Lest anyone question my commitment to this whole thing, let me tell you a small story:
I went to the gym today to find a sign on the front counter saying that the heater in the pool was broken and the water temperature was 74 degrees. And I just muttered to myself, "Oh, damn, this is gonna be cold", and then proceeded to put my suit on and swim anyway.
I'm a bad updater, but a good trainer. Mostly good trainer, anyway.
December was the month of sprints in swim practice, which nearly did me in, but may have had its benefits. As in, my steady pace may have increased a little tiny bit. Maybe.
It was also the month of discovering that, hey, I can do the Couch to 5K program. I was getting bored with running, mostly because I couldn't seem to get beyond 10 minutes, so I said, hey, let's give the C25K program a try, because at least I won't be bored anymore. And turns out, that yeah, no problem. So I'll be continuing that into the New Year.
I have roughly 4 months to race day (I don't know the official race date just yet. I imagine that information will be available soon). I feel pretty good about this at this point.
I hope your 2013 dawns brightly for you!
Monday, December 31, 2012
Monday, December 10, 2012
Week...something.
It's December, I'm not greatly functional in December. So I have no idea what week I'm working on now.
Swimming is going well. Just after Thanksgiving, I did a timed 1000 and completed it in 31 minutes, which is roughly 1:35ish per 50. Not bad at all. Let's see...we're doing a lot of sprint work right now because we'll have two weeks off (the week of Christmas and the week of New Year's), so the idea is to build up some muscle before then because that'll last over the layoff better than endurance will. I will be swimming over those two weeks anyway, but I know I don't push myself as hard as I do during practice because no one's keeping me focused. But the sprinting is going all right- I did a 50 in 1:02 last week, which is darn near close to my race pace from high school (my PR is 48.47. I was generally in the mid/high 50s). It's really hard for me, though, and I've yet to complete an entire workout without needing a time out. We found the exercise induced asthma wall and it's when you ask me to sprint multiple 100s in a short period of time.
Running has gone less well. 10 minutes straight seems to be some kind of limit. I'm thinking it may not be a hard limit- that I can get beyond it- but right now, I don't seem to be able to. So, I switched things up because I was frustrated and bored. I modified the Couch to 5K plan slightly to be a 2x a week plan (which stretches it out past 9 weeks to 12 weeks) and it turns out that yes, I can in fact do the first workout of the plan now, without a problem at all. Which would not have been the case back in August, so hey, I've definitely made progress. So, I'll play with that for awhile and see where I get.
And let's not discuss cycling. Because, yeah. I gotta get on that.
Okay, I need to get myself to bed because 6 am swimming comes awful early in the morning...
Swimming is going well. Just after Thanksgiving, I did a timed 1000 and completed it in 31 minutes, which is roughly 1:35ish per 50. Not bad at all. Let's see...we're doing a lot of sprint work right now because we'll have two weeks off (the week of Christmas and the week of New Year's), so the idea is to build up some muscle before then because that'll last over the layoff better than endurance will. I will be swimming over those two weeks anyway, but I know I don't push myself as hard as I do during practice because no one's keeping me focused. But the sprinting is going all right- I did a 50 in 1:02 last week, which is darn near close to my race pace from high school (my PR is 48.47. I was generally in the mid/high 50s). It's really hard for me, though, and I've yet to complete an entire workout without needing a time out. We found the exercise induced asthma wall and it's when you ask me to sprint multiple 100s in a short period of time.
Running has gone less well. 10 minutes straight seems to be some kind of limit. I'm thinking it may not be a hard limit- that I can get beyond it- but right now, I don't seem to be able to. So, I switched things up because I was frustrated and bored. I modified the Couch to 5K plan slightly to be a 2x a week plan (which stretches it out past 9 weeks to 12 weeks) and it turns out that yes, I can in fact do the first workout of the plan now, without a problem at all. Which would not have been the case back in August, so hey, I've definitely made progress. So, I'll play with that for awhile and see where I get.
And let's not discuss cycling. Because, yeah. I gotta get on that.
Okay, I need to get myself to bed because 6 am swimming comes awful early in the morning...
Monday, November 19, 2012
Week 14
So, last week, I had intentions of making all 5 workouts last week. That...did not happen. I was exhausted on Wednesday night, so when I weighed getting an extra hour of sleep vs. going running in the morning (since I was working, it was 6:30 am or nothing), the extra hour of sleep won. And then when I thought about going spinning on Friday morning and then needing to sit at a desk for 8 hours, I thought that maybe was not my smartest idea. But I made both swimming practices and running on Tuesday. I only managed to run for 8 minutes instead of 10, but that's okay.
This week, I technically don't have swim practice, but I'll be swimming anyway on my own. And I'll definitely go running on Tuesday and probably on Thursday- we're pretty low key around here for the holiday itself. I will not be spinning on Friday, because the gym is part of an open air mall and you cannot pay me enough to go anywhere near there on the day after Thanksgiving, thank you very much.
Have a happy Thanksgiving! Eat good things!
This week, I technically don't have swim practice, but I'll be swimming anyway on my own. And I'll definitely go running on Tuesday and probably on Thursday- we're pretty low key around here for the holiday itself. I will not be spinning on Friday, because the gym is part of an open air mall and you cannot pay me enough to go anywhere near there on the day after Thanksgiving, thank you very much.
Have a happy Thanksgiving! Eat good things!
Sunday, November 11, 2012
Weeks 11, 12 and 13
Fear not! I have not given up on things! I just sort of slacked off on the documentation. So, let's see what I can recreate here.
Week 11: I talked with my swim coach and we decided that even though I *can* do a 50 in about 1:20-1:30, dropping the base time to less than 1:40 isn't feasible at the moment, given how incredibly exhausted I was after attempting it. So, we're staying at 1:40 until that gets really easy (I'm estimating somewhere around Christmas at this point) and then we'll see about 1:30. Also, I ran for 10 minutes! All at once! Without stopping. Woo!
Week 12: Three months! I rock. I was also the only person at swim practice on Monday, which was kind of nice because it meant that we did something that was on my personal pace for once (I'm about the slowest regular who comes, so I'm always the last one done with anything). Unfortunately, circumstances conspired to keep me off the treadmill, so I didn't get my running in, but I did hit up my first spinning class. Let me tell you, spinning uses completely different muscles than running or swimming. And those seats are ridiculously hard, even with padded shorts. Ow. The undercarriage was less than thrilled with me for several days. Also, I need to ignore the bike adjustment instructions and adjust the seat slightly higher than it seems like I should, because otherwise my knees get extremely cranky.
Week 13: I did my Monday swimming on my own because I was working the polls on Tuesday. I'm getting better with the flip turns. And if I can manage to stretch out my breathing rhythm a bit, I think I'll be a happier person. Tuesday, I was awake for 22 hours and on my feet for about 16 of those hours, so yeah, there was no additional training going on. But, I did it, and I wasn't in nearly as much pain as I expected to be in, so apparently, all this work has been good for something :o) Then, Wednesday, I went to practice, where we did a sprint 100 for time at the end and I came in at around 2:52, which is not terrible (if we'd done it first, as opposed to after having done 6 100s previous, then, um, I might have done better. I might have also done better if I hadn't been recovering from Tuesday. Swimming Wednesday was kind of a pain in the tail). I gave myself a break on Thursday because I started another temp gig and that was the first day and I would have had to go run in the morning and I was still tired and that just wasn't happening. Friday, I intended to go spinning, but had a smashing headache by the time I left work, so I just came home and slept.
This coming week, I intend to hit every workout. That hasn't happened in several weeks now, maybe about a month. I don't feel badly about this- I certainly don't feel like I've lost any fitness or ability by getting the extra rest. But I want to see how it goes with all the scheduled workouts for a few weeks. If I start getting exhausted again, then I'll rejigger the schedule. At this point, I'm pretty unconcerned about being able to do any of the events in the triathlon individually- I can definitely swim for 10 minutes straight and I can definitely at least walk 20 minutes, and spinning class was an hour and I did reasonably well enough cycling for an hour that I think I'd be fine going for 30 minutes. But all on one day still seems kind of a stretch, which is perfectly fine at this point- I've got about 6 months to go, after all. I mean, everything is getting easier to some extent. I just still get tired afterwards. So, we'll see.
Week 11: I talked with my swim coach and we decided that even though I *can* do a 50 in about 1:20-1:30, dropping the base time to less than 1:40 isn't feasible at the moment, given how incredibly exhausted I was after attempting it. So, we're staying at 1:40 until that gets really easy (I'm estimating somewhere around Christmas at this point) and then we'll see about 1:30. Also, I ran for 10 minutes! All at once! Without stopping. Woo!
Week 12: Three months! I rock. I was also the only person at swim practice on Monday, which was kind of nice because it meant that we did something that was on my personal pace for once (I'm about the slowest regular who comes, so I'm always the last one done with anything). Unfortunately, circumstances conspired to keep me off the treadmill, so I didn't get my running in, but I did hit up my first spinning class. Let me tell you, spinning uses completely different muscles than running or swimming. And those seats are ridiculously hard, even with padded shorts. Ow. The undercarriage was less than thrilled with me for several days. Also, I need to ignore the bike adjustment instructions and adjust the seat slightly higher than it seems like I should, because otherwise my knees get extremely cranky.
Week 13: I did my Monday swimming on my own because I was working the polls on Tuesday. I'm getting better with the flip turns. And if I can manage to stretch out my breathing rhythm a bit, I think I'll be a happier person. Tuesday, I was awake for 22 hours and on my feet for about 16 of those hours, so yeah, there was no additional training going on. But, I did it, and I wasn't in nearly as much pain as I expected to be in, so apparently, all this work has been good for something :o) Then, Wednesday, I went to practice, where we did a sprint 100 for time at the end and I came in at around 2:52, which is not terrible (if we'd done it first, as opposed to after having done 6 100s previous, then, um, I might have done better. I might have also done better if I hadn't been recovering from Tuesday. Swimming Wednesday was kind of a pain in the tail). I gave myself a break on Thursday because I started another temp gig and that was the first day and I would have had to go run in the morning and I was still tired and that just wasn't happening. Friday, I intended to go spinning, but had a smashing headache by the time I left work, so I just came home and slept.
This coming week, I intend to hit every workout. That hasn't happened in several weeks now, maybe about a month. I don't feel badly about this- I certainly don't feel like I've lost any fitness or ability by getting the extra rest. But I want to see how it goes with all the scheduled workouts for a few weeks. If I start getting exhausted again, then I'll rejigger the schedule. At this point, I'm pretty unconcerned about being able to do any of the events in the triathlon individually- I can definitely swim for 10 minutes straight and I can definitely at least walk 20 minutes, and spinning class was an hour and I did reasonably well enough cycling for an hour that I think I'd be fine going for 30 minutes. But all on one day still seems kind of a stretch, which is perfectly fine at this point- I've got about 6 months to go, after all. I mean, everything is getting easier to some extent. I just still get tired afterwards. So, we'll see.
Thursday, October 25, 2012
testing something
Just testing something because the thing that posts to FB seems to be a bit off....
Week 10
Week 10 was a little like Week 9, sort of. All I managed to do was swimming, because my impromptu road trip kind of kicked my butt. And then swimming kicked it even more.
The problem with swimming was that 1) I went to the morning session on Tuesday because I hadn't been up to going on Monday night after I got back from Chicago/Cincinnati. The morning people are considerably faster than I am and faster than some of the rest of the evening people, so I had to try and keep up. I did, barely. Which is another "problem", because since I could keep up, my coach figured I was ready to push it a bit more, which she did on Wednesday. And I kept up again, for the most part. But, I paid for it on Thursday through Sunday in a big way. My back started agitating (that might have been more from the car trip and my somewhat miserable attempt to do butterfly on Wednesday than anything else, though), I was exhausted (that could also have been stress) and just in case I wasn't paying attention to those two things poking at me, my body sent up one of its bigger SOS's in the form of post-herpetic neuralgia. I had shingles in February 2011 and despite being on the nerve medication for 2 months, I seem to be one of the small percentage of people who still experiences the pain long after the episode has cleared up. Fortunately, it's not constant in my case. It pops up when I'm overly tired or not feeling well or very stressed. Also fortunately, it's uncomfortable, and it doesn't go away with Advil (although Tramadol blunts it somewhat), but it's not incapacitating (high pain threshhold for the win!). And, honestly, I'd rather my body choose that as an SOS instead of making my twitchy airways extra reactive, because asthma attacks are doubleplus ungood.
So, the upshot was, I didn't get any of my other workouts in last week. This was mildly annoying, but there is only so far I'm willing to push through my body yelling at me and last week was too far. Fortunately, a weekend of sitting around and watching football and taking naps has put me back to rights, more or less. And Week 11 has shaped up to be better, thus far.
The problem with swimming was that 1) I went to the morning session on Tuesday because I hadn't been up to going on Monday night after I got back from Chicago/Cincinnati. The morning people are considerably faster than I am and faster than some of the rest of the evening people, so I had to try and keep up. I did, barely. Which is another "problem", because since I could keep up, my coach figured I was ready to push it a bit more, which she did on Wednesday. And I kept up again, for the most part. But, I paid for it on Thursday through Sunday in a big way. My back started agitating (that might have been more from the car trip and my somewhat miserable attempt to do butterfly on Wednesday than anything else, though), I was exhausted (that could also have been stress) and just in case I wasn't paying attention to those two things poking at me, my body sent up one of its bigger SOS's in the form of post-herpetic neuralgia. I had shingles in February 2011 and despite being on the nerve medication for 2 months, I seem to be one of the small percentage of people who still experiences the pain long after the episode has cleared up. Fortunately, it's not constant in my case. It pops up when I'm overly tired or not feeling well or very stressed. Also fortunately, it's uncomfortable, and it doesn't go away with Advil (although Tramadol blunts it somewhat), but it's not incapacitating (high pain threshhold for the win!). And, honestly, I'd rather my body choose that as an SOS instead of making my twitchy airways extra reactive, because asthma attacks are doubleplus ungood.
So, the upshot was, I didn't get any of my other workouts in last week. This was mildly annoying, but there is only so far I'm willing to push through my body yelling at me and last week was too far. Fortunately, a weekend of sitting around and watching football and taking naps has put me back to rights, more or less. And Week 11 has shaped up to be better, thus far.
Monday, October 15, 2012
Week 9
Week 9's recap is a little late- I had an impromptu road trip to take, but all is going to be well.
So, last week, there was swimming, whereupon my coach overestimated my abilities- she forgot that I haven't done anything faster than 1:40 per 50 and went with a time for a set of 300s that put me doing them on 1:30. I think I made the first one of the set, barely, but I definitely didn't get the rest of the set. But, I didn't fall off pace too, too badly- I was making the 50s in about 1:45, which is not awful. I could definitely have curled up right on the pool steps and gone to sleep, though, after.
Then, on Tuesday, Dad and I moved the vast majority of my belongings out of the storage locker where they've been hanging out for the last year. Since that was a lot of lifting and carrying, I didn't do an additional workout. I was pleased, though, that my back held up really well. It's getting stronger!
Wednesday was more swimming, and that went better. We also practiced flip turns, and I found out the right way of doing them, as opposed to the not-quite-correct way I've been doing them for years. They might be a little easier for me now. We'll see this week. I'm hoping to do them at least during warm-ups.
Thursday was a Not Good Day. And working out didn't happen. But, Friday, I hit the treadmill, whereupon I "ran" (I say I ran. Mom keeps saying it's not running if you were only going 2.6 on the treadmill. Whichever) for 8 minutes. Which was actually the goal for the week- 8 run, 22 walk- and it felt reasonably good. My ankles keep getting cranky after a little while, but it's not sharp pain, and it walks off, so it's probably that they need strengthening more than an actual problem. So, I've more or less caught back up on the running plan. I'm going to go for the goal of 10 minutes "running" this week and see what happens. If it works, then, yay, I'm on schedule. If I have to do it again next week, then, well, whatever. It's fine.
This week I also hope to make it to a spinning class. I got my bike shorts a few weeks ago, but there was that week I was sick, so it put that back a little. But it's all good. Things are going well, and hopefully they'll continue that way.
So, last week, there was swimming, whereupon my coach overestimated my abilities- she forgot that I haven't done anything faster than 1:40 per 50 and went with a time for a set of 300s that put me doing them on 1:30. I think I made the first one of the set, barely, but I definitely didn't get the rest of the set. But, I didn't fall off pace too, too badly- I was making the 50s in about 1:45, which is not awful. I could definitely have curled up right on the pool steps and gone to sleep, though, after.
Then, on Tuesday, Dad and I moved the vast majority of my belongings out of the storage locker where they've been hanging out for the last year. Since that was a lot of lifting and carrying, I didn't do an additional workout. I was pleased, though, that my back held up really well. It's getting stronger!
Wednesday was more swimming, and that went better. We also practiced flip turns, and I found out the right way of doing them, as opposed to the not-quite-correct way I've been doing them for years. They might be a little easier for me now. We'll see this week. I'm hoping to do them at least during warm-ups.
Thursday was a Not Good Day. And working out didn't happen. But, Friday, I hit the treadmill, whereupon I "ran" (I say I ran. Mom keeps saying it's not running if you were only going 2.6 on the treadmill. Whichever) for 8 minutes. Which was actually the goal for the week- 8 run, 22 walk- and it felt reasonably good. My ankles keep getting cranky after a little while, but it's not sharp pain, and it walks off, so it's probably that they need strengthening more than an actual problem. So, I've more or less caught back up on the running plan. I'm going to go for the goal of 10 minutes "running" this week and see what happens. If it works, then, yay, I'm on schedule. If I have to do it again next week, then, well, whatever. It's fine.
This week I also hope to make it to a spinning class. I got my bike shorts a few weeks ago, but there was that week I was sick, so it put that back a little. But it's all good. Things are going well, and hopefully they'll continue that way.
Friday, October 12, 2012
Revolutionary
This post on the Fat Nutritionist blog* really resonated with me this week. Not in the least because I got a dirty look waiting for the elevator to go to the parking garage at the gym. Given the quality of the look and the mumbling under the person's breath, I'm going to go out on a limb and say that if I were thin, I probably wouldn't have gotten that look. And I refuse to defend my choice to take the elevator instead of the stairs. I have good reasons, but they're really no one's business but mine.
But really, I'm mostly lucky. People at the gym I go to don't usually give me dirty looks or act condescendingly towards me, as though it were the first time I've ever attempted to work out. I've heard stories from other fat people where such things have happened. I've gotten my own looks at other facilities. So, I am lucky in that I don't face significant harassment at any of the three branches of my gym that I frequent, occasional dirty looks at the elevator notwithstanding. It's generally a very welcoming place, and the employees I've interacted with have been nothing but kind and respectful.
At the same time, though, I am aware that putting on my swim suit and hitting the pool for practice is something of a revolutionary act. I'm a size 22 and I have no qualms about wearing a swimsuit. Part of that is because I love to swim, I love my water time and I'm coming to believe that it just might be a necessity for my mental health and sanity. So, those things outweigh any body consciousness I might feel. Part of it is that after being on swim team in high school, I don't have a whole lot of body consciousness in a swimsuit anyway. Once you've spent 15 hours a week or so in a suit as a teenager, you kind of don't care too much anymore.
The thing is, however, it shouldn't be a revolutionary act for me to go swimming. It shouldn't be a revolutionary act for anyone to put on a swimsuit. Or to get on the treadmill, or walk outside, or go to Zumba, or do yoga, or do whatever type of movement makes you happy. Everyone should have the ability to do any of those things without fear of ridicule or harassment. And the fact that this is not true is wrong. It is just plain wrong.
*The Fat Nutritionist is one of my favorite Heath at Every Size blogs. It was where I was introduced to the concept and the concept of Intuitive Eating. I recommend it for anyone.
But really, I'm mostly lucky. People at the gym I go to don't usually give me dirty looks or act condescendingly towards me, as though it were the first time I've ever attempted to work out. I've heard stories from other fat people where such things have happened. I've gotten my own looks at other facilities. So, I am lucky in that I don't face significant harassment at any of the three branches of my gym that I frequent, occasional dirty looks at the elevator notwithstanding. It's generally a very welcoming place, and the employees I've interacted with have been nothing but kind and respectful.
At the same time, though, I am aware that putting on my swim suit and hitting the pool for practice is something of a revolutionary act. I'm a size 22 and I have no qualms about wearing a swimsuit. Part of that is because I love to swim, I love my water time and I'm coming to believe that it just might be a necessity for my mental health and sanity. So, those things outweigh any body consciousness I might feel. Part of it is that after being on swim team in high school, I don't have a whole lot of body consciousness in a swimsuit anyway. Once you've spent 15 hours a week or so in a suit as a teenager, you kind of don't care too much anymore.
The thing is, however, it shouldn't be a revolutionary act for me to go swimming. It shouldn't be a revolutionary act for anyone to put on a swimsuit. Or to get on the treadmill, or walk outside, or go to Zumba, or do yoga, or do whatever type of movement makes you happy. Everyone should have the ability to do any of those things without fear of ridicule or harassment. And the fact that this is not true is wrong. It is just plain wrong.
*The Fat Nutritionist is one of my favorite Heath at Every Size blogs. It was where I was introduced to the concept and the concept of Intuitive Eating. I recommend it for anyone.
Saturday, October 6, 2012
Week 8: Mostly Swimming
I feel considerably better this week, which is good. So, I went swimming on Monday and Wednesday. Monday was a little rough- I was still pretty tired and still had a lot of crud messing with my throat, which sometimes made it a little hard to breathe. But Wednesday was much better. And then, yesterday, I felt pretty good, so I went to the gym and hit the treadmill. I figured I'd try for running for 4 minutes, which was where I was on the plan before I got sick, but I hit 4 minutes, still felt pretty good, so I went for 6, which is what I was supposed to be doing last week. And that went just fine, so clearly taking about 10 days off while my immune system protested the coming of fall didn't have a huge effect on my cardiovascular endurance. Good to know.
Next week, I'll be doing my swimming and adding back in my strength training and walk/running. So, almost back to normal. I have to redo my calendar for the running, because I'm now a week behind where the calendar says I am, but that's all right. I'm definitely making progress!
Next week, I'll be doing my swimming and adding back in my strength training and walk/running. So, almost back to normal. I have to redo my calendar for the running, because I'm now a week behind where the calendar says I am, but that's all right. I'm definitely making progress!
Saturday, September 29, 2012
Getting back into it
I am feeling much better after feeling pretty lousy for the past week or so. I wasn't actually sick- it wasn't a cold. It was just chronic sinusitis acting up combined with weather allergies. Aside from being a little bit coughy and sniffly today, I feel all right. I can breathe through my nose again and I can take a deep breath without coughing, and my throat has stopped being so irritated, so I think it's safe to say I'm pretty much fine.
I was tempted to just jump right back into the full schedule for this week, which included 2x swimming, 2x strength training/run/walk and introducing spinning class. And then the more rational part of my brain took over and said, um, yeah, no. So, this week, I'm going to do my swimming. I might throw a walk in there later in the week if I'm feeling good after Wednesday's swimming. Next week, I'll add back in the strength training/walking and then the week after, I'll see about adding the spinning class. It's possible that this is a tad over-cautious, but October and I have a History, so chances are pretty good that I'll be back to dealing with this or a similar issue sometime in the next month. I'd rather not tax my already stretched reserves (my immune system might have been fighting itself as opposed to a virus, but the effect is nearly the same). I know exercising is supposed to improve one's immune system, but mine has disadvantages (I need inhaled steroids to breathe within reasonable parameters. While they aren't as rough on your system as oral steroids, they still decrease immune function), so I don't expect miracles here.
So, swimming this week. Yay!
I was tempted to just jump right back into the full schedule for this week, which included 2x swimming, 2x strength training/run/walk and introducing spinning class. And then the more rational part of my brain took over and said, um, yeah, no. So, this week, I'm going to do my swimming. I might throw a walk in there later in the week if I'm feeling good after Wednesday's swimming. Next week, I'll add back in the strength training/walking and then the week after, I'll see about adding the spinning class. It's possible that this is a tad over-cautious, but October and I have a History, so chances are pretty good that I'll be back to dealing with this or a similar issue sometime in the next month. I'd rather not tax my already stretched reserves (my immune system might have been fighting itself as opposed to a virus, but the effect is nearly the same). I know exercising is supposed to improve one's immune system, but mine has disadvantages (I need inhaled steroids to breathe within reasonable parameters. While they aren't as rough on your system as oral steroids, they still decrease immune function), so I don't expect miracles here.
So, swimming this week. Yay!
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Week 7: Um.
A conversation with myself today:
Brain: Hey, we haven't been to the gym since Wednesday. That's, like, five days.
Body: Yes, I am aware of this.
Brain: Training? Triathlon?
Body: Extreme fatigue? Nasty sinus drainage causing you to cough since Saturday? Exercise induced asthma that kicks up badly when you're already coughy?
Brain: Oh. Right. But...it's a little better today, right? I mean, we're not quite so tired?
Body: We have the energy to possibly try to work out...
Brain: Great! Let's go!
Body: If you'll let me finish...
Brain: Oh. Sorry.
Body: As I was saying. We may be able to work out, but we also have to have enough energy to wrangle 2-6 4th to 6th graders through homework this evening. We don't have the energy to do both without a nap.
Brain: And it's 1, and that happens at 6.
Body: We also need to eat.
Brain: Right, right. So, what you're saying is, I can do one or I can do the other, but not both.
Body: Exactly.
Brain: And while the triathlon is a priority, the kids are too.
Body: That's your department. I'm just telling you what the capabilities are for today.
Brain: Okay, okay. No gym. Tomorrow?
Body: I'll take it under advisement.
...In other words, I'm sick (well, I'm having allergy/sinus issues due to the weather changes. I'm not actually infectiously sick). And while many people can work out when they're sort of sick, if I'm coughing, I kind of can't. I'm pretty sure the coughing is mostly due to throat irritation, but that's a bit of an academic distinction. In practice, coughing is coughing, according to my twitchy airways. I might give swimming a go tomorrow night, but it'll depend on how I feel tomorrow afternoon. I am annoyed, but well, it's not like I didn't know this was likely to happen at least a few times during this whole process. It's the body I have, after all, and while at the moment, loving this body is a little beyond me, I can at least manage to accept it. Mostly.
Brain: Hey, we haven't been to the gym since Wednesday. That's, like, five days.
Body: Yes, I am aware of this.
Brain: Training? Triathlon?
Body: Extreme fatigue? Nasty sinus drainage causing you to cough since Saturday? Exercise induced asthma that kicks up badly when you're already coughy?
Brain: Oh. Right. But...it's a little better today, right? I mean, we're not quite so tired?
Body: We have the energy to possibly try to work out...
Brain: Great! Let's go!
Body: If you'll let me finish...
Brain: Oh. Sorry.
Body: As I was saying. We may be able to work out, but we also have to have enough energy to wrangle 2-6 4th to 6th graders through homework this evening. We don't have the energy to do both without a nap.
Brain: And it's 1, and that happens at 6.
Body: We also need to eat.
Brain: Right, right. So, what you're saying is, I can do one or I can do the other, but not both.
Body: Exactly.
Brain: And while the triathlon is a priority, the kids are too.
Body: That's your department. I'm just telling you what the capabilities are for today.
Brain: Okay, okay. No gym. Tomorrow?
Body: I'll take it under advisement.
...In other words, I'm sick (well, I'm having allergy/sinus issues due to the weather changes. I'm not actually infectiously sick). And while many people can work out when they're sort of sick, if I'm coughing, I kind of can't. I'm pretty sure the coughing is mostly due to throat irritation, but that's a bit of an academic distinction. In practice, coughing is coughing, according to my twitchy airways. I might give swimming a go tomorrow night, but it'll depend on how I feel tomorrow afternoon. I am annoyed, but well, it's not like I didn't know this was likely to happen at least a few times during this whole process. It's the body I have, after all, and while at the moment, loving this body is a little beyond me, I can at least manage to accept it. Mostly.
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Week 6: Master's Swimming, Strength Training and Walk/Run
I'm moving on to weeks, because I lost track of how many days. I could go back and count, but after 30ish, weeks just seem to work better. Anyway.
So, Monday night was my first night swimming group. It went all right. I really appreciated not getting up at 4:40 am. But I was a little out of sorts because I broke my good nose clips on Saturday when I went swimming with Mom (I mostly just messed around with practicing head position and kicking and just really playing around. I think the professionals call that "active rest". Sounds better than "I was just messing around in the pool", no?). So I had to use another kind that I really don't like. They work well, but they don't seem to fit on my nose the way I want them to and they're just awkward. The kind of nose clips I like don't seem to be sold in stores very often (and it's not like nose clips in general have ever been all that easy to find, in my experience), but I do have some on order and I am hopeful they will come in today's mail so I have them for tonight. I actually ordered them before I broke my other ones, because it occurred to me that only having one pair of clips was probably asking for trouble. And yes, yes it was.
But anyway, swimming was hard, because I was a bit of an idiot who forgot to take her inhaler. It wasn't even that I was getting cocky and wanted to try without it. I just flat out forgot. I'm blaming that on being at a different time and flustered about the damn nose clips. I will not forget tonight, let me tell you. I did it, I even did it well, according to Mich, but damn. It was ridiculously hard. And I also kept choking because I figured out where my face is supposed to be when I breathe, but I have not mastered not breathing in the water. Having taken my inhaler wouldn't have prevented it, but I probably would have recovered a lot quicker and maybe still wouldn't have been coughing yesterday morning (I'm fine now). So, yeah, not my finest hour.
Tuesday, though, was better. I met with Kevin the trainer to get some lower body strategies. Turns out that I know how to do a squat and a lunge with good form. And that I still can't breathe right when my abs are engaged, which makes doing bridges and leg curls with the balance ball its own special kind of hell. Oh well, it's not like I'm being timed on any of that, so if I have to stop and breathe, then, I suppose that's just going to have to be all right.
But then, I did my walk/run- this week, it is walk 26, run 4. I split this up by dividing the walking part by 2, so I walk 13, run 4, walk 13. This gets me nice and warmed up for the running part and gives me lots of time to recover afterwards. At least right now it does. I was thinking that going from 2 minutes to 4 minutes was going to be very, very challenging. And I was feeling a little bleh after the leg workout (note to self: don't take the fish oil capsule right before going to the gym, unless you like the tummy upset feeling. Which you don't). So, I got on the treadmill and said, "okay, I'm going to do the 13 minutes of walking and see how I feel". Well, I got to minute 12 and my stomach had settled down and I was feeling pretty okay, so I said, "Well, let's just try. If I don't make it all the way to 4 minutes, that's okay, but let's see if we can at least make it 2 minutes". And then I got to minute 15, and I was still doing okay, so I thought, "Okay, well, let's see how far we can get." and then I was at minute 16 and 20 seconds and it was like, "Oh, heck, there's only 40 more...30 more seconds. You can do this!" and I did it! I had to stop completely for a little bit (less than a minute, I think) when I was done to get a drink and get a deep breath, but hey, I ran for FOUR MINUTES. Without stopping. There was a lot of self-congratulatory self-talk going on for the remaining 13 minutes of walking. I think that's probably okay, though, because heck, if I can't tell myself I did good, then who can, really?
So, Monday night was my first night swimming group. It went all right. I really appreciated not getting up at 4:40 am. But I was a little out of sorts because I broke my good nose clips on Saturday when I went swimming with Mom (I mostly just messed around with practicing head position and kicking and just really playing around. I think the professionals call that "active rest". Sounds better than "I was just messing around in the pool", no?). So I had to use another kind that I really don't like. They work well, but they don't seem to fit on my nose the way I want them to and they're just awkward. The kind of nose clips I like don't seem to be sold in stores very often (and it's not like nose clips in general have ever been all that easy to find, in my experience), but I do have some on order and I am hopeful they will come in today's mail so I have them for tonight. I actually ordered them before I broke my other ones, because it occurred to me that only having one pair of clips was probably asking for trouble. And yes, yes it was.
But anyway, swimming was hard, because I was a bit of an idiot who forgot to take her inhaler. It wasn't even that I was getting cocky and wanted to try without it. I just flat out forgot. I'm blaming that on being at a different time and flustered about the damn nose clips. I will not forget tonight, let me tell you. I did it, I even did it well, according to Mich, but damn. It was ridiculously hard. And I also kept choking because I figured out where my face is supposed to be when I breathe, but I have not mastered not breathing in the water. Having taken my inhaler wouldn't have prevented it, but I probably would have recovered a lot quicker and maybe still wouldn't have been coughing yesterday morning (I'm fine now). So, yeah, not my finest hour.
Tuesday, though, was better. I met with Kevin the trainer to get some lower body strategies. Turns out that I know how to do a squat and a lunge with good form. And that I still can't breathe right when my abs are engaged, which makes doing bridges and leg curls with the balance ball its own special kind of hell. Oh well, it's not like I'm being timed on any of that, so if I have to stop and breathe, then, I suppose that's just going to have to be all right.
But then, I did my walk/run- this week, it is walk 26, run 4. I split this up by dividing the walking part by 2, so I walk 13, run 4, walk 13. This gets me nice and warmed up for the running part and gives me lots of time to recover afterwards. At least right now it does. I was thinking that going from 2 minutes to 4 minutes was going to be very, very challenging. And I was feeling a little bleh after the leg workout (note to self: don't take the fish oil capsule right before going to the gym, unless you like the tummy upset feeling. Which you don't). So, I got on the treadmill and said, "okay, I'm going to do the 13 minutes of walking and see how I feel". Well, I got to minute 12 and my stomach had settled down and I was feeling pretty okay, so I said, "Well, let's just try. If I don't make it all the way to 4 minutes, that's okay, but let's see if we can at least make it 2 minutes". And then I got to minute 15, and I was still doing okay, so I thought, "Okay, well, let's see how far we can get." and then I was at minute 16 and 20 seconds and it was like, "Oh, heck, there's only 40 more...30 more seconds. You can do this!" and I did it! I had to stop completely for a little bit (less than a minute, I think) when I was done to get a drink and get a deep breath, but hey, I ran for FOUR MINUTES. Without stopping. There was a lot of self-congratulatory self-talk going on for the remaining 13 minutes of walking. I think that's probably okay, though, because heck, if I can't tell myself I did good, then who can, really?
Sunday, September 16, 2012
Training Plan Changes...Again
So, I suppose it's a good thing that I didn't expect my training plan to be static, because it's changed more often than...a really change-y thing.
The way things were originally planned was 1 day of swimming, 3 days of walk/run, 1 day of cycling. That changed pretty quickly as I figured out my swimming endurance wasn't as high as I thought it was, and also because I joined the Masters' swimming, which is twice a week. So, then it looked like 2 days of swimming, 2 days of walk/run and 1 day of cycling. But then I realized that some strength training was probably going to be necessary to keep me from hurting myself. Then, the plan looked like 2 days of swimming, 2 days of walk/run, and 1 day of cycling and strength training. And then...it occurred to me after doing a fair amount of reading that 1 day of strength training is generally not thought to be sufficient. And I want to do a spinning class for my cycling. And then someone mentioned overtraining could be part of why I'm really tired (maybe. There's a few other possibilities). So, the plan is changing again. I'm backing off a day for a few weeks until I get the strength training incorporated, and then I'm adding the spinning class (it helps that I didn't want to start the spinning class until I got a pair of cycling shorts. They're on their way).
Until the 1st week of October, the plan looks like this:
Starting in October, the plan looks like this:
The way things were originally planned was 1 day of swimming, 3 days of walk/run, 1 day of cycling. That changed pretty quickly as I figured out my swimming endurance wasn't as high as I thought it was, and also because I joined the Masters' swimming, which is twice a week. So, then it looked like 2 days of swimming, 2 days of walk/run and 1 day of cycling. But then I realized that some strength training was probably going to be necessary to keep me from hurting myself. Then, the plan looked like 2 days of swimming, 2 days of walk/run, and 1 day of cycling and strength training. And then...it occurred to me after doing a fair amount of reading that 1 day of strength training is generally not thought to be sufficient. And I want to do a spinning class for my cycling. And then someone mentioned overtraining could be part of why I'm really tired (maybe. There's a few other possibilities). So, the plan is changing again. I'm backing off a day for a few weeks until I get the strength training incorporated, and then I'm adding the spinning class (it helps that I didn't want to start the spinning class until I got a pair of cycling shorts. They're on their way).
Until the 1st week of October, the plan looks like this:
- Monday: Swimming (from 7-8pm, thank God)
- Tuesday: Strength Training and Run/Walk*
- Wednesday: Swimming
- Thursday: Strength Training and Run/Walk
Starting in October, the plan looks like this:
- Monday: Swimming
- Tuesday: Strength Training and Run/Walk
- Wednesday: Swimming
- Thursday: Strength Training and Run/Walk
- Friday: Spinning Class
It's entirely possible that the days will shift, depending on a million potential complications, but the general outline should stay the same now. I hope.
Friday, September 14, 2012
Day 32: Strength Training, Walk 28, Run 2
Today, I attempted to replicate the shoulder workout from Wednesday and kind of failed because I forgot to bring the sheet with the workout with me. So I was going from memory and while I have a very good memory, I don't think I remembered everything properly. But, I gave it a try. I did also find out that doing 1 set is very different from doing 3 sets and I had to drop the weight down in order to get all the way through even 2 sets. And I didn't on some exercises. That's fine, I don't mind too much (particularly since I'm not sure I was starting out with the right weight anyhow), but something to keep in mind going forward.
I also ran again! Woo! I went a tiny bit faster today and it was a little harder, but I was doing fine by the time I finished the whole thing. Next week, it gets bumped up to running 4 minutes. I suspect this will be the hardest bump for awhile, since it's doubling the amount of time I'm running and every other time will only be going up by 2 more minutes, which will only be 1/3 the week after, and then 1/4th, etc. So if I can't do all 4 minutes consecutively, I am not going to be upset. Or all that surprised, actually.
I also realized that I have a lot of data on how I'm feeling in terms of performance, etc (the answer: pretty good. Really TIRED, still, but I feel good otherwise), but no actual hard empirical data. Grad school and the last permanent job I had woke up the latent data nerd in me, and while I still leave the major statistical analysis to Heather, my sister-in-law, I can at least follow a trend line and make pretty graphs and figure percent. I don't have a smartphone that would have a fancy app for doing this, so I bought a daily planner with enough room to write things down while I'm at the gym (and to write the full strength training workout so if I forget the paper, I will have it. Unless I also forget the notebook. We'll endeavor to not do that). That will let me write things down like, how far, how fast, how heavy, etc. and then I can make a spreadsheet (I love spreadsheets) and then I can make graphs (I also love graphs). And then I will figure out how to plug them in here so you can also see the pretty graphs. Yay, data!
I also ran again! Woo! I went a tiny bit faster today and it was a little harder, but I was doing fine by the time I finished the whole thing. Next week, it gets bumped up to running 4 minutes. I suspect this will be the hardest bump for awhile, since it's doubling the amount of time I'm running and every other time will only be going up by 2 more minutes, which will only be 1/3 the week after, and then 1/4th, etc. So if I can't do all 4 minutes consecutively, I am not going to be upset. Or all that surprised, actually.
I also realized that I have a lot of data on how I'm feeling in terms of performance, etc (the answer: pretty good. Really TIRED, still, but I feel good otherwise), but no actual hard empirical data. Grad school and the last permanent job I had woke up the latent data nerd in me, and while I still leave the major statistical analysis to Heather, my sister-in-law, I can at least follow a trend line and make pretty graphs and figure percent. I don't have a smartphone that would have a fancy app for doing this, so I bought a daily planner with enough room to write things down while I'm at the gym (and to write the full strength training workout so if I forget the paper, I will have it. Unless I also forget the notebook. We'll endeavor to not do that). That will let me write things down like, how far, how fast, how heavy, etc. and then I can make a spreadsheet (I love spreadsheets) and then I can make graphs (I also love graphs). And then I will figure out how to plug them in here so you can also see the pretty graphs. Yay, data!
Thursday, September 13, 2012
Days 30, 31 and 31: Walk/Run, Strength Training and Swimming
I did actually get all my workouts in so far this week. I've just been too busy/tired when I get home to record them, so I'm doing it all at once right now.
Day 30: Tuesday: Walk 28, Run 2.
This turned into walk 20, run 2, because I was having an extremely flaky morning and I was running late. But, the most important part of the workout was the 2 minutes of running. In a row. Without stopping. And without complaining lungs until the very, very end, which is especially impressive, given that my allergies are awful at the moment (bad year for ragweed, plus the weather's so nice at night that we turned the AC off, so I'm sleeping with open windows which I'm not really supposed to do. I figure if I can breathe well enough to run, then I'm fine). My back didn't complain much either, although my ankle wasn't happy. But it walked off just fine and it was achy pain, not sharp, oh, I sprained it again pain. It'll get used to it.
Day 31: Strength Training
Yesterday, I met with Kevin the trainer, who was very nice and very willing to design a program for me that I can do on my own that will help with the swimming and the running (I figure whatever muscle I build for those two things will probably serve me fine on the biking). So, yesterday, we concentrated on what to do to train my shoulders, one of which is a little touchy. I separated it about 10 years ago, and it flares up now and again. Swimming isn't really aggravating it anymore- it was at first, but it settled down- but I'd like to prevent further injury and get stronger. So I now have an upper body, shoulder focused workout to do. It was relatively painless in terms of how much I really detest weight lifting (and I told him that up front) and only uses one machine whereupon I might feel exceedingly short compared to the machine. My main complaint about weight machines is that they are all apparently designed for men who are roughly 6 feet tall. Being as I am demonstrably not a man, nor 6 feet tall, this deserves a #fail on the part of the imaginations of the designers of said machines. And it's annoying. I made the happy discovery yesterday that cable machines are much, much better in terms of flexibility of design for a wider cross section of users. That is something I can probably get behind.
Day 32: Swimming
My coach sent us all a text message around 20 to 6 that she wasn't feeling well and cancelling practice. Only thing is, I was already on my way and didn't get the message until I got there. Actually, I didn't get it until I left- another woman had gotten it when she got to the gym and let me know. Since I was already awake and already dressed and already sitting with my feet in the pool, I shrugged and swam anyway. I think I almost have the head position thing down- I can tell when I pick my head up now. Breath control is still an issue, but I think I'm getting better. I made up my own workout for the day. I was going to try to do a distance ladder where I swam 50, then 100, then 150, then 200, then back down, all with 2 minutes per 50, which is what I've been doing during practice. So, I got to the 150 and my shoulders started getting really, really cranky. I couldn't figure out why they were upset. Until it dawned on me that I did a full, brand new shoulder work out about 12 hours before. Apparently, you should get more than 12 hours of rest between your upper body workout and making your shoulders work so hard in the pool. Or at least I should get more than 12 hours of rest between the two. This will not be a problem moving forward, since swimming is moving to the evening. So, instead of finishing the ladder, I did another 50 and another 100 and then practiced flip turns for awhile because I'm getting tired of stopping and turning at the wall. It may take awhile for me to get through a full practice with flips, but I'm feeling reasonably confident I know where the wall is now.
Day 30: Tuesday: Walk 28, Run 2.
This turned into walk 20, run 2, because I was having an extremely flaky morning and I was running late. But, the most important part of the workout was the 2 minutes of running. In a row. Without stopping. And without complaining lungs until the very, very end, which is especially impressive, given that my allergies are awful at the moment (bad year for ragweed, plus the weather's so nice at night that we turned the AC off, so I'm sleeping with open windows which I'm not really supposed to do. I figure if I can breathe well enough to run, then I'm fine). My back didn't complain much either, although my ankle wasn't happy. But it walked off just fine and it was achy pain, not sharp, oh, I sprained it again pain. It'll get used to it.
Day 31: Strength Training
Yesterday, I met with Kevin the trainer, who was very nice and very willing to design a program for me that I can do on my own that will help with the swimming and the running (I figure whatever muscle I build for those two things will probably serve me fine on the biking). So, yesterday, we concentrated on what to do to train my shoulders, one of which is a little touchy. I separated it about 10 years ago, and it flares up now and again. Swimming isn't really aggravating it anymore- it was at first, but it settled down- but I'd like to prevent further injury and get stronger. So I now have an upper body, shoulder focused workout to do. It was relatively painless in terms of how much I really detest weight lifting (and I told him that up front) and only uses one machine whereupon I might feel exceedingly short compared to the machine. My main complaint about weight machines is that they are all apparently designed for men who are roughly 6 feet tall. Being as I am demonstrably not a man, nor 6 feet tall, this deserves a #fail on the part of the imaginations of the designers of said machines. And it's annoying. I made the happy discovery yesterday that cable machines are much, much better in terms of flexibility of design for a wider cross section of users. That is something I can probably get behind.
Day 32: Swimming
My coach sent us all a text message around 20 to 6 that she wasn't feeling well and cancelling practice. Only thing is, I was already on my way and didn't get the message until I got there. Actually, I didn't get it until I left- another woman had gotten it when she got to the gym and let me know. Since I was already awake and already dressed and already sitting with my feet in the pool, I shrugged and swam anyway. I think I almost have the head position thing down- I can tell when I pick my head up now. Breath control is still an issue, but I think I'm getting better. I made up my own workout for the day. I was going to try to do a distance ladder where I swam 50, then 100, then 150, then 200, then back down, all with 2 minutes per 50, which is what I've been doing during practice. So, I got to the 150 and my shoulders started getting really, really cranky. I couldn't figure out why they were upset. Until it dawned on me that I did a full, brand new shoulder work out about 12 hours before. Apparently, you should get more than 12 hours of rest between your upper body workout and making your shoulders work so hard in the pool. Or at least I should get more than 12 hours of rest between the two. This will not be a problem moving forward, since swimming is moving to the evening. So, instead of finishing the ladder, I did another 50 and another 100 and then practiced flip turns for awhile because I'm getting tired of stopping and turning at the wall. It may take awhile for me to get through a full practice with flips, but I'm feeling reasonably confident I know where the wall is now.
Monday, September 10, 2012
Day 29: Masters' Swimming
My deliverance is upon me! We are changing the swimming schedule next week to be Monday and Wednesday, 7-8 pm and Tuesday and Thursday 6-7 am. I don't have to haul myself out of bed at 4:40 am anymore!! (after Thursday). Well, at least not on a regular basis; I suspect that there may be weeks where Tuesday or Thursday may be more convenient for my schedule. I can do any combination of those days and times I want, which is very nice. But let me tell you, that was the best possible news I could have gotten at 6 am this morning.
This morning, we did 20 50s on 2 minutes. The goal for me was to keep pace around 1:40 or 1:45, leaving me with 15-20 seconds rest in between each. I, um, crushed that goal. I kept pace roughly around 1:30- I think my slowest was 1:38, and that was like, number 17. I was getting a little better at keeping my head where it belonged and I could actually feel when my knees were slipping into the way I'm not supposed to be kicking by the end, so there's progress there, too.
But yeah, tired. And I'm getting up early tomorrow, too, because I'm tutoring tomorrow night and there is not enough time between getting out of work (temp gig) and needing to be at tutoring in a different part of town to get to the gym (between the two, so this is not as insane as it might be), change, do my treadmill work, shower and change again, get myself fed and to the church for tutoring on time. But, since the gym is fairly close to work, I don't actually need to be at the gym until 7, so I don't need to leave until about 6:30, which means I don't need to get up until 5:45, which is a full hour later than I got up this morning. I'm still going to bed pretty much as soon as I get this posted, though. I be tired.
This morning, we did 20 50s on 2 minutes. The goal for me was to keep pace around 1:40 or 1:45, leaving me with 15-20 seconds rest in between each. I, um, crushed that goal. I kept pace roughly around 1:30- I think my slowest was 1:38, and that was like, number 17. I was getting a little better at keeping my head where it belonged and I could actually feel when my knees were slipping into the way I'm not supposed to be kicking by the end, so there's progress there, too.
But yeah, tired. And I'm getting up early tomorrow, too, because I'm tutoring tomorrow night and there is not enough time between getting out of work (temp gig) and needing to be at tutoring in a different part of town to get to the gym (between the two, so this is not as insane as it might be), change, do my treadmill work, shower and change again, get myself fed and to the church for tutoring on time. But, since the gym is fairly close to work, I don't actually need to be at the gym until 7, so I don't need to leave until about 6:30, which means I don't need to get up until 5:45, which is a full hour later than I got up this morning. I'm still going to bed pretty much as soon as I get this posted, though. I be tired.
Saturday, September 8, 2012
Day 27: 30 minute Walk
Yeah, walking yesterday did not happen. See, I got up at 4:45 on Thursday to go swim, which we've already discussed, Dear Reader. And then I went to work until 4, then came home and took a power nap, then dealt with dinner. And then, instead of going to bed at a reasonable hour like I probably should have done, I stayed up to watch the President accept his nomination at the DNC. Which put me to bed at 11, and asleep closer to 12, which is at least an hour later than usual when I need to wake up at 6:30. So, work yesterday was an exercise in endurance in and of itself and I was exhausted by 4. So, instead of going to the gym- I did actually have my gym stuff with me this time- I came home and crashed. I did a little math, though, and I think that so long as I'm making at least 90% of my workouts, meaning 27 out of 30, I'll be fine. Therefore, I am not going to stress about making up yesterday's walk tomorrow. If I feel like it in the morning, I might try, but I'm not going to be upset if I decide to come home after church, either.
So, this morning, I had to make up for Wednesday's snafu. I got a slow start, because I was still tired, despite sleeping for nearly 9 hours (went to bed around 12:30 after I woke up after my nap around 9pm, woke up shortly after 9 am. Well, okay, I woke up at 7 to feed the cat, then went back to bed until 9-ish). But I had a plan- go to Target to pick up a new sports bra and other assortedness, deposit my checks in the bank, go do my workout, go to the grocery store and somehow get home before the OSU game at noon. Weeeelllll....yeah, no. I missed the first half. But I got all of it done!
My new shoes are pretty cushy, but I was disappointed that my feet still hurt. Not the sort of sharp achy pain I was getting with my old shoes, though. And it actually got better after about minute 18, so it may be a breaking in thing. I have until the beginning of December to return them so long as I don't wear them outside (treadmill is fine, though), so I'm going to give them two weeks and see how they feel then. Unless I forget and wear them out of the gym, in which case, I'll be committed to them. I think I can manage to remember for two weeks, though.
So, this morning, I had to make up for Wednesday's snafu. I got a slow start, because I was still tired, despite sleeping for nearly 9 hours (went to bed around 12:30 after I woke up after my nap around 9pm, woke up shortly after 9 am. Well, okay, I woke up at 7 to feed the cat, then went back to bed until 9-ish). But I had a plan- go to Target to pick up a new sports bra and other assortedness, deposit my checks in the bank, go do my workout, go to the grocery store and somehow get home before the OSU game at noon. Weeeelllll....yeah, no. I missed the first half. But I got all of it done!
My new shoes are pretty cushy, but I was disappointed that my feet still hurt. Not the sort of sharp achy pain I was getting with my old shoes, though. And it actually got better after about minute 18, so it may be a breaking in thing. I have until the beginning of December to return them so long as I don't wear them outside (treadmill is fine, though), so I'm going to give them two weeks and see how they feel then. Unless I forget and wear them out of the gym, in which case, I'll be committed to them. I think I can manage to remember for two weeks, though.
Thursday, September 6, 2012
Day 25: Masters' Swimming
I survived getting up at 4:45, swimming from 6 to 7:15, then working from 8:30 to 4. I'm really tired now.
Today's swimming wasn't quite as difficult today as it was on Monday from a keeping up standpoint, but it was challenging from a doing things to improve my freestyle stroke perspective. Apparently, I learned to breathe wrong. I have this tendency to look forward for the wall, instead of down at the bottom of the pool. This creates drag, because my head isn't in line with my body, so I'm not streamlined. Now, part of it is because I instinctively (and apparently this is incredibly common) try to pick my head up to clear it from the water in order to breathe. Part of it is because I'm irrationally afraid the wall isn't going to be where I think it's going to be (it's a depth perception thing. My body's pretty good at telling how far away from the wall I am, but my brain doesn't believe it, because I can't see it). So, today, I worked on keeping my chin ducked down so my head was even with my body. The not seeing the wall thing, that I'm mostly okay with. But figuring out how to breathe without lifting my head? Well, that's another story. According to Mich, my coach, half my face is supposed to be in the water when I turn my head to breathe. Meaning that half my mouth should be in the water. Now, I'm not entirely sure how one breathes without swallowing or choking if one's mouth is still partly in the water. I forgot to ask, but I'm wondering if people who do this are also breathing through their nose (which would be out of the water, pretty much). That's not an option for me- when I'm swimming, I have nose clips, because I have a sinus defect and chronic sinusitis and I'm not supposed to get water up my nose, because my sinuses don't drain properly and they don't really need the encouragement to get infected. They do that just fine on their own. So, figuring out the breathing thing went mostly all right. I only choked once (and still finished the 100 I was in the middle of). I don't think I got it, really, but I think I got a little better at keeping my head down.
The other thing I need to work on is my kick. I bend my knees too much and they separate too much (i.e., I kick too deep). That, I don't think I was as successful in working on today, mostly because I was a little preoccupied with not drowning when I tried to breathe. So, I'll have to keep trying.
And yes, yesterday I was supposed do some walking. And that didn't so much happen. Mostly because I was a little spacey yesterday morning and while I remembered to pack my workout clothes, I, um, didn't remember to take the bag with me. Yeah. ADD brain in action! The original plan had been to go to work, go see if I could find new shoes at one of the sporting goods stores around where the gym is, then go try out my new shoes. Well, the finding new shoes part of the plan worked- I bought these shoes, on sale at Dick's Sporting Goods. The walking part, not so much. So, I will go do that walk sometime this weekend (probably Saturday, before I settle in for college football watching). Tomorrow, I will endeavor to not forget my bag!
Today's swimming wasn't quite as difficult today as it was on Monday from a keeping up standpoint, but it was challenging from a doing things to improve my freestyle stroke perspective. Apparently, I learned to breathe wrong. I have this tendency to look forward for the wall, instead of down at the bottom of the pool. This creates drag, because my head isn't in line with my body, so I'm not streamlined. Now, part of it is because I instinctively (and apparently this is incredibly common) try to pick my head up to clear it from the water in order to breathe. Part of it is because I'm irrationally afraid the wall isn't going to be where I think it's going to be (it's a depth perception thing. My body's pretty good at telling how far away from the wall I am, but my brain doesn't believe it, because I can't see it). So, today, I worked on keeping my chin ducked down so my head was even with my body. The not seeing the wall thing, that I'm mostly okay with. But figuring out how to breathe without lifting my head? Well, that's another story. According to Mich, my coach, half my face is supposed to be in the water when I turn my head to breathe. Meaning that half my mouth should be in the water. Now, I'm not entirely sure how one breathes without swallowing or choking if one's mouth is still partly in the water. I forgot to ask, but I'm wondering if people who do this are also breathing through their nose (which would be out of the water, pretty much). That's not an option for me- when I'm swimming, I have nose clips, because I have a sinus defect and chronic sinusitis and I'm not supposed to get water up my nose, because my sinuses don't drain properly and they don't really need the encouragement to get infected. They do that just fine on their own. So, figuring out the breathing thing went mostly all right. I only choked once (and still finished the 100 I was in the middle of). I don't think I got it, really, but I think I got a little better at keeping my head down.
The other thing I need to work on is my kick. I bend my knees too much and they separate too much (i.e., I kick too deep). That, I don't think I was as successful in working on today, mostly because I was a little preoccupied with not drowning when I tried to breathe. So, I'll have to keep trying.
And yes, yesterday I was supposed do some walking. And that didn't so much happen. Mostly because I was a little spacey yesterday morning and while I remembered to pack my workout clothes, I, um, didn't remember to take the bag with me. Yeah. ADD brain in action! The original plan had been to go to work, go see if I could find new shoes at one of the sporting goods stores around where the gym is, then go try out my new shoes. Well, the finding new shoes part of the plan worked- I bought these shoes, on sale at Dick's Sporting Goods. The walking part, not so much. So, I will go do that walk sometime this weekend (probably Saturday, before I settle in for college football watching). Tomorrow, I will endeavor to not forget my bag!
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
Day 23: 20 Minute Bike
I don't know, is the counting days thing getting old? I sort of feel like it is. But at the same time, look at that, 23 days and I've only completely missed one workout (last Friday- I was supposed to go swim, but I was exhausted and forgot my stuff in the morning before work and just came home and crashed).
Today was 20 minutes of biking, and apparently muscle memory extends to my dupke, because it was much less painful today than it was last week. I used to do a fair amount of bike riding a few years ago when I lived in Yellow Springs (everyone does a fair amount of bike riding in Yellow Springs), but I haven't done any since moving away from there. My apartment in Cleveland was a third floor walkup and there wasn't anywhere to put my bike, so I didn't take it with me. And this summer was so icky and my bike needs some work, so I didn't do any riding this summer. I'm still getting a pair of padded bike shorts, but this is going better than I expected.
I also did some preliminary shoe hunting today. I was going to just borrow my mom's Merrills, because I did one day and they were much more comfortable than my shoes. Except, well, Mom's feet are a 9.5 and mine are closer to an 8. Now, I usually wind up with an 8.5 in running shoes, but that's still a size larger. So, my feet were just rattling around in them today when I wore them all day. I'm guessing it wasn't an issue the other day, because I only wore them for about an hour at the most. But it would probably not be safe for me to attempt to run in these shoes, because I was tripping just walking in them. So, I hit up Famous Footwear this evening to try some shoes. I tried a pair of New Balance shoes, since the running shoes I've liked the best were New Balance, but they didn't feel like they had a lot of cushioning and from what I've been reading, cushioning is what I really want to be looking for in a shoe. I have very, very high arches and I walk on the outsides of my feet, so I don't need a motion control shoe (which is for people whose feet roll inward when they walk/run). So, I need a neutral shoe with cushioning. Then, I tried on a pair of Saucony shoes that had much more cushion to them, but I wasn't sure they were the right kind of shoe, because it didn't say so on the box. So I took a photo of the box and came home to check the internet. Turns out that, yes, they are the right kind of shoe. However, the 8.5 didn't have enough room between my toes and the end of the shoe (they must run crazy small. Seriously, my left foot measures at a tiny bit more than a 7.5. There should be no way an 8.5 is too short), and they didn't have a 9. So, tomorrow, I'll be trying a different store, and maybe a couple other pairs of shoes to be sure.
Today was 20 minutes of biking, and apparently muscle memory extends to my dupke, because it was much less painful today than it was last week. I used to do a fair amount of bike riding a few years ago when I lived in Yellow Springs (everyone does a fair amount of bike riding in Yellow Springs), but I haven't done any since moving away from there. My apartment in Cleveland was a third floor walkup and there wasn't anywhere to put my bike, so I didn't take it with me. And this summer was so icky and my bike needs some work, so I didn't do any riding this summer. I'm still getting a pair of padded bike shorts, but this is going better than I expected.
I also did some preliminary shoe hunting today. I was going to just borrow my mom's Merrills, because I did one day and they were much more comfortable than my shoes. Except, well, Mom's feet are a 9.5 and mine are closer to an 8. Now, I usually wind up with an 8.5 in running shoes, but that's still a size larger. So, my feet were just rattling around in them today when I wore them all day. I'm guessing it wasn't an issue the other day, because I only wore them for about an hour at the most. But it would probably not be safe for me to attempt to run in these shoes, because I was tripping just walking in them. So, I hit up Famous Footwear this evening to try some shoes. I tried a pair of New Balance shoes, since the running shoes I've liked the best were New Balance, but they didn't feel like they had a lot of cushioning and from what I've been reading, cushioning is what I really want to be looking for in a shoe. I have very, very high arches and I walk on the outsides of my feet, so I don't need a motion control shoe (which is for people whose feet roll inward when they walk/run). So, I need a neutral shoe with cushioning. Then, I tried on a pair of Saucony shoes that had much more cushion to them, but I wasn't sure they were the right kind of shoe, because it didn't say so on the box. So I took a photo of the box and came home to check the internet. Turns out that, yes, they are the right kind of shoe. However, the 8.5 didn't have enough room between my toes and the end of the shoe (they must run crazy small. Seriously, my left foot measures at a tiny bit more than a 7.5. There should be no way an 8.5 is too short), and they didn't have a 9. So, tomorrow, I'll be trying a different store, and maybe a couple other pairs of shoes to be sure.
Monday, September 3, 2012
Day 22: Masters' Swim Group
I survived my first session with the Masters' Swimming group! This meant getting up at 4:45 this morning and leaving the house at 5:20 to get to the pool for 6. I live about 25-30 minutes away from the pool, and I needed time to change, because I know myself. If I wear my suit to the pool, the chances are very high that I will do something like forget to take underwear with me. Also, it's easier to use the bathroom before getting started if I'm not already in my suit. Much better to wear street clothes to the gym and change there.
So, this morning, I crawled out of bed at o'dark thirty, got dressed, then ate a banana and some yogurt in the hopes that it would be enough food to 1) ensure I could operate a motor vehicle at 5:20 in the morning, 2) get through a 90 minute swimming workout and 3) not upset my stomach during said 90 minute swimming workout. I was successful on all fronts- I was hungry when I was done swimming, but not low blood sugar shaky, and my stomach was perfectly fine.
When I got to the pool, no one was there! It's Labor Day, but there hadn't been any notice on the website that said there'd be no swimming today. So, after a couple of minutes, I figured no one was coming and went ahead and got in the pool. I swam 3 50s, then another woman came and she said she was there for the swimming. Apparently 6 often means like, 6:05, which is good to know (to me, starting something at 6 means I'd better be there and ready to go no later than 5:55). The coach showed up shortly after that, so it was all good.
Mish, the coach, asked me to swim a 50 for her so she could get an idea of what to do with me. So, I did a 50 free in about 1:20 (this is not a land speed record, if you're unfamiliar with swimming times. This is S-L-O-W, but it's a fairly reasonable pace for me). Then we chatted for a few minutes about what I know (i.e., I know all 4 competition strokes, but don't ask me to do butterfly because I'm wretched at it and backstroke has been irritating my shoulder for some reason) and what my goals are (swim the entire 10 minutes of the swim portion of the indoor tri). Turns out a 1:20 50 pace is a fairly similar pace to a few other people in the group (who weren't there today- holiday, don'cha know) so I should be able to keep up fairly well, particularly once I get into the swing of things.
And then we started the workout. 200 to warm up, which was plenty, given that I'd effectively done an additional 200 with the 3 laps I did before everyone showed up and the test 50. Then we did a ladder of timed 50s. A ladder is where you do increasingly longer sets with rest in between, then increasingly shorter sets with rest in between. This is what today's ladder looked like for an example:
1 x 50 on 2 minutes
1 minute rest
2 x 50 on 2 minutes
1 minute rest
4 x 50 on 2 minutes
1 minute rest
8 x 50 on 2 minutes
1 minute rest
4 x 50 on 2 minutes
1 minute rest
2 x 50 on 2 minutes
1 minute rest
1 x 50 on 2 minutes
Done!
So, basically, I did each 50 in something less than 2 minutes (I was ranging from 1:20 to 1:45 once I got tired), rested until the 2 minute mark, then did the next 50. In between sets of 50, I got however much time was left on the 2 minutes plus a full minute rest (sometimes a little more- we had to make some adjustments to keep both me and Brandi, the other swimmer, together. She was doing twice as many 50s on half the time). This is challenging, but I kept on pace- I didn't miss a mark, which is pretty good for the first day. Somewhere in the middle of the set of 8 50s I clicked into swim team mode (which I didn't realize I remembered) and just concentrated on keeping things long and finding a rhythm that got me enough air. So, I was tired by the time we were done, but I wasn't completely about to collapse. Hopefully, I can maintain that.
Next swimming day is Thursday, when I'll do this again (and then go to work. The nice thing about today was I got to come home. And yes, I did take a nap and I have no guilt about that whatsoever). Highlights of the rest of the week in training include hitting the 30 minute mark on the walking and 20 minutes of biking. And perhaps some strength training- I sent an email to the trainer I've worked with before and who worked with my mom for a long, long time to see if we could work something out. I'm still not a fan of weight lifting, but a lot of the reading I've been doing indicates that it would be a Really Good Idea. So, we'll see.
So, this morning, I crawled out of bed at o'dark thirty, got dressed, then ate a banana and some yogurt in the hopes that it would be enough food to 1) ensure I could operate a motor vehicle at 5:20 in the morning, 2) get through a 90 minute swimming workout and 3) not upset my stomach during said 90 minute swimming workout. I was successful on all fronts- I was hungry when I was done swimming, but not low blood sugar shaky, and my stomach was perfectly fine.
When I got to the pool, no one was there! It's Labor Day, but there hadn't been any notice on the website that said there'd be no swimming today. So, after a couple of minutes, I figured no one was coming and went ahead and got in the pool. I swam 3 50s, then another woman came and she said she was there for the swimming. Apparently 6 often means like, 6:05, which is good to know (to me, starting something at 6 means I'd better be there and ready to go no later than 5:55). The coach showed up shortly after that, so it was all good.
Mish, the coach, asked me to swim a 50 for her so she could get an idea of what to do with me. So, I did a 50 free in about 1:20 (this is not a land speed record, if you're unfamiliar with swimming times. This is S-L-O-W, but it's a fairly reasonable pace for me). Then we chatted for a few minutes about what I know (i.e., I know all 4 competition strokes, but don't ask me to do butterfly because I'm wretched at it and backstroke has been irritating my shoulder for some reason) and what my goals are (swim the entire 10 minutes of the swim portion of the indoor tri). Turns out a 1:20 50 pace is a fairly similar pace to a few other people in the group (who weren't there today- holiday, don'cha know) so I should be able to keep up fairly well, particularly once I get into the swing of things.
And then we started the workout. 200 to warm up, which was plenty, given that I'd effectively done an additional 200 with the 3 laps I did before everyone showed up and the test 50. Then we did a ladder of timed 50s. A ladder is where you do increasingly longer sets with rest in between, then increasingly shorter sets with rest in between. This is what today's ladder looked like for an example:
1 x 50 on 2 minutes
1 minute rest
2 x 50 on 2 minutes
1 minute rest
4 x 50 on 2 minutes
1 minute rest
8 x 50 on 2 minutes
1 minute rest
4 x 50 on 2 minutes
1 minute rest
2 x 50 on 2 minutes
1 minute rest
1 x 50 on 2 minutes
Done!
So, basically, I did each 50 in something less than 2 minutes (I was ranging from 1:20 to 1:45 once I got tired), rested until the 2 minute mark, then did the next 50. In between sets of 50, I got however much time was left on the 2 minutes plus a full minute rest (sometimes a little more- we had to make some adjustments to keep both me and Brandi, the other swimmer, together. She was doing twice as many 50s on half the time). This is challenging, but I kept on pace- I didn't miss a mark, which is pretty good for the first day. Somewhere in the middle of the set of 8 50s I clicked into swim team mode (which I didn't realize I remembered) and just concentrated on keeping things long and finding a rhythm that got me enough air. So, I was tired by the time we were done, but I wasn't completely about to collapse. Hopefully, I can maintain that.
Next swimming day is Thursday, when I'll do this again (and then go to work. The nice thing about today was I got to come home. And yes, I did take a nap and I have no guilt about that whatsoever). Highlights of the rest of the week in training include hitting the 30 minute mark on the walking and 20 minutes of biking. And perhaps some strength training- I sent an email to the trainer I've worked with before and who worked with my mom for a long, long time to see if we could work something out. I'm still not a fan of weight lifting, but a lot of the reading I've been doing indicates that it would be a Really Good Idea. So, we'll see.
Thursday, August 30, 2012
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!
Wednesday, August 29, 2012
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.
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.
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
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.
Monday, August 27, 2012
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.
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.
Friday, August 24, 2012
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.
Thursday, August 23, 2012
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.
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.
Wednesday, August 22, 2012
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.
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.
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
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!
Tomorrow- more swimming! Yay!
Monday, August 20, 2012
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.
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.
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.
Friday, August 17, 2012
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.
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.
Thursday, August 16, 2012
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.
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.
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
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).
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).
Tuesday, August 14, 2012
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!
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!
So, a slow start, but a start!
Monday, August 13, 2012
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.
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.
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