Getting back to a normal routine..

This past week was getting back to a normal routine and to really get into the training. I sat down and wrote out my workout, with the thought that I would try to follow it..For the most part, I did..Yeah me! I had to adjust my workouts because I now had to be a mom, wife and a Clinical Team manager.  For the most part, I followed it, but I had to make adjustments as I had work "fires" come up. Last week, I was getting up at 4:30 am to make sure I got my workout in..That is hard to do, by 9 pm each night, I was really tired and ready to go to bed. I really did look forward to Saturday when I got to sleep in.. that is if you think sleeping to 6 am is sleeping in.  Getting back to a normal routine will take some time..

So, what did I do last week??
 Swimming workout
I hadn't swam in Annapolis and boy could I feel it..my shoulders and legs where screaming at me.. saying "WHAT  ARE YOU DOING!!!"  I continued with the sets and felt great after that! I was ready to tackle the world.  Last Friday, I took my first Master Swim class and again.. my body was going.."What are you doing to me???" I now knew what my son was saying about his coach. He is hard but encouraging. Actually, the Friday swim felt really good on my joints after the run I had on Wed. Then on Saturday, I went to Gray's lake and swam open water. If you ever swam open water, it is soo different than swimming in a pool. The water is murky or brown and there isn't a wall to push off of. My destination was to the red barn and back which equals 500 yards. My hubby wanted to do this 5 times. So.. I get started and halfway across, I look up and freaked out for a moment.. my head was going "OMG.. that is a long way to the barn".. I put my head down and started singing " ♫ row, row, row your boat ♫ ♫" you see.. this has been my song for the longest time to calm me down when I am swimming so I don't drown. I guess it has a good rhythm to remember to breathe.. This helped me a lot and I finished 4 laps (to and from the red barn). Now, I just need to do this continuously for more than 4 laps and I will be ok for the the swim in the half.

Biking/Brick
Holy Molly... yesterday I did a brick set.. What is a brick? This is when you complete to sets of exercises for one setting...So yesterday, I rode my bike for 34 miles.. great ride!  I finished the ride in 2 hours and 20 minutes and then I tried to run 6 miles.. The big word here is try.. It was already 95 degrees and felt like 103 and I barely completed 2 miles. In fact, my walk was faster than my run.. that didn't work at all. I was deflated after that workout.. I kept asking.. " How am I going to ride for 56 miles and then run a half marathon.." then I realized.. I have about 16 weeks to work on this.. So, instead of doing what I have done in the past and give in to my doubts.. I picked myself up and said " I can do this!"  I still think I am crazy.. but you know.. I really do want to complete this half..

Running..
This last week, I didn't run as much as I wanted. Actually, I only ran a 5k on Wednesday and tried to run yesterday. So this week, I am going to try to incorporate more training on the run.. Yes... I am probably be one of those crazy people, that I used to think and workout in the morning and again in the evening.. go figure..

Now, we I have to get ready for this week. I woke up again at 4:30 this morning and tomorrow is a run set.. I hope I can do this.

Happy Training!
 Eling 

Last Week in Annapolis!

So, I missed writing up what I did last week...so, I will catch up... Last week, I was still in Annapolis and enjoying the cool weather! It was so beautiful and no humidity! Quite amazing that in the middle of June in Annapolis, Md there was beautiful weather!

Tuesday and Wednesday, I went for a 3 mile run. I ran the Naval Academy Bay Bridge.. what a beautiful run! I ran during sunset over the Severn Bay! Then I walked the campus to get pizza! If I ever get a chance to go to Annapolis, I will definitely stay on the Naval Academy!

That Thursday, I got ready to home. Boy was it great to be home... Being away for 10 days is quite a long time. I guess you can say I have become a home body.. Anyway, I drove straight home last Friday night and got home at 1:30 am.. Three hours later, I was up again to watch my hubby and the tri group race in the Dragonfly triathlon. It was soo cool to see them.  I wanted to race, but I knew if I did, I would have dropped dead after the bike!.. Here are a couple of pictures from the triathlon:
 

Our Lifetime Tri group aka "Team Looney Tune"

My Handsome husband! Yes, we are training together! He is actually training for NashVegas half while I am training for the Bridge to Battleship! Actually, it is really great to have a training partner. He keeps me accountable, even when I was away.. This is why I wanted to  be home!

Exploring Annapolis, Maryland

So this week has been quite a week for me. On Monday, I trained with the Lifetime Fitness triathlon group and it was a great swim set followed by a two mile run. A lot better run than I had the day before. Gotta love running with my Tri - Buddy Nancy!.Tuesday I had a 14 hour drive to Annapolis, MD. I was taking my son to Navy Swim Camp at the Naval Academy..That was a long drive, I had packed up my running shoes, my bike (yes, I took my bike), and my swim suit.. along with my work desk ( I have to still work)..

Wednesday morning, I dropped Donnie off and went to work. I was in my room all day (temp 72 degrees) and not realizing how hot it was. After work, I decided to look for a trail near by and went for a run...... OH MY GOODNESS!! It was soo hot.. I ran 3.5 miles and I had to walk some of that route.. I had forgotten what it was like to run in over 90 degree heat and humidity...wait.. a minute... hmmm I take that back, last Sunday it was hot, but I think I was delusional.. I forgot, it was that hot then too. Oh well... It was blazing hot, and I thought I was crazy..I vowed that I was going to do this route again without stopping...I did, I ran the route again on Friday and that was a great run. I guess I had a goal in mind.... If I ran the entire route, I was going to have some Maryland Blue Crabs.. I did! Yummmy..

Cantler's Riverside Inn Blue Crab Steamers

So, I thought to myself, if I could keep running, let me see if I can find a bike trail while I am here. I mean, I am in historic Annapolis, there has got to be routes/trails here.

I was in luck, one of the local Bike shops here: Bike Doctor Annapolis (www.bikedoctorannapolis.com) told me about the B and A Trail. That was my goal on Saturday.

I am a  geek..I love to research how this trail came about and so I looked it up on the internet and found out that this the B and A trail is part of the East Coast Greenway. The B and Trail was once part of the Baltimore and Annapolis Short Line railroad and over time, the railroad stopped. So.. today, I got up and went on my bike ride.

Here is a map of the trail where I parked my car.

Before I started,  I tried to inflate air into my tires with a hand pump and instead of inflating it, I deflated my tires. Not Good! A very nice couple came by to help and that didn't work. We deflated the tire even more... So, we tried my CO2 air pump. WOW! I am soo glad someone told me to only inflate the tire with one pump.. Swoosh!...A lot of CO2 came out really fast. My tires were inflated. I started my ride. What a ride! I nearly ran over a squirrel, that surprised me. Then a rabbit decided to jump in front of me.. so, I had nature interrupting this great ride through nature. The trail was really nice. It was paved route. I may have to try this again before I leave. On the way back, I stopped at the ranger station to replenish my water..

This was about 20 miles.. Here is what I looked like at that point. Hot and ready to finish.. Not!

I still had 8 more miles to go..So, away I went and I finished my ride. I was going to go for a run, but that didn't happen as it started to rain. Sorry, Billy, I know I should run after a ride and I did run in thunder and lighting, but not today. I wimped out. I will run tomorrow.

So, as you can see, I have had quite an adventure so far. I am going to have to get up early tomorrow to go for a run.  I get to see my son tomorrow and then we are going to visit his Godmother (Aunt Wendy) in Delaware and have dinner with her and her husband.

Happy Training!
Eling

Picture of the bruise from Yesterday's fall!

close up...

Another picture of my elbow.. I am soo glad I tucked in for the fall because if I had braced with my hands, I would have broken my wrist and possibly my are...I am glad I listen to instructions from my awesome husband!

Bumps and bruises...

So.. I went on a 28 mile ride today with the training group and I was left in the dust!... Wait.. actually, my husband rode back and made sure I was doing ok... I am so glad he was there.. we came up to Walgreen's and Kelly (one of the group members) and Don ( my wonderful husband) were waiting for me and I tried to go into the parking lot.. and my tires got stuck against the curb...next thing I know.. my bike and I are falling..I couldn't do anything about it.. I was clipped and I was falling..... so glad I remembered something I had heard or read about.. don't brace with your hands, just tuck and fall.. I am glad I did.. I could have broken my wrists.. So, I now have some bumps and bruises on my arm and my ego is a little hurt. I was embarrassed that I didn't make a wide turn.. Oh well.. No pain, no gain..

This was one of my best rides ever!.. I have been normally riding at 12 - 13 miles/hour and today, my average was 16 miles/hour. In fact in the beginning, I was going about about 18-20 miles/hour on the flat roads.. darn those hills.. "just love those hills!" because I go so slow, I must love hills..LOL.. "NOT".. Actually, it was a great ride and I got to explore a different part of the town that I never rode before..This is one of things that I have started to enjoy about my training.. exploring the outdoors on my bike and really enjoying the beauty of the scenery here in Tenn. After the ride, I went for a 2 mile run and it was a slow hot run... yes, it was almost 90 degrees outside with the heat index close to 100..yikes.. gotta get used to this..

Well, tomorrow is a new day.. Training will start at 5:30 am, with a 4:30 wake up. If it is the same as last week, it will be a swim followed by a run.

Happy Training!
Eling

Training and coughing...

After I finished Memphis in May, I got a freaking head cold! I haven't been sick all season and the one week I take a break, I get sick.. This is not fun.. I am now on day 7 of coughing and no voice but I need to train. So, this morning, my partner in crime, my husband, and I woke up at 5:30 am and took our son to his swim practice...yes, my son is a competitive swimmer and he is awesome.. I am his mom!

So..we drop our son off and head to the lake.. Yes, we have a great place to swim. One of the local triathlete's here has opened up his home to swim the lake behind his house.. I have been swimming this lake with a wetsuit for a few weeks now and when we get down to the lake it was warm... So no wet suit..oh no.. I liked my wetsuit.. It has become my life saver.. Whenever I am tired, is just float because of the buoyancy...I was getting a little anxious..... Ok, I got in and it felt like I was swimming at the pool.. My anxiousness went way and away we go.. We swam 1500 yards and it wasn't too bad.. I just had a lot going on in my head...how am I going to complete a half iron distance? Will I make all of the cutoff time? What do I have to do next... On and on ... You can think up a lot of stuff swimming open water..luckily, my question of what to do next was sitting in my email... Yes, Billy sent out our workout and I get to look forward to a 30-35 mile bike ride tomorrow followed by a 15 min run with some really fast people.. Yes, I am one of the slower ones in our training group..I always feel guilty because they have to wait for me.. But you know what..they don't feel that way( or that is what my husband said). The group is a great group and very encouraging.. So I will keep on training.

Tomorrow should be fun.. We are in record heat here in Memphis, so I will have lots of water.. Let's just hope I don't collapse because of my cold..


Happy Saturday!
Eling

Surprise! Shocked and excited!

Today, I found out that my company is going to sponsor me in the Beach 2 Battleship triathlon! http://www.beach2battleship.com/. Names of employees who applied were placed in a raffle to be sponsored, so I said why not try.. I signed up and my name was chosen. Boy was I surprised! I never win.

You see my adventures in triathlons started last year when I completed two sprints and never trained. Not a smart thing to do... I realized that after I did the first one and almost drowned...not fun...wait.. I completed another tri a few months later and didn't train either... That was when I realized, one really does need to train...so I made a vow to train.. It also helped that when I saw pictures of me in those events, that I wasn't prepared. So.. in Jan of this year, my journey started. I started out with a tri group training with Billy and the Lifetime Fitness class at night and began training.. Two weeks later, my motivation was dwindling, so I switched from the night class and started working out in the morning.. My husband was training also, so I had a partner crime. He kept me motivated and I started to really enjoy our early morning 4:30 am wake-up and training with my husband...our goal was to complete Memphis in May on 22 May 2011. This was an olympic distance race and we did it. I had a blast, even with the rain, thunder, and lighting. I had a blast wanted to keep this up. I had lost 10 lbs and I was feeling so much better about myself.. It was the day before that I signed up to be sponsored...I said, if I get picked, I would complete the half ironman..if not, then I will go ahead and complete another Olympic distance and then think about the half..that brings us back to now..

Now that I am committed, I thought I would document my journey.. So here I am. This is my first post and I hope to keep this up!