In a word, SCARED!!

So i had my swim instruction today.  A colleague of mine is a swim instructor and i asked her to pick apart my stroke and tell me how to improve.  We she sure did that.  She said i was fast but not efficient.  I have a whole load to work on but i get what she was saying and feel that i can do what she advised.  I need to slow down and improve my technique. A lot.

In the mean time i need to swim my ass off next Sunday as i totally forgot to change my swim time.  I guessed how fast i could swim. My pool has no swim clock and i didn't have my poolmate when i registered.  So i said 7 minutes, but actually i swim it in 8.  I wasn't that scared until i saw that i have been placed 26th in the line up out of 180!!!  Holy crap i'm going to have folks swimming over me.

Its a pool swim and we do 4 lengths of each lane, 4 lanes.  I think i will have folks over talking me at the turn points.  So i'm not too pleased with myself for making this harder than it should be.  Thankfully i will only have to endure 8 minutes of it and then i'll be on a bike where folks can over take me all they want in a pretty easy fashion.

I think i will be swimming quite a lot in the next week.  eeek

11 Days & Counting.....Time to FOCUS

I was just filling in my workout spreadsheet when i noticed that its ONLY ELEVEN DAYS UNTIL MY FIRST EVER TRIATHLON!!  And now i'm FREAKING OUT!!!

It kinda snook up on me.  All of a sudden.  It was this thing i signed up for, this event in my future.  Something some folks think i'm mad for doing.  Something i just talked about and trained for.  Now, its right there, i can smell it.  Its so close the hairs that are standing up on the back of my neck are touching it!  I'm scared.

I lost a little focus the last fortnight and my training reduced.  It was a little to do with the half marathon, and a little to do with this silly 18 week training programme.  You see, this TP, if i were to follow it, has me doing less than i had been doing, training for Pwllheli.  So with my recovery from the HM, the weekend away and the stupid TP officially starting on Monday just gone, i allowed myself to slack.  I lost focus, i started thinking about my Olympic tri instead of my first one.  Walk before you can run Stephanie.  Get through the sprint before concentrating on the Olympic.

It was important to plan for the Olympic distance, but i need to focus on up coming events just as much.  I have a swimming lesson tomorrow.  A lady at work is a swimming instructor so i asked if she would give me some pointers.  I had planned on paying her but she said she was doing it for free.  I'd still like to give her some money but now i don;t know how much.  Maybe i should judge it on how much i think she helps me ;)

The word is FOCUS

I almost cheated...

..but i didn't.  Thankfully, as i know i would have been pissed at myself.  I was so thirsty when i got home i needed a cuppa tea. I hadn't had one since lunch time.  That placed me in front of my pc while i drank it and all of a sudden it was 6:20pm and i didn't want to go to the gym.

Then i got pissed with my self for not just going out running in the light outside, if i wasn't going to swim, then i could just go outside (a swim was on my schedule but i'm not too concerned about getting those in, my tri in a few weeks is short and i do end up swimming 3 times a week which is enough). I much prefer running outside and i had missed my chance.

But i remembered my post about cheating and really didn't want to cheat so early on, like day two, of my plan.  So i go my ass to the gym and did a hill interval workout.  I also did arm and side weights, but no swimming. Over all, glad i went.

Remember, i'll never regret a workout, but will regret a missed one.

I am also trying to curb my pamphagus* habits, especially after working out.  I do love to eat, but i also would like to loose a little weight.  Its hard, but i will try to curb the eating when i don;t need to - like when making dinner. I can't help but snack on nuts and other little things like dried fruit when i'm making dinner.  Perhaps i need to put them in a tin where they re more difficult to get at. I bet half of it is that they stare at me when i'm grabbing stuff out of the pantry.  Okay, i have a task, which i'm going to do right now!


*

Pamphagous - eating or consuming everything

Annoyances.

Just a few things that are a bit annoying.

• My spin bike badly needed adjustment.  I had no easy spin just medium and up.
• The instructor.  I really didn't like her style.  Unlike other instructors, each song was a bit of everything.  Fast spin, slow, high resistance, low.  It was all over the place.  She would make us stand on a high resistance and then sit down again so fast that i had barely had time to do two revolutions.  With my bike not working properly, it was most annoying.  With the evenings getting much lighter, i'll be thrilled to not need spin classes if she is a regular.
• As i was standing around waiting for the half marathon to start a few weeks ago, i heard this girl saying to her none running supporters/companions 'its so annoying to see people running before the race, its like they are trying to prove they can run further'.  i was so tempted to say, no, we call that warming up, but what would be the point.  Dafty.
• Jeff left yesterday for 19 days.  I'm not loving being alone again, kinda annoying.

Isn't it cheating anyway?

In a word: Cheating.

So its barely in to week two of March and i fail the task of a daily post.  I basically knew this would happen with the weekend in Scarborough and Whixley, and had planned to set up posts to publish each day i wouldn't be able to.  Well my time ran out, as did any inspiration to even get a few words written and come Sunday, here i am after missing two days.  But as i asked, isn't it cheating any way if i write them all on Thursday and just publish them on other days?

My official 18 week training plan starts tomorrow.  The TP i hope to not cheat on.  It will be flexible, i can say that.  I will miss workouts, i know that.  But will i cheat?  Hmm.  And what defines cheating if i have already stated i will miss workouts?  Well, i suppose i would say that if i can, i should. If there is a reasonable reason why i can't get the/a workout in, then that's okay, but if i just don't workout, for no other reason than i can't be bothered, then that's cheating.

The word is WHY?

Why is it i find time to exercise when i am working way easier than when i am off?  I think its the expectation of having lots of free time, being able to mooch around get up when i want and i will fit everything in dead easy, as I'm not at work for 8 hours.  When in reality, i get up at the same time, as I'm not one to laze around in bed, if I'm awake, I'm pretty much up out of bed. 

 

I do have lots of free time when on holiday with no children to entertain, but if i don't plan it i waste it.  Waste hours surfing the web.  Sometimes i have a purpose, other times none, just reading, learning, clicking links to see where they get me.  And for some reason if i get dressed and do my hair - like i do on every work day, then i never get round to exercising.  I have to do it in the morning or it won't happen.  I suffer the same way at the weekends.  AM or fail.

 

I suppose as i know it happens that way at least i tackle it.  And when i do plan to workout, 90% of the time i do.  I just have to plan.  The happiest holiday days are when i workout, make a good lunch, bake something, make something else, like marmalade or a handbag or a top then have dinner, made by either Jeff or I then watch a film, read a magazine or do something else productive, even if its hanging the washing up or ironing.  Productive days are the best.  So why don't i make them all like that?

 

I try to plan my weekends to be busy.  There isn't often that i like a lazy weekend of doing nothing, accomplishing nothing.  They happen, but not too often.

 

This weekend Scarborough!!!  Yay!!

Sore and stubborn

After two days off i finally went to the gym  Programmed 45 minutes in to the TM and set off.  My legs started to hurt right about twenty minutes in. Oh i wanted to stop.  I so wanted to stop or to slow.  But i'm stubborn so managed to carry on.  Did 7.42km in 45 minutes.

I'm trying to decide how much effort to put in to working out this week.  We leave for Scarborough right after work tomorrow.  Friday will be spent with mum, nothing planned as such so could go for a run in the AM.  Saturday we are going to a 3yr old birthday party as need to leave at 9am but will be getting home late.  Sunday Jeff leaves, so that day will be easy.  And sad.  Another 2+ weeks alone :(

My real training plan starts on on Monday though. So i'm kinda thinking this post half marathon week can be a bit of recovery, a bit of a respite before the real training begins.  So, i will probably just run on Friday.  I like my usual run in Scarborough. Its all hills, i don't have a run like that here and i miss that great hill training.

Okay, decided. Just one usual 3 miler on friday morning.  Now i gotta go pack.

Pancakes

Shrove Tuesday: Pancake Day. I ate too many.  That is all i have to say.

The word is Result!

The official result is only one second faster than my timed result.
The result of running a HM and thinking  you can do a sub 2hr after seeing you have only 3 miles to go and only 1:35 has passed, is the pain i have every time i try to stand, try to climb stairs and try to stand up from a crouch - which with my job happens all the time apparently - who knew!
The result of my HM is exactly the same, to the second, as Fearne Cotton's (BBC radio 1 DJ) HM she ran yesterday in Bath.  (i really want to do that one, its flat and fast)

The result of a small hole in my arm - one pint of dark red blood donated.
The result,  saving a life, satisfaction and a packet of crisps.
The result of getting my bike out to go to work - 10 minutes off my travel time, ten minutes extra in bed.
The result of the first day back to work when the week off was spent close to home: like i was never gone.

Ellesmere Half Marathon

Waking up at a normal time to run a HM is really nice.  Nothing like 4am that was necessary for the Chicago one.  A 10 minute drive and a little walk from the free car park was all it took to get me to the start. Me and less than 100 others.  There was a 5 mile race on too, we all did the first loop then us HMers did a 7 mile different loop, in the country, mostly closed roads and where itwasn't, very quite back roads.  It was so quiet, so few people.  There was no big finish, no clock, no medals or t-shirts, no flyers for other races or running shops.  Just a simple cup of water at the end.  Not complaining or bigging it up. Just saying.

I tried my hardest to set off conservatively but the adrenalin that gushed through my body as soon as the start was announced was taking over a bit.  It was rather sudden. I felt no race nerves or excitement, nothing different then literally, as soon as i pressed Start on Sally i could feel the adrenalin rush.  I focused and tempered it, and going up hill helped me keep my speed down so the first few miles were about what i hoped i'd run at.  I felt like i was slacking somewhere around mile 5 and 6 but those hills!  It was a really undulation course, there was very little flat. There were 4 big hills and we're not talking short or little. I know you can skew these graphs to make them look worse, but the difference in speed really makes it apparent that the hills were a bitch! But i know i can run up them, so its mental toughness thing.  I won't allow myself to walk.

My Splits:

1:  09:31

2:  09:16

3:  09:33

4:  09:44

5:  09:53

6:  09:28

7:  09:07

8:  08:53

9:  08:30

10  09:50

11: 08:55

12: 09:13

13: 08:12

                          .16: 01:15  (at 07:32 pace)

So my end time is a bit of a shocker.  Given that i had 6 weeks to train for this, i was aiming for 2:10 with a pie in the sky time of 2:05 so to come in under that was euphoric.  I was pleased as punch!  I AM pleased as punch.  I wanted to run another half marathon to get a sub 2 hour.  I planned to run the Lichfield one in May, to train properly to aim for an average pace of 9:00.  Given my under-trained-for HM in Chicago that was completely flat and i got a 2:10:44 i never thought on hills i would beat that time by 9 minutes!!

So i now have the itch again, or rather still for the sub 2hr half.  There is the Lake Vyrnwy Half in September which is completely flat, i plan on doing that, i'm now totally confident that i can get my sub 2hr there.  But, maybe i want to do it before then.....


p.s the word today is SUPER HERO

Birthday

In a word and today's word is Birthday!!  

My birthday!

My parents are visiting but only because we want them to look at a house we want to buy.  This whole process is a big crassulent pain.  We want to add a garage but need access to a private road. It may prevent us from buying the most perfect house :(  still, i want dad to have look at it and see if we can do what we want to the property.

 

Jeff and I celebrated last night because i’m running the Ellesmere half marathon tomorrow.  We went to dinner and i had a few ciders.  It doesn't take me much to get drunk any more as i really don't drink frequently.   I was really feeling three Magners by the time mum and dad arrived to pick us up. They arrived late after we had eaten and took us home, saved us a fiver on a taxi which was nice.



The food was really really good.  They know how to deal with gluten free which is fantastic.  I decided to go for a main and desert and hubby had all three – greedy guts!  But i drank more



Today we went for a walk around Whittington Castle before the house showing.  Its a tiny little ruins but worth a quick visit.  The house is still perfect.  We then went out for lunch, in the same pub we had dinner in. I really don’t mind eating in the same place when the food is so very delicious.
 
Last nights roast pork belly was so good i almost ordered it again.  I am quite limited in there but i ended up having pan fried sea bass which was delectable. The veg served in there is very good too, really fresh and well cooked not reheated watery crap you often get in pubs.  I totally recommend The White Lion in Whittington.

Mum made me a birthday bake – of sorts.  Banana muffins.

And she bought me flowers, the daffodils you see and some lovely tulips too.

It was fun to blow out candles, its been along time since i did that.

Over all, a lovely birthday celebration.  Right now i’m smelling the amazing aroma of corned beef* and cabbage that Jeff has been making for the last two weeks.  Looking forward to dinner i can tell you.
Tomorrows race is not until 11am so i don’t have to have an early night or anything but just need to make sure everything is prepped before i go to bed.

Chat after my race.  Good night.

*American style corned beef that they make on St. Patricks day, not the stuff that comes out of a can and is all fatty.

Spreadsheets rule my workouts.

Pink means its a race day.  Green to designate the start of the week.  Lighter green (not shown) indicates its a recovery week.  Red days were rest days.

So i added the 18 week training plan to my spread sheet (on the right hand side).  I am going to try to stick to it.  Mostly my aim is to get the right miles and quality workouts correct but also to try to do the workouts on the right days so i have proper rest between types of exercise  It mostly works out well as i was attending spin classes on Mondays and Wednesdays and liked those days.  By the time the week day rides get longer, i will be able to move them on to the roads as it will be lighter enough after work.

After week 12 there are no rest days. I do't think that will fly with me but i will plan to have just one rest day in those weeks, never more than.  I'm sure life will get in the way at points and i'm fine with that happening.  Its my first season, i'm doing it for fun.  It has to stay fun and not a chore.

I'm pretty sure my body will change some more and that is a big motivator for me, so i'm going to track it too. I think an additional page on my spreadsheet is necessary: Page of Mecography*

*

Okay Okay, i'll plan!

Its been niggling at me that i haven't got a training plan.  I have my reasons, mainly as history has shown me that i am useless at sticking it one.  But also because i workout to feel good.  I'm racing to enjoy myself, so i want to enjoy my training.  I fear that if i am told to do say, running on a day i really feel like swimming on, then i will stop loving it.

But as i wrote out the distances for the Olympic triathlon i'm doing in July, it really hit home how far it is.  It scared me a bit and i have reconsidered a training plan.  Its easy to think you are doing enough, even that you are doing more than you think.  I tally all my workouts, on daily mile and on a spreadsheet, but its too late to look at the week and realise that i haven't run or swam enough, i need to have something to work towards to ensure i am doing the right distances.

So, i am loosely going to follow the 18 week Olympic for intermediates. I realise that i am a beginner but the plan for that would have me doing shorter distances than i do now so feels wrong.  And i say loosely as i plan to use the distances as guides as opposed to strictly follow the days to do things.

I feel that if i can at least maintain the increases in running distances, types or runs/swims and cycling miles then it will allow me to compete at the level i want to. I want to race it as well as i can, without taking all the fun out and taking it all too seriously.

Here is what February looked like for me:

You see, i didn't notice i hadn't swam in that long at the beginning of the month.  This was just before i started this spreadsheet.  Glad i did, DailyMile is great, but this is easier to track details.  Again, i need to swim, time flies and if i'm not going to the gym to spin or run, like now when i can go outside as i'm at home in the day, then swimming can easily be forgotten for a week without me even knowing.

So as i fill my succisive* hours with more and more training i will be confident that it will all be worth it in the end.  When i cross the finish line after swimming 1500m in the sea, cycling 38km of the welsh coastline and running 10km, i know i did it to the best of my ability and enjoyed the whole process that got me there.

*

Succisive : of spare or extra time

Just go on the ride and stop thinking about it!

Yesterday was a bit of a success failure mix.  I couldn't sew the top i wanted as i have lost the pattern i was going to use and going to buy one wasn't going to happen.  I got my machine out and did sew some running mittens however.  Also a head band with little ipod pocket so its neat and out of my way.  I'm really pleased with that.  The mittens are a semi success.  I wanted something that i could take off but not carry. My hands get cold for the first mile or so then they warm up a lot and gloves end up being too warm and get sweaty.  If i'm running long, my hands then get cold again, especially if the temp drops and my fingers start to hurt.  I asked for running/cycling gloves for Christmas and got some great ones, but they are too warm to run in.  So..... i sewed these mittens that i can slip my hand out of and fold under the wrist band that stays on my wrist.  Therefore i don't have to carry them, they are ready to be pulled back on at any moment.  They aren't exactly what i had planned, but function just fine.

As for cycling, i didn't go.  It wasn't until today, after i made the effort to go out for a ride that i realised why i was so fed up yesterday.  I didn't really do much yesterday. Mooched around the house, half contemplating going out for a ride but generally just killing time on the net, baking some muffins, sitting around.  I thought i was enjoying myself at times but in the background was the feeling of being fed up.

So today came, i got my bike out for the first time on the roads in AGES.  It was chilly so i used my head band, gloves and new bike wind breaker jacket.  I pumped up my tyres, loaded my saddle bag and changed my seat height up a notch.  I mapped out a route of 16 miles and headed out.  

Cursing myself for not putting my balaclava on, my face was so cold.  As my rosy cheeks acclimatised my hands started to get cold.  The gloves are good, but not that good.  Eventually my hands were okay again, once the warm blood got pumping through them again.  But then my feet started to feel the cold.  I haven't got round to putting my bike shoes and clips on* so was wearing my running trainers. That breath-ability we long for in running shoes just lets cold air stream in like i'm standing under a freezer fan when on a bike.  By half way through the ride they were painfully cold and my 3/4 i couldn't feel them any more.

Never the less, I really enjoyed my 16.71 miles.  The roads were fine, not too busy. I didn't have to stop for any traffic lights, in fact, i only went through one set - boy do i love living in the country! I was sweaty and burned 900+ calories and felt fantastic. 

Jeff and i then had lunch, i made a prandicle** and preceded to eat two portions. Cycling makes me hungry!  We then popped in to town to the market to grab some veg.  Popped in to the Halifax to inquire about a mortgage and had a lovely day.  It was in town, i had a little spring in my step.  It could have been the sun shinning in my face, my husbands hand in mine, but i really believe that a great deal was due to my bike ride.  I really do enjoy it when i have started the day with a good workout.  It gives me a high all day. There is nothing like it.

I'll do best to remember that i never regret a workout, only the ones i miss.

After every workout i feel good. 

 

*The shoes i have are not really mine, they are loaners from the bike shop that i got my bike from 9 months ago who still have yet to provide me with shoes and clips of my own, that i paid for.  He says he cound't get my size and was waiting for the 2011 line to come out(said this in June 2010).  I'm not complaining any more as the shoes he gave me are his race shoes and way more expensive than the ones i assume i will eventually get.  They are in really good condition and very light.  He is very forgetful, so i'm guessing he will only realise that i am still waiting for my shoes when he enters a race and can't find his stuff.  

**

Prandicle: small meal

Day 1

I'm on holiday this week.  Its lovely to have time off at home.  I love my job, i have mentioned this before and i'm likely to say it again too.  Its a great job.  But its also nice to be on holiday away from it too.  I chose my career because of its artistic and somandric* nature.  I have always enjoyed making things.  I used to make my own clothes - not very well, but i still wore them.  Actually, i say i have always been, but really, my memory is so very poor, i find it difficult to remember much of my childhood so really i am referring to my teens and older.  I have also always been interested in anything related to the human body and its functions.


Aspiring to become a silver smith, fashion designer, interior designer, garden designer, architect, handbag designer, greeting card maker and long distance truck driver, i ended up being an Orthotist.  Yes, i said a long distance truck driver.  After a trip to California at thirteen seeing those chrome adorned trucks, big enough to live in, housing a mini life on shiny wheels.  I wanted to cross the extensive barren country, stopping in dusty towns, eating apple pie in roadside diners with tumble weed blowing by.  Moving on to high-reaching cities, bustling streets and fast-food giants on every corner (not that i ever really aspired to eat at them). I wanted to sleep in my truck and drive the country over and over and over.  But mostly it was the chrome of the trucks.

But i ended up an Orthotist.  

And i'm really freaking glad too.

And i'm glad i'm on holiday.  Sitting at home, not feeling like i have to go somewhere to really make use of the time.  When working in America, i never felt this relaxed with taking time off at home.  In fact, i NEVER took time off to be at home.  With such a ridiculously pitiful amount of annual leave, there were no relaxing at home days. I would make every hour of those holidays work for me. I would always schedule my flights in the evening and work that day. I would fly home arriving late and work the next day.  No time at home to regroup.  But now, with 28 days a year as opposed to 15 (i negotiated a extra 5 days - i should have got 10 for the first 5 years - how anyone manages on ten i have no idea!) i sit here after quite a productive day; house viewings, a bit of shopping and an eight mile run quite content.   Tomorrow i plan on doing nothing more than a bike ride and making a blouse (we will see how that goes - just coz nothings planned...).  I have had the fabric for ages, and now its time to sew.



*

NaBloPoMo : Somandric - Pertaining to the human body.