Tri training ain't easy....

I've decided to focus on the run and bike portion of my Tri training this week and have taken 1 spin class-- the first one I haven't actually hated-- and then I also brought my bike to Nashville with me and just finished a ride. It's been fun getting back on the bike and today did 9 miles averaging a 4.55 minute mile, which for the type of bike I have (hybrid) isn't bad. I would like to shave that down to 4:30 but need for my lower core and quads to strengthen up for that to happen. They give you 1.5 hours to finish the bike portion before they pull your ass off the course...but I'm going to shoot for one hour.

I ran....wait for it....2 miles yesterday without stopping. I felt good too...although I didn't enjoy it necessarily. I even sped up on the last 1/4 of mile. I average about 12:15 per mile and am going to try to get that down to 11:45 by race day which would put me around 36 minutes for the 5K. They give you 45....

The hardest part of all of this....no Ipod. The race doesn't allow you to use them so I haven't been training with them--- not sure if that's a good idea or not...cause I'm missing the music. I've taken to talking to myself and making up songs about strengthening my core.

Lastly, I've been doing my running indoors and my biking outdoors. I get so hot/over heated outdoors that I'm really hoping for nice weather for the day of the race.

That's it for now...there's a glass of wine in my future :)

E

Bike rack owner...

I mentioned yesterday that I signed up for a Triathlon. Oddly enough, I wasn't lying. So a few things that I've done to start preparing for the race that's on 9/29.

1. I took my bike to the shop for a tune-up.
2. I bought a bike rack (more on that later).
3. I bought 10 sessions at the city swim complex...I'll start that next week after my spray tan wears off...
4. I reached out to my friend Kim who just competed and won her division at a full Tri in Nashville..and she shared her training plan with me.

There's an odd type of person who owns a bike rack I've found. Characteristics of the bike rack owner seem to be...

-I'm both outdoorsy but not enough to get the inside of my car dirty with this bike
-I'm adventurous with my riding but am hitching my bike on the damn car to get there
-I like to blog about my back rack and or bike rack's in general

I just signed up for a Triathlon

More on this to come. But I'm nauseous just thinking about it. Oh. And it's in one month. I got this. Right?

Whoa Nelly.

So....since I've written I've started to recover from #Concussion13, I've help to execute 4 pretty massive events, I spent a week in a RV, hosted 1 bachelorette party (with another one this weekend) but today was my first day back with my personal trainer, Brandy. Let's just say, I cried.

It was hard. Really hard. Things that were challenging but do-able 3 weeks ago made me want to puke...in fact, I got very light-headed and almost puked everywhere. There were however a couple of good signs:

1. I was able to run 3/4 mile with a 11 min per mile pace and not flinch (that was all the time I had for warmup-- but I could have kept going)
2. I didn't actually puke or pass out.
3. I got up at 4:43AM to meet her...as her only availability was at 5:20.
4. I'm ready for to do it again

By the way, Business Planning is the worst fucking thing in the world for a diet. I'm just throwing that out there.

My head. Is sore.

So. Last week when I was trying to be sporty spice at Hexagon Wake park I dinged my head so hard that a couple of days later I developed signs of a concussion. So I took my happy ass to the doctor and turned out indeed...concussion. The good news, the CT scan showed no brain bleeding. The bad news...I was told no activity for 5-7 days-- no working out, no computers, no TV. I've been in so much pain and miserable for the past few days and Sunday night I hit rock bottom...so rock bottom that I got on the scale. It couldn't get much worse I thought so I jumped on...and I was shocked. It was about the same as the last time I had weighed (1 month ago)...that's right...1 whole month no weight loss. BUT....you can look at it and think 1 whole month...no weight gain :). 

Bottom line-- I didn't eat and/or drink very well in the past month-- pretty miserably actually. But...I kept working out like a champ. Gooo me. 

Now...the hard part...I can't workout for another few days so I have to be so careful about the food. And I've gone 4 days no wine...or booze of any kind so that will certainly help with the caloric intake. 

Wish me luck...

Chance of a Lifetime

Holy balls. I'M GOING TO PLAY SOCCER AT RED BULL ARENA! The arena is one of the only arena's in the world that was specifically built for soccer and considering I spent the first 18 years of my life playing soccer I'm beyond excited. 

I stopped playing soccer competitively when I shattered my ankle sliding into home when I was 20...8 screws and a plate later my soccer career ended. I played intramurally a few more years after then but would sprain my ankle every few games and at some point I just threw in the towel. BUT NOW....I've got to get back in the game. My ankle has been pretty steady for the past few years (only 3-4 sprains/knock on wood) and I think if I tape it then I should get back on the field in a rec league to prepare. 

The other thing is that I'm a goalie-- always have been--but being a goalie against women is way different than playing goal with guys behind the ball. There's no way our team can be competitive with me in goal...so I've got to re-learn how to play in the field. The last time I played the field I got slide tackled and tore every single ligament and tendon in my ankle...but that was a dirty play. And, it was 15 years ago.

So, here I go...back into the world of soccer. For a chance of a lifetime. Thank you Red Bull.

Mind Games....

I can't get over how hard it is to lose weight. It would be one thing if I didn't love food...but I do. When we were in West Palm re-charging ourselves I was on the right track. Then I came back to a week of meetings that had their ups and downs and I fell off the food wagon so to speak. Bagels, cream cheese, over eating...what was I thinking? Then it continued with some unexpected news from a friend that got in my head even more...and more bad eating. I snapped out of it relatively speaking on Wednesday of last week-- and the good part about this time of horrible food intake was that I never stopped working out hard.

The worst part? I'm scared to get on the scale. I mean, really scared. I can't do it. I won't do it. I can't bare to see it over 200 again and I just know that I'm back there. I know I'm being ridiculous-- but the mind games of this whole process are evil. The worst part...I'm lacking a good plan to get back on track. It's something I'm going to work on this week while I'm in Nashville. There's a good place where I hike pretty much every day in Nashville that is very therapeutic.

Wish me luck. Again.