Interview

There's nothing more exciting then giving you all the chance to learn more about myself! Here are the interview questions I received from Ms. Math!

1. If you couldn't be a teacher, what career would you choose?
This is a tough one. Part of me would say I would like to get into the physical fitness realm, but every time I am asked this question, the first thing that comes to mind is free-lance Graphic Design artist. I fell in love with this kind of work when I was working in the marketing department at a music store while in high school. I was going to attempt getting a degree in Graphic Design when I was attending UND, but they really didn't have a good solid program and I was not too thrilled about transferring universities when I was a sophomore in college and had gained so many wonderful friendships. I know, bad excuse.

2. If you had to give up running, swimming, or biking, which would it be and why?
If I HAD to choose anyone to HAVE to give up, it would be running. As much as it was easy to say, given the fact that I am dealing with a bit of overuse/bad shoes injury, I think this would still be my answer if I had just ran a glorious 10 miler yesterday. Running is hard on the body, and hard on mine. I have inherited bad knees from my mother (love you mom). Running has always been challenging for me, as much as I love it. To be able to still do swimming and biking would be a-okay with me. I think.

3. What do you like best about your house?
The best thing that I like about my house is the SPACE, even though I sometimes think about how much space doesn't get used by me on a regular basis. Let me explain, further. My old apartment consisted of a kitchen that ran into a small living room with a couch chair and ottoman, and then a bedroom and bathroom. Now, I can sit at my dining room table, kitchen counter, living room couch, or basement couch if I like. Heck, I even have room to sit on the floor and do yoga or turbo sculpting without having to move a chair and ottoman. It's great.

4. If you could travel to only one country outside the U.S., where would you go?
This is a hard one. I have never been outside the U.S. (besides Canada) and have such a long list of countries on my list. The first one that comes to mind is Ireland. My Dad has talked about wanting to go over there, and I know that my sister and I have also talked about taking a family trip over there...

5. What is your favorite television show?
This is extremely hard for me because I really don't follow a lot of TV show/sitcoms. I will start with one and never finish it. What usually happens is I fall in love with shows that are on after 8 and then miss them half of the time because that is the time I am packing my gym bag, lunch bag, prepping my morning coffee, making my lunch for work, and getting ready for bed because my alarm will wake me in T-minus 8 hours to go to the gym. If anything is on, it is usually a game, preferable college hoops or baseball, given the season.

Do you want to play along? Here are the rules:
1. Leave me a comment saying, "Interview me."
2. I will respond by emailing you five questions. (I get to pick the questions).
3. You will update your blog with the answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview others in the same post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.

Inquiring

Dear Lovely Legs of Mine,

The past two weeks of training have been wonderful. Yes, there have been a couple runs where I thought I was wasting my time and struggled immensely to get through them. But, I took my time, took it easy, and completed my workouts.

Sunday I had a glorious 7+ mile run on the treadmill. The treadmill itself left little to be desired. The same goes for the two televisions in my line of view. But, my breathing was on, and you felt strong. It wasn't until after 5 miles that I was starting to feel the slightest bit sore. Mind you, it was a good sore, and you were the first to remind me of that. However, you persevered and finished strong.

I took Monday off. My overall body was tired. I was exhausted, and it was probably mostly due to improper post-run nutrition Sunday. I gave you, as well as my arms, a complete rest day - no pool, no bike. You are welcome.

Yesterday I swam. You and I both know that swimming is a great upper body workout, and at most, you will become a little tired after extensive kick sessions. That was not the case this day. By no means, were you overworked.

Today, I slept in, giving you an extra 12 hours to "rest up" in preparation for a short, easy run this evening. Unfortunately, the only thing that you were able to provide me with was a short run. It was horrible, and you didn't like the fact that I was putting extra pressure on you. Forgive me, I am sorry.

What do you want from me?

I don't know if your muscles are weak, or if I am "over-using" you, or if I need to switch to new shoes. I am going to rest a few days. I do want, and need, you in tip-top shape for the half marathon in a few months and if that means me taking a few extra days away from running this early in the game, I will sacrifice that. And when I decide it is time for you and I to run, we will be trying new shoes. Maybe that tangible reward will please you.

Until then, we will be keeping ourselves busy in the pool and on the bike. This is a relationship that goes both ways. I give a little bit, and you will do the same. Right?

Signing off,

Sore Stacy

Quality vs. Quantity

Whether you are trying to improve your running or training for a race, your weekly mileage usually consist of the following runs:

1. short runs that may consist of some tempo/speed/or fartlek type work, and
2. long runs that help you build endurance

I would like to think the same goes for swimming.


After my 3200M in the pool a week ago, I realized that I need to start doing more work on speed and form on top of my endurance swims. Usually I try to swim 2 times per week, averaging 2000M each time. Now it's time to start working more on good form, as well as speed!


It's Quality vs. Quantity.



This morning's workout: Hard-Easy-Hard

Here's the description:

All of the repeats in this set should be the same distance. Swim 4x 25m at a fast, almost un-sustainable speed (or 4x 50, 4x 75, 4x 100, 4x 125, or 4x 150; looking for a total time of about 9-10 minutes for the 4 swims including rest), 2x 25m very easy focusing on technique (or 4x 50, 4x 75, 4x 100, 4x 125, or 4x 150; looking for a total time of about 6 minutes), and 4x 25m at a fast, almost un-sustainable speed (or 4x 50, 4x 75, 4x 100, 4x 125, or 4x 150; again looking for a total time of about 9-10 minutes) all on 20s-30s rest. At the end of this set, check your heart rate; check it again at 30s, 60s, and 90s. As you get fitter, your fast times should get faster, your speed fall-off between repeats will decrease, and your heart rate should go down faster.

With what I know about my speed and ability, this was my "plan-of-attack"

• 200M w/u
• 4x100M - HARD ( approximately 9-10 minutes)
• 2x100M - EASY (approximately 6 minutes)
• 4x100M - HARD (approximately 9-10 minutes)
• 200M c/d
  

Here were my results:
(these are approximate times, including rests)

• 200M w/u = 4:00
• 4x100M = 9:00
• 2x100M = 4:00
• 4x100M = 10:00
• 200M c/d = 4:00

How did it go? It went pretty well. I reserved myself in the first 4x100M because I was afraid that I wasn't going to be able to get through my second set. The last couple HARD 100M's were pretty challenging and I really felt my heart rate go up.

Overall thoughts? I liked this workout. Next time I will wear my watch to get a more accurate picture of my time. It was just enough time in the pool to get in a challenging workout.

What's your favorite swim workout?

---

Today's Workout:
Swim -1400M
(Hard-Easy-Hard Workout)

Today's Song:
The Killers - Romeo & Juliet (in sidebar)

Dealing with DOMS

I should have known to plan a REST day after a long run. Did I actually think I would be up to working out this morning after a long run yesterday... the longest distance since my half marathon last spring?

Right.

I am suffering a bit from DOMS, Delayed Onset of Muscle Soreness, as my muscles are a bit more sore now than they were 24 hours ago. For the most part, the soreness left behind from my 7-miler yesterday is a good kind of sore.... the kind us sicko runners enjoy. Most of my soreness is in my quads, which makes me really happy.. happy it's not related to my knees.

However, my left calf is a bit tender, as if I might have tweaked a muscle. The weird part.... POM is struggling from the same darn issue in the same exact spot! Now I have a name to put with that muscle... Soleus.

Tomorrow I plan to hit up the pool for some nice speed work. I have been looking for some good workouts for the pool, something different from just swimming my 2000 meters. I have found a handful and look forward to trying one out tomorrow!

Happy Monday, y'all!

Da weekend and shtuff

Week 2 of HM Training:

Monday:

Run 3.25 miles, 37:21, 11:29/mile avg.

Tuesday:

Bike 8.46 miles, 24:22, 20.83mph

Run 1.5 miles, 14:56, 9.57/mile avg.

Wednesday:

REST

Thursday:

Run 3.25 miles, 38:21, 11:48/mile avg.

Friday:

REST

Saturday:

Bike 10 miles, 35:21, 16.97mph (Hill Repeats)

Run 1.27 miles, 15:00, 11:48/mile avg.

Sunday:

Run 7.17 miles, 1:25:00, 11:51/mile avg.

The past week of training went by pretty smoothly. I ended up taking an extra rest day in there, on Friday. I just couldn't get up and to the pool that morning. I had way too much caffiene thursday and really didn't sleep well that night.

My long run today, went a helluva lot better than last week. I took it nice and slow, doing a run 8-9 minute/walk 1 minute ratio. There were absolutely no problems with my knee tracking. I am super stoked!

I can't believe how fast the weekend has gone by. Friday night I went out with a few girl friends to see Hairball play (click this link to see a snipit). For those of you who read my blog and are still unfamiliar with Hairball, they are an 80's rock coverband that dress the part of every song they play. This was probably my fourth time seeing them and they are still fun to watch. There were so many people there, more than usual, and the pushing and shoving in the crowds started too early. It's really annoying; especially when you are standing so close to the stage and you get a splash of beer thrown on you when a girl throws her beer at some random guy. The guy appeared to be completely innocent. The concert was still fun and the music was great!

Saturday afternoon I went up to GF with my parents to catch the Sioux hockey game. We stopped by my aunts for a few hours before the game and enjoyed catching up with everyone. The Sioux beat Denver the Friday night 8-3, but walked away with a tie in overtime last night. They played horribly and are lucky they didn't lose altogether. We are still ranked #2 in the WCHA...

This coming week I am going cut back a bit on my workouts, I think. I plan to get in a couple good swims - one working on endurance and the other working on form and speed, a session on the bike, and a few 3-5 miles runs.

Today's Song:
Kanye West - Heartless

Words of Wisdom Wednesday

“Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; begin it well and serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.”

– Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)

Physical Fitness Test

This morning I hit up the gym for a nice ride on the bike with atleast 15 minutes to follow on the treadmill. Then, I remembered reading MPA's post from yesterday and just had the desire to see how fast I could do a 1.5 mile run! From there, I was determined to do the rest of the physical fitness test. Remember doing that in grade school? Well, now they have a test set up for adults!

1.5 mile run time: 14:56 (boohyah!)

half sit-ups (1 minute): 69

pushups: 21

height: 5'4"

weight: 147 (eeks, I know)

waist measurement (at the belly button): 32.5 inches

Take your results and enter them into their handy-dandy website and it will show you where you rank with your peers:

1.5 mile run time: 40th %ile
half sit-ups (1 minute): 95th %ile
pushups: 30th %ile
average: 55th %ile

BMI: 25.2 (Overweight, Increased Risk of Disease)

Pretty interesting results. I know what areas are of concern and I know what I need to do to work on them. I would like to do this again in 6 months and see where I am at!

Go ahead, try it for yourself!

Today's Workout:

Bike 8.46 miles, 24:22, 20.83mph

Run 1.5 miles, 14:56, 9:57/mile avg

Attitude is everything

Yesterday, I found out from a good friend of mine, about a death of a guy I know. I didn't know him that well, but well enough for his passing to make me sad. He lost his life in an avalanche, leaving behind a wife and beautiful baby. But like she said, "He died doing what he loved." It sures makes a person think about life and how short it really is. Make the most of it.

"One day your life will flash before your eyes. Make sure it's worth watching"

After a nice weekend with a healthy balance of sleep and hard workouts, I feel refreshed and energized for the week. I think I have an all-around better attitude. Sometimes you just need to sit back, reflect, calculate, and you'd be suprised at how wonderful and blessed our lives are!

Attitude is everything, right?

I woke this morning after a glorious 8 hours of sleep and hit the thrillmill for a nice run. The run went well, especially after a not-so-well long run Saturday, so I was pleased. I spent the remainder of the day at work in staff development sessions. Sometimes, days like these make me wish I worked for the government and had the days off, but it was a nice change of pace. Back with the kiddos tomorrow.

Today's Workout:
Run - 3.25 miles, 37:21, 11:29/mile avg.

Today's Song:
Brad Paisley - When I Get Where I'm Going (Click Here)

Sense of accomplishment

Despite feeling a tad bit under the weather this past week, and being knee high in paperwork (what's knew?), I had a pretty successful start to my half marathon training. This was my first week of training for the half, the first week of 18.

Some of you may be thinking, why on earth does she need 18 weeks to train for a half?! I am hoping with this extra time I will get in some really good long runs before the race. On top of that, I know that life happens and there will be a week or two where my long run will be cut short due to life in general. This way, I can remind myself that when that happens, this is why I decided to train for 18 weeks!



Week 1 recap:

Monday: Run 3.5 miles, 40:00, 11:25/mile
I got this run in prior to starting the workday and it felt great.

Tuesday: Bike 10.8 miles, 30:00, 21.6mph; Run 1.28 miles, 14:00, 10:56/mile
Today I was beginning to feel a bit under the weather and didn't have as much energy as I hoped. I took it easy on the bike and finished off with a near 15 minutes on the treadmill.

Wednesday: REST
I felt really icky this day. Decided to move my rest day today and take advantage of extra sleep. 10 hours was great!

Thursday: Run 3.64 miles, 40:00, 10:59/mile
This was the first day this week that I felt great and the run proved it with a bit of sprinting.

Friday: Swim 2200M, 45:00, 2:02/100M
On Friday's, the pool is open for lap swim from 4-630pm in the afternoon, so I took advantage of that instead of getting up early that morning. Another 9 hours of sleep Thursday night!

Saturday: Run 5.76 miles, 1:09:22, 12:02/mile
The gym is still busy with new years resolutioners, and I thought I got there early enough to avoid the crowd. I was wrong. I had to break this run into two sessions on the treadmill. During the 15 minutes I had between the two, I did a bit of stretching and abs. My right knee was bothering me a bit. It felt like the knee cap wasn't tracking properly. Instantly I had a feeling of self-doubt about this half marathon, but reminded myself to take it slow and my knees should get used to these longer distances again. Positive thoughts all the way.

Sunday: Swim 3200M, 1:24:00, 2:37/100M (freestyle 500M/kick 100M x 5, 200M c/d)
I had a brick workout (Swim/Bike routine) planned for today, but knew that if I wasn't feeling up for it I would just swim. Yesterday's run left my quads a little sore, a good sore. Instead, I decided just do to a long swim, hoping for around 2000-2200M. When I got in the pool a friend of mine suggested using the kick boards today. So we planned on swimming freestyle 500M and then 100M of kick, times 5. We finished off with a 200M c/d. 2 miles in the pool was exhausting but exhilarating as well!

All in all, I think this past week was pretty successful! I look forward to another great week of training.

Tomorrow the little kiddo's don't have school and us teachers have a staff development day. It will be a nice change of pace. I have a lot of meetings this week and paperwork that needs to be finished. My goal is to get in my workouts in the morning, and stay at work a little bit longer each day, getting as much paperwork and stuff done as I can. I am sick of bringing it home each night, as well as working on it during the weekend. I have plans for next weekend, so it's not going to happen!

Happy Sunday, y'all! Have a great week!

Time for a brighter look, I think

I needed a change in the blog world. I was sick of all the dark and gloomy colors, a constant reminder of the cold bitter weather here in ND. This will have to do until thecutestblogontheblock is up and running properly again. I did have fun making the header, however.

On top of the busy-ness at work, and not feeling up-to-par all week, I have had a pretty successful week of workouts thus far. I have got in all my scheduled workouts, making a few switch-arounds to do so. And, I am feeling a helluva lot better today than I did the past four days. wahoo. Go airborne!

Tomorrow I have a longer run on the schedule. It's time to start getting used to those long runs again!

Happy weekend, y'all!

Horrible Haikus

Cold temps still present

Leaving us frozen in time

When will the end come?

***

I tire of this cold

Feeling bitter and crabby

Do I deserve this?

***

Fighting this illness

Hoping it's nothing nasty

More sleep is the plan.

***

Drinking more water

And taking Airborne with it

Many times a day.

***

On the positive

the treadmill was used today

for 3 and some change

***

The run felt super

Got in my ab workout too

It may hurt to laugh.

***

Tomorrow I see

I will be comfy in sweats

and ready for rest!

***

The weekend comes

with a nice long run inside

and maybe a brick.

Da weather and stuff

It's still cold here. I think 90% of our staff were wearing black and grey today, with most tops consisting of turtleneck sweaters. I wonder how many had on their cuddle duds?!

Temps are supposed to start rising after tomorrow. It's a good thing because I am so darn sick of it already. Our principal has been nice enough to grant us a "comfy clothes" day on Friday. I look forward to wearing my sweatpants and hoody.

I got this in my email today....

On a more disappointing note, yes, something more disappointing then -30 degree temps... I think I am getting... something. Last friday I just felt a bit run down from getting back into the swing of things but felt fine until monday morning. The last couple of days I have had that dry burning feeling in the back of my throat and nose. Today I have that and the face and teeth pain. I have had enough sinus infections in my time to know exactly where this is going. I have been suffocating myself with fluids and airborne, as well as moving my workouts around so I could sleep more. I hope that I can keep whatever this is at bay. I am moving my swim to friday, because I can't bear the thought of getting in the pool with my head feeling like this. I will fight this!

As for the rest of this blistery cold night... I will be in bed catching up on some blogs and reading Eclipse.

Freakin' Freezin' ....fo reals

I know some of you get to experience cold weather and I know some of you freak out when your temps reach near freezing. However, I thought I would share a bit about our weather that we are dealing with up here in Fargo, ND.... all week.

• daily highs between -4 and -20 degrees without wind chill
• daily lows between -15 and -40 degrees without wind chill
• blowing snow, causing white out conditions on open roads
• increased chances of frost bite and hypothermia if skin is exposed too long

....all of the above leading to no morning, lunch, or afternoon recess for kids...a teacher's worst nightmare!

All I know is that when the temperatures reach 30 degrees above zero this coming Sunday, it's going to feel like a dang heat wave and I can guarantee that there WILL be people walking around in hooded sweatshirts instead of their winter coats as if it were spring already.

I've been tagged!

For a change in our regular scheduled programming (ie. constantly talking about training)... I have been tagged by the wonderful miss Kelsalynn! Here goes!



4 favorite memories of 2008:
1. Purchasing my first road bike
2. Learning how to ride my road bike
3. Closing on my first home
4. Moving into my home



4 favorite movies of 2008:
1. Sex & the City
2. Forgetting Sarah Marshall
3. Baby Mama
4. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince



4 favorite foods of 2008:
1. Spaghetti
2. Chicken Caesar Salad
3. Diablo Chicken
4. Chicken and veggies


4 favorite places in 2008:
1. Trip to AZ with Steph
2. Numerous trips to the Twin Cities with the fam
3. Going home to the Biz
4. The gym



4 events of 2008:
1. my first triathlon
2. my first half marathon
3. THREE beautiful weddings
4. Jonny Lang concert with Jodes



4 Things I liked in 2008:
1. Moving out of my apartment and into a house
2. traveling
3. long workouts
4. riding the open roads


4 reasons I'm looking forward to 2009:
1. triathlon training
2. heading to NYC with the fam
3. road-tripping to MT
4. just livin' life!


4 people I tag:
1. Jess
2. Ms. Math
3. Chad
4. Sherry
....and anyone else who would like to be tagged.


On a different note, the weather is nasty here today with Blizzard like conditions (snow and nasty wind) requiring many rural towns to close school for the day. On top of that, it is currently -6 degrees, but feels like-29. The highs all week will be in the negatives, without the wind chill. I look forward to Friday, when it should pop back up to about 4 degrees. geez.

Hopefully I can get my but out of bed for a morning swim tomorrow! eeks!

I am off to read Eclipse in bed, until I fall asleep reading... it's just so addicting!

Rest Days

So many of you commented on my training schedule in my last post and were wondering where my rest days were going to fit in. To be honest, I partly forgot and I partly thought the day I did Turbo Sculpt would be enough.

Not smart.

You're all right. I know for a fact that I will need at least one full rest day of no physical activity, especially when I start to increase my long run distance. It's just a given. Don't worry, I will work in those rest days. The last thing I want to deal with is injury.

Today I am taking a complete rest day. This past week has been pretty decent, not up to par, but after a week of little to no workouts, it was a good week. Here's what it looked like:

Monday: Lift upper/lower body
Tuesday: Swim 2200M, 46:00, 2:05/100M
Wednesday: Run 1.30 miles, 15:00, 11:33/mile;
Bike 9.82 miles, 30:00, 19.64mph
Thursday: Turbo Sculpt, 40:00
Friday: Run 3.27 miles, 38:11, 11:40/mile
Saturday: Brick
Swim 1200M, 23:00, 1:54/100M
Bike 21.34, 1:05:00, 19.69mph

When I look over my schedule for the next coming week, taking into consideration afternoon meetings at work and other extra curricular activities, here is what my week will hopefully look like:

Monday: Swim
Tuesday: Run 3-4 miles
Wednesday: Bike/15 minute run-off
Thursday: Run 3-4 miles (AM)
Turbo Sculpt (PM)
Friday: REST
Saturday: Long Run (5-6 miles)
Sunday: Swim/Bike Brick

If I am too worn out or sore by Sunday, the Brick will just turn into a swim. We'll see how this week goes!

Happy Sunday, y'all!

What's it gonna look like?

First of all.....

Happy Birthday Mom!...

Love, your little angels.... Steph, Susan, & Me

---

On the training front...again. I think I have figured out what I would like to do with this training business.

A typical week will look something like this:

Monday: Swim (long)
Tuesday: Run 3-4 miles
Wednesday: Spin/15 min. run-off
Thursday: Run 3-4 miles
Friday: AM Yoga/Turbo Sculpt
Saturday: Swim (short)/Spin BRICK
Sunday: Long Run



Obviously this is bound to change with weekends away and such, so things will just have to get shuffled around a bit.



If all goes as I would like, I will be able to get in a handful of 10-14 mile runs in March and April. For the rest of January and into February, I will slowly get used to the longer runs on the weekends, averaging 5-9 miles only. Some strength training (including turbo sculpting) will be incorporated in there, probably on the shorter run days.



Last year, I did most of my long runs on Saturdays and I really liked that. I was able to get to the gym early Saturday morning before it was busy and didn't have to worry about sticking to a 30 minute sign-up time. Sunday's the gym doesn't open as early, so I might be switching this with my brick workouts later on.



If anything gets cut out of my weekly workout, it will be either my Spin/Run-off session, or the Brick workout. If anything one might just be cut in half, preventing any injury. With this Half Marathon, I still want to keep a good base with my swimming and cycling, but will cut back if I need to.



Alright, there it is. I promise my next post will not be about this training. I just needed to get this figured out for my sanity. Ha!



Have a great weekend, y'all!

Today's Workout:
Run 3.27 miles, 38:11, 11:40/mile

Training thoughts and such

Thanks to everyone who gave me their two cents in regards to my training plans for my upcoming half marathon. If you haven't read my post, you can check it out here. Feel free to give me any advice you have.

I think I knew what I wanted to do already. I just am trying to decide what to do for my long runs. I woudn't mind trying to do a couple long runs more than 13 miles. I guess I can just start upping my miles and listen to my body and see how it goes. But, like I said, that is still 19 weeks away and plenty of time to think about it.

I did want to clarify one thing. Some of you commented on me motivating my family to join me. I don't think I motivated them. My parents have run more half marathons than I have raced. They have motived me. And Steph has been wanting to train for a half marathon, and I am glad she has bit the bullet and will be joining us on the dark side! LOL.

Yesterday, I DID make it to the pool for a nice morning swim. In fact I could have gone further, but the pool was getting too busy. So after 45 minutes I canned it and went to work early.

This morning in the process of getting ready for work, I stubbed my 2nd and middle toe against my bathroom door, as I was opening it. I compared the pain to childbirth. I know I haven't had any children yet, but I can assume that the pain was similar. My toes kept rubbing in my shoes all day and when I went to the gym I dreaded getting on the treadmill. It felt okay to run, but I think my gait was off a bit as I was trying to avoid pushing off those toes. So I stopped after 15 minutes and hopped on the bike to do some hill repeats. Now, that my friends, was fun.

I have been having a hard time keeping up with blogs lately, only getting to read a few here and there, but I hope to catch up a bit in the next few days!

Yesterday's Workout:
Swim 2200M, 46:00, 2:05/100M

Today's Workout:
Run 1.3 miles, 15:00, 11:30/mile
Bike 9.82 miles, 30:00, 19.64mph (hill repeats)

Half Marathon Training will begin in....

Let the countdown begin! In less than 19 weeks I will be participating in the Fargo Half Marathon once again!

The difference this time? I won't be doing it alone! Both my parents, and Steph, will be joining me in the half marathon, and my youngest sister Susan will be walking the 5K with a friend!

This race will most likely be my first race of 2009. I was thinking about doing another indoor triathlon the end of February, but might just save the $35 and put it towards an outdoor tri this summer. You can't find much else for races in these parts this time of year...

With this thought, I have been looking over training plans and my schedule and other training plans and my schedule. You get the point. I guess this is my time to ask you, fellow bloggers, what kind of plan do you like to use?

For last year's race, I used the Jeff Galloway plan and liked it. The longest run I did prior to the half marathon was just a little over 10 miles and that was 3 weeks before the race. Even though I was able to finish the 13.1 miles, I suffered immensely through the last 5 miles or so because of nasty blisters (mostly self inflicted due to the poor choice in changing socks for race day). My quads and calves were very sore for the few days to follow.

In a perfect world, my weekly training schedule would consist of 3 runs (2 short, 1 long), 2 swims (1 long and one short whether it is part of a brick session or not), and 1-2 bike rides. I would really like to keep up with my swimming and cycling as much as I can. I think it is a great form of cross training, even if they are shorter sessions. I would also like to do some more strength training and yoga.

Any ideas? Tips? Thoughts on how to juggle this sensibly?

What has worked for you? What hasn't worked for you?

Any suggestions or comments in regards to what you like and have found to work for you, would be much appreciated!

Unplanned Workout

I have been looking forward to getting back into a routine since shortly after Christmas. And today I had good intentions of starting the week off right.

Get up early and do a 3-4 mile run. That's it.

I slept like crap last night. I woke up multiple times and just tossed and turned. I am sure I was anxious about getting back to work. So I canned my morning run and moved it to this afternoon.

I must have been half dead when I packed my gym bag this morning because I had no workout shorts or pants. Luckily I had sweat pants to pull on (a pair that I usually bring to wear home in the freezing temps). So I dressed as well as I could and just lifted for about 40 minutes. Needless to say, I was pissed and disappointed I didn't get my run in.

Tomorrow is going to be better. I am going to head to bed here feeling relaxed and calm in hopes of a nice nights sleep... and get to the pool tomorrow morning for a nice LONG swim!

Christmas Break Recap & December Month in Review

Here's the recap of my 2 week vacation...


Christmas with the Family: The first weekend of my break we celebrated Christmas at my house. Steph and Blaine had plans to spend Christmas in Colorado with his family, so we celebrated a few days early, just the 6 of us. It was a nice weekend.
Christmas back home: I drove back to Bismarck Christmas Eve Eve. We celebrated Christmas Eve and Day with my mom's family. It was very nice, but very crowded as well. That's what happens when you have a large family.... 28 grandkids...6 great grandkids... imagine if everyone had come home Christmas...


Weekend after Christmas: During this time I spent a lot of time doing a whole lot of relaxing. My god-daughter turned 10 (gulp) and we celebrated with a bit of bowling! I squeezed in a handful of workouts and read Twilight. I really enjoyed the book and couldn't wait to get out to purchase book 2 of the series. I am almost finished with it.
Earlier this week: I was planning on leaving Bismarck Tuesday, getting into Fargo to do some cleaning, and then leave for the cities Wednesday morning. However, that didn't work. Bismarck got another 5 inches of snow Tuesday and I didn't want to venture out on the roads. I left mid morning Wednesday, dropped many things off at my house in Fargo and finished my drive to the cities. You could still tell that the roads were in rough conditions due to the blizzard like weather the previous day, but I made it just fine. I planned on staying with my sister and brother-in-law for a few nights.
New Year's Eve: We rung in the New Year at a friends house. It was fun and relaxing as well. But I was beat after drive 6.5 hours that day.

New Year's Day: We checked out the 75% off isles at Target and stocked up on some good Christmas decorations, wrapping papers, and such. We played a few games of Scrabble (and I still suck), and watched the movie Ghost Town. It was an okay movie.

Friday: Steph and I decided to try Bikram Yoga since we stumbled across a local Bikram yoga studio in the Chan. The class was 90 minutes long and the room was set at 105 degrees. Overall, I really enjoyed it and look forward to getting back to do it again. Note to self, even if you think you are drinking enough water after Bikram, drink more. I did not enjoy the headache later that day.


Saturday: I decided to leave the cities bright and early, hoping to beat out the storm that was coming. Yes, another storm. The roads were good until I was half way home and then they progressively started to get worse. I was home before noon and that is when it was just starting to get really ugly around here. I am glad I left when I did.


Today: I got up and met up with a friend at the pool. I did a nice long swim and probably could have gone longer. I have unpacked, done 5 loads of laundry, went into work for about an hour and put away my Christmas decorations. I am having difficulties with my toilet in my master bath, and am waiting for help with that... yay...the joys of being a single homeowner!

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Before I forget... here's a quick run down of what December looked like, and comparing the stats to November:

SWIM - 9700M......................5200M in November
BIKE - 87.97 miles..............28.46 miles in November

RUN - 42.13 miles...............35.95 miles in November

I am pleased to see all numbers had increased when compared to November. December was a very busy month.

I had graphs to display my distances each month for swimming, biking, and running, across 2007 and 2008 to compare, but am having difficulties trying to figure out how to display them in my blog.

But, if I were to compare the monthly average for running, biking, and swimming, I have definitely increased from 2007. (Even though there were some months in 2007 that I didn't do any swimming) Here's what it looks like:

2008 Swimming - 8542M avg/month..........579M in 2007

2008 Biking - 75.69 miles avg/month.........57.41 miles in 2007

2008 Running - 32.12 miles avg/month.....31.34 miles in 2007