23 March 2006

Okay, lots to cover and not a lot of time.

So let's get started..

Okay, my motto at the top of this blog is "Do or do not; there is no try" Yet, I am the queen of rationalization and justification. I did not get up and workout yesterday. My excuse was I stayed up too late the last few nights. Now while technically that is true, that is no reason not to get up. One is not necessarily related to the other. Especially when you consider I was only staying up 1/2 to 1 hour later. Not the end of the world if I got up on time. I would just be tired later in the day and probably go to bed on time.

I didn't get up this morning either and that's really where this whole post began. I knew I wasn't getting out of bed and I knew I didn't have a good reason to stay in bed. I started thinking how things go in cycles. I do really well at training for awhile then slack some, then pick it up again. It's definetly a cyclical thing.

Then I started thinking about my race this weekend. It's a small race, 100-150 people, and it's a good place for me to really see what I can do. I have a goal in mind for this tri. My very first one I did in 1:50; for this one I want to break 1:30. That's going to really push me. I would need to do a 12 minute swim (500m); a 40 minute bike ride (13 miles); and a 30 minute run (5k). Now to many of you that is probably easy. To me it is a huge stretch. My fastest 500m to date is 13:46 - I need to take 1:46 off my 500m - that's a lot!!!! The bike I can do if the course is not too hilly which I don't think it is. The run. Ah, the run. I would need to do just under 10/minute miles to make this - tough for me. 11ish is closer to my time. The only thing I've got going is that it's all short.

So, by staying in bed the last 2 mornings I'm not ensuring I will meet my goal time. On the other hand, rest does help me a lot. I always have amazing swims after not swimming for a couple of days and my running is good after a day or two rest. So, resting may be the best thing for me right now. I just don't know.

Now, my last tri effort was a total disaster. I completely freaked on the swim and I do not want that to happen this time under any condition. I've begun doing the race in my head and the swim I'm envisioning is strong and fast. I am a pretty good swimmer now and I don't see any reason why I can't do well and finish near the front of the pack. Okay, that may be a little ambious but I find that wherever I picture myself during my mental rehearsals is generally where I find myself during the race.

Okay, here's what I think will happen. I will go for a short run tonight, 30 minutes :) and I think an easy swim is in order for tomorrow morning. Then that's it. Rest until race day Sunday. But meanwhile, I will be running the race over and over and over in my head.

22 March 2006

I stayed up too late last night

so I couldn't get up to go to the pool this morning. Generally I need 8 hours sleep and for the last few nights I've only been getting 7. Eventually that adds up and the result is this morning; I can't get up. Oh well. I needed the extra sleep.

Yesterday I did get to the Y did upper body work and 1/2 hour on the treadmill, so that was good.

I guess I'll just take it easy today, get to bed early tonight, and get back on it tomorrow.

Okay, it's early and i don't have much to say.

20 March 2006

My kids.


Okay, backofthepack asked what kind of dogs I have and since I love to talk about my kids here they are.


This is Mana. She is my oldest, 15 years, black lab mix. She is deaf and blind, that's not the reflection in her eyes, those are cataracts. She's has arthritis and is starting to have trouble walking. I have had her since she was 12 weeks old and it's very, very hard knowing we are going to lose her soon. Then, of course, we have to decide when it happens and really, how do you make a decision like that?????




This is Nala. She is an 8 year old pure bred pit bull. We have had her since she was 6 weeks old. She has serious knee problems. When she was 3 she had to have knee surgery because the groove her kneecap rides in wasn't deep enough so her kneecap would slip out of the groove and cause her lots of pain. Now, her other knee has serious arthritis and she may have a partially ruptured ACL. Right now we are working on getting some weight off her (she's a little chubby) and try to get the knee a little better. Then it's to the ortho and probably surgery. She is the baby of the family and totally a spoiled brat. She has to sit on the couch between me and hubby and has to lay between us in bed. She is such a lover.

Finally, there's Rocco.


Rocco, aka Monkey, is my big boy. He is a 10 year old mutt. Mom was a pure golden retriever while dad had a little bit of everything. We found Rocco in the flower fields when he was 7 weeks old. He weighed 4 lbs and fit in the palm of my hand. Now he's 90 lbs and his head comes up to my hip. Rocco is not the brightest bulb on the tree. I call him my surfer dude. He will sit and stare at the ocean for hours. As soon as you open the door and let him out he runs right into the water, just like you see him. Our move to the new house is going to be hardest on him since we won't be on the ocean anymore. We are close however and will be taking them regularly.

Rocco and Mana are the ones scared of the thunder, Nala just barks at it.

So those are the kids. Since our real kids are grown and moved away, these guys really have become our children. Everything we do revolves around them. In fact our kids say we treat the dogs way better then we ever treated them. It's probably because the dogs just don't talk back. Well, Nala does a little but it's not too bad.

There you have, my family :)

Swimming

Well, it's monday so this morning was swimming. I actually got everything ready last night so this morning was breeze. Must remember to do this everynight!!!

I had my mind set on 2000m today, and I did it :)

250m warm-up: 6:45
500m: 13:46
500m: 13:46
500m: 13:55
250m variety: 8:07

Total: 2000m 1:02:56

Now the really good thing about this swim is the consistency of the times. I'm really, really excited about that. Also, I'm trying to work on breathing to my left side so going down I breathed on the left, returning I breathed on the right, for the 1st two 500m. On the final 500m I did bilateral breathing the entire time - wooooohoooooo!!!
For the final 250m I did 50m side stroke, 50m breast stroke, 50m side stroke, 50m back stroke, 50m side stroke. Oh yes, flip turns the entire time.

I pushed myself past my comfort zone today and it felt good. First, I did flip turns the entire time even though I'm still dealing with the whole freaking a little with every turn. At one point I said to myself "you've proved yourself, you can stop with the flip turns" but I would not buy into it and just kept flipping.

Second, breathing on my left causes me to sink and I don't breath well and it's generally a nightmare. I wanted to give it up but I just kept doing it even though it was killing me. I did it and it did start to get easier towards the end.

Third, bilateral breathing after doing 1250m is not easy. Especially if you're like me and freak slightly when you can't breath when you want to. But I did it!!! I have got to get comfortable doing all of these things so the pool is the place to practice.

Okay, one awesome workout for the week down :)

19 March 2006

The best laid plans......

Yesterday was my rest day and an absolutely gorgeous day. The sun was out, for the first time in 2 months it seems, the temperature was nice, and it was just wonderful. I spent the day moving and painting the new place. It was great.

Today my plan was to do a brick. Specifically a swim and a bike ride, in Waikiki so the swim could be in open ocean. If you will look at the weather on my sidebar there you will notice rain and thunder. Yes, thunder!!!! UGGGGHHHHH!!!!!!! It has been raining here for like 2 months!!!! I am sick and tired of it!!!!!! The rest of the country is having nicer weather than we are here in HAWAII!!!!!! UUUUUGGGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!

It is raining so hard right now I can not hear my TV. The thunder is freaking out the dogs so they are all trying to lay under my feet. 3 75+ lb dogs fighting to get under my chair, yes, this is fun.

I can't really train inside today since I took my bike trainer and elliptical over to the new house while the treadmill is behind boxes and stuff and can't be opened. Oh well, such is life.

I guess I'll spend the day packing some more since I won't be going out anywhere :(

In other news, we spent the day painting the new house yesterday. We took the dogs over and hung out there for about 4 hours. It was great. That seems to be a pretty mellow neighborhood. There were kids out playing. We met some of the neighbors. It seems nice.

I was a little worried about the dogs. All their lives they've lived here. It's kind of isolated and since we live on a major highway there is not a lot of foot traffic or kids playing out front. Also, although there are other dogs around, my dogs can't see them so it's no big deal. When they do see other dogs or kids or whatever, they bark like crazy. I was afraid that this would happen in the new place. It's a typical subdivision so there are houses all along the street and the property is surrounded by a chainlink fence. Also, the neighbors right next door are raising chickens. So I was afraid my dogs would bark and bark and bark and bark..................... But they didn't. They stood looking out at all the kids playing and the people walking and the dogs in the neighborhood but didn't really bark unless there was something to bark at. That made me feel good. Also, since the yard is fully fenced, they can stay outside. That's something they are not used to and really seemed to be enjoying it.

So we were painting the house, inside, and the dogs were generally sleeping outside and things were calm and cool. Then Rocco came into the house stepped into the paint pan and proceeded to walk through the house. Note the house has hardwood floors. I turned around and there were little paw prints all over the house. I chased him outside and washed off his paw while Charlie cleaned up the paint in the house. Of course, if that was the worse calmaity of the day we can call it a good day!!!

So there's something else going on that I don't want to talk about yet because I don't want to jinx it, but I need you all to think positive thoughts my way. Things have been going so horribly lately I figure this would balance out the negative things and put the yin/yang back in balance again cause right now the negative is winning out. So think good thoughts and push positive vibes my way. Thanks!!!

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...