I ROCKED my swim today!

After I was cut loose from work today at 1500, I quickly changed and headed to my delicious temporary pool. Goal was 2000meters. Once I hit 2000, I decided to keep going until I reached 3000. I was tired, people, exhausted, winded, and ready to stop. I definately pushed myself beyond my comfort zone, something I admit to not doing often, which BTW I am one of those that are content with it that way. I started feeling that the line in my lane was going diagnolly instead of straight. Anyhoo, I did it and finished 5 minutes before the pool closed. If I would have done 2 more laps, it would have been 2 miles. It felt great!! This was the furthest swim I've had to date (so far). I had the same pace for 3000m that I had on Friday for 1500m. Go figure.

I. Love. Swimming. Really, really do.

Yesterday, still being as sore as I was from the weights the other day. Stupid me... I just did some Pilates, and went for a walk at dusk. As I needed to cross an intersection on base, I ran across it and, freakin' A, I still have a bad shin. I've given them time and the TLC needed, so why do they still hurt? This so sucks.

Today and some of yesterday was spent doing courses to prepare me to work (well 2 wks a yr, anyway) in that particular command. It's a lot of security related stuff, stuff that would bore you all, but really peaks my interest. If I was on Active Duty, I'd love to get stationed there.

Tommorrow after I get cut loose, I am going for a ride. I have no idea how far yet as it all depends on when they let me go. I'll be spending the entire morning getting CPR re-qual, which I need to anyway. Hopefully, they'll feel a little sorry for me having to work on the 10th of Sept and let me leave for the day at lunchtime. :-)

Am I a nerd because I just watched the new 90210?

Ta-Ta

Beautiful day

We couldn't have asked for better weather today here in the Upstate for both of us to complete our bricks. Right now, my little weather icon in my tray says 57 degrees, and it's 8:05pm. Luvin' it!

Grace's bike ride went well last night. :-) She had a blast, did 2 loops of the path we have behind our home. It was 1 loop more than the last time.



Lunch today was a quick jet home from work to work on my core. I have been doing this video by Ana for a while, although not as consistent as I'd like. I'm going to do Pilates and strength training twice a week. I think it will be easy to fit into the schedule because it's only 30 min and I can do that in the AM before going to work.

After work, I had a brick scheduled and was actually looking forward to it all day. I rode the trainer, then headed outdoors. My cateye (bicycle computer) is jacked up. It wasn't user error on Sunday when it stopped working. David is gonna look at it, but I'm sure it's just decided to stop working. So, I'll need to get a new one. Because of that, I dont know my exact pace. The miles, and time weren't working but pace was. Of course, I was all over the place with it. I don't think I pushed as hard on the trainer as I should have considering the run went well. After I finished, I came upstairs, changed shorts, grabbed Garmie and headed out. I've been doing a few runs (including the 10K I did a few wks back) without the ipod and it was quite nice. I think from now on, I'll do my short runs with no ipod. The hill out of our neighborhood didn't phase my legs as much as it has. I felt awesome on the run, came in the door smiling. I feel somewhat ready for Saturday!

Bike (trainer) 40:00 ~9.71 miles
Run 2.4 miles 23:33 (9:50)

9:59
9:57
9:06 (.4 mi)

Tomorrow is a short, hopefully intense swim of about 550yds and strength training. Thursday will be a easy run, 4 miles and about 20 min of stretching. Friday will be a rest day, finally. After 7 days of working out, I'll embrace it.

Afte the tri this weekend, we have exactly 3 wks to prepare for the Charleston Bridge 10K. So, the running will increase for the both of us with hill work. The bridge is 4% incline for about a mile and challenging, but I look forward to it.

Off to relax (more) and read ya'lls blogs!

Drained

Weird to say this, but I'm glad it's Monday. I actually look forward to Monday's after my reserve weekends. I'm tired, exhausted, my brain hurts from taking a 2-hr advancement exam, and now I smell of chlorine while I slouch in my cubie. I'm drained, my mind is drained, and my legs hurt a little, too. I'm looking forward to getting things back to normal this week at work and at home, then comes another trip Friday afternoon to Beaufort, SC.

Thanks everyone for the well wishes for Grace. It seems as soon as she got her medicine, she started to feel better and hasn't complained about her ears since. She's on it for 10 days, and is taking it like a champ. Must be delicioso.

As much as I seem to complain about Drill weekends, it's really not that bad. I'm in a leadership role and it can be a little babysitting, but my department seems really squared away and self-sufficient. And, I'm busy the entire time I'm there, so it goes by pretty fast. I've got some responsibility thrown back into my lap over the weekend for the next few months. A job I gladly resigned from 6 months ago that I held for over 4 yrs. I think having that title for that long was holding me back from advancement, so I had to move on. Anyway, it's going to be a busy month for me to get ready to facilitate the Fitness test for the entire center next month. It's a mountain of paperwork, and tracking spreadsheets, etc. So, all in all - I enjoy what I do, Love the Navy, and am proud to serve my Country. It's just draining to work 5 days, drill 2 days, then back to work for 5 days, and this week, Sat is a triathlon.

Saturday was a planned bike ride with a friend from work. But, the 22 mph wind threw that out the window. I couldn't just not do anything, and the pool closed at 4. So, I opted for 35 min of strength training (including 3 planks :-) ) and 30 min of Pilates. It's all in the log.

My friend and I rode the Donaldson Center loop yesterday, and David even made it back in time from Atlanta to join us. His ride was leisurely, occasionally sticking his bum in the air to show us his spandex. We did the loop twice, and my bike computer decided not to work for the first 1-2 miles, then I screwed it up when we got back by hitting it again, before our run. So, I don't have an accurate time/exact distance. But, we estimated. Afterwards, friend and I ran 1 mile.

Bike (really reals roads) 14.6 miles ~1 hr
Run 1 mile (10:04)

Today I swam at lunch and it wasn't great. I had time issues again, but with my watch. During a lap somewhere near the end of the swim I must have hit stop, somehow. A great triathlete, swimmer, and Y lifeguard, Pam, gave me pointers on my stroke. Apparently, I was bringing my right arm all the way back but was cutting my left stroke short, bringing my arm out of the water in the middle, instead of following the stroke through. Who knew? So, after she told me to try it that way - It felt awesome. I could feel a difference, felt stronger during the entire stroke, and felt more level to the water. Amazing! I welcome her swimming tips. I think I sped up some too, but not sure. I will swim 1 more time before the tri this Sat, probably in my tri get-up.

500 yds - 13:06
250 yds - ~5:24

So, 5 more days before Big Parris Island Triathlon. It is a filled triathlon, capped at 500 participants and the first one of the season for the SC tri series. More importantly, (Yes, I'm biased), it's the 1st tri for team TYB Racing . There are quite of few doing the event so it should be fun! A few local friends doing the tri are Chris, and Eric, great guys! I'm a bit nervous, but feel more prepared than I was last Aug at Greenville tri. I don't think I'm totally prepared for this, but am expecting and WILL absolutely push myself beyond my comfort zone.

Tonight, Grace gets to get on her bike and ride. She's excited about it and of course, I'll take pictures.

Congrats to bloggers: Lisa, Tayrn and Karen for having an awesome Half-Marathon event that turned out very positive for all! Jess and Michelle had fantastic 4 mile races that ended with PR's and speedy times!!! You all are winners!

Hump Day workout(s)

I woke up at 5:00 this morning, and just could not go back to sleep. I tossed and turned just trying my best to snooze more, but it wasn't in the cards, I suppose. So, I got up and did a Pilates session with ms Ana. I have a hard enough time following her doing those poses and such when I'm awake, but this morning I was falling all over the place. I'm so uncoordinated when it comes to those things. Oh well. I do like that video though, and will probably buy a few of her others.

After Pilates, I did 15 min of stretching my legs, then 100 crunches.

Training today was "bike 30 min" and I did it on the trainer. Easy enough.

NOT - I did it, but it sucked.

I had a numb bum the entire time. I guess I just gotta get the oh derrière used to the saddle again. It's not like I don't have enough cushion back there. But, the good news is I got to watch the first season episode of Boston Legal. I love that show. The relationship between Denny and Alan cracks me up. Since I didn't watch it from the beginning, I received the 1st season for Christmas.

Amazon received a purchase from me yesterday. Yup! I cracked down and twisted my own arm, had that conversation with myself that ultimately lead me to think I NEEDED a new Garmin. The one Mendy on my shoulder said "look at all you can do with a new Garmin, the data you can download and analyze". The other side didn't have a leg to stand on. Screw sending the 201 in. I'm getting the 205, baby. Yes, I know Wes, you mentioned the 405... but I don't roll with that kind of cash in my pockets.

To answer your comment, Jess about my shin pain. Yes, it does hurt when I touch the shin. It's funny, because just this morning, I was telling my co-worker about my shin and that it hurt to touch it lightly or rub it a little. So, I do need to my due diligence research and get it fixed. We are heading to my favorite home-away-from-home tonight, Target, and I will be picking me up a brace you mentioned. Thanks! I would like to have a pain-free run sometime soon.

It feels good to already be done with training for the day. Now, we can go enjoy some Mexican food and a trip to Target.

Happy Hump Day buddies!

Out of the rut

Finally, I think I'm getting out of the rut of not caring about working out. I'm not doing the amount of exercise I was before, but I feel like that time's finally come. A training plan may start really soon and it will push me back into running, and I'm sure after a few runs, I'll be enjoying it again. I'll deal with my leg issue as it comes and may be investing in some massage therapy, etc.

We had a fantastic weekend! Church today was great! For the 2nd week, I've ran into an great old high school friend, and she's as sweet as she was many, many years ago. Plus friends that own our local coffee shop showed up too! Neat. We went to our Friends's son's baseball tournament, but unfortunately caught the end of it, then we all went to eat. We always have a great time with them! After a few errands, we took Grace to a park and she rode the train, got on her bike, played in the park.

I know this is boring. I'm exhausted, can't you tell? blah... blah...

Friday:
Upright Bike 15:00
Elliptical 15:00

Sat:
Bike (trainer) 30:00, 8.17 miles, 16.2mph

Sun:
Pilates





Tomorrow, I'm jumping in the pool for some laps. Miss it! Off to turn in. My eyes are practically closed and it's only 10:00.

Congrats to JavaMom for competing in her first triathlon! Woo hoo! You did awesome!

Back in the pool

Ahhh... felt so very good to be back in the water today. I took my swim stuff with me to NY, and planned to get in the base's indoor pool to do laps while I was gone. I was so amped up the Tuesday after the tri to go to the pool and - crap - it was closed for the summer. So, the last time I swam was at the tri Aug 18. Felt like a decent swim today.

Today:
500yds - 12:54
1 min rest
500yds - 11:38

As I was coming out of the locker room, feeling proud that I did 1000yds, instead of my usual 500yds and feeling great that my 2nd 500 was faster, I ran into Beth. Beth is a wellness director at the YMCA (another location), who led the triathlon clinic both David and I have done. She's a machine, more of a machine than most guys I know, definately out of all the girls I know. She's completed a lot of triathlons, having done many (I don't know how many) half IM's. What I like about her is that she's very encouraging especially to those of us beginners and slow competitors, and she's so very humbled. She just seems happy to be doing it what she's doing. I admire that. So, she was on her way into the locker room, and I asked what she was doing today. She said swimming, and that she didn't know her plan called for a long workout - Yeah, she was there to do like 3000yds. I just (not yet) can wrap my mind around that much swimming in an afternoon. Then she's got to head home to her hubby and 3 kids.

So, I did my Pilates video I bought in Target last week. LOVE it! However, I felt like a complete clown, falling on most poses and definately not looking as poised as the lady on the video. How do they do that? and look that calm? Anyhoo, glad I was alone - David would have been laughing at me and Grace would have been in the way trying to climb on my back, etc. But, today my core region and my buttcheeks are S-O-R-E!!! So, guess it works. Can't wait to do another session this weekend.

Have a great weekend everyone and don't wind up with a head cold like David and I have!!!