OUCH I just got a massage

So a friend of mine recommended a very good massage therapist but she warned me that it would hurt.

I finally made an appt b/c my calves are so tight and with the training I am doing I knew I needed a good rub down. 

I went at 4 today. Holy cow it hurt like a mother fucker. She was up front with me, she told me it would hurt...a lot. And it did. I explained that my calves are very tight as well as my achilles and that I have shin splints, so she spent most of her time there. She could tell I was tight right away and she told me I need to be stretching after I run for a good 10 minutes. She also told me to ice my shins but heat my calves. 

My calves feel very sore and I am highly concerned about how much pain I will be in tomorrow am. I will not be working out tomorrow. However, I also felt like I really needed this and hopefully this got out a bunch of the knots and toxins. 

I felt as if I had a trainer, you know how teams have trainers, wouldn't that be nice. Doesn't that serious swimmer Dana have her own stretching personal, who just stretch her ? Maybe I could convince my girls that should be their job.

How about you, have you ever got a sports massage like that before ? 

Treadmill training

This weekend triclass was cancelled but ironlady left us a workout to do. We had a choice of swim, spin class then 15 minute run OR swim, then a run workout. I did the latter. 

The swim was fine, not to hard or long, but also no drills and I probably should have done drills as well.

The treadmill workout was excellent. I have been running on the treadmill for quite some time now and yes most times I get on and run for 30 minutes at 6.0, sometimes i increase that each mile and a few times i have increased it up to 7.0 and ran for a minute or 2. Ironlady was all about intervals and speed bursts and that is what I did and it was great. It was 30 minutes but it flew by and it was fun having 7.0 and 8.0 on the treadmill as I am usually in awe of the others that run at that speed. Granted I was only at those speeds for 30 seconds to 2 minutes but still. I felt cool. That was saturday am, sunday i did body pump and tomorrow i will run, wed. is swim with ironlady who is bringing her camera to tape me....oh this should be fun fun fun. Thursday I can't workout so I am going to try and get a friday workout in and then saturday I will go and get my ass kicked at 6.30am....wahoooo....

PS - lost 2 pounds due to that flu bug, and gained it back already, eating like crap !!! must stop.

Back in Action

I am back in action after the stomach bug. 

I went to swim with ironlady and a few tips finally hit me. I get the catch up drill, and I am getting better at gliding and not trying to swim fast but swim efficient and really trying to get my stroke count down. However she mentioned my hand entry and told me to concentrate on that as a drill after I try to concentrate on reach and glide. Each time I did the hand entry I felt as if I lost the idea of glide. I told her and she watched. Simple, as soon as she said hand entry to me, i started reaching my hands down into the water, she explained that she was not talking about just getting my hand DOWN and trying to touch the bottom, she was saying that i should still glide and reach but my fingers should be down when they go in the water. I heard hand entry and was sending my hands to the bottom of the pool. light bulb. helpful

i did spin today. tomorrow is the tri class but ironlady has to be away - she left a workout and I have to find a way to wake up on my own and get to the gym to do it. I believe the incentive will be the mere fact that I can get up and get away from my kids (trust me i love them but it has been a long week). 

I did a food shopping at Whole Foods and got myself some important snack items so that I won't reach for the crap. 

F

had a funeral

had the flu 

back to the gym today

Tri Class update

So saturday am I went to the tri class, I was a tad late and had to jump right in the pool. There is about 8 folks in the class, mix of gender and mix of levels. The swim consitited of drills that I had down with ironlady prior, so it was good for me b/c i could REDO and focus on the drills again. However, I could tell how difficult it would be if that was the first time doing them with so many others vying for her attention. The swim class I took with her was only me and one other lady, you just get one on one and that helps you so much more. The drills were the balance kick drill.

After the swim she told us to meet in the spin room in 5 minutes. Not easy to do as we were wet and couldn't dry off that well. Got into spin room and started on the bikes. I was very curious what we would learn in there. She talked about cadence and taught us how to count our cadence, she explained (and i can't recall the exact stuff) that we should be at 9o cadence on flats and 60 on hills ??? I think that was it. It seemed as if we didn't do much but at the end I was tired out, so I guess we did work it. I think this bike portion will be very helpful to me and give me some good skills and lessons on how i should be biking and what is the most effective and fastest. Then she told us to meet outside in the front for a run.

I bundled up and put my hat over my wet head and after a bit of chit chatting with others in locker room (more folks were coming to gym b/c it was getting later) meet in the front. We ran a bit, not sure how far but I was like second to last, talked with one lady while running, but I was pretty much out of breath and really shocked that the other folks had such energy left, granted 2 were men. Got to the track and she had us sprint the straigthaways and jog the curves. 2 times around. I really tried to sprint b/c back in high school i was a sprinter and this is something I feel like I can do well. Of course I was still getting beaten but hey I am out there right. That was it for the track, and we were down. It went fast and I was happy with it but not overwhelmed about it. I think it will help and I will get good tips BUT will I do this again (this session is for 4 weeks) not sure. 

My shins are killing me. They seem to really flare up after I do any type of sprint work, I iced one last night, but I think I need to ice more tonight on both sides. I also think I need to get some sort of intense sports massage overall. 

I did not enjoy the early wake up, it was dark out, that is depressing. I did enjoy being done with a full workout so early. Today I am taking the day off. 

Peer pressure got me outside

Thanks for the comments about getting my butt outside. I did and I was so glad I did. First off, there was a ton of folks out there running. I did 4 miles. My knees hurt after the run. My knees never really hurt me when I do the treadmill, but outside they do. I did NOT like the feeling but they are ok now. 

I wore my manzella hat which kept me toasty warm, although i didn't pull over my ears till the end of the run. I always forget my ipod when I go outside. I had my nike gloves on, which are perfect to keep my hands warm AND they help wipe my snot away. Had my new running tights from roadrunners and their brand and they were perfect. 

My times were not as fast as I thought I would go. I thought I would do sub 10 minutes but I didn't.

Mile 1 - 10.38

Mile 2 - 10.26

Mile 3 - 10.29

Mile 4 - 10.18

Swimming tips, go google immersion swimming and try their drills. These will help. It seems that you need to swim with more of the thought that you are sliding and gliding and reaching. Not sure if that helps ? I will give more tips as I get more. I have signed up for a triclass at my gym with the ironlady, the next 4 saturdays at 6.30am till 9am I will be getting all sorts of tips and my ass kicked. 

Swimming tecniques

Today I took a swim class with ironlady, it was me and one other woman who i know and we are at the same level of swimming.

It was the most amazing learning experience. I have been swimming like I am sprinting to get somewhere, which is making me a very inefficient swimmer. Many of her tips and advice clicked with me right away. She told us that we were very teachable and had good body awareness. It was such a productive session. 

I also decided to take her 90 minute tri class that starts this saturday for the next 3 saturdays. I am sure I will get a TON out of this. 

Tomorrow is the one morning where I am able to run outside if I want since both girls are in class. So, do I run outside ? or still go on the treadmill ? I should run outside, I know I should. I just 1) don't like the cold 2) get into habits and like things that I know - like running on treadmill. Plus a friend is training at our club tomorrow with some PRO tri guy and I do want to catch a glimpse of him.

Momtrends .....

http://momtrends.blogspot.com/2010/01/fit-mom-profile-josephine-lindgren.html

enjoy

I knew getting hubby involved would benefit me

As you know I trained and did my first sprint tris last summer. This summer I have recruited hubby and he will be doing his first olympic tri. He is an equipment hound and I know I created a monster but in the same breath I would benefit. Today he bought his road bike, he went with a Cannondale. He also bought the cyclops bike trainer. Which means I can train down in the basement on my bike as well. I don't have to rely on spin class alone. 

I am concerned how much more equipment will be purchased but it is all a healthy obsession right ? 

creeping thoughts

Most days I wake up and I feel good and I can't wait to get to the gym. I look forward to it for many reasons but one of them is the fact that I do have an hour on my own as the girls go to the sitting room. Sometimes I have both girls, sometimes I have one. 

For the first time in a long while I woke up today and my stomach had a nervous/nauseous feeling. I use to feel this way MOST MORNINGS, but now I have not. As I eat my breakfast I think of how I don't have either girl today, one has school, one has an art class. Which means that IF I didn't go to the gym, I could come home and shower, fold the laundry, why I could even just sit down and watch a tv show for myself without hearing, momommmmmmyyyy 50 times. And it is there that the thoughts start creeping into my head of reasons why maybe I should not go to the gym. Fuckers this has not happened to me and I am mad it is. I don't want to feel that way. Today is the day to swim with the ironlady and I really NEED this part of my workout. Which means I will put those thoughts OUT of mine and push through them. 

What do you do when you just don't feel it ? What thoughts get you out there and motivated ?

AM or PM

My husband is very fit. He has completed the NYC marathon twice and one of his time (the time when I knew him) he ran it in 3.13...yes sick ass fast. He plays ice hockey. He signed up for the nyc olympic tri (thanks to my goading). I knew that once he got into it he would be buying up all sorts of high tech stuff and start training seriously. I probably created a monster and I need to live with my choices !!

But what I am truly amazed at is that he has woken up at 4.30am the past 2 mornings and got his butt to the Y and swam, then he showered there and got on the train to nyc. Hubby is NOT a morning person. I am so proud of him. I myself like the morning workout as well. When I was working in the city the after work, workout was easy and I liked that but with kids and staying at home, I like to get out in the AM and get it over with. Granted I am not getting to the gym at 6am but I get there around 9 most mornings and that is my work out time. Hubby said the Y is crowded at that early hour and I was shocked. 

When do you workout AM or PM ? When would you rather workout ? 

The gym in January ...

CROWDED