A Struggle for Motivation

So. My tri is Sunday. Three days away.

I do not feel ready at all.

At. All.

Thanks to the lift of DOOM earlier this week, today was the first day since then that it didn't hurt to walk - or move, for that matter. I knew I should get in a small workout of some sort before I do nothing on Saturday but rest, foam roll and take a nice walk, but motivation was hard to come by.

Maybe it's because my workout buddy is in Atlanta. Maybe it's because, even though I have a time goal in mind for the tri, I already know I'll finish so I'm not too concerned. Hell, maybe I'm just lazy. Maybe it's my mind's way of saying, "You already don't feel ready, so a little bit now isn't going to help you at all. What's the point?," being its negative little self that it tends to be on occasion.

Regardless, I went to the gym anyway. I donned a pair of shorts over my spandex tri shorts as to not feel like a total nerd and got on the treadmill. Five minute warm-up at 5.7mph followed by two cycles of the 2/3 sprints - at 3.5mph and 6.5mph.

I discarded my socks, shoes and shorts and slid into the pool, swimming a very slow 400m in a little over 10 minutes.

To my epic frustration, a shoelace came out of the little quick zip dealy-bobs and, since it's cut and not a nice small point like before, I have no idea how to get it back in before Sunday.

Argh.

Not working out, but a step forward

Still recovering from the workout two days ago, which is kind of sad, but at the same time, feels sort of good to have this recovery built in. Body squats are evil.

I bought a tri book today in hopes that it can motivate me to do well in a tri next year. This is a step forward for me.

Awesome Run! YAY!

Since my legs HURT today thanks to lifting, I was debating about going running. However, I knew that I had to so I got out there tonight once it cooled down. I will also admit that the other reason I wanted to run is I got some new Under Armour shorts at the Nordstrom Rack ($34 down to $20? hellz yeah) that I wanted to test out (me run without spandex? CRAZY!).

Went on a looping random run around the neighborhood that tackled two bitch-ass hills and a lot of mini inclines (since, as you know, we've established that my neighborhood is hilly as hell). The total run ended up being 2.26 miles in 23.57 for a 10:35ish mile.

So yeah, the time wasn't the greatest and I started getting a side stitch with about a half mile to go, but overall, it was a great run. I almost forgot how good it felt to get a nice long run under my belt, so yay. :)

Finally back to the gym

After a long gym hiatus, the girl and I went there to work our legs and arms and hop in the pool for some late swimming. Since we haven't been to the gym in a LONG while (aside from to swim), I knew tonight would be tough on the legs and arms, but since I'm having some body issues lately, I want to do everything I can to look better and feel better.

SO. Started off with 3 wall sits. Followed those up with 3 sets of body squats, 15 reps except for the last one, which was 10. Lunged down and back and called the legs good.

Arms then. Seated row and lat pull downs. 3 sets of 10 with very minimal resting in between. Then off to do some curls, which really didn't go well for me, and that's sad, since my arms are about the only thing on my body that look decent. :(

We finished off the lifting with some ab work on the captains chair. Read the girl's blog for a better description, since I'm lazy.

Then to the pool. I hopped right in and cranked out 250 meters. Grabbed a quick swig of Gatorade and struggled but put out 500 more. Total of 750 meters with one stop in between. Not too bad, but looking for better, of course.

Go Legs Go Legs GoLegsGo

After talking about it in 3143289471032984 blog entries (or so), Brandon and I finally lifted again. *throws confetti in the air*

Ahem.

In any case, tonight was a lift and swim night at 24. Since my legs have been bugging me on the bike, we decided to focus mainly on legs but do a quick total body lift. We did:
- 3/:30 wall sits (last one :45)
- 2/15 body weight squats with another set of 10 - five regular and five with a jump
- walking lunges (didn't count reps) - first set across the group x room regularly; second set added a rear leg extension in
- 3/10 lat pulldowns mixed in with 3/10 seated rows - very little rest
- 2/10 bicep curls
- 2/10 captain's chair leg raise thingys (i'm so technical. if you know the actual term, LET ME KNOW PLEASE!)

After that, it was into the pool. I wanted to do a continuous workout so I took it slow at the beginning. Lost count a few times, but whenever I did, I made sure to go to the last number lap I remembered doing. In any case, we'll say I did 800m (breaststroke peeps) in about 22 minutes which is, as I said, sloooow.

I did notice something weird, though - the pinky finger on my left hand started aching part-way through. It stopped when I closed my hand all the way or partway into a fist, but that just adds resistance and is pointless to do during a swim. Sooo ... hopefully it goes away. Or something.

Running 5000 feet lower than I'm used to

Visiting the parents for the weekend and picking up my shit that I have left here. I of course brought my running stuff so I could squeeze in a workout. Go me.

I did a run around my neighborhood that I really enjoyed prior to me leaving Minnesota. It's about 2.4 miles and very, very flat (go Minnesota for being flat).

Ran it in 22:04 for an 8:52 pace. Not too shabby. And I could have kept going, is the thing. Oh well, tomorrow I will lift or something. I miss my girlfriend!

Back Pounding the Pavement

So I know I need to run more. That is a given ... especially because I haven't been logging many miles a week like I should. Oops.

Anyway, due to the above fact, I ran tonight. Was going to run this morning ... slept. Then this afternoon ... hot. Therefore, this evening. I took the time to warm up (40 jumping jacks) and STRETCH beforehand - something I hadn't really been doing recently.

Yeah, that helped. Plus it made me realize that I lost some flexibility again. Boo. I know how important it is to stretch ... but unless I'm working out at the gym (haven't done in a while) or doing a race, I forget to warm up and stretch out really well.

In any case, I decided I wanted a longer run - at least a half-hour - and took off. Just randomly ran around the neighborhood, so to speak, taking it relatively easy knowing I was going to be out there for a while.

But then ... every runner's personal demon ... the bowels started kicking in. No accidents (thankfully), but the "IneedtopoopIneedtopoopIneedtopoop" feeling that I got about a mile or so in wasn't pleasant.

As a result, I ended up running 2.51 miles in 25:40 for about a 10:13 mile. Not great, but given that if I tried to push it my butt started saying, "Girl, you might not want to DO that ...", I'll take it. Plus it was a longer run so THAT'S good as well.

Baby Sprints

Given that we didn't end up running yesterday after the bike ride, I definitely wanted to get in a good, long run today.

Yeeeah, should have done that earlier this morning when I woke up with the boy. Been waiting for a friend to text me back so I know whether I need to drop some crap off at his work or not but since I haven't heard back from him in a while, I decided, "screw it, I need to get me some exercise" and went outside.

Ha.

It is HOT out. Hot as balls, as Brandon would say. I went out to the backyard to warm up some and then stretch and then run.

Yeah. I just did the warm up. I did about 10 25m (i think) sprints in the backyard, 30 jumping jacks and then two 50m sprints ... after which I stopped after almost killing myself on a tree root. I swear they're bigger than they were last summer.

Regardless, it's a small workout and will have to sustain me until later this evening when it is not quite so hot out. However, I'm going over to a friend's for dinner and that might take a while knowing her family ... so option two may be me dashing off to the gym to lift or something and just running in the am. Or not. We'll see.

However, I actually updated my oft-neglected LiveJournal with an amusing (or so i think) entry on my TV watching habits lately, so head on over if you want another glimpse into my life.

The wheels are coming off the train...

I'm starting to realize that when I cycle, the same old thought pops into my head every single time. I can't do this. Running, yeah, ok, that was certainly not easy when I started, since I haven't run seriously since high school, and even then, I was never a distance guy. C'mon, I played football! Sprint for 4 seconds, you're done. And hockey! Skating, different motion, yadda yadda yadda. But the running has come to me. The hurdles that I have had to clear when running have NOT been too bad. And I've always been a strong swimmer and did that quite a bit in college. But this cycling thing...

Today the tri girl and me were going to do a bike/run brick. She's got her tri in 10 days and quite frankly, I have been a lousy workout buddy. And at first, didn't even look like we were going to get a workout in. Rain was coming down hard as we were driving to the place where we cycle. But after a visit with one of girlfriend's friends, we went, cause the rain let up.

The ride started off and as usual, girlfriend was just destroying me. I was keeping up with her, but with a lot more effort than I should have been exerting. Plus it felt like a massive headwind as we were riding. At the 4.5 mile mark, we turned around. That headwind should have been a tailwind, right? Yeah, not so much. A good 10+ kt crosswind. The ride back was the same. I was just pushing myself because as I said earlier, I feel like I have been a lousy workout buddy. I am so confident in baby dino girlfriend and truly believe that she will chop the 17 minutes off her time, but when I look at it, it will certainly be no thanks to me.

So...as of now, I really am not too optimistic about doing well in a triathalon next year, and even though I keep saying I want to do one, I don't exactly feel confident. I mean, like I told girlfriend, I refuse to be like one of her friends last year who finished 3rd to last in her age group and was still happy. I want to do well. I don't have a benchmark because I haven't done this sort of thing yet, but I don't want to "just finish it". As far as I'm concerned, that is a loser mentality. I want to succeed, dammit!

But right now...the wheels are coming off the train...

Crosswinds Suck

Food made us feel icky yesterday, so we didn't work out.

Today almost turned into a cluster, but luckily, it didn't. The agenda was originally for a bike/run brick along the Platte River Trail, but as we were heading over there, the skies opened up. Instead of exercising then meeting up with a friend of mine to hand off some old internet CDs, we switched it around, played some Guitar Hero ... and noticed the sun was back out and the rain had disappeared. So, we figured while we were already over near the trail, we'd get in our ride.

My quads hate me. I can think of nothing else but that. It sucks. I forgot my inhaler, so I had some minor sports asthma going on. Even though we were making some decent time/speed on the first half of the ride, we thought we had a headwind going on. However, the higher speeds indicated by the ol' cyclometer should have told me otherwise, as coming back the headwind was WORSE.

Obviously, we had run into some killer crosswinds, instead.

All in all, we did about 9.18 miles in 33:28 for 16.46mph. The mph was higher, but I still felt like ass through most of the ride and probably pushed myself a lot. And I say "about" because I know we had done a bit more than that - cyclometer spazzed out on me. I guess its wiring, which snakes around the bike, doesn't like being shoved in and out of cars a lot.

And thanks to the asthma attack, we didn't run. We just said "ah screw it" and went home ... which means I need to run and run a lot tomorrow. And Saturday. And probably Sunday while we're at it.

Another Swim/Bike Brick

So even though my training isn't going nearly as well as last year (i think - i need to look into that), I'm already a small step up in that today was my SECOND open water swim pre-tri ... unlike last year where I only did one the weekend before. Oops.

Regardless, today I went to Cherry Creek State Park with the training buddy (same place where tri is held) to do an open water swim/bike brick. The water was warmer than Aurora Reservoir which was nice AND the water was deeper than last year - also a plus. A BIG plus as swimming at the CCSP swim beach last year meant brushing the sand while just outside the rope. This year? I could barely stand on the sand. Much better.

Anyhoo, I'm not entirely sure how long we were in the water, but we estimate we did about 400m. The boyfriend was also awesome in that he swam right on top of me while grabbing at me to simulate the swim part (though, as i mentioned later, while it's crowded and people swim on top of you, they don't actually smack and grab at you). I didn't feel that strong - probably due to the large swim the other day - but I definitely didn't panic as much as I did at AR.

After we got out, we put together our bikes for another long-ass transition. Brandon had some brake issues - I don't envy him since I hated that stupid bike (he's got my old one), but he told me to go on ahead so I did.

Brandon thinks I'm going to do fine on the bike, but so many of my training rides have been total crap. Today was a measley 4.08 miles in 16:33 for 14.79 mph which is icky icky ICKY. My quads hate me during anything with an incline (mmrrraaaaa) and my sports asthma, which hasn't been bothering me much, has been kicking up a lot on rides.

Guess it's time to find my inhaler again ...

Swim/bike brick...

So...in helping girlfriend prepare for her upcoming tri, I went with her to the park to do a mini-brick of swimming and biking. And since I am planning on doing my OWN tri sometime next year, I figured this would be a good start.

We walked into the lake which was kind of cold but not really...then swam approx. 400 meters. Hopped out, walked back to the car where we put together our bikes...well, girlfriend got her bike together. Mine decided to be a piece of shit. Thanks to a UPS cyclist that had a tool kit, however, he repaired the front brake and I was able to get the front wheel on and I was off to catch up to girlfriend.

Bad overall cycling though today.

Running better

This morning I decided to run prior to me leaving for ground school, and I was going to make it a longer run than I did the other day. And I was going to try to do it faster than I ever did before.

I took it slow for the first mile, and found that I had a lot of energy left, so I was able to pick up my run. I felt really good, until I realized how hot it actually was and felt the sun beating down on me. Just prior to home, I was dogging it a bit but knew I was going to beat my goal.

2.11 miles in 19:22. I think I may have found my new benchmark of goals to beat.

YAY! A Good Workout!

Here I am blogging after getting home from scorekeeping about my swim today which was actually one of the first good workouts in a while.

I was going to swim yesterday so I guess in theory this post should have come yesterday, but I digress.

Anyway, I hopped in the tri suit (which the majority of my training shall now commence in) and hopped in the pool ... hoping for a good, long, continuous swim - which it was! 1100 meters in about a half hour which is a little slower than I'd like, but eh - I was going for endurance today.

The good thing is, I'm also getting a little more used to the tri suit and where it rubs uncomfortably on me - helloooo Body Glide I bought last year but never ended up using - you will now be my new best training buddy (well, second-best - boyfriend still comes first).

Tomorrow morning will be either cycling and running or just running (depends) and tomorrow evening should be lifting ... though we'll see if that actually happens given that I've posted I was going to lift later about 247013298740 times in this blog and for most of those, I've not followed through. Oops.

swimming hardcore

Been a little better lately about working out, although not exactly on an everyday plan right now. Tomorrow though will be biking and running, so that will be good.

Swam 1000 meters today, which was awesome. I felt pretty good throughout the whole thing. I broke it up into 250 meter blocks and really my rests were short. So it was a good session, I would say.

Like I said earlier, bike and run tomorrow. Yay.

Finally back out there

Passed my systems test this morning (amazing). It's downhill from here in terms of ground school, so I can relax this weekend and get some good workouts in. Today was just an ease back into running.

Ran 1.34 miles in 11:20.

Eh, It Was a Run

See the title. 1.36 miles in about 12:22 for a 9:05ish mile. Better than Monday, but also a shorter run than Monday. It was nothing special, nothing great ... just a run. I'll most likely be lifting later tonight as well before I go scorekeep, but we'll see.



Oh, and if I didn't say it enough yesterday, I. Hate. Headwinds.

No working out...feeling fat

Basically this week of ground school has been absolute fucking hell on my sleep schedule and I am completely exhausted. I want to work out so bad, but I get home and due to lack of sleep cause I am up late studying I just have no strength to do it.

I hate the way I look in the mirror right now and will probably hurt myself this weekend running and swimming and weightlifting. I'm having visions of how fat I used to be and am worried I am close to it again.

Of Open Water Swims and Trail Construction

So. Given that I have a tri coming up (no shit, t. you've only mentioned it, how many times?), I decided I needed to get a-crackin' on open water swims and bricks. So, that was today.

I originally wanted to use my mom's car as it fits my bike better AND has a transponder for the toll road (easier to get to the reservoir i wanted to go to). However, I had to wait until she got off work and then I didn't end up having the time to use her car anyway. *sigh*

But! Happy day, my new road bike actually fits in the backseat of my car with the front tire off unlike my old comfort bike. Which is good for the tri this year since I won't have pre-race issues getting my bike back together after completely dismantling it to fit it in the car.

Anyway ...

I get to Aurora Reservoir, pay my $7 and park at the swim beach. I grab my goggles and swim cap and head toward the water in my tri suit (though my shorts have blue piping on them)(gotta start training in it, i know) and get in the water ... and GD is it COLD. I try doing my breaststroke, promptly start spazzing like last year, unable to breathe with my face underwater. I also have a mini asthma attack.

Great. This isn't good.

Luckily, after swimming a little and calming myself down (and probably adjusting to the cold water), I am able to swim relatively normally even though the water is kind of choppy due to the wind (more on that later). I figure, even though I had no idea on distance, I managed at least 350 meters.

Since I knew I had to get in a bike and still make it home to shower, change and turn around to go get my hair chopped, I hopped out of the water at that point and made it back to my car for the world's slowest transition. But that's okay because I wasn't practicing those. Really.

Get on the bike and decide, after aimlessly pedaling around for a tad, to do the 7.8 mile loop which will take me basically back to the parking lot. Sounds cool, right? Read on.

I'm doing okay on the ride, ignoring the fact that I'm wet pretty soon in. While riding along one part of the "lake," I noticed I was getting a strong crosswind, but didn't think anything of it ... well, except acknowledging the fact that it was trying to blow me off the path. It messed with my time a little, but I didn't worry about it. I finally get to a good place in my cadence and start speeding down the trail. The trail starts curving a bit to take me back towards the marina/parking lot and with about a mile and a half to go ... the trail shuts down due to maintenance.

At that point, I'd done 6.38 miles in 25:12 (15.9mph - still slow, but workin' on it; went to turn around but decided on the detour. smart as you'll see). I get off the bike and start walking it toward the "detour" - which was a gravel path and since road tires are testy, there was no way in hell I was riding it. The detour, surprise surprise, just took me to an under-construction portion of the gravel path. *sigh* A quarter-mile of walking my bike and nothing. At this point, I'm upset. I'm running short on time and I knew that the majority of my ride back would be into what was now a very strong headwind.

Still, what other choice did I have? So I struggled back, half-hysterically crying, half-hyperventaliting, all the while saying to myself, "I can't do this," even though I knew I had no other choice. I kept saying, "I miss my baby dino," wishing like hell I had my workout buddy with me as I pedaled the majority of the ride back into a ridiculous headwind.

6.2 miles and 28:54 later (a woeful 10.something mph), I make it back to my car.

I just hope that there's no headwind on August 3 for my tri.




On another note, when I sweat, it basically leaves enough dried salt on my face that I can brush it off with my hand. Brandon keeps saying he's going to throw me in the yard and use me as a salt lick for deer.

Forgoing the Car

Okay, so I walked to the bank. 3.66 miles round trip. It is ASS HOT. What would take me ... oh, 7-10 minutes with my car (depending on lights) took me a little over an hour. My feet now have a few new blisters thanks to my Tevas (i hate my feet sometimes).

But.

I walked. I didn't use gas. I sweated (though that may partly have been because of the heat - 94 now!). I moved.

The Heat Is On

Why is it, when it's 97 degrees outside (or will be ... *goes to check current temperature* 82 with 21% humidity which, for colorado, is CRAZY), I have absolutely NO motivation to work out outside? Seriously. I only have 18 days until the tri and I know I should be doing more than I am.

I have grand plans for the rest of this week - an open water swim/bike brick, a bike/run brick, lifting later tonight - but mustering up the energy for a cardio session today? Yeah. Right.

I'm taking marginal solace in the fact that I walked from my car dealership (5000 miles overdue for an oil change ... oops) to Barnes and Noble to wait there (.5 miles!), even though I got a ride back from my mom. I need to go to the bank too, so I suppose I can walk there (after I change into shorts) and back to at least get SOME movement in (and save gas. y'know.) hopefully spurring my butt onto greater things. Like running.

The good news is, boyfriend baby dinosaur will be able to cheer me on while I tri-it! YAY! We were worried that he'd miss it due to sim training in Seattle, but luckily, it got pushed back a bit. :)

Back to running

Like I said last night in my bloggity blog, I am not making excuses this week. I need to keep at the working out. I want to not only do some lifting this week, but a long bike ride maybe on Saturday and some more swimming. Of course, lots of running, since it's like the one thing I am good at...

So as soon as I got home from ground school, I changed into running stuff and we headed out for our two mile run. Officially, it was 2.11. Girlfriend asked me to keep pace with her just so she had her running buddy with her. I had no problem with this since I have not run in awhile. We paced it very slow and it was good. I was hurting a bit halfway through, but kept plugging away.

Finished with a pace of 10:21 per mile, which doesn't surprise me or make me feel bad, since it's ass hot outside ;) and still under some slight stress from ground school. :)

Staying Positive

After a ridiculously lazy day of catching up on sleep, I went for a run with Brandon when he got home from work. I can tell I was improperly hydrated as well as improperly nutrified* today as my run was CRAP.

Brandon was a sweetie-poo and kept pace with me instead of being super fast runner guy and leaving me in the dust (though i *did* ask him to). Overall, we did 2.11 miles and I did it in 22:40 ... for a 10:43ish mile.

Basically, my mile times have been POOP lately (and i felt like that today too) but I'm hoping that it'll be okay since, looking back, my weeks have been up and down. So, if this week is a down week ... well, hopefully the tri will be the start of an up week.


*yes, i made that word up.

Pool time...after some time off...

With the craziness that my life has been over the past couple weeks, I've reviewed my working out and found that I have not done nearly the amount that I was doing prior to me starting ground school. For instance, last week I only ran 1.86 miles. My average per week has been around 5 or more. I mean, some of it can be attributed to me having to study at night, work the bar, and the wedding that Theresa and I went to last weekend, but still...it's time to get back on the horse. No more being lazy. I can sleep when I'm dead.

We went to the pool tonight and I quickly swam 600 meters. Impressive considering I'm running on less than 5 hours of sleep. I broke up my swim into 4x150's. I have found that my left arm is not...doing what it should be when I am crawling through the water, so I was really concentrating on that today. I'm still a long way from what I want to do which is a tri in 2009, but the advice my friends are giving me is stay active in all 3 forms...so I will be doing that.

Tomorrow night I will study, go for a run, and relax. Running for sure though tomorrow. No excuses.

Stumbling

Didn't end up working out on Friday (cluuuuusteerrrrrr) but did spend an entire day in high heels on Saturday (a workout in itself!) as well as got my groove thang on a bit that night.

This morning, we were up at 3:45am CST to eat some breakfast to catch a 4:30am shuttle to try and catch a 6:15am flight back home. We made it, but it was a loooong day. Still, we knew we HAD to work out ... especially given that teeny tiny little detail of I have a tri in 21 days.

So, after prying our tired asses off the bed after dinner, we wandered on over to the gym for some pool time. I tried out the ol' tri suit which was a really weird experience but one I needed to get in. Didn't feel good the first 100m (surprise surprise) so went for a modified "sprint" workout - 2x100m, 2x50m, 4x25m then just a chunk of swimming which ended up being 300m for a total of a 700m workout. That's just a little less than what I'll be doing in 21 days so I'm okay with that. I'd like my swims from now until then to be NO LESS THAN 750-800m.

Plus the boy said I was having some good form going on tonight, so yay. :)

More tomorrow - I need sleep. *YAWN*

Two days off = no good

I haven't worked out in two days. I seriously cannot remember the last time this has happened. So...we decided to do a "mini brick" for Theresa's upcoming triathalon. However, lack of hydration + it is balls hot outside here, and we were hurting. Only 4 1/2 miles of biking around her neighborhood and .5 of running.

I do not want to get lazy. However, tomorrow will ALSO have to be a day off cause I have a wedding to go to in Wisconsin. Dancing on Saturday night for awhile will be my workout then, and definitely on Sunday when I get back and lots of working out next week. A LOT of working out. I just feel better when I do.

Mini-Brick

FINALLY got to my first brick workout this evening even though it was a baby brick. I have 24 days until the tri so I figured I'd start getting those in ... even though it's been a bad week for working out. Eh, it happens, right?

Anyway, started off on the bike since I haven't ridden in over a week (yes, it's true)(*hangs head in shame*). Just pedaled around the neighborhood - up some hills, down some hills and across a very few flats. Did 4.5 miles in 19:49 which is a pretty crappy mph (13.62), but given the lack of exercise lately and the lack of hydration ... that's about what I've been doing so I'll say "okay."

We then used the front porch as a transition zone (which meant just dumping off stuff for brandon and that plus changing shoes for me) and went for a quick run around the block - .46 miles and I did it in 4:21. Though, I did have to walk for a little bit. Stupid right calf feels like it has a giant knot in it.

I'm hoping to squeeze in a swim tomorrow before I have to hop a plane to Wisconsin, going to a wedding on Saturday (dancing) and ... something on Sunday when we get back from the trip.

Food Porn ... Kind of.

Sooo, haven't worked out in two days. Tuesday I was lazy and yesterday I just did not have good things going on in terms of the inner plumbing so Brandon forced me to take the day off. Blah. However, once it cools down a bit tonight (and he gets home), it's cardio time!

But, since I haven't posted anything, I've had a hankering to go type away. So, since I made dinner early to make our lives easier, I'll share my fantabulous shrimp pasta recipe with y'all.

T's Shrimp Pasta

Ingredients:
- 1 serving (2oz) pasta (i use barilla plus! angel hair that's omega 3 fortified. it's basically whole wheat ... i think)
- 1 serving shrimp (i use frozen, pre-cooked shrimp. one serving is somewhere between 5-10 shrimp depending on the size)
- .15 lb (about 1 cup) snow peas
- 1 medium yellow bell pepper
- 1 can mushrooms (pieces and stems)
- about 1/4 cup chopped green onions/chives/whathaveyou
- 1 tsp parsley
- 1 tsp garlic
- 1/8 tsp paprika

Directions:
- Chop up all vegetables, put water on to boil, start thawing shrimp if need be.
- Put bell pepper (chopped or in slices; i prefer chopped) on a pan/tray (i coated mine in olive oil cooking spray and then sprayed the veggies again) and broil in oven until the tips start getting slightly browned. They should be slightly squishy, yet still firm. You'll smell them - they smell goooood.
- Water should be nice and boiling by this point, so toss in the pasta.
- If so desired, cut the shrimp in half/smaller pieces since, if you used frozen shrimp, they should be thawed by now.
- Take wok and toss shrimp, chives, mushrooms and snow peas in to it with either olive oil or olive oil cooking spray (my choice - no calories!). IF YOU DID NOT USE ALREADY PRE-COOKED SHRIMP, toss those in first and cook them. Also put spices in at this point - amounts are general; you can add more if you want ESPECIALLY if you like more zing to your food than I.
- Bell peppers should DEFINITELY be done by now - take out of oven and toss them into ze wok.
- Take pasta, which should be done by now, drain it and attempt to mix it in with everything in the wok.
- Enjoy!

It's about 460 total calories for one serving, though if you don't have the biggest appetite on the planet, toss in a few more shrimp and you can easily split it with someone else. For Brandon and I, I double the pasta, double the shrimp, add more spices and a bit more snow peas. I also choose a larger bell pepper. I forget the entire nutritional breakdown, but it's HIGH in protein, fairly high in carbs (though keep in mind, i was on a 60/20/20 breakdown when i finally perfected my pasta) and ridiculously low in fat.



And, since I promised and I'm too lazy to edit the original post, a 5K photo:




That girl with the red butt is me. The guy on the grass with black shorts and white shirt with the blue stripey thing? That's Brandon.

Maintaining

With the triathalon that I want to do next year a while away and the next 5K that I'll do is who-knows-when, I have to find a reason to stay motivated to work out. Staying maintained is my motivation right now, especially since I had a "fat day" today. (yes girls, we men have them too.)

Like T said in her blog below mine, the dinner situation was interesting, so instead of waiting, we blasted out the door for our quick 1.36 mile run around her block. I did it in 11:20 but was definitely pushing myself too hard, which was not easy given lack of food today and not exactly properly hydrated.

After our run we went straight to 24 and blasted the arms by doing seated rows, tricep extensions, and curls. We also did some core by doing planks. Then off to Sweet Tomatoes for delicious dinner.

The key for me will be staying motivated, especially with the stress that is occurring in my stupid life. Blah.

Feeling Better

Didn't work out yesterday (baaaad t) but eh, since I worked out on my birthday I didn't really care.

Working out tonight was an interesting situation - supposed to eat dinner with the fam at 7:15 (food still wasn't on the table at that point), but that would have meant working out at the earliest 8pm (gotta digest) and that also would have meant ONLY lifting and no cardio.

Instead, Brandon and I said, "Screw it, we'll just buy dinner" and went for a run. We did the short, 1.36ish mile loop around the neighborhood. I did it in 12:27ish which made for a 9:10 mile. I probably pushed it a little harder than I should have at the beginning, but oh well. After the run, we hopped straight into the car and went off to the gym for a quick lifting session. Blasted the upper body with seated rows, lying dumbbell tricep extensions and bicep curls. From there, we moved to core - we wanted to do a lot more than we did, but neither of us had eaten in several hours and we wanted FOOD. So, some quick regular and side planks and we were out the door to Sweet Tomatoes and some salad. Mmm salad.

So, while last week was CRAPPY for working out, it already looks as if this week will be better. Yay. :)

Where to go from here?

So I've now run 5 5K's this season. And in each one, I have improved (iPod says I did yesterday, official time does not...oh well...). My big dilema right now is, I have basically achieved a shitton this year in terms of fitness. I have lost weight, become a runner, and have further ambition to do a triathalon next year. I am in the best shape I have been in since high school. But I feel like I have kind of dug myself in a rut. Hooray for doing all the above, but what now?

We went to the gym tonight. It's my girlfriend's birthday and how does she spend it? At the gym. That's how awesome she is. When we got there, Theresa went to warm up while I hit the steam room so I could shave my nasty ass fuzzface. After Theresa stretched out, we did incline shoulder presses. I tried upping my weight to 30 lbs, but my form was waaaaaay off so I backed it down to 27.5. The military presses were a challenge and my shoulder was in pain after them, which kind of pisses me off. We finished with lat pull downs and me displaying my lack of balance which pissed me off even more.

Then to the pool. First 100 meters were not bad. Then 50. Then another 100, and after that, it was just slugging through each 100 meters, trying to get to 750. My form was shit, my breathing was not that good, and at one point, I burped up a California roll from dinner, which tastes SO nasty. I slugged out the rest, 100 meters at a time, eventually getting to 750 meters.

Plateaus = Teh Suck

I was a good girl today and celebrated me turning a quarter-of-a-century-old by going to the gym and working out. Go me.

Did a quick 10-minute warm-up on the recumbent bike to get the ol' legs moving and then some stretching because dear jeebus my legs have been tight lately.

It was then off to a quick upper body session - seated inclined bench shoulder presses, military presses and some lat pull downs.

Then, because it was super late at the gym (and i needed to), it was pool time for some swimming. The first 100 meters were awful, so it turned into the crappiest version of a pool sprint workout EVER. I did the 4x100m, 4x50m and 4x25m workout, but instead of, you know, sprinting the sections, it was me just going slow and trying to keep form while ignoring the sushi sitting in my stomach from dinner (mmm blt roll), the burn in my legs and the developing ache in the shoulders from the recent lift session.

It got me to thinking that maybe I've hit a small training plateau as every one of my workouts this week has been AWFUL. Both runs, the bike and now this swim? Yuck. I mean, I guess these happen, but still ... *whines*

Oh well, 28 days (as of tomorrow, sunday) until the tri and it's not like I can quit training or anything. Tomorrow will be a baby brick (as in 5 mile ride and .5 mile run baby) if all goes as planned after a wonderful breakfast in bed. ;)

5th 5K of the season

Happy 4th to all. So this is going to be an entry about my running my 5th 5K of the season, but also a little about what today means to me. Both in happiness and seriousness.

I love this holiday. It is good in every sense of the word. A day of grilling, eating, fireworks, and general happiness. But to me, it also has meaning. I love studying the birth of our nation, and I think a lot of us forget how much shit the forefathers had to put up with to actually declare our independence. Then over the next 231 years, our freedoms, ideals, beliefs, have constantly been under attack. Think about all the wars we have had to fight just to keep this country that we love intact. People take so much shit for granted it's ridiculous. Some black woman can sing the black national anthem and get away with it, then complains that she is oppressed. Fuck that. Idiots out protesting a war that not only brought people freedom, but made our country safer. You know what? Our troops are out there fighting so you can have the right to carry that sign.

Ok, before I get too preachy...I do love my country, I am proud to be an American, and I love the 4th of July.

Now, on to the race this morning. Woke up later than we should have (damn not being able to sleep last night). Ate some breakfast, but probably overdid it with the eggs, turkey bacon, and oatmeal. I think next time we will need to cut down on the breakfast. Showed up to the race a little later than we have in the past, but still were able to stretch and warm up properly. Also pointed out all the DH's beforehand and picked who we wanted to beat.

By race time, it was ass-hot and getting hotter. I started off being a competitive fuck and ran fast, but quickly slowed down my pace, knowing that a super big ass hill was coming up. I got up to the top of Lone Tree Parkway and was feeling pretty good. I picked up my pace a tiny bit and kept going.

At the 2nd mile, I picked it up even more, although sweat was rolling down the crack of my ass like Niagara by this point. Brutally hot. At about 2.5 miles I picked up pace even more and eventually sprinted it to the finish line. My official time was 30:30...iPod said under 30, for about 29:48. I will go with official time cause I'm cool like that.

Happy 4th to all.

5K #5 of the Season

Happy 4th, everyone!



Today was the 4th annual Lone Tree Firecracker 5K as well as the fourth year I've run the race. Race times are as follows:
2005: 35:17. This was also my first ever 5K.
2006: 31:31. This was my second ever 5K. I was happy.
2007: 35:49. Hot as balls, third race of the season ... had an asthma attack part of the way through ... it was awful. I was miserable after this one.

And now ... 2008: 33:28 for a 10:46ish mile. I had to walk for a marginal little bit at two points in the race to get my breathing under control so it didn't get too crazy (like last year). It was still hot as all hell (supposed to get to 96 today!!!) and the crusty old blister under the bunion on my right foot was bugging me, but eh. Not my best race time of the season, but it's still better than my first and that's all that counts, right?

The parents took pictures so they may be posted later ... if I feel like it.

Picture courtesy ... me! Yep, I took it last fourth.

Some Days, the Lion Wins

Some days, you beat the demon inside (or outrun the lion).

Other days ... the lion catches up with you and starts gnawing on your leg.

Today, the lion won.

I went over to my best friend's house tonight. My plan, ideally, was to ride over there since her house isn't all that far off the Platte River trail I've done so many times before. That, and not having to use the gas would have been a plus, too, given the current financial situation.

Yeah, well, that didn't work out so well. Got on the bike, got 3.3 miles into it ... and had to turn around. Neither my legs nor my lungs were into it so I turned on around, went back home and got in the car. Total: 5.69 miles in 25:24.

Part of me feels like a HUGE failure, especially after yesterday's disappointing run. I've also had two bad bike rides now in a row where I've had asthma issues. My mom posed a good question - what if this happens during the tri? Now, I hope and pray that it doesn't, but it IS a valid point. Still ...

... or maybe part of it was my body telling me to take it easy today and tomorrow because it knows it's got a race coming up on Friday. Either way.

But, all was not lost as Lynne (friend) owns a Wii. I got to rock out on Guitar Hero (i suck), bowling, tennis, boxing and got to try the Wii fit. My Wii age is apparently 20 - go me! However, Wii fit also says I weigh 10 pounds less than I actually do, so y'know. Whatever, I totally rocked the lunges on that game.

A run to take off the tension

For some reason, I am happy about being in ground school right now, but I'm not. It's a strange thing going on here. I think part of me is nervous because the writing is clearly on the wall that if oil keeps going up, Frontier is going to go under. If Frontier goes under, I'm screwed. No other regionals are hiring right now, so I have the potential to be out of the industry for a long time here. I believe that if that happens, I am just going to find something else...medical or business like. But anyway...enough about that.

I got home and quick threw my running stuff on for a jaunt around the neighborhood. Just the 1.38 mile track that I do when I want a quick run. It's not fun working out by myself (I miss girlfriend!) but I knew I had to. I did it in 11:45, which gave me an 8:30 pace. It's fine because I was pushing myself today. I want to do so well in this 5K this weekend. I think I will.

Trying to Stay Positive

In preparation for my upcoming 5K (friday!!), I decided I'd run today. I was hoping it would be at least a halfway decent run despite:
a.) my running buddy being in ground school. *sad face*
b.) it being pretty warm out (84 man ... not much humidity, either - 17%. i guess that might be a lot for we dry coloradoans though ...)
c.) having run ONCE last week

I felt really good on the run - felt pretty quick ... but then I Running Mapped it so I could put the mileage on Run Voomaxer (if you have facebook - get this application) to get my time and the results (app does splits - how cool is that??).

1.74 miles in 18:05 (about; i think my ipod clock is slooow ... that, or i count too fast) for a 10:23 mile. Now, this upsets me since I've been averaging at least a 10-minute mile lately and my last run was a whole lot quicker than that. With one of the worst 5K courses I've ever done quickly creeping up on me, that kind of news is NOT what I'd like to see ... especially when it'll be 88 degrees on race day and therefore about the same temperature as it was today when I run at 8:30am or 9am or whatever it is.

Still ... I'm trying to be positive here and take solace in the fact that despite it being a crappy time, I actually felt pretty damn good after the run.

Resolution Redux

Well, we're at about the halfway point of the year (or exactly at it. who knows.) so I figured that since I want to expand beyond the plain "oh i ran/lifted/swam/biked x amount of __ today" entries that this here blog has mostly become, I'd revisit one of my earliest posts - why I started this here bloggy-poo.

Though I started Inspiration Stardust Dreams (which sounded a whole lot cooler at the time, i might add) right after the start of the new year, it was NOT meant to be a New Year's Resolution blog. Granted, I did make resolutions this year and, being true to my female DNA, made some fitness-related ones. Resolutions which I'd like to revisit in this here entry (see: title).

BUT, the main reason I started this (thinking back on it ... and this reason may change in another few months knowing me) was as another way of keeping myself accountable. At many points in my diet/fitness/exercise journey, I've kept food and exercise journals - writing down EVERYTHING I eat or do, activity-wise, each day. I've kept them for a short amount of time (a few days) and a long amount of time (a whole semester). Thanks to a mostly miserable experience on the bodybugg (story for a later blog entry), I decided that I don't want to obsess about each and every thing I put in my mouth, but I still needed to keep track of my fitness as a way of keeping me motivated.

That, and my fellow blog buddy boyfriend, Brandon, said that reading my tri blog was motivating and inspirational to him. So, I started this here blog to keep him - and myself - inspired. It turns out, he got so inspired to start blogging that I just gave him blog rights on here (and, as you can see from the last entry, he's totally on board with the somewhat new direction i want to go with this here blog).

In any case, enough rambling. Let me get on to my actual, original, intended point of this entry - my redoing of resolutions. Out of the eight total I made this year, half of them were fitness/health related (nos. 2-5). They were:

- Get back in shape. I actually was doing fairly well with this last summer before I went crazy. (story in the (hopefully) near future)
- Compete in at least five races again and possibly add another one into the mix. This also includes doing a tri again.
- Finally learn how to fucking kayak.
- Play more hockey.

Now, let's break these down ... starting from the bottom up.

Play more hockey - Ha. Let's look at the numbers, shall we?
Hockey played by this point in 2007: 15 games/drop-ins/whathaveyou.
Hockey played by this point in 2008: 6 games/drop-ins/whathaveyou.

Yeah. I'm doing well here. But oh, it gets better ...

Hockey played total in 2007: 26 games/drop-ins/whathaveyou.

So, if I want to indeed "play more hockey" this year, I'm going to have to squash in at least 21 more games/drop-ins/whathaveyous into the next six months. Now I'm not saying this is impossible mind you, just highly improbable. If I stay around here, I may join a fall/winter league (know peeps thanks to a part-time hockey scorekeeping job) which would help, but I may be moving within the next few months for a job, so who knows. All I know is that I will hopefully skate five more times before I move (if needed) to use up the last of my punch card.

Moving on ...

Finally learn how to fucking kayak - Current financial situation (that doesn't look to improve) makes my non-existent Magic 8 ball say "all signs point to no." *cries a little*

Compete in at least five races again and possibly add another one into the mix. This also includes doing a tri again - Check, check and check.
Race dates 2007: 5/5, 6/20, 7/4, 8/5 (tri!), 9/15
Race dates 2008: 4/27, 5/11, 6/15, 6/18

Unless noted, all races are 5Ks. Also planned for 2008 is the fourth annual Lone Tree Firecracker 5K on July 4th (and it will be the fourth year i have raced in the sucker. crappiest course EVER). I have already registered for the Tri for the Cure again (8/3!). Since the boy can't compete in the tri, I may do a 5K with him in August and there are two I'd really like to do in September - the Autumn Color run again in Buena Vista and the Skirt Chaser series just because it looks so damn fun. Brandon's really hoping to be able to do that one with me.

So, not only do I succeed on that resolution, I am destroying it. Go me!

And finally ...

Get back in shape. I was actually doing fairly well with this last summer before I went crazy - Ah, insanity. When I finally post the bodybugg and 24 entries, you'll understand. But for now, I don't feel like getting into it. *sticks hands on head, waving them like fake moose antlers all while sticking her tongue out*neener neener neener! (yes, i am mature).

In any case, I feel like I've been doing fairly well with that. I still can't fit into all of the shorts I could fit into and, in some cases, bought last summer (*sigh*), but I'm getting there. According to the boyfriend, it looks like some of the pudge that both of us accumulated over the past month or so is starting to go away again, so whoo hoo!

The hardest thing right now is knowing I need to get my diet back on track. However, it's hard still living at home with overweight family members and well-meaning (but sabotaging) parents who make snarky comments when you don't want to eat the crappy greasy food that's been laid out before you.

I think that's enough out of me for now ... A later blog today will be a stereotypical T/ISDreams workout blog post and hopefully in a few days (or tomorrow. we'll see) I'll get to my workout history and a little bit of the methodology behind why I am the way I am in working out.