar from eating a donut, king cake and swedish fish lol...I went to the gym and started off my workout by jogging two miles (I did in 16:03 so not bad lol)... then I did 2 set of arm exercises and two sets of leg exercises...then I went to my usual spin class :) It was awesome but I felt my exhaustion in spin class. It was so hard... and of course my bike I think was acting up because after turning the knob ten times it literally was so hard to turn the pedals that I stopped mid air for about 10 seconds lol.. I loosened the knob alot to get it to where I could spin again lol.. Needless to saw it was AWESOME!!!

On a side note: I'm not sure if I mentioned this before but we're playing Biggest Loser at work... Alot of people signed up of all shapes and sizes.... and I didn't think I would lose anything but guess what my friends.... I've lost 10 pounds... and let me tell you what... I feel great :) Note to mention I'm in 3rd place... WOOOOO...

Tomorrow... running my usual 3 :)

Put to the Test this Weekend

This weekend I did my first BRICK with the group... and thats how my legs felt during our run.. like bricks lol...

So for those of you who don't know what a BRICK workout is- its a bike ride and run combo. They're usually not pleasant and are in preparation for triathlons- ok lets be honest they really suck. So, I set my alarm for 5:40 in the morning and got ready for the next day. I'm not going to lie when my alarm went off I wanted to ignore it and go back to bed, but I knew this would be pretty awesome for my training. So I got up and dragged my happy butt to practice. There were a good amount of people that showed up and I was pretty intimidated. You see biking isn't my strongest suit and I feel almost embarrassed going out with all these people who are good bikers. So off we went and to my surprise- I didn't do half bad. I did go harder than we were "supposed" to but I figured it would still help my training. However, once we got off our bikes after riding 1 hour and a half to go on a 30 minute run my legs were KILLING me. I quickly caught my way up to one of the front groups, but couldn't keep pace on my way back. When I was finished I felt great. It was hard don't get my wrong, but I DID IT! Now obviously the front pack is just amazing in everything they do, but I can't compare myself to them- they're a whole other breed lol. Pure athletes, I'm pretty good but not amazing- and that's okay I'm proud of what I've done so far. Next weekend I've got my Olympic tri and let's just say this race kicked my a$$ last year. I was done after the race and have NEVER felt that bad after a run. This time I will defeat it. Oh I also forgot to mention that when I got home mu husband wanted to go biking. I did a little over 10 miles with him putting my biking total at about 35 miles... not bad huh lol

Sunday- My friend V and I had originally made plans to go run 6 miles, however, when she got to my house she wanted to do 8. So off we went on our journey and we did frickin 8 miles. Now, I wasn't super sore when I went on my run so thats a plus- I thought I would be. The run was pretty much uneventful- and we ran with her son P which was fun. He's not a runner by trade, but he did 8 miles no problems... that makes me sick lol. We did a pretty decent pace and finished strong.

Now that I did all this stuff this weekend, not only will I take tomorrow off.. but I'm going to go stuff my face with chocolate at the chocolate festival :)

Run Test

So I've been "Taking it easy" the last couple of days but let me recap my week..

Tuesday: Jog/Walked with my friend T... I then decided to spin for an hour... I watched Biggest Loser while spinning :)

Wednesday: I usually do my three in the morning but this time I did it in the afternoon (plus a little more).. I felt pretty good and kept up a good pace ...I had to take my dog to her agility class and had to jog a little there too...

Thursday: We had a run test at tri club... I'm not going to lie.. I was not excited. However, I didn't do half bad. I ran three miles in 24:48 woot woot. I didn't think I was going to go that fast but I did it.. I'm pretty excited. Afterwards we did legendary abs...

Right now I'm craving chocolate milk .....

A Day of Rest

For all of those who are keeping an eye on me... I'm just blogging to prove that I am resting today.. no sneaky workouts... nothing :)

I am going to attempt to spin tomorrow... Off to take my Emergencee and Echinecha :)

When Sickness Kicks You Down...

kick its ass right back....

So you guys probably don't know this (or maybe you do now) but I've been pretty sick the last couple of days... It started on Thursday (which I decided to ignore its symptoms) and so I moronically ran 2 miles as my last cool down before the half marathon.. Yeah right I should have relaxed and not run at all.... So Friday I woke up and I felt like poo. Yes poo. I couldn't get out of bed and my headache from hell woke me up in the middle of the night- about 7 times. I was actually pretty concerned and I thought about going to the hospital. I felt dizzy and couldn't think coherently but I still tried to sleep it off. So Friday morning when I woke up, I was tired and not happy. I napped about 4-5 times throughout the day and the only venture I made outside was to get my race packet with G, Walgreens and work to have a friend handoff my earphones I stupidly left at my desk.

So I decided early on that I would not let whatever this was get the best of me so I did what I know best- Google "How to beat a cold in a day" bwahahaha yes I actually did that. So after reading about 10 different sites, I went on my merry way to Walgreens. I bought OJ, vapor rub, and Emergencee. Now I learned a good tip about Emergencee from my friend T- mix it with OJ and it won't taste that bad. She is pure genius (and on that note I want to say a special thanks to my friends who are moms and were thinking about me and giving me advice on how to feel better).

So Saturday rolls around and the headache from hell is still not letting up and neither is the grossness in my lungs. So I take my Emergencee and go back to bed (I even missed a tire changing clinic which sucked because I have no idea how to fix a flat). I was so sick I just needed to go back to bed. My husband went golfing in the morning and before he left I had admitted to myself and him out loud that the race was probably not going to happen and that I was defeated. So I kept napping, trying to eat and googling more ways on how to get better. I found some other good information, and so my sick butt went back to Walgreens to buy- Echinecha. So with all my drugs and supplements I took Ibuprofen, Echinecha, Emergencee, and Zinc and just napped off and on through out the day. By the end of the night I was feeling better and so I thought that there was a chance I could actually run Sunday. So I prepped myself a little and started downloading music, tried to eat more (I literally didn't consume more than 1000 calories each day nor was I hydrating myself to the point I should have been), and got my head together. Now, I was only going to race if I felt okay, and not like the death the two days before lol. My parents came up to watch me and they all tried to talk sense into me before I went to bed and set my alarm for 2:40 a.m....

So I wake up on Sunday, and felt okaayyyy.... and so I made the decision... to run :) Now, I know that I wasn't exactly 100% and so I decided no matter what I had to take it easy- for real. This wasn't a 5K or anything- it was 13.1 miles, and I know that kind of mileage is trying on anyone- healthy or not. So I tried eating half a piece of bread with peanut butter and some gatorade (this is am improvement from my usual not eating anything before a race) to have some fuel before the race. So I got all my stuff together for the race (along with my awesome Jelly Beans I LOVE) and set off for the race with my parents! It was crazy 13,000 runners or more mostly women. I LOVE it. The race is fun and amazing and so entertaining the whole way through. I definitely took it easy but was so glad for it to be over. My official time was 2:20 which I have to say is amazing for how awful I felt. I am still on the road to recovery and still trying to be smart but I'm happy I did it!... One important thing in those races is to really listen to your body.. and I did- so it worked :) Heres a look at my medal (which I frickin deserved):




Training Tip #1: When training hard, your body's immunity is at its peak, once you let up training hard your body's immunity becomes susceptible to viruses/bacteria (which is probably what happened to me). If you are letting up, consistently take immunity supplements to keep your immunity defense high.

Training Tip #2: On race days (any race not just half marathons), don't try anything new. No new clothes, running techniques, drinks, gels - NOTHING. You might not react well to it and either do poorly or feel poorly.

Taking it Easy

Sunday is the half marathon ahhhhh lol...

I feel ready but there's always that seed of doubt. Can I really do it? Did I train hard enough? I think I did AND if anything I overtrained probably lol. Heres a quick recap of my workout.

Saturday: One of my friends was going to try on her wedding dress for the first time and I so we were going to make an early morning venture to the bridal shop. I wanted to get a quick run in so I tried to pound out 5 miles. I got the 5 miles in, and rushed out the door with my eggs and protein shake. Needless to say her dress looked beautiful on her!!! On a side note, my husband and I finally tried out our new kayak :) What a frickin arm workout! It was so fun though, and I can't wait to take it out again.

Sunday: My friend G and I attempted an 8 mile run. It was completely horrible.... so we cut it 6. Talk about a shot to our confidences. I think we can do it, but man what an awful training run... However, sometimes you got to take the good with the bad... and so I'm glad my bad training run was this past Sunday so I can have an awesome half marathon this coming Sunday...

Monday: I went on an 18 mile bike ride and then a mile run afterwards.. Even though I haven't been on my bike it felt soo smooth.... I love my new bike :) I didn't feel sore or anything so that was definitely a plus.

Tuesday: I went spinning (Best part is my friend E came with me)!!!!! The teacher wasn't that great.. Giant Sad Face :( It's okay though I told the instructor I wasn't going hard since I had a race this Sunday... I kept it nice and easy and then E and I did abs after class. Tomorrow's workout: the usual three miles....

Quick Run

So since next weekend is my half marathon, I decided to just do 5 miles today.

I had to go with one of my friends to try on her wedding dress this morning so I wanted to get a quick run in :) I did 5 miles at a pretty decent pace (I didn't have my watch so I don't know specifics). I felt great though!!! Nothing too exciting or eventful happened on my run..

So in honor of my quick run, what do you do for a quick workout?

Happy Trails

Tuesday I had to go on travel and I was totally dreading how this would affect my workouts.

We all know traveling and working out does not go in the same sentence. Between taking flights, working, and driving from place to place, it's almost impossible to find time to workout. So Tuesday I left for work, I spun on my trainer for about 45 minutes. It wasn't hard, but I just wanted my heart pumping and my legs moving. I showered headed into work for a little and took my flight out. After taking our flight, I had to drive to three hours to get to where we were working. With the time change and everything else, we didn't get to the hotel until about 5... My team wanted to drive to our work location and grab dinner, but since they know I'm a workout-aholic they gave me an hour to do what I needed to do. Since I worked out that morning, I thought I could get a quick 3 mile run in and maybe do a little bit of arms. I thought this was especially crucial since I ate Wendys for lunch (I had two homestyle snack wraps and a 5 piece nugget pack). WHAT?? I eat alot don't judge me lol.. We had Outback for lunch and since I still felt gross fromt he Wendys I only had an appetizer.

Wednesday: I got my typical 3 miles in on the morning at the gym in the hotel :) Whenever we're on travel I always make sure to have some sort of gym to workout in. We had a SUPERRRRRRR long day that day, so I was so glad I had gotten my workout in before starting out my day.

Thursday: We were coming back home and I was super excited. I was sooo tired though. I got to stay home, but I was dreading tri-club. I knew I had to go though. Whenever your body is telling you no, your mind should tell you yes. Well not always, but don't let your body get the best of you. Especially for the type of racing I want to do, I need to push my body when its tired. The funny thing is once I'm out there I'm fine. It's just getting up and going that I have a problem with. I finally got moving though and got some sprints/hill work in. I felt great and this type of workout had some speed/endurance work intertwined in it. I felt great though and this made me happy. I'm realizing that I might be ready for this half, even though I doubt myself continually. I've got to keep this up though, I still got three months to go...I forgot to mention that J made me do arm workout after stretching. He is sort of my slave-driver, but you need one of those. I'm glad someone is keeping me in check.

PS ... This week made me laugh... I had one of the guys at work telling me about his caveman diet... Don't even ask.. but if you do.. be prepared for this crazy type of "lifestyle" change.

Weekend Recap

So this weekend was my social run weekend which was super fun :)

Saturday: One og my friends V and I went on a 10 mile run.. My half marathon is in two weeks (AHHHH) and so I wanted my distance to be up. She is training for a half in 7 weeks and she wanted to try out 10 miles... We pretty much talked the whole way which made time pass pretty fast. We did see ROTC doing drills again this morning which was fun to watch. I also had a brief moment at the end where I almost ate it. Other then that, an overall productive 10 mile run :)

Sunday: My friend G and I went on a 6 mile run.. Now I know I usually spin also, but I'm still super sore from practice on Wednesday.. what the crap right? I'm going spinning tomorrow so at least I get to get some sort of biking in. Our 6 mile run was pretty good and faster than our past runs! She's doing her first half (the same one I'm doing). We took pictures by my car after our run.. and then had the most delicious brunch :)



I'm going on travel during the week so that sucks :( I usually eat out and don't get to do the same workouts. However, I make time to get workouts in. You have to.

Travel Tip: Look at the hotel gym ahead of time to plan for your workouts. If you want to do something other then the gym, then bring a portable DVD player/Laptop and a workout DVD like P90X abs or one of Jillian Michaels DVD. It'll definitely get it done!

First Tri Club Practice!!

Itttsssss backkk....

So today was the first actual practice of tri-club, but first let me recap yesterday's workout.

Wednesday: So I thought my friend E might join me in the morning, so instead of running on the treadmill I went to the gym. I woke up pretty early and got my butt to the gym, even though I was so ridiculously tired... I ended up doing 3 miles (on the treadmill) in 24:45.. woot woot lol... I wish it was faster and also outdoors lol.. Regardless, it was good for a Wednesday morning!!

Thursday: I joined tri-club with their practice... I was kind of nervous, but I rocked it :) Practice consisted of doing abs first... Next, I did a couple of laps weaved in with lunges, squats, and up/downs. I'm not going to lie, I tried to be hardcore, and I'm soooo sore right now lololololol. I was excited to start practicing with them, it is definitely going to give me my kick at the half-iron...

Side note: At work we're doing the Biggest Loser and it has been so much fun. A big group actually got together to start it (about 20-24 people). As time progresses, we keep getting some stragglers who have "heard" about us and want in.. Crazy huh? The good thing is that it's motivating people to lose weight. Now don't think this is all for fun and games... let's just say it's not free and there might be an incentive at the end :) Good news: I'm in third lol.... Yes me... I've lost almost 6 pounds in 4 weeks... I guess watching what you eat makes a difference lol...

Tip of the Day: Have a way to keep yourself accountable. Run with a friend/group. If you don't have that option, track your workouts.

Bringing It Up a Notch

Soo... I decided today that I will do all kinds of working out...

I first began my workout after work by running my dogs probably a little over a mile and a half... They like to sprint hardcore at first and then are dead at the end.. amateurs lol... After my dog "run" I went to the gym to do some weights and get my spin on.

I did some arm weights and then also did some walking lunges, butt kicks and other fun leg exhausting exercises.... afterwards... I went spinning and got my butt handed to me....... now 12 hours until my last workout.... joy...

If you fall off that trainer.. get up and try again..

So heres a recap of my Sunday workout...

Sunday: Let me start off by saying that the weather was ridiculously crappy which completely ruined my workout plans... I really wanted to go biking before running with my friend G but that obviously didn't happen. So I decided to do what I always do when there's crappy weather... spin on my indoor trainer.  So I set everything up and got on my bike, and right as I started pedaling... I fell flat on my a$$. I guess I didn't  set the bike up properly... and seriously ate it... I even have bruises on the side of my leg... So after my "accident," I got right back up and biked for over an hour. After biking, I went to meet up G. It was drizzling/raining  as we set out on our run, and so we decided that instead of running 6 miles we'd only do about 4. We did probably about 1030 min/mile. After our run, we went to breakfast where I ordered an egg white omelette with fruit :)

Monday: It was Superbowl Sunday yesterday, and needless to say my husband and I went out to watch the game since we're Steelers fans. Knowing we'd be out late, I asked work to come in late. I still ended up waking up semi-early and could schedule a 40 minute spin on my indoor trainer... I didn't fall this time.. so that was a plus...

Sometimes You Just Need to Laugh

This morning I did a 5K :) I rested yesterday to be ready for today. I tend to take all races seriously which isn't fun. This morning I was secretly wishing that something would happen so I could just relax and not take these races so seriously.. Well I guess my prayers got answered lol.

So the race venue this morning is known for having horrible parking. I knew this ahead of time, so I decided to strategize last night. When I got there, just as I expected, parking was limited and people were just trying to find what they could. I finally found a spot and thought about how easy it was to find parking this time. I made a mental note of where I parked and went off to get my race packet so that I could come back quickly and stick everything in my car. I got to registration, picked up my packet, and said hi to S (a girl who runs with the tri-club group every once in a while- she's usually off doing marathons or ironmans when she's not with us). I  then hurried to race back to my car... Well I tried to... 

Yup- I had no idea where I had parked. So I ran around the area with race packet in hand trying to find my car. I even stopped for directions (not once, but 3-4 times). After realizing that the race time was probably getting closer, I'd figure that I would go ahead and leave my packet at the registration area. So after being frazzled, and thinking about how much it was going to suck after the race to try to find my car, I lined up. So off I went... and as I ran through the crowds and followed the route, there was my mother effing car along the path... Really? Really? So I just laughed as I ran by it, making a sure note of where I was. I finished the race and ended up doing a 26:18. Not bad, but not my best. I figured between the mini-excursion on trying to find my car (I ended up running over a mile trying to find my car lol) and the combination of not sleeping very much + eating pizza at 11PM I didn't deserve to do well. However, it felt good to be out running 5Ks again, my last one I think was last October...

I met up with some other girls I knew were running the race to catch up and go to some of the vendor tents. Needless to say I was SUPER excited when I saw Mix1 there. I wanted to try more of their flavors so that I could buy another pack of Mix1. The lime flavor 12pk is specifically on sale ($19.00) at Amazon and so I really wanted to buy it. The 4pks run for about 9.00...which to me seems a little expensive but hey I don't buy that kind of stuff so what do I know. I tried the lime flavor AND the strawberry-banana flavor and loved them both, so I will be definitely buying those two in the future. One of my friends ended up tasting them too and loved it as well- I think she's going to buy some as well. After my sample tasting, I went to pick up my race event mini tree that I earned and went home.

Tip of the Day: Whenever you're doing a race. Strategize about where you will park. Remember where you park by looking at streets and landmarks. Don't be an effing idiot like me. Lesson learned.

Running with the Crowd...

So today I joined "Runner Club" before tri club starts next week. Today was easy which was great since my body is tired lol.

Today's workout was pretty simple: Two mile run at conversation pace followed by yoga. Now the run was great and I felt great, however, I totally think I did something to my knee during yoga which sucks lol.. In a couple of days we'll see what happens... I also did abs this morning.. trying to get flat and lean :)

Side note: I finally got a 4pk of the Mix1 mixberry protein shake. I've been obsessing over it since the tri-club kick-off meeting. It is delicious. I am all about the taste so the fact that this healthy thing tastes great is amazing.... So excited :) As time progresses, I'll try to branch out and try other flavors.

Small Victories

So here is a reap of my last two days:

Tuesday- I decided to work abs in and figured it would be best if I got them in before work. I woke up a little bit earlier and did P90X abs. (I also felt it was necessary to get abs in since I would be getting an award in front of my whole organization- scary I know). So after abs I showered up,  got beautified and went to work.

Now since I had to go upstage to get in award, I must admit I was kind of nervous. I didn't want to be "that girl" that totally tripped and ate it in front of everyone. Nor did I want to be the girl who gave the "awkward handshake". Needless to say, I did neither and was very proud of myself :)

Ok so to continue with my workout from Tuesday- I did weights with a friend of mine before spinning. I specifically worked out upper body. For weights I did pull-ups at the gym (4 sets of 10 with resistance to hold me up), followed immediately by arm dips (4 sets of 10). I rested and then did arm curls (4 sets of 10 with 10 pound weights), followed immediately by upward rows (4 sets of 10 with 25 pounds). I was running late, so I immediately went to spinning! I totally got my butt kicked at spinning, but I made it :) I know this sounds gross but I sweat so much more than usual. I was pretty proud of myself :)

Wednesday- As you all know (or if you don't), Wednesday is my early work-out days. I did my usual 3 miles on my treadmill at a light steady pace. I would love to tell you my pace, but my treadmill is wrong and so I can't. On a side note, I realized today that on Wednesday mornings by the time I work out, it is only 12 hours since I finished my workout on Tuesday.. Isn't that sad? Well anywho, you do what you have to do :)

Early Monday Workout

Sooo today was definitely a challenge.... I decided to go to the gym and spin with the 5:30 am class.

First off, who does that? Only psychotic people. Well I was one of them, as well as the third person through the door. So I got on my spinning bike and rocked out in that class. Now the instructor was OK. I have others that are my favorite, but that class will work for me. My biggest issue with the class was that the instructor was not super talkative or motivating ... For spin, I feel like you need that. ESPECIALLY at 5:30 am. The music wasn't bad so that was certainly a plus. Once class was over I rushed home, showered, changed, ate and ran straight to work. Overall, very productive workout day.

Now, I got forwarded this link and decided to share. It's very cool: 51 Fastest Fat Burners. Heres the link: www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/12/28/fastest.fat.burners/index.html

Are there some things on this list that you didn't know?

Tested my Bike!!

So today is my "biking" focused day!

The weather still has been crappy for riding, which sucks. Now the weather is not necessarily "bad" weather but the wind gusts make it completely miserable for me to ride in, and so I am a weenie and avoid riding outside all together. Instead, I set up my trainer in the house and decided to ride for an hour and a half. I bought my indoor trainer months ago (Bell Indoor Bicycle Trainer- from Amazon for like $80), but the trainer didn't come with something to hold it stationary and leveled. Soooo I finally bought the front piece to the trainer (Cycle Ops- Amazon $22) and WHAT A HUGE DIFFERENCE! My riding experience was much more pleasant. However, this could also be attributed to my snazzy new bike :)

Now, I changed out the seat to my bike, but the pedals are the ones that came with the bike. I do have other pedals (but when I sold my bike I couldn't take them off- so the girl who bought it from me was going to take them off and bring them back). However, I must admit pedaling without clips on was kind of nice. It made me wonder whether or not I wanted to put my old pedals in....I might want to get old school regular pedals and install those. That way I don't feel like I'm going to bust my butt when I brake.

After biking on the trainer, my husband wanted to go biking in the park. He just got a new bike too (Motobecane) and wants to start biking more which is fabulous. We didn't go too far, maybe 8 miles, but it was absolutely amazing!! Taking my bike on the open road for the first time was GREAT! I feel so much more comfortable and confident on my bike and absolutely love it. I'm not too sure on my speed because my bike computer wasn't up, but I just felt great riding. Overall, I am extremely pleased with my new bike! Who knows, maybe I'll turn into a biker...

Changing It Up

So I failed to post Friday... but no fear I will recap my workout.

My Friday workout ended up consisting of Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred Video - Level 2.. let me tell you something no matter how fit I am that woman can still kick my ass in 27 minutes. I really like this video and instantly felt sore once I finished it- its 3 circuit training loops with 3 mins of strength, 2 mins of cardio, 1 min of abs.

After the video I decided to eat something healthy... One thing that I think I have failed to mention in my blog is that my biggest problem with being healthy is my diet. However, with that being said I have been on the road to a "healthy living diet" One of my favorite morning breakfast items is a two egg omelette with green onions and fat free cheese and also chocolate mile (chocolate milk is really good for runners):



Also... I PICKED UP MY BIKE!!!! Here is a picture:



I was originally supposed to pick it up on Wednesday but they didn't have it right. I'll admit I was a little annoyed because I paid a lot of money for that bike and it had already come in on Monday. Since I sold my old bike, I was bike-less and thats not okay for my training routine. Oh and one more thing!! I bought new Sauconys online!!! They are the Sauconys Progrid Guide 3! They have really good reviews and I am excited to trade in my New Balances... News Flash there are some shoes I really like to run in. New Balances and Nikes are definitely not them.

Saturday's workout consisted of a 10 mile workout in under 1 hr and 40 minutes. Not a bad pace but I do want to get a tad faster before the half marathon. I felt absolutely amazing and was quite entertained on my run. I got to see ROTC working out and they cheered me on during my workout, my friend E and her husband riding bikes, and a woman asked me what mile I was on after passing me twice on her run. I must say I really do have the most random encounters when I run.

Random Tip of the Day: When training for races, have two pairs of shoes. One pair of shoes are "heavy clunkers" that consists of your everyday training shoe. The other will be your light race day shoes. Not only will you be faster, but you'll feel like you're running on air. Plus, your shoes should always have 24 hours to recover from your workout (odd huh) so having alternate shoes is always beneficial if you are running 24 hours before your last run.

Why Hello Tri Season :)

So today I officially converted back to working out with my triathlon group. You see I decided to do the half ironman after training with the group. When winter started up they reverted to a running club, but I kept training for triathlons. So today was like a reunion.

Spinning Workout: 45 minutes of hill workouts. About 5 hills at about 85-95% exertion with 2 minutes of recovery between each set. It kicked my butt a little bit.

Entertainment of the night: Some girl who was obviously racing instead of participating in the workout.

Tomorrow is going to be a bit of a change up for me as far as working out. I'm going to do 30 Day Shred Level 2. As far as I'm concerned that is a pretty serious workout.

Good Morning World :)

So I woke up this morning early for my early morning run. However, early did not mean 4:40 a.m.....but that was the time my body decided to wake up at and become restless. Since its still dark in the morning I had another treadmill workout.

I decided that Wednesdays will always be a standard 3 mile run. So thats what I did. Since my body was tired, I did a slower pace, but longer time... Now I would love to tell you my pace, but since my treadmill sucks and the pacing is off, I will never know my pace "exactly". After all my years of running, I can guestimate the pace and would say I was doing about a 10:30 pace. I still ran for 33 minutes.

The one thing that really sucks about Wednesday morning workout is that my hair is up for the rest of the day... Booo

****Random Treadmill Info: If you've been doing a treadmill workout for some time, don't increase the speed but the incline.

Tornado Warning- You won't ruin my workout

Well today was exciting weather-wise. All day they've been preparing us for tornado watches and warnings tonight. But fear not- I worked out on my treadmill before the real excitement began...

Speed Work total: 5 miles
Mile 1: 10 min/mile prace
Mile 2: 8 min/mile pace
Mile 3: 10 min/mile pace
Mile 4: 8 min/mile pace
Mile 5: 10 min/mile pace

It wasn't too bad of a run...but definitely a harder workout...  The plus side was my husband making me lobster for dinner :)

On another note:I'm so excited for tomorrow. I get to pick-up my bike tomorrow :) More pictures to come once I get it! Also, I'll give you the low-down on how it rides!

Taking a Day Off...

So after having a rough weekend... I decided to take the day off- well that and the fact that I "thought" I had class tonight and it threw my schedule off completely... So heres a quick synopsis of my workout this weekend:

Saturday- Half marathon on the treadmill.... It sucked but when I woke up that morning, I looked outside and it looked no bueno... I didn't want to no NOT run ...so I ran on my screwy treadmill... I ran for 2 1/2 hours... which is longer than what my half marathon time is... I felt ok afterwards... my muscles hurt...

Sunday- Windy and not good riding conditions = spinning on my indoor trainer for 2 hours and a 30 minute run afterwards.. Not going to lie my butt was sore from it.. I decided I am going to buy baby butt cream.. You may be laughing but I'm telling you it will all be worth it if my butt feels fabulous...

So yeah.... I can't believe how close its getting.... I'm starting to feel the nerves...

Sorry Myron!!


Ok so I got scolded for not updating my blog so let me summarize my latest workouts...

Saturday: I ran 12 miles with one of my friends. She hasn't done more than 10 miles, so I was prepared for a struggle...lol.. She was a good sport and actually didn't stop that much. The biggest thing that people have trouble with is timing walks in their long run if they need to walk. What I mean is.. if you plan on walking some of the half-marathon, then start walking from the beginning and get used to that.. because if you run about 7-8 miles and then decide to take a walk- you'll be miserable trying to get yourself to run again.

Sunday: I slacked and instead of doing an outside biking excursion, I spun for about an hour and a half on my trainer at home... The reason why I justified being on the trainer... brace yourselves.... I GOT A NEW BIKE... thats frickin right... a new bike. IT's a Motobecane Immortal Pro... check it out..

I should get it by this week or next week so I am like on Cloud 9. Hopefully now I will stop my whining and be faster..

Monday: Since my husband and I had the day off he came with me to the gym :) Before the gym I did P90X Ab Ripper. I went to the gym and spent about 30 minutes on biceps and triceps. Then at home I spun on my trainer for about 30 minutes. It was nice to time everything out and do more than my usual monday morning workouts.

Tuesday: I thought my dog's agility classes were Tuesday night but I was mistaken.. therefore I made plans to switch my sprints to Tuesdays. One of my friends wanted to workout with me so we went to the gym to do treadmill work. For speed work, I did 5 minute warm up... then I did 400M sprints uphill on a 5.0 incline (with a 400M recovery). My pace was about 7.0 (8:30ish mile).. After doing two, I figured it was going to rip my calf apart so I took the incline down to 4.0 and increased my speed to about 7.5. My last one I wanted to flat out fly.. so I did :) I took the incline down to 0 and my speed to 8.5 (under a 7 minute mile). I cooled down and then did abs afterwards and inner/outer thigh weights...

Wednesday: I did my 3 mile run... sigh... I got about "2.5 miles" done.. This is wrong seeing that my treadmill isn't calibrated...

So now I'm all caught up... tomorrow.. spinning at the gym....



My Day off..

So today is my day off :) It feels good to have a day off. Yesterday I did sprints and it wasn't too shabby. Again it was on my lame treadmill so who knows my actual distance/speed.

I decided to warm-up (I'm notorious for not warming=up) for about 5 minutes. At the 5 minute mark, I started picking up the pace at about 5.1 (I started at 4). After I completed a 400M I would go into a 400M sprint at 7 (thats what I started with anyway.) I did 40 minues of sprints which equals out to a little over 4 miles (without the warm-up). I ended up getting the treadmill to over 8 and keeping it there for 400M. I also put the incline to 2.0. I read somewhere that for treadmill workouts, increasing the incline does better for your performance then just increasing your speed all the time. Oh I forgot to mention the other shocker- I cooled down lol...for 5 minutes!! What is this world coming to?

Morning Runs

So I woke up pretty early and got my run on this morning. Now I did 3 miles (well I probably did more but whatever). Anyone who has heard about my treadmill knows that it effing lies. It'll say I am doing a 12 minute mile when I'm probably doing a 10 minute mile. Needless to say I'm 100% sure it is off but don't want to spend the time or money to do it.

So I did more than 3 miles.. Something nice and easy :) Tomorrow is sprint day!! I must say that I worked out with the boys yesterday and I feel sore... We'll see how bad it is tomorrow... I must say I'm excited to have a 4 day weekend...

Weekend Insanity

So this weekend I may have overtrained... Saturdays are my long run and I had planned to only go 10 miles (I had run 9 the week before). Well next thing I know, my legs took me 11.5 miles. I felt ok but I'm still pacing about a 10 minute mile (not ideal for me.) I want to PR my last race time which was 2:06. I need to pace under 9 min/mile. Ugh.. I'm almost ready for my half marathon. I have to admit I'm pretty excited to dress up my friend's dad in a tutu for the Disney Princess half. On the down side, I found out the other girl I was going to run with is injured and won't be able to run it. :(

On Sunday I ran 15 miles and then ran 2. I wasn't super excited to run so I ran on the treadmill, yeah I punked out. Whatever...I hate biking. I had trouble and I hope it was because I was an idiot yesterday.

Today I "spun" for 40 minutes...I totally clipped out of my 45 minutes but whatever... Again, I think it's because of my hatred for biking. I did weights at home and let me tell you those 3 lb weights kicked my ass. I know it seems like a small weight, but well I don't do weights often. I did arms today and I kid you not my arms hurt. It might also be because I haven't done weights in months and I'm a weenie, but I figure that it will benefit me in the long run.

That sums up my three days I missed :)

PS I am researching thigh compression sleeves. I am willing to try everything and anything to improve my biking, so let the research begin....
 
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