The Halloween Diet

This diet of chocolate and chips and all things ghastly apparently works for me as I jumped on the scale today and I am down 2 pounds! I had lost 10 pounds last spring but by not paying attention I gained all of them and a few friends back...so, off they must go! I just keep thinking about carrying extra poundage around on my runs and my bike, how much harder my body has to work to carry them. AND how awesome I could look in a bikini next summer up at the cabin...we can all dream a little!
Had a great sleep last night and because swimming is cancelled on Sunday due to the long weekend, I rolled out of bed this morning and joined the gang at 6:15. Was a good workout, saw some people that do not normally come out on Sundays so that was nice. My HR test for my bike is tonight and I am a little nervous...the gal running the class is super nice and patient and has answered all my silly e-mail questions and an amazing cyclist so hopefully I learn, learn, learn in the 18 weeks ahead. I am also purchasing a trainer tonight as she says she has the perfect one for me.

Soooo tired....

Oh dear, I have entered into zombie land. I am so tired. Up all night with Luke again. I do not know what the problem is. I was excited about a new week and getting some things done, but looks like I will be tired again all week and just putting one foot in front of the other. I have my HR test on my bike on Wednesday night. Have not been on my bike since the triathlon in August! Oops...buying a trainer Wednesday as well. I cannot get sick again, I have been washing my hands about 30 times a day!! I was out with some triathlon friends on Saturday night and one of the gals was saying how tired she was. Not one of these people had children and I was actually getting mildly annoyed as I do not think they know what "tired" really means. She was tired from training...that's a good, solid, tired. I am the sick to my stomach, nauseated tired.
Okay, time to stop complaining and get on with my day.

Sunday Swim

After having to get up with the baby (17 months old) at 4:00am and not really sleeping after that, I DID to go my swim practice. I MADE myself go...when days like this come along I can only deal with things in tiny steps, so I put my bathing suit on and then my sweats and t-shirt then I packed my swim bag. So I had no excuses but to head out the door. Often times these are some of the best workouts I have. Today's swim, as with all of them so far, was drills, drills and more drills. I am not one for drills!! I like to just get in there and swim. Today because I was tired and still hacking away from a lingering cold, I jumped into lane 7 and led the lane the entire workout. So even though I felt crappy, my confidence was boosted a bit and we ended up doing 3000 meters!! Another positive focus...are you seeing a theme yet? I will post at some time a few things I have learned from the Strategic Coach that we follow at work. One of the biggest things I have learned is that when things are tough, focus on the positives...even the smallest little things can help you. It helps you focus, look forward to the next goal/challenge.

My First Tempo Run...

Today my training plan asked for a 10 minute warm-up, 15 tempo run and then a 10 minute cool down. The goal was to get my heart rate up to between 164-174 for the entire 15 minutes. Well, it took me several minutes to get up to 164...I felt like I was sprinting (for me) and that there was NO WAY I could hold that for 15 minutes. I think the highest I saw my HR get to was 167...but it hovered around 161 for the entire time. Wow...this was hard and I had to stay really focused on running hard to get that HR up there!! At the end, my positive focus was (b/c I was looking for something postive as I felt like I was going to fall over) that I am still pretty green to all of this and I am learning LOTS so that is cool.

Off to the pool tomorrow. I signed up for Sunday morning swims with the tri club. This is really all I can handle in the way of swim training. After leading lane 7 for most of the year last year, I just moved myself on up to lane 8 right at the first swim this year!! The coach said nothing so there I stay. Mind you I bring up the tail end of lane 8 and those boys are FAST!! Coach Brad told us we (lane 8) should expect to be doing about 5000meters at our peak training...GOOD GOD!!

Running Field Test

Well, I was up at 5:30am, snuck out the door and on my way to do my second running field test. The aim was to run 2 miles as hard and as I can while keeping my eye on my average and maximum heart rate. I was not as fast as the first time I went out (2miles in 16min 11secs) Today I did the 2 miles in 16mins 27 secs BUT my max heart rate was about 10bps lower than the first time...maybe I was not pushing hard enough...I WAS tired and not really feeling into it, but once I got going and got my music right, it felt pretty good. I do my very first tempo run in my entire life this weekend....15 minutes of pure hell...can't wait!!