Spandex City

1-19-17 I have a shameful secret. I haven't ran outside since Christmas day... I KNOW! I KNOW! The girl who's only form of exercise for the past several years has been running!? Truth be told. I needed a break from running. So I have me a few side flings with swimming and biking. It's been wild and crazy. But then running found out. And decided to make. me. pay. A brief 3.2 mile jaunt after several hours of errands and house cleaning turned into a disaster.  1. My knees hurt (maybe because I never foam rolled like I always said I would?) 2. Hot. As. Balls. (but really only about 70) 3. My heart rate kept going super high, super fast. Like 160, within the first half mile. 4. Earbuds are the devils work. They made me so mad today that I'm actually going to buy running headphones... (maybe) 5. Wheezing. Wheezing everywhere. (thank you Lord for inhalers). On the bright side- tonight we are going to the rodeo and having our first Air BnB ch...

1-18-17 Yesterday I had planned to spend the majority of the day working on my CEU presentation. It entailed reviewing a few chapters in some textbooks, creating a more specific outline, and looking for articles online, even before I set down to create. Naturally that lasted a few hours before I decided it was time to get out of the house! I'm ready for winter to be over- can you tell? Raz hopped on the spin bike in my office and I went to the gym to use their pool. Thankfully it was much less crowded around 1pm! The goal was to do an easy 1000 because I signed up to do a spin class in the evening. The reality= I felt more out of breath, faster. My legs were tired. I seemed to be plodding along. I finished it out, but could tell my body needs a break. In the evening I did a 6:45pm spin class at a new place called CycleBar over off Bryant Irvan (near the new Whole Foods/REI). It was raining and everyone was already inside. Amy P. and her friends, who are sisters, came ...

1-16-17 It rained all weekend and I felt sorely behind on workouts when I woke up. I've been pretty good about working out every other day for the last week or so, but normally I can do about 5-6 workouts a week. Since it's a holiday, I hit the gym a little later than usual, maybe 9:50a or so. It was totally empty when I got in. My plan was to just do 1000 meters so I could do another sport later. (Also, we had a ton to do around the house too.) After about 10 minutes in the pool alone, the place started to boom! By the time I got out, it was more full than I'd ever seen it and two guys were sharing a lane. Things I observed and learned today. 1. I love to do the breaststroke. But I am very, very, very slow. How slow you ask? Well, there was an older gentleman doing some water running in the lane next to me. He sped right past me. *take that, ego!* Either I need to speed the HELLokitty up, or get stronger with my freestyle 2. I'm getting faster! I di...

1-14-17 My sleep schedule has been very off lately. We both woke up around 2 or 3 am and I couldn't get back to sleep until 4am. I slept in waaaay too late, so I feel like the day is already all gone! The exciting part is that I swam 40 laps today! (40 x50 = 2000meters!) Over a mile! Woo! It felt really great. I did it in sections of 5, alternating freestyle and butterfly strokes. I found myself zoning out a lot more, which is great because it indicates I'm having to think less about the form. Swimming became nearly meditative for me today. I prayed for those I know and gave thanks for what I can do. The rest of today is going to be staging/cleaning/nit-picking the house, so we can get pictures up and launch our AirBnB!!

1-11-17 1-12-17 WARNING! LONG POST AHEAD! My very first triathlon was one of the Lifetime Fitness Indoor Tri series on Sunday. I specifically picked this race for a few reasons 1. Cheap (it was only $30!!) 2. Indoors (less gear and fumbling around) 3. Timed sections instead of distance (something unique). The night before, Raz and I reviewed all the stuff I needed and I packed a bag with: -a towel -flip flops -swimsuit -goggles -swim cap -sports bra -running spandex shorts -running tank -body glide -socks -Unicorn Snot -headphones/armband -Misc: since it's my work bag, there were probably a few crayons rolling around the bottom. Getting ready to leave the house. I got to the gym nearly an hour early and used that time to peak in at the different areas. There were several waves of people going and I was in wave 6, which means that some people were finishing up and some wouldn't start until later. I pinned my number on my tank and laid my stuff out ...

1-7-17 I'm back! Hi! Okay, so I've been busy LIVING life and haven't had hardly a second to DOCUMENT it. I'm pumped about that. Things I've done Include: 1. I swam a mile!  A whole freakin' mile!! That's 33 lengths in a 25 meter pool. 33x55=1650meters which = 1.02mile! Huzzah! Me! I swam a MILE . This was/is a relevant and exciting event for me because I have a very distinct memory of being in college and an amazing, Trinidadian, former Marine, jacked, personal trainer, doctoral student friend of mine (can you tell I think highly of him?) was swimming laps in the outdoor pool. When he paused I asked him how far he had gone and he said 3 miles. Dude. He had already swam 3 miles and wasn't stopping. He said one day he would like to swim around Manhattan. (I think. If that's geographically wrong or impossible, don't feel the need to correct me.) I for sure couldn't swim then and remember thinking that swimming even a SINGLE mile would...