Last night was biking. We went to this area down near the airport that has nice wide roads and not too much traffic. I had never actually been there at night and could not get over how busy it was. People walking their dogs, running, and of course cycling. There were about 3 training groups there so the road was darn near crowded with bikes.
Anyway, we were practicing riding in a pace line. We would ride down this long wide road, turn around and ride back. Pretty simple and easy right? We kept switching the lead spot so we all got practice leading, following, and dropping back.
On the first turnaround, we were making a u-turn and guess what? I fell!! This is getting annoying. I scrapped my knee and elbow. But the worst part was I jammed a finger on my left hand. It hurt when it happened but I didn't know exactly what I'd done to it. I woke about 2 a.m. with my finger throbbing in pain. I noticed a small cut on the very tip of that finger and realized what I had done. I must of landed straight on it. Now it's slightly swollen and I can't move it. I know it's not broken because I can move it some and it doesn't hurt that much. I'm just pissed at myself. Then of course, I'm all freaked out and scared riding. Ugh!!!!
I know that this falling has to do with my pedals. I'm not positive if they are a little too tight, or if I just don't know what the hell I'm doing, or what. Tomorrow I'm going to set up the turbo trainer and clip and unclip until my head caves in. I'm going to adjust the pedals so I'm comfortable clipping in and out and can do it with ease. I'm also going to practice clipping in and out with both feet. I have a terrible habit of only being able to clip out on the right side. I need to be able to do it with both feet so I'm going to practice until my feet fall off my body.
So I didn't go swimming this morning because of all my various injuries. But that's okay. I may go swim in the ocean on Sunday after biking.
Well, I guess I should think about getting ready for work. TGIF :)
18 January 2008
17 January 2008
Thursdays are hard
they always have been and apparently they always will be. I just have the hardest time getting up on Thursdays and I don't exactly know why. Maybe I'm just worn out from the week. I'm not really any more tired this morning than I am any other morning, but getting out of bed is just difficult on Thursdays. I'm thinking I'll schedule my off day for Thursday at least for the foreseeable future. And of course it's not completely off, I have cycling on Thursday nights.
A while back I had decided to give up the quest for weight loss. Not that I don't still want to lose weight, but I kind of decided that I've been battling it (and losing) for way too long. I decided to focus on gaining things, strength, speed, swimming ability :) I've learned over the years that focusing on what I want is generally much more effective than focusing on what I don't want. That whole Secret thing, you attract the type of energy you put out, blah, blah, blah......
So a little over a month ago I said enough. I eat pretty well and I've continued to watch what I eat. I've been pretty consistent in my workouts, never missing more than a day, and I've seen some really good improvements. But the weight thing is always at the back of my mind. Then on Tuesday night it hit me smack in the face! Again!! We did a body composition at cycling. They had a little had held thingee that measures your % fat. I did it thinking I had a pretty good handle on what my body fat is (I have calipers I use at home). Boy, was I wrong. Now I know the limitations of these things. I know that they are affected by lots of different factors; hydration, if you've exercised recently, heat, cold, etc. I got that. But still it was waaaaay higher than I expected to see. And, of course, it's been bugging me ever since.
So I've decided one more time. I'm going to examine my diet in great detail (I'm keeping a journal for a couple of days). I'm going to continue swimming, biking, and running, but I'm going to focus heavily on weights and interval training. I know, and I read it on someone else's blog recently, that long slow workouts (aka: lots of cardio) actually causes me to gain fat. I gained this fat I have now when I was training for my last marathon. So I'm not doing incredibly long running or swimming workouts and the biking is only long on Sundays. I should be okay. Plus, if I push the weights and intervals that should boost my metabolism for the other times.
I'm going to try not to obsess on the food part. I find myself doing that, focusing so much on how much to eat and when that it becomes the only thing I think about. For the last month or so when I haven't been obsessed with losing weight, my eating has become much more normal. So I have to watch that.
Okay, if you've managed to read through all this I'm sure you're thinking, oh boy, here she goes again. It's true. I do this then stop, mainly because I become all consumed with calories and eating, and what, when, where, it drives me crazy. So I just need to lay out a food plan, go shopping and then not think about it again. Kind of what I've been doing recently. So, one more time with feeling.....
A while back I had decided to give up the quest for weight loss. Not that I don't still want to lose weight, but I kind of decided that I've been battling it (and losing) for way too long. I decided to focus on gaining things, strength, speed, swimming ability :) I've learned over the years that focusing on what I want is generally much more effective than focusing on what I don't want. That whole Secret thing, you attract the type of energy you put out, blah, blah, blah......
So a little over a month ago I said enough. I eat pretty well and I've continued to watch what I eat. I've been pretty consistent in my workouts, never missing more than a day, and I've seen some really good improvements. But the weight thing is always at the back of my mind. Then on Tuesday night it hit me smack in the face! Again!! We did a body composition at cycling. They had a little had held thingee that measures your % fat. I did it thinking I had a pretty good handle on what my body fat is (I have calipers I use at home). Boy, was I wrong. Now I know the limitations of these things. I know that they are affected by lots of different factors; hydration, if you've exercised recently, heat, cold, etc. I got that. But still it was waaaaay higher than I expected to see. And, of course, it's been bugging me ever since.
So I've decided one more time. I'm going to examine my diet in great detail (I'm keeping a journal for a couple of days). I'm going to continue swimming, biking, and running, but I'm going to focus heavily on weights and interval training. I know, and I read it on someone else's blog recently, that long slow workouts (aka: lots of cardio) actually causes me to gain fat. I gained this fat I have now when I was training for my last marathon. So I'm not doing incredibly long running or swimming workouts and the biking is only long on Sundays. I should be okay. Plus, if I push the weights and intervals that should boost my metabolism for the other times.
I'm going to try not to obsess on the food part. I find myself doing that, focusing so much on how much to eat and when that it becomes the only thing I think about. For the last month or so when I haven't been obsessed with losing weight, my eating has become much more normal. So I have to watch that.
Okay, if you've managed to read through all this I'm sure you're thinking, oh boy, here she goes again. It's true. I do this then stop, mainly because I become all consumed with calories and eating, and what, when, where, it drives me crazy. So I just need to lay out a food plan, go shopping and then not think about it again. Kind of what I've been doing recently. So, one more time with feeling.....
16 January 2008
Still adjusting
to all this working out. What's going to happen when I finally get up the nerve to tackle a 1/2 Ironman and really increase the workouts??
So my days look like this:
4:45 am - wake up, start coffee, brush teeth, check email, read a blog or two........
5:00 am - clean and feed the birds, get my food ready for my day.
5:15 am - feed the dogs, give medicine, etc
5:30 am - Work out, either leave for swimming or head to the studio for a workout
5:50 am - On Tuesday and Thursdays head out for a run
7:00 am - shower, get ready for work
7:15 am - leave the house or the Y and head to work
8:00 - 5:00 - work my butt off (we are busy!!!)
5:15 pm - Tuesday and Thursdays bike clinic
5:45 pm - Mon, Wed, Fri: home, head to studio for workout.
6:30 pm - shower, eat dinner, chat with hubby
7:00 pm - clean kitchen, feed dogs
7:30 pm - finally relax for the evening
9:00 pm - got to bed
It's no wonder I'm in no mood to blog in the evenings. On bike nights I don't get home until 7:30pm so that night is pretty well shot. I'm tired but I'm feeling good. Getting a lot of workouts in and I like it.
This morning was swimming. I'm following TI and I really like it. I've read, and heard, lots of people knock TI and now that I'm getting into the nuts and bolts of it, I can see why. The thing is, and I believe this of everything, not everything works for everybody. Sometimes I have to hear something in a different way for it to really sink in. I know that strength training is really good for me. I know that. But until I actually grasped the science behind it, it didn't mean a lot to me. That's what's happening with TI. I knew how to swim I just didn't know how to fix the things that were wrong with my stroke, and sometimes I didn't even know exactly what was wrong.
What I'm really getting out of TI is the whole balancing in the water through the movement of the stroke. I didn't even realize that was a problem until I started doing TI. I knew something was wrong because at times I would feel like I'm sinking and couldn't figure out what I was doing wrong. Since I started TI I know how to balance myself in the water, I know how to keep from sinking but more importantly I know what to do if I start to sink. Bottom line I'm feeling more confident and comfortable in the water, and that is something I definitely needed.
Last night at cycling was flat tire training. I've changed a flat a couple of times but I took the opportunity to learn little tricks from the pros. Also, I had gotten a CO2 thingee but didn't even know how to use it, so I learned that too. That was about it, no riding or anything just technical stuff.
Well, I should get to work because sitting here blogging is making me tired :)
So my days look like this:
4:45 am - wake up, start coffee, brush teeth, check email, read a blog or two........
5:00 am - clean and feed the birds, get my food ready for my day.
5:15 am - feed the dogs, give medicine, etc
5:30 am - Work out, either leave for swimming or head to the studio for a workout
5:50 am - On Tuesday and Thursdays head out for a run
7:00 am - shower, get ready for work
7:15 am - leave the house or the Y and head to work
8:00 - 5:00 - work my butt off (we are busy!!!)
5:15 pm - Tuesday and Thursdays bike clinic
5:45 pm - Mon, Wed, Fri: home, head to studio for workout.
6:30 pm - shower, eat dinner, chat with hubby
7:00 pm - clean kitchen, feed dogs
7:30 pm - finally relax for the evening
9:00 pm - got to bed
It's no wonder I'm in no mood to blog in the evenings. On bike nights I don't get home until 7:30pm so that night is pretty well shot. I'm tired but I'm feeling good. Getting a lot of workouts in and I like it.
This morning was swimming. I'm following TI and I really like it. I've read, and heard, lots of people knock TI and now that I'm getting into the nuts and bolts of it, I can see why. The thing is, and I believe this of everything, not everything works for everybody. Sometimes I have to hear something in a different way for it to really sink in. I know that strength training is really good for me. I know that. But until I actually grasped the science behind it, it didn't mean a lot to me. That's what's happening with TI. I knew how to swim I just didn't know how to fix the things that were wrong with my stroke, and sometimes I didn't even know exactly what was wrong.
What I'm really getting out of TI is the whole balancing in the water through the movement of the stroke. I didn't even realize that was a problem until I started doing TI. I knew something was wrong because at times I would feel like I'm sinking and couldn't figure out what I was doing wrong. Since I started TI I know how to balance myself in the water, I know how to keep from sinking but more importantly I know what to do if I start to sink. Bottom line I'm feeling more confident and comfortable in the water, and that is something I definitely needed.
Last night at cycling was flat tire training. I've changed a flat a couple of times but I took the opportunity to learn little tricks from the pros. Also, I had gotten a CO2 thingee but didn't even know how to use it, so I learned that too. That was about it, no riding or anything just technical stuff.
Well, I should get to work because sitting here blogging is making me tired :)
14 January 2008
Wow, what a weekend.....
It was one of those weekends that started on Thursday and just didn't seem to end.
Thursday night was cycling clinic. We did a workout on the turbo trainer that completely and totally kicked my butt. By the time I got home I was ready to drop. Friday morning came and there was no way I was getting up to go swimming, I was still beat. We did something Friday night which escapes me now.
Saturday morning came early. On the workout schedule was weights and running. I did the weights first then went for a 5k run. That was brutal. When I started running my legs felt dead which I guessed was still from Thursday night. Once those were done I needed to get all my chores done since I was not going to be home Sunday at all. So it was a whirlwind of baking biscuits, doing laundry, vacuuming, mopping, etc. In the midst of all that my new computer arrived but I couldn't even really stop to play with it. I got it hooked up but that was it. In the afternoon I had a mystery shopping assignment at a movie theater. Unfortunately I missed the start of the movie I was supposed to check so I had to wait around for 2 hours to catch the next one. That was wasted time I couldn't really afford.
Sunday came even earlier. I had to be way up the north shore for my bike clinic at 7 a.m. It's about an hour drive so it's out the door at 6 which means up by 5 at the latest. Ugh!!! Cycling went well. We rode for about an hour to warm up then did a time trial. I'm learning to ride in a pace line and that is scary!! The time trial was fun, it had the adrenaline filled excitement of a race. I didn't do too bad either.
Once that was over at 9, I headed home to get ready for the next event. I got home in record time and decided I could fit in a haircut. Am I crazy??? In 20 minutes I had my haircut and I headed on home. It was a quick empty the car, load up the new stuff, shower and head out. There was a bird club meeting at 12 and as president I had to be there early. Luckily I made it.
The meeting ended at 2:30 and then it was home to get ready for the next event. A birthday party. After resting a little bit, we headed out to a friends party. By 7 pm I was absolutely dead I was falling asleep over my beer. So I begged out and went home. I was in bed by 8 and sound asleep by 8:10. I was glad that the weekend was over. Going back to work is actually looking like a rest :)
Thursday night was cycling clinic. We did a workout on the turbo trainer that completely and totally kicked my butt. By the time I got home I was ready to drop. Friday morning came and there was no way I was getting up to go swimming, I was still beat. We did something Friday night which escapes me now.
Saturday morning came early. On the workout schedule was weights and running. I did the weights first then went for a 5k run. That was brutal. When I started running my legs felt dead which I guessed was still from Thursday night. Once those were done I needed to get all my chores done since I was not going to be home Sunday at all. So it was a whirlwind of baking biscuits, doing laundry, vacuuming, mopping, etc. In the midst of all that my new computer arrived but I couldn't even really stop to play with it. I got it hooked up but that was it. In the afternoon I had a mystery shopping assignment at a movie theater. Unfortunately I missed the start of the movie I was supposed to check so I had to wait around for 2 hours to catch the next one. That was wasted time I couldn't really afford.
Sunday came even earlier. I had to be way up the north shore for my bike clinic at 7 a.m. It's about an hour drive so it's out the door at 6 which means up by 5 at the latest. Ugh!!! Cycling went well. We rode for about an hour to warm up then did a time trial. I'm learning to ride in a pace line and that is scary!! The time trial was fun, it had the adrenaline filled excitement of a race. I didn't do too bad either.
Once that was over at 9, I headed home to get ready for the next event. I got home in record time and decided I could fit in a haircut. Am I crazy??? In 20 minutes I had my haircut and I headed on home. It was a quick empty the car, load up the new stuff, shower and head out. There was a bird club meeting at 12 and as president I had to be there early. Luckily I made it.
The meeting ended at 2:30 and then it was home to get ready for the next event. A birthday party. After resting a little bit, we headed out to a friends party. By 7 pm I was absolutely dead I was falling asleep over my beer. So I begged out and went home. I was in bed by 8 and sound asleep by 8:10. I was glad that the weekend was over. Going back to work is actually looking like a rest :)
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