Heard it Through the Grapevine?

I don't mean to be a "Debbie Downer," but all of my plans are headed to the toilet. You have probably heard the news that Hallmark is cutting back. I won't know whether or not that means me for another month or so. In the mean time, I won't be renewing my gym membership, which means no swimming, and I can't register to do a triathlon because I don't know if I'll have insurance. The last couple of days have been really stressful, but I'm starting to feel a little better. My job has been my back up plan, I can finish school, but it's okay if I don't right away, bla bla bla. I don't even know for sure what I'm going to be when I grow up. 

Enough crying about that, it hasn't quite stopped me from exercising. It's temporarily stopped me from swimming and I won't be purchasing a new bike, but I guess I'll just have to make do. The new dumbbell thing is going pretty well, I'm going to be stuck at my little 5 lb weights though, because I can't be buying new ones, ha. The last couple of days I've just "ran" on the elliptical machine because I've been all "boo hoo I don't want to leave the house."

Things will work out. One way or the other, they will work out. The bright side is all the free time I'll have for getting into shape!

Tooting My Own Horn

I ran the whole Penguin Run (1.51 miles) today with only a few steps of walking!  Goose ran with me. We ran it in 14:39. I did not picture being able to run that far so soon, I'm pumped.  I may have walked more if he hadn't been there (Goose is the big dog, by the way). He kept us going at a pretty steady pace although a couple of times I had to make him go a little faster. That's probably why he wouldn't let us walk. He seemed to like it even though he got pretty hot. We keep wanting to get them haircuts, but the new trend is cold and snowy on the weekends.

I finished "Smart Girls Do Dumbbells" and did some strength training with some 5 pound dumbbells today. It was okay, a bit awkward, but hopefully I'll get the hang of it. Now I'm going to have to buy a weight bench.
 

Speaking of buying things, there's a chance I'm going to be laid off. Which makes me nervous that I won't have insurance, which would mean I wouldn't be able to do the triathlon. Which would be a bunch of crap. Hopefully things don't come to that though, although rumor has it. 

Shouldn't it be Getting WARMER?!

I biked today, it was snowing... I cannot express how irritated I am with the weather the last couple of weeks. I had to get all bundled up and look/ feel ridiculous. Any other day I wouldn't have gone due to the "extreme cold," but I had to. It's April for goodness sakes, cold shouldn't be an excuse anymore. 

I took the jogging trail assuming it wouldn't be crowded, I was mostly right. There were a couple of people letting their dogs run around on 30' leashes, probably with the same theory I had about no one being around to bother. I did ride on the road for one side of the park. I came upon a bunch of cars stopped waiting for their little riders to get out of school. There was a bit of a traffic jam with the people trying to get through. So I did what any bad ass in my situation would do and I cut through the muddy grass. I bet I looked super tough and they were all jealous.

Friday I biked and swam. Swimming is a lot harder after biking 3.5 miles, but overall it went well.

Saturday was the exciting part. Janean and I went running, scratch that, we went jogging... We ran the first mile in under 10 minutes. No stopping or anything. As we left, Janean said we had to, but I told her she'd be running without me, but no, I made it. I haven't ran a mile in that kind of time since middle school, I'm not exaggerating. 

For the most part, things are going really well. It's really exciting to actually be getting results. I just hope I can stay motivated. Oh, and I'm going to start some light dumbbell strength training this week. 

One more thing... Janean's mother signed us up for a 5k for the Good Samaritan Center. How exciting right? Ha, it's the 18th of this month and she signed us up to race. 

1/4 As Fast As Michael Phelps... Kind of

I swam 400 yards today. It was pretty fun. It took me right at 16 minutes. I'm  a bit excited and feel like I'm actually accomplishing something. Soon I might have an idea for my 500 yards and I'll be able to register! I'm eating like Michael Phelps too. It's pretty annoying. I mean, I eat quite a bit on a regular day, but all of this exercise has me eating so much. It's so hard to keep it healthy. After I swam, I ate two peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Thank goodness they were in my car or I would have cried. I didn't have time to eat again until 7:30 when I went to the cafe at work. I was starving. I had a chicken thigh and a chicken leg (don't judge my dark meat eating), a big serving of potatoes cooked up in rosemary, a large serving of green beans and my nightly milk. I ate it all up, then I got a hard boiled egg and half a grapefruit. I was still pretty hungry and ended up eating two cookies. Now I'm home from work and considering eating again.

Oh and here's something to ponder... CLICK ME CLICK ME!!!

I'm Back... Mostly

After some close encounters with anaphylactic shock, I'm all better. Don't worry, I'm exaggerating, there was a pretty good chance though. And by all better, I mean the infection is mostly gone, but the allergies are still trying to get the best of me. NOT GOING TO HAPPEN THOUGH!

Sunday Janean and I ran the Penguin Run. It was really nice having someone suffer with me. It went pretty well. I somehow managed to sprain my side. I can't figure out how I could have accomplished this while running, maybe I sneezed while doing it? So that put me out of service for another full day. 

Yesterday I did some basic strength training, push ups, lunges... ooh, and I used a weight with my crunches, I'm feeing it in my abs today. It's amazing what missing one stupid week can do. I did the normal amount of lunges and my thighs are absolutely killing me.

Today I went around and around our neighborhood ten times (3.4 miles). The neighbors probably thought I was ridiculous, but really I was waiting for Janean to get home because we were going to dinner. The dogs of the 'hood loved it though. They would wait for me at their fences and run with me and bark at me, I think they had a real nice time.

Tomorrow I will be swimming again, and running, it will be fun. Oh yes, I said fun, and I can't wait. 

For now, it's off to math I go...

How's the Training Going?

Truth is, not very well. I'm officially a week behind. I've been sick, probably another sinus infection, since Monday. Painful stuff, and very irritating. Plus, my Mondays and Wednesdays are a real headache until we get all this Mother's Day stuff out. I have 30 minutes to get home, eat, then leave for class. Lucky for me a lot of my "walking at work" (if you missed it, walking is my job) also involves lunges or squats, and even if it doesn't I pretend. I am going to try to do some yoga today, avoiding tilting my head too much. I go tomorrow for a physical, maybe I can get Dr. Cashier to Roto Rooter my sinuses while I'm there.

Last week however, was alright. A quick update on what I failed to post, straight from my Beginner Triathlete account:

Friday I did my 1.5 mile Penguin Run, I ran the first 6 minutes without stopping and it wasn't as bad as it had previously been. Why? Because the internet is an amazing place for info. You know, all those years of softball and gym class and I don't remember anyone once stopping me and saying, 'you've got it all wrong.' It might sound silly. I mean, how hard is it to run? You learn that when you're two. But after reading an article on about.com with just basic tips and such, it was so much easier! So I ran, then I walked, then I ran a little more, etc. And I finished 1.51 miles in 15 min 16 secs. A lot of room for improvement, but getting better. It feels good just to be able to say that I mostly ran instead of I mostly walked.

After my run I went to the gym and I swam 250 yards in 10 min 7 secs. Trying to remember everything I've read/ watched about swimming correctly/ efficiently is a bit intimidating when my head is half submerged. But overall, it went well. I wish I could be doing more swimming this week, along with everything else, but a pool isn't a good place for a sinus infection to be hanging out. Ouch! Thanks to United States Marine "JimmyDShea" for being such an awesome instructor. Check out his other videos too, he's pretty funny. Also just typing "triathlete swimming" into any search box, almost any, can retrieve helpful results. 

Saturday, after shopping and attending the Tour de Cure Kick off Party, Janean and I took our bicycles out to Watkins Mill. It was such a beautiful day, which lead to it being insanely crowded. It was fun though. We did almost 4 miles in around 24 minutes. I doubt we'll be going anywhere this weekend, there's snow in the forecast, but I would like to do something like that every weekend.

Sunday was my day off. I wouldn't have taken it though had I known that I would be sick and miserable the following week.

I have to go accomplish things now, before the water filter changing man gets here at noon. Pray that I don't drown in infected yellow snot while doing yoga!

The Suspense Had Been Killing Us!

Today I biked my two mile "I'm a Beginner" route, I wanted to do more but I was short on time. It went really well, I didn't get nearly as tired and I ended up with my fastest time yet, 10:45. 

That's not even the good part though. I went to the gym after my bike ride and straight to the pool. It was quite the mess trying to do my "aqua jogging" warm up. Not only was the annoying man there (who is getting much nicer), but it was like "Kid's Day at the K" (the 'k' is Kauffman Stadium, home of the Royals). Kids were every where and very bumpy. And looked at me like they were unsure if I was there to join them or the seniors, ha. I jogged a few laps, then went to the lap lane with my new goggles. Then I did just what I was told to do by the article online. It was awesome! So much easier than ever before. I ended up swimming 200 yards. I was pretty out of breath by the end, but I probably could have done a few more laps. I didn't want to push it though. I was wrong about where I got the info, it wasn't YouTube, although I did watch several videos. The really helpful one was "How to Swim Freestyle" written by a pretty awesome summer camp swim instructor. You should definitely check it out, hopefully it's as beneficial to others as it was to me.