Altitude

We've spent the last few days vacationing in Sunriver Or. celebrating my parents 40th wedding anniversary. I had planned on doing some running while I was away, but there was too much snow on the ground to make the pathways safe. Fortunately, there is a new workout facility here and they happened to have a lap pool so Friday Wes and I headed over there to do a quick swim workout. The pool was very nice and new so I was excited to give it a try. Also, it was relatively empty so there would be no crowding or lane issues. I didn't have my swim cap with me, but we did have our goggles so although I wasn't completely prepared for a regular swim it worked out all right. The water tasted a bit weird, but the strangest thing was dealing with the altitude difference. It was much harder to get a good breath of air. I felt like I was gulping for it and it took a good 500 yards for me to get used to it and not feel like I was struggling so much.

And, Thursday morning before I left, Mindy and I had a great run. We did a route that I have done numerous times before and although challenging (hilly) we both felt great. Yay for a good run! I love those days.

Thursday

Running:

5.03 miles

49:04

Friday

Swimming

1000 yards

No timing

Off week for exercise

I haven't been on my game this week in the workout department. I've had various children sick since last Friday and because two of them have been home from school for most of this week all of my regularly scheduled activities have taken a back seat to making sure they are resting up and taking their medicines. Then, to top it off, we are heading out of town for a long weekend, so I've been busily gathering up tons of snow gear, cleaning the house, finishing laundry and prepping the van for a possibly arduous journey through the mountains.

Tuesday

Running:

3.8 miles

36:08

Wednesday

Cycling:

20:00

Circuit training:

20:00

Lest I forget

I have worked out the last few days, but haven't recorded it yet. I'm not feeling 100% so my energy levels are dragging. Plus, it's the end of January and that is pretty much the worst time to live in Oregon- depressing gray skies and endless wetness.

I'm really aching to get my road bike down from the rafters of the garage and take it out on a spin in the sunshine, but that possibility is probably a couple of months away.

Sigh.

Saturday

Running:

5.5 miles in who knows how long. Forgot to time it.

Monday

Swimming:

1000 yards in who knows how long. Forgot to time it as well.

Exhaustion

I'm struggling a little bit with getting adequate sleep these days.

I'm usually awake by 5:40 am each morning, with the exception of Thursdays, when I get up at 6:45 am. This early morning routine makes my training schedule work for me. If I get my training done first thing in the morning, I'm much more consistent with it and rarely miss a workout because nothing else is really pulling at my time, except for sleep, at that early morning hour. Plus, early morning is when both Wes and Mindy workout and since they are my peeps it's what works for us all.

But, I'm tired. Real, real tired. I usually am in bed by 10 pm, but I often can't fall asleep until 10:45 pm or later. So, that doesn't really add up to a full eight hours every night. And, as the days go on my sleep needs start to build and by Friday I am exhausted and start to fall asleep on the couch on and off from 2 pm on.

I try to make up for my sleep needs not being met on Sunday afternoons when I usually take a good three hour nap. But, I'm fairly certain one long nap a week isn't really making much of a difference.

Does anyone else struggle with this issue? Have you found anything that helps (ie nutrition, meditation, drugs j/k)?

Thursday

Cycling:

spin class

1:00:00- with Katie G. who kicks my bootay every single time.

Friday

Swimming:

1250 yards

31:02

-wore Wes's goggles for this workout to see if they made a difference with my eye issues, and they were crazy funky goggles. Made for a weird workout.

Eyeball issues

I'm having a reoccurring issue with my right eye. Every so often it turns red. So, I have one white/blue eye and one red/blue eye. No particular pain, oozing, gunk, soreness, just the beautiful color red. Wes and I got to talking about it tonight and we have noticed that the days it turns red are the days I do my swim workouts. So, what does that mean? I have no idea. Is it my goggles? Chlorine? Why is just one eye red, but not the other?

Has anyone had a on-again off-again red eye problem?

Wednesday

Swimming:

1200 yards

29:35

New shoes- no good

I tried out my new running shoes for the first time this morning. As expected they felt rather stiff and restrictive. No biggie. But after one mile on the treadmill, my right heel was aching and I was feeling no support for either of my arches. I have high-ish arches and I felt a distinct gap between my foot and the shoe. So, they are obviously a no-go. I knew I shouldn't have tried branching out to a new brand. I should have just stuck with what I know works for my foot. Fortunately, Roadrunner Sports has an awesome return/exchange policy, so I'll be heading over there on Thursday to get what works for me.

Monday

Cycling:

1:00:00 spin class- with Heinz, not my fav.

Tuesday

Running:

4 miles

40:00

Why swimming workouts rock

I often talk to people about their weight woes. My job at the Y puts me in contact with an assortment of folks looking to change their bodies but they are often at a plateau in the weight loss journey. Whenever I listen to their challenges (bad knee, excess tummy fat, sore shoulders etc.) I usually suggest changing their workout routine a bit. I always bring up the option of adding swimming laps to their routine. Everyone, and I mean everyone, pooh-poohs the notion of swimming for exercise. I don't really know why, honestly. There are so many good things about swimming I thought I'd list them here for all to enjoy.

1. Swimming laps in very meditative. No noise. No loud voices, or music, or t.v.'s. Just you, your thoughts and the water.

2. Swimming requires very little workout equipment. Swimsuit, goggles, swim cap, towel. That's it. It saves me a load of laundry because my regular workout clothes get a break.

3. Swimming is a great shoulders, arm, back workout. Lets face it, during the summer months wouldn't you want to be sporting muscular arms, backs and shoulders? All those little cap sleeve tops look much better with toned shoulders and arms.

4. Swimming gives your legs a bit of a break. I do almost all of my laps freestyle, which is about 80% upper body and 20% lower body. So my swim days give my legs (which are usually taking a pounding) a bit of a breather.

5. Swimming widdles your middle. Seriously, if you have tummy flab and just can't shake it, swimming is the answer- plus eating healthy. The motion of swimming strengthens your stomach in ways that I just cannot explain.

6. Swimming is non impact. You can swim with almost any nagging injury and do just fine. Plus, swimming won't give you injuries. Win-win!

7. Swim workouts are quick. Thirty minutes, or even less if you are just beginning.

8. It feels totally awesome to swim faster than the person in the lane next to you. So, if you stick with it long enough you will either get faster or swim next to a very slow floater and they your ego will get a boost as you cruise by the swimmer next to you.

9. Swimming is a good skill to have. Say you are out scuba diving in the ocean and you pop up to the surface after 30 minutes or so and your boat has left you. Now you are 3 miles from shore. Knowing how to swim long distances will come in very handy. So, think of it as a great survival skill.

10. You get to take the most awesome hot shower right after your swim. I love standing under that steaming stream of water for a good 5 minutes as a reward for all of my hard work. BTW, at our local Y the shower stall closest to the pool in the ladies locker room is the best shower of the bunch. The water runs long and hot for at least 5 minutes, the others require you to push that blasted button every thirty seconds or so.

So, there you go. Ten good reasons to add swimming to your repertoire.

Friday

Swimming:

1200 yards

31:05

Saturday

Running:

5 miles

53:08- slow pace today. I felt sick to my stomach and needed to walk about 100 yards at the end. I'm still struggling with eating or not eating before workouts. I haven't come up with a good solution yet.

Short on time tonight

I worked my self to the sweaty bone today and, now I'm all tuckered out. Wes and I spent the evening at the temple and I had a very hard time staying awake. Wes had an even harder time because he nodded off several times.

I heard a statistic that 2/3 of adults are overweight in this country. I thought that number sounded kind of high. But, while sitting with eight other women in the temple tonight I realized that six of the nine were very overweight- at least two obese. So, maybe 2/3 is right. Hmmm.

Cycling:

spin class 1:00:00

Running:

2.08 miles

20:00

Slept in

Is sleeping in until 6:15 am really sleeping in? Sadly, at this time in my life, it is. Wes had worked very late last night and I didn't have the heart to wake him up this morning for a 5:45 am swim. I was awake at that time, but he was snoring softly and I knew he needed more rest. I don't want him to burn the candle at both ends.

I also had to work at the Y this morning, so I knew I would have to do my workout right after work. Fortunately, lap swim starts again a soon as my shift ends, so after work, I quickly changed in the locker room (with a gazillion large, elderly naked ladies who were finishing up their twinges-in-the-hinges class) and found an empty (yay!) lane to swim in. Felt good. Guy next to me was swimming with fins and a snorkel?!?!

I've been meaning to mention this article that I read in Bicycling Magazine the other day. I've always felt that we, as a society, are over medicating our children instead of finding healthier alternatives. This article on The Drug-Free Drug really hits home to me.

Swimming:

1250 yards

29:40

Hilly run

I met Mindy at 6 am this morning for a quick run. She suggested we run up and over Sunset hill and back. I'm not usually a fan of out-and-back runs, but this one was so hilly I was distracted by the elevation issue to be bothered by the actual route. Amazingly, I felt pretty good. I have some lingering knee issues so I make it a practice to not run back to back days. This decision has been beneficial in a couple of ways. First, my knee doesn't hurt and second, I usually feel quite fresh on my runs. Even though we ran up a very large hill, my lungs felt fine and my legs kept up with out much struggle. Overall, I was pleased.

Running:

4.1 miles in 40:45

*slow pace, but steady.

Working harder

Wes and I did our regular Monday morning swim workout today. We have figured out that it is much easier to get a lane (to share) if we arrive at the pool at 5:55am instead of 6am. There is consistently a little lull in the crowds right about that time. The 5am-ers are just finishing and the 6am-ers have not shown up yet. We got to the pool and the water temps were freezing (84.5 degrees). That is cold. I prefer the temps be right around 86-87 degrees. It took a few laps for the coldness to wear off and for me to warm up. After about 5 laps (250 yards) I decided I needed to kick it up a notch. Work harder. Breathe heavier. Sometimes it is so easy to keep yourself in cruise control and not push too hard. But, that mindset isn't really going to get the results I'm looking for, so I pushed the pace and Wes kept up. We ended up swimming 1100 yards in 25 minutes. For us, that is good.

I also ordered a new pair of running shoes today from Roadrunner. I've been meaning to pick up a new pair for a few weeks, but have delayed pulling the trigger because I've been scouring the stores and the computer for a great deal on my trusty Asics. Alas, no super deal was to be found. I decided to give these Brooks Defyance 2s a try this time around. Wes has a pair of them and likes them quite nicely. I've tried them on before and thought they would be a good option. Plus, I found a screaming deal on them. Hopefully they will work for me. If not, Roadrunner has a fabulous return policy, so it's all good.

Swimming:
1100 yards
25 minutes

Strength Training:
Abs, legs and triceps
45 minutes

It's time!

I've been thinking about starting this exercise/fitness/triathlon training blog for about three months because I've been wanting a place to write about my experiences training for and competing in endurance races. Although I feel like a complete newbie when it comes to the sport of triathlon (only two races completed thus far), I want to have a place where I report the training experiences of each day and feel a sense of accountability for it- a toe-the-line kind of thing.

Since the holidays are over I've been tenatively planning my race schedule for 2010. Here is is so far:

• Spring Classic Duathlon- 5K run, 15 mile bike, 5K run. April 3, 2010 at the Qwest Training Facility in Portland Oregon.
• Hippie Chick Half- 13.1 mile run. May 8, 2010 at Champoeg State Park in St. Paul Oregon.
• Run for the Roses- 10K run. June 5, 2010 in Sherwood, Oregon.
• All Women's Triathlon- 1/2 mile swim, 12 mile bike, 5K run. July 31, 2010 in Fairview Oregon.
• Scoggins Valley Triathlon- 1.5K swim, 40K bike, 10K run. Sept 4, 2010 in Forest Grove, Oregon **This is my A race for the year. My first attempt at an Olympic Distance, plus it is a hilly course.
• Best Dam Run- 10K run. Sept 25, 2010 in Estacada Oregon.

So, there it is in all its naked glory. All of my upcoming races typed out in black and white. Just seeing a list like that gives me pause. This is four races more than I did last season.

Upward and onward!