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. :)

Awesome Workout Today

Today I had an AWESOME workout! I'm just so happy from it! First off, I have to say, I absolutely love when a workout can change my attitude or grumpiness from negative to positive.

I had a super rough day today. I got to work at 8:44 a.m. this morning and was ready to throw the towel in at 9:00 a.m. But, as soon as I got in the pool tonight, all my grumpiness disappeared along with the stresses of the day. :)

My scheduled workout from BJ today was:

Swim:
200 swim, 200 kick, 200 pull
10 x 100 with 30 sec rest
cool down

Run:
warm up 1 mile
5 x 1,000 meters with 90 sec rest
cool down 1 mile

I normally get up at 4:45 a.m. and go swimming so that when I get home from work I don't have to deal with all of the kids at the pool and all I have to do is run, but this morning I woke up with a killer headache and I was just tired, so I just went back to bed, so I had to do both swimming & running tonight.

My swim tonight was one of the best swims I've had in a loooooooooooong time! Every 100 I did, with the exception of the last 3 100's I did, were all done in 2 minutes or less!!! One of the 100's I did I was able to do in 1:56!!! I haven't swam that fast in a long time. It was nice to know that I'm finally back on the training band wagon and I'm making improvements...thanks to my awesome trainer BJ.

My run, it was hard, but I did it. the 1,000 meters I did, I did at an 8:30 mile and then slowed down to a 10:00 mile for the 90 second rest. Oooopppss...I just realized I was supposed to do 5 x 1000 meters and I only did 4. Oooooopppss...there's always tomorrow. :)

Jordanelle Course Review

I was asked by a reader to go in to a little more depth about the course on my Jordanelle Olympic Distance Triathlon, so here goes. :)



The swim wonderful! They had the Olympic distance men start at 9:00 a.m. and the Olympic women & Olympic relay start at 9:05 and lastly the sprint at 9:30 a.m. They had all the boueys set up and everything. For the Olympic distance, you had to do 2 laps around all 3 boueys, for the Sprint distance you only had to do 1 lap. They had plenty of boats and canoes out on the water in case somebody needed help, etc. The only downer about the swim was after you rounded the first bouey, as you were sighting heading towards the second bouey, the sun was SO bright and right in your eyes, I had a hard time sighting the second bouey. However, thankfully, there was a HUGE boat sitting out by the second bouey that I was able to sight with instead.

The bike was harder than I expected. I drove the route the day before, so I knew what I was getting in to. Normally, the route wouldn't be that hard for me. We had to bike a total of 25 miles. The first 12 miles of the bike were on what they call a "false flat". It looked flat, but it wasn't. It was between a 1 - 2% uphill grade. It was an open course, however, there wasn't alot of traffic. One of the downers of the bike course was the turn around wasn't well marked. Thankfully someone who had already reached the turn around point hollered out to me that I was coming close to the turn around point. All the turn around point was, was spray paint on the road saying 13 miles, turn around. I personally would have liked it if they had a barricade with a sign or a volunteer there saying ok, turn around here. Once you reached the turn around point, it was all downhill except for 2 hills you had to climb. The first hill I would say was maybe 4 - 5% incline and the second hill was maybe a 3% incline. Those second hill wasn't hard to climb at all and the first hill was easier to climb than I thought it would be. Especially with how fatigued I was already feeling. We only had to go through 2 major intersections on the bike and police officers and volunteers were present at both intersections to give us a right of way. That was very nice. The only other hill on the course was a 10% decend and that was towards the end of the course. Going down this hill you can practically almost coast the rest of the way in to transition. If you can't coast, you can pedal easy. :) I wish my speedometer was working when I went down this hill so I knew how fast I was going. They said alot of people go upwards of 40 mph down that hill. I know my personal trainer, who was also competing in the race, was going 55 mph down that hill.

The run was ALOT harder than I expected. I don't think the run would have been hard if I would have eaten on the bike (see my previous post about the Jordanelle Triathlon). I didn't know what the run route was until I started it. The majority of the run was a trail run. If you did the sprint distance triathlon, you only had to do 1 lap on the run, if you did the Olympic distance, you had to do 2 laps. About the first 1 1/2 miles of the run, it was on pavement and then you were on a trail until about the last 1/2 mile of the run. They did have water aid stations at every mile on the run, so that was really nice. We were basically running through campsites at Jordanelle. I don't really know how else to describe it. There was only 2 hills on the run and one was on pavement and one was on a trail. I've never been good at trail running, so the second hill was harder than the first. There was also part of the run that was a really narrow trail. If you're good at trail running, you'll do fine on this course. I was very impressed with how well marked the run course was. They did a great job.

TriUtah put this race on and they've got to be the best race organizers. I was very impressed with how well organized this race was. I will definitely continue to support TriUtah and do their races.

Time/Pace Issues

I'm having serious timing issues. It's quite frustrating.



I used to be able to run between a 9:30 - 9:40 mile and now it's all the way down to an 11:00 mile. I don't understand why I've slowed down so much. I can understand not running as fast as soon as I get done with a 25 - 30 mile bike ride. My legs are tired. I can understand that, but this last Wednesday I went for a 4 mile run and it took me 44 minutes. :(

I haven't been working with my personal trainer lately, but we're going to start working together again. He says that I might have plateau'd. I trust what he says. I really do. He is like a super athlete. I dream of being as good as he is. One day I will be as good as he is, so I know he knows what he's talking about, but I just don't understand it.

When I think of plateau'ing, I think of staying the same time and not improving, not decreasing my time. Does that make sense?

My personal trainer also says that I may be over training. That is a slight possibility. I told my trainer that at one time, I will admit it, yes I was overtraining. But, I've learned my lesson from that. My body was rebelling against me. BAD! So, I've cut back quite drastically on my overtraining and have stuck with the last workout that he sent me. The only thing I do differently is I always run 4 miles a day, even though he says on a couple of days to run 3 miles (I'm going to try that next week) and I swim every day (I'm going to try cutting down on that next week too).

I'm suffering with my swimming too. I swam 1000 yards this morning and it took me 24 minutes. It should only take me 20 - 21 minutes. :( I'm very frustrated because I don't know what I'm doing wrong. I'm doing everything that my personal trainer has taught me to do.



I have started doing weights again, so that should help with my timing, but I haven't seen the difference quite yet. I've definitely seen the difference in my biking, but not my running and swimming yet. Maybe this next week I will.

I just can't wait to start training with my personal trainer again.

Finally Went Open Water Swimming

I finally went open water swimming. It was scary at first. I'm not gonna lie. My dad went with me. I was supposed to go camping this weekend up at Jordanelle, but I ended up not being able to camp and I had already rented my wetsuit. This time I wasn't going to NOT use my wetsuit.

So, this morning, me and my dad went up to Jordanelle and I went open water swimming. At first I was VERY hesitant. I didn't know what to expect or anything like that.

Slowly I went farther and farther out in the water so that I was just treading water and then I just turned on to my belly and swam out to the booey.

The first time I swam out towards the booey (about 50 yds), I only swam about 1/2 way out. I had alot of trouble with my breathing and I could feel my body trying to panic, but then with each time I swam out towards the booey, I went a little farther and I got a little more comfortable being in the water.

The last time I swam out to the booey, I actually decided to swim beyond the booey. I only swam about 10 yds beyond the booey, but still, 10 yds is 10 yds, you know? On that last swim, I was actually starting to feel pretty comfortable in the water, but it was time to go. :(

I can't wait to go back up & swim again so I can get even more comfortable. The next time will probably be the day before my triathlon though.

Open Water Swimming

My first open water swim triathlon is rapidly approaching on August 20th and I'm scared out of my pants!!!

I don't know why, but ever since I was little I've been scared of open water. I even have a picture in one of my scrapbooks of me sitting on the beach in California just crying because I was scared of the ocean.

I signed up for my first open water swim clinic back in May and I had bought a wetsuit, but stupid me, I forgot to try the wetsuit on when I first bought it. The day of the clinic, I try on my wetsuit...yeah, it doesn't fit!!! Crap! So, I wasn't able to go to that clinic.

I then heard about a clinic that was going to be this last Wednesday at the lake that my triathlon is at. I thought sweet!!! The day before the clinic, I go and rent a wetsuit ($40) and I get 1/2 day off work the next day so I have time to get the rest of my workout in and then head up to the lake. The day of the clinic, I find out it's been cancelled!!!! Argh!!! I'm SUPER frustrated.

They said they're going to try & reschedule the clinic for this upcoming Saturday. Well that sucks! I've got a triathlon this Saturday.

I don't really feel like I can go open water swimming by myself. It's just not safe to do.

I get the feeling that my first experience with open water swimming is going to be the day of my triathlon. That does not do me good for my anxiety.

So, if you have any tips on open water swimming for me, I'd greatly appreciate it!

I Got My Hopes Up...

Tonight when I went swimming, I walked in to the pool area and there stands my personal trainer (BJ) in his speedo getting ready to swim as well. Intimidation immediately set in.

In a way, the intimidation is a good thing. BJ is insanely good. I've talked about him before on this blog. But, BJ pushes me to be better. He pushes me farther than I think I can go.

Tonight my swim workout consisted of:

200 swim, kick, pull
400 drills
4 x 100 with 30 sec. rest
200 pull
4 x 100 with 30 sec. rest

With the 4 x 100, my goal is to swimm 100 yds in 2 minutes or less. My first set of 100, I swam it in 2 minutes exactly! I was SO excited because lately my time has been 2:07+ My second set of 100, my time was 2:05. I wasn't too happy about that, but I figured it was because I was getting tired.

My swim time just went downhill from there. :( I was pretty bummed. I'd gotten my hopes up that I was finally back to swimming a 2 minute 100, but I feel like I'm back to square one.

Wednesday Night Swim

Tonight I went swimming and I swear to you, I will NEVER go swimming again on a Wednesday night. If I don't go swimming Wednesday morning, I'm gonna forfit swimming for the day. It's just not worth it.

I was going to go swimming this morning, but the suction on my goggles was shot. I had my dad go buy me new goggles this afternoon.

At the rec center I go to, they normally have 4-6 lanes available for lap swimming in the evening. Tonight they has 2. Yes, 2. The other lanes were filled up with these blow up toys that people could play with. These toys were HUGE!!! There was approximately 3-4 people per lane. Oh, then you have to add in that it seemed like all the Scouts in the South Davis area were there and they wanted to swim to get their merit badges. Gah!

I don't mind swimming with multiple people per lane if they know how to swim that way (circle swim, or 2 people per lane), but most people aren't aware of pool eticate.

The blow up toys were constantly coming over in to the 2 lanes we had for lap swimming and kids were playing in the lap swimming lanes as well.

I was SO glad when I got my 80 laps in and I was able to get out of the pool.

Olympic Distance Tri

This last Saturday I decided that for my workout I decided I was going to do my own personal Olympic distance tri to see if I could do it. I have my first official Olympic distance tri (also my first open water tri) in August.

An Olympic distance tri consists of swimming .94 miles, biking 24 miles and running 6.2 miles.

I wondered how my body was going to handle it because swimming burns alot of calories and I didn't know if I was going to need an energy booster in there to finish off the bike and the run or not.

But...I did it!!! Granted, I did the 6.2 miles of running on an eliptical trainer instead of a treadmill, but I still did it. It took me almost 3 hours, but I did it. :) Now I know that come August I'll be able to do the triathlon and hopefully even be better than what I did on Saturday! Yay!

So Incredibly Frustrated

Today has not been a good day as far as my workouts are concerned.

It seems like my swim time has taken a complete nose dive (no pun intended). Today my swim workout was:

200 swim, 200 kick, drills
4 x 100 with 30 sec rest
200 pull
4 x 100 with 30 sec rest
200 pull

My first 100 yds after my drill I was able to swim it in 1:59. I was really excited. I just wanted to be able to swim my other 3 - 100's in 2:00 or less. Well, it went downhill since. I never swam in less than 2:03. There were times where my 100 yds took me 2:05-2:10 to swim!

That is horrible timing when considering one week ago, I was able to swim each 100 yds in 2:00.

I just don't understand why my swim time can't be consistent.

After I got done swimming tonight I went upstairs to do 1 hour on a spinning bike, but I only lasted 15 minutes on the bike. I was just so spent from swimming 2000 yds that I just couldn't do it.

I was so frustrated that I couldn't do it because in August, I have to be able to swim 0.94 miles, ride 24 miles and run 6.2 miles. I kept trying to tell myself that when I do that triathlon in August I'll have energy beans and gu to keep me pumped up and I didn't have that tonight, but it's still frustrating. Especially since I know I can swim 2000 yds and then run 6.2 miles.

I'm going to try and blow this one off to the fact that the spinning bike I was on was SO uncomfortable because I couldn't adjust the seat. The gym I go to, it's nice because that's where my personal trainer is at and they have a pool, raquetball courts, basketball courts, and indoor track, weight room, ice rink, everything. But...the equipment they have...SUCKS!!! They just don't seem to take care of it very well.

I just can't wait to meet with my personal trainer next week and maybe he can give me tips on my swimming and why it's so hard for me to go straight from swimming to biking, etc.

Improved Swim Time

I'm pretty stoked! I improved my swim time again. My workout on Friday was to do 200 swim, kick, pull, 1000 yds steady and then do my drills.

In my previous workouts like this, it has taken me 25 minutes to swim 1000 yds. On Friday, it took me 21:10 to swim 1000 yds. I really wanted it to be 20 minutes, but hey, I'll take 21:10. No problem. Improvement is improvement, right?

I'm excited for my first triathlon (April 2nd) to see my final time on my triathlon with all of the extra training I've been putting in.

6.2 Miles After a Swim & From 10:00 to 9:40

I'm SO excited!!! I went running tonight and ran 6.2 miles in 1 hour. That has taken me from running a 10 minute mile down to running a 9:40 mile. Granted, it's only a 20 second improvement, but hey, improvement is improvement, right?

I'm just soooo stoked about this! I feel like I've been stuck at a 10 minute mile for quite a while now.

Also, tonight I did my swim workout, which consisted of swimming a total of 2000 yards (80 laps) (72 laps = 1 mile in the pool I swim in). Here is exactly what I swam:

200 swim and 200 kick
400 drill
4 x 100 with 30 second rest
200 pull
4 x 100 with 30 second rest
200 pull

Now, with all the crap I ate on Monday and having a 1/2 marathon in 3 weeks, I decided I needed to run after my swim, so I was planning on running 6 miles.

I was kind of nervous going in to the run. Not because I didn't think I could do it. I've ran 6 miles before (yesterday) and I've done my share of 10k's, etc. I was nervous because I was REALLY hungry and didn't know if I'd have the energy after swimming to run 6.2 miles.

Well, a couple of laps in the run, I really wanted to quit. I wanted to just pack up and head home, but it then occurred to me that in August, I'm doing my first Olympic distance triathlon. I'm going to have to swim 0.9 miles, bike 24 miles and run 6.2 miles. I figured now is as good a time as any to start practicing that and getting geared up for it. So, basically I forced myself to run the 6.2 miles tonight and you know what? I LOVED every minute of it. I'm SO glad I did it. I can't wait until August.

A Word for the Wise

Last week I learned a fine tip from my personal trainer.

I had gone running 4 miles on a treadmill and then went straight down to the pool to do swimming with my personal trainer.

That is SO not a good idea!!! I got serious leg cramps about 4 laps in to swimming. I don't know what causes the leg cramps, but my personal trainer was telling me that it happens with him too.

So...just a word for the wise, if you're going to run and then go swim, take a BIG break in between. Spread it out. If I'm going to do this, I will run in the morning and then swim at night.

From 28 to 24

BJ is now working with me on swimming. He says I'm a good swimmer, I just need to work on being a faster swimmer and not "snake" through the lane.

When I say that I "snake" through the lane, it basically means I don't swim in a straight line and I weave back and forth through the lane.

When I swim, I swim in a 25 yard pool. BJ has me doing some pretty good drills and stuff like that when I meet with him. BJ wants me to get to the point where I can swim 2 laps in 55 seconds and currently, it takes me about 1 min. 05 secs. So, he's working with me to get my time down. BJ also wants me to be able to swim a lap in 18 strokes or less.

When I saw BJ last, every time I was swimming, it would take me 28-30 strokes a lap. I just wasn't getting it. Well, two days later when I was swimming, I was able to get down to 24 strokes a lap!!! I was SO excited!!! There was one lap where I was able to swim the lap in 20 strokes!!!! I was SO stinkin' excited!!! I'm finally making improvements.

My First Week Back

The last week of 2010 and the first week of 2011 was completely crazy at work. Because of the job I have, it's like that every year. But, I worked like 120 hrs in those 2 weeks, so I had NO time whatsoever to work out. I was sad.

This last week is my first week back at the gym. It's been kind of rough, but I did it.

Over the holidays, I gained 14 lbs, but this week, I lost 7.2 lbs!!! I was seriously shocked!!! I worked out every day this last week and if I missed part of my workout, I made up for it another day.

I think the hardest part to get back used to was running. Monday morning I ran 4 miles. It was rough. There were a couple of times where I wanted to stop and walk...but I didn't. Before the 2 week hiatus from working out, I had got to a point where I could run at 6.5 mph, but I'm back down to 6.0 mph.

The swimming wasn't too bad at all. The first time I got back in the pool, I was getting winded pretty easily, but after that, it was no biggie at all.

Biking...I'm not able to use as much tension as I used to, but I hope to up the tension on the bike this next week and get back to normal. I'll keep you updated.

Weights, I can still do the poundage, but I wasn't able to do as many reps.

One thing about being in shape for so long and then not working out for 2 weeks, you get out of shape, but it doesn't take you long to get back in shape and get in to a routine.

This Last Week

This last week has been another crazy week at work and I've eaten WAY too much and I only went to the gym twice and didn't even do my full workout both times...however, there is good news. I thought I would definitely gain probably 5 lbs that's how much I ate, but I only gained 0.4 lbs!!! I was SO excited.

Work is starting to slow down now though, so I'm WAY excited to start going back to the gym tomorrow morning.

This last Friday morning, I got to meet with my personal trainer and he coached me in my swimming. Wow! I didn't realize how much goes in to swimming to make you a faster swimmer. When I think faster swimmer, I think you need to move your arms faster, but that's not necessarily true. He has me doing all these drills in the water (they're kind of hard to explain), and I'm excited to get back in the pool tomorrow morning and do them and start losing this weight that I've gained.

All I have to say is God bless my personal trainer for having patience with me. First off, we haven't met in probably 4 weeks because his work schedule has been crazy and so has mine. Plus, I have not very much coordination so some of the different drills he has me do, I find quite hilarious. I'm surprised he doesn't burst out laughing at me. I wouldn't blame him if he did. I can't wait to start meeting with him on a regular basis now.

The main thing I can't wait for is my first race of the season to see how his coaching helps me in my races!

Swimming with Fins

I've started swimming with fins. Boy does it make a difference. First off, it makes you swim faster because you're pushing more water away. I timed it the other day and to swim 1 mile (72 laps) without fins it takes me 50 minutes. To swim 1 mile with fins, it takes me between 35-40 minutes; however, when swimming with the fins, it works your legs more.

I read online though that you don't want to become "fin dependent" because then when you go to swim without fins, like in a triathlon, you're not going to do very well because you're so used to swimming with fins. So, I only swim with fins every other day. I really enjoy it. Now I just need to get my own fins.

Swimming

Yay!!! Tomorrow morning, come hell or high water, I'm gonna go swimming again. Last week, I was supposed to start swimming again (the pool had been closed for 2 weeks), but I woke up too late Monday morning to go swimming and then Monday night on my run, I tripped and fell. You can't go swimming with open wounds.

Well, my knee and wrist are all scabbed over very nicely now, so I'm going to go swimming tomorrow morning. I can't wait to get back in to a routine.

No Swimming For 2 Weeks

I don't get to swim for the next 2 weeks. In a way I'm excited because I'm going to take advantage of that time off from swimming and go get a new tattoo. I'm also excited because the pool that I swim in needs to be cleaned REALLY bad. On the other hand, it's gonna suck because it just throws my routine completely out of whack.

So, to keep up with my weight loss (hopefully), I'm going to go jogging in the morning and then ride my bike at night, and hopefully still lose weight while the pool is closed.