Just Fine

Last night I only had time to go to my spin class. It went good. I really like that class. Tonight I would like to do some other cardio and weight lifting. If I go, it will be later tonight. Tomorrow I want to do a bike ride in the morning. Then, we are going to pick up our new bikes! I am pretty excited about that! I will post pictures after I get it!

Getting Faster

Last night I swam 80 laps. My one mile split was 28:35 minutes. My total time was 35:38 minutes. That averages to 26.73/lap. Congrats to me! I am getting faster in my swim. I like to see improvement.

Tonight I am going to my spin class but I am also going to try to run for a little bit. Only seven weeks until my first international distance race. Hopefully I can run!

My Weaknesses

Maybe if I put them in writing I will truly recognize my weaknesses and try harder to eat in moderation:

1. French fries--all types. I love the salty taste especially when they are a little bit crunchy. Favorite: Del Taco, Least: INO (Even though they are my least, I still love them. Plus I love dipping them in spread)

2. Mexican Food. Again the saltiness is my weakness. I could make a meal out of just eating chips and salsa. I don't usually eat chips and salsa outside of a Mexican restaurant, but watch out when I am at Joaquin's!

3. Cupcakes. The deception of them being so small justifies me eating more than one. I have an obsession from them. I am pretty good about eating in moderation because all cupcake shops are in south county.

4. Bread. Bread is not so bad when eaten in moderation, but I don't like to eat in moderation. I can eat 4 or 5 breadsticks in one sitting and then also eat my main course. Dang those carbs.

5. Social Eating. I can monitor my eating habits at home really well. The problem is when we go out to eat with friends. I justify by saying, everyone else is doing it. I can admit that I am a social eater. Help me!

"Running" out of ideas

I have been researching other ways to relieve my shin splints on the internet. I know about the icing and massaging. I have done that and still no results. Yesterday I decided to give it a GO and start running again. Well, I did a fast walk for about 12 minutes and then 3 minutes jogging and then another one minute walking. It didn't hurt any more than normal. I iced last night and this morning. Today I read about more stretching, so I will be doing those throughout the day. I could tape my leg but I don't feel like that will help much. I mean, taping my leg and then training? Seems like opposites. I will give the stretching a try and then slowly, very slowly, start running again. I think that because I am still doing cardio that my run will be fine even if I don't get enought training in. At least I have the endurance.

So last night I did that walk/run thing and then the elliptical machine for 20 minutes. Then I did some weight lifting. I have been neglecting that and of course I am feeling it today. After that, I did yoga. Yeah for me...I made it there and it felt great. I am getting the hang of crow! Tonight--swimming!

Long Weekend

No workout Friday night. Saturday I swam 80 laps in 36:26 minutes. That was really good! Monday I swam 64 laps in 28:38 minutes. If I would have continued to 80 laps then I think it would have been my best 80-lap time. After the swim my family biked to the beach. It took a long time. Almost two hours each way. Skyler and I rode on our beach cruisers so we could get a little bit more of a workout (only one gear). Tonight I will be going to yoga. And I am going to try to run about half a mile. I need to be able to run six miles in less than two months. Yikes!

Yeah!

Last night was a good workout. I started with 25 minutes on the stair master and then finished with my one hour spin class. I am feeling great! Either tonight or tomorrow morning I will be swimming. I would like to start running but I am going to give my legs until Tuesday to start acting better. I was planning on biking tomorrow but the rain will probably spoil it. But my family will be riding bikes to the beach on Monday. That should be fun, but will be a lot slower than usual.

Bad Girl

So I pretty much haven't done any training for the past two days. I have not felt up to par, not has Skyler. He swam at the NOVA team pool yesterday in Irvine and I think it just wore him out. Tonight I will be going to my spin class but I would like to get some swimming in before. We will see.

Hmmmm

Last night I swam 80 laps. Here is my dilemma. My time was 35:45. That is about 33 seconds faster than last week. But I might have messed up on my counting again! So my time possibly could be about 36:40 which is about 20 seconds slower than last week. So i am unsure but I do know that I was super tired after finishing. It felt good to be tired after swimming. I need to keep up the 80 lap days.

Today I am going to try to buy new shoes. There is a running shop by my house but it is kinda expensive. So I am going to check it out and see what happens. I might try biking today after work, possibly on the river trail. It stays light so much longer now and I need the outside practice. I could get a good 50-60 minutes in and still have time to go to yoga at 6:30. We will see!

Catch up

Thursday night I went to my spin class and did 20 minutes of stair master before that. I concluded that my left leg problem probably has to do with my running shoes. I am in need of some new shoes. Hopefully I will be getting those tomorrow.

Saturday I decided that I would ride my bike to a cupcake shop in Costa Mesa. After being on my bike for 5 minutes I changed my min because I knew the cupcakes wouldn't make it home due to the heat. So instead, I rode down to the beach and back. It was 24 miles total and I did it in 90 minutes. Not bad! I will be ready for my Olympic race in two months from today. Just need to work on my run!

Yeah for me!

Skyler and I signed up for our next race. It is on July 19 at Camp Pendleton. It will be our first International (Olympic) race! It is a 1.5K swim (1500 meters), 40K bike (25 miles), and 10K run (6.2 miles). I am super excited! The swim is in a boat basin so there won't be any waves to fight against. The only part I am worried about is the run (of course). I need the training time to work up to a 6 mile run, but I still have shin splints. I am hoping that they will be gone by next week so I can get started. The race is in two months. So I kicked my swim up a notch. Instead of my usual 64 lap swim (1 mile), I am going to be swimming 80 laps (1.25 miles) in preparation for the race. It is always good to train for a longer distance than the race. Last night I swam 80 laps in 36:18 minutes. Whoa! That is faster than my normal time, which is usually a shorter distance. That gives me a 27.2 second pace. Wow! That's fast! I am excited about the swim.

Skyler has an Xterra triathlon this weekend. He will be using a mountain bike as opposed to a road bike. Should be interesting! I am glad that I will be just speculating!

Ouch!

I am so frustrated! My shin and left foot are not getting better! I haven't been running. The only time I have ran in the past 3 1/2 weeks is at the race. That's it! So I have been icing my shin for my shin splints and now my metatarsalgia is acting up again. I went to the gym last night. I did the elliptical machine for 30 minutes and then the stair master for about 10 minutes and then my left foot was hurting. This is the same injury I got from snowboarding. Too much pressure on the ball of my foot. Whatever! I will stick to swimming and biking for one more week, then I will be running again!

We did it (kinda)!

Skyler and I completed the St. George Triathlon...or at least the bike and run portion. The swim portion was canceled due to high winds making the water choppy AKA wimpy Utah triathletes. That's ok because we still had fun. We made a whole weekend out of the trip.

Here are our times:
Skyler 1:14:38
Elise 1:20:24

My bike time was 47:22, compared to my bike time last year (50:56). That is a 3:34 minute improvement. Nice! I expected it to be better, but with the high wind factor that is still great. My run time was 27:07, compared to my run time last year (29:21). That is a 2:14 minute improvement. I thought I did worse on the run this year, but I guess I did better. Go me! My favorite part of my time was that I was only 6 minutes behind Skyler. I think we would have been very close in the swim too. Interesting. I have been careful not to bring this fact up with him because he is sensitive about the thought of me doing better than him. Oh well...I feel great about myself.

Big news! We are signing up for our next race, which will be an Olympic/International distance. 1.5K swim, 40K bike, 10K run. I am worried most about the run because of my shin splints. They still haven't gone away! Boo!

Wow! Two more days!

The big day is almost here...opening day for triathlon season for me! I am excited and a little nervous. I have been icing my left leg so that I won't have a problem with my shin splints. But I am nervous because I haven't ran in so long. Let's hope it is like riding a bike. Yesterday I swam. I think I did really, really good. I swam 32 laps and then looked at my watch and it said 15:16, which is not great. So I decided to kick it up a notch. I finished the second 32 laps in 14:20. So either I miscounted on the first set of laps or I swam so much faster. I think I miscounted because I have been doing that a lot lately. I start thinking of other things while swimming so I lose track of numbers.

We are leaving tonight for our triathlon. We will stay in the Lake Mead trailer tonight. Tomorrow we will practice swimming in Lake Mead to get used to our wetsuits. Then we will drive to St. George that afternoon and pick up our packets. Then the next morning is the race! Pretty excited! I am going to wish myself luck! Good luck! And good luck Skyler!

Almost There

Monday I swam 64 laps in 29:42 minutes. I miscounted my laps so it said 28:42, so I most likely had two more laps to swim. Oh well, it was a great time. I didn't have time to do anything else because I had to go grocery shopping and to Skyler's softball game.

Tuesday I rode my bike at home for 50 minutes. Not too bad. Then I went to yoga for an hour. I needed it. It's been probably a month or so since I got a good yoga session in. Tonight I will, sadly, only have time for swimming. I better make it good. Shin splints still bugging. Worried about run!

Oops

Well, Friday night I had a pretty good workout. I did the stair master for 30 minutes. Then I did some squats and arm weights. Then I did the elliptical machine for 25 minutes. Saturday we were supposed to have an elaborate workout involving swimming and biking, but it fell through. Instead I swam 64 laps at the gym in 30:10 minutes. I splurged on dessert today (I know I am so bad). I have two s'mores. Last night I had half of a brownie. Argh! At least I am working out a lot to work off the calories and fat. 6 more days!

Yeah

Last night I got a great workout. First, I did the stair master for 25 minutes. Then, I went to my spin class for 60 minutes. I pushed hard, as usual, and it felt great. Not sure what I am going to do tonight because tomorrow I am swimming. I don't want to run, my legs can't handle it. Probably just a lot of cardio, that's the only way I will be able to get rid of extra fat. 8 more days!

Better

Well, I swam again last night. Better than Monday. I swam 64 laps in 29:45 minutes. I like being under 30 minutes. After swimming, I did the elliptical machine for 30 minutes. I am bummed that I can't run yet. I have been icing my left shin for the past two days. Tonight I will go to my cycle class. Maybe before I can get some more cardio in. Race is in 9 days. Bummer part is that no one will be there to cheer us on. That always helps. At least Skyler will be there to cheer me through the finish line again.

Venting moment: I don't like it when people get on my case about eating healthy. People assume that my body is exactly how I want it and that I didn't need to do anything to get this way. I work very, very hard to keep my weight down. I don't get to eat sweets whenever I want. I don't get to come home from work and lounge around the house. I have to put in my time at the gym every day and eat non-good tasting food. And after all that, I am still not exactly how I want to be. I have tummy fat and wide hips. I hate that. Not hating, just saying.

Sucky!

I am so mad! Yesterday was going to be my big running outside day. Well, I got about a mile away from home before my shin splints came back in my left leg. There was no way that I wanted to ruin them more, so I stopped running. It took me quite a while to walk back home. The whole way I was fuming. All I can do is get mad! So I got home and decided that I would ride. I rode for about 2 episodes of Arrested Development, or 44 minutes. I told Skyler about my shin splints and he got mad at me for worrying about them. Of course I am going to be mad because our race is NEXT WEEK! He thinks I am too hard on myself. I seem to get shin splints right before every race because I up the amount of running that I do. Hopefully my run won't suck. Tonight I am swimming and doing some other cardio.

Ok start

Yesterday was the start of my two-week countdown to the St. George triathlon. I swam 64 laps in 30:22 minutes. I feel like my swim isn't getting better, almost worse. But maybe I just need to swim more often. Right now I want to focus more on the bike because that is the biggest chunk of the race. So after swimming I came home and rode my bike for 25 minutes. Tonight I will be running outside and doing yoga.

Meh.

Friday Skyler and I went to the gym together for the first time in probably a year. We have different schedules. Anyways, while he swam I began running only to start having shin splint pain. So I stopped after only 7 minutes. I did 30 minutes of elliptical instead. After I got home, I did 45 minutes on my bike. I am so glad that I have that trainer at home...it is helping me get more bike time.

Saturday I didn't go anything specifically geared towards training, but I got 5 workouts in for the week so I am happy with that. I made a training schedule for the next two weeks and I will be sticking to it. Tonight I am swimming for 30 minutes and then biking at home for 45 minutes. Good luck to me! Only 12 more days!