Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving friends!!! How was your Thanksgiving? Do you and your family have any fun traditions?

This year Thanksgiving was a little bit different for me. Last year I did my first 10k on Thanksgiving Day. I was determined to make it a tradition for me, but this year I'm on the injured list with my hip injury, so I didn't get to do that. But, Thanksgiving was a little bit different in other ways as well.

The past 2 years we had Thanksgiving at our house. Last year my Aunt came and so did my grandma and grandpa. The year before I think it was just my grandma and grandpa that came (I can't remember). It was VERY stressful. Well, this year it's going to change.

I found out the other day that this year it's going to be up at my grandma and grandpa's house. My Aunt might come, she might be out of town though. My other aunt, her family has gotten so big with her 3 kids and all of their kids, that they just do their own Thanksgiving now, which is very understandable.

Well, as I've stated many times in previous blogs, I feel like I am the black sheep of the family. Whenever we have family get togethers, nobody ever talks to me. I try to make an effort to insert myself in to conversations, but it never works. I feel very left out with my family and extended family. Now, I'm not saying that the entire converstation needs to revolve around me, but I need to not be ignored as well.

I was going to go up to Cracker Barrel for Thanksgiving; however I decided not to go that route. I heard something yesterday that seriously FREAKED me out. I was watching TV before I went to work & they were saying that the average Thanksgiving meal is 3500 calories!!! HOLY CRAP!!! That is more calories than I consume in 2 days! Now I'm sure the 3500 calories is if you go back for seconds and thirds on EVERYTHING. One of my friends on Facebook said the average calories is 1500. That's about what I eat in a day, maybe a little less.

Because of all of the weight I've lost, I'm very conscious of what I eat. Because I'm not running right now, that makes me even a little more conscious of what I eat. I allow myself one day a week (Saturday) to eat whatever I want, and even then, I watch what I eat. Because a little while ago, I was sick and I was injured, so I put on more weight than I would've liked; therefore, I'm really trying right now to lose that weight again. I want to go through one holiday season of not gaining a massive amount of weight like I have the past couple of years.

So, this is what I ended up doing for Thanksgiving:



It was only 290 calories!!! I can handle that. Then I had a Smart Ones dessert that was only 130 calories.

Now honestly, I have to say, I think I have some sort of eating disorder. I don't think it's normal for someone to freak out this much about Thanksgiving dinner. I'm working on figuring out how to deal with it & I hope that one day I can not worry about Thanksgiving, have it with my family and not worry about my calorie consumption.

Meet Jagger!

Jagger is a Jamis Xenith T 2011 Time Trial bike. I can't wait to ride him!!!! Now I just need to get pedals and shoes for him. Anybody have any suggestions?

Swimming Apparel

Alot of people have asked me what kind of swim wear I buy and what different equipment I use when I swim.

About 1 1/2 years ago, I found that THE BEST swim wear for practicing is Dolphin brand Uglies swim wear. I know the name is funny, but the swim suits last SO much longer than others. The swim suits are made out of polyester, so I can normally get a swimsuit to last 6-8 months. Before I wore Uglies, I was buying a new swim suit every 2-3 months. That can get expensive. A couple of the designs on the swim suits aren't the most attractive, but they've got some awesome swim suits. Plus, they have seasonal ones.






As far as goggles go, I used to use Speedo Baja goggles, but my personal trainer suggested TYR Tracer goggles. I've been hooked on TYR Tracers ever since. I always have a pair I wear for in the pool and I have a pair for open water swimming. TYR Tracers have a really good seal to them and they don't leak water at all.




Last but not least, I use the TYR buoy and TYR hand paddles. I've never used any different, so I don't know much about the other brands. My personal trainer suggested TYR hand paddles because they are shaped like the hand and you can kind of grow in to them if you need to.




As for swim caps, I use whatever. I usually get a free swim cap in my race swag bags, so I use those. I usually end up replacing them every 3 months, but I just got a new swim cap for my birthday and I can't wait to use it.

Question:

What brand of swim suit do you use?

Do you have a favorite goggle you use?

Do you use the hand paddles and buoys?

Swim Drills & Cycling

Friday I was supposed to go swimming and do 1400 yards of drills. I was going to blog about it because I know when I first started swimming I'd never heard of these swim drills. Well, I totally slept through my alarm Friday and couldn't go swimming.

Saturday I decided besides my cycling workout B.J. had planned for me, I was going to do Friday's swim workout. I got up early Saturday morning, drove 20 minutes to a different swimming pool and paid $5.50 to go swim (there was a swim meet at my normal pool). I walk in to the pool area and there was a Masters Swim class going on. I should have just jumped in with the class but I am VERY intimidated by the Masters Swim class. I am working on that. I ended up just leaving, going back to my gym and doing my cycling workout.

If I would have been able to swim, this is what I was supposed to do.

200 swim, 200 kick, 200 pull.

200 yards of the skate drill. The skate drill is where you lay on your side with one arm resting on your leg and the other stretched out in front of you. Your head is resting on the arm stretched out in front of you. You just kick your way across the pool and then when you turn around to come back, you switch arms.

200 yards of the under skate drill. This is the same as the skate drill, but about every 5 - 10 seconds, you turn your head in to the water and swim like that for 5 - 10 seconds. You need to try and not move your shoulders when you turn in to the water.

The next couple of drills, I'm just going to post videos about them because it's easier to show you than it is to try and explain it to you.

200 yards of the shark drill.


200 yards of the stop switch drill.


200 yards of the triple switch drill. This one took me a while to get used to. I think this one is one of the harder drills.


200 yards of the catch up drill.


Last one, and I still have a VERY hard time with this drill is the finger tip drag drill.


I hope these drills help you like they'ved helped me.

Since I didn't get to do any of these drills, I ended up just going back to my gym and doing the cycling workout B.J. had for me, which was a 30 minute warm up and then 1 hour at a steady effort, and then a cool down of 10 minutes.

I would normally LOVE to go out on the street, but with it being winter now in Utah, you can't really do that. My gym only has 2 spinning bikes. I LOVE doing the spinning bike. It is the most like going outside. I was crossing my fingers that when I got to the gym a spinning bike would be available, but the way my luck was working that day, it wasn't. I ended up sitting on a stationary bike for 1 1/2 hours. A stationary bike is VERY hard for me to comfortably sit on. But, I did it. I was able to stay at a resistance of 14 the entire time. I got a really good workout. I burned 1360 calories. I figure that was pretty good.

There really isn't too much to write about when talking about cycling, so if you have any questions, please feel free to ask.

Question:

Do you have a typical swim workout? What is it? Do you do these drills or do you have different drills you do?

How long do you do your cycling workout?

But My Bed Is Soooo Comfy...

I swim three days a week. I swim on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. At the Rec Center that I workout and swim at, it's easiest to go swimming in the morning. In the evening, there are swim lessons, open plunge, etc., and it's hard to get a lane to do your swimming.

Well, it's REALLY hard for me to get up in the morning to go swimming...especially in the winter time. To get a lane in the pool without having to share with anybody and before the Masters Swim Team and the local high school team invades the pool, you have to be up there and on the pool deck by 5:00 a.m. At 5:00 a.m., I'd much rather be doing this:



Add in the cold weather outside and that makes you REALLY want to stay asleep in your warm, comfy, bed.

Well, I need to get back in a habit of going in the morning. It's SO much easier to go in the morning. Get that portion of your workout done for the day and everything.

Well, this morning, I dragged my ass outta bed at 4:50 a.m. and headed up to the pool. Surprisingly there weren't too many people there yet. There were quite a few lanes available. I was surprised to see that Earl (one of the regulars) wasn't even there waiting to get in the pool.

I got up there just in time this morning. The lifeguards had just taken there seat, which is the queue to us swimmers to hop on in the pool. I didn't have to sit around on the pool deck and wait for the lifeguards.

I dipped my feet in the water before I got in and HOLY CRAP it was freezing!!! Gah!!! It took me a few minutes to get used to the temperature before I could start swimmming.

I always start out each swim with a 200 swim, 200 kick and a 200 pull.





Normally I don't swim on Thursday's, but because I didn't swim yesterday, I'm made up my swim today. So, after my swim/kick/pull, B.J. (my personal trainer) had me do the following workout:

3 x 300 with 45 second rest
3 x 200 with 30 second rest
3 x 100 with 20 second rest

I swim in a 25 yard pool, so 300 yds is 12 lengths of the pool, etc. My goal is to swim each 50 yards in 1 minute or less. I used to be able to do it and can still do it sometimes, but because I haven't been consistent with my weights, I tend to be a little slow in the pool. :(

I did ok this morning in the pool. I kept track of my time for the first 50 yds and then I kinda gave up, just because I knew I wasn't going to reach my goal of 1 minute or less for every 50 yards I swam. My first 50 yds, I swam in 1:03. Not too bad considering I haven't done weights in a while. After my first 300 yds, and I started on my second set of 300 yds, I watched my time for the first 50 yds again, and I swam it in 1:02, so I was ok with that. I was still right around the same time.

By the time I got to my last set of 200 and all of my 100's, I was pretty slow. I knew I was without even looking at the clock. Because I can't do a flip turn, when I get to the edge of the pool, I have to grab the edge of the pool, hurry and turn around and push off the wall. There was a longer pause every time I went to turn and push of the edge. I was getting tired. It's pretty typical for you to slow down though.

I know another thing that would help me with my timing in the pool is if I could do a dang flip turn. I'm SO uncoordinated I can't do a dang flip turn. I've never been able to do a hand-stand in the pool and I've never been able to do a somersault in the pool. Even when I was a little girl. Plus, I'm always afraid to practice because I'm afraid everyone around me (including the lifeguards) or gonna look at me and go "Oh look at that girl who can't do a flip turn tee hee hee." Granted, I'm sure they have better things to worry about, but still.



I did weights tonight and I'll do weights again on Saturday. B.J. likes me to do weights twice a week. Typically on Monday and Wednesday. But, this week, my workouts have been kinda busy and all, so I didn't get my first set of weights in until today. So, then I'll do more weights on Saturday. Hopefully I will start seeing an improvement on my swim time soon.

Now, my swim workout for tomorrow is going to be interesting. B.J. has me doing the 200 swim/kick/pull and then drill 200 on each of the following drills: skate, under skate, shark, stop switch, triple switch, catch up, and finger tip drag.

Before I started swimming I didn't even KNOW they had drills like this. So, I will try and do another post tomorrow night about my swim workout tomorrow night.

Blog Topics

I'm going swimming tomorrow morning and I've been given a request by one of my Twitter followers to blog about my morning swim tomorrow. So, I'll do that tomorrow night when I get home.

In the meantime, I just want to put out there, if there is a specific topic you want me to cover in my blog, please let me know. Hopefully within the next week, I'm going to have some blog posts on swimming, soda and how it affects exercise, and swim wear and accessories. :)

I'm SO Over This

I'm SO over being injured. It's really getting boring. Right now all I can really do is swim. I've found when my hip hurts, the last thing I can imagine doing is sitting on an itty bitty bike seat for 1 - 2 hours and pedal away. Plus, I'm afraid if I sit on a bike, that motion still works the hip and I'm afraid it will do more injury.

But most of all, I just want to get out and run!!! I miss bundling up and going outside for a run. I miss pounding out miles on the dreadmill up at the gym. I miss getting bored running around the track up at the gym. I'm ready to get out and start training for my first 26.2 in May 2012. I want to challenge my body & I'm looking forward to those long runs on Sundays.

I've only got 2 more days on the steroids and then I guess I need to call the doctor and see what to do next. I can definitely tell there is some improvement in my hip, but it's VERY slow improvement. I hope I don't have to do more steroids. Weird as it sounds, alot of people have told me that these steroids are going to make me HYPER and I'm not going to sleep at all, but they actually make me tired. They do nothing as far as energy is concerned. I wonder if it's just the combo of all the other meds I'm on for my depression, anxiety and thyroid that the combo doesn't make me hyper.

Well, here's to hopefully being able to get out and run again soon!

Hip Update

In one of my previous posts I talked about how my hip has been hurting me. Well, today I went to the doctor and found out what is going on.

Good news: I don't need surgery. I might need surgery eventually, but not now.

Bad news: I've torn part of the muscle in my hip. :( Dear Lord it hurts SO bad today. The doctor poked and prodded and pushed and manuevered my hip around and I can definitely feel it.

So, no running for me for a little bit. It is actually quite upsetting and kind of depressing. I use running to help with my depression, plus it's something I LOVE to do and I'm good at. Now I can't do it for a while.

My doctor has put me on steroids (Prednizone Pack) for 6 days (oh boy!) to help with the healing process. I would like to think that after the 6th day I'll be able to run again, but I've never been on steroids, I don't know how they work, I don't know how fast I'm going to heal.

In the meantime, it hurts to sit, stand, lie down, everything. Ugh.

I Could Cry

I never thought I'd say this, but I miss running. I honestly miss it so much I could cry.



Running is something I now have a passion for, along with swimming and biking. When I have a bad day at work, the first thing I want to do is come home and head up to the gym and just run on the treadmill and sweat my guts out.

So I'm sure you're thinking, well then, get your butt out there and go running, what is stopping you?!?!

You know what's stopping me? Stupid shin splints are stopping me!!!



This is the second time I've had shin splints. The first time they got SO bad I could barely walk. This time, they're not too bad.

I haven't gone running since Wednesday and I was hoping to go running tonight, but I couldn't. While I was swimming I could tell my shins weren't ready for it yet.

So, I will continue to wear my compression socks & use KT Tape and ice down my shins after every workout and hopefully I'll be able to run again soon.

26.2

I've finally signed up for my first full marathon!!! Yay!!! I'm so excited. Seriously.



I will be running the 2012 Zions Bank Ogden Marathon on May 19, 2012. My friend Christy was going to come down from Spokane and do it, but it sold out before she could sign up. BUT..Sylvia is gonna do it with me and so is Rob! Yay! It's gonna be a TON of fun.

I feel like the 1/2 marathon distance isn't really a challenge any more. The only challenge is to improve my time, but the distance isn't a challenge any more.

I've talked with my personal trainer and he said that the Ogden Marathon is probably the best marathon in the state. There is some downhill to it, but it's not a steep downhill and the course is just beautiful. I can't wait!

I'm sure the closer it gets, the more nervous I'll get, but right now I'm just excited! Yay! This means I'm one step closer to competing in an Ironman!