I'm So Over This Whole "Running" Thing

My 3-mile run was so-so. Going into it, I told myself that I could run the entire thing without walking once. But it was sunny and 89 degrees. And it dawned on me that I hadn't had a glass of water in 2 days (stupid pee-water).

I ran for the first 17 minutes. I then walked for 3 minutes. I walked again twice for 2 minutes each.

My knee was giving me problems, which was odd because it's been pretty good all summer. But the 5K on Saturday is a cross-country course, so it shouldn't act up too much.

Total, the run took me 35 minutes, but 7 of those minutes were me walking and gasping for air.

When I got home, I collapsed on the floor. I was feeling extremely slow and discouraged and beginning to dread Saturday's race.

But the clouds parted and a voice inside urged me to check weather.com. And there it was... the 2 magical numbers that make it all better... 7 0

That's the projected temperature for 8:30am in Beloit, Wisconsin. That will help me SO much. Ahhh... I'm saved.

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On a more disturbing note, I DRANK the pee-water this morning. I had to. I was dying of thirst and it was only MILDLY discolored at that point.




I also SHOWERED in it. At the time this post was published, my hair has YET to fall out... I'll keep you posted.

Whhyyyyyyyyyyyy

Last week, I needed to work out, but I didn't want to.

This week, I DO want to work out, but I can't. External circumstances keep preventing me from getting my training in, and I'm mad.

Yesterday, I woke up with a full schedule. My family was arriving in 4 hours and I needed to work out, take my bike to the bike shop, shower, and clean.

I started with my dishes. With two bowls left, I noticed my water was a funny color. The more I watched the water pour from the tap, the brighter it became.... yellow. Bright yellow. Like pee.

I was thoroughly grossed out. I checked the faucet in my bathroom... yellow.

My shower water... yellow.

My TOILET water... yellow.

Ewwww.

So I went and talked to the maintenance guy and he said there wasn't much he could do about it. "The city is most likely flushing their pipes. Try running the water for a few minutes until it's clear."

So I returned to my apartment and turned on all the water. It sounded like I was living inside Niagra Falls.

But an hour later, it was STILL yellow. With all my water running and no help to be found, it seemed my To Do list was slowly being "flushed away".

I'm not particularly against yellow water (I figured I would be fine as long as I didn't drink it), however, my bathtub proved otherwise when I found brown dirt and yellow stains.

So at my lowest point, I had to drive to the Y just to take a shower.

My reason for not working out yesterday: The city... the stupid city. My apartment building and the unhelpful people who work there. It's all THEIR fault.

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I still had pee-water when I woke up today. But I was determined not to let that ruin my workout. I had a 3-mile run planned in preperation for saturday's race, and I had eons of time until I had to be at work.

So I took my sweet time. I had a leisurely breakfast then drove Reagan over to the bike shop for her check-up. They are going to look at her shifting and get the grit out of her wheel.

When I got home, I sat and plotted out my 3-mile run. I did my push ups for the day
(4 push ups
90 seconds rest
3 push ups
90 seconds rest
2 push ups
90 seconds rest
2 push ups
90 seconds rest
maximum (7 push ups)).

But that's when it happened... It was 1pm when I made the sudden realization that I had to be at work 1 1/2 hours earlier than I had originally thought. That only left me 30 minutes until I had to leave. Gurr.

Reason for not working out today: My job.... my stupid job and their stupid changing schedule.

3 days until the 5K. I want to get in a mock 5K tomorrow morning.

It's Official

I will be running my first 5K on saturday in Beloit, Wisconsin.

I'm nervous because I have yet to finish a 3-mile run without any walking. But I figure, there is not rule against walking a little bit during the race. I just want to finish.

My official goal will be 32 minutes (it's slow, but it's also a cross country course which I'm not used to).

If I hit under 30 minutes, I would be thrilled.

When my mom heard I had signed up, she immediately made plans to spend the night on Friday and come cheer me on. Thanks, mom!

5 days.

Cheesecakes, Push Ups, and Reagan's Temper Tantrum

Just to prove that I'm not a liar. Voila, I give you jam:


I'm not really a Jam Person, so my jam had alterior motives. Those motives would be one of my favorite desserts of all time... cheesecake.

I really wanted to make mini strawberry swirled cheesecakes. The recipe called for strawberry jam... I had 2 lbs of strawberries and a recipe for jam, so that's how I ended up here.

My first batch had a little too much jam:



But my second batch were perfection:


I tried one first thing this morning and it was wonderful.

I'm having visitors tomorrow. I will force feed them cheesecake and send them home with jam. This is why everyone should come see me... because I bake delicious treats!

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Since I have the day off, I plotted out a 14 mile bike ride on the east side of town that began and ended in our local state park.

It was a total pain to get to, but once I found my way in and began my ride, I knew it was totally worth it. The scenery is beautiful...







About 10 minutes into my ride, I hit a killer hill. I was pedaling my little heart out and started to shift gears. But the gears weren't shifting right and suddenly, Reagan's chain fell off.

My knowledge of bike-fixing skills is minimal, so I was really at a total loss as to what I should do.



I must've looked quite the idiot pulling at the chain and getting grease all over me. Poor Reagan probably wished she had a different owner right about then.

With the chain replaced, I was back on my way. I began pedaling again when I noticed that my tires were low on air. I had totally forgot to check them before I left.

So I turned around and headed back towards my car. I figured I would just pump up the tires and then go back to my 14 miles.

I leaned Reagan against my car and got out my air pump. But when I unscrewed the cap on the wheel, I was confused. It didn't look like the valve I was used to on my road bike. And the nozzle on my pump didn't seem to fit it...



I played around with it for a while and just could not figure it out. I may have even let MORE air out of the tire. My afternoon was over. I was frustrated and dissapointed with my 15 minute ride.

Well, at least this trip can't get any worse...



Grossss. Who spits green gum out in the parking lot at a state park? SHAME.

Did I do something wrong to deserve this? I swear I'm not a bad person.

I had "Take Reagan for a Check Up" on my To Do list for next week, but it looks like it will need to be sooner. She's gonna go see the doctor tomorrow.

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At least push ups don't require any confusing equipment. Today officially began my 100 Push Ups challenge.

As a refresher, it's a 6-week program (3 times a week) to get you to do 100 consecutive push ups. Since today was Day 1, I had to perform the Initial Test to see at what level I was. You just do as many push ups as you can do without stopping...

... Which is only 5. I'm pathetic.


After that, I performed the slated push ups for Day 1:


2 push ups
60 seconds rest
2 push ups
60 seconds rest
2 push ups
60 seconds rest
2 push ups
60 seconds rest
Then my maximum, which was 6.

1 day down... 17 to go.

When In a Jam, Make Jam

First 3-Mile Time: 35 minutes
Second 3-Mile Time: 31 minutes

... Today's 3-Mile Time: 36 minutes

I don't want to talk about it.

And to distract you, I'll boggle your mind by telling you I made strawberry jam last night from scratch.

My Brain's Going 100 mph... If Only My Legs Were That Fast

Prepare yourself, because I have a LOT to talk about.

I woke up early this morning (10:30 is early) and decided it was a gorgeous day to head over to the Farmers Market. A little background... I am REALLY weird about my food. And I'm really weird about it going bad. I check almost EVERYTHING before I eat it. But with most of my grocery shopping being done at Wal-Mart these days, my fruits don't end up being too fresh. So what better way to buy fresh than to buy straight from the farmers themselves.

I browsed the stands and saw some raspberries that were calling my name. So for $4, I bought freshly picked raspberries.

I went home, washed them, and dumped them into a bowl. That's when I noticed it.... the mold...

I threw out the super moldy raspberries, but as I picked through them, I noticed that almost ALL of them were moldy. They were green and gray and mushy and growing mold on their insides. Bleh.

When I was done, this is all I was left with...

I ended up throwing these out an hour later because they still smelled moldy.

$4 right in the trash. Stupid Farmers Market.

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After going insane over moldy fruit, I dragged myself to the Y. I got on the treadmill and ran 1.51 miles in 18 minutes (I walked 4 of those minutes). I'm still confused as to why I go slower and walk more often on a treadmill. Hmm.

After the run, I mentally prepared myself for the swim. The only thing that got me into that bathingsuit was reminding myself, Once you get this over with, you won't have to put so much as a toe back in this pool until Tuesday.

I swam for 13 minutes and went 500 meters.

But the oddity began when I hopped out of the pool. Walking back to the locker room, I was very dizzy. The dizziness lasted through getting my stuff and leaving the building. It even lasted through getting in my car and driving home.

I've heard this is relatively common, but the cause is somewhat disputed. It may have something to do with my swimming form... the fact that I breath on every stroke, and I only take breaths on my right side. The frequency plus the snapping of my neck to the side could cause me to become dizzy. Or it could be the water seeping into my ears and causing my balance to be off. Or it could be the fact that I'm horizontal for such a long period of time and then I'm suddenly vertical and all the blood is rushing into (out of?) my head. It could be oh so many things.

It's a pretty important problem because I'm supposed to jump out of Lake Michigan and RUN to the first transition. I don't want to fall over or pass out.

So starting next week, I will eliminate the possibilities. I will try to take my breaths more evenly and wear earplugs when I swim. We'll see what happens I guess.

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Last night, during our 5pm newscast, I saw something about a 5K. It was being held this morning in a nearby town. That got me to thinking... I could TOTALLY do a 5K. I would have laughed at myself 2 months ago, but I think I can do it now. It wouldn't be good, it wouldn't be fast, and I may even have to stop and walk once, but I would finish it.

This morning was too short of notice for me. I would've had to wake up super early and pay more money for registering late. Plus, I really wanted to hit up that Farmers Market (gurr stupid Farmers Market). So I researched some 5Ks for next weekend and found 2 possibilities.

The first is the Knight Run in Beloit, Wisconsin...

Date: Saturday, August 02, 2008
Time: 8:30 AM
Brief Description: A 5k Cross Country Run (open to the public) on the Beloit Memorial High School Cross Country Course. The course is uneven, grassy, gently rolling terrain with two loops through the park.
Prices: Pre-registration - $15.00, Registration - $20.00

The second is the Lincoln-Douglas 5K in Freeport, Illinois...

Date: Saturday, August 02, 2008
Time: 8:35 AM
Brief Description: A 5K wheel-measured course designed to challenge the beginning walker or an experienced runner. All races begin at the Debate Square site of the legendary Lincoln Douglas debate this year celebrating its sesquicentennial.
Event Size: 210 Participants
Prices: Registration - $20.00



Both races are pretty much the same distance away. They cost practically the same and start around the same time. I guess it might come down to whether I'd rather do a cross country or road course.

I need to make this decision by Tuesday.

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Speaking of decision, I've come to the conclusion (with help from my mom, boyfriend, and google) that renting a wetsuit would be a very good idea. I've heard Lake Michigan is extremely cold this year (we havn't even hit 90 degrees ONCE this summer!). It will be $50 well-spent and if I decide that I want to continue doing triathlons, I can put $40 of that towards the purchase of a used wetsuit.

Actually... it'll look more like this...



... Or not. Cause that's just creepy.

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Lastly, I stumbled upon the website hundredpushups.com. Instead of try to explain it myself, here is what the website says:

"If you're serious about increasing your strength, follow this six week training program and you'll soon be on your way to completing 100 consecutive push ups!

Think there's no way you could do this? I think you can! All you need is a good plan, plenty of discipline and about 30 minutes a week to achive this goal!

No doubt some of you can already do 50 consecutive push ups, but let's face it, you're in a big minority. Most of you reading this won't even be able to manage 20 pushups. Actually, I'm sure many of you can't even do 10.

However, it really doesn't matter which group you fall into. If you follow the progressive push ups training program, I'm positive you'll soon be able to do 100 push ups!"

30 minutes a week? That's less than 5 minutes a day. I could totally do that. Plus, the program is personalized based on how many pushups you can do now (like, 3).

Push ups are quick, easy, and don't require me to buy equipment or even leave my apartment... Sign me up!

My Name is Kelly and I'm a Slacker

I'm in a little bit of a rutt. I wonder if this has something to do with all those days I took off for being sick. I think my body rejoiced and now my brain is protesting going back to work.

The problem is, instead of fighting this slump, I'm endulging it. NOT GOOD.

I said I would swim today, and I didn't. I used my need to get an oil change as an excuse to skip my swim. However, after I was done, I came home and sat around my apartment for an hour before leaving for work. An HOUR! I could have done SOME sort of workout during that time! But it was like my legs refused to stand me up. Ok, ok... once again, I'm not taking full blame like I should.



It's my fault I'm not doing my proper training, and only I can fix that. Less than a month until the race... now is NOT the time to slack off.

Tomorrow I will abuse myself at the gym. I will run and I will swim. I will suck it up and I will go on.

____________________________________


Now for a random note about mechanics...

To be truthful, one of the things I hate most about getting my oil changed are the mechanics. They are cold and look at you funny and usually try to sell you things you don't need. Take that and the fact that I have trouble saying 'no' to people, and it's a very uncomfortable situation to be in. Last time I got my oil changed, a 50-year-old mechanic even asked me on a date... ew.

So to much surprise, when I pulled into the garage, there were two women there to great me. Women mechanics. Ha. Not to be sterotypical, but you really don't see that too often.



But I quickly discovered that I liked it. They were less threatening and easier to say 'no' to. They were quick and efficient and didn't try to sell me on expensive oil, extra filters, or other nonsense.

However, for being girls, they sure missed out on that cleanliness sterotype. As I was waiting for them to finish, I saw a 2-inch cockroach crawl out from a hole in the floor.


Bleh. Next time I'll make sure to wear tall boots.

One of Those Days

Today was one of those days where I just did NOT want to train.

I slumped on my couch for 10 minutes and pictured how happy I would be to just go back to bed. I didn't want to run. I didn't want to swim. I didn't want to bike.

I compromised with a decision to workout at the Y. Walking the half mile there seemed lazy, so I ran the 5 minutes. Once inside, I did 35 minutes on an elliptical. Then I walked the 10 minutes home.

Overall, a good balanced workout complete with warm up and cool down and half an episode of MTV's "True Life: I'm Deaf".

I'm stating it now for the record... tomorrow, I will swim (and possibly run).

____________________________________


The closer I get to race day, the more nervous I get about the swim. I know I can swim that length without stopping, but I'm scared that the temperature of the water is going to make me loose my breath and panic.

So I've been doing some temperature research. According to my race website, "Lake Michigan is a large open body of water. Therefore water temperature can vary dramatically from the high 50’s to the low 70’s. The average in the past few years has been 68 to 74 degrees." High 50's?! Oh no.

So I found this website that has the temperatures all across Lake Michigan. I figured out the longitude and latitude of the Foster Avenue Beach, and the diagram estimated it was 66 degrees at 7 am this morning. Well... that's better than "high 50's" but it's no heated pool. The pool at my Y is around 79 degrees, and it takes me 5 minutes to get used to the water temperature. Eek.

So that got me to thinking that maybe I should rent a wetsuit. There is one good website that I found which rents triathlon-specific wetsuits (they aren't the same as surfing or snorkling wetsuits). They rent out full wetsuits and sleeveless ones. They help with bouyancy and warmth.

I definitely don't want to buy one, so this is a good option. However, it's $40 plus $10 shipping. That's quite a bit. They ship it out to you about 10 days before race day (so I would have time to try it out), and then you ship it back the week after your race. Added bonus... if you decide you want to BUY your rented wetsuit (or any of their other used wetsuits), they will deduct the $40 from the cost.

Any thoughts? Opinions? Is it worth it? Has anyone rented before?



(I'd like to wonder aloud why all photos I found of women in wetsuits are posed all seductive-like. Like ANY female triathlete would really be standing around like that in their wetsuit. As for the guy... I think it's supposed to come across as strong looking, but he just looks scared to me.)

Biking, Rushing, and Getting Serious

I woke up pretty sore from yesterday's long run, and with my cold still hanging around, I decided I would only go for a short bike ride.

Now that I have an odometer, I really wanted to take Reagan out for a race-length ride to see how we did. It was a short fast ride on practically flat terrain. The bike-portion of my actual race will be very similar (minus pedestrains and plus spectators).

Miles: 6.2
Time: 24 minutes and 55 seconds
Average Speed: 14.7 mph
Calories Burned: 264.8
Fat Burned: 32.6 grams
Maxiumum Speed: 19.9

I was really super happy with my time. The biking times for women 20-29 at last year's traithlon were between 20 and 35 minutes. This means I'm average, and that feels good. Plus, my 14.7 average mph blew me away. I'm almost... dare I say it?... fast.

Apparently it's a good thing I decided on a short ride, because halfway through my trip, I got a text message from a coworker reminding me about a work meeting this afternoon.

... I didn't even know about this work meeting. It doesn't make sense how they can expect an email sent on my DAY OFF to be read within 24 hours (the email was sent only yesterday).

I had just enough time to get back to my apartment, shower, leave for work, and run into the station before the first word was spoken.
____________________________________

Sorry, no pictures today. I didn't even bring my camera on my ride (it was too short and I only dipped below 12 mph once). Plus, it's official... LESS than a month until my triathlon.

It's time to get serious...

... or as serious as I'm capable of.

I'm Back and I'm Better Than Ever

What is it about training outside on a gorgeous evening that really changes how you see the world around you? I think we, as a species, spend FAR too much time in our houses, offices, and cars. I'm not exactly Miss Nature (I really hate those bugs), but the feel of the fresh air and the sound of the river and the smell of a summer night really puts me in a good mood.

I did my patented 3-mile loop. I've only done it once before. That run was 35 minutes and involved 3 walking breaks.

This time, I made it halfway before I walked at all. That was at minute 14 and I walked for 3 minutes exactly (now that I have a stopwatch, I can be very precise about these things).

Then I ran until minute 27 when I walked for 1 minute because I had a brutal cramp.

Here is what it ended up looking like:


I kept my watch rolling the entire time so I could see the full time it takes for me to go that distance. After my 3 miles were complete, it had been 31 minutes and 4 seconds.

That is averaging 5.8 mph and a 10 minute mile. But since that's taking my walking into account, it means I was RUNNING faster than a 10 minute mile. That makes me very happy.

At the end of my run, I stretched down by the river and watched the sunset.

____________________________________


I have big news about my bike.

I starting thinking up possible names. I had the intention of putting together some sort of poll or something.

But when you see the right name, you just know. No other name would fit as perfectly. So here it is...

Reagan

Also known as...

My Name Is Way Too Cool
For My Dorky Owner

Getting Back on Track

Unless I take a turn for the worse, I should be decently back to normal by tomorrow. Whereas yesterday made me feel like slitting my throat, I have quite a bit of energy today. I layed out by the pool, cooked chicken and potatos for lunch, and have been cleaning my apartment little by little (when I'm not doing these things, I'm laying around on my couch and watching the Simpsons).

So tomorrow, I'd like to aim for a run. It feels like it's been forever since I've gone running. I need to do a nice long slow jog.

It's a big day also, because I'm having some visitors. My mom and 2 of her sisters are driving out. I love visitors.

Training While Sick

I was worried that if I looked up what to do about training when you're sick, that I would find website upon website that told me to suck it up and get out there. This is the information I found instead (pieced together from a few different sites):

"The perpetual dilemma for the triathlete who has the misfortune to catch one of these bugs out of season is what to do about training.

In any case, when you are ill your body is unable to perform at its usual level since so many of its resources are being commandeered to fight off the infection. Thus, the benefit of exercise in this state is questionable.

As for intensity, even when you are 'kind of sick' it is too risky. After hard exercise, your immune system response is blunted for 24-48+ hours, making you more susceptible to infections.

Detraining, or the loss of all that hard training you have accomplished, will only begin to take effect after 2-3 weeks of absolute couch potato-like activity. A break of 4-7 days will have little to no effect, except psychologically."

That's really good to know because each morning that I wake up, it seems to be worse. I even had a slight fever last night.

The triathlon is in 4 1/2 weeks.

Bleh

Symptoms:

Sore Throat
Cough
Sneezing
Itchy Throat
Twitching Eyelids
Tight Chest
Hot Flashes

... I didn't train this morning.

Who gets a cold in the middle of July? I kinda want to go into a coma.

Watch Out, Wildlife

The forecast called for rain. Rain, rain, tons of rain. But when I woke up, it was sunny... and cloudless... and only 80 degrees. So my bike and I went for a ride.

I was very excited about this ride because the stuff I bought with my birthday Amazon.com gift card arrived while I was out of town. I couldn't wait to try out my new cyclocomputer:


For those of you who don't know much about bikes, it works when this little magnet attached to my wheel spoke...


... Swings around and goes past this sensor:



Oh... and even though I really didn't need it, I wore my new watch too:

(Due to my arm glowing with sweat, this photo was obviously taken AFTER my workout.)

Even though I remembered all these new-fangled gadgets, I totally forgot one important one... my Ipod. I was pretty much okay with that, except for I had that Coldplay song stuck in my head the ENTIRE ride.

"I used to rule the world, Seas would rise when I gave the word"

The main thing I learned during my ride was that I'm going much faster than I thought. During the times I was going at my normal speed, I was anywhere between 12 and 16 mph. That's good. My calculations in the past have been based solely on math using my time and distance. But that's usually not all that accurate.

Here are my final stats for this afternoon...
Distance: 12.749 miles
Maxiumum Speed: 22.2 mph
Average Speed: 12.1 mph
Temperature: 91.3 degrees
Time: 1:03:11
Calories Burned: 450.4 calories
Fat Burned: 48.9 grams of fat

The "Time" option is nice because it automatically stops counting when you stop your bike. So it's not ticking away while I'm drinking water or tying my shoe.

The reason the "Average Speed" is so low (compared to what I said about the 12-15 mph before) is because of pedestrian traffic for the first and last 2 miles of my ride. Also, about 8 miles in, there was a hill so steep that it has signs telling you to walk your bike up it.

"Now in the morning I sleep alone, Sweep the streets I used to own"

There was one moment during my ride where there wasn't another biker or pedestrain around and a straight flat bike path ahead of me. I decided to try and see just how fast my bike would go on flat ground.

So I tucked my head down and started pedalling as fast as I could. My new gadget told me I was nearing 21 mph, then suddenly...

GAH! SNAKE! SWERVE!

Here's how it all went down: I took a moment to peak up from under my helmet, and that's when I caught a glimpse of it slithering across the path as fast as it could go. Unfortunately for the snake, I too was going as fast as I could go. When I saw it, I screamed and tried to swerve to the left so I wouldn't hit it.

About 50 meters later, I slowed too a halt. I was scared to go see if I had indeed squished the suicidal snake. I slowly retraced my steps. From the distance, I could see it laying there in the middle of the path... not moving. I wasn't sure if it was alive or dead. If it was dead, then I would feel really bad. And if it was alive, than I at least wanted a picture of it (it's not often that I run into snakes during my ride (pun intended)).

"I used to roll the dice, Feel the fear in my enemy's eyes"

It's little head was curled around in a spiral and its tail stretched straight across the middle of the path. If I had hit it, I had hit its tail. Maybe I only squished part of him... or maybe he was totally paralyzed.

But as soon as I got close, he felt me coming and quickly slithered off into the tall grasses. No dead snake... and no picture.

"Never an honest word, But that was when I ruled the world"

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My bike needs a name. We're coming up on our 1 month anniversary, and I want to give her the gift of a name.

Problem is, I'm stuck. I'm usually a naming-pro. Everything I own has a name (my car = Madison, my houseplant = Stu II, my Ipod = Casey). So my new love deserves a name also. She is definitely a girl, and I try to stick to human names.

I may think up a few options and then start a poll. I'll get back to you on that one...

Is Today Over Yet?

I slept for 10 hours and then swam 12 laps. It's not quite 14, but since I overslept, it was getting late and I needed to get back home and prepare for work.

On a totally un-training-related topic, work sucked today. I direct the evening news, and our station uses a fancy (but totally unreliable) computer program to direct the show. It used to fail on us about once a month, but for the past week, it's been crashing every day. And it likes to crash RIGHT in the MIDDLE of our show... or like 2 minutes before our show... where there isn't much we can do about it.

So each one of our 7 newscasts today has been horrible.

That mini vacation was great... but I need a real vacation.

It's supposed to be 86 degrees and rainy tomorrow... maybe a run. Maybe an indoor run.

Vacation Report

I'm a horrible person.

I went to D.C. and Philadelphia and I had a great time... but I BARELY worked out. If you can even call it that. I'll call it 4 days of "cross training."

SATURDAY:

4 or 5 miles walking. Ryan and I toured the National Mall. We went to the Jefferson Memorial and then to the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. Did I mention it was 95 degress out? Well... it was 95 degrees.


SUNDAY:

About 4 miles walking. In the morning, we walked around Alexandria, VA and got breakfast. In the afternoon, we went back downtown D.C. and saw more sites... the World War II Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial, the Vietnam Memorial, and finally, we saw us some Italian Ice. Mmmm.




MONDAY:

Ryan had a doctor appointment, so I made myself useful... I went for a run. But I decided that running up and down hills in the 90 degree heat wasn't fun. So if I was going to be miserable, then someone else was going to be miserable with me... so I made Ryan's dog useful. Morgan and I ran (and stopped to sniff the bushes) for about 20 minutes. We didn't get very far (he REALLY likes to stop and sniff the bushes). I'd say it was about 1.75 miles. Note to self: get a dog that can run more than 100 meters at a time.



TUESDAY:

With the option to either watch a movie or go biking, Ryan and I dragged out the bikes: a cannondale mountain bike from the 1990s and a road bike from the 1500s. Ryan took the mountain bike and I the road bike. When I sat on the seat, only one toe touched the ground, and it had gears that shifted in a way I've never seen. Ryan and I road a 3 mile loop around his area. It was an odd 3 miles. The first 1.5 miles were all downhill. I only pedalled once or twice and had my breaks on almost constantly. But then we hit a hill that was a good 30 degree incline for about 3/4 of a mile. We had to walk most of that. So overall, we only got maybe 5 minutes of actual biking in. Woops.

WEDNESDAY:

Nothing. I woke up too early, got on a plane that was too hot, and was too late getting home to stop by my apartment before work. No time, no desire.

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So... I havn't done any of my training since last Thursday. Eek. Tomorrow... I need to get back on track. It's 5 weeks until the triathlon and this may have been a tiny setback (the lack of working out PLUS all the eating out we did!).

It's supposed to hit the 90's, so I will most likely hit the pool. Mini goal: 14 laps. Go me.

Mini Vacation

No workout today. I've trained for a week straight, so today is my day off. Plus, my legs are pretty sore from yesterday's run. Plus, I've been packing like crazy.

I'm going to see Ryan this weekend. He lives out east, which sucks, but it's always nice to hang out in a new city. My work schedule landed me a 4-day weekend, and since I don't get vacation days until January of 2009, I jumped on this chance to get away. This is as close to a vacation as I can get right now.

I'm flying in tomorrow morning (leaving my apartment at 3:30am... eek!). Ryan's gonna pick me up at the Philadelphia airport and then we're driving straight down to DC.


We're gonna do some serious sightseeing and spend the night at his Dad's work condo.

We'll be spending the rest of the time in Philadelphia.

Or... a Philadelphia suburb. Same difference.

He keeps telling me he's going to force me to workout. But with MY progress and his LACK of progress (according his un-updated blog), I think I'll be the one doing the forcing.

Good luck, Ryan.

I Am a Running Machine

I woke up this morning feeling super ambitious. After the poor excuse for a workout yesterday, I knew I had to do this right.

It was a running day, so I plotted out a 3 mile loop near my apartment. I sent an IM to Ryan telling him what I was going to do. I needed to be held accountable. I wasn't going to let myself get out there and give up after 5 minutes.

Even though Weather.com said it wasn't going to start raining until 3pm, it was sprinkling when I got outside. But I was extremely grateful (especially towards the end when it came down harder) because it felt really good.

Everyone should be super proud of me. I DID complete my 3 mile run. I knew, going into it, that it would be 3 miles of running and walking. Here is my map... the red spots are (me guessing) where I walked. It's far better than I ever thought I could do:


I completed the 3.1 miles in 35 minutes. That's an average 11 minute mile, which isn't bad considering some of that was walking and considering I have never gone that far before. That's right... this is a new training record.

I hate running, but I was so happy with myself. Here I am, doubled over, sweaty, and wet from rain:


I had a grand epiphony while I was running. This triathlon training has made me far happier than I thought it would. Going into it, my main motivation was weight loss and getting in shape, so I pictured my days filled with pain and loathing. But, now that I'm halfway through (yes... OVER halfway!), I've realized just how many happy mornings I've had. Because this whole things is about more than just race day. It's about all those small challenges and all those small victories I experience daily.

So there's that.

(As for my weight loss... it's only 5 pounds. It's not as much as I thought it would be... but I don't really care that much anymore).

Training-Related Goodies Are Wonderful

Let's get the boring stuff out of the way...

Yesterday, I swam (finally). I only went for about 10 minutes (pathetic), but I completed 10 laps total, or 500 meters. I did the first 7 1/2 laps without stopping to get my time. It was 7 1/2 minutes. Hm. Ok so, a minute per lap. That's easy enough.

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My brother got me a birthday gift (a little late... but it's the thought that counts). So what started as a non-training related gift turned into a training-related gift as soon as I saw it was an electronic gift card to Amazon.com. My mind raced with possibilities.

So after days of scowering the internet looking for the perfect birthday present for myself, I decided on a cheap cyclocomputer and a sports watch.

The Schwinn 17-Function Bike Computer:


And the Sneakers Surf and Sport Digi-glo Watch:
Perfect.

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When I got off work on Monday, I had a letter waiting for me.

I opened it to find this post-it:




"Hi Kelly,
This came out the same time you got your new love so I thought I should send it to you. Tell me if Giant likes its picture. Be sure it sees it.
Grandpa"

I laughed but was a little confused.... Until I opened the newspaper clipping:

It was an ad for Giant bicycles:

I got a total kick out of this.

But when I showed the ad to my bike, I think it shattered her self image a little bit. But I sat her down and reassured her that there may be other bikes out there that try to imitate her, but she'll always be very unique to me.

___________________________________


I woke up this morning after a short night's sleep and was very excited about my long ride. I've been wanting to go on a good 20-mile bike ride for some time now.

So I plotted out the course (which was on a bike path a few miles away) and packed up my car.

I always hate strapping my bike to the bike rack. It's all just way too far out of my hands. What if someone rear-ended me? What if the bike rack snapped and she fell onto the road? What if she was run over by a truck?

I look back into my rearview mirror every 20 seconds to make sure she's still okay. I can see the top of her seat peeking out over the spare tire:

I got to the path, got all set up, and began my ride. The wind was blowing pretty hard and the path is in a pretty open area, so I decided to ride with the wind to my back to begin with.



I started my ride somewhere near the halfway point on the trail. I went about 3 miles south before I hit the end of the bike path and turned back around.

But riding straight into that wind was harder than I thought it would be. To make things worse, the bike path was rather hilly. Going up against a hill and the wind at the same time was rough.

I took a lot of water breaks during the next 3 miles. Soon my water was gone.

As I coasted down a small hill towards where my car was parked, I knew I was done.

I had gone 6.1 miles in 30 minutes. It wasn't super hot, but I was tired and dehydrated (I started the morning dehydrated so that may have been one of the problems (note to self: drink more water)).

My bike was pretty sad. I told her we'd go for a really long ride some time soon.




30 minutes is pretty short for a bike ride, but there are those days where you realize it's just not gonna happen.

And in a moment of weakness on my way home, I made a little pit stop:


Not good.

Tomorrow will be better.