This is who I am

w4d2 and triathlons

Posted on September 19, 2007 by Terri | Comments Off

Brisk five-minute warmup walk. Then alternate 1:10 minutes of jogging and 2:15 minutes of walking for a total of 20 minutes.

Kahuna reminded me today that sometimes it’s more about the journey than crossing the finish line. My legs felt like lead today and I missed completing 4 intervals by 12 seconds. I know part of it was getting to bed an hour late, and the other part is probably some extracurricular activities I participated in yesterday. ‘Nough said, on to tomorrow.

Kahuna is registered for the Ford Ironman 70.3 California. He had looked into it last week but Ironman.com was showing the race closed. I found out yesterday on tri BB that that was an error, so I immediately emailed and telephoned him to let him know. He had a bit of trouble getting in from work because his computer kept timing out, but when I walked in the door last night he was happily waving his race waiver at me. Woohoo for him!! As soon as I know his race number I’ll post it. This race is in our backyard, so to speak, and since Kahuna already rides his bike on the base, he has a small advantage. Plus, we can easily drive the course to check it out since parts of it are off limits to cyclists. Now we need to keep our fingers crossed the he’s not sent to Iraq until after April 1.

I have decided to also participate, by way of volunteering. This will be my first time and I’m really excited. The only downer is that I won’t be at the finish line to greet Kahuna, but I talked to him about it and I feel I really need to volunteer.

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Posted in Races

My karate is weak!

Posted on September 18, 2007 by Terri | Comments Off

I changed up my strength training this morning and learned 2 things. My karate is weak and the shampoo bottle is heavy! I have jello arms, physically and metaphorically. My hair was impossible to dry this morning afterwards (because the hair dryer is also heavy), so I’m sitting here with a 4″ wide wet stripe down the back of my head! LOL

I am still pumped about Monday’s run and cannot wait to get out there tomorrow morning and do it again!

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Posted in Training

c25k – w4d1

Posted on September 17, 2007 by Terri | Comments Off

Brisk five-minute warmup walk. Then alternate 1:10 minutes of jogging and 1:40 minutes of walking for a total of 20 minutes.

Week 4! How about that! I cannot believe I’ve stuck with this for this long! It’s so not like the I-don’t-like-to-sweat me! LOL

I had an epiphany this morning. I’m not giving myself long enough to recover between my intervals. My first 1:10 run was so much easier than I was expecting. I fully intended on just walking this morning because of my heel but when I was about half way thru my 5-minute warmup walk I realized my heel was barely bothering me, so I ran. I skipped the next run and continued to walk and when it was time to run again, I ran it with no problems. I even felt like my timer went off earlier than it should have. So I tried that tactic again and walked through the next time I was supposed to run and lo and behold, my 3rd run was easy! I almost did it again, but knew I’d be rushed for to get out the door if I did. Wednesday, I’m going to change my walk interval to 2:30 and see how that does. Woohoo! Now if I could figure out my stupid foot, because it’s bothering me right now! LOL

Kahuna keeps talking to me about using a heart monitor so I may try using one this week. He says I should get the same kind of notice that I need to recover longer by going by my heart. One more gadget to get used to. He uses his faithfully and has been improving, not to mention it’s probably keeping his cardiologist happy.

Tomorrow is strength training. I’ve only been doing upper body workouts because of time, but starting tomorrow I’m going to do 1 body part a day and add 1 more day of training. I have only been able to get in 2 sets of 4 exercises and I want to do 3 sets of 2 exercises per body part. Changing will have me training for 6 days a week, unless I change my strength training to Sun, Tues and Thurs, which will have my training 7 days a week. I’ll have to think on that one.

I am really looking forward to walking on the beach again this coming Saturday. From where Kahuna surfs to the pier is 1.5 miles. My goal right now is to walk there and back.
Work is nice and quiet this morning. Just a bunch of follow up mailings of court documents from the mad rush of last week, accounts payable and maybe some filing. Thank goodness.

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Posted in Training

Weighing in

Posted on September 16, 2007 by Terri | Comments Off

Up .2# today. I can live with that considering all the salty food I had to eat on Friday and Saturday.

Didn’t get as much accomplished this weekend and I wanted, but that’s mostly because I pulled a lazy. Laundry got done, groceries got bought and some errands were accomplished on Saturday. I really needed to go out today and hit a couple of stores, but just didn’t have the umph to do so.

I did, however, have a 2 mile walk on the beach yesterday morning. I’m planning on making this a new Saturday habit.

I’m still having problems with the bottom of my right heel hurting. If I don’t stand on it or walk on it for any length of time, when I do stand on it it’s very painful. I’ve decided to see how it feels by the end of this week, and if it’s not any better, I’ll head to the doctor.

And I almost forgot to say, that I submitted my resume to that little company I was talking about…..Qualcomm!

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Posted in Weight

c25k – w3d3

Posted on September 14, 2007 by Terri | Comments Off

Brisk five-minute warmup walk. Then alternate 1:10 minutes of jogging and 1:40 minutes of walking for a total of 20 minutes.

First, let me say thank you for your support. It really means a lot. I sometimes cannot believe how hard this is! LOL

I increased my time by 10 seconds this morning, since that’s 10 percent. Let me tell you that 10 seconds is looooooong! I did 3 1:10-intervals, which was my goal. I figured out that for the first 2 I’m going uphill. I failed at my first attempt to do the 3rd one and walked through it and the 1:40 walk portion, but succeeded on the next attempt. My goal this morning had been to complete 3 since I had managed to complete 6 1-minute intervals. Depending on my progress by next Friday, I may repeat this, but I’ll deal with that next week.

I have been unbelievably busy at work this week. We had a motion due today and in typical Boss fashion, he waited until the last minute to give us our assignments. I spent almost all day yesterday gathering and organizing 39 exhibits and proofread one document so many times that if I shut my eyes and thought about it I could probably list all 130+ statements right here! I got home at 7:30 last night. 4:45 a.m. felt like it came really fast! Once I got to work I felt like I had come home, eaten, showered, changed clothes and gone back. I think this may have been why I felt unable to complete 4 intervals, but I did get up, and I did do my best, so I felt good about my run.

Tomorrow I’m following Kahuna out to his surfing spot and I’m going to walk 2 miles on the beach (if the tide’s cooperative). Sunday, repeat. I think taking 2 days off between Friday and Monday is making Monday hard. I’m also going to be adding in a 3rd strength training day next week. I’m to the point where I don’t have time for a proper workout and will do different body parts on different days of the week.

I have a major career decision to make this weekend and would appreciate any and all crossed fingers and prayers. There’s a small company near where I work that I’m thinking about sending my resume to. I ride the train with 3 women who work there and they’ve been encouraging me to do so. Their legal department revolves around patent issues and when I read the qualifications for some of the positions I feel very unqualified; however, one of the women is a senior paralegal and she keeps telling me I can get hired. The benefits are extraordinary and include 24-hour fitness center and lap pools throughout their “complex.” Not to mention the salary range that I mentioned would be met, if not far beyond my expectations.

Mom, don’t read this next part! LOL

I told Kahuna tonight that if I do get a position there, it will probably be entry level and if that’s the case there is a future for me there….one that would make me want to stay here, meaning it might be his turn to sacrifice for me and find full time “job” after military retirement so we can afford to buy here, instead of heading back to Louisiana. We’ll see. I’m not one to count my chickens so to speak, and I haven’t even turned in my resume.

Have a great weekend.

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Posted in Fitness

c25k – w3d2

Posted on September 12, 2007 by Terri | Comments Off

Brisk five-minute warmup walk. Then alternate 60 seconds of jogging and 90 seconds of walking for a total of 20 minutes.
I am so weary. I feel like I could weep if I just let my guard down for 1 second. I know why. I know how I can make it go away, but then it will only be replaced by wanting to weep because I’m a failure.

I know the power of 1 hour of sleep. I did not get to sleep on time Monday night, and Tuesday’s strength training paid for it. I increased my weights and was unable to do 2 full sets. I know it was because I was tired and because of the increase, but it was mostly because of that 1 hour of sleep and hitting the snooze button too many times.

I know the power of 1 hour of sleep. I stayed up 1 hour past my bed time last night and watched The Biggest Loser. I only hit the snooze button 1 time. The 1 time the time on my alarm allows for. I managed to do 6 1-minute intervals this morning. 1 more than Monday and cutting a whole 14 seconds off my loop.

6 1-minute intervals 0:19:25

I know the power of baggie britches, too though. This morning I’m wearing a pair of pants that I will probably be passing on in 2 weeks.

My shoulders are stiff from strength training, and right now I don’t feel strong. My legs feel like they weigh 200 pounds. My right foot feels like I’m walking around with a golfball in my shoe. I feel so beat down and so, so ~~weepy~~ weary.

The girls that work at the coffee shop I stop at every morning know of my plans to race in November and are being very supportive. They will be open that morning and I cannot wait to stop by there afterward and get a cuppa and tell them that I did it. This morning I am fighting the doubts.

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Posted in Life

c25k – w3d1

Posted on September 10, 2007 by Terri | Comments Off

Brisk five-minute warmup walk. Then alternate 60 seconds of jogging and 90 seconds of walking for a total of 20 minutes.
I was in a great frame of mind when the alarm went off this morning. No problem getting out of bed at all! My goal was 3 complete 1-minute miles and I managed 5. It’s hard while it’s happening and I’m doing a lot of huffing and puffing, but I am doing it, and rejoicing in it when it’s over. Total time 0:18:39

When I got back Kahuna was strength training. He had pulled out his old bike helmet, so I need to see if it fits so I can maybe try to ride his mountain bike this weekend. He’s a little over an inch taller than me so the bike should fit, it’s the rider I’m worried about 😀

My goal for this week is to bump up my time by 10% on Friday’s run. That will put me running 0:1:10 and walking 0:1:40 intervals. I know this is not exactly following what the real c25k schedules, but I’ve been reading tons that tells me not to increase by more than 10%, so I’m sticking with that. Will this keep me from being able to run the whole 5k? I don’t know, but I do know that I don’t want to hurt myself and at my weight I need to be careful.

So I’m planning the run and I’m going to run the plan.

We have a baby due in our family this week! My cousin (who’s more of a sister) is due this week with her 2nd. Unfortunately, I haven’t even met the 1st 🙁

Oh and Darla, a cassette is a grouping of gears on the back wheel of a bike 😉

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Posted in Goals, Training

Sunday morning musings

Posted on September 9, 2007 by Terri | Comments Off

So far my weekend has been almost perfect! The weather could not be any better right at this moment and I’ve almost been able to forget how miserable we were just a week ago.

Yesterday Melissa came down and we went shopping, again! I don’t know about her but I thoroughly enjoyed myself. I managed to buy 2 new outfits for work, and a few other things. We also went and found Coldwater Creek, and I was very impressed with the store. I think between the two of us we managed to touch every single item in there, at least once. My main goal was to try on a pair of pants, since I can order my size from them online, and they have several things online that they don’t carry in their small store. They didn’t have my size, but I was able to gauge what size I need from the pair they did have. When we got home the 2 suits I had ordered from them last week were waiting on me. I cannot wear the pants, just yet, but the blouses and jackets fit nicely and I have other pants that will go with them for now.

Weigh in this morning was a bit of a surprise. I was originally told that I had lost NINE pounds, and I cried a bit, but once my head cleared and our meeting was over I got to thinking how it just didn’t sound right. I talked to Melissa after the meeting and figured out during that conversation that the lady had seen a zero and thought it was a 6. Quite frankly I’m rather glad that I only lost 3 pounds instead of 9 because I tend to do really well once week and really low the next and I was kind of scared (for wont of a better word) what the scale would do next week with such a large loss this week. So, I’m really thrilled with this week’s WI.

Kahuna has figured out that I want to do a triathlon. I don’t know why I think I can keep anything from him. He knows me to well. I’m trying to figure out what the main clue was though. Do you think it was my asking him to show me what a cassette and Derailleur is, or do you think it was my asking him what the difference was between 2-bolt and 3-bolt cleat compatibility. Who knows.

Right now there’s a wonderful group of people who are attempting their first Ironman in Wisconsin today and I wish them all lots of luck and can’t wait to read their race reports.

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Posted in Friends, Weight

c25k – w2d3

Posted on September 7, 2007 by Terri | Comments Off

Stayed home from work yesterday. Couldn’t keep any food inside of me. I did do upper body training yesterday but was afraid I couldn’t make it to work, either driving or on the train, without having to stop several times.

Today I was determined to get out there and run. I managed 3 minutes and did the full 1.1 mile loop. I was more relaxed than normal. Last week I mostly walked what I thought was 1.2 miles in 19 something minutes. Today I did a true 1.1 mile in 19:27

I found a wonderful poem (The Race) this morning. I’m printing the portion below, in large print, to put on my mirror and read every evening before I go to bed and every morning when I first get up. There is a link to the whole poem on my Motivation page.

For all of life is like that race,
With ups and downs and all.
And all you have to do to win
Is rise each time you fall.
“Quit! Give up, you’re beaten!”
They still shout in my face.
But another voice within me says:
“Get up and win the race!”
~D. H. Groberg

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Posted in Life

c25k – w2d2

Posted on September 5, 2007 by Terri | Comments Off

Didn’t happen this morning. I had griping guts and didn’t think I could make it very far out the house. I’ve thought about going out this evening. It’s date night and I have no idea what time we’ll be home. If it’s not too late, and I remember not to stuff myself, I may go ahead and do it.

Last night Kahuna and I were talking about weight classes in triathlon – mainly the Athena class vs Age Groupers, and why people run outside of AG class. In most races you’re considered an Athena if you weigh more than 155 pounds. About 10 years ago I weighed 180 pounds and I looked and felt great. I was doing step aerobics 6 days a week, and was lifting weights for tone. Kahuna says he can remember seeing muscle definition in my back (yeah me!). Thinking about that, and how strong I felt, I cannot imagine myself weighing 155 pounds, which just happens to be the maximum amount Weight Watchers says I should weigh for my height and age. I have a long way to get to 180 and will really worry about it when it’s closer but I’d be lying if I tried to convince anyone that it’s not in the back of my mind quite frequently.

I’ve set myself some rewards for my goals. My first goal is to lose 5% of my weight. I don’t know what my reward will be yet. My 2nd goal is to lose 10% of my weight. I’m getting a tattoo then (sorry mom!). My 3rd goal, 15% of my weight, I’ll probably start looking for something to swim in. Something like this is what I have in mind and I’m hoping they’ll have my size by then. My 4th goal, 20%, I’m buying myself membership at the local Y and I’m going to start swimming 3x a week. I haven’t gotten any further than that, but that’s quite a bit.

Okay, I’m lying, I have gotten further, I just don’t know where it lies, but my main goal is to fit into this little dress that I ordered today. Kahuna, be prepared to see it hanging out in the open, since it’s my inspiration dress.

On a totally unrelated note, I was very saddened to read about Pavarotti. It has been a long-time dream of mine to see him live, and it looks like I’ve lost out on that dream.