Day 18: 20 Minute Walk

I am mildly proud of myself for this 20 minute walk, as it occurred after I'd had a semi-rough day working and really just wanted to go home. But I went to the gym first, did my walk, even kept going even though my shoes hurt, and then went home. So, go me!

Day 17: Swim Lessons

I have apparently taken leave of my senses. See, apparently, the aquatics director was having trouble finding someone else to be in my group swimming class because of ability/skill mismatches, like the one we had the first day I had lessons. And she and Colin the swim instructor both agreed that I can handle the Masters' swimming (like swim team, without the meets). And so, I agreed to bounce up to the Masters'. Which meets at 6 am, Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. That's 6 IN THE MORNING. I am not a morning workout person, at all. But it's the only time it meets, and I've already paid, sooooo...guess I'm hauling myself out of bed at 5am to go swimming two days a week (I'm not doing three. Just, no). So, Monday and Thursday it is.

This will be interesting the next 2 weeks because I'm also working a temp gig, so it's not like I can go home and go back to bed (which would be my inclination). And Thursdays will be interesting, because after next week, I'll have tutoring in the evenings, too. That's going to make for a very long day. But, it may be worth it. I'm going to try for September, but if it doesn't work out, then I'll quit in October.

Day 16: 20 Minute Bike

Today I discovered that stationary bike seats can be really uncomfortable. My legs and lungs could have gone for quite a while more, but my dupke was like, "yeah, we're done". We shall add padded bike shorts to the list of things I would really like to get sooner rather than later.

Day 15: 20 minute walk

So, I borrowed my mom's tennis shoes to go take my walk today (we do not have remotely the same size feet, but I wear 8.5 or 9s in running shoes because they tend to run short, and hers are 9.5, and they're lace up shoes, so they weren't falling off of me). This pretty much confirmed for me that it's my shoes that are the problem, not so much my feet. I'm now trying to decide if I should go buy an inexpensive pair of running shoes or try to get a better pair of insoles for the shoes I have. I'm going to be walking more than running for quite awhile, so I don't really need high tech running shoes at the moment. I'm thinking almost any pair of running/walking shoes will probably do me for the time being. And it would be really nice if my feet didn't hurt while I'm doing this. So, it's kind of a question of what do I need more at the moment- shoes or a new swimsuit (I do need a new suit. Neither of the two I have right now is a good training suit- they're scoop backs and the straps slip after awhile).

Anyway, 20 minutes on the treadmill today. Well, okay, it was closer to 25, because I was watching House Hunters and 20 minutes were up just before they revealed which house the buyers chose, so I kept going until that point. This TV attached to treadmill thing is very nice, I must say.

Day 12: Yoga

And another day that doesn't go according to plan. Sigh. This week, I'm telling you. I seem to have aggravated something in my upper-back/shoulder/pectoral area, which happens sometimes- I separated my right shoulder about 10 years ago, and every so often, it flares up. Much like my lower back, although generally less painful (as in, I'm not in tears). I don't want to aggravate it further by going swimming and even walking is not a ton of fun today. So, I'm going to do the long yoga routine and stretch everything out and see if it goes away (usually does). If I feel better tomorrow, I may hit the pool. If not, I'll get back on track on Monday.

Day 11: 15 minute bike/ Training Plan Update

Wait, what? Wasn't I supposed to be walking today? Yeah, well, I had one of those days where I looked at what I was supposed to be doing today and said, "I don't wanna". So, when I looked at the email from Google Calendar that said "Walk 15 min", I hemmed and hawed and delayed until I thought, "wait, I could ride the bikes instead of walking." That was more palatable, so I did it.

I also did some thinking and poking at the Training Plan, given what I thought about yesterday. I don't want to go over 5 days of training a week, but I think I need more than one swimming day a week and some additional strength training. So, given that I decided that being able to do the swim without stopping is a more important goal than being able to run the entire 20 minutes, I'm knocking the walk/run plan down to twice a week, instead of three times a week. Right now, the current plan looks like this:

Now to the end of September:                                     October to March:
Monday- walk/run                                                          Monday- walk/run
Tuesday- walk/run                                                          Tuesday- swim
Wednesday- swim lessons                                              Wednesday- walk/run
Thursday- rest day                                                          Thursday- bike
Friday- walk/run                                                             Friday- walk/run

The new plan looks like this:

Now to the end of September:                                     October to March:
Monday- walk/run                                                          Monday- walk/run
Tuesday- bike/strength training                                        Tuesday- swim
Wednesday- swim lessons                                              Wednesday- walk/run
Thursday- walk/run                                                        Thursday- swim
Friday- swim                                                                  Friday- bike/strength training

It is, of course, subject to change, depending on how things work out. I may do a spinning class once a week for the bike training, and that might rearrange the days things happen depending on how the class fits into my schedule (they have many classes a week, it shouldn't be too hard to find one that works). And yeah, I know, there should probably be 2 strength training sessions a week, but let's start with one.

I'm taking the advice of my cousin Lori, who suggested that there may be yoga based exercises that would work (since I really do dislike weight lifting). A little Google-fu later, and I came across this set of shoulder exercises and this video to try out. I'll start there and see how that goes. If not, then I'll start looking at more traditional methods.

Day 10: Swimming Lessons

Things I learned at swimming lessons today:

1) What my stomach will handle before walking or even water aerobics is not the same as what my stomach will handle when I'm swimming. In other words, eating the Mojo bar on the way to the pool was not a great idea.

2) My endurance is crap at the moment. Doing 50s after stroke drills was awful. Part of that is that I didn't take my inhaler beforehand, because I haven't needed it. My lungs would beg to differ with me on that point. It's not a huge shocker- I haven't been doing a lot of endurance swimming and anaerobic exercise is a lot harder on me. But, it's always worth it to try without the inhaler first because sometimes I don't need it and I'd rather not take it if I don't have to.

3) Some strength work on my shoulders may not go amiss. They were not happy with me when I got out of the pool. They are a little happier now, three hours later, but yeah, it's a Norflex kind of night.

So, given this new information, maybe I better throw an additional swimming day into the mix. And some strength training, which will suck. I hate strength training. I know it's good for me, but man, I really don't like doing it.

Day 9: Rest Day

I'm moving this week's rest day to today because I woke up with one of those sinus headaches that feels like someone is jabbing ice picks in to the space under your eye. So, I took some Sudafed and went back to bed for a couple hours and it went away. However, I have tutoring tonight and a few things that need to be accomplished before that (because I'm pretty useless when I get home. I love those kids, but you have to be ON the whole time). And while I probably could sandwich in my walk and still get to the church for 5, the logistics are making my brain hurt. So, I will walk on Thursday instead.

Tomorrow- more swimming! Yay!

Day 8: 15 minute walk

Or Day 6. I can't decide. We'll go with 8.

It was a very nice day here today- just right warm, sunny and a lovely cool breeze- so I smeared on some sunscreen, found a hat and took myself to the park for my 15 minute walk. There have been so many days this summer where it was too hot for me to be outside at all that I couldn't pass up today's weather by walking in the gym.

Me After My Walk

It was a nice walk. I just set the timer on my cell phone for 7 minutes and 30 seconds and hit the multipurpose trail (for some reason, I don't own a watch anymore). When it beeped, I turned around and walked back to the parking lot. I don't know how far I went, but distance isn't the point at the moment.

Day 5: 15 minute walk

Today was the first of what I am sure will be many days where I did not really want to go and do 15 minutes on the treadmill. Apparently 48 hours with no Allegra makes my body really cranky (I keep forgetting that I need to go buy some until it's 11:30 at night and I'm taking my bedtime meds. We won't be forgetting that any longer, let me tell you). But, since on the scale of 1-10 of allergy misery, this is really only a 6ish, and I was breathing fine, I went to the gym anyway. It helped that I needed to go to the bank, etc, so I had to leave the house anyway.

So, 15 minutes on the treadmill, made easier by the fact that I remembered to find my headphones so I could listen to the TV while I walked. I saw an inning of last night's Clipper's game, which looked pretty promising. I also decided that the insoles I bought the other day are not going to work. They're cushy, which is good, but the hard plastic arch support does not sit in the right spot and I can't seem to adjust it so that it will. So, I bought gel insoles at Target that do not have the hard plastic in them and I will try those out. I also bought more socks, because I cannot find most of my gym socks, even after doing laundry. I don't really wear socks between about mid-May to the end of September, so this is the first that I've noticed that they'd all gone missing. God only knows where they wound up. What I really want are some Smartwool running socks , but they are pretty expensive. Probably worth every penny, though- I love my Smartwool socks.

Day 4: Rest Day

Today is a rest day. This month, I have one rest day during the week and both weekend days (although I will most likely go play in the pool with Mom on Saturday. That doesn't really count). So, today, I just did my yoga.

Speaking of training plans, here is the basic outline of mine. Three days a week, I'm following this Conservative Running Plan. It's basically a Couch to 5K plan, just slower. I have asthma that's triggered by exercise (among other things), and I've tried the Couch to 5K plan before and found that it was too aggressive for me. My lungs couldn't handle the amount of running that you start out with (alternating 60 seconds of running with 90 seconds of walking for 20 minutes). I could do it for two, maybe three times, but then I had to just walk. Even after repeating Week 1 several times, I still couldn't manage that pace. The Conservative plan starts out with just walking the first month, and then goes with running for 2 minutes and walking for 28 minutes (you choose how you split that time). It builds from there over 20 weeks, as opposed to over 9 weeks. That will stay constant the entire time I'm training.

In addition to the three days a week of walking/running, I will have swim lessons once a week until the end of September.  Once swim lessons are over, I will start swimming one day a week for increasing distances. I'm not entirely sure exactly where I will start, but I'll add 100 yards every two-four weeks, depending on how I feel. I may add an additional swimming day as well. I haven't entirely decided yet and it depends on a number of factors, such as how my back stands up to the walking/running and swimming. I've been pretty consistent working out 3 days a week most weeks the past couple of months (with the exception of June, when I was sick most of the month) and that's been going all right, but I don't want to ramp things up too quickly and aggravate my lower back issues.

In October, I'll also add in a day on the stationary bike. Again, I'll start small- 15 minutes to begin with- and add 5 minutes every two-four weeks depending on how I feel. This is also to prevent aggravating back issues. It's mildly annoying- I kind of want to just jump in and go, but I'd like to not be in crazy amounts of pain, either. Five days of working out a week is likely the limit, at least at this point.

I'm still going to continue doing my yoga every day (okay. Most days. Probably 75% of the days). On the days I'm also training, I just do the morning warm-up and then some stretching after I'm done working out. On the days I don't have an additional workout, I usually do a daily practice from this book: Om Yoga: A Guide to Daily Practice. It has different practices for each day of the week. I like Sunday the best- it's all relaxation poses. But I do the others, too, except for Saturday, which is all inversions, which make me nervous to do without an instructor. My daily warm-up comes from this book, too.

So, that is the plan as it stands right now! I'm sure there will be adjustments and changes along the way, but I think it's a good start.

Day 3: Swim Lessons

I switched sports today and did some swimming. I had $100 in credit at the gym, and I thought, hey, it's been awhile since I've done any competitive swimming (not that this is exactly competitive swimming, but still) and since I can use the credit for group swimming lessons, why not? Might be good to get some advice and training. So, I have lessons every Wednesday evening until the end of September.

Tonight was my first lesson. I was in a group with another woman who was making up a lesson, so she won't be there next week, so I may be alone in the group, which would be kind of nice for me. I felt bad for this woman, though- the aquatics director thought she was an intermediate swimmer who had been through the basic lessons and it turned out that she was really a beginner. Like, scared of the water, not comfortable floating beginner. I'm a pretty proficient swimmer, so it was a little bit of a skills mismatch. So, after about five minutes, the aquatics director (who knew I'm a good swimmer because I'd told her when I signed up for lessons so she could put me in the right level) came over and worked with me so that Colin, the instructor, could concentrate on the beginner lady. That was probably better for us both- I was game to do the beginner stuff, especially since it would only be one week, but I think the fact that I was clearly at a higher skill level was frustrating for her and making her feel embarrassed, even though I was trying to be encouraging.

So, it turns out that I still have really good mechanics for someone who hasn't done serious training in nearly 15 years. There's some adjustments I could make on backstroke (which was never my best stroke to begin with), but my freestyle and breaststroke were both pretty darn good. We're going to ignore the existence of butterfly, because, well, I have no real need to torture myself. I can do the components of fly- the arms and the kick- but when I try to put them together, I get about three strokes in and then I lose the rhythm and it falls apart. Colin the instructor says he never even actually learned to do it, so he's just as happy I don't want to mess with it. And there's no way I'd use it for the tri- it's too energy intensive. I figure I'll do most of it freestyle (which is my best stroke anyway, as well as being the most efficient) with some breast stroke thrown in if I get tired. Next week, we'll start looking at endurance and how I do swimming over distance (we were in the leisure pool, so I was swimming less than 25 meters at a time).

Day 2: 15 minute walk

Today is another walking day. 15 minutes this time, at 3.0 mph on the treadmill (no incline. I may fuss with inclines later, but for now, let's just work on the basics).

There's an issue with my running shoes- well, there's been an issue with these shoes since shortly after I bought them. They fit in the toe box very well, and they're a good length (running shoes run small. I had to get a size 9, and I'm usually a size 7.5 or 8 in casual shoes). And they fit fine around my oddly shaped ankles. But for some reason, they made the bottoms of my feet hurt around my arches and my heels. I thought it was a breaking in issue, but it never really got better. And it's only these shoes- my other shoes are all fine- so I was pretty sure it wasn't my feet themselves. So, today I went and tried the Dr. Sholl's insole computer thing at CVS, and it told me I have low arches and high foot pressure. The high foot pressure, I believe. The low arches are a little puzzling, because if you look at my feet, I have super high arches. The middle of my foot barely touches the ground. The insoles they recommended were $50, and while I'm certain that is cheaper than a prescription orthotic insole, that's not going to work for me at the moment. So I bought a pair of sport insoles with arch support and heel cushioning (which were two things the recommendation said would be a good idea) for $17 to try first. They did feel much cushier than the insoles that came with my shoes (which are probably broken down by now. I've had these shoes for a while now). The arch support didn't hit in the exact right spot (I have oddly shaped feet), so the first half of my walk was a little painful, but then I stopped and adjusted the insoles and the second half was better, so I think I may have it in the right spot now. We'll find out on Friday, when I go for the third walk of the week- tomorrow is swimming!

Day 1: 10 minute walk

Today was the first day of my triathlon training plan. It was a pretty basic 10 minute walk on the treadmill. This is below my actual fitness level at the moment, but the running plan I am following starts very slowly, and I wanted an easy victory for the first day. It will continue to be pretty slow for the first month- it's a very conservative 7 month program that I'm hoping works better for me than Couch to 5K, which was too aggressive for my lungs to handle.

So, a slow start, but a start!

Hello!

Welcome to Kim Tri-s. Yeah, it's a pun. Yes, yes, puns are overdone. But they crack me up, so, *shrugs*

This blog is where I am going to talk about training for an indoor triathlon that I'm planning to do in April 2013. Hence the pun in the blog name. The indoor triathlon is a little different from a traditional triathlon; the events are based on time, not distance. In the case of the Lifetime Fitness Indoor Tri, which is the one I'm planning to do, participants swim for 10 minutes in the lap pool, bike on the spinning bikes for 30 minutes and run/walk on the treadmills for 20 minutes. Standings are determined by how many laps you swim, and how far the bike computer and treadmill says you go in the time allotted.

I decided to do the indoor tri instead of a traditional sprint triathlon (which is what most beginners do and what most people think of when someone says, "I'm doing a triathlon") for a couple of reasons. Reason 1 is that I don't have any depth perception without my glasses and at the moment, I don't have contacts. An open water swim might be a little more dangerous for me than the average person, since I can't judge the distance between me and other swimmers or me and obstacles or me and a marker buoy. And even though that doesn't sound like such a big deal, it's a little scary. Imagine having everything you see be like the looking at the side mirror of your car that says "Objects in the mirror are closer than they appear". That's what my vision is like without my glasses (with my glasses, I see almost normally. Well enough to drive and handle almost any day to day thing I come across). I won't have my glasses in the pool, of course, but it's a much more controlled environment. I did swim team in high school, and I've kept up my swimming as much as possible in the years since (depending on pool access), so I know the dimensions of a swimming lane. I know where the lane ropes are, I know where the walls are. There won't be anyone else in the lane with me, so I won't be smacking into other people. Much more comfortable for me!

The other reason is the biking. I can ride a bike, of course, but I'm really bad at figuring out the gearing and very nervous about riding in traffic. And I'm afraid of falling in a crowd. These are all things that I could overcome with practice, but it's going to be winter time sooner rather than later, and riding a bike outdoors in Ohio from about November to April can be a pretty challenging proposition. If it can be done at all. So, biking inside is a much easier thing to accomplish over the winter.

So, that's why the indoor tri. But why am I doing a tri at all? Is this because of the Olympics? Well, yes and no. I've had "Do a tri" on my Someday List for a very long time. Since college, I think, when I learned about the Danskin Women's Triathlon in a magazine. But I always thought, well, I'm too big to do it, so when I lose weight, then I'll do it. And then, you know, funny thing, I never did get skinny. And even funnier thing, I looked at my efforts to lose weight and realized that they were doing bad things to my brain and my self image. And then I did a little reading and found more information about self-acceptance and size acceptance and Health at Every Size and said, yeah, you know, this doesn't work for me, I am clearly in the 95% of people who regain the weight they lose and more besides (because I've done it several times now) and fighting with my body is not good for me, either physically or mentally. So, I decided to just have done with it and make peace with the body I have (it's a good body. It's just a different body). And I wasn't sure this body was going to be capable of doing some of the things I wanted to do, so I set some things aside. But then I watched the Olympics and I thought, well, heck. Some of these people are competing at very high levels without perfect bodies. This guy doesn't even have legs! I'm pretty sure my body is never going to be an Olympic athlete's body (because seriously, I have very little actual athletic talent. I'm just stubborn as all hell), but it can probably be a triathlete's body. And my parents both did the Indoor Tri in 2011, so I know it's a doable thing. And therefore, I decided to do it.