Holidays are hard

Yesterday - 3 mi - 00:40:25.
Today - massive head cold.

Easier said than done..

Round Two with the Evil Stomach Virus of 2010 left me pretty weak. I still haven't really had a meal in five days but I figured I may as well get my ass back to work. Unfortunately, I backslid a LOT and it's really demotivating:
3 mi - 00:40:30
Walked a lot, legs gave way. Chalking it up to improper nutrition and slight dehydration.

Time is hard to ration out

After getting the stomach virus that has passed around town, I find myself using my energy (hydration + clean eating + FRS) to CLEAN MY HOUSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Tomorrow I am doing MY workout FIRST before work or anything else. This is ridiculous.
3 miler.

Hal Higdon Day 3

Not bad.. 3 miles is still easier than two for some reason -

3 mi - 00:38:56

4 miles on Saturday, will be running on the mills at Fitness For Everybody around 8am. Come one, come all.

Hal Higdon says RUN

2 mi @ race pace: 00:24:37

It hasn't been that long.. since we drank to the sunset, until it was gone

Thank God for Alkaline Trio.
3 mi (o.1 walking warmup) - 00:39:41

Tomorrow: 2 mile at race pace (12:00), core and swim.

Whatever mental block I had before is gone for Run. I was sweating by the end of this 40 minutes, but wasn't out of breath or overly tired, so I think a 13 minute mile is my training pace for now. It's amazing that two months ago I was really tired thinking about running for five minutes, and now I can go an easy 40. I have a feeling this is just the beginning of the whole ordeal.

Jingle Bell Run... 1st (of many) on the path to the real deal...

Well.. did my 5k in 00:36:24. I walked for minutes 20:00 - 23:00, so I think that I could have shaved it down a bit more. Not bad overall. I need to lose 4 minutes to be with the pack in a 5k but I finished with my friends Julie and Jackie, which is a great feeling. Looking for a 10k towards the end of January/beginning of February.

Last night, she said..

2.25 mi - 00:29:40

A week off... and a painful return. RUN & SWIM

Well... Thanksgiving - didn't eat much, but held the liquid diet down pretty hard. In the process, I lost three lbs, but not really the way I need to lose them. Been feeling weak these last few days, so yesterday and today have really focused on increasing my protein intake and decreasing loose carbs and sugars.
Upon return to the gym:

Run:
1.8 ish miles (crappy treadmill kept stopping every time I increased or decreased speed which really is not good for my ADD) in about 22 minutes or so

Swim:
4x25 - warm up/alternating crawl/breast

5X100 with minute breaks between intervals: 15:57.

Eating half a sweet potato and some turkey breast and getting my (getting smaller) @$$ back to work.

RUN

2.5 mi - 00:32:48

(yes, I figured I'd better start getting myself psyched up to run over an hour)

Had a rough girl week, easing back into training.

After some evaluation of my running and early 2011 goals, I am switching over to the Hal Higdon 1/2 marathon plan as of December 6, 2011.
.. yes, the novice plan :^/
http://www.halhigdon.com/halfmarathon/novice.htm

Research

I just made the mistake of looking up an endurance swimming training plan. Their basic workout is 2000 yards, and maxing out at 8000. That is A VERY LONG SWIM!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm going to try to increase 50 yards a week, 100 if I'm feeling good. I'm getting worried about the amount of time this training is going to consume.

Operation Split Workouts continue

Run:
2.5 mi - 32:54 (PB)
Swim:
2x25 (warm up, get my shoulders on the same page as my legs)
5x100 with 1 minute rests - 16:42

Need to work on my diet, definitely had enough energy at the end of the workout, two hours after the workout I wanted to go to sleep. Ideas?

SWIM, RUN & (sort of) RIDE

Swim
50 yds - warm up
3 x 100 - slow pace 1/2 crawl 1/2 breast
3 x 50 on 2 minute intervals - 1:06 avg
500 yards total/20 laps. Approximately 20 minutes. Still shaky.
Run
2.5 mi - 33:34 min
Cross
Squat/Lunge/Ab circuit & Stretch
Bike
From my house to Tommy's and back. Maybe a mile? Drank half a beer on the way there and a quarter of a rum drink on the way back.
YES TRI TRAINING IS AWESOME!!!!

Friday...TGIF or ouch?

Thursday was a total waste of time, due to an impromptu hangover. I really need to pay attention. High protein lunch - run/swim then base gym with Gail.

Sink or SWIM

First swim went well. Let's tally:
Swimsuit/goggles - $55.00
Yards swum/swam/whatever - 400 yards
Time swimming - approx 18 minutes (intervals with 1.5 min breaks)
Getting called out by old lady at YMCA for not swimming long enough: ego-crushing.

SO I swam 400 yards. The Ironman 70.3 distance is 2112. So I swam 18.9% of the Ironman distance.

Oh yeah - tip to chickies starting a pool regimen in cold weather - check the leg fuzzies. YOWZA!

.../).../)...

Time management is not my friend. Going to try to get in a mid-day swim and a late afternoon run.

I woke up for a run and remembered my whole weekend..

2.5 mi - 34:40 min.
Talk about the Tuesday after! My last run was Friday night and I ate like crap and drank all weekend. Must plan better for working out.

SWIM update:

The pool is scary and literally ALL the people there look like vampires with no tan lines.

Recovery is exhausting...

... or so it seems. Didn't quite get everything accomplished, so 5k training in the am, swim at lunch if I can make it into work early, and gym with Gail in the afternoon. Crosstrain with Cyntergy on Saturday AM & sauna. I feel the need to research some supplements. My mid-afternoon crash was brutal today. I took some FRS (the diet lemon-lime) drink, but it's creepy. It looks like liquid Kryptonite. It helped though because I'm still up.

Triathlon Prep Stage 1: SWIM

So I'm getting set for the swim portion. I found a coach (Doc), have an immediate short term training goal (swim 5x200 yards in 3 min intervals). However, I also found out that 200 yards is like, 3 laps in a huge pool, so I'm thinking five minute intervals are in order. Plus I have to kick the mentality that swimming is for fun and you should have a cocktail in your hand while doing it. So, a trip to the swimsuit store is in order, which should be entertaining since my sailing tan has left me looking similar to a panda bear. I get the feeling the YMCA is going to regret this.
Tomorrow is that stuff and a rest. Friday is my first attempt at a swim training, plus a second session with Gail after work. Hmm... where'd that RedLine go??

5k training

2.30 mi - 31:25

Disclaimer

I sail, I drink, I don't run, I CAN swim (but generally only when the boat flips) and I have a beach cruiser that doesn't belong to me.

I want to be an Ironman before I turn 30. For those of you that don't know me, that day is 22 December 2012. I want to compete in an Ironman in the spring of 2012. Hopefully NOLA is hosting one again that year. That would be ideal.

As you can see - I have quite a long way to go.

If you are reading this and you don't know me: here's a quick disclaimer - this blog is going to suck. It's going to be boring, and won't be about any of the fun stuff I do - Sail, hang out with the best kid ever, make poor decisions all over the Central Gulf Coast and listen to copious amounts of music. You can find me on facebook for that stuff.

This blog is primarily going to be about triathlon training and a way to get advice from people like my little brother Thomas and my friend/hero Millie Rice. If you are a seasoned triathlete - you won't find much good advice here. Feel free to contribute, but don't laugh too much. If you like to sit on the couch and drink beer and watch this stuff on TV - you're still probably better off finding something better to do.

That said, training fo' real started on Nov 1 2010. Don't worry - I'm bringing it.