Saturday, September 29, 2007

Weekend Triathlete or Warrior!!! All in a day's play!!!

Today I ran 6 miles around the whole park!!! yay to me and my running partner!

then

I rode around the park twice- 12 miles!!!! yay to me and my biking buddy!

then

I swam and swam and swam!!! yay to me and my Friday workout buddies who inspired me yeaterday.

almost got onto the subway with just my bathing suit on.

Just kidding!

Sunday, September 23, 2007

Is a lap one way or both ways?

Hmmm?

On Friday afternoon, my coworker & I ran for an hour!! Then we swam ten long laps- it was AWESOME! I'm so excited to have a workout buddy to join me once a week!!! Hooray

Otherwise, I've been so sick. I desperately need to recover because I need to run early in the morning tommmorow. I haven't been this sick in a year, so I don't know how to deal with it...I really can't afford to miss my morning run tommorow. But health is first.

Good news: I've given up the dream of the $3500 bike!
Now I'm off to bike with my cycling partners around the city!

Friday, September 21, 2007

How to swim 72 laps???

I met with my swim coach last night and it was great but also frustrating. She has bronchitis and couldn't get into the water with me, so she had to coach me from outside.

The only stroke I can do is freestyle/crawl right now...I totally need to learn breastroke and backstroke.

I asked my coach how much a mile swim was in comparison to the laps at the pool...

I have to swim 72 laps!!!! I can honestly say that I am overwhelmed by that thought. 72 laps??? I have nine months to train for that, so I guess to I should be optimistic. But damn!! How does one do that effortlessly, and then turn around and bike for 26 miles, then run for 6 miles?????

Triathletes are HARDCORE....I am striving to be hardcore!!

My running partner and I are running a turkey trot on Thanksgiving day!!! We are also increasing our 3 mile a day run to 4 miles a day...

Road bikes are so expensive....Maybe in a month I'll have one...For now- hooray for riding around the city on other cool bikes!

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Am I a Sunday Triathlete?

On Sunday I woke up, ran 3 miles on my own without my running partner! I really wanted to run around the whole park, but I didn't have time so I just opted for half the distance...

then

My cycling partners & I rode our bikes from UWS to Chelsea Piers! We rode about 8 miles- wow- I haven't been on a bike for so long before- it was sooo much fun! I'm getting better at navigating traffic. I did something aweful. I tailgated two annoying bikers:( They were taking up the road and biking so slowly...

then

I went swimming. I swam and swam and swam.

ALL IN THE SAME DAY!!! Hence the term- Sunday triathlete!

Things I am doing well with:
-running-my endurance is going well
-Cycling-I am comfortable on a mountain bike:)
-Swimming -I am building up my endurance!

Things that need a lot of work:
-Speed as a runner
-I need to try riding on a road bike and work on my hills
-Swimming-I am not comfortable turning to breathe on my left side. I need to build up even more endurance and learn another stroke- not just crawl/freestyle.
-Eating: I need to stop eating "Better 'n Peanut Butter!" so much and eat it in small quantities only.

Thursday, September 13, 2007

Running Easy!

This week has been hardcore in many ways:

Monday and Tuesday morning, I did my morning runs in the rain and it was really dark out, but we ran just as usual. Tuesday morning I ran though I was quite ill.

Wednesday and Thursday runs I realized that the 3 mile run is starting to feel ridiculously easy and I don't even work up a sweat. Wow!!

I spend a lot of time on this site: www.beginnertriathlete.com

I'm considering joining a bike racing club once I have my bike!

I have two days off work to rest and train like crazy!

Sunday, September 9, 2007

Running around the park!!!

Today I ran 6.1 miles nonstop around central park!!!

I don't feel tired, but I'm sure I'll sleep like a log tonight.

Sweating in the water, bike fitting and a great training week...

Taking time off excercise is dangerous...
For me anyway. I love to stay active, but since last February, I've learned to take time off of intense activity when my soul needs to focus on sometime else, or when my body needs to heal. Anyhow, without fail, whenever I take time off intense excercise, I get sick, or my body makes up an injury. Seriously! The last week of August for example- I hadn't been to the gym in a long while, and lo and behold, my right knee hurt so much that I had difficulty going up the stairs for two weeks. As soon as I started my intensive excercise schedule, the pain STOPPED. Excercise is magic!

A great week of sweat...
I'm back in full force! Sweating buckets in the gym two days this week. Running before 6am each morning, swimming three times this week. I'm back on the stairmaster- I hadn't been on the stairmaster since February and I didn't know if 30 minutes would be too much for me, but I was fine! By fine, I mean sweating up a storm and patting myself on the back with each step up. The stairmaster is an awesome cross trainer and I'm focusing on adding that to my routine a few times a week. I don't use the scale to measure my weight-loss progress, but my goal is to lose 20 lb before next July. How do I measure negative 20 lb, you ask? Um...I'll feel lighter:)

A cheaper swim coach...
On Wednesday night while I was waiting for open pool hours, I saw this trainer teaching an aqua strength class. As he ended his class, I heard him say to everyone in the class (mostly women between 30 and 75 years old...well, two men in their mid forties also)...He said to everyone in the class " Now give yourself a hug. I want to hear you say 'I love myself". I won't dismiss you from this class unless I loudly hear you say you love yourself"

I've never heard any trainer speak to a class with such positive energy. Cheesy, but positive. I was so excited because those are the things I believe and when I work with clients, the changes that excite me in their lives are not the physical ones, but the emotional ones. Long story short...

I talked to this trainer after and I asked him if he taught beginner swimmers like myself. He gave me a free 30 minute lesson in the water! A beautiful dreadlocked Haitian trainer. Here are some of the things he told me to do:

-Think of a safe place (I thought of my room and my lovely loft bed...)
-When you are in the water you need to go to that safe space. There is no reason to be afraid of open water swimming (I kept thinking...loser you'd be afraid of Hudson river too....)
-He taught me the jellyfish float!!! (take a deep breath, relax my neck, hold my feet, hold my breath and go underwater.) After like ten tries, he was finally satisfied that I was doing it properly.
-He taught me how to push off with both feet and propel myelf witout kicking of using arms. Very elementary, but he wanted me to let myself glide and know what that feels like....

So I asked him how much his private lessons cost. They would cost me less than half of what I'm paying in Midtown now.

I've made a decision though. I need to stick with the fancy trainer because I like the fancy pool and the whirlpool, steamroom and sauna experience that comes with it afterwards. Although I don't like the hole in my bank account after the lessons, I'm learning so much. I will however take a weekly half hour lesson with this new swim coach because he uses psychology to help me feel more comfortable in the water. And that, is revolutionary.

When I look into my future, I see...A NEW BIKE!
On Friday afternoon, thanks to three good people who want to see me succeed, I went to get fitted for a bike. I learned a new word- "in seam". I measured my height and in-seam and apparently will need to get a 47 size bike (whatever that means). I did however discover that I am half an inch shorter than what I thought I was. Quite traumatic. It will probably be more than a month before I have a bike. I'm going to get a road bike. Fancy and classy from CANNONDALE.

Do you sweat in the water...
This week, my swim coach made me swim a million laps. Ever since she discovered that I can swim a lap, she's gone completely beserk- making me swim and swim and swim. How annoying and tiring. I guess I'm paying for that...

So in the middle of my session this week, I asked her "Do people sweat when they swim?"
She said "Yes, they do- they just don't know it."

Bahumbug. Can someone please give me some kind of scientific response to this question!

Tuesday, September 4, 2007

My first swimming dream...

Wasn't traumatic!! I've been worried that I would to start to have nightmares about drowing in open water.

My first dream was wonderful. I was swimming in an Olympic size pool with some classmates from high school. A very simple, vague, yet pleasant swimming dream. I guess late afternoon naps aren't so bad if they wield such pleasant dreams. But they are bad because I overslept and couldnt go to the pool to swim tonight.

A trade off. Would I rather have a pleasant swimming dream or miss my schedule swim drills...

Monday, September 3, 2007

New Running Shoes!

Are you the kind of adult that's bitter because you never owned a pair of sneakers that light up when you move? Or a pair of healys? I am. Bitter. Was. Bitter.Until...

I got my first pair of running shoes - I now own a pair of Nike Pegasus! Black with a gold Nike check mark...Not only that...I also bought the Nike Elite running socks. Let me tell you - my feet are in heaven! or reincarnated, should I say! According to Nike, this is a legendary shoe...

Next up...bicycle purchase. Saving up to purchase in two weeks!!

Saturday, September 1, 2007

The bias that exists for female athletes

Visit this awesome website Female Athlete

Often when I say I'm a fitness trainer or an athlete I can just see people guaging the circumference of my thighs or the area of my belly. Because according to them that is what makes an athlete. How about you step up and run six miles with me skinny boy or anorexic girl. Because athleticiscm is about skills and training. Not about how I look. I'm a woman. A curvy woman. Whether I dress like a lady or dress like a boy, I am a woman, an athlete. Whether I eat an apple or eat tiramisu, I am an athlete.