Two Steps Forward, Three Steps Back

Man, did I ever fall off the wagon over the Independence Day weekend. :/ I had been doing so well, and I suppose what I ate wasn't horrible, but it certainly wasn't exemplary eating.

When I mess up with eating like that, I tend to be way harder on myself than is probably necessary. I'm very gloom and doom, you know? I had pizza at Costco on Saturday. Not even an entire piece, but I am still kicking myself. I also made ice cream two times over the weekend, and of course I ate some of that. Oh, and brownies. Phew. I feel like I just confessed. It could have been worse.

I worked out on Thursday, took Friday off, worked out Saturday, and took Sunday off. I am afraid to weigh myself. I need to stop it! It is hard to make myself understand that one weekend of questionable eating is not going to undo all of the hard work I have put in, however crappy I feel afterward. It does remind me that junk food is not the stuff of which successful athletic performance is made. So anyway.

On the heels of that weekend and all of my self-doubting, my triathlon outfit came today. Oh, man. The shorts give new meaning to the term "muffin top." Wedding cake top? The only way I look ok from the front is when I pull the shorts up to "mom jean" height, but then terms like "camel toe" come to mind. I bought my tight tri outfit, and now I must run uncomfortably in it. Ug. It's so cute, though! Until I put it on.

All in good time, right? All in good time. Five months ago, the outfit probably wouldn't have fit me at all. Just because I don't look good in a tight outfit made entirely of shiny spandex, doesn't mean I haven't made any progress at all. It sure feels that way, but I know it's not true.

Race day is Sunday. I'll be there and I'll be ready. I just need to get past this little mind game I've got going on.

Can't Sleep... Vampires Will Bite Me

I really couldn't come up with a good subject line, and we're watching 'Underworld,' so...

Yesterday I set out to do a 15 mile ride, but after ten miles, I decided to do a brick. I stopped at my car and threw on all my running gear and set off on the trail. Within the first couple hundred yards, my right calf started cramping up with each step. Ow. I ended up running only maybe a little more than a mile, so I guess I wouldn't exactly call it a brick workout, but at least it was a bit of a transition practice.

My husband bought some bananas for me to help with the cramping. This morning when I left for work, there were four bananas left. Tonight when I got home from swimming, they were all gone. ::sad face:: I haven't bought bananas in a long time because I try to buy fruit and veggies that were grown in California (where I live). Sadly, there are no local banana growers. You know, climate and all. So anyway. I forgot how much the kids like bananas. (a lot) They also killed all but one of the pears David bought. Little fruit monkeys!

Back to training!

So today I took my wetsuit to the pool and swam in it. I think I've decided that I don't like swimming with the wetsuit. I do feel faster in it, however after about 200 yards, my arms were already tired. I think if I swim in a wetsuit, it needs to be a long john style one. It's possible that the wetsuit is a tad bit too small for me in the chest area. I swam about 300 yards and then took it off and finished my workout. I also spent about twenty minutes helping one of my lane mates with his butterfly stroke. It was fun!

Tomorrow is the Braveheart Brick Session at Mission Bay. I did it last week and it kicked my ass. I am looking forward to it this week. 1) because I now have my LOOK pedals and bike shoes, so I will be able to get some transition experience, and 2) because I want to see how my fitness has improved over the last week. I've been working pretty hard.

I am hovering around the 200 mark. I was 203.1 yesterday morning. I am hoping to hit the starting line at 199. How cool would that be?

T-Minus 13 Days

Wow, so tomorrow is July first! Thirteen days until The Big Day. No hyperventilating (at the time of writing. I make no promises against future panic attacks). I'll be ready.

I am finding myself more and more exhausted. All day at work, I was dragging. I was dreading my swim workout, but managed to make it through and actually get a really good cardio workout in. I'm slightly amazed that I didn't fall asleep while backstroking, to be quite honest.

As I mentioned in my last post, I just found out that I am anemic. I don't think it's that big of a deal-a lot of people are anemic-but it is a big hint that I need to get on track with some sort of training diet. Two granola bars and a Slim Fast do not an athlete's diet make, though that is all I had today prior to swim. It's not that I am intentionally not eating, I guess I just forget. And forgetting is a lot more of a big deal when you're working out six days per week, than it is when your main activity is cultivating your secretary spread (see: me, twelve weeks ago).

So anyway. Research will be done on some proper nutrition guidance. Share it if you've got it! :)

I did have somewhat of a victory today, despite the shakiness I felt walking onto the pool deck. I'm overweight, right? I don't know that I have ever really liked the way I looked sans clothing, but it has definitely been a few years since I caught myself walking by a mirror on the way to the shower and thought, how you doin'? Last night I caught a glimpse of myself and noticed that maybe there isn't so much jiggle going on back there as there used to be. Cool. My husband also cat-called me as I walked by. Normally I would roll my eyes, but I tried to take his construction worker flattery to heart-I really am working hard, why shouldn't he think I am looking better/good?

Back to today. Today after I finished my workout, I gathered my belongings and walked across the deck to the locker rooms... with no towel covering my legs. And I felt ok about it. Good, even. It was a pretty awesome feeling. This isn't to say that I am going to chill on the working out and rest on my laurels, I still have a way to go, but it's nice to see results.

I decided on what I want to wear for the triathlon (and the world breathes a sigh of relief). I am a big fan of Skirt Sports workout clothing. I own the Tri Swimsuit, the Gym Girl Gripper skirt and the Compression Fit BikeGirl Skirt, all of which I adore. (And both the skirts are on clearance, so go check them out. They FAR surpass the running skirts Target sells.) Since I am such a fan, I decided to try out their triathlon line. I give you, my tri outfit: Well, ok, just the top. As it turns out, black shorts aren't all that exciting, but the top is cool! I plan to wear a sports bra underneath, and lots of BodyGlide, because I am afraid that my sports bra isn't going to turn out to be all that water-friendly.

I am the only one awake in the house, not even Hammie is up running around. I am going to pack my bag for tomorrow (I can't decide if I just want to do a bike ride, or if I want to do a brick) and follow suit.

Stay classy, Internets!

Midnight Oil

Why does it seem that I do all of my updating at night, when I should have already been asleep for hours? Ya, I've got kids.

So yesterday, I got in a great run. I originally wanted to go for 45 minutes, because that is approximately how long it takes me to run three miles. Thanks to the procrastination monster, my running time was cut down to thirty minutes (I had to go pick up the boys from preschool immediately after the run). I ended up doing 2.2 miles in thirty minutes, which comes out to about 13:40-ish minutes per mile. Ok, that is pretty awesome for me. I was pretty stoked when I got back. I felt great and knew that I had worked hard.

This morning I met up with my training buddy, Margaret, and we rode 15 miles around Miramar Lake. Like the run, the ride was pretty awesome. I feel like our training is really paying off, and we are gaining more and more confidence with every workout we do. I think we just might not die during the triathlon!

Now that most of the training is taken care of, I have shoes and pedals and a bike and all that fun stuff, one thing is looming over my head: OMG WHAT AM I GOING TO WEAR? My husband is absolutely loathe to let me spend any more money on this endeavor, at least not until I've shown him that I am going to stick with it. I need to find a trisuit, an inexpensive one at that. All signs point to such a thing being non-existent. I'm talking $50 bucks here. I know it must be out there! Have you seen her?

Last week I had some blood work done because my doc noticed that it had never been performed when I transfered into his care. It turns out that I am anemic. Wha? I don't even know what to do with that. I do know that some dietary improvements are in order, one look at me makes that need quite obvious. I guess I am just surprised. But now I have an excuse to be tired and need more sleep! Right? Right. Iron pills and spinach, here I come!