Playing catch up...again

Wednesday - Yoga
Thursday - Gym and 2.5 mi
Friday - Off
Saturday - Gym and 3 mi

This week started off just...awful. It revolved mostly around work, as we had layoffs this week (which I avoided for now) creating a stressed out environment at work and an uneasy feeling as to when the next round will occur. I'm not a fan of things I can't control, and I have little control on how much work comes in to the office. I felt stressed out with every breath from Tuesday to Friday, and I don't know at what point I turned things around. Working until one a.m. on thursday actually helped first because it was good to be getting the work, and second, working a 16 hour day like that mimics that point of exhaustion I get from a long run. And while I'd much rather go for a two hour run then do a 16 hour work day, it was almost nice to come home and just crash in bed out of exhaustion.

My mood improved mostly because I had a consistent stream of work coming my way on friday. Pizza and beer also helped I swear that combination can make most anything better. My body paid the price for the long work day on thursday however, as i felt SO TIGHT. It was awful. I couldn't help panicking that once again I was hitting a flare up and was going to have to start all over again. The thought was almost overwhelming.

So imagine my surprise when I woke up this morning feeling fabulous. I went to the gym and the fabulousness continued. I broke my rule of setting my mileage for the run the night before and took things up to 3 today. Felt great. Still feel pretty damn good honestly. I also discovered that there are two places that I can roll out with the foam roller that are really tight and everything feels so much better after I roll. I've tried a couple of different angles before, but didn't really feel much. I remember when I had tight IT bands in college that I'd roll out and it frick'n HURT. So i finally found the spots and position to roll to get to that point where I kinda feel like crying (there actually may be a little whimpering on my part in the middle of Frogs gym). Ah, the masochism of a runner.

Poll for the audience: Can I over roll? I was just thinking of doing it twice a day, but if I were to roll out 3-4 times a day on the weekend or something would that be bad? I have no idea.

Staying at 20 minutes

Mon – Yoga
Tues – Gym + 2.5 mi

Sometimes I feel like I am a juggler and my life consists of the spheres I precariously attempt to keep from falling to the ground. Some are bigger than others, and when they fly effortlessly, the others seem easier to manage. Sometimes everything goes smoothly, and I feel I can juggle it all effortlessly and endlessly. Sometimes I feel I'm lucky if I can just keep one ball in the air. They change sizes and shape as my priorities in life shift. Some even disappear entirely for periods of my life. Inevitably, running is always one of the biggest, as I feel if I have that going well I can handle almost anything else. Besides my family, Running has been the one constant passion in my life, and I sometimes wonder how a career or any of my other spheres ever has a chance to compete with that. Its difficult to be patient and hold myself back when I know that just a few more miles upon a few more miles will make the circus act of life a little more easy.

Run felt pretty good today. I'm actually more impressed with how things are feeling now as I make my periodic trips to the coffee machine. Things are definitely improving, I just have to remember that small improvements do not equal immediately being able to jack up the mileage. When I did PT work last spring in SF, I was doing strength work for months before I even was able to get through a decent length run. I believe I have more base strength to work with right now, but I can't get overzealous and risk having to start this build-up all over again. Patience Patience Patience.

Shorter Post

Run - 2.5 mi

Feelin' good. Decided not to swim because I'm a little worried that swimming could possibly aggravate things and I really want to see how running effects things without any other factors.

Short Post

Sat - Gym and 2.5 miles

Overall I had a pretty bad week workout-wise, so no more slackin' off. Part of it was actually having work this week, but lets be honest things are going to be busy at work and I gotta be able to balance my athletic endeavors with my professional endeavors or else I'll go crazy.

So anyways: Ran about 20 mins on the injury trail today and things felt really good. It's about 8 at night and things are still feeling pretty good so yay. Happy Day. It's pretty ridic how my mood pretty much hinges on whether I'm able to run or not.

Short post today.

KY

Tues – OFF
Wed – AM 2 mi/Gym – PM Yoga
Thurs – OFF

Not much to report with two off days in the last three days. No worries though, nothing traumatic. Monday night I was just feeling run down and decided to skip the pool and sleep in. Felt good actually and ended up working late that night so the extra rest really helped me through the evening.

Wednesday was a good day being both BUSY at work, which makes me happy, and also getting to do a short jog (things felt good running and throughout the day). Still had some work to do around 7 last night but cut out of the office to hit up Yoga since I was denied the day before. After a long day in the office it felt good to just clear my mind and really just stretch things out and feel my body move. I got home and booted up the laptop at my kitchen counter to finish up my work for the day, only to feel like I got hit by a bus about an hour later. Even a slice of greasy pizza (one of those slices that was old enough that I really probably should have chucked it, but decided to live dangerously instead and devour it) couldn't revitalize me and I decided to call it like it was and head to bed at 10. Had already written off a swim workout as I needed to get to work a little earlier than swimming would allow (and I stand by my decision of not getting up before 6) so today was another off day, and I found myself in the office at the time when I'd usually be sucking in large quantities of chlorine water. 4 cups of coffee later and I'm just about ready to call it a day.

My entire lower body is feeling stronger, which I am quite pleased about. There's still aggravation and some inflammation, but I feel like that area is more protected now and running or other actions are now having less of an effect. Hopefully the inflammation will start to fade now as I get stronger. Patience patience patience.

Confessions of a Dirty Mind: Was heading into the gym the other day and saw this license plate that said "KY Bred" and I was like, wow, that seems a little inappropriate. And it's like who really wants that visual? I mean, if that's what it took to get you into this world, ya know, okay, but I kinda wonder how you got that little tidbit of info in the first place. As I walked through the door a little light sprang in my head. oh. oh, right. KENTUCKY. Gotcha.

Playing catch up...

Sat - Gym - Pool 50 mins
Sun - Pool 45 mins - 3min Elliptical - Yoga
Mon - Gym - Run 2mi

The current downpour outside has inspired me to not leave the apartment all day, except perchance to run out to the grocery store so i can cook dinner tonight. It's rare to take a day and just sit and read and watch movies and pretty much just hang out. I figured I'd take this time to catch up a little on the good ole blog.

Sunday was my third day in a row of swimming, and I def was feeling pretty beat. Part of it may have been the fact that I was up till ONE in the morning both friday and saturday. I know. I'm so proud. The swim was just one of those workouts where you're like, okay, I showed up, I'm gonna do this, but it ain't gonna be pretty.

Decided to go back to Yoga with Lyndsey later that evening. Rocked a solid 3 min on the elliptical as a warm up and then bounced off to Yoga class. This is my third class now, and I bought a mat, so i figure that makes me pretty committed. Once you buy the gear there's no turning back. Maybe I'll even get cool Yoga clothes like Lyndsey that have weird lettering that no one can read.

So I guess that brings us to today. It's absolutely pouring out right now, and unfortunately I didn't beat the rain on my run. It wasn't as bad as it is now, but it was def windy with consistent moisture coming from the sky. I was pretty soaked by the time I was done and as I trudged back into the gym the guy behind the desk looks at me in shock. "Did you run in the rain???" "Uh, yes." "Wow, that's CRAZY!" It cracks me up how used to good weather we are. When I was back east, more often than not my run was either when it was below freezing, snowing, raining, slushing, or just plain miserable out. The worst day in San Diego just can't even compare. And I'm a pretty big wimp when it comes to weather.

Pes didn't feel great, which was surprising to me after almost a full week of no running. Gonna ice and stretch today and see how it feels. The cold rainy weather might not have been the best for it, in retrospect, and its possible things just tightened up and never really got a chance to loosen.

Since I didn't post this weekend, here's a late Happy Valentines Day to everyone. I always find it to be a funny holiday. Single girls hate it, girls in relationships pretend to hate it, and I'm pretty sure you'll be hard pressed to find a guy anywhere who really cares one way or the other. But as I was walking into a movie chatting with my mom on saturday, I couldn't help but to reflect on all the wonderful people I have in my life, and it was just nice to think about those people on a day that is supposed to be a celebration of love. I consider myself pretty lucky to have such amazing friends, and while its sad that so many are spread out all over the country, it's still wonderful to know they are there, just a phone call away. So Happy V-day to all of you and thanks for being a part of my life.

Ok, that's enough mush for now.

25 going on 45

Thurs PM – Yoga
Friday – Swim 45 mins

I had my ass handed to me in Yoga last night. I went without Lyndsey as my safety net so was a little intimidated from the get-go. I did however get to see her teaching her spin class with a cool microphone on, yelling at people. :-P The yoga experience was different from my other class, where I struggled with some more of the strength exercises. Here, the strength was hard, but I mostly struggled with just getting into the poses. I believe the phrase "I am the least flexible person on the planet" actually passed through my mind about a hundred times. It was brutal. The instructor had to keep physically forcing my body to bend into certain positions. At one time, it actually crossed from discomfort to pain, but I couldn’t say anything because I was so contorted I could barely get air into my lungs. When he released me my body snapped back so fast it was like a rubber band snapping in two. I actually had a vision at one point of my neck snapping and couldn't help but ponder the tragedy if I was the first person to ever accidentally kill themselves in yoga. The class however, just reinforced the notion that I have to work on my flexibility. And the Pes is feeling surprisingly good today but that might just be chance and the lack of running for several days now.

Last night was pretty rough as well. I can function pretty well on 6-7 hours of sleep a night, as long as I go to sleep and then wake up in the morning. Any disruptions totally mess with me. A couple of weeks ago a car alarm went off for about 15 minutes around 3am and I kept getting out of bed to make sure it wasn't my car (even though I never set my car alarm). I was out of if for the whole next day. Last night was another of those unfortunate events. Around 1:45am I heard music. At first I thought it was a passing car, because my neighbors have always been quiet and I've never heard music from my bedroom before. But it didn't go away and finally at 1:55 I got up and pushed my ear to the wall. Not from that neighbor. I figured it had to be the new guy (just my luck) that moved in last week, so I blindly stumbled into my living room, shuffled into the kitchen, and laid my ear on the cold gray wall. I could hear the music but it wasn't coming from that guy's place either. It was def louder in my living room though. "Fuck it" I muttered and went back to bed. Unfortunately I have NEVER been able to fall asleep with party music playing. It was a huge problem in college. I would have a race the next day, the guys below me would be blasting some shitty dance music and I would get so stressed out that I couldn't fall asleep and then wouldn't be able to fall asleep till their party ended bout 4 hours later. At this point, some chick was singing to the music, and the thought of getting up in 3 hours to swim was raising my stress-o-meter. When the thought "well if I don't get enough sleep I just won't swim" started running through my brain, I kinda got pissed off. It's Thursday. I have to work tomorrow. I'm too old to deal with partying in the middle of the week in my nice quiet apartment complex. Almost without thinking I was rolling/falling out of bed, grabbing fuzzy slippers and something that felt like a jacket. I stepped out into the chilly night air. The muffled sound of music floated in the atrium of the complex. Follow the music. Down the stairs. Getting louder. I stopped in front of a door. The place below me. Figures. I knock. I hear voices. No one comes. I knock again. Finally some chick who may or may not have been the girl I met who actually lives in the apartment, I couldn't really see, cracks open the door as if I was some axe murderer intent on killing her. She seriously looked terrified. Freeze Frame. At this point, let's review the general appearance of the crazy chick that just knocked on the door. I'm standing there, pink pinstripe pj pants, faded Brown t-shirt, bright red Brown XC jacket (damnit, doubled up on the university gear. If it wasn't 2:15 in the morning I would have been a total tool) large fuzzy slippers and hair literally sticking out in every direction. I've been wearing a headband every day for a reason. I haven't quite figured out how to tame my hair yet. And after a couple hours of sleep, I look a little like I just stuck my finger in an electric socket. Add to that image the black smears of mascara I missed when washing my face the night before and it's really not too strange she didn't open the door more than two inches. Resume Story. I mumble something about turning down the music a smidge (I believe I also may have mimed the action of turning down a dial. I'm not sure.) As I stumbled away I couldn't help but think, wow, I'm pretty sure she was older than me. I'm the dork that just broke up the party cause I have to get my precious sleep. I felt kinda guilty until I returned to my blissfully quiet apartment and passed out within seconds. And I was able to get up to swim.

However, it is now almost 3pm and I'm starting to feel pretty damn tired. My whole plan of staying up until midnight tonight is looking grim. Wow. When did I get so old?

Stay patient, positive, and focused.

Gym

I've decided to stop misleading folks and to call my injury what it really is "Pes Anserinus Bursitis" ("Pes anserinus is the anatomic term used to identify the insertion of the conjoined tendons into the anteromedial proximal tibia. From anterior to posterior, the pes anserinus is made up of the tendons of the sartorius, gracilis, and semitendinosus muscles. The tendon's name, which literally means "goose's foot," was inspired by the pes anserinus's webbed, footlike structure. The conjoined tendon lies superficial to the tibial insertion of the medial collateral ligament (MCL) of the knee") considering it really isn't the knee. So the pes was feeling pretty much the same as the other night, so I decided last night not to run in the morning. It was a smart thing to decide in the evening, because the pes usually feels pretty good after my whole gym routine, which isn't really surprising since part of the cause is tightness of the hamstrings, which obviously loosens up a bit when I'm in the gym. It was really hard not to just go for a jog with things feeling good and the sun out and shining, but I have to be careful not to let the illusion that things are feeling okay allow me to keep screwing things up. I chanted a little mantra to myself as I left the gym: "The run will still be there in the evening." So if the pes really is feeling better today, I'll take a short jog this evening. But if it follows its usual pattern of getting progressively worse throughout the day, then I obviously won't run and I saved myself some further aggravation by not running this morning. I may have to wait till Saturday and will definitely bring the mileage back to around 2.

Patience, patience, patience. The strength work needs time to kick in. Stretch more. Stay Positive. Stay Focused.

What do your shoes say about you?

Tues – Run 3 mi and Gym

Wed – Swim 45 mins

I thought the run went well yesterday, as I felt pretty strong throughout. Again I'm having no problems on the right side, and I'd put the left at 90% throughout: no pain, but not as strong as I'd like. But towards the end of work and into the evening, things on the left side were feeling a little aggravated. I don't want to do the yo-yo routine I keep falling into of building up then stopping completely, so any aggravation at all is a sign to slow things down now. It's still early in the new strength routine I started, so it could just be a matter of my body not quite being ready for 3 miles. Patience is very difficult for me, and I feel like just because I've been doing the strength work, results should be instantaneous, even though I'm smarter than that and know it takes time for strength work to kick in. Depending on how things feel the rest of they day, I’m either going to shorten the run tomorrow, or scratch it completely if things are the same as last night.

I made it 4 laps this morning using my new 3 strokes/1 breath routine. I think I'm getting a little faster as well (not because I'm actively swimming faster, but because I think I'm struggling less than I use to).

Gym Commentary: I find one of the easiest ways to categorize someone at the gym is to just look at their shoes. I'd say most normal people wear your typical running shoe. That's pretty much what you'd expect. Just to let you know, this is what various shoes tell me:

Basketball Shoes – I am in High School or College. I come to the gym to get "big." Tonight I am going out with my friends and we are going to get soooo wasted. Awesome.
Bike Shoes – I am a hardcore biker. And even though these are impossible to walk in, I am still going to do leg presses with them on. So everyone knows I am a biker. And hardcore. Look at my calves.
Sandals – I am a tool. (Note: I have never seen anyone in the gym wearing sandals who was deserving of any respect. No exceptions*. Do not wear sandals to the gym. And no it doesn't help to wear both socks and sandals. And yes, this is a huge pet peeve.)
Pumas (or other designer sneakers) – I'm not going to lift anything heavy or else I might sweat, and that's not good for my Juicy sweatpants. I will be spending most of my time in the stretching room doing ab work in just my sports bra. My boobs are huge. And fake.
Solid White New Balance – I am a 70-year-old man. (No other possible interpretations).
Converse sneakers - I don't take this seriously, but I'm still going to life some weights so my girlfriend won't leave me for one of those guys in the basketball shoes. I'm listening to Emo on my ipod right now. I'm deep.

So I guess the moral of the story is, if you aren't wearing something which could be classified as a "running shoe" and you cross my field of vision at the gym, know that I am totally judging you.

*Ok, only exception is if you are going straight to Yoga class and leaving straight afterwards. Don't decide you are going to lift some weights last minute. Just don't do it.

Yoga Commentary from the Unenlightened.

Last night Lyndsey took me to a Yoga class, something I've been meaning to do to get some added strength and especially flexibility, but just haven't gotten around to doing. She once again took care of me by bringing me a yoga mat. Everytime I try something new with Lyndsey I am grossly underprepared and everytime she's managed to save my ass (goggles? Why do I need goggles to learn to swim?).

My feelings on Yoga are somewhat mixed. I enjoy the stretching, strength, and mental concentration, and I also see how it is something you must practice and really treat as a discipline rather than just a gym class. I like focusing on a pose and attempting to quiet my ever-racing mind, a near impossibility, of various to-do lists, stresses, and plans.

However, I think part of me will never be able to fully embrace Yoga because, quite frankly, I'm not a very spiritual person. I'm not talking about religion, because I believe that one can be non-religious and entirely spiritual (and vice-versa). But I have never in my adult life considered myself to be spiritual. I have known plenty of people that I would put in that category, people who seem to understand and co-exist with energy, forces and emotions outside of the fact and fiction scientific world to which I am tethered. I gravitate towards things that are explainable by science, physics, etc., even if it takes a much smarter individual to understand these theories. I do not identify with things which are not at least subject to explanation (perhaps this dates back to the discovery that Santa was not real. I learned my lesson in believing in something that defied rationalization!). I need to know why, or at least know that there is some rationalization, even if it hasn’t been fully explained. It's why my pet peeve is when someone tells me everything is going to be all right, but then doesn't back it up with any sort of reasoning. I can't accept that things will just work out. I need evidence. I need a memo outlining the justifications. With citations. I cannot just have faith that things will be okay. And I know plenty of people that live and breathe in the world of scientific fact that I would consider to be very spiritual people, thus I'm not designating a line between spiritual and scientific, though that's may be how I'm coming across (probably because my lack of identifying with the spiritual in the first place results in me not truly understanding what it means to be spiritual). I think that some people are more in touch with themselves emotionally than others, and it is through this connection and openness that they can experience a more spiritual existence. I am still working on making that emotional connection with myself, something which I assume comes easier to those who are able to be more in touch with their spiritual nature. Thus, I believe the spiritual nature of Yoga shall, at least for now, elude me.

For now, yoga acts to stretch and strengthen my body, and temper the reasoning and constant analysis running through my mind. It calms me and forces my brain to slow down, but I don't know that I'll ever reach the sort of higher enlightenment that some people seem to find through their practice. And that is acceptable to me, I just believe that I will always have an unintentional self imposed limit on what I can attain from the practice.

Part of my original purpose in this soliloquy was to apologize in advance for my commentary on any Yoga experiences I may share. I understand the spiritual importance that many gain from such practice, and while I may never attain such a level of proficiency, I do respect it. That being said, I cannot fight my innate tendency to comment on the appearance and behavior of those around me, as well as my own personal deprecation for considering myself a strong runner yet not being able to hold downward dog for more than 2 minutes without crumbling into child's pose (aka curling up on the floor and crying). So tune in next time for some reflections on a Non-Yogi, infiltrating a Yogi world.

However, for now I have rambled on for far longer than anyone truly signed on for when they clicked the link over to read my blog (most likely on accident). Additionally, this has strayed quite far from my training into the realms of personal exploration and philosophy. Apologies and I promise to attempt brevity in my future. Unless I'm actually funny.

PUMPED!

Run - 2.5

Swim - 60 mins

The combo of yesterday and today's workout has left me curled in a little ball in my papasan chair watching people who are insanely faster than me duke it out on the track in Boston. I am very excited to get to the point where workouts don't leave me feeling beat. But given my lack of prolonged exercise over the last two months, and the new fatigue associated with exercising muscles in swimming which haven't been worked really at all before...it's gonna take time. 

Run felt good today. My plan is to only run every other day but because I need to have a set schedule (because I am OCD) and there are seven days in the week, this requires two days of back to back running, which I am putting on the weekend since I enjoy getting out a little later for my runs. 

I felt like I took a step back today in swimming, but really it was necessary to take the time to tweak my form and really think about my future in swimming, where I'd prefer to be fast rather than slow. Presently I take a breath only on my right side, and every time I take a stroke on the right side. So now I'm moving it up to taking a breath every three strokes, thus hopefully improving on speed a little since I won't be coming up as much, and also so I'm more even in my swimming instead of only rocking to my right side. Unfortunately this means I don't get to breathe as much, which is never fun. I'm not a huge fan of not breathing. So I'm back down to swimming 50yd intervals. Fascinating, I know. 

So, I'm super "PUMPED" about the increase in Bruno bloggers. Jilane started it all, but now Bridget, Nora, and Madeleine? This is fab. And speaking of pumped. So when I was at Brown, I used to make fun of meredith and her constant use of the word "wicked." In fact, I had so much fun making fun of here that I accidentally started using it in my regular language, even when she wasn't around. Same with the word pumped. It was originally a parody of ol' Rickles, but I realize now I use it on pretty much a daily basis. It's to the point where it's one of my "words" kinda like "spaz" and "dude" yet people not from Brown don't realize its origins. So I kinda accidentally became a tool. 

That is all. 

Feelin' kinda hardcore today.

Gym

Run - 2.5

Swim - 40 mins (6x100, 2x150)

Today I made up for the laziness of yesterday by working out for more consecutive time than I have in god knows how long.

I hit up the gym first thing this morning and worked through my routine. Runners World had an article this month that was essentially written for me. It was on pelvic strength and how runners tend to just do leg exercises when we really should be strengthening other parts of our bodies that might not get the attention needed just through running. The article also had some points on how to deal with injury that really helped me to read. That magazine has sometimes made me sad when it would have articles on how to stay motivated in training when all i wanted to do was run enough that I would have trouble motivating! It was nice to read an article that felt so on point with where I'm at in my running life. 

I ran twenty minutes on the injury trail today and things continued to feel quite solid. I'll admit to a slight amount of weakness creeping in, but off and on, and frankly it didn't feel like a warning weakness ("hey! it's going to start hurting soon.") but rather my body getting stronger ("hey, your not completely better but we're getting there.") And yes, my pes anserinus does speak to me (for those curious, any reference ever made to "knee" is actually referring to the "pes anserinus" which is not the knee at all).

During my run I ran into Fern, Mark, and Craig while they were running. That's one thing I love about the Encinitas-Del Mar span is that its like this little community, and if I don't run into someone at the gym I'll probably see them running along 101.  It was also nice to see some of my runner friends while I was actually running, instead of always just talking about running.  I am slowly going to prove to my friends that I am indeed a runner, despite my past gimpy status. 

So then, just to be uber hardcore, I hit up the pool to bust out some quick 100s before meeting up with my mom and grandma for breakfast. The weather is being stupid, so I didn't want to not be able to swim tomorrow due to the weather and go 5 days without hitting up the pool. It was a good swim day overall. I fell into a rhythm and even managed to do some 150s and feel that some 200s tomorrow are def doable. I did have two slight panic attacks. When I was sharing a lane with some guy who was way faster than me I realized two things: First, I'm going to have to learn to swim fast. I know that's a ways away but still, right now I'm essentially a jogger planning on racing a 5K. Second, I'm going to have to deal with other people. The dude kept splashing me (ok that was officially the most retarded complaint ever from someone who was in a pool) and it kinda threw me off. I realized I'm going to have people splashing me, grabbing at me, knocking in to me, and god knows what else.  I better learn to deal. 

So that was my hardcore workout for the day. Now I've managed to plop myself in my super comfy papasan chair with a book and coffee in order to reenergize myself.  I'm sure I'll get up eventually...

Day Off

Planned to swim in the AM. Didn't even get out of bed when I heard the downpour.

Planned to swim after work. Rain started falling on me as I headed to my car.

Went and saw Slumdog Millionaire instead of swimming.

Solid choice.

15 minutes of fame.

Gym
Run – 15 mins on "injury trail"

Today's run felt fabulous. Whereas before things felt like they were kinda breaking down at the end, I felt strong for the whole 15 mins. Didn't feel anything at all in the right knee and would put the left at 90%. It took an incredible amount of will power not to take on an extra few minutes and make it a solid twenty minutes. I've been in a wonderful mood today all due to 15 short minutes of pain free running.

I've been looking into triathlons and I don't know if I've explained my reasoning in switching from Marathon to Triathlon yet. Obviously a marathon involves mass quantities of running, including at least a 16-18 mile run. Considering I'm joyous about a mere 2 miles this morning, that's a rather daunting task. If I do a Sprint tri, the running portion is only a 5K, meaning I can run mileage in the 30-40 range, which is probably a good idea. Also, I'm learning to swim anyways, and the extra activity doesn't seem to bother my knee. I have to add in biking, but I'm pretty sure even that is a better on my body as I'm trying to both build up and recover from injury. So while Tri training is typically a more intense experience (not that I know this from the million of Tris I've done (i.e. 0)) I can spread out my training between three sports, and since I'm planning on doing a Sprint Tri, that's a quarter mile swim, 9 mile bike ride, and 3.1 mile run, all manageable distances on their own. We'll see what happens when I throw 'em all together. So, if my body holds up I may give a whirl at a half marathon (possibly Seattle Rock and Roll with Mer).

The Tri I'm currently looking at is in May, so I'll have to see how my training goes to see if that's plausible or not. 3 months?

On a side note it's raining. And I realize I might not be able to swim tomorrow if its raining. And as I type that I'm sure there are people out there being like, why can't you swim? You're wet all ready! I don’t know if people swim in the rain. I guess it makes sense. I run in the rain no problem. Somehow that just seems like it would really suck. It's like the water is already trying to take me down from the depths of the pool. It doesn't seem right that I should be bludgeoned from the sky as well. Seems like a lose/lose situation to me.
Hopefully it just stops raining.

Don't try and show off in the Pool.

Pool – 50 mins

I shared my lane this morning with an young aqua jogger and had the urge to tell him the entire time "I'M A RUNNER TOO!!!!" as if two land mammals attempting gracefulness in the water should automatically bond over this fact. Unfortunately I didn't get a chance to inform him of our shared bond as I was busy attempting to not look like a spaz and/or sound like I was dying. See, I have no trouble flailing about in front of the usual senior citizen, baggy speedo wearing clientele of the non-competition (read: non-hardcore) pool. But throw in a 25-year old attractive male and not only do I actually care whether or not I look like a spaz, but apparently I also forget how to swim. I think I made several new and interesting gurgling noises, and added to the fact that the goggles give me these dark circles under my eyes which give me a striking resemblance to Uncle Fester from Adams Family, it was all in all not a good day for Julie.

I'm noticing that my increased activity is taking a toll on my energy levels, particularly in the evening. Despite not wanting to be a loser like Lyndsey :-P (Note: Lyndsey, I am going to tag you everytime I mention you in my blog so that you can easily find the posts. But please remember to inform me after you read the post, otherwise you are totally a stalker.) I may have to start heading to bed a bit earlier in the evenings, at least until my body adjusts to the increased activity.

However, I still plan on maintaining my pizza and beer consumption levels.

Hello, my name is Julie, and I'm an addict (Hi Julie!)

Day Off

I have had pizza for at least one of my meals in 9 of the last 12 days.

Trifecta

Pool – 60+ minutes
Gym – going after work
Running – attempting 10 mins after work

The subtle differences between men and women continuously amuse me. I recently cut my hair, and every woman I talk to has a response in the same ball park: excited, omgosh how cute, you cut your hair!!!! etc. There is no question that they noticed and they are sure of the fact that yes, indeed, my hair is shorter than when we last encountered each other. With men, the response is completely different. The ones that do notice (or comment, to be fair, most men might notice but choose not to comment, whereas women tend to be more likely to comment) are a little unsure how to proceed. They study me for a second, trying to figure out what is different. They know something is different. Then, very slowly, with an inquisitive face, most ask the same question…"Did you…cut…your hair?" And when I inform them I did indeed cut my hair, their faces light up and I can see how proud they are that they figured it out! This whole process cracks me up. I know some people cut their hair and you don't really notice all that much of a difference. However, I just went from long straight hair to looking like a Koosh Ball. It's noticeable.

Alright back to the purpose for this little soapbox I maintain every day. Today looks to be a nice trifecta: I was in the pool this morning for a long time but it was mostly working on drills and technique as opposed to getting in a real cardio session. I'm going to hit up the gym after work today since my PT appointment was moved earlier tomorrow and I just haven't gotten to the point of getting out of bed before 6 am. Then I'm rolling out to the injury trail for 10 mins, give or take. The knee has been feeling okay since the "run" (note: must at least hit 2 miles before I can refer to it as a "run.") on Saturday. The on and off aching while at my desk has dissipated, and it seems to me as the weakness/pain is now almost solely occurring DURING activity, which is a change from before, but one I'm rather happy about as I can assess whether or not to keep running when I have immediate feedback from my knee. It doesn't do me much good when it aches 6 hours later. Great! Let me hop in my time machine and tell Past Julie that she's janking up her knee. Anyhoo, I have no idea what this all means, but I'm taking it as a good thing. If the pain is changing, then I'm doing something, and if the pain isn't getting worse, or is even getting better, then I'm probably doing something right.

And looks like today isn't nearly as long of an essay.

And I could swim 100 yds, and I could swim 100 more...

Saturday - Gym, 8 min run on trail
Sunday - Pool 60 mins

My silence on yesterday's "run" isn't completely bad news. It went ok, actually. I hit up the gym beforehand knocking out my now hour plus routine (I am so hardcore) and then went on the "injury trail" for a little jaunt. Things felt good for about 6 minutes, which was awesome in comparison to my pain and agony when trying to just jog the 20 meters to my car. Things felt weak in my right knee at that point, and I decided to cut it short at 8 mins. I wasn't expecting it to be completely without issue, given I've only been doing hip strength stuff for a week now, so I'm pretty positive. Damn, I'm a little surprised by my positive attitude on this whole thing. I can't decide if its swimming or my new short hair but something has got me out of my usual "I can't run this is the end of the world" funk.

So speaking of swimming, today was pretty great. I made a pretty big breakthrough. Up until this point I've only done a couple of 50s and they were pretty hard. But today, I managed to get in a couple of 75s and even a couple hundreds. I felt like such a goon after I finished my first hundred. I was literally leaning on the edge of the pool with this huge grin on my face. I set the goal of swimming 100 yds about a week ago and it seemed like this unattainable thing. It felt so amazing to accomplish a goal like that. During the Dirt Dog XC series I managed to hit a goal I had set for one of our races, and I had that same silly grin on my face when I got the results. I got that dumb grin for every race where I PR'd in college, or even when we'd finish a workout that I never believed I could make it through. It's this amazing feeling. Accomplishment. A week ago I was gasping after getting to one end of the pool, with a voice in the back of my head asking me what the hell I thought I was doing. Today that voice whispered to me "You might actually be able to do this."

My running accomplishments in the last two years have been few and far between, plagued with frustration and set backs. Getting those 100 yds today reminded me of how why I've suffered through this. Even though 100 yds isn't that big of a deal in the swimming world, it was big for me. I'm excited to have a new sport in which I can achieve. And I'm excited to get better in running and feel that sense of achievement when I race my first half-marathon, my first marathon, and my first triathalon. This feeling of excitement is far better than the frustration that had been following me lately.

Time to head to sleep early tonight. My body isn't quite used to working out this much again, and its definitely been taking a toll. I find my body starting to feel heavy before 8 has even rolled around. Might have to catch up on some sleep for the next couple of nights...