You Are What You Eat!

You are what you eat!

I know this! I really do, but I’m like a terrible addict and refuse to admit it, until now. I did a tri of sorts at the gym on Sunday and I was just dragging @ss. I’ve made lots of changes in my lifestyle in the last 6 months, but I’m just not willing (ready) to do everything I KNOW I need to do. I feel like that show “Intervention” where they just ask the addict if they want to go to rehab and they say “no”! We in the audience are like “what? Are you an idiot?”

I eat appropriate portions, I usually eat low fat, I try to get a good variety. I don’t drink caffeinated/carbonated beverages. I eat appropriate calories during long workouts! My problem is that I enjoy FOOD, especially Carbs and Cheese! If someone makes cheesy, meaty lasagna, I’m going to eat it. If I see pizza, I’m going to eat it. My mother-in-law-s cheesy broccoli casserole- YYYUUUMMM!!! If there are chips and salsa near me; I’m going to eat them. I’ll eat a smaller portion than I used to, but I’m going to eat it. If someone brings Wings, I'm going to eat them! (I won't dip in Bleu Cheese). AND.... my big downfall.. if there are Peanut Butter Eggs in front of me, they will be in my mouth - I don't know how it happens, it just does.......You get the point!

I’ve made so many sacrifices with time and money with all this working out and training, and it's quite sad that I’m not ready to make this final leap. If I could really just take another 20 pounds off, I could actually be fast instead of just “steady.”

I know everyone has struggles somewhere, this happens to be mine. I’m not gaining weight, but I’m not losing it either. I’ve given up on that idea, just want to be fit. I know though, that I will not get much faster until I decide to make this change. If I want to make the 17 hr cutoff for Ironman in 2 years, I will have to eventually make this change!

I've tried a few times and it just pisses me off. I get hungry, or I look at some yummy food and I think "I'm working out 7-10 hrs a week, why the hell can't I have that pasta?" - then if I actually pass and don't eat it, I just think about it for the next 2 days.

Sad thing is I know what I need to do, I know when I make bad decisions, I am just not ready. I'll get there, I guess :(.

I had a couple of interesting “guilt” meals, both with personal trainer friends (Alexis and Nicole). Its really funny how your choices can change when the people that surround you change. Neither of them said anything in particular, just their presence made me make better decisions!

So again, I thank my support group :).

2 Miles inside my brain!

I swam two miles in the pool last night! That's 72 laps. I gave blood yesterday so I had to take it easy so it was like a "brisk walk" as far as impact, but it was still a challenging obstacle. I swam 1.5 no problem, just never tried 2 before. I'm sure I could swim longer, its the longer & "harder" part I have to work on.

Here was the hard part: Motivation!

The original plan was to swim 1 mile, then do a Pilates class. I was a little nervous of the giving blood thing, plus Jen who was going to do it with me, had to work late. I was driving to the gym and I tried to convince three others to come with me. I had one bite: Anne (Thank GOD)!

No Pilates and a 5 mile comitment to FB this week.. made me realize I had to try 2.
So I texted another friend and said I was going to do 2 miles tonight. - this gave me the accountability I needed.

Here's how the swim went, I have to let you in my brain to truly understand, from here I'm in the lane and swimming:

1-2-3, 1-2-3, 1-2,3, 1,2,3, (I'm a 3 breather), 1,2,3, 1,2,3, turn
1-2-3, 1-2-3, 1-2,3, 1,2,3, 1,2,3, 1,2,3 - click the lap counter
1-2-3, 1-2-3, 1-2,3, 1,2,3, , 1,2,3, 1,2,3, turn
1-2-3, 1-2-3, 1-2,3, 1,2,3, 1,2,3, 1,2,3 - click the lap counter
1-2-3, 1-2-3, 1-2,3, 1,2,3,4? --CRAP I FORGOT TO BREATHE, NOW I'M ON THE WRONG SIDE

1-2-3, 1-2-3, 1-2,3, 1,2,3,HEY MAYBE I'LL TRY A FLIP TURN.
1-2-3, 1-2-3, 1-2,3, 1,2,3,1,2,3, 1,2,flip.. OUCH.. SCRAPE FOOT ON BOTTOM.
CRAP I SHOULD TRY THAT AGAIN.

1-2-3, 1-2-3, 1-2,3, 1,2,3,1,2,3, 1,2,flip.- CRAP I'M ON THE BOTTOM, GOTTA SWIM PRETTY FAR TO GET TO THE SURFACE.

1-2-3, 1-2-3, 1-2,3, 1,2,3,1,2,3, 1,2,3 flip.- ooh got it that time.
1-2-3, 1-2-3, 1-2,3, 1,2,3,1,2,3, 1,2,3flip.-
1-2-3, 1-2-3, 1-2,3, I'M SLOWING DOWN.. OH MY HEAD IS LIFTING, LOWER MY CHIN.. 1,2,3
1-2-3, 1-2-3, 1-2,3, 1,2,3,1,2,3, 1,2,3flip.-
1-2-3, SLOW AGAIN, OH, LEGS DRAGGING, CRAP THATS FROM MY HEAD.. LOWER CHIN! - FLIP
1-2-3, 1-2-3, 1-2,3, 1,2,3,1,2,3, 1,2,3flip.-
1-2-3, 1-2-3, 1-2,3, 1,2,3,1,2,3, 1,2,3 - CRAP SCRAPED MY FOOT AGAIN- I'M DONE WITH FLIPPING SHIT.
1-2-3, 1-2-3, 1-2,3, 1,2,3,1,2,3, UGH LEFT ARM HURTS.. OH.. DUMBASS, YOU'RE BREAKING IT BEFORE YOU BRING YOUR RIGHT BACK.
1-2-3, 1-2-3, 1-2,3, 1,2,3,1,2,3, 1,2,3 TURN
1-2-3, 1-2-3, 1-2,3, 1,2,3,1,2,3, 1,2,3
1-2-3, 1-2-3, 1-2,3, 1,2,3,1,2,3, 1,2,3
OOH.. BUFF GUY IN LANE NEXT TO ME.. I'LL SPEED UP THIS LAP
CRAP HE'S SLOW..
HAHAH.. HE LASTED 3 LAPS.. AND IS OUT...
1-2-3, 1-2-3, 1-2,3, 1,2,3,1,2,3, 1,2,3
1-2-3, 1-2-3, 1-2,3, 1,2,3,1,2,3, 1,2,3
1-2-3, 1-2-3, 1-2,3, 1,2,3,1,2,3, 1,2,3
1-2-3, 1-2-3, 1-2,3, 1,2,3,1,2,3, 1,2,3

OK WHAT LAP AM I ON?? 26 ARE YOU KIDDING? WAIT THAT'S.... HM CAN'T COUNT ON MY FINGERS WHILE THEY'RE MOVING.. THAT'S ALOT OF LAPS TO GO.. AT LEAST 40.. UGH.. OK I HAVE 10 TO GET TO 1 MILE THEN I'M HALF WAY THERE..

1-2-3, 1-2-3, 1-2,3, 1,2,3,1,2,3, 1,2,3
1-2-3, 1-2-3, 1-2,3, 1,2,3,1,2,3, 1,2,3
UGH.. WAIT NOW I HAVE TO PEE.. I CAN HOLD IT.. BUT I'M IN WATER, AM I MAKING THIS UP TO MAKE AN EXCUSE TO GET OUT?
1-2-3, 1-2-3, 1-2,3, 1,2,3,1,2,3, 1,2,3
1-2-3, 1-2-3, 1-2,3, 1,2,3,1,2,3, 1,2,3
I REALLY HAVE TO PEE.. BUT IF I GET OUT, I WONT GET BACK IN.. OR I'LL LOSE THE LANE.
1-2-3, 1-2-3, 1-2,3, 1,2,3,1,2,3, 1,2,3
1-2-3, 1-2-3, 1-2,3, 1,2,3,1,2,3, 1,2,3
MAYBE IF I GO FASTER I'LL STOP THINKING ABOUT IT..
1-2-3, 1-2-3, 1-2,3, 1,2,3,1,2,3, 1,2,3
1-2-3, 1-2-3, 1-2,3, 1,2,3,1,2,3, 1,2,3
ITS GETTING WARMER IN HERE, DID SOMEONE ELSE PEE IN HERE? --OH THEY TURNED ON THE HEAT.
1-2-3, 1-2-3, 1-2,3, 1,2,3, 1,2,3, 1,2,3
1-2-3, 1-2-3, 1-2,3, 1,2,3, 1,2,3, 1,2,3
OK I'LL MAKE IT..
1-2-3, 1-2-3, 1-2,3, 1,2,3, 1,2,3, 1,2,3
WEIRD DUDE STANDING AT END OF MY LANE..
1-2-3, 1-2-3, 1-2,3, 1,2,3, 1,2,3, 1,2,3
1-2-3, 1-2-3, 1-2,3, 1,2,3, 1,2,3, 1,2,3
OOH... I HAVE LEFTOVER PIZZA IN THE FRIDGE, IF I FINISH I AM EATING ALL OF IT.. YUM..
1-2-3, 1-2-3, 1-2,3, 1,2,3, 1,2,3, 1,2,3
1-2-3, 1-2-3, 1-2,3, 1,2,3, 1,2,3, 1,2,3
1-2-3, 1-2-3, 1-2,3, 1,2,3, 1,2,3, 1,2,3
1-2-3, 1-2-3, 1-2,3, 1,2,3, 1,2,3, 1,2,3
PIZZA, PIZZA,PIZZA,PIZZA

Thank you!

I just wanted to say a quick thank you to everyone that has been reading the blog! I can't believe how many people are READING it, let alone telling me (Really - ME??) that I'm inspiring them to do something!

Your support is keeping me going, I think about my workouts and I think "ok what can I write about?, what would be valuable?." I started this blog thinking that maybe 1 or 2 people would read it, and it might be fun for me to keep a journal. I never expected this! It's turning out to help me be very accountable too! The support has also been very unbelievable, I'm getting lots of stories of people with similar situations and its nice!

Although I've yet to hear anyone with chicken in their shoe, or milk in their eye!

I will keep working and keep writing until you get bored of me, thanks everyone!

Importance of Workout Buddies!

I had a great swim yesterday, and decided I should get back in the groove today (Sunday). I used to have a group that would do a Spin class then a swim. There were about 4 of us, so on any given day we could count on at least one other person being there to keep us honest.

With the pool closure, the weather getting warmer, business trips (insert any excuse you like here), we all have gotten away from our routine. Alexis and I said yesterday "lets do the 8:45 spin tomorrow."

After we left, I texted the other workout buddies and no one else could or wanted to come, so it was just Alexis and I.

I woke up at 6:30 and had ZERO I mean ZERO motivation to go, I just wanted to crawl back under the covers and sleep. I knew I made a commitment to Alexis so I dragged my butt out of bed and got dressed.

Luckily I sent her a text thanking her for just being my buddy "hey thanks for spinning today, there's no way I would have got out of bed this AM w/o committing to you."

When I got to the gym, Alexis told me that about 1 minute before she heard my text she was just not feeling it, her daughter was up early and she was just going to text me and say she would just run later. My text made her re-think "crap, now I have to go." :).

Neither of us would have made it today without the other! A support group is SO important! I'm so thankful for mine! (And you do need more than one, in case someone really does have a conflict).

Not only did I have a great spin class, but I also swam another mile today- time: 47 min. Not fast, but also not in a wetsuit, I'm very happy for this time!

On the Murphy's law note. I swear my name should have been Murphy! I picked up a gallon of milk on my way home, I guess I was tired from the 2 hour workout. I dropped the gallon of milk on the ground outside of my car! It splattered UP and hit me in the face. I had milk IN MY EYE. (see Feb 12 entry for another story about my stupidity). Let me tell you, Milk in the eye is VERY ITCHY!!! I'd rather have chlorine in it!

Lesson learned today - keep milk out of my eyes :).

POOL IS OPEN and I feel like a Leaf!

After a month of being closed, the Bally's pool is finally open! Those that know me, know I have been appropriately compensated for the lack of ability to work out ;).

It has been quite the struggle to swim, and I have to say that the pool closure really fizzled my motivation. Swimming is my strong sport (I'm not fast, just strong), so when this goes, the rest of it is extremely hard to bring back into the picture! In the past month I swam in the "lap pool" (see April 6 entry), then April 7 I got a 1/4 mile in the dive shop's pool but that's it. The dive shop is a little better than the lap pool but it's only 48 feet rather than the 25 yards, plus I had to wrestle with the "cleaning robot."

I have a race in 3 weeks and since I purchased a new wetsuit, I really needed to test it out. I typically race with a sleeveless wetsuit and am very comfortable with that; as a matter of fact, as a divemaster I'm rather comfortable with most wetsuits! BUT, big but.. you should NEVER try something out the first time on race day - so I reluctantly took my brand new xterra wetsuit into the chlorinated pool!

The first 50 yards were VERY WEIRD, I felt like a leaf. I haven't swam with a wetsuit in several months. I do love the buoyancy and trim you get! After the first lap I got it, and was able to sink my head enough to get UNDER the water instead of floating around on top. I did about 1/3 of a mile before it was too hot to continue. I don't need heat stroke in the pool. (indoor pools are 85-90 degrees, not a good combo for wearing a wetsuit). The most awesome thing was that I was pacing to a 36 minute mile with the suit on. This isn't incredibly fast for Triathletes, but I consider myself in a different category and I'm quite happy with that time! BTW I finished off the mile without the wetsuit!

I guess even though the pool was closed, I still retained some of the knowledge of the Total Immersion! YEA! 3 weeks though to freeze my rear off!

On another awesome note, I'm so proud of my training partner Alexis. She totally kicks ass in general but for some reason didn't think she could swim a mile. Before the swim I said "ok today we do 36 laps." She said "How far is that?" - to which I replied "I'll let you know when we're done."

She finished the mile no problem :).

See, you can do anything you put your mind to! I'm very convinced of this!

Another Ride- A Little Better

I rode with Anne on Sunday, it was a bit better than the last one. I'm still disappointed in myself, but I'm going to take a chapter out of Anne's book and be happy with my accomplishments. We rode the sprint course that's near my house and with traffic, no flaggers to allow us to run red lights, and an insane head-wind - we beat our best RACE time on the course by a few minutes. I have been training TONS more this year so I am expecting lots more out of myself but I will take this one win.

Note the picture, Anne kicked my ass ;)

Chi Running

I had my first Chi Running Clinic last night. A myriad of issues landed me with a private lesson over 90 minutes away from my house.

I first learned about Chi Running from some friends: Alexis and Wendy. I was exited to learn that I COULD potentially run without pain or frustration. Prior this, I absolutely HATED running. My knees, chest, shins, feet always hurt - and it was just BBOOOORRRRIIINNNGGG!!!

I had signed up for a clinic at the Boston Multi-Sport Expo. I had a blonde moment or something and signed up for the wrong class (advanced). Luckily Ryan, one of the instructors, said he would be happy to bring me up to speed personally at another time. (Thank goodness, or I would have been out $55). This turned out to be a blessing in disguise! I bought the book and the DVD. I read most of the book before my Chicago Trip, thus the reason I was able to do 30 miles in a week.

For those that don't know - Chi Running concentrates on posture, balance and using "the force" to run, not "leg muscle power." - One thing I just love is you don't bounce around when you're doing it in the right form. This for me means no knee or chest pain!

I was armed with 30 miles of practice, a book of knowledge and a private class! I came to the clinic with an open mind that "I'm going to run." - I haven't adopted "Born to run" but hey I'm starting somewhere!

Ryan was encouraging, I told him the areas I thought I already had problems with such as holding my head in the correct posture (problem for me in swimming, walking, and just sitting at my desk) and YUP, that was confirmed. He identified a couple other areas for me to work on, such as not showing the bottoms of my feet to the person in front of me - apparently that's what caused this MASSIVE knot in my calf from my Chicago "marathon." He also said that I "got" the basics quicker than most (YEA, I needed that after that stupid bike ride).

The really weird thing is someone telling me - five foot one Laura - to "shorten my stride" - REALLY?? - I must become a V8!

I'm excited to try to run again, even short distances.

Ryan invited me to run with his group on Wed nights & I really have to get over my intimidation of 'holding people back.' I know I am a turtle, but he said that the faster runners NEED to have slow people with them, it makes them stop and think about their form because they tend to forget :)..... ok I'll take that.

There is so much to think about that I won't have time to be bored. Hopefully I'll RUN the whole race on May 9th :).

First Bike Ride of the Season

UGH!

I could end the post there!

I had high hopes, it was a beautiful evening and I was ready to go for my first outside ride. The town recently cleaned most of the sand, leaves, and dirt from the winter. There were just a few spots of runoff left from the floods but nothing that was impassable.

Nicole, my personal trainer, just bought a new bike so she wanted to go for a ride, so I thought AWESOME, she'll really push me. It started out ok, but I quickly realized that I'm NOT in the shape I thought I was in. The first few miles of my typical course are pretty scary in regards to traffic and crossing interstate on-ramps. I just worked as hard as I could to get through that area, only to get to the other side and realize just HOW out of breath I was. I felt really bad that I was keeping Nicole from "working out" and she was just doing a leisurely stroll!

I'm sure it's all relative, I have some friends that may read this that wouldn't even try a 14 mile ride the first time out - and I have some friends that regularly do 40.. but I'm comparing myself to myself and UGH.. uber-frustrating!

I guess I have some work to do!

I'm going to swim tonight with the full arm wetsuit, something I haven't done yet. Then I have a Chi-Running clinic tomorrow - whohoo! Hopefully those will go better!

A fishbowl and 30 Miles!

Spending a week away from home is always interesting. Adding to the previous post about contingencies, you really do have to PLAN your workouts accordingly. I knew going in that I couldn't ride a bike for the week and I'd have to swim and run for the week.

I contemplated two different hotels in Chicago, the Intercontinental and the Hilton Homewood Suites. The Hilton serves breakfast AND dinner, plus they have full kitchens. That means I wouldn't have to spent time worrying about what to eat, where to eat, and if I had left overs I could re-heat it. On the other hand the intercontinental has this INCREDIBLE pool - full Olympic size, Italian marble, just amazing pool! So, as I weighed the differences, I read about the Hilton Pool and it said "Lap Pool" - I thought "ok, I'll manage and I'll benefit from the extra time I'll save on finding food."

Monday AM I woke up at 6, put on my suit and went UP - yes UP to the pool on the 19th floor. It certainly was a lap pool, if by lap they meant the sound a dog makes when drinking!!! I tried to do a 1/2 mile in there, but I was actually getting DIZZY! I stopped kicking and tried to do circles, and it felt like I was in a fishbowl, or like I was a shark circling my prey.

Needless to say that was the ONLY day I swam last week!

On a brighter note.. it was the most gorgeous week weather-wise! I started out with a 3 mile jog on Monday night down the Chicago River walk to Lake Michigan. I love that they have this awesome fitness path!! From here I just became obsessed. I am trying to learn Chi-Running - AND - I was trying to take pictures. So I just took the camera on my jogs, alternated hands so it was like I was running with a weight.

It is so easy to rack up the miles in a big city with beautiful architecture, and amazing weather. Before I knew it I was up to 17 miles, at that point I knew I had to complete "A Chicago Marathon" before I left on Friday.

By Friday AM, I had 3 miles to go, so I headed out for a run at sunrise. Of course I didn't bring the good camera and it was the most spectacular sunrise! I ended up doing 4 miles without even noticing. I ended the evening out with some additional walking before my flight so I had a nice round 30 for the week.

Now I need to find something interesting to look at while running at home, because my street is boring as hell and 1 mile seems like eternity!