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November 30, 2005
The Watch Saga Continues
I've had much more watch trauma lately than one (wo)man should ever have to see in a life time. I'll give you the short version...
1) Nov 28 - watch breathes last breath - take to jewlery store to get new battery
2) later Nov 26 - jewlery store says they need a battery expert to do this battery - not your usual variety, watch must be kept overnight
3) even later Nov 28 - I'm very unhappy - the possibility of no watch all day Tuesday makes for one very grumpy person - O eventually offers up his watch for me to wear Tuesday as he can use the clocks in his classroom
4) Nov 29 - O goes back to pick up my watch at jewlery store. I get home from class, try it out and realize it doesn't beep anymore. Not good. I'm sick of Nike watches, they've given me nothing but trouble, we go to mall late to pick up new watch but SOMEHOW I decide on another Nike watch. Big mistake. Why do they always pull me back in?
5) late Nov 29 - get home and realize that new Nike watch does not have lap recall so if you take splits on something it doesn't remember them for you. What the heck?! Mind you it has the capability of taking splits, it just doesn't have the capability of recalling them back for you. What's the point I ask? Still grumpy. Cursing myself for buying another Nike watch.
6) Nov 30 - O takes watch back to jewlers - wants money back since watch still doesn't work, no resolution there. At work I call Nike product support and make my case. Indeed they designed a watch that will take splits but refuses to remember what those splits were. I ask why. No answer. I swear to myself to NEVER buy another Nike watch.
7) late Nov 30 - O and I return to the mall again, return Nike watch and get new watch - Timex Ironman. If you want a watch that works, get a Timex. It has more functions than I can fathom. And it was less expensive. And triathletes such as myself need Ironman watches, not Nike watches! (big laugh - seeing as how I've never actually done a triathlon :)
8) watch saga ends for now - new watch on wrist! Happiness!
9) start to wonder if it's a problem that I absolutely have to have a watch on at all times of the day and night - no kidding I NEVER take it off...
Anyway, I also have a bunch of "what the heck's"...
1) Today I ate 6 slices of pizza for lunch. What the heck?! It was kind of a dare/joke but nonetheless I did it. Truthfully I wasn't that full in the heat of the moment, but the aftermath wasn't pretty. I was soooo thirsty from all that cheese that I drank 3 bottles of water and then my belly - oh my belly! Talk about abdominal distention folks! I did eat dinner tonight but it's one of the smallest dinners I've ever eaten. :) When I usually eat pizza I go for 3-4 slices (depending on size) so 6 doesn't seem out of the realm of possibility, but I really wouldn't recommend it - that 6th slice just pushed me over the edge. Yes, I am a registered dietitian.
2) Roxy decided that she would like to dig a LARGE hole in our yard today. What the heck?! O caught her in the act with dirty paws, a gaping hole and the large pile of dirt she had created. I asked her what she was looking for. No answer. Unruly kids!
3) I split my pants today. What the heck? They were scrubs (which cost about $10 so no big deal) and I was already at the YMCA and about to change into my shorts anyway. Please see item #1. Eating 6 slices of pizza is bad in more ways than one. ;)
In other news, I lifted today and then went to a 5 pm spinning class. I had a good spinning day. I was able to really challenge myself with the resistance. I did have a tummy ache though. Please see item #1. Eating 6 slices of pizza is bad in more ways than one. :)
Posted by beth at 9:20 PM | Comments (6)
November 28, 2005
Back to Work
It was back to reality today - no more vacation days! It wasn't actually too bad though. I stayed up really late last night (okay - it was only like 11:15 pm but I get up at 4:45 am so that's late for me) to finish that blasted paper that I've been working on for ages. It's no where near done really. I'm sure my advisor will rip it to shreads, but at least there is something to work with now, more than I can say for the past 3 months. Anyway, back to sleeping - I thought I would be really tired today with less sleep than usual but I wasn't. I think it might have been my 4 nights in a row of 8 hours of sleep (Wed-Sat nights) that kept me alive and awake.
After work I hit up the gym for some biking and lifting. I rode the bike for 45 minutes and threw in two 5 minute surges where I increased the resistance but maintained the same RPMs. Then I did my usual lifting routine. I increased the weight on 2 exercises. I have to remind myself every once in a while that in order to get stronger I need to actually up the weight every now and again. I literally go months sometimes without changing my lifting routine which I know isn't good. Today was a good example - I decided I would increase my weight on the bench press to 60 lbs instead of 55 (2x15) and lo and behold it felt just as easy as the lower weight. Now why haven't I been doing 60 lbs for the past month?!?!
In other very tragic news, my watch died today. It's like losing a close family member (of course you know I'm kidding). Seriously though I looked down at my watch around 2 pm and it was flashing - death imminent. I begged it to last until the end of the day. It obliged but breathed it's last on my drive home. Right now it's getting a new battery at the jewlery store in town. O's about ready to go pick it up. JOY! :)
Posted by beth at 7:12 PM | Comments (0)
November 27, 2005
Nothing Much Exciting
It's beautiful here today - all the way up into the low 60s! As we were walking into church I mentioned to O how it felt like spring - all the snow melted and it was kind of humid - like an April day at track practice. This made me REALLY want to run. I haven't really felt that strong of an urge yet (which is kind of odd), but the running itch hit me hard today. When it's snowing and back into the 30s later this week it will probably leave. :)
Either way, I didn't want to run yet because it's only been 1 month of no running and I wanted to try for at least 2 months (ie: not start again until the new year). So O and I went to the YMCA instead. I did the elliptical for 45 minutes while he played basketball in the gym. And now we are headed out to take the pooch for a walk and pick up some dinner at Subway. Of course I still have that darn paper to finish (it didn't write itself last night like I had hoped) so I've requested to be chained to my desk tonight. :)
Hope everyone has a great start to their weeks!
Posted by beth at 3:53 PM | Comments (0)
November 26, 2005
Procrastination
I have a paper that I have to write (that I NEED to write) but I'm not getting anywhere with it. So I decided to take a break from staring at the screen on my computer and write a blog entry. Perhaps it will get the writing juices flowing.
This morning I hit the pool and the bike. I did a workout in the pool (10x50 yd hard, 8x25 yd kick hard totaling 1500 yds with warmup and cooldown) and then had about 5 minutes to change and get myself up to a spinning class that was starting at 9:30 am. I thought that it would be good to swim and then bike to get myself used to that transition. I'm sure the swim ---> bike is the much easier transition of the two, but it's still a transition nonetheless. The spinning class was taught by a different instructor than I usually go to but she was really good and encouraging too. I took it a little easy on the resistance today just to give myself a break and not overdo it.
So after my workouts I came home, did core exercises, feet exercises, iced the feet, showered, stretched, ate lunch, cleaned up, stared at the computer screen x 20 minutes, and that brings us to the present. UGH - why is writing so hard? :)
Summary for the week:
Sunday - Roxy walk, core exercises, feet exercises
Monday - 45 minutes on bike and weights
Tuesday - off (class)
Wednesday - 1 hour spinning and weights
Thursday - Roxy walk, core exercises, feet exercises (Happy Thanksgiving!)
Friday - 2000 yd swim workout (20x25, 4x50 kick)
Saturday - 1500 yd swim workout (10x40, 8x25 kick), 1 hour spinning, core exercises, feet exercises
Posted by beth at 1:59 PM | Comments (0)
November 25, 2005
Back to the Pool
This morning I headed back to the YMCA for another swim workout:
300 yd easy
200 yd kick easy
100 yd easy
20x25 yd hard
4x50 yd kick hard
300 yd easy
200 yd kick easy
200 yd easy
This added up to 2000 yds, my longest workout yet. What I had planned to do was actually 1900 yds which didn't make sense to me. That's like running for 43 minutes - you gotta go that extra 2 for the round number! :) Anyway, I've determined that I'm horrible at keeping track of how many laps I've swam so I probably did more like 2500 yds (not really - that's a big exaggeration!) because when in doubt I would just add some on (ie: did I just do a 200 or a 250? - must have been only a 200, better keep going). It's seriously hard for me to keep track of my laps, and since I have no concept of how long it takes me to swim different distances I can't base my laps off of time like I would be able to in running. Perhaps if I would just learn to focus instead of letting my mind wonder I wouldn't have this problem. :)
I felt good swimming this morning. I'm probably not any faster but the swimming is getting a little easier. That probably means I need to do harder workouts!
This morning I read this article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. I was really impressed and inspired. It got me to thinking that someday I would really like to do an Ironman. It seems so unrealistic to me and so "out there" but I feel like it would be such an accomplishment. I came home from the pool and told O that by the time I'm 40 I want to do an Ironman. He said "sounds like a great idea - I'll help in anyway I can." I love that guy! (probably why I marred him). Anyway, before I get too ahead of myself I might want to first just finish a sprint triathlon and work my way up. I still have some running goals that I want to accomplish that I haven't given up on but for now I'm hearing loud and clear from my body that hard running training isn't in the cards. Either way I'm excited about the possibilities of a "new" sport and having new goals and new challenges!
Posted by beth at 1:25 PM | Comments (1)
November 24, 2005
Happy Thanksgiving!
Roxy, O and I all took a long walk this morning when we got up. It was snowing and cold but fun considering Roxy seems to really enjoy the snow!
Items Roxy ate on her walk today:
(1) 1 dead bird, feathers included (despite our desperate attempts to remove the thing from her mouth)
(2) 1 dead worm (which we figured was meant to feed the dead bird inside her tummy), which she later spit back out
(3) 2-3 rocks
(4) lots of snow
I did do my core exercises and feet exercises but of course the gym and YMCA are closed today for the holiday.
I hope everyone enjoys their Thanksgiving celebration! Eat plenty and be merry! :)
Posted by beth at 10:17 AM | Comments (5)
November 23, 2005
Spinning on a Whim
I had planned to go to the Pitt gym after work today which was a grand plan until I realized that it is closed. I was pretty sure the students had class today (we always did at Penn State!) but I guess they figured nobody would be working out. So I headed towards home with the plan of driving straight to the YMCA. Given my state of very low motivation, I knew if I went home first I might never make it out the door again.
At some point on the drive home I hatched the plan of doing a spinning class if one was available tonight. You have to sign up for them in advance but they are rarely full so I figured I could get in. Sure enough there was one at 5 pm. O was kind enough to meet me at the YMCA and since I got there around 4 pm we both lifted first before I headed to the spinning room and he headed to the gym to play basketball.
Lifting first (including 5 leg exercises) was probably part of the problem, but I also think the instructor made this class a little harder than usual! My legs were on fire. I decided I don't like the jumps where you "run" for a 2 count, sit for 2 count, back up for 2 count, sit for 2, up for 2 etc... My legs want to kill me when I do that. And we always seem to do that little routine when Simply Irresistible (think Robert Palmer) is playing which really makes me hate that song. Despite the fact that long climbs also inflict much pain, I seem to do better at those and like those more. Probably because they are more like distance running and my endurance kicks in (vs those quick, short movements which my body is not accustomed to).
Besides all that, it's snowing here. Not a lot. It's definitely laying on the ground though. Roxy was beside herself running around in it and then she made us laugh like crazy when she finally slowed down enough for us to see her face (which is black) covered in snow! We are supposed to get a few inches for tomorrow - Turkey Day! I'm very excited for tomorrow and beyond - mostly because I DON'T HAVE TO GO TO WORK FOR 4 DAYS STRAIGHT! That's a good thing. I need a break from that place. Too many sick people and too many nurses in a bad mood (that yell at me!). I have tomorrow off and took Friday as a vacation day leading to the weekend.... Oh the joy!
I hope everyone has a wonderful day tomorrow. Good luck to all those doing turkey trots. I'll be thinking of you when I'm all warm and cozy in my bed tomorrow morning SLEEPING IN! :) Ah...just kidding...if my feet were healthy I'd be out there like the rest of you suckers racing in the freezing cold and loving it! :) Good night!
Posted by beth at 7:20 PM | Comments (0)
November 21, 2005
There it is...A Win for the Ages
Yup, that's right...I whopped O's butt today in the 2005 NCAA XC Fantasy Draft. Oh how sweet. Final score? 23-38. I will give him this - he picked the individual winner which was a bit of a surprise but that does not make up for the fact that I went 2-3-4-6-8!!!! I checked the results while I was still at work and smiled a little inside. Although I didn't have time to do the math, I knew I was on the path to victory... Yah team! :)
Otherwise I had a pretty standard day. All the turkey I ate yesterday at Thanksgiving #1 led to some serious sleepiness at work today. That darn tryptophan! :) I did manage to find my way to the gym after work though for 45 minutes on the bike and some weight lifting. There was a girl at the gym that was really annoying me. She was talking on her cell phone the whole time and clogging up all the machines that I wanted to use. Dude - go talk outside or something.
And now I must bask the in the glow of another hard victory won... :) (and clean the dishes from dinner...)
Posted by beth at 7:01 PM | Comments (1)
November 20, 2005
Change of Plans
Today I had planned on going to the YMCA for an elliptical and/or bike workout. But I had a timing problem. The Y doesn't open until 1 pm and we have to leave to go to Thanksgiving #1 at 2:15 pm. I would have enough time to workout, but not workout and take a shower and stretch. That was problem #1. Problem #2 was that the pooch needed a walk. We are taking her on our trip today to my grandparent's house and a long walk was in order to quell the friskiness. O usually has walk duties but after twisting his ankle yesterday, isn't able to move around too well today. Problem #3 was the fact that it is absolutely beautiful outside today and I didn't want to be in the gym staring at the walls. This all means that instead of going to the YMCA, I took Roxy on a 50 minute walk. It solved all problems. She got her exercise, I got mine (kind of) and we both got to enjoy the beautiful weather. She's now passed out on the floor sleeping. Bingo! (although she always managed to find extra stashes of energy just when she needs them.
I did do my core exercises and feet exercises before church this morning. I can put that in the log. :)
In other news, my feet are doing pretty well. I haven't really talked about them lately. I still feel them every so often, when I get up in the morning, if I'm on my feet all day, if I don't stretch well, etc... They certainly feel much better but I'm no where near convinced that they wouldn't start hurting tomorrow if I started to run again. I'm not sure they will ever be truly "healed" but I guess I just need them to get good enough to the point that I can manage. I'm hoping triathlon training will help because even when I do start running again (hopefully) I would only run 3 days a week or so to get the "other" training in. I guess I will see!
And last but not least - I have a question. Audrey got me thinking about this in one of her recent posts. If I do a triathlon (just one), can I call myself a triathlete? Since I've done 2.75 marathons, can I call myself a marathoner? I would guess yes - I could call myself these things, but then the same does not apply to the fact that I've definitely run many mile races but would NEVER call myself a miler. Of course it doesn't really matter - I can call myself whatever I want to call myself - but I was just wondering....
And now I must go eat turkey! :)
Posted by beth at 1:24 PM | Comments (1)
November 19, 2005
Happiness is...
(1) PENN STATE FOOTBALL AND THEIR BIG TEN CHAMPIONSHIP!!! I have so much Penn State Pride (as does O). And I think I would even if I didn't run for them, but just went there like hundreds of thousands of other students. It's like a disease.
(2) Completing big school project tonight and knowing that after Tuesday night, I'll be done with that class! (unhappiness is the rather large paper I still need to write for my independent study, but I'm trying to not think about that) I've struggled with school this semester. I just wasn't into it this fall, and it didn't help that I really didn't enjoy my class.
(3) The dog named Roxy. She's too cute. She can make us smile even when we really don't feel like it. Today she got a bath and now she doesn't stink. This makes her even more likeable.
(4) The thought that turkey is only hours away........... ;)
Posted by beth at 9:22 PM | Comments (1)
More Swimming
I did another swim workout this morning - my first time swimming on back to back days.
300 yd easy
200 yd kick easy
100 yd easy
5x100 yd hard w/10 seconds rest
50 yd kick easy
100 yd easy
I had written down the workout I was actually supposed to do but forgot it at home and didn't really remember the details. So, I just made up my own workout. I only had 25 minutes to do this before the pool closed (the pool hours at the YMCA are weird) so I cut the cooldown pretty much out. I will say that the 5x100 yd hard was VERY HARD! I was really breathing and my arms and legs were burning. For anyone that is a "real" swimmer and reading this, please refrain from loud laughter! Saying this workout was hard is probably like saying to me that 2x200 meters is VERY HARD, but what can I say - swimming isn't my strong point! :)
After the swim I changed and got on the bike. The bikes at my Y are very old and crickety - not very good for actual use. I only lasted on the bike for 10 minutes because it was making such loud noises. Plus at some point I spotted a Runner's World in the magazine rack and wanted desperately to get off the bike, grab the Runner's World and get on the elliptical. And that's exactly what I did. I did the elliptical for 25 minutes while reading an article about Deena Kastor. It kept me quite occupied.
And now I'm in the midst of a very busy day! I have lots of things on the to do list so that tomorrow O and I (and Roxy) can go to my grandparent's house for Thanksgiving #1. Incidentally, O had a big spill this morning when he was running/walking with Roxy at the park. He twisted his ankle pretty badly and is now stationed on the couch elevating it. It's pretty big and ugly looking!
Week summary:
Sunday - core exercises and feet exercises only (YMCA closed)
Monday - 45 min bike and weights
Tuesday - off (class)
Wednesday - 45 min elliptical and weights
Thursday - 1 hour spinning and core/feet exercises
Friday - swim workout 1500 yd total and pushups/crunchups
Saturday - swim workout 1250 yd total/10 min bike/25 min elliptical and core/feet exercises
Posted by beth at 1:24 PM | Comments (0)
November 18, 2005
One Crossed Off the List
We went Christmas shopping tonight. For Roxy that is. Easiest Christmas gift I've ever purchased. Very easy to shop for that pooch - food and toys. What more could a dog want?! :) In a moment of weakness we also bought her her very own stocking. It was only $1, what can I say?! We bought her some rawhides and 3 toys, one of which we gave to her already. Unfortunately this toy happens to squeak very loudly and once she figured that out we were in some serious trouble. She raced through the house squeaking as loudly as possible. Rookie move on our parts... :)
Today O and I went swimming after I got home from work. Swimming is not O's strongest sport so he mostly water jogged. I did the following:
300 yd easy
200 yd kick easy
100 yd easy
10x50 yd hard w/5-10 seconds rest
8x25 yd kick hard w/5-10 seconds rest
200 yd easy
It was 1500 yds total (I believe). I would have done some water running myself after I was done but the pool was closing for swim team practice. I also did 2x25 of pushups (very challenging after you've been swimming) and 2x100 crunchups.
Posted by beth at 10:21 PM | Comments (1)
November 17, 2005
A Fungus Among Us
It seems I've developed a fungus. This rather largish (and growing) patch of itchy, very red skin behind my left knee has been bugging me for some time. It was small and then bigger and bigger and itcher and itcher and quite frankly getting a little scary. I've had it for about a month. I tried cortisone cream on it with no success so my next plan of action was to ignore it for about 2 weeks.
Two days ago I couldn't take it anymore. Luckily I work in a rather large hospital with hundreds of doctors running around. I'm way too lazy to make an appointment with my real doctor and way to cheap to pay the co-pay. So instead I decided to ask one of the doctors that I work very closely with. Although he's a trauma surgeon now he happens to have also served as a general practitioner in Columbia and so I figured he'd know funky skin diseases. He took one look at it and instantly diagnosed me with a fungus. Hmm...makes me sound as if I don't bathe or something? :) He suggested I either got it from the dog or the gym. I'm going with the gym theory because I'm about 98% sure I had it before we had Roxy. Either way, he gave me a script for the cream to make it go away and now, although the redness remains, the itchiness has subside. Hallelujah!
In other news, I survived my 2nd spinning class this evening. Keep in mind "survive" is a relative term. It was very difficult again but I knew more what I was doing and what was coming so it was a little better. The long climbs kill me. Lance Armstrong I am not!! I also did my feet and core exercises before I went.
And now I have laundry to do. Good night all!
Posted by beth at 7:01 PM | Comments (3)
November 16, 2005
Fantasy Draft Picks
Here they are!
Beth's A Team
Victoria Mitchell Butler
Shannon Rowbury Duke
Arianna Lambie Stanford
Caroline Bierbaum Columbia
Stephanie Madia Notre Dame
Amy Hastings Arizona State
Cassie Hunt Illinois
O's A Team
Johanna Nilsson NAU
Fiona Crombie Providence
Cack Ferrell Princeton
Heidi Magill BYU
Molly Huddle Notre Dame
Clara Horowitz Duke
Alyson Kohlmeier Michigan
We also each picked B teams which we determined could push out an A team member if they placed lower (as in they placed "better"). We shall see, although I obviously think I have the far superior team! (of course I also thought that the past two years!) We also pick which conferences and regions we think will "win". I'll spare you all those details. :)
Today O and I both went to the YMCA after I got home from work. He played basketball in the gym while I did the elliptical for 45 minutes and then we both lifted. He hasn't lifted for a while so he's going to be S-O-R-E tomorrow! The Pitt gym has far better facilities but it's fun to lift with O too. We'll probably do it once a week or so, and then I'll lift the other day at Pitt.
Roxy is running around with her squeaky ball right now. She usually makes the thing squeak when nobody is paying attention to her. Hmm...maybe I need a squeaky ball at work... :)
Posted by beth at 7:50 PM | Comments (5)
November 14, 2005
Random Thoughts
Here's my collection of rather random thoughts this evening:
(1) Rocks must be good fuel, because our little pooch (who apparently eats rocks now) is becoming quite a little runner. The splits today on O's and Roxy's run (on the hilly HS cross country course) are as follows: 7:44/6:19/7:35 The last split is really 1.05 miles because the course is 3.05 vs a full 5K. First and last miles consisted of O trying deserately to slow Roxy down. For only being 25 pounds, she sure can pull hard!
(2) Yesterday I didn't work out. I only did my core exercises and foot exercises. This was mostly because the YMCA was again closed (it reopened today) and we didn't have time (like we did on Saturday) to drive all the way down to Pitt. Instead, we used our day to go to a church where one of my high school cross country teammates is now the pastor! I hadn't seen him since high school but had found out about 2 months ago that he(after finishing seminary at Duke) was assigned to a church in Mars, PA (yes, there is really a city named Mars in PA), which is only about 30 minutes from where we live. It was great to see him again. I also used Sunday to finish the paper portion of a class project - 16 pages including appendices. Not my best work ever but it's done. And O didn't even have to chain me to my chair. Now I just have to do the presentation that goes along with said paper...
(3) Today I rode the bike for 45 minutes and lifted. I tried to increase the weight on some of my lifting exercises. Nothing much else to report there.
(4) I got a very excited phone call from my grandmother today. She will be having us over for Thanksgiving dinner on Sunday!! This is excellent news. Usually we hit both O's family for Thanksgiving (lunch) and mine (dinner) so now the wealth will be spread out a little. My grandmother is an excellent cook too. I simply CANNOT wait!
(5) And finally (and perhaps most importantly of all), tonight O and I are picking our teams for the 3rd Annual Fantasy NCAA Cross Country Championships Draft 2005. We are the only two that play, although we amuse each other to no end while playing. I'm extremely reluctant to admit that I actually lost the first 2 times we played. This is equivalent to me winning O's baseball draft in which I would have no idea what I'm actually doing. I should give O some credit - he knows the sport of CC pretty well. But still - I really should be able to beat the punk! I follow the meet results much more closely. Perhaps this will be my year. After our draft, perhaps I'll publish my picks. Alas, I must do some more scouting... :)
Posted by beth at 7:34 PM | Comments (0)
November 12, 2005
Nothing Much Exciting
This morning O and I took Roxy on a long walk. She ate a rock. That dog will eat anything! (except for celery of course - when I was making a salad last night and dropped a piece of celery on the floor she kept putting it in her mouth but then spitting it out)
After the walk we drove the 40 minutes to the Pitt gym so I could work out. The YMCA is closed this weekend for some sort of floor refinishing. I did the elliptical for 45 minutes, the bike for 15 minutes and my core exercises while O hung out reading the paper, watching TV and using Pitt's wireless internet. When I was done we went to get burritos for lunch (YUM!) and then headed home. Since then, we've just been doing odds and ends. I've been checking the NCAA regional CC results every 2 minutes as well! And at 4:30 pm the Ironman in Hawaii is on TV. I figured I'd watch that and tape it to watch for further triathlon motivation. :)
The summary for the week:
Sunday - 30 bike/25 elliptical and core exercises
Monday - 45 bike and weights
Tuesday - off (class)
Wednesday - 35 elliptical and weights
Thursday - 1 hour spinning and core exercises
Friday - 1600 yd swim workout/20 aquajog and situps/pushups
Saturday - 45 elliptical/15 bike and core exercises
Posted by beth at 3:40 PM | Comments (0)
November 11, 2005
Pool Workout #2
Let me tell you about 3 day weekends. They rock!!! It wasn't that fun when I only had a 1 day weekend last weekend but the reward this weekend is well worth it. :) I slept for close to 9 hours last night. That is all I have to say! :)
I'm not as sore from the spinning as I thought I would be. I may very well retract that statement tomorrow. Sometimes I'm more sore from something 2 days after than the day immediately after. I guess I'll find out tomorrow!
This morning I headed to the YMCA for my 2nd pool workout. I did the following:
300 yd free easy
200 yd kick easy
100 yd free easy
20x25 yd free hard w/5-10 seconds rest
4x50 yd kick hard w/10 seconds rest
300 yd free easy
And that was a lot harder than my last pool workout! It was about double the distance as last time so I'm sure that contributed - this time I did 1600 yds total which isn't even a mile. Geesh. How do those Ironman triathletes do it? :)
After the swimming (which took about 30-35 minutes with the rests included), I ran in the water for 20 minutes with 4x2 minutes hard, 1 minute easy thrown in there to make the time pass. It was a good pool workout overall. I was tired when I was finished.
During my time in the water I started to wonder how triathletes warm up before races. Do they get on their bikes, run a little and get in the water for a quick warmup? Do they just get in the water and warmup, assuming that by the time they hit the bike and swim their bodies will already be warmed up from the swim? I think I might be apt to just run around a little since that's what I know how to do best. Interesting dilemma. Any ideas?
Hope everyone has a great start to their weekends!
Posted by beth at 2:15 PM | Comments (2)
November 10, 2005
Holy Crap!
Oh my gosh. I did my first ever spinning class tonight and it kicked my butt. Hard. Really hard. I kept thinking holy crap, holy crap, HOLY CRAP this is hard!
Let me start with Tuesday. I took that as my off day because I had class at night. Make that I had "boring class" at night. I'm relatively certain that my current class is so boring it actually hurts to sit in it.
On Wednesday I left work late and only had time for 35 minutes on the elliptical and weight lifting before O and I met our friend, who lives in California but is in Pittsburgh on business, for dinner. My workout was fine. Seeing our friend was much better! He moved to California about 1.5 years ago, took up cycling, lost 50 pounds, became a vegan. He's like a new man!
And that brings us today and what I thought was going to be my premature death. That spinning stuff is hard!!! The class was an hour long and the instructor had WAY too much energy. The hardest part for me was when we were doing a long climb and she kept saying "add some more" (meaning resistance) and at one point I thought I was going to jump off my bike and strangle her if she instructed us to "add some more". :) I really enjoyed it though. I liked the loud music and the challenge and I think this will be really good training for the bike part of the triathlon. I'm pretty sure my quads are going to be REALLY sore tomorrow, but that probably goes with the territory! :)
At this point I'm going to interject and let you all know that Roxy just jumped up and licked my bowl of ice cream (with the ice cream in it of course) but I'm going to eat it anyway. If I get heartworm or some other dog disease, you'll know why...
And I have tomorrow off work!! I worked Sun-Thur and now the long 3 day weekend. It's the best! I told O he must chain me to my desk/computer as I have a big project due in class and I haven't yet started. He might be looking for a chain right now... :)
Posted by beth at 7:19 PM | Comments (2)
November 7, 2005
Short and Sweet
After work today:
45 minutes biking (while watching Punk'd)
weight lifting
This has got to rank as one my most exciting entries ever! :)
Good night...
Posted by beth at 8:31 PM | Comments (1)
November 6, 2005
Grease Lightning
Today after work (I worked today but then have next Friday, Saturday and Sunday off!) I went to the gym to do the bike (30 minutes) and the elliptical (25 minutes) and my core exercises. While I exercised I watched Grease on VH1. I now have the Grease Lightning song on my brain, and visions of John Travolta dancing in my head. For the life of me, I can't make it go away! :)
I've decided that aqua jogging and doing the elliptical can be my "running" replacement as of now, until I can (hopefully) actually start running again. That will probably give me some more variety too, instead of just swimming and biking all the time.
We are in the midst of a very good football weekend. Pitt lost big and Penn State won even bigger to make themselves 9-1 and stay atop the Big Ten. The Steelers are winning as I type but it's close and anything could happen, especially with Big Ben out and the 3rd string quarterback in! Speaking of which...I must go watch...
PS Thanks for the swimming tips everyone! I will likely have more (relatively stupid) questions as my swimming progresses. I'm glad I have some professionals to help me out. :)
Posted by beth at 6:21 PM | Comments (0)
November 5, 2005
The Dog That Ran a 6:15 Mile
Roxy and O have been going to the park lately to run on the high school cross country course. They usually walk the 1st mile and then run the 2nd mile. The other day O asked me what I thought they ran the 2nd mile in. I guessed 8:30. Lower. I guessed 8. Lower. I guessed 7:30. Lower. And so it went until he just told me - they ran 6:40 with O just trying to keep up. Today when they went Roxy ran 6:15 for the 2nd mile. O said she was tired for about 5 minutes after that but was back at pulling the leash and tugging for all her might. She's one little dynamo! :)
While they were running, I was swimming. We joined the YMCA this morning and so I hit the pool for my first pool workout. I looked up some swimming workouts on the internet the other day. Not too sure if you're supposed to just swim first and then start the workouts later or what? By doing a workout today was that like me doing 400s on my first day of running after a 5 year lay-off? Probably not is my guess. I'm thinking every time I go to the pool I should be doing a "workout". Again, not too sure, but that's the theory I'm going with now.
Anyway, the workout was written as this:
150 yd easy
100 yd kick (kickboard I assumed?)
50 yd easy
12x25 w/5-10 seconds rest
150 yd easy
I was assuming the 12x25 was supposed to be swimming as hard as I could, which is what I did. And it was definitely hard. I felt like my heart was going to beat right out of my chest! But the whole workout was over pretty quickly - only about 15 or 20 minutes. So I ran in the water for 20 minutes (including 5x1 minute hard with 1 minute rest to make the time go by faster). I think next time I might pick a slightly longer workout. There has to be something more to it because swim team practices are really long - not 15 minutes! :) It was a good first workout though.
A couple things re:swimming
1) I can tell already my skin is just going to peel right off. The combo of chlorine and dry winter weather is not a good one!
2) For a while, I was in a lane by myself and that made me happy. Then a big, splashy guy came and disturbed matters. It's probably good he came though. I doubt that my triathlon will involve me swimming in my own lane in my own pool. Good to get used to racing conditions!
3) I only breathe to one side. I think I knew this before but as I watched the faster looking swimmers, I realized they breathe to both sides. Obviously there is some benefit to that. When I tired breathing to the other side it was a dastardly mistake. Lots of swallowed water.
So that's that! Looking at my schedule for now, I think I'll try and swim twice a week (doing a workout each time along with some water jogging to serve as my "running" for now) and bike 3-4 times/week, take 1-2 days off and lift twice. I signed up for a spinning class on Thursday. That looks rougher than the swimming! Triathlon here I come! :)
Week summary:
Sunday - 30 minute run and core exercises
Monday - off (PT appointment)
Tuesday - weight lifting only
Wednesday - 45 minute run and core exercises (painful feet)
Thursday - 45 minute bike and weight lifting
Friday - 45 minute bike and crunchups/pushups
Saturday - swim workout (15-20 min), 20 minute aquajog and core exercises
Now it's time to watch Penn State! Go Big Blue! :)
Posted by beth at 2:59 PM | Comments (3)
November 4, 2005
Let the Biking Begin
So now that I'm a triathlete (yeah - that's supposed to be funny) I did some biking today, and yesterday actually. I biked for 45 minutes both days. Yesterday I lifted also. Today I did 2x25 pushups and 2x100 crunchups. I'm still pretty excited about the triathlon idea, especially since I now have 2 co-workers that want to also do it. We were looking at which triathlons we could compete in next summer. Looks like there are several options but top on the list is one that is in a state park (sprint distance of course) which appealed to us because the swim is in a lake. Cool. (although I might not think it's very cool when I'm getting splashed and kicked and I'm gulping water by the gallons)
A new development has also come into play in regards to my lack of bike. My father (a devoted blog reader) noted my lack-of-bike issue and suggested that I could have my sister's old bike, which she apparently doesn't want anymore and which is residing in my parent's garage. It might work. If not, I can also buy a cheapo bike in the spring.
Tomorrow morning O and I are going to join the YMCA. I'm kind of excited. I want to get in the pool just so I remember how hard it is to swim. Swimming will definitely be my weakest link of the 3 triathlon components so I'm sure I will have to work/train hardest for it.
But now O and I are going to watch the movie we rented (and Roxy too - although she's VERY intent on consuming the rawhide we just gave her)!
Good night!
Posted by beth at 7:43 PM | Comments (0)
November 3, 2005
Starting Over
So here's the situation.
My feet hurt. They aren't good. They actually don't hurt as badly as I thought they would this morning but regardless, I know they are headed back to their usual PF pain cycle.
I was pretty sad about this fact last night (in anticipation of the PF pain today) and this morning. I realized that I can't continue to run for now. I need to give my feet a break. A serious break. This is definitely the longest injury I've had. Over 5 months now, but likely to be many more. I figure I need a 3 month minimum of no running to even hope for this to get better. I'll cross my fingers that that's it.
But I refuse to mourn the loss of running. Quite frankly, it's not something worthy enough to mourn. I spent many hours of my life (in my younger years in HS and college) mourning running and it's no way to gain friends, that's for sure. Allow my relgious convictions to sneak through - running is not and will not be the Lord of my life as it has been in the past! (I'll leave that up to God :)
So my new plan is this - train for a triathlon next summer. I'm truly not someone who can just go to the gym day in and day out and work out. I need something competitive on my mind for motivation. Competition drives me, what can I say?
Potential problems:
(1) I don't have a bike
(2) I don't have access to a pool
(3) the triathlon requires running - of which I'm incapable of doing right now
Lucky for me - I've already thought of answers:
(1) I can "train" on a stationary bike in the gym until the spring. Come spring time, when you would actually be able to ride a bike outside, I can buy a bike. I'm not trying to be a world-beater in this triathlon, I just want to finish it. Therefore I don't need some fancy bike. One with 2 tires and a seat will do.
(2) After some looking at the budget, some playing around with numbers, my supportive husband (who would give up eating if he had to in order to afford something I wanted) figured out that we could afford for me to join our YMCA. I can use the pool facility at Pitt but their pool hours for the general student population (literally) are noon to 1:30 pm Mon-Fri. You can see how that might be a problem for me. The YMCA also has spinning classes, the pool, cardio equipment, weights, etc... It's 3 1/2 minutes from our house. And for not much more O can also join as a "basic member" and play all the pickup basketball that his little heart desires.
(3) Now the big one - how in the world will I run? For one, I'm picking a triathlon at the END of summer. I'm really, really, really hoping that by giving my feet 3-4 months totally off, I can start running again in March or April. If that is indeed the case, I can get in enough "training" to finish a 5K at the end of a triathlon. I figure my natural running talent and my 15 years of running background can at least buy me a 25 minute jog. Over the next 3-4 months I can totally focus on swimming and biking - both sports that I could definitely use some help with. I think it will be fun to try out new sports. I was looking at some triathlon training plans today and I realized that before I could even start them, I need to get in the pool and be able to swim for longer than 10 minutes!
And that's that. My ever supportive co-worker told me she would do the triathlon with me next summer. She too is a HS/college athlete with volleyball as her sport and she understands sports injuries and all that jazz. She's an awesome biker, okay runner and questionable swimmer. We agreed that if we don't drown in the swimming portion, we should be okay. :)
I will be looking to my fellow bloggers for triathlon training advice - especially Audrey and Leilani and Blondie (for the swimming). (by the way - I was looking at some "swimming workouts" and I didn't even know what they meant - um...is there a Swimming for Dummies out there? :)
I am excited about my new adventure. And I'm trying not to think of the possibility that my feet may never get better. I was wondering last night what in the world I would talk about in my blog and if I should continue doing it. Now I think I have my answer.
Posted by beth at 8:18 PM | Comments (6)
November 2, 2005
Humpf
Today I had a really good run. It was a beautiful fall day. O and I went to the rails to trails trail. I felt great. We ran 45 minutes. We started off slow but really picked it up at the end (which is still probably only equal to about 7:30 pace). I was loving life. But now my left foot hurts. Humpf. I felt it "pull" just ever so slightly while I was running but I didn't pay much attention. Now after the run, icing, a hot shower and stretching, one spot on my plantar fascia hurts. Double Humpf. Who knows what it really is - either just a flukey pain or the plantar fasciitis coming back. Probably the later. I get disgusted thinking about it. I've already passed the 5 month mark for this injury and I'm pretty sure that I've served my injury time this year (yeah...um...try 8 of the 10 months so far this year...) and it's about time I'm healthy for once!
My mom told me on the phone tonight I need to give my feet a looooooonnnnngggg rest. I told her I needed to take up a new sport. Seriously. I love running but I don't love to be injured - so if I can't get this thing kicked by the end of this year I may consider something else. Trouble is, nothing is like running. We all know that. :)
Oh well. I'm not ready to throw in my towel just yet - I was just disappointed to feel that PF pain again. We'll see what tomorrow brings!
Posted by beth at 8:55 PM | Comments (3)
November 1, 2005
Speed Day
Today I've been on Speed Number 10. (I'm not really sure what that means - I just made it up). What I'm trying to say here is I'm moving quickly. Busy day at work, a speed lift in between work and class and now that I'm back at work, a speed blog and dinner before class. I have to do a presentation in class today and I have a feeling I'm going to be speed talking. Not such a bad thing - my presentation is pretty boring. :) Now if only I could do some speed running... :)
Posted by beth at 4:41 PM | Comments (0)