11 February 2006

Your Life Path Number is 7

Your purpose in life is to find truth and meaning

You are very spiritual, and you are interested in the mysteries of life.
You are quite analytical and a great thinker. You have many theories and insights.
A life of solitude is perfect for you. You need time to think and do things your way.

In love, you are quite charming. You attract many with your confidence and wit.

While you enjoy being alone, sometimes you take it to an extreme.
You can become too isolated, shutting out loved ones and friends.
Express yourself a little bit more, and you'll be surprised where it takes you!

10 February 2006

Passed the mile mark.

This morning's swim was awesome. I did slightly over 1 mile in just under an hour. WOOOHOOO!!! I actually could have kept going but I had to get to work. When I began my swim I just could not seem to get it together. I couldn't coordinate my breathing (I kept sucking water), my arms felt like lead weights, and my legs didn't seem to be functioning. After my warm up laps I was ready to call it a day I felt so clumsy, but I just kept going and eventually it got better. On the laps when I really pushed myself my times are improving and that's really all I want out of life :)

I have found a problem though. I have not too much trouble getting up in the morning to go swimming and I feel just incredible when I'm done, but by the end of the day I'm exhausted. At first I thought I was tired from getting up early but I get up the same time on all the other days. I realized that on the days I run in the morning I'm not near as tired at night as when I swim. So, what to do?? Since there are just not enough days in the week to do all I want to do I have to train at night also, but how am I going to do that if I'm so tired?? I don't know. Maybe I need to take a little power nap, 10-15 minutes would probably do me just right. And it's not that I do really hard training at night (I save that for morning when I'm fresh). I generally just lift weights and ride the trainer. I save the hard rides for the weekend, during the week is just easy spinning, with some small sprints thrown in, and time in the saddle. I don't know. I'll have to figure something out.

Well, that's it. It's friday and I really could not be happier. It's ProBowl weekend here on Oahu and what a freakin' zoo. There are pro football players everywhere and the crowds they attract. Hubby is going to the game on Sunday. It's the only pro game he gets living here on a rock in the middle of the ocean. He used to be a 49er season ticket holder so it was serious withdrawal when we moved over here. But this is his weekend. So Sunday I'll get in a long bike ride (the roads will be empty with everyone at the game) and an ocean swim (have to see how all this pool work translates into open water). Saturday I have a run on the schedule and the rest of the weekend will be vegging around; actually I have some stuff I want to do around the house.

Okay, that's allllllll folks..... I must get off my butt and do some work.

09 February 2006

Quick, I need to fess up or I'm going to bury it.

Okay, here goes. Yesterday I still had remants of my 2 day old headache and it was really getting to me. I was also hungry. No, I was HUNGRY!! I could not get enough food no matter what I ate and being hungry was making the headache worse which was making me nauseaous. UGH!! It was a vicious cycle. In a weak moment I went to the store to get something to eat.

This little b*tch called to me and I didn't buy one pack like this, oh no. I bought an entire box. I then proceed to eat the entire box over the course of the day. This resulted in a total consumption of 1,800 calories. Oh my god. The worse part was at no point did I feel overstuffed or sick to my stomach. In fact, I got hungry last night. Now with hypoglycemia I can want to eat more to balance out my blood sugar but not feel hungry and in fact be stuffed and still want more. This was not the case yesterday. I clearly am going to have to work more on my eating. I've increased my training in the last couple of weeks and the only thing I can think of is that my eating is not keeping up. So it's back to the drawing board with food. This morning I feel completely normal so I think this episode is totally behind me. And of course, now that I've confessed my sins here it really is totally behind me. I can't change the past so I will just move forward with no regrets. I'm off to get ready for work and pack a healthy breakfast, lunch, and snacks.

Okay, I'm off. Have a great day.

08 February 2006

It's okay to take a break.

I had a headache for 2 days that finally put me down last night. I had a bike trainer session scheduled but I had to put it off and take care of my head. This morning is much, much better thank you.

When I got up to go swimming this morning it was raining and the wind was blowing (hard) from a weird direction. It was knocking down trees and branches and scaring the dogs. I briefly considered not going swimming and staying home to soothe the pups, but no!! I comforted the dogs, closed the windows, and left to go swimming. I guess a lot of people didn't want to go swimming because of the rain (how ridiculous is that??) cuz the pool was empty. It was nice. I was late getting there because of the weather so I was still swimming when the old folks started to arrive. I give them all the credit in the world for getting out and doing something, but man do they make me feel like a speed demon (good for the ego I guess). The guy in the lane on the right wears goggles and puts his face in the water but his feet drag the bottom until he reaches the deep end. The guy in the lane on the left and the lady in the next lane both wear those floaty belts and don't put their face in the water and don't bother to kick at all. I was able to go up and down the lane before they get to the far end. As I said, it's great to see them out there exercising and it makes me feel fast.

So yeah, I did 1550 m; 600 m, 300 m, 4 x 100, 4 x 50. It really felt good today. I also discovered a mistake I was making, I wasn't lowering my head enough. I have a problem with my hips and legs sinking some but quite by accident I pushed my head further down to look at something on the bottom and my butt and legs went up. Oh, okay. So I played around with it and sure enough I had not been straightening out my neck so my head was up a little. I had to turn a little more to breath but I quickly adjusted that. Too cool. We have a guy here who is one of the best swim teachers/coaches around. He does a swim video with analysis for like $30. I want to have it done but I wanted to get my swimming a little better before I went to him. I think I'm about ready for him now. I know some people who go to him and I'm starting to get a little confused. He swears that rolling to breath and making the S movement on the pull is old school. Now he says, twist to breath, do not roll your hips; and pull your hand straight, do not make the S shape. He seems to be the only one saying that so I don't know. Anyway, I think it's time to set the appointment for a swim video analysis.

Okay, that's enough. I probably should get to work although I really don't have too much to do.

07 February 2006

My nemisis

This morning a run was on the schedule. I decided to listen to Kahuna and IronWil's Get your Geek On podcast. It was, as usual, an excellent show and I really enjoyed it. One section had Wil talking about her nemisis. Basically the things that make her train as she does. Things like the wind, the waves, just about everything. This really got me to thinking. My initial gut reaction was that my nemisis was my weight. In a way that's very true. It really is the primary reason I get up every morning and do the things I do. But there's more to it than that. I want to be the best I can be. I want to see just how far I can push my body. What exactly are my limits?? Right now my nemisis is that little box at the right with my goals for this month. I look at it a couple times a day and it mocks me; you won't be able to do this; that's way too much mileage for you; you'll burn out; you'll never make it. Oh yes I will!! I am well on my way and I'm not stopping until I meet or exceed those goals. So having something my action hero can fight against is a good thing. I mean really, what good is an action hero if there's no nemisisto fight????

06 February 2006

What does it take to make it???

For those of you that may not know, I am a conservative (please don't say Republican - they piss me off!!) and I listen to a couple of talk radio shows that are conservative (oh, surprise). The one I'm listening to this morning who is talking about what it takes to become a millionaire in America today. Apparently "they" have conducted a study of folks who've made it within the past 20 years and they have a couple of traits in common. They are primarily, focus, dedication, hard work, and the courage to take chances. This really speaks to me as I am trying to get a business up and running. But, more importantly, it spoke to me regarding triathlons. In order to become the athlete I want to be requires focus (my word of the year), dedication, hard work and the courage to take chances. Oh yes, they also say you have to have a vision; I've got that! So there you have it, my deep thoughts for the day.

On to this morning's swim. WooooHoooo!!! I am so pleased with my swimming progress I can't tell you. I swam 1600 m which equals .99 miles. That is the farthest I have ever swam in my life. I didnot do it all in one shot. I did 600 m, 300 m, 4 x 100m, 4 x 50 m, plus 50 m warm up and cool down. Between these distances there were not more than 10 seconds rest. I'm doing this program that gets you swimming 1 mile in 6 weeks by pyramiding the distances and taking breaks of only a certain number of breaths. For example; I did 600 m without stopping, took a break for 10 breaths, did 300 m without stopping, took a break for 8 breaths, etc. So for the entire 1600 m I didn't really rest at all. Now I am slow, way slower then the swimming gods out there in blogland, so suffice it to say I did this almost mile in under an hour. Not great I know, but for me it's awesome. At this point I would just about make the swim cut off for a 1/2 Ironman. I have time to work up my speed but it's a good feeling to know I could do it now if I had to.

I order Total Immersion. I read people who have used it or are using it and it seems to be fairly highly recommended. I'm going to start working on my speed as soon as I get it.

Well, this is going to be a fantastic week for me, I hope it is for all of you too.

05 February 2006

Just a note to end the week.

Okay, not a great week so I'm really glad it's over.

Started the week with some kind of food poisoning - not good. Slowed me down some and threw my schedule all off. Ended up only swimming 2x and not running or biking at all - not good.

Then as the week progressed things went from bad to worse. Wednesday night a water main broke right across the street from our house. The crews were out there all night long working to fix it. As you can guess, not much sleep was had by anyone. Resulting in extreme exhaustion Thursday and Friday.

Finally, today I volunteered at the 8k race in Honolulu which meant getting up at 4:30 a.m. and driving for 45 minutes. So now today I'm exhausted again. What is wrong with me???

So this week is over and done with, let's put it behind us.

I watched the Xterra program this morning. It was interesting. I had kind of thought I would someday do that. After watching this program, I don't think so. That course is loaded with rocks and everyone seemed to be falling and there was blood everywhere. I don't mind pain as in pushing myself to my limits, but pain as in cuts, bruises and broken bones, I'm not so sure about that. The winner finished the run (over lava) with a shattered elbow. Okay, really not into that. I don't think that's my thing. Think I'll stick with road races.

Okay, I'm off to watch Grey's Anatomy and find out what a code black is....

Conversation with Hubby

 So yesterday morning I presented my idea of working out at home to the Hubby. Once I presented it to him, he said he was in. I told him I h...