Spandex City

11-24-16 Happy thanksgiving y'all! Since we aren't having a family get together until Saturday, today was essentially an extra weekend day. Naturally I decided to do something outdoors and possibly painful. Thus: my Thanksgiving Brick! (Unrelated news: this could be a great children book title) As the bike is in tip top shape, with new skinny wheels, I decided on an hour ride, followed by a 2 mile run. *This type of workout is called a brick for the mashup of bike/run and are a necessary workout step* I decided on a short run because I wasn't sure what I would feel like after the bike. Well, let me tell you. It was enough! Raz and I drove to Press Cafe, my usual launching spot, and we adjusted the bike seat and he helped me tighten the shoe cages. He's so sweet. The bike was lovely and I took my sweet time. I did 14 miles in a little over an hour. Read: turtle speed. Accomplishments on the bike include; 1. I can now get my water bottle off the rack an...

11-23-16 Okay. Why is math so hard? Especially in the pool. I think I'm so focused on trying to do a 100 little things that simple addition is forgotten... or possibly that I never really conquered my times tables. Eh, that's why God gave us calculators. But I digress. So yesterday, remember how I did my math wrong? Well, I did it wrong again today. Here's the muthalovin picture that keeps messing with my head. It says "one length is 25 yards" but one lap is 50 yards... Who knows what I did in my head but I said ohhh, okay, I can only count the wall I leave. Does that make sense? Like, I can't count both walls basically. So I saw that I need to do 16 lengths. Great okay, so I did that by only counting one wall.  Lord have mercy I was tired by the time I did it but it took me forever. As I was getting it done I kept looking at the clock and thinking, damn people are going to be finished with this race before I get out of the freakin water!! But ...

11/22/16 I'm alive! Mexico was phenomenal and I got the chance to use my newly created swimming skills out in the ocean! We did a ton of snorkeling and now I'm sad that we have ZERO snorkeling in Texas. A cool thing I noticed was that I'm so much more confident in the water now than I ever have been. Whenever I've gone snorkeling before or had to swim in the ocean, I more or less panicked. This trip I actually enjoyed myself. It's great that the salt water helped make me extra buoyant as well!! This morning I was back at the gym by 5:30am. I read that doing 16 lengths (back and forth) in a 25 meter pool is 400 meters. (Simple math escapes me again.) This is about how long most Sprint Tri Swim distances are. Well I've never really attempted to count all the lengths I swam since I was mostly focused on drinking less water. Now that I'm writing all this down, it's clear to me I did my counts wrong. I wasn't counting a back and forth lap, merely co...

11-15-16 Had a phenomenal chiropractic adjustment yesterday followed by a 30 minute massage. Skye, the girl doing the massage, actually knew how to do some sports med stuff, so I feel I really got a lot out of it.  My hamstrings are still tight as heck, as are my gluten. One day I'll learn proper running form... We are off to Mexico today and I'm taking my water wingies with me! Love y'all!!

11-14-16 Holy Guacamole. Last night was not a ton of fun. The Trinity River Half Marathon started at 4pm and had really good intentions. I enjoyed the first 6 miles pretty well- running around downtown Dallas and some random  bridges. Well, the first aid station was at mile 5, or maybe 6? And was very poorly manned, just 2 poor little girls desperately trying to fill cups. Somehow I filled up my little handheld with full strength gatorade (which is terrible) because she said it was cut with water. Bleghhh... Pre-race The next few miles started to wear on us. Normally we run on a packed dirt trail with very little concrete. This whole trail, with the exception of a mile or two at the start, is done on pavement. We slowed down, hips and shins and ankles started to talk and my walking breaks became more frequent. Amy's such a good sport though, she just drags me along! No lie, there was a lot of walking in the last 3 miles. There were also a few turns that had no volunteer ...

11-13-16 Yesterday I met up with a guy and his wife from church at Central Market. (I planned poorly, wearing gym shorts and a long sleeve tee; we wound up sitting outside in the shade and by the time we were finished, I was about froze through.) Jeff has been doing triathlons for about 2 years and has done a variety of distances, including 2 half ironman distances (1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, 13.1 mile run). I had asked if I could sit down with him and pick his brain about triathlon stuff.  Things I learned: Swimming 1. Get into an open water swim- ASAP.       Why?: To help overcome any open water swimming fear I may have, as well as getting actual practice in. Swimming in a pool is a great way to work on form and endurance, but is nothing like an open water swim.  2. Start tracking the amount of laps I'm doing in the pool.      Why?: In a 25 yard pool, it takes 70 laps to make a mile. (I believe that's what she said? I'l...

11-12-16 Tomorrow afternoon is the Trinity River Half Marathon. Neat concept. it starts at 4pm and runs along the Trinity River. Unfortunately it's in Dallas, but that will lend itself to a change in scenery, which I appreciate. We always run along the Trinity here in Fort Worth and I feel we know every step of about 5-10 miles in either direction of our meeting place. In theory that could have been an advantage. Ah well. The shirts look cool! I will likely never wear it though... I need races to bring back cotton shirts- they keep giving out technical shirts which I mostly find gross. I digress. Today is supposed to be a rest day so I can kick butt tomorrow. Which basically means all I want to do is swim/walk/workout. Rest days are hard. I guess I'll work on mobility- foam rolling and stretching. I just gotta get my act together and make sure the clothes/gummies and whatnot are available. Oh and Thor ate my Big Bertha water bottle. My little handheld bottle rains on me, th...

11-11-16 After work I got my back and neck adjusted- about 2 weeks too late honestly. I felt like a new lady! Also scheduled a 30 minute massage for Monday evening, right before we go to MEXICO! Ay ay ay! We got up easy at 4:30am and I was in the pool by 5:35am (obviously had a hard time getting out the door). This was my first time to wear a swim cap! I had to order one for long hair and I still struggled. I'm so dang cool. Mostly I looked like an alien. I didn't wear it for the longest time because I didn't feel like I was 'good enough' to. Does that make sense? Like, people would see me *sleek as a seal* with my swim cap and goggles, but wonder why I was wearing water wingies and drinking all the pool water. The reason I put it on this morning is the pool was empty and I was feeling good. Hilarity ensued. Think Cone Heads. It took a few adjustments to figure out how to put it on but it only came off x1 in the water. I'll call it a win! (I accide...

11-10-16 Well, got up and out the door, almost on time. Made it to the pool by 5:32am. (not that anyone's obsessive). There was a guy in the water who was absolutely DOMINATING. For half an hour I never saw or heard him stop. Truly a beast and he had great form! So that was a bonus for me to observe. I actually did a brief warm up, which to me, is I walked and lunged down and back. Then I really gave good effort to swim with my head down, and only breathe after 4 strokes. That sorta worked for about 50 yards. Then the wheels fell off...should I say fins? I seemed to struggle with not getting water into my sinuses and choking. I'm not sure if this was because, once again, I got too excited (read: cocky), or if my form is just bad. Honestly, it's likely a healthy dose of both. Whenever I ran out of air or felt myself get tired, I tried to focus on slowing down and fully breathing in when I had the opportunity. A few times I had to straight up stop in the lane or switch ...

11-9-16 Well, last night the election rolled up and announced a new president of the USA. I, on the other hand, was sound asleep by 8:30pm, even though I didn't work out yesterday at all! To add insult to injury, I slept in this morning and didn't go to the pool. We have plans for tonight and tomorrow night as well. DARN! My plan to recoup is to go to the pool tomorrow and Friday morning. If possible, follow up with a Friday evening run. Saturday is going to be relaxing and foam rolling since SUNDAY is my half. Shiza.

11-8-16 Yesterday I did a 30 minute swim, focusing primarily on how on earth to keep my face underwater and move forward WITHOUT holding my nose! Needless to say, there was a lot of spluttering and coughing going on. After work, my darling dearest convinced me to go out and do a 30 minute run. It was misting out, so that was cool- although it was muggy as heck, it never got to be terrible. What was really cool about this run is that 1. I didn't take my headphones/music/phone 2. I only had to take 1 walk break and 3. I did a little over 3 miles in 31 minutes! I was pumped. Especially for having swam and worked earlier in the day! Well, little did I know that I would wake up feeling like a steam truck got me! Dang, I am sore y'all!! I spent some time this morning stretching. And by stretching I mean, down dog and childs position while the dogs licked my face. Today is election day so I plan to be waiting outside of the voting place about half an hour before they open. Ain...

11-7-16 Y'all, so yesterday I volunteered to help out at a 'Best of the Best' triathlon in Denton. I had no clue what I really signed up for, but true to form the race director (RD), Jeff, was super nice. I've found that to be relatively consistent across sports. I told him I had just signed up for my first try and wanted to observe how things went so I could better understand what I was getting myself into! I left the house around 6:30am and got there about 7:30. The parking lot was pretty empty since the race didn't start until 9:30am. What was cool is that the few people who were already in the lot had their music blasting and seemed to be having a great time! I met Jeff in person and he directed me over to the transition area. Turns out, there were only about 6 volunteers total! *Lesson Learned: Races may be understaffed- do your best to know the rules before starting*   My first endeavor as a tri volunteer would be as a 'body marker'. which means ...

11-5-16 Okay, so I got up on time and met Amy P. at Press Cafe at the right time. But oddly enough, we didn't run. Instead we enjoyed the moment and walked for an hour. The temp was great- i think it was about 65? People were setting up for the farmers market that's held there every Saturday morning and farther down the trail, a 5k was being put together. Luke's Locker has a training group that runs on Saturday mornings too, so that was fun to see. Amy's plan was to get back in bed. I feel like I've been lazy. This week has not been good for me working out. And naturally my half marathon is in 8 days and Mexico is in 10! HOLY heck. That came up fast. I really thought my body would look different! Hah. Well, all I can do is make these next few days extra healthy!! So at some point today, I'll be doing a better workout, probably cycling. I gotta work up a sweat somehow! Today is also my nephew's 1st birthday party!!! I can't wait to hug him! -Lat...

11-4-16 Oh man, so yesterday I wasn't able to get my run in due to conflicting plans. No biggie, I thought, I'll just make it up in the morning. Well, that didn't happen either. Hmm... my body said 'no thank you' and promptly rolled right over. I feel well rested, though my body is still a bit achy. Yoga it is! I'll focus on mobility and foam rolling. I won't consider this a 'lost' morning, I'll just think of it as a rearrangement of my priorities! Maybe it was super important for me to stretch it out this morning. We've been out of groceries for the last week or so and neither of us has had the time or the inclination to actually go to the store. I keep saying I'll make a meal plan so we know what we'll be having and the right amount of stuff to buy. That hasn't happened either, clearly not a STRONG priority for me at the moment. Raz and I decided to do date night tonight,but it looks like that will be going to SAM's and ...

11-3-16. Rain, rain, come and stay! Woke up at 4:30am to the sounds of rain. Man, was it hard to get up! Especially since it’s soooo dark at that time anyway. Some how Razzle and I managed to get up and get moving. I was slow this morning, but part of it was knowing that I don’t have to leave for work until 9am. Normally I need to leave at 7 or 7:30am so this is quite the treat. Why didn’t I sleep in? That’s easy- MAMA’S GOT GOALS. It would have been super easy to roll over and conk out for a few more hours, and knowing that I’m going for a run this evening could have covered my exercise, but I don’t want to half ass this. I’m blessed with this beautiful time of life where I can get up, do my thing and carry on. When babies or other life changes come along, it gets harder (I’ve heard ;) ). Got in the pool about 5:45am and true to form, didn’t bother with a warm up. Right now, what some swimmers consider a warm up, is really the bulk of my workout! Hah. I’m gettin’ there. But tod...

11-2-16 Got up at 4:45am and was in the pool by 5:30am. I wore goggles for the first time and definitely got cocky. I had a ton of water go through my sinuses. Half the pool I’m sure. I was able to go back and forth 2x with the breaststroke and then back and forth plus one with the freestyle. Small upgrades but I’m making progress! I think I did 45 minutes of good movement and then accumulated 10 minutes of lunges and heavy breathing. Wow. I got a hell of a workout. There were several times I had to stop and pant. Excessively. And don’t worry, I ate leftovers for breakfast (black beans and broccoli) and then had a few chocolate grahamn crackers. Ah well, can’t win them all. I don’t have to go in until later tomorrow so I’m thinking about swimming again, just because I have more time. I’ve decided I can get my booties when I can swim for 10 straight minutes. Oh, and guess what! I signed up for the Lifetime Fitness Indoor triathlon on 1/8/17! It’s a 10 minute swim, a 30 minute cyc...

11-1-16 Got up at 4:30am, was on the bike by 5:15a or so. Completed 30 minutes of intervals and as usual, my front tire fell off the stabilizer. Does that happen to anyone else or am I the lucky winner? I had sweat dripping off me and of course I didn’t set up the extra fan I drug in there a week or so ago. Ah well, it always makes me feel the part. Razzle headed out about 6:15a and I’m left to tend a broken hearted Thor. -Later- Tri Coach?

10-31-16 Happy Halloween, y’all!! I’ve had the same Halloween costume since… 2010? It’s a (modest) sailor girl outfit and I’ve managed to wear it every year. But this year, it’s on a Monday, Booooo! Since I work in people’s homes and generally have to use public restrooms (think QT and Racetrac), I had no desire to be in a costume. Though I did wear a shirt with skeletons on it? I also wore mardi gras beads and gave a strand to each kid I worked with. And I chose today to be my rest day. I got up at 4:50am ( a little late) and just couldn’t get my ass in gear. So I did some yoga and said I would go running this evening with a friend. Well turns out she wouldn’t get to run until close to 7:45pm, which is basically my bed time, so then I said I would cycle in the evening. The close we got to that, the less likely that was to happen. Raz was going to go for a ruck march but when I reminded him it was Halloween and he would seem like a total creep-o for walking around, sweating, whi...

10-30-16 The pool opens at 8am on Sundays and I was in the water by 8:20am. While my goggles and swim cap wouldn’t come in until later today, I had decided to go ahead and try. I was actually able to swim a few more back and forths, even though I would switch strokes every time I turned around. My breast stroke right now isn’t that bad. (lol) I watched youtoube videos about swimming the other night. So I learned a bit about how to move my arms in the water, how to blow water out and breathe correctly, and how to keep my legs from sinking while moving forward. Overall really helpful.  I looked up how big the pool I’m swimming in is and I think it’s 25 meters, so half sized? Which means I will at some point get really good at the flip turns! Hah, positive side. I’ve realized I’ll have to literally not buy any clothes or THINGS that aren’t necessary while training because all my spending $ needs to go towards tri equipment. One of my fitness goals had been to get under 150 (...

10-30-16 Okay, Friday Morning I got to LA Fitness around 5:20 or 5:30am. The front desk staff needed to take my picture (boooo) and when I asked them to let me know so I could smile, the guy behind the desk laughed and said twas too late. That did not instill me with confidence. The pool was empty and I remember someone saying it was heated to 80 degrees. Apparently I want all water to feel like a hot tub; when I got in, it was certainly not warm enough for me! It took me a few tries and full submersions for it to be comfortable. Instantly my mind was racing: TriFortWorth website said we could wear wetsuits if the water is 75 degrees or below, holy crapy, if I think 80 degrees is cold, I’m going to HAVE to wear a wetsuit. Great another expense. (Those bad boys are expensive!) While in the pool I did a variety of “drills” such as swimming using only my legs one way, then only my arms the other. As a lifelong ‘nose holder’ during swimming, I experimented with blowing out and trying ...

10/27/16 I really need to focus and ‘start’ my triathlon training. The longer I don’t have a plan, the more anxious I get. I want this to be an event I do for fun, for the joy of fitness and being outside and experiencing new ways to exercise. I don’t want it to be somehing that causes me stress (or more than expected). I am going to sign up for a gym today that has a pool. We toured the LA fitness in our neighborhood on Tuesday. Before going in, we had zero expectations. We don’t live in the most glamourous part of FTW and the location of this gym is particularly sketchy. In fact, my sister in law and I call the Kroger that is in the same lot  the ‘scary kroger’ and we don’t go there after dark. You can imagine my surprise when we walk in and it is a beautiful, clean, and uncrowded space, complete with a new hot tub, open lap pool and a special woman’s only exercise room. Apparently it’s the largest LA Fitness in Texas. I asked about their pool, as it’s really the only thing I ...

10/26/16 This weekend after a whisky drink or two, I pulled the trigger and signed up for a triathlon. I’ve been playing with the idea for a month or two now, primarily because I am starting to get burned out on running. Of course I couldn’t start small and do a Sprint, which tends to be around 300-700 meter swim, 9-15 mile bike ride and a 5k. Noooo, I decided to jump right in and signed up for what I thought was a ‘half distance’ tri. Well, technically, it is, but turns out, it’s really a 70.3 aka: half an ironman. Actually, I’m not sure if I can say it’s an Ironman...copyright infringement? Any whoodle, It’s a 1.2 mile open water swim, a 56 mile bike ride, and a 13.1 mile run. All in order.