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4:30am

This is my new wake up time. Hubby decided a few weeks back he’d start doing p90x– he did a week of it and I don’t know WHAT got into me, but I decided that not only would I do it with him, I told him I’d do all the meal prep and planning if he’d do the official p90x “diet” (okay, “nutrition plan”). Whatever. It’s a diet.

4:30 is a really hard time to wake up, especially when you’re used to getting up at 6. I am a solid 9 hours of sleep kind of girl, so I honestly thought I’d DIE if I tried it. I managed to wake up and get my body out of bed. Again… I have NO IDEA how. I have blown off about 50% of my early morning workouts without even giving it a second thought, just because I “couldn’t” get up. I seriously thought I didn’t possess the strength to uncover my body and put my legs on the floor.  Anyway, I survived 5 whole days of both the hour and a half workouts from 4:30-6am, AND the ‘diet.’

I am exhausted to say the least. I fell back asleep this morning on the family room couch at 6 and woke up after 7 when my sons woke me up. But, I have this sense of pride and accomplishment.

Half the battle is the food. We’re doing 5 servings of protein a day, with only 1 carb… and some other stuff like fruit, veggies, 1 dairy, etc. We aren’t really cutting calories– just eating lean and healthy. We are in the “fat burning” phase of the plan, and if we feel like we’ve either gotten to our goal body fat level or start ‘bonking’ during our workouts, we’ll go to phase 2– which basically increases the carbs.

So, we’ve got 5 work outs during the week, I’ll swim and bike this weekend, and once I get my little ortho inserts for my running shoes I’ll start training for the run. I’m fairly sure it’ll be mostly walking, but that’s ok with me (and Amy).

The outdoor pool opens tomorrow!!!  I can’t wait to take the kids!!

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I am still here!

I can’t believe how close we are to the tri! I am SO not ready. Part of my problem is my cranky old body. I am still working on NOT injuring my back– so, I’m not doing much in the way of my beachbody videos. I’m doing yoga to keep myself flexible, which I am hoping will prevent injury. (check out www.myyogaonline.com I LOVE it. I pay just under $10 a month and I have unlimited yoga video access) I have left shoulder pain that is aggravated by a lot of different things… swimming being one of them. I worked with a coach for about 6 weeks and worked on my form. It turns out teaching yourself to swim isn’t really the way to go. I am going to sign all my kids up for swim lessons this year. I was a self-taught swimmer and was pretty against lessons. NOT anymore! Anyway, I’ve got my chiropractor working on my back, left shoulder, and now I’ve got him fitting me for ortho inserts for my running shoes.

Ummmm, running? Don’t know if my body will even DO that anymore. I was struggling with the running because of achilles pain. I’m hopeful once I get my little shoe inserts running will actually happen for me. If not, I’ll keep “water running.” Yes, I’m strapping a floaty on and “running” in the water. It looks as stupid as it sounds. And MAN is it boring! But, I hear it works.

OH, and I just bought my bike. It’s perty, and makes for a smooth ride. I went on my very first bike outing tonight… just cruising around side streets. I did almost 30 minutes and got winded and sweaty. It was so fun! No lie, the swimming and bike riding make me feel like I did when I was a kid. I love it. Anyway, my legs were all shaky and jello-like after my little bike ride. How am I going to get in shape in time!?  I have GOT to push the next few weeks!

I actually started looking at a 30 mile tri in september. It’s a 1 mile swim, 22 mile bike and 6 mile run.  We’ll just have to see how this one goes…. and you know, the shoulder and achilles….

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Bricks!

People keep telling me I have to do bricks while preparing for my triathlon. Step 1 – figure out what a brick is. A brick is where you stack your workouts and do two different workouts back to back. In other words, swim then run, bike then run, swim then bike, whatever your heart desires. In these past few weeks I have come to learn that I like biking. So I figured my first brick could be biking then running.

I use an awesome app called mapmyride (which is free btw) and I just turn it on and head out. Our neighborhood is VERY hilly which is awesome because you get ups and downs. I completed about 9.5 miles and then headed out for my run. I felt really good and think I could have done a longer bike ride. My goal with my rides is slow and steady. I dont want to injure myself by trying to go too fast or use too high of a gear. Plus I’m still really getting the feel for it. With my runs I am using the couch to 5k. Again my goal is to not injure myself (I have bad knees) so I run 30 seconds and walk 90 for a total of 30 minutes which gets me through 3 miles.

Tomorrow is spin class and wednesday is my swim day and yoga day. Swimming is slow and steady, I’m improving each time but its definitely my weakness still!

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Back at it!

Well we had a few days off due to some fun travels but here we are, 6 weeks before the race. I went swimming today – I worked on trying to keep going. At first I did the breast stroke to warm up and then alternated freestyle and backstroke. The backstroke allows me to catch my breath. I did 7 laps this time which is 350m. Just shy of my 400 goal. I have learned a few things and am getting more relaxed in the water which is helping tremendously.

Humming while breathing out really helps me control my breath more. Also taking my time breathing in seems to help. I know this takes practice and I’m going to do my best to go 3 times per week. I need to do my long bike but I have another busy weekend so I dont know when I will do it. I need my schedule to clear so I can spend my time training!

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Swimming, Day 1

I’m still sick so the thought of putting my face in the water and blowing just seemed, gross, and stupid. I opted to NOT do that. Instead I got some good advice from a nice neighbor who is a good swimmer – kick board! I did 30 minutes using the just the kick board. Apparently there is a right and wrong way to use one. The old days of just grabbing something are gone. I found a few you tube videos that talked about training the kick properly.

Apparently you are supposed to kick from your hip flexor and keep your butt high. Then you will notice your back is arched, not good either. So push the kick board into the water using your lats – after a while this starts to burn a bit too!

I did it, 30 minutes worth. I lost count of my laps. Another good tip (again from my neighbor) is to use silly bands to keep track – just move them from one arm to the next. I hope that I am clear enough to actually swim next time!

On to yoga tonight :)

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Time to get cranking!

Nikki was hurt, I have been sick but here we are, less than two months from our tri. I found an 8 week training schedule I’m going to do my BEST to stick to. Here it is if anyone wants it

I’ve had a nasty nasty cold. Today was my first workout since I had that. I have a nice new bike my husband was sweet enough to let me buy but its been sitting in my garage for over a week. So today I decided I need to learn to use it – that means learning the shifters and clip in pedals. It was all pretty simple, but biking on the road is harder than biking on a stationary bike. So Nikki – you gotta get out there!

Today was a 20 minute bike ride, I was tired but it helped clear out my sinuses LOL. Tomorrow is swimming and yoga (strength). Wish me luck :)

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Still on track…

I am working as hard as I can to NOT injure myself while training for this tri. I had a little low back issue last week– I did some TurboFire one morning and my back muscles spazzed out. The only other issues is my achilles. It freaks out when I run. Dad says it’s Plantar Facitis, which I think is what did his running career in. A quick Google search confirmed that I need supports in my shoes, so I’m on the search for a new product. Anyone have recommendations?

Oh, I forgot the shoulder pain. (I know I know, I’m so OLD!!!) I have been taking a triathlon swim prep class, which has basically thrown out everything I knew about swimming (which isn’t a lot– I’m self-taught), and they’re teaching me freestyle from scratch. When my arm is fresh, I can swim for about 20 minutes (with my “new” swimming technique) before my shoulder pains start up. I’m optimistic that if I’ll just stop lifting with my left arm for a while, and with careful swimming, I can conquer this.

But, if I have to doggy paddle the 400m swim, and walk the 3 mile run, I’ll be okay with that.

Having said all of that, I am definitely, definitely convinced that I need to work on building muscles (with proper form) to protect my body from injury… with lots of nice stretching too. Can you say P90X?

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Deep Stretch

I was first introduced to the idea of deep stretch by P90x. I wont lie, I usually skipped it. Sitting a stretching just didn’t seem like a work out or at all important.

I have since discovered yoga, and in my yoga practice, they offer a deep stretch by one of my favorite instructors, so I went to try it out today. I had no idea my shoulders were SO tight. I loved the stretch class and had a wonderful time – it was so great to feel areas of my body that were tight that were able to relax. This is definitely something I have to recommend. Even my husband commented that I was no longer complaining about my back.

For my triathlon training, I did my run and bike this weekend. Spin classes are set for Tuesday mornings and I have to figure out when i’m going to swim still!

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loving the triathlon training!

I’m so psyched!  Two weeks down, and I’m already feeling stronger.  I’m following a training program on TrainingPeaks.com .  It’s excellent for a newbie.  I am seriously only running 10 minute runs… two minutes run, one minute walk.  After a week of SLOW SLOW going, I’m increasing my speed without throwing out my back or achilles tendons.  I’m so thrilled.

I signed up for a training class at the gym to teach me how to swim efficiently.  I am pretty sloppy as a swimmer, but I can already do 400m in about 15 minutes.  I’m pretty proud of that.

I am definitely feeling good– esp my back.  I think sometimes we baby our injuries too long… using my back and stretching it really helped a LOT!!

It’s not too late to join us!!!!  June 19…

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Triathalon Training Week 1

I have started my sprint triathalon training. Today was bike / run. I did 30 minutes ont he bike at level 2 – which put me at 90 rpm and 12 miles. Then I walked for a bit and jogged for a bit doing just under 1 mile in 10 minutes. I feel pretty good, but we’ll see tomorrow.

Tomorrow is my yoga day – stretching and strength along with controlling your breath are all important to this process!

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