Tri to live

As I've mentioned, I've been trying to work with the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation on a way to help raise money for them while racing. We finally came to a compromise today, and I've set up my donation Web site! I signed up for my first race of the season (a 5k in February), and I'm set to go on the Memorial Marathon Relay. I can't wait until races start!

Many of you also follow Kayle, who has really inspired this whole thing (from starting to race triathlons to getting donations). Please consider donating to our cause sometime this year. I know the economy is tight and we're all cutting back, but as cliche as this sounds, every little bit does count! Last year, I raced for me...please help me race for a whole community of people this time around!

To view my donation page, find out more about cystic fibrosis or to donate, visit http://bit.ly/bw6brV.

Joys of being sore

Am I weird because I really enjoy being sore? It means I either worked a muscle group I'm not used to working, or I pushed one I am used to working beyond what is normal. Basically, it means I challenged my body and had a great workout! With all my training last year, I really wasn't sore often. Which means I was physically fit, but I think it also means I can push harder. (I'm working on training my subconscious to realize I can push more and then doing so.)

This week I have been sore. Here's what I did:

M - Ran 2.5 miles of a total of 3.25 on the treadmill, incline 2. I was a little sore Tuesday.
T - Rest (shot pictures of high school basketball for six hours)
W - Funny story. Because of the basketball tournament (see Tuesday), the pool wasn't open in the evenings this week, so I decided to change my schedule a bit and add a sprint run. So Wednesday, I go to the gym to do weights. The plan was about 20 minutes of cardio to get my blood flowing, etc., and only three minutes into my treadmill walk, I thought to myself "this is doing anything for triathlon and nothing for running a sub-30 5k...why am I wasting my time?" In response, I walked four minutes, ran a 12-minute (I'm starting slow) mile at 3 percent incline, then walked another four minutes. There. 20 minutes. Helping my running and triathlon. I did weights after, which were incredibly tough. Then, I decided to practicing shooting baskets. I'm a spaz, but I had fun. I was sore Thursday from weights.
R - Biked 1 hour while watching Titanic. I love having a bike trainer to get me through the winter and other days of rough weather, but it's not as fun as biking. The fun part about biking is getting the speed and feeling the wind on your face. You don't get that inside. Titanic made it enjoyable for the most part, but I'm totally missing the outdoors!
F - Rest
S - KenpoX with Nick. It's part of the P90X routine he's involved in. Kenpo is a martial arts routine. Lots of kicking and throwing punches. My back is a bit sore...but my calves are killing me! They are incredibly tight, which made running...fun?
N - I got to take my new running shoes (see below) out, which was totally fun. I did four quarter-mile sprints, finishing the mile in 7:47. Then, I went for a light jog for another .86 miles. I'm not sure my legs got a lot of work, but my lungs were having trouble keeping up...so I worked something!

New shoes! I'd been needing new running shoes. I got mine toward the beginning of this tri adventure! The tread wasn't too worn, but I figured since I'd been having some leg pain, and it'd been a year, it was about time! I went to a fancy running store and tried on a few pair. I ended up getting a pair of Mizunos. Not a brand I'm familiar with, but they feel great! Snug, super supportive, comfortable. They're a little bright, but I don't mind!

Overall, a good week for training. I'm excited to add swimming to the agenda, especially because it's been so long, but it's time.

The plan

Hello folks!

I'm planning on starting my new workout routine tomorrow. I'm going to try to fit a workout in today, but I have a lot of things planned for today, so we'll see. My workout routine is as follows: One day a week of each of the following: Swim, Bike, Run, Weights (with 20 minutes cardio), and Other. The other category gives me a lot of flexibility on what I want to do. It can be one of the other four or zumba or P90X with Nick, just whatever. I do abs each Monday, Wednesday and Friday (maybe once on the weekend, too). Each Sunday, I will sit down and figure out which day I do what. With basketball season, and soon softball and baseball, my nights and days are just crazy, so coming up with a set day off and set day for anything is just going to be difficult. This way, I have more flexibility and I should know what kind of week I'm going to have by Sunday. (I say that, not knowing if I have to shoot pictures at some basketball games tomorrow night or Tuesday night...) This "routine" will carry me through February (and basketball season). I'm planning on my first tri on April 11 (if they ever open registration!), which will give me almost six weeks to double up and train for it specifically. Without a lot of experience with my job and what these games will entail, I don't want to add a completely hectic training schedule. I think this will suit my needs.

The plan this week is:
M - Run or rest (depending on basketball photography); abs
T- Run or rest (again...)
W - Swim laps (it's been a while!); abs
R - 20 minutes of cardio and then full weights
F - Rest; abs
S - Other
N - Bike

I think it'll be a tester week to see where I am in each of these. I'm probably going to run/walk for 45 minutes and bike for one hour. As far as laps go...I have no idea where I will be. Maybe I should plan to swim for 30 minutes and see what I can get done.

I'll try to keep you posted!

Recovery-land Welcomes You

I've been in sick-land. I'm enjoying Recovery-land more.

Nick was sick over the turn of the New Year. All week last week I'd been feeling it. That "in-between" where you know that tomorrow you could wake up feeling fine or totally sick. Then a co-worker got sick Tuesday and Wednesday. Then another three on Friday. And then others went home sick. My whole office! Friday I was still in-between, but I woke up Saturday feeling like poo! Nick took great care of me, but I had to go into work Saturday night because we had two basketball games! Nick went home Saturday night, but the cold persisted. Sunday was spent on the couch. I went into work late Monday because I thought it would be a good idea to get a little extra rest because I had to work Saturday night. Now, I'm in the recovery portion. Nose still kind of plugged, coughing a lot, but mobile and vertical. So definite improvement!

I haven't been training or working out with this (and two busy weeks), but starting next week, I'm going to. I'll come up with and share a new work out plan and try to stick with it. My problem right now is it has to be super flexible because I have a lot of night and weekend work, which makes sticking to a rigorous schedule super-difficult. Anyway, for a future post...

Because not all of my journey is fitness related...

(This post better be freaking awesome because I've been fighting with the computer/Internet for more than 30 minutes...)

Nick and I decided to host a New Years party this year. Last year, we spent it just with our good friend Sean, but we decided to get more people involved this time around. Long story short, it ended up being us, Sean and another good friend of mine. Not quite a party. I should mention I tend to just have a few good friends and not a huge group of others. That's just my MO, and Nick's pretty much the same. As for the party, my best friend couldn't make it because she'd had surgery earlier that week and Nick's friends bailed, as did most of those I invited. It was extremely disappointing to me, and it made me realize where I was in that part of my life. (I'm not looking for you to be sorry for me. I've been "uncool" all my life and totally accepted it years ago.) Basically, I need to emphasize friends this year, I've decided.

I also have realized recently that I have become distant with some of the people I'm close to. My first order of business is to try to reforge those friendships and bonds because frankly, they are more important to me than anyone new. Next, I'm going to make a big push to add some people to my list of friends. Especially someone fairly local. (My boyfriend is 45 minutes away, my best friend about 3 hours, my family is about 2 hours away, and my other good friends are either one hour or three away...) I'm not trying to win a Miss Popular award or anything, but you get what I'm saying, right?

It's been something I've been thinking about in the last week or so, and I wanted to share.Any advice?

And because I'm so into goals these days, Nick and I have set a goal to have more people celebrating the beginning of 2011 with us. ;-p

Happy New Year!

It's time for New Years Resolutions. I, like just about everyone else, make them and sometime mid-January, completely forget about them. But still I make them...even making an effort to better yourself for two weeks is worth it, right? Well, all that changed last year. I set a tangible goal, something achievable but not easy. I decided to run an Olympic-distance triathlon and in September, I completed a New Years Resolution! Because I set all my goals in threes these days, just one didn't seem like enough...

1) Expand my cooking and eating horizons. Believe it or not, but I've been cooking for five years and I bought my first steak the other day. I felt totally out of place, not knowing which to get, and Nick and I had to look up recipes to actually cook it. I can make chicken breast or ground beef like no other, but not so much else. So in 2010, I'm going to cook one recipe that wouldn't immediately, naturally appeal to me, but something I expect I might enjoy nonetheless. I'm starting with a southwestern soup. I love soup, but this has two different kinds of beans in it and is rather chunky (not my usual soup choice). Once a month may not seem like much, but I rarely cook out of a cookbook, so it might actually be challenging.

2) Run a 5k in less than 30 minutes. I just felt like I needed a fitness goal in there, too. My fastest time is 32:30-ish. As you know, I'm a slow runner, but I want to do this. I think if I work really hard at speed, I just might be able to do this. I mean, I'm cutting a minute off per mile, which seems like an awful lot to me. But...here goes nothing!

3) Finish my 2007 Year in Review scrapbook. It's 2010. It's probably about time. As of right now, I'm only in August, and I started it January of 2007. I will likely be swamped at work all Spring, but I might have some real time to settle down with it in May. I should be able to get this done...and I'm hoping to start a new one, but probably with a different theme because I'm so far behind!

That's all my resolutions. I have a few other things I want to work on in 2010 though.
-I want to try really hard to save 7.5 percent of my earnings each month, while spending another 7.5 percent to pay extra on my student loans. I'm paying the minimum each month, but this will be on top of that. I think this is a doable amount, but without knowing what life is going to throw at me this year, I don't want to make it a resolution.
-I've also made a list of about 12 races (from 5k to Olympic tris) that I could do this year that works in location and my busy schedule. I doubt I can afford them all, and I'm sure a ton more will come up as the year progresses. I plan on a doing a few tris, some 5ks for speed and the marathon relay in April. I'm pretty excited for this race season...I might start signing up next paycheck!
-Finally, I want to continue to be responsible and frequent with my bills, dishes and keeping my apartment clean. Plus, I've been staying away from fast food and a ton of junk. I've been doing GREAT for about a month, but with work picking up, it'll get harder. I just have to stay strong.

2010, a new decade, new possibilities, a new adventure. Don't waste it.