Forward-Thinking Madness

Today was the last day of the challenge – I swam my last 1/2 mile & ran 3.1 miles. I must say that was a difficult last run because the wind was blowing and it was very cold (well, it was cold for Florida.) I’m proud of myself for completing the challenge and going beyond the expectation that I began with: to just finish one. Instead, I finished two: 4.83 miles of swimming, 224.6 miles of cycling and 52.5 miles ran. (I still cannot fathom how anyone could finish one Ironman in a day.) My body definitely feels a bit battered, but the funny thing is that I don’t want to stop. It helped to have a goal to reach (and I didn’t want to fail as I paid $28 to participate), so I am hoping I can remain just as motivated in February. I’d like to run the same 3k that I ran in March, 2009, but this time run a much better time.

So that’s my goal for February: train for my first 5k since September.

(The things I’ll remember most from this month: trying to learn how to clip in my new cycling shoes, the nasty taste of a Power Bar Protein Plus bar (eew), learning to run in the cold (my eyes would not stop watering), free impromptu swimming lessons at the pool, how swimming goggles make you look extremely goofy, learning that chlorine will heal ezcema, learning to push myself beyond what I thought were my limits, and the onset of nausea after you’ve been working out for two hours.)

Down to the wire, but I am on target to finish two triathlons in a month. I’m tired…haven’t taken a rest day since last Friday. My knees are screaming at me and my rear end is sore from sitting on different stationary bikes this week for miles & miles (I know, TMI.) All I need to do tomorrow is swim a half mile and run around 4 miles.

Back in town and day twenty four equaled 21.5 miles of cycling and 1450 yards of swimming. I’ve been trying to make my swimming more efficient but my underlying fear of the water keeps me from getting any faster. And what of a new addition to the family? I broke my January budget an purchased a pair of Shimano RD86 shoes for spinning. (And once I get a bike of my own I’ll be able to use these as well.) So no, I’m not pregnant (lol) – my “family” is my family of gym and sports gear. Oh, and I have a cat too.

Signing off for a night of relaxation.

I finished swimming requirement of 2.4 miles yesterday – this is cause for celebration, or for more swimming torture as I head back to the pool tomorrow to exceed the 2.4 miles. I finished last week with 93% of one triathlon. I’m behind on…cycling/spinning. So, you know what I will be catching up on this week.

Adding more miles & yards…No, I have not been keeping up with logging everything on here for the “IDC”, but the story is the same: My knees are sore, I’m tired, my hip flexors are screaming at me & what does not kill me shall make me stronger. There you go. That poorly formed and uninspired sentence sums up the past six days. I spent 78 minutes on an elliptical tonight. I vowed to stay on it until I started hallucinating, but my right knee woke me up from my delusions of grandeur. My theory is this: I am trying to complete 1.5 (plus) triathlons in one month. I should feel like I am truly expending as much as effort to make it seem like a real day-long triathlon. I’ve watched the Iron Man in Hawaii with people falling off bikes, vomiting in the road, running with severe back spasms….somewhere along the line I am hoping to share in part of the misery/triumph of completing a triathlon, albeit it a slower pace. (Thirteen days with one day of rest…it’s a good kind of pain. I say that with almost all of my sanity in tact. Bring on the vomit and spasms.)

I have a long weekend and I shall enjoy it thoroughly. The itinerary is as follows: leave for Melbourne on Friday, meet up with V, who I have not seen in two years, visit with dad, who just returned from a month-long trip to the Philippines, and get my hair cut. All of this must be accomplished while still logging….miles & yards.

Running & biking = miles
Swimming = yards

My days are quite similar in nature and I am OK with this – I’ll accept the mundane for now with hopes of something far more interesting looming on the horizon. (And hopefully I will be able to meet this something interesting on the horizon without further injuring my….injuries.) For now, I’ll end this here before I start to make even less sense.

P.S. miles & yards, yo.

My first day off, but I still logged some time at the gym (core conditioning & Body Combat.) Perhaps tomorrow will be an actual rest day? I’m just over 1/3 of the way through one triathlon..I’d really like to go for 1.5, but we’ll see how the knees hold up.

I’m also beginning to remember why I hate swimming so much: public indoor pools filled with ridiculous amounts of chlorine. My main concern: my hair drying out. Ha! How superficial of me. Thankfully, Aveda has a solution for that sort of thing.

P.S. It’s been terribly cold here in Florida – the past couple nights it has dipped below the freezing mark. I awoke to a car covered in a pretty good layer of ice, not frost. I heard whispers of the chance of flurries this weekend. I have to say it is really difficult to drag yourself out of bed at 7 AM on the weekend to get to the gym when it’s freezing outside.

I logged 5.1 miles for a running/elliptical combo and 850 yards of swimming. Had to take advantage of a day off and get two workouts in. I stopped in at the gym that my coworkers go to, LA Fitness, to redeem a 7-day workout pass to use their pool but instead received a pushy salesperson who made me a bit nervous. He seemed quite flighty. He apparently used to work for LFF, the gym I frequent, and knows my roommate. I was going to swim there today, but wanted to dart out to get away from the flighty salesperson…there was just something not right about that fellow. So, I drove down to Seminole again. Tried out the new swim goggles – they feel a bit awkward, but at least I can now keep my eyes open underwater.

Day two total was 3.6 miles for running with part of that on the elliptical. I wasn’t feeling that great and decided to work out in the late afternoon when I should have ran in the morning instead. Day three was my first attempt at swimming – I logged 22 laps in a 25-yard pool which is about .31 miles. Not too bad, but I was definitely exhausted after that. (Plus, I’m a lousy swimmer…not very efficient.) Monday was day four and I did 3.2 miles on the elliptical after Body Pump. (We are allowed to count elliptical miles toward our running total, but I still want to run 75% of my total miles logged. I need to be cautious and only add 10% each week to my running miles to be sure I don’t re-injure my right knee.) Today, day five, I did my standard spinning class at approximately 45 minutes. Logged 13.5 miles. Tomorrow I plan to run,Thursday spin, and then Friday will be a swimming day, or what I’ll consider a break day. Swimming doesn’t put any strain on my knee, which I am protecting during this triathlon challenge, so on my off-days, I need to log laps in the pool. I will take a day off somewhere – I’ll just let my body tell me when that should be.

It’s day one of my month-long triathlon challenge and I logged ten miles towards my cycling requirement. I actually went to the gym and did the two-hour long “Amazing Workout” which had about 35-40 minutes of spinning involved. (Yes, spinning class counts. You are indeed cycling…it’s just stationary..obviously.) I wish I had bike, but unfortunately even the entry-level hybrid bikes start out at around $500 and that does not include the equipment needed to ride. Anyway, I’m just going to “Spin” through the 112 miles.

Day one is complete. Tomorrow: RUN