the zone

today i did a bike ride outside. i am not a biker, but last season in my first tris biking was where i ranked the highest ? go figure. This year I got me the clipless pedals. Today during my ride I got in a zone and I felt it, I felt the speed and the power to keep at that speed. it was cool. of course i also felt the head wind at other times.

goals

eat more veggies and fruits !!!

heat, boardwalk

i am recovered from the aura migraine, i did research last night and i am thinking of going off the pill. it was stated that ladies who have aura migraines and are on birth control have a higher chance of having a stroke. nice.

I ran on the boardwalk today, almost 4 miles. It was hot hot hot. I was not concerned with time, just wanted to get the miles done.

some goals

-more water and less ice t, i love me a big ice t from dunkin donuts and right now any size is 99cents.

-eat the fresh jersey tomatoes i bought at a farmstand asap so they do not go bad.

-stretch more

-read more with the girls

-book a sitter and have a date with hubby

aura migraine

i got hit with an aura migraine. i do not get pain, i basically get swiss cheese in my sight. i am unable to see peripheral vision. it is scary and sucks. i was at lunch w the girls and seriously thought we were going to have to call for someone to drive us home. it went away - i wore sunglasses inside. rested the rest of the day and feel crappy and ate crappy. hoping tomorrow is a better day.

before i got the aura i did my workout with trainer. it was a bit easier than other workouts but i also think my mental strength is kicking in as well.

i always try to figure out a trigger for the auras. anyone else get these ???

a journey

this post might sound a bit hokey but here it goes. I am on a journey. I have been working on some things in my life and I am learning A WHOLE LOT about myself. What I find amazing is that it applies to every aspect of my life, even exercise.

I hold back. I say I can't. Trust me I am at the gym almost every day working out. But showing up is only HALF of it, you need to be there and be ready to give 100%. I did a spin class on Friday and I used more resistant than I have in the past. I was pushing myself and challenging myself. Instead of saying I am saving myself for the end OR I can't do this, I just turned the knob and said give it a try, you can always turn it down. About a third of the way in I was smiling, I was happy and I got that really good feeling that I was pushing myself and it was FUN. I was able to look at it as a challenge and to give the 100% was fun. I let go. I need to do that more in every aspect of my life.

Today I ran and I was tempted to stop at 3 miles, but I had some more of the loop to finish and I said, I can do this, I don't have to go fast I can just chug along and get the miles in. It felt great.

I never realized that pushing yourself would take learning. Turning that mindset from I can't do this OR i don't want to do this (even though you are doing it - those thoughts just don't help) TO I can do this, I will try to do this, I will give it my all, isn't that why I am out here. It helps, it works. I hope my whole attitude is ready for this change and journey.

posture

I have very bad posture. I remember hunching myself over b/c i was flat chested and was very self conscious about it. Now as an adult I realize the disservice I did to myself. I am so out of line that simple weight lifting moves or simple body movements are quite difficult for me. Today I worked out with my trainer and she would have to continually tell me to get in correct position. After I got into the correct position the movement became twice as hard. She mentioned that I am working twice as hard due to the my back. It is frustrating and feels like I am climbing an endless mountain. She also checked me for diastasis, she said I have partial.

I really need to stand up straight through out the day, and suck my belly button in. I took some time for ME today. Much needed.

Tomorrow I believe I will spin or swim OR maybe I will do both ??? My trainer was asking how I was feeling after my workouts and I was explaining how after spin I feel fine and almost as if I didn't even workout. She said you have to push harder, turn the resistant way up was her advice. I laughed b/c I am such a wimp on my own. It makes obvious sense but why I have not done it is beyond me.

holy hell of a day

i try not to talk about the kids all this much on the blog and have it become my venting site. but holy mother of the lord above it was a hard one today. i won't go into specifics but it sucked ass.

Right now I am listening to one child cry about how her hermit crab hates her b/c it pinched her. the other one is mad at me b/c we were saying what we are thankful for and i said daddy and she said i thought you would say us, and i said you mean the 2 kids who DO NOT LISTEN to me at all. they are both in my bed and i am seriously in losing it mode.

i would love to go sit in a vat of brownies with ice cream but i will NOT do it b/c i NEED to get serious about eating NO more crap. as i reviewed photos from the race i just ran i noticed that i looked a bit fuller than the other ladies. i know i could use to lose 10 lbs and it would be much better for racing and stuff. my down fall is the crap and sweets. i do believe that if i just cut out the crap i could drop a few right away. i know that my stress level is so high at times that it is the only way for me to destress, this is all at night b/c i exercise in the am. and yes exercise is a major destresser but i don't at night and that is when i need it.

anyways it was one bad mofo day. but a new one tomorrow.

thankful for living near the beach (even though this is a problem for my ocd girl) i still love being near the ocean. thankful for my mom. thankful for sleep.

how much protein is good for a snack ? how many grams ? see how my crazy ass mind works - just jumping around

summer time

I did spin today. I am actually starting to feel like I need to work out more than 45 minutes of spin. I feel like I should be tacking on something extra at my workouts that are under an hour. I was going to do strenght but I didn't have enough time, then I thought i would do it at home right about now BUT i am not. I wound up taking the girls to a great amusement park/boardwalk near us and we had a blast. They did a ton of rides, they had ice cream (i did not - however i will be having a skinny cow soon), we also got a new pet.....polly the hermit crab. I keep hearing scratching noises and I get scared of what type of animal might be crawling around the house. Then I remember that it is polly just walking around in her home. It was a great day and the girls had such a nice time. I wound up seeing 4 other moms from my area who all did the same thing. I last minute decision to just go.

Tomorrow I plan on swimming. I will do some work out that ironlady has emailed in the past. Thursday will be workout with trainer and a run. Friday, spin. Not sure about this weekend, there is a 5k I might do BUT i hear it is a trail run and i am not keen on trail runs. I also want to start looking at next year olympic sized tris. i want to do one and want to make sure i sign up in time as i know many things sell out. any body have a fav olympic tri in the tri state area ???

goal ....

my goal was 45 minutes. I did not do that, my garmin and chip time was 46.57, cross finish line time was 47.24. I was happy with my time. I was happy that I set a goal, b/c I really did think I pushed myself more and had a much better mental race than the norm.

However, there were a few other moms in the area lined up a bit in front of me and 1 is NOT a runner. They have all been taking a class with one of the area's local mom who is a serious runner. The lady who was not a runner freaking beat me ??? 43.37 chip time.

I also had a mom i know start in the same area as me and she has really bad running form and looks pained and she beat me as well. 43.55 chip time.

I still am thinking that I do not push myself enough in a race. I did feel that I gave more in this race, but I also had a kick at the end and as soon as I was done I was thinking damn I could have pushed more. My biggest fear seems to be pushing myself and then not having enough to finish. My legs do not give out on me, I even ran up the killer hill at the start of mile 5. It is my breathing and in turn what my stomach feels like. That is why I hold back b/c I am scared that I will throw up and not be able to finish.

garmin splits

mile 1 - 9.04

mile 2 - 9.07

mile 3 - 9.15

mile 4 - 9.51

mile 5 - 9.19 (hill)

so what the heck happened on mile 4 ? it is the one area of the course that is very turny, short streets and lots of turns. I also had one stretch and I recall being real tired on it and starting to drag.

I am happy with how I did but some how I still feel like I am not at my full potential ? And I am trying real hard not to be upset about what OTHER folks did.

favorite things to do

tonight at 6.30pm we get to do one of my favorite things, the kids race !!! The girls and i will head to town, put numbers on them, and they get to do a race. I believe this is one of the best ways for kids to start on the path of a healthy lifestyle. They have fun, they exercise, all good stuff.

today i head to the gym to do my weight/strength workout, problem is i can't locate the write up of it and not sure i can remember exactly the moves......hate winging things so hunting trainer down to get the exact.

Incline

Today was my day to run on the treadmill with a workout from ironlady that will help me achieve my goal for the 5 mile run this weekend. It was a 35 minute run. First 10 minutes steady w build to hard effort at incline 1. I have NEVER used the incline on the treadmill and wow it makes a difference. Next was 10x (30 seconds at 30 seconds less my race pace, then 20 sec rest) on an incline of 4. It was hard but fun. Then finish up at zero incline (wahoo) steady effort. I felt great. I love having something different to do on the treadmill.

Do you use the incline ? when ? why ? how ?

the plan

so this week the girls are out of school so i will be dragging them to the gym everyday. today was workout with trainer - didn't get dizzy but was exhausted and could hardly keep up. then i ran for 30 minutes.

rest of week

tues - spin

wed - intervals on the treadmill - per iron lady

thur - swim with iron lady

friday - do strength workout per trainer

saturday is my five miler. KICK ASS

I need to work on nutrition and an important step in that is being prepared, i need to get to the grocery store.

i also want to spend sometime wth the girls doing crafts, reading or just playing. nice days get to the beach with them. a few playdates planned and story time at the library.

dizzy

today i did 30 minutes on the treadmill at an easy pace. Then I headed over to start my weights. I was following the workout i had from my trainer. I started w/ the gravitron, doing pull ups....i was not out of breath from the run and i don't get dizzy but the minute i had to do 10 pull ups then 10 squats and lifts and then 10 jumping jack burpees i swear i am about to faint. my trainer was able to stop by and make sure i was doing it all and help me on the last set of those jacking jump burpees. i ran out of time to complete the entire workout but the point is i am starting to get this into my workouts twice a week and it should freaking help me. it makes me think that cross fit is probably so super hardcore.

if you do crossfit are you doing it ONLY or in addition to running and other working out ?

saw iron lady at the gym and she mentioned that we might do a river swim !!!! which means i need to go do something with my googles and make sure they don't fog up. sounds like baby shampoo and water mixture.

Next weekend is a 5 mile run in our town and I am signed up for it and I have a goal of doing it in 45 minutes. It has a wicked bad ass hill right at the end. I don't like stating my goals b/c then if i don't make it i feel like a loser but i am realize that there is nothing wrong with having a goal, you have to have something to reach for.

random post

1. just made whole wheat strawberry muffins and they came out yummy. i improvised a bit and used whole wheat flour, baking soda, greek yogurt, vanilla, brown sugar, honey, a gogurt ??, applesauce, 1 egg, i think that was it. oh and the strawberries.
2. i saw a photo of myself - it was of me reading to my daughter's preschool class and i was appalled at my appearance. my face looked tired, my hair had greys and was untamed and frizzy, and my belly was popping out and i was hunch back. i have am so bummed out about this photo. i don't like to primp and it shows, and how can i work out so much and still have this effing belly ??? and why didn't my mom yell at me to stand up straight !!! i will be honest. i am 5'5" and weight 128 lbs, but i swear i look like a beast ??
3. just read frayed laces 70.3 report and loved every single minute of it. makes me almost think about doing a half...
4. tomorrow is a treadmill run for 30 minutes and my strength workout from the trainer, she will be at gym but we don't have a session but i am glad she will be there so she can help me out.
5. college reunion this weekend, getting a brazalian blowout tomorrow
6. girls last day of school today and both of them had their white books, books that they draw in and the teachers have them say their thoughts on stuff and the teachers write it down verbatim. there is a page about MOMMY and both girls wrote that i like to run and/or exercise, it was also said that i like mcdonalds....see number 2

wetsuit sleeves

so i am thinking bout getting a wet suit and the question is sleeves or no sleeves ? i would like to get NO sleeves but then i think what if i do decide to do a half one day OR an olympic in a cold place ????

advice ? what do you have and why ?

first open water swim of season

So tonight hubby and I went to do a river swim with the local tri group. I do not have a wet suit, and everyone else did. But I went in and it was warm. I started swimming and felt really good about my stroke and was ready to go for the full mile. Then I looked up to sight and I couldn't see a thing. The sun was in my eyes, and my googles were all fogged up. I swam like this for a bit and finally I stopped and wiped off googles and was amazed at how clear the suckers became. Ahhhh I thought, now I can swim without feeling blind. Head went in water and the fog was back. I did this the entire time. I tried to sight and do it, but half way through I couldn't figure out how much farther I had and was spending too much time stopping, clearing the damn googles and starting up again. I was happy with how I was swimming and I felt strong and I felt like I could have kept going.

So I tried the spit, didn't work, i tried toothpaste last season didn't work, i have the anti fog spray and that didn't really work. WTF ???? Help Help help. I can not swim like this way too annoying. any advice please send.

trainer baby

So tomorrow I start training sessions with a trainer. She is a friend and I am doing the sessions with a friend, so we get to work out with her together. It is for 30 minutes and then we can do another session on our own during the week. I am really looking to getting my butt kicked. Then hubby is working from home tomorrow b/c he is going to attend our 5 year old's diploma day. There is a monday river swim ran by a local tri group and we are going to attend together. very exciting day of working out !!!

lip stuff addict

I am a lip stuff addict. I usually put aquaphor on my lips all day long and a real nice slober of it before I go to sleep. I love the stuff and have started rubbing it on my feet everynight before i hit the hay.

However, now that I am finally working out in the outdoors I need a lip stuff that has spf in it. A while back I received a wonderful package from mission sports skincare, I just started using the lip protector and I love it. It is like a gel so it goes on like vaseline and that is what I like. I ran with it the other day and it did not wear off and I didn't get a funky taste and I did not have any icky build up in the corners of my mouth. I am in love with this product and sure hope i can find it at my local sports stores. I highly recommend it.

running hills

do you run hills ? hillwork ? whatever ? do you do it ? if so, how ?

today i tried to incorporate a hill into my run, it is the hill that is at the end of a five mile race i want to do on june 18th.

so i ran about 1.7 miles and then up the hill and then finished a full 3 miles. so i did not do repeats. i have done that at the NYRRC i took years ago, it was hard but you felt like you got a great workout in.

here were my splits

mile 1 10.17

mile 2 10.43 (the hill was in this)

mile 3 9.49

wahooooo...i feel like i should have gone another mile but it was hot and well.....

thank you subway

so i am a huge drive thru person. since i am working on my nutrition i can no longer do drive thru (well i can and I do ) but you get the point, i try NOT to and I have to say I am doing pretty well. Lately when lunch time rolls around and I don't feel like my same ol salad, but i don't want to go and sit somewhere b/c the girls have to be dropped off and picked up, i have been going to subway and getting myself a sandwich. I love that I have a healthy choice, I realize it is not the MOST healthy choice BUT it sure beats the heck out of the chicken nuggets and fries that i would be getting if i didn't have it.

Yesterday I had ONE sugar cookie (a small one) and that was it for sweets. So a good start.

I guess today is national running day, sorry but i can't run today. I swam today but i will be running tomorrow and i get to run outside b/c both girls have something in the AM...wahooo

it is on....

NO MORE SWEETS. I am serious. VERY serious.