One of those days...

I woke up this morning mentally ready to jump on my bike and do a nice 25 mile ride. But somewhere, my body wasn't so sure about that. The only thing I can think of is that last night's track workout was a hard one for me, I forgot to mix and drink my recoverite after my workout (despite it being in the car with me), and I might not have eaten enough for dinner when I got home. All of which could give me muscle fatigue. My quads are a little sore today ... probably from either the walking lunges or the squats we did last night.

Last night was hard. I am not a fast runner. Sprints are not my friend. My back doesn't like them, and last night was no different. But I did alright. I was slow at first, and then at the end, but for different reasons. First we warmed up with a half a mile jog. Then core and strength work... think Denise Austin and T-stands (all I could hear in my head was Denise Austin "do what you can do." That woman makes me crazy. I once did one of her videos with T-stands when completely out of shape and started cursing at the television when I had heard "do what you can do" one too many times. Not my brightest moment.)

Then we did 400m runs, 1 at 50% (3:16), 1 at recovery, 1 at 65-70% (2:46), 1 at recovery, 1 at 85% (1:36). Of course, I think I may have been more like 90% or so for that last lap because my HR hit 191. Max out is supposed to be 185 for me. Uh, yeah. I had a little bit of a tightness in my chest after that one, but I'm not sure if it was asthma, tiredness, or (gulp) my heart. But I walked it off, and the tightness went away. Unfortunately, my back decided it didn't like running at 85% and I ended up having to lay down on the track and stretch my back out so it would stop ceasing up on me. I was also trying not to let Coach know about it.

Then it was 800m runs. 1st at 70%, a 400m recovery, and then another 800m that was supposed to be all out. I wanted it to be all out, I truly did. My back did not. So I fought with my back, letting myself go slower the first lap and then turning it on to about 80% (which was all I could muster due to my evil nerve pain running out the small of my back and down through my quad to my knee... not nice) for the 2nd lap. Ended up with 5:24, I think for the 800. I definitely could have gone faster. As I said to Coach last night, I could be an olympian if it weren't for my back pain, my asthma, my cholesterol and blood pressure issues, my weight, and all of my other issues. The spirit is willing but my body is not. Luckily my mind can usually talk my body into doing things!

But this morning, my back was stiff and my legs were hurting. But it wasn't just muscle fatigue. In truth, I'm not sure what it was. I just felt wierd. Kind of spacey is the only way I could describe it... just as though something wasn't right. And that evil tightness in the left side of my chest was back. It eventually went away after a bit though. So, instead of jumping on my bike alone and hitting a closed road for 25 miles, Mr. Darcy set up my bike on the trainer.

Everyone was running behind schedule - although Ladybug was the perfect angel this morning. She told me, "I'm not going to cry for Miss Wendy today. I'm going to give her a big smile so she can be happy!" And she stuck too it. Mr. Darcy emailed and said she was awesome this morning even after they left. Ladybug even got into the car for school on her own and sat there happily eating trail mix. Let's hope it sticks! Angelfish was a little grumpy, telling everyone but her Daddy not to talk to her and being a bit clingy at school, per Mr. Darcy. Hopefully she'll turn it around for this afternoon/evening.

Finally, I got on the trainer. I'm always so much slower on the trainer than I am on the road... like almost 3 mph slower. I have no idea why, but it is the way things are. So, after an hour I'm sweating, feeling tingly on my back and getting a little nauseas. 13.05 miles in an hour. Pretty sad. But, I got off and decided I would finish the 25 miles off at lunch. So that's how I spent my lunch hour - well, 47 minutes and 48 seconds of it anyway. I was feeling much better by lunch time, and while still slower than I am on the road, this time I got the remaining 12 miles done in 47 minutes and 48 seconds. The total time was still slow for 25 miles, but as I saw posted on another blog awhile back, sometimes we can't have the best workout but the trick is to be present. That was me today... present and getting it done, no matter how slow it might be.

Tomorrow is a swim at Lucky's Lake. I'm looking forward to it because the idea of swimming 2500 m in the pool (a 25m pool at that) was not something I was wanting to do. (Not to mention having my stress test tomorrow too.) Mr. Darcy said he didn't mind my swimming at the lake tomorrow and then doing my cycling workout with the team Thursday morning. Two mornings of getting the girls ready by himself in a row! By the end of all this Half Ironman training, he will more than deserve a medal of his own. That's part of the reason I'm so motivated to finish it too... all the time he's put in to let this happen for me. I don't want to let him down.

I'm seriously considering doing a half marathon in March. I may not run the entire thing because of my back, but I'm seriously thinking about it. It's in the Florida panhandle and sponsored by Vera Bradley and you get a Vera Bradley tote for doing the race. It sounds like good fun (and good swag) to me!

But first things first. The Half Ironman will be mine!

A Run, A Bike and What the Heck Do I Eat?

Ok. So I've been trying to figure out this nutrition stuff and the more I read, the more I become confused. Perhaps I should just stop reading and just eat a bunch of stuff. The problem is, I am scared to death of getting heavier than I already am. I cringe at the thought that eating that Cliff Bar really is what I am supposed to do. 45 g of carbohydrate in one little bar. I can almost feel my thighs and hips expanding just thinking about it... yet, sources say I should be eating 2500 calories on average while training to maintain my current weight. My brain shouts "it's a cold day in hell when I'll eat 2500 calories on purpose (that doesn't consist of pizza, ice cream or sweets!" To lose about 1 pound per week, this would mean that I should eat 2,000 calories instead. On a good day I eat 1200 and tend to float more around the 1,000 - 1100 mark. Yes, I know. That is supposed to be too little for a person to eat. But I eat healthy foods like fruits, veggies, etc. which evidently do not have many calories in them... I have to admit it was a bit of a surprise to me too. Of course, the occasional pizza or burrito from Chipotle is mixed in as well... or ice cream from Cold Stone. These are not on an overly regular basis (except maybe the pizza... that's about weekly), but they do occur. What my coach tells me is that my body thinks it's starving so it's saving everything I eat, including the occasional pizza or ice cream. Which does make sense, but 2,000 calories? It's hard to eat that much food. And it doesn't help that I have my husband (who is probably also not wanting me to gain weight) telling me to just eat when I feel like it and not to try to eat so much. The problem? I'm hungry all the time... or at least I was until today. Today I'm still getting hungry regularly, but I think the fact that I've already consumed 1,260 calories so far today has kept me from being completely ravenous. But, I have to say that it's been almost 2 hours since I last ate and I'm starting to get hungry again. I know there are much bigger problems on this planet (no pun intended) at the moment, but I do not want my butt to get any larger than it already is! And when will my body know to stop hoarding everything anyway. How do I know it's not going to just hang on to the 2,000 calories I'm eating? I will be eating 7 times today. This troubles me. I've even forgotten the market is in the tank and my worries that continuing to invest my children's 529 accounts and our IRA's in the market may be lunacy!

Hopefully yesterday's run and today's biking will help with this food anxiety. Yesterday we ran 3 miles... 1 mile warm up, 1 mile as fast as we could, and 1 mile cool down. It actually was less terrifying than I thought it would be. The 1st mile wasn't so bad. THe 2nd mile was a bit harder especially since my pace was much faster than usual, and the fact that my bladder decided part way through (at the 1/2 way point to be exact) it was full from all the water I'm now drinking to keep myself hydrated and that it wanted to empty... right then. So, I did all in my power (including slowing my pace) not to pee in my pants. I was 96% successful. Right at the end that 4% got me and I ended up running past the finish line to the bathrooms. Even with slowing my pace, I ran a 9 minute mile. For most runners, this is abysmal. For me, I am stoked! The fastest I knew I could do prior to this was an 11 minute mile . I had an idea that I could do a 10 minute mile, and fully expected this to be what was yelled out. I just wonder how I could have done if I didn't have to pee! The last mile was fine although now I understand how my children feel when they forget to go to the bathroom. yuck.

This morning's bike ride was without incident. A lovely 15 mile bike through my neighborhood that took me more than an hour to complete, but that I enjoyed every minute of not being stuck in the gym staring ahead of me at the monitor or at some inane tv show that is on that early in the morning. My legs are a bit stiff from yesterday's run, though, so I had to lower my gear in mile 10... but my cadence was around 75 throughout (except for stopping at stop signs, etc.) So, I feel pretty good about it.

Tomorrow is a swim day, and I love the time I have in the pool... and luckily, there is a bathroom just outside the pool. : ) And, darn it, if I'm not hungry again... off to get an apple and some PB... and probably the grocery store too!