A whole lotta random!

Holy cow, I can't believe it's August!

Actually, July, 31. But close enough. Holy cow! Can time slow down just a smidge please?!

I have completed eight weeks of my “Start to Finish: 24 Weeks to an Endurance Triathlon” training plan. I feel like it’s going pretty well. I work hard during my workouts. I complete them: at ridiculous hours of the day where no one should be awake, much less working out. But, I drag my butt out of bed and hit the pool/pavement/weights and get my workouts in. I am still doing the weights at home. I will overcome my gym weight room anxiety by the end of week 10! Yes I will!

Actually, I very rarely feel like I’m dragging anything out of bed to work out. M-F, the TV in my bedroom clicks on at 4:40, at this time I know I have five minutes to lay in bed and think about how lucky I am to be able to train for this event. 4:45 comes along and my phone alarm goes off. I mosey out of bed, brush my teeth, toss on my workout gear, feed & medicate the dog, eat a little snack and I’m out the door anywhere from 5 to 5:15, depending on what I feed myself and if I’ve prepared my workout beverages the night before.

I am not a fast swimmer, so I swim as much of the workout as I can in the 90 or so minutes I’m at the gym. I usually come within 500 m of the entire workout and according to the coaches, I *should* be able to add or subtract 1000 m of the workout and be ok in the pool for 60-90 minutes at a time for now. *Should.*

Side note: Who the hell can add 1000 m to the workout? And finish it in 90 minutes?! Holy hell! That’s almost a 5000 m workout right now! Good grief. Clearly someone who has been swimming a lot longer than I have!

Anyhow, I finish the bike workouts and run workouts. I moved the bike to the gym this past week. Frankly, it’s easier to complete the mid-week bike workouts on the spin bikes at the gym than it is on the trainer at home or outside. The runs are not bad. I now have a heart rate monitor so I can gauge my level of exertion (and calories burned) more accurately. It’s pretty much amazing. I do need to try and position it in a bit of a different spot, as my left boob gets a lil more action than it should from it. At least, I assume it’s the HRM rubbing a hole in it. . .

Each marathon I have trained for, I run laps around Tempe Town Lake and I start running these laps in August. How much worse can it be running laps around Tempe Town Lake in June & July? I really need to stop asking questions like this. It is absolutely ridiculous in June in July. I may have one drop of moisture left in my body by the time I get home. I wake up and it is 89 degrees. At 4:40 in the morning! My Thursday runs are only around 70 minutes. I wake up at 4 on the weekends to try and squeeze as much time before the sun rises as I can. I sweat like no person should ever have to sweat. I don’t sweat as much sitting in a sauna as I do on these runs. Thank you monsoon season for bringing humidity which equals early morning clouds; even though it is harder to breathe in the thick ‘humid’ air of the desert.

I choose to run outside. I could run on the treadmill at the gym. I find it incredibly frustrating though. The max is 30 minutes at a time and it is not fun to restart the workout twice. I also sweat just as much inside. At least there is no one else around (who else is crazy enough to run outside this time of year?) to see my “cleanse” when I run outside, plus I can work on my tan. . .

Occasionally I have a fast run. (Fast for me is not fast for a runner, by the way. Fast for me is less than a 10 min mile.) Two weeks ago I was almost giddy when I clocked an 8:55 pace for the T-run off the bike (sure it was only 3 miles, but still!). That same week I ran a 9:45 for my average pace on the Thursday 70 min run. I was stoked! I was then super sad this last week when my fastest time was 10:40. WTF?! So I’m pissed off at this point.

Well shit. Now that I type this out, I realize how important what I put in my mouth is to my training.

About five of the eight weeks, I’ve been super focused about what I eat. Week 1, and weeks 4-7 I wrote down everything that went in my mouth. I tracked calories, protein, carbs and fat (well, my handy dandy app tracked it.). I wanted to make sure I was eating the right foods to fuel my workouts. Imagine my frustration when I bust my ass working out and eating right and see zero budge in the scale. Ahh, take that back. I see an upward swing in the scale. Holy cow I was pissed.

So, entering week 8, I’m pissed. Screw you food. And I do what I do when I’m pissed: I eat all sorts of emotions and don’t care about what I’m putting in my mouth. I wrote nothing down. I ate whatever I wanted, not paying attention to the quality of food I’m swallowing. (Still no fast food though!)

Sigh. Back to nutrient-dense foods I go. Maybe I secretly knew this earlier today when I bought my groceries for the week. The most “exciting” item I purchased was a package of English Muffins. My cart was full of fresh fruits and veggies and lean protein. I suppose this should be my ‘exciting’ when it comes to food anyway.

I think I will always be frustrated by food and my weight. I have been able to lose over ten pounds in one week (and keep it off). I’ve also been known to gain ten pounds in a week. I wish I could find that balance that would help me reach and maintain a healthy weight. Each time I get down where I want to be I think, “I’m going to keep this up, I feel awesome.” It usually doesn’t last long. I try not to live by the scale, but it is sooooo hard! Uhg. I want to be the girl who just wants to fit into a size yadda yadda and it doesn’t matter what I weight. But it does. I’ll always qualify as a heavyweight in races. I’ve accepted that. I just don’t want to be the one crossing the finish line and folks say, “well, I don’t know how she trained for this and still looks like THAT.”

Well, this is my super random post of the journey (drink!) of my training and weight struggles/frustrations. I’m off to bed. The pool and I have a date in the morning.

Adventures in Swimming: Part I

I may have mentioned a time or two that I am not what you can consider a strong swimmer. I’m not so comfortable in the pool for many reasons: swimming is hard; I don’t like wearing a swim suit; people are idiots.

Swimming is getting a little easier for me. Yay. I finally do not feel like I’m flailing about all the time in the pool. Every once in a while I find myself in a rhythm and I feel like I can go forever. . .or at least 2.4 miles. . .in a 3.5’ deep pool with a line on the bottom and no people near me.

I tend to work out first thing in the morning. I usually don’t have an excuse to miss an early workout. By the time I’m finished with work, I do not want to head to the gym. There is a different type of person who works out after work than before. It may just be the particular gym I go to, but it seems to me the folks who go to the gym after work are the ones looking for a date more than a good workout (sweeping generalization, I know.). There are people socializing and talking to each other while they work out. The folks who are around at 5, 5:30 in the morning are there to get down to business. They don’t really make eye contact with anyone; you don’t see women backcombing their hair and touching up their lipstick before hopping on the treadmill at 5:30 am.

I like to hit the pool by 5:30. Any time before 6 is great as I am usually the first one in the pool. By 6:15 people start to shuffle in to swim or to hop in the hot tub. There are these two older middle-aged men who get in the hot tub for at least 30 if not 45 minutes. It was weird to me. My very first swim workout, one guy left the hot tub and headed to the locker room. His friend hopped into the lane next to me. He waited for me to stop (which, to be honest was not long, again, not a strong swimmer). He then decided he needed to talk to me. Seriously? I’m in the pool. Do not talk to me. I am gasping for breath. “You just started working out here?” (Gag.) “Uhm, no. I’ve just started swimming here though.” “Oh, I like to swim. (Gag.) What’s your name?” (Gag.) “Jeanne.” “My name’s yadda yadda. Nice to meet you.” (Gag.) I clearly need to swim. “Well, I’m going to continue my workout now.” I continued with my workout. This guy barely doggy paddles half way down, turns around and goes back. “Well, I’ll see you next time. If you have any questions about the gym, just ask me.” Seriously? I felt like this guy and his friend watched me from then on. They still creep me out.

That same day another guy gets in the pool. I’m still gasping for breath at the end of each 25 m swim. “You sure are a good swimmer, can you coach me?” (Gag) “I am not a good swimmer. I took lessons from Tempe Parks and Rec. You should check them out.” He continues to tell me how he has to swim because he’s a runner and he has an injury and blah blah blah. Who are these people!? It’s not like the lap pool is the place to strike up a conversation. This isn’t some pool party where we all have cocktails and we’re lounging around the pool. I am trying to workout! The pool is not like the treadmill or the bikes at the gym where you can easily have a conversation and still do something. In the pool, you’re either swimming or you’re not. I try to be friendly. I don’t want to be perceived as the bitchy girl at the pool. But geeze! I go to the gym at the crack of dawn and I really don’t want to talk to anyone (Unless I’m asking, “would you like to share my lane.” More on that later.).

I am now a better swimmer. Thank goodness! I no longer have to stop every 25 m (unless I’m doing sprints) to catch my breath. Those of us who are regular swimmers in the pool don’t need to talk to each other and we rarely do. It is fabulous.