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Showing posts from December, 2016

Wrapping Up

12-31-16 Holy guacamole- 2016 is almost over! *blessedly* Man it's been a rough one and I'll be welcoming 2017 in with open arms! Yesterday I swam 1500 yards which is (30 full lengths in the pool)! My freestyle continues to need work, but at least my endurance is coming along. I'm pretty sure that's been my constant refrain. The last 4 months I've had single calendar pages up on the wall with my workouts on them. Naturally I was less accurate the more into December we went. A quick tally of my runs showed I ran over 100 miles the last few months. Nothing amazing, but it's nice to know I didn't totally stop running, which is what it felt like. We currently have 2 great danes and a chiweenie, which equals a full house. I haven't done as much planning as I thought I would have at this point. Rough goal ideas (not all fitness related): 1. Complete first half ironman distance triathlon 2. Lower my average mile time to 9:30 3. No alcohol in Jan.

FW Run Co Christmas Tree Run!

12-20-16 Yesterday Amy P and I met up at the Fort Worth Running Company (FW Run CO, for the hipsters), around 6pm so we could run their annual Christmas Tree run. It's when a large 'herd' of people run from the FW Run CO to the Big A Christmas tree in Sundance square (1.5 miles), take a picture, then turn around and head back. Last year they had Adidas mugs with hot chocolate and Baileys! This year it was the FW RUN CO mugs with hot coco and cookies! Well, it was hovering around 32 degrees when we started out and let me tell you- that is brisk for this girl. I was wearing a long sleeve tech shirt, a short sleeve shirt, a hoodie over that, ear warmers, capris and gloves! Obviously, over dressed as I was sweating like mad, but the minute I would take something off, I'd freeze! The way up to the Christmas tree has a particularly unkind uphill, but it was fun to push! I like running in urban areas because you get to stop at all the red lights! We made it to the Tree

No big deal...

12-18-16 Today is devoted to recovery (read: stretching and foam rolling), sleep, and church. My plans to join the FW training group for the Tri Fort Worth were shut down secondary to budget issues. Hmm.. just means I need to figure out another way to replicate this without the costs! *Any body got any ideas?) Things to figure out: 1. Solid training schedule 2. Nutrition (always a struggle for me) 3. Equipment No big deal, right?! ...please send help!!...

Holy Crapapotamus!

12-17-16 (part deux) Heeeey! I survived!! I swam 600 meters in about 20 minutes, with several brief breaks (30 seconds or so) in a wonderfully empty pool. It was about 73 degrees outside so I went to the gym in shorts, a running tee and flip flops! *Good ole Texas* Holiday Humor Went home, had black beans with cheese and chickarones, then loaded up for the second act of the day. Once we got to the Edwards Ranch trail head, I got a little cold. I hadn't bothered to dry my hair much more than necessary after my swim and It kept sending cold drips down my back. The wind was starting to pick up and I was all goosebumps! I wore a pink Nike tank and my usual BCG brand running shorts (spandex city), so I had no wind protection. (Also, I applied Unicorn Snot liberally. It's my secret charm.) Filled my water bottle with Tailwind Nutrition. I ordered the variety pack a while back and today's flavor was tangerine. Eh. Mantle Update! I biked 6 miles in a lit

Time to get serious

12-17-16 Today will be at least two types of exercises, but I'm waiting for a friend to wake up and tell me if she wants to run with me. I really need to bike outside and since it's a relatively nice day, that wouldn't be a terrible thing. Hopefully I can transition straight from the biking to running with her out on the trails. It will be a relatively short run, maybe 4 miles?, post biking.  The Fort Worth Running Company is holding a race specific training group/plan for the Tri Fort Worth!! I'm pumped about that! Here's a copy of what the website says:  The herd takes on the 70.3 as we introduce our first ever Half Ironman training program. For those of you who have already successfully participated in a triathlon or haven’t and are motivated to challenge yourself, we encourage you to sign up for our exciting program. Our triathlon certified instructors will coach and motivate you every step of the way and also make sure you enjoy your journey!   This t

Pain is thy name

12-16-16 Okay so this is actually for yesterdays workout, I was too busy to write it up. The plan was swimming but I didn't have a solid plan in mind, which is always risky. On my drive to the gym at dark and cold thirty in the morning, I decided to go for 800 meters, using only freestyle strokes to help increase my endurance. I did 200 meters of the 800 warming up (!) with both freestyle and breastrokes pretty easily. The water felt good, my head felt clear. I started to progress forward, telling myself it was only 600 meters, which is 'only' 12 lengths. Things felt good, but my quads were tiring out quickly. My guess is that I'm kicking from the knee, which requires more quad usage, than kicking from the hip, which is more core/glute usage. This doesn't surprise me as I'm like everyone else in the world and very quad dominant in most exercises. Anywhoo, when I hit 500 meters, I realized that every time I get to one of the pool ends, I stop, sta

Pre work Hot Tub

12-12-16 I biked for an hour Saturday and my tushie still hurts. The real story though is how I went to the pool and originally planned to complete 800 yards in some form or fashion to work on the ole endurance. My freestyle felt like the wheels were coming off pretty early on, so I alternated 1 length of freestyle, 1 length of butterfly and 1 length of backstroke until I hit my 800 yards. I realized I was feeling good and the pool felt perfect, so I cranked out another 200 yards to make my first time to do 1000!! Heeeey! Very exciting! Why was my form falling apart on the freestyle? Great question. No idea. There was another girl in there swimming so I creeped on her form a bit. She did a great job of keeping her elbows up high when bringing her arm into the water. The goal being to enter the water fingers first, instead of thumb first, to avoid shoulder issues. I have a feeling my arm is flat along the water instead of hooked up like hers was. Does that make sense? See his

Work in Progress - x2!

12-9-16 (again) Heeeey! I did it! I decided that my exhaustion is likely just depression and I'm going to push through it. Instead of thinking how tired I am, I say "This is what hard work feels like." I packed my swim bag and made it to the gym after work! I got there about 4:15p and was in the water by 4:25p! There were two old guys in the pool who, no joke, talked about Social Security and stocks, as they walked in the water. The water felt great and the sun was shining in at just the right angle. I really enjoyed going back and forth, knowing exactly when I hit a sunbeam because the water was warmer. (That or the old dudes were peeing...) Either way, hah, it was nice! I tried to focus on lengthening my stroke. Initially it took me around 24-25 strokes per length so I worked on - 1. Rotating my torso 2. Keeping my upper arms closer to my ears 3. Trying to be as long as possible (reaching farther forward and keeping my toes pointed) 4. Looking straight d

Work in Progress

12-9-16 I'm alive! I Promise I am! I've had some allergies I can't seem to shake recently and I've been struggling with a rough bout of exhaustion lately. I have had to let myself relax and take time off from training to get my body back to where it needs to be! My goal is to jump back in tomorrow and get on track. I'm not sure if the exhaustion is part of the allergy attack or if it could be Seasonal Depression. At this point I'm annoyed with it, so I'm going to "MIND OVER MATTER" it and push forward. I may start tanning as light therapy can help as well. My dad called to tell me I was looking thin and I let him know I haven't been very hungry lately. Likely due to lack of taste from being sick, but it could also be why I have no energy. Wish me luck!

Foiled again!

12-5-16 Got up to the pool before 6am and it was still closed. Booooo... I didn't bring any other clothes with me so I had to turn around and head back home. Thankfully (?) my first kid of the day canceled and I was able to hop on the bike trainer for 30 minute intervals. Going to try and hammer out some articles for my OT website and stop sweating!

Best made plans...

12-4-16 Yesterday I was all pumped to do my own mini triathlon at the gym. It was rainy and chilly outside so moving things indoors seemed natural. I wore my swim suit and packed spandex shorts, a sports bra, and a running tank, as well as socks and tennie shoes. My goggles and swim cap live in my gym bag and I keep a towel and a plastic bag (for wet stuff) in there too. My plan: 20 minute swim, 30 minute bike, 20 minute run. I hadn't ever done more than swim at the gym so I was a little anxious about what the rest of the gym would be like. You know how it is, sometimes you feel more comfortable in certain places than others, and I just wasn't sure what it would be like. Well, right when I walk in, I see signs all over the place "Pool Closed"... FOR. REAL? The front desk staff assured me it would be open on Monday (thank goodness) but that it was in fact closed for the weekend so they could do whatever they needed to 'fix' it. So my plan was not goin

Back at it

12-2-16 Okay, so, with Thanksgiving travels and then a beat down of an allergy attack, I wound up taking 6 days off from exercise. Not ideal, but necessary to recover. Wednesday was a big day for me: I turned in my notice at work. My last day there is going to be 12/22. I have a few work ideas stored up but we are really trusting God and taking this leap of faith. Anywhoodle... Did 60 minutes of intervals on the bike trainer last night. O.M.G. It felt HARD. I adjusted all the gears and played around with it but never did figure out what was different. My guess is that when Raz set the trainer up, more pressure was applied than previous times to the back tire. There was sweat on the floor and I was barely moving, but hey- I got it done. This morning I had a hard time getting up (maybe because my legs revolted?) but was in the pool by 5:50am. Holy crap. Okay, no more taking a week off the pool. I felt like my lungs had shriveled up and my legs were not participating. Also, the fi