First (real) 5k

I entered my first real 5k today. I've done others but walked most of the way. This one I'm hoping to run the entire way. My goal time is 40 minutes ( a little slow, I know), but I've been running them in 45 minutes right now, so knocking five minutes off by running the whole way will be good for a goal, I think. Mostly, I just want to finish having run the whole thing...no matter how long it takes me!

My mom and dad and Kayle all said they wanted to do the run with me, too, and now that I've signed up, I suppose they will too. That will be fun, although I know I'll come in last...sad day! I don't quite understand why I struggle more with running than most people. It seems other people can train for a 5k with few problems, yet I seem to be struggling as all hell.

The run is a Jingle Bell run for Arthritis. My goal is to earn $100 for the cause. I know it's the Christmas season and the economy sucks, but if anyone can donate just $10 to the cause, it would a great contribution. My Web site is here. There you can donate or sign up if you'll be in the Tulsa area on the 13th!

Thanksgiving plans

The past few days I have NOT wanted to go to the gym. My days were long at work and the thought of waiting another hour and half (or more) before actually getting home and eating dinner was NOT making Jessica happy. But of course, I'm stubborn, so I went.

Running today sucked. It's all about the treadmill now that it's dark after work. I tried to run 1/4 mile quickly, another 1/4 slowly and then walk about 1/8 or so. My goal was to do that 4 times so I could do a mile at each speed. I didn't happen. After three, I had to only do 1/8 at slow, walk some, and then another 1/8 at slow. I couldn't muster up the energy...plus, I still had to swim! I went 2.5 miles or so, for about 40 minutes at incline 1 (which is just supposed to balance out wind resistance). Swimming was fine, but I didn't push my legs too far because I ran. My lungs are getting back up to where they were before I stopped-ish for the month. That's good news.

I can't decide whether I want to try to work out tomorrow (my day off) before I head to Tulsa after work or just try to fit it in before turkey on Thanksgiving. I want to be available to help my mom with the cooking, so I'd have to do it before noon. Let's be honest, working out post turkey won't happen. I'll probably do that because I'm tired. I have to work Friday too, so I have to come back here after dinner...then Friday night I'm heading to Norman to visit my boyfriend. Yay for driving!

I feel like I have no time at home to do anything. I haven't finished unpacking and I have so many other things I want to get done, but I'm never home. I work, train, talk to my boyfriend, go to bed early (for me). On the weekends, I'm leaving town (or sometimes have guests). I guess I shouldn't complain. It keeps me from getting bored or lonely. I've always been a fan of "me" time, but now it seems like most of my "me" time is working out. I guess it should be right now. Again, I don't want to complain. I choose to do it all and to be honest, I love it all. You're just lucky I found time to tell you all this!

An update for you folks

Nothing about this week was as it was supposed to be, but I'm not complaining.

It started off with me not being able to swim my first real training day back. I ran instead, preparing to swim Sunday. Friday I didn't bike because I planned on visiting my parents that weekend and I looked forward to biking with them. The wind and the cold sent my parents to the gym, but I toughed it out and went for a ride. If it's daylight outside, I'd rather bike there...at least for now. Sunday I did swim, but Kayle came to visit, so she joined me.

Monday I was supposed to swim. I got up, showered, went to work and expected to swim on my long lunch break since I had to work late. Well, I'd just blown dry my hair mere hours earlier and I wasn't interested in doing it all again! So, I went home and ran 3 miles instead. Well, I ran a little more than 2 miles, but I went 3. It took me 45 minutes...a little sad? Anyway, then Tuesday I was going to double up semi like normal and swim and bike. My boyfriend was coming to visit, but not until really late, so even though I got off work late, I'd have time to do both. Well, as I got to the gym, he called to tell me his last class (which is 3 hours long!) was canceled and he could be there in 45 minutes! Hell ya! Even though he's an awesomely supportive boyfriend and told me to double up anyway and he'd just be there when I got there, I ignored that and swam and went to see him! It was so great to have him in town! I miss him so much when we are staying in different cities! Anyway, Wednesday was a day off, which I spent with Nick. We did bowl though.

I'm mostly doing a paragraph break here because that one is getting long and I know it's daunting. Anyway, today I doubled up swimming and biking. I will also bike tomorrow after work before heading back to Norman to visit my beau, my buds and my football team! My "cross training" on the off day this week will in fact be a football game. It's a huge game, I've got tickets, and it's gonna be awesome. We will probably walk about a mile up there and back...plus be standing a lot. It will have to do. Maybe Nick and I can play some DDR earlier that day...Moving on, Kayle and I are planning on running Sunday before I leave town, so I am excited about that too.

Soon, I think I'm going to change my schedule around. I think it will be best to have Mondays and Fridays off because of my work schedule and the fact that I'll be traveling a ton on the weekends now. I'll give it a couple more weeks to get the hang of the work thing and for football season to be over with. (Sad day!) Anyway folks, I'm still on the track, even though stuff gets pushed around...Later!

Sad, sad story

I was supposed to swim today, remember? I was totally stoked about it. Well...all week I'd been ignoring this sign on the door that said the pool was closed today because of a swim meet. Cool. So I went home (I only had pool stuff with me), disappointed to eat dinner, change and go back to run later.

In the meantime, I develop this awful headache and I'm so tired. Finally, I convince myself to go because I'd been looking forward to using the hot tub there all day. I figured I go, run my ass off, do some weights, then relax for a half hour in the hot tub reading a book. Really, I needed that hot tub time. I've been sore all day. My legs are a little sore from Zumba yesterday and my shoulders are tight and sore due to sitting at a desk on a computer all day for two days coupled with Zumba yesterday as well. I wanted to help my muscles relax. Well, I get to the treadmill (sad day when the sun goes down so early!) and run 20 out of 30 minutes. I thought it was alright time. I haven't worked out for real in nearly a month, so it's not bad. Anyway, I'm totally sweating and my legs feel like jello when I try to get off the treadmill (again, they were already tired), I do some weights and I head down to the locker room. I take an awkward shower (I forgot flip flops...gross!) then head to the hot tub. I turn it on and...the jets just spray all over the place. They hit the top of the tub and splash all over the locker room...cool. Thanks. I couldn't make it do anything else, so I left, sad, tired and sore. I lose.

My hot shower didn't do the trick.

Back to that running. It's definitely my worst "subject." Since it's been so long since I've run, I don't take it too hard. But then again, we're half way through with our training and I can't run a solid 3.1 miles, let alone quickly after biking and swimming! So here's the deal, folks. A month from now (Dec. 13, 2008), I will run 3.1 miles, solid. I'm actually going to look and see if there are any scheduled runs to participate in. I'm doing it. I need to. I figured I need to be able to run like 5 miles solid to be able to do 3.1 with any kind of speed post the first two tri events. That's my goal by tri time. 3.1 in a month.

Also, I'm training to be an endurance athlete, right? So I can't just be working out 30 minutes anymore. Starting next week (after I get my body retrained to work out), I'm bumping it up to 45 at least for swimming and running and an hour biking. Conditioning...that's what this is all about!

Zumba Zumba!

So, instead of starting my training today, I took a zumba class! It was so hard! I knew I'd be tired, but after about 15 minutes, I was exhausted...and it's an hour long class! It was fun though. I love to dance, so I thought I'd love it. It wasn't as dancey as I expected or wanted, but I still had a good time and got a GREAT workout.

Training for real starts tomorrow...swimming! I'm stoked, actually.

I decided yesterday to keep my training exactly how it was with Kayle for now. It just makes sense for me right now. Things may change with the new year slightly, but we'll see. Additionally, since I spend a lot of money at the Y now, I'm going to try to take a class or do something else physical on one of my off days. Kind of like cross training, but more just having fun. I mean, this zumba workout was definitely a work out, but I'm distinguishing it differently from the tri training. There's a zumba class both days I have off, and I'll try to work in other classes too on those days...or play tennis or something. I do enjoy that too. Just something fun and active. Bonus if it gets my heart rate way up!

Two in one day!

I signed up for a gym membership. It has a small workout area and a pool (among a few other amenities), which is what I need to train for this tri. It's already late in the day, so I think I'll just start working out tomorrow after work. The gym is really close to where I work, so that is great. I may wait until Thursday, but I'd like to get started tomorrow, so we'll plan on that being the case.

I need to come up with a new schedule, too. Kayle and I just talked about it and we'll be able to easily adapt to working out together the days we get to hang out, so planning on doing things on the same day isn't as important. Since my schedule is crazy and different every week, I think I'll plan on something similar to what we did (two days on, one day off, two days on, one day double up, one day off). Because of football season, I still want to keep Saturday as an off day at least for a few more weeks. We'll see. I'll figure it all out. Kayle seems to be getting excited about training again, so I'm really happy about that. We'll make it all work!

Here!

I'm here. I've arrived. It's all unloaded...still working on unpacking. That will be a long road.

My parents, Kayle and Nick helped with it all. Having two boys really helped move things along quickly and I didn't have to do a lot of heavy lifting. I know Nick's body hurt (he hurt himself a lot) for a while, so I really really appreciate both of their efforts. And Mom's and Kayle's because they helped clean and load (unload) a lot of random stuff too. Kayle left that night and Nick's friend came over for a while. Yesterday, Nick and I got to hang out a lot, which is great because he left really early this morning. So sad.

I start work tomorrow, but I'm still trying to establish what time. Today, I'm going to unpack, maybe have lunch with my brother-in-law, and run some errands, including heading by the Y to try to get a membership...so I can start working out again! I might head out for a run or a bike later, but I'm not sure. It's still all rainy out (has been for a few days), so I'm not sure if I will today. I'm ready to start soon though!

T-minus 24 hours

I'm leaving tomorrow morning for the new town. Wish me luck!

I should have internet back up and running Monday afternoon no problem (hopefully!) and I should start training around mid-week or certainly by the weekend.

With all the packing and seeing people, I haven't had much time to concentrate on the tri training. I know it should be a priority, but you know, it happens. I'll be unloading Sunday and hanging out with my beau all day Monday before he leaves me. I start work Wednesday, but since I don't know my schedule, I don't know exactly when I'll start training. I'm going to have to find a gym (maybe the Y) and a pool since it's almost winter and working out outside during the work week will prove difficult. Without my boyfriend, best friend or any of my other friends and family around, I will be pouring a lot of time and energy into training. I hope it will keep me going through the next year or so. When I get a few paychecks, hopefully Kayle and I can pick a tri and pay for it. I really want one in April or May because I want to do an Olympic distance tri by next October!

That's it for now. I hope everything goes smoothly tomorrow and over the next few weeks! I'm scared, but a little excited about the new adventure. I'm trying hard not to think about everything (and everyone) I'm leaving behind and how different my life will be next week than it was last week...

Or not...

I guess "training again" wasn't completely accurate. I spent two days last week looking for apartments out of town, so I didn't have time to train. Stuff's been getting in the way again, so I haven't done much in the past week either. At least not until today...

I was visiting my parents and we went for a 5 mile hike and a 10 mile bike ride! My quads are mad now, but it was a great day. The hiking was a lot of fun since I love it. Biking after was challenging for me, even though it was a mild ride, and my gears started squeaking at me. I enjoyed it all anyway. Here are some pictures from the hike!


Me and my dad on a rock in front of the Arkansas River!

One of the paths we hiked. Some parts were rockier and steeper, but it was fairly tame, really.My mom and I hiking along...

That's it folks!