first open water swim

Tonight I went and swam in the river. Wore my wetsuit for the first time. I was scared that I would feel claustrophobic in the suit and not do well. I felt great ! Man that sucker lets you float !!! I felt good in in it and was able to swim. Not sure how far I went, hopefully at least a half mile. My biggest problem is the same as it always is, foggy goggles, leading me to hard time sighting, leading me to stopping stroke, looking around. I went right to the acme after and bought baby shampoo to make the dilution to rinse the goggles. That was the only thing that has worked in the past. no spit for me, no fog spray, no toothpaste, nope non of them worked, but baby shampoo had worked.

any of you out there use training peaks ?

callus

During the last 3 miles of the half I did, the balls of my feet were burning. I thought blisters. However, it seems to be a callus. I went for my first run since the half, yesterday, so I had a good 7 days of no running. My left foot still had the burning and it hurt. I have never had a callus. It actually did not hurt after the half that much, it hurt the day of and then the next it was ok. I do recall what felt like stepping on something prickly and that is when it started hurting again and has not stopped. There is no splinter and it is right where the callus is ???

So have you had a callus ? what do you do ?

it is the area below my third toe - wish i knew how to make those arrows and such

not that you can see it in the photo but i figured i would try

more critiquing requested !!!

i am trying this and really enjoying it, but what do you do with your photos ? print them out ? keep a flicker acct ??

photography blogs

A bunch of the blogs I read are women who are amazing photographers, pioneer woman, sarcastic mom, and soon to be a mom for the second time moosh in indy , jennifer at playgroupie claims to be a beginner but to me she is in the same category as the others.

I admire their work so much. Photography interests me very much, however it is something that I have never taken a course in. I want to but of course I feel like it is too much of an indulgence. However, the great thing about photography is I can still do it. I can take photos of my kids, family, and I can try some shots that I think my above idols would take.

so without further ado, my attempt at photography.

critique more than welcome......

can i say a PR if i have only done 2 ? race report

The half went well. It was a perfect day out. I get very headgameish about races. I find myself to scared to commit to a goal time b/c if I fail I will be upset. However, I am working on that and I did make some goals. My first goal was to beat my one and only previous half of 2.17. I did that. My next goal was - I would love to run in btw 9 and 10 minute miles. I did that. I might have had a dream goal of doing it in 2.05 or under. I did NOT do that. I did 2.08 and after writing this out I feel pretty good about it. I felt strong. My coach told me to not go out fast, to go out and have it feel easy. My first 2 miles were 10 and 10.04, everytime i checked my garmin i mostly saw 9.36ish. so i was scared i was going to fast but i was comfortable so i kept going. Miles 3 - Mile 7 i was pretty consistent -9.57,10.03, 9.57,9.53,9.57.

My wonderful hubby with my darling girls were at mile 6ish so i was happy to see them and get a hug. I knew that after I saw them i was half way there and wanted to go faster and have a better second half. I tried to pick it up. Mile 8 was 9.43. Here is where i started to figure out how much longer i had left, i do that thing were i am like, wait did i run 8 or when i see 8 am i starting 8 ?? confusion. 5 miles left seems a bit daunting and i was scared to push it. mind games. needed to try and stop that and just run on feel. Mile 9, 9.37. I was stopping at every water stop and drinking. i did not saunter, but i did slow down, grab water and then stop to drink. At mile 10 my coach found me, i was so in a zone i was startled when she called my name out. She said I was looking good and asked my pace, i told her i seemed to be at 9.30ish, she said ok, you have a 5k left, what can you do for 30 minutes. i asked if i could throw up ?? i use humor to cover pain. she said just keep going, and try to pick people off. I tried to pick it up. I still have the mind game of holding back, i get so scared of using my gas all up and having nothing left. But i tried. Mile 10, 9.26. She saw me again and said good I can see you are picking it up. It was great having her there to coach me on.

At this point the balls of my feet were burning. BAD. I knew if i slowed down i would want to walk, so i tried to keep going faster. I thought of the story Unbroken and how that man survived. I thought of how I always end a race and am mad at myself for not fighting harder and pushing through. I told myself in my head to dig deep. I just kept trying to go faster or at least keep going at that pace. Mile 11, 9.21. Mile 12, 9.08. Ok, one mile left, no more holding back, TRY to go fast. THe race is crowded so i was with a ton of people and this helped b/c i just tried to pass people. Now we are running on the boardwalk along the beach and I know it is close. I am just trying NOT to stop and keep going and give it 100% and pass people. Mile 13, 9.08. My garmin end miles were 13.26 and my time was 2.08 - 9.41 minute miles.

My balls of my feet killed after ?? I am moving to my new sneaks. I am wondering if the socks i wore were not good. Need to figure that all out. Overall I am happy. Of course I am already thinking of doing it next year and breaking 2.00 ???

It was a great day.

half

sunday is my half marathon. talked with my coach today. i feel ready. my mind is getting to me. making me doubt, making me think i can't do as well as i want. all that sh)(*^.

i have goal, to do better than my one and only pervious half, which was 2.17. I want to beat that. My goal is to run btw 9 and 10 minute miles.

My other goal is to have fun. To run strong, to breath and smile, and to beat the negative thoughts that poison my mind.

recovery

I have been very happy with the Shaklee Performance drink - I use it while working out and I believe it has helped me perform but also it has helped in how quick I recover. However, I just started drinking Shaklee's Recovery Drink - Physique. I have not even put it in a smoothie, as I have not had time but need the recovery drink, so I have just dumped in water and drank. I was so happy that I actually like the taste. The best part is after my long run, I had way more energy after drinking this AND I could tell my next day was far better as well. My norm is too crash and nap after a long run at some point during the day. However, after the Physique I did not nap and actually did some stuff around the house, it helped me feel like a normal day NOT a waste of a day.

Check it out if you can and let me know what is your favorite recovery drink or food ???