Photo Shoot

Breaking away from Lazy

I slept in till 8:30 this morning. When I finally dragged myself out of bed I wasn't sure if I was going to be capable of any kind of training today. It could just be allergies in which case my nasonex isn't doing it's job very well, or it's a cold and I will most likely be a not so happy person for the next few days. At least if it's a cold it'll be short term. Riding the bike today actually cleared my head a little, it started out pretty cold too but by the 3rd or 4th mile we were warmed up. We did the 12 mile loop today which was a nice change. I think this summer we're going to branch out on our rides a lot more and try to find some longer routes. I always feel great after we're done. Knock on wood my knees are staying strong so far this season.

Thursday night Angela and I switched bikes for the last 4 miles or so. I was surprised at how different they were. Angela is 3 inches taller than me so I was reaching a bit for her handle bars and pedals but I liked not feeling so scrunched up. I also think her bike gets a little more power to each rotation of the pedals too. I think I may enquire about making my bike more efficient down at the local bike shop. Speaking of which, we stopped into Murdock's before our ride and stocked up on ShotBloks which I've sorely missed since last year. Every time I go in there my wish list grows longer and longer. Clipless pedals are at the top and as soon as I'm brave enough to try them I'll take the plunge. They say everyone falls the first time they use them... as a lifetime klutz I fully expect to be pretty beat up for a good month.

Angela, Kris, Amanda and Elyssa are all doing the Mountain Goat run tomorrow. Angela and Amanda are in for the 1.8 mile run and Elyssa and Kris are going the whole 10 miles. Better them than me. Good luck to everyone, if I'm not absolutely bed ridden I might head down to watch and take some pictures. Nothing like slacking off when a bunch of your friends are going for it. Talks are in the works for the Oswego Tri, so maybe someday soon there will be a new goal on the horizon.

Listening to: The Lazy Song/ Bruno Mars

In Search of Vitamin D

My legs have been replaced with jello, my lungs have taken on the characteristics of a lifetime smoker's, and if my muscles don't stop cramping up I'll be forced to adjust my diet to that of a chimpanzee, lots and lots of bananas.

Angela and I braved the wind and did our 9 mile loop. The giant hill got me today as a calf cramp ripped through my left leg and I couldn't pedal. I walked about 30 seconds and was able to resume my uphill climb so it wasn't terrible. During my run Wednesday my calf muscles were really tight, so badly that I tried icing my right leg last night. Not sure what I was trying to accomplish by that, but that's what athletes do right? they ice things that hurt... While swimming the other night I was racked with foot cramps so bad that I just completely quit kicking altogether. It was interesting that it hardly made any difference. That's probably not a good sign.

I drive quite a bit and it gives me a lot of time to over think pretty much everything. That's probably why I have this blog, to write down a little of the clutter in my head. Anyway today's topic of contemplation was whether or not to sign up for the Tri in Oswego. There are a lot of pros and cons to consider. The biggest con is that I'm not sure I'll ever be able to swim 800m let alone swim it in the Oswego harbor where there's an over abundance of seaweed. Next it falls on the weekend before I leave for Ireland, so it might be a bit overwhelming. And then there's the whole coming up in about 9 weeks thing. Not sure I can slap my mess of a body into shape by then. On the flip side it is in our home town, almost an identical bike route to our usual run, and last year I remember wishing I had signed up for more than one Tri. We could always do it as a relay but I'd have to convince a few people first...

Till then I think I'll sign up for the Komen Race for the Cure. It's just two weeks away, only a 5K but it'll be nice to have an official time down to see where I'm at. Not to mention just running the whole thing would be a big milestone for me.

Today I chose bike riding over overtime. Some days you just have to break out of the office, get outside and soak up a little vitamin D. Today was that day and I needed it badly. It was nice to see the sun and even if it wasn't the greatest workout ever, it made me happy... and that was enough for me.

Listening to: Shot in the Dark/ Augustana

Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah

Dear Mother Nature,

That was some crazy big hail the other day, but seriously, that was a bit melodramatic don't you think? And really going from 40 degrees to almost 80 is sort of bipolar. I commend you for the slight rise in average temperature, and also the blooming trees but could you possibly nix the humidity? After all people breathe air not water. While we're getting everything out in the open, do you think you might be able to schedule the nice weather on the weekends instead of solely during normal working hours? And maybe try to redirect the swarming insects away from my bike path. I understand protein is necessary for my general health but I'd rather not get it from bugs colliding with the back of my throat as I ride along the lake. In conclusion I promise that if you take in to consideration my requests I promise to continue recycling and carpooling as often as I can.

Yours Truly,

Marilyn

Dear Father Time,

I only have one request, could you possibly add in two extra hours to each day. I'm not sure what scientific algorithm it would entail but if it's possible I would really appreciate it. My theory is that we reposition the Earth a few million miles further away from the sun, thus making days and years go by a bit slower. This would give me more time to train during each day and also make August seem a bit further away allowing me to better prepare for the Triathlon. In addition this would create a more manageable temperature in the Summer, I can't handle the heat as you may know, plus it could help us with that whole global warming thing. Talk to Mother Nature about it, I'm thinking it would be a win/ win situation. Of course we can move the Earth back in the Fall because I also strongly dislike the cold. I feel it's also worth mentioning that I could always use more sleep... more hours in the day would allow me to get to bed at a decent hour and possibly be less likely to write letters of complaint to fictional entities like yourself. Anyhow think it over, I think it could work.

Warmest Regards,

Marilyn

Auto Pilot

work. exercise. eat. sleep. repeat.

Ok so it could be much worse but somehow it got to be Thursday night and I'm not exactly sure where this week went. I've been putting in extra time at work lately which has seriously been cutting into my training time. Factoring in lunches and commute time I've been gone over 60 hours a week for the past month. Tuesday night I walked through the door and turned right around to head out for the pool. Last night I caved and took a night off after getting home so late. I'll have to reassess my scheduling and make sure I find time every night to get a decent workout in. It's nice that lap swim is at 8PM so most nights I at least have that option. I just have to fit some more fun into the mix or else this constant auto pilot mode is going to get old very quickly.

There was a flyer up at the Y saying they now have a local Tri training program which I plan on checking out, especially for the biking... I could use some professional advice. My swim the other night was ugly. I couldn't shake the foot cramps and my arms felt useless. I probably should have done a little weight training over the winter. Last year it was pointed out to me that my upper body strength borders on pathetic so I had my protein smoothie after the elliptical tonight. I actually think my arms look more cut then I've ever seen them before, but maybe that's just my wishful thinking.

Maybe I'll do some push ups before bed.

sleep. work. exercise. eat. WEEKEND!

Listening to: The Middle/ Jimmy Eat World

Pumped Up Kicks

I finally bought new sneakers yesterday. I decided to break them in after I took a picture so I'll let you know how they hold up later in the week. I went with the Asics Gel 1160 this time around. I wanted to try Saucony but every pair I tried on felt too stiff. The Asics felt like slippers in comparison. I tried on the $125 pair just to see what the extra 50 bucks gets you and I really couldn't feel a difference. I would have rather gotten a blue pair but I somehow keep finding pink sneakers. Oh well, lately I'm all about the girl power anyways.

I went for a run today with Boomer, I think it was another 2 miler. I decided dogs are good running partners, or at least Boomer is. He never gets tired and actually makes me run faster, either because he's pulling me or because I don't like being dragged so I speed up to match his pace. Either way my pace is gradually increasing. I think I made it out just in time today, less than an hour after I made it home it was snowing. I'm done with the winter weather, bring on the sun and good cycling weather, I'm ready to conquer those hills again!

Listening to:

Colder Weather/ Zac Brown Band & Pumped up Kicks/ Foster the People

Don't Let the Sun go Down on Me

I need more hours in the day!

After the past 3 weeks I've spent working overtime, sitting in front of a computer I needed a good run. So I attempted to race the daylight home tonight. I wasn't sure if I'd be able to make my whole 2 mile loop before dark so I brought along my mini body guard/ running partner, Boomer. I also timed our run and came up with approximately 17 minutes. For any actual runners reading this, once you stop laughing I should explain that until now I have been jogging a good 10 minute mile. So 17 minutes for 2 miles sounds good to me :o) My goal is an 8:30 mile this year... it'd be great to say 8, but let's be realistic here I have to keep it up for 3 miles.

Back in my high school track days at least once or twice a season we used to run to Friendly's where our coach would be waiting to buy us all ice cream. Our high school girls track team was fun but rarely competitive, aside from a handful of serious runners, of which I would not categorize myself as. I ran the 200, my race lasted exactly 30 seconds, or less if I was lucky. I'm just glad there's no gunshot start in triathlons. Anyways, I decided to keep up my old high school track tradition of having ice cream after my run tonight and I couldn't deny my faithful pup the same treat. So I ordered up two baby cones, one vanilla and one slightly less boring strawberry black raspberry twist and shivering, Boomer and I sat eating our ice cream on the shores of lake Ontario completely negating any exercise we had just done.

Definitely worth it!

Listening to: Strip Me/ Natasha Bedingfield

Mind Games

I've decided Triathlon is more of a mental sport than I originally gave it credit for. I always knew running was, my inner monolog of "I hate running, I hate running, I really, really hate running..." is most likely a big contributor to the fact that I'm still incapable of running a 5K. I do actually love running... once I'm finished.

Today was a big day for me... I got in the pool and happily did not drown. Actually by the end of my workout I was swimming 6 lengths at a time and felt like I might even be able to do more. The girl in the lane next to me was swimming 2 lengths to my 1, but at least she was only doing 1 lap at a time, I swear she had flippers. Even with the little mermaid in the lane next to me I kept up my tortoise pace and didn't get discouraged. The key to swimming for me is relaxing and concentrating on breathing, I may be slow but I can get the distance down when I keep that in mind. I timed my 6 lengths and it was just about 3 minutes. Since the Tri is 24 lengths, the 600M should take me 12 minutes at my current pace, assuming I can maintain it.

I feel pretty good about the swim at this point... there's a long way to go till that open water swim but with roughly 16 weeks to go I feel like I have a good head start.

listening to: Anti-D/ The Wombats

A Second Tri

Back for Round 2 and this year's Tri Training is off to a much better start. Elyssa and I are both signed up for the Iron Girl this year which takes place August 7th. Even though it filled up before Angela could get in, I'm still forcing her into being my home town training buddy and we're looking to sign up for a few 5Ks and maybe a bike race or two.

Lately I've been hitting up the elliptical to wait out the last of the winter weather, which frankly without my Battlestar Galactica DVDs and the occasional Tosh.O episode would almost be torture. With the recent milder temperatures we've been able to venture outside and have been pleasantly surprised that our starting point is way ahead of last year's. We've been running about 2 miles consistently which compared to last year's start at less than a mile makes me pretty happy. I think this year the focus will be to get the 5K down and to improve our times.

We had the bikes out for the first ride of the season and I'm pleased to report despite our wimpy underused muscles we were not defeated by the gigantic hill. So there's hope for us after all :o) It felt great to fly down those hills 30mph, after weeks of my practically backwards jogging pace it feels awesome to actually move. Getting used to the saddle again was a bit rough, I'm a pretty sore today, hazard of the hobby I suppose :o)

I'm still procrastinating on the swim. I hope that since I seem to have started out ahead of the game on two thirds of the Tri composite that it'll be the same once I hit the pool. Fingers crossed!

Listening to: This is Your Life/ Switchfoot