Blah blah blah

That pretty much sums up how I've been feeling this week.  Just haven't really been "into" anything.  Not excited about anything in particular.  Saw an old friend at the gym today, hadn't seen him in a while & he asked how I was, what was new, etc.  I just sorta looked at him with a puzzled, blah, blah, blah look & shrugged my shoulders.  Needless to say, that was a short conversation.  I was even approached at the gym by some guy who introduced himself to me about 2 weeks ago...apparently I wasn't smiling while working out like I normally do & he asked if I was ok.  I'm now sitting at my computer watching the snow fall, secretly hoping it'll be so bad by 6pm that I will decide to bail on Master's swim...humm, doubt that will happen!

Been very sore this week too.  Not sure why (really Jen, can't figure it out).  I always warm up before my workouts, always.  I always stretch after, always.  But this week I'm walking around with very sore quads, lower shins, just achy in general.  Foam rolling is not helping!  Although, admittedly, when I roll over the sore parts, it hurts, so I decrease the pressure, or stop. 

And trust me, feeling like this now is making me think how the heck am I going to do an Ironman??  Really...I'm working out what...11+ hours a week, heck, the Ironman will take me longer than that alone!  How on earth do people do this?  Surely I can't be the only person who's doubted themselves so early???!!!

So maybe it's the weather.  Or the job search that's going nowhere.  Whatever it is, that's all I have today.  Don't have anything else to say right now...just blah blah blah  But I hear the snowflakes that are falling right now are huge...I think I'm going to take Erin outside in the snow.  Until next time ;)

Training naked...

Did I get your attention?  LOL...I just read Kelly Williamson's article on Ironman.com about shutting off the numbers and listening to your body during a race.  This got me thinking.  Appropriately timed, as I just had a run where I had to go "by feel" and "not look at devices".  That run was soooo hard for me to do, purely because I had to force myself NOT to look at my heart rate monitor.  I thought to myself, I am a slave to my heart rate monitor.  If I am, I wonder how many other people are?  Seriously, I wear that thing for every workout.  OK, except swim but ONLY because for some reason I lose my heart rate on the watch (displays 00) while swimming.  And I hate that.  Whether I'm checking it for heart rate, calories burned, time spent exercising, which zone I'm in, that watch is always on my wrist.

I ran a 10k in 2010, the Sycamore Pumpkin Run.  Shortly after the race started I looked at my watch & it displayed 00 as the heart rate.  I never got it back.   Crap, I thought!  I knew my heart rate was sky high but the watch pooping out on me forced me to run based on how I felt.  Granted, it was a race.  And I had Coach Joe's words "10k's are great because they are not too short and just long enough where you can run to the point where you feel like you're going to puke, but don't".  That seriously was probably the last time I did any kind of workout without a heart rate monitor!

I lost the computer on my bike this summer...it popped off while riding & was run over by a car (yes, we had gone back to find it on our way back).  I haven't replaced it yet.  The few outdoor rides I did after that sucked...purely because I had no idea how far or how fast I was riding.  Again, slave to the device...

Anyways, this article talked about at times, it's good to run (or whatever) and not look at the devices, just go based on how your body feels.  So many things can affect our performance anyways - weather, terrain, how you feel that day, race conditions...so go ahead, I dare you!  Turn it off & train naked for a day :)

Here's a link to the article if you didn't see it:  http://ironman.com/training/kelly-williamson-offers-some-tips-on-race-day-strategy?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ironman%2Ftopstories+%28Ironman.com+Top+Stories%29#axzz1mUGohF7L

Swimmers !!

It's 3:20am as I'm writing this, another night unable to sleep. Figured I may as well make use of this time :)  LOL

So I'm calling this one "Swimmers" because I don't consider myself one.  Yet?  I hope so because 7 months from tomorrow I'm going to have to swim 2.4 miles in open water!  So this week I spent a lot of time thinking about swimming, while swimming.  After all, what else is there to do while swimming?  Oh, I've thought about things I needed to do that day, grocery shopping lists, what to make for dinner, my unsuccessful job hunting these days, the shelter I volunteer at, trying to find Erin, my foster dog, a forever home, you name it, it's crossed my mind while swimming. 

But this week in particular I found myself thinking about my abilities vs. other people.  Probably not a good idea to be comparing myself to other swimmers I'm thinking.  I told Coach Jen this week I think I have 2 speeds...slow/easy & fast (although, let's be honest, my "fast" is probably moderate to most people).  If the plan didn't call for fast, I swam slow & easy.  All the time.  So this week I decided to consciously try to add in "moderate" while swimming.  Now I'm not timing myself, but going off of perceived exercion.  And I can feel it.  Well I can't tell you how many times I was swimming "moderately" and you know how you can see people in the lanes next to you?  You know they're there, not racing you, probably not even paying attention to the fact that you're next to them.  But I was paying attention!  I can't tell you how many times I thought I was cruising along at a fairly moderate pace & there they went...right past me!!  WTF???  How is it that even when I'm swimming moderately, people are STILL passing me?  My masters swim coach video taped us last week & emailed me the video with some comments.  I still haven't looked at it...she taped me swimming "fast" and when she showed it to me on her camera immediately after, I said "that's me swimming FAST?  Can't be...I look so SLOW!!!"

UGH, so I keep at it.  Today I didn't even want to go to masters.  But I did.  And the good news is I'm now doing her hard workout (more distance) because the others are too short for the hour class.  I have a ways to go.  I may never be fast.  I'm just hoping for faster...

Oh, and this is Erin...my foster dog.  She's looking for a forever home...She's a lab/terrier mix, about 2-1/2 years old, about 44 lbs.  Housebroken, crate trained, graduated obedience class (knows her commands!), loves to run (yes...she was my running partner until I started w/ Coach Jen...she's not happy with me right now as she's not able to run w/ me much anymore), she's very sweet & loves to gives kisses.  She is probably better for a home with a fenced in yard, older kids & the only dog in the house.  If you know someone who might be interested, please contact me...she deserves a good home...isn't she cute???