Week 3, Day 15

Light workout today - ran with the puppy thru the neighborhood - he seemed to want to run faster than I did for sure. My endurance for running isn't where I'd like it to be, so I will have to push myself a little harder (with a little help from Adam and Jimmy) - even though I hate it at the time when they encourage me on the track "Come on, Steph....another minute...another lap...keep on going....don't stop!" When I'm done, I do feel better about it....just don't get me close enough to have the opportunity to knock one of them out when they are actually helping me....hehe love you guys! :)

Week 3, Rest Day

Today is a much needed day of rest. This week has kicked my butt and I will take full advantage of relaxing.

I am getting a little discouraged after 3 weeks. I have been working my little rear off in training almost everyday and for sometimes hours at a time and I feel although I have seen improvements in my abilities in swimming, running and biking, I am not getting closer to my goal of losing weight. I sneaked a measurement last night and don't see much of a difference anywhere....I will definitely stick with weighing and measuring myself in another week and posting my progress.....

WEEKEND!

Week 3, Day 14

Day 14 of training. This week we've worked hard. There are some muscles on my body that hurt...that I didn't even know I had. I know that is an expression people use when they are sore....but literally....muscles I didn't even know existed. HA! Today was a run day - what I think will be my weakest leg of the triathlon - it's the last one and I've never been much of a runner. Sometimes when I sprint by myself, I feel like I can be super fast, but then when you put me next to someone who CAN actually run? - Laugh out Loud entertaining, I'm sure. For example, today Jimmy and I were going to race half a lap around the track. He was literally jogging about halfway thru and I was putting every piece of energy into running - take years off my life, energy....and I didn't come close to beating him. So slow and steady will be motto. :-)

94 days until race day....

I'm eyeing the pants in my closet....

Week 3, Day 13

As I mentioned previously, to register for the triathlon - we need to submit a swim time. The slots were filling up so I decided today was the day to give it a try. My goal was under 10 minutes to swim 400 m. That's terribly slow but for a beginner, I'd imagine it's fairly normal. 9 minutes 35 seconds! I will still work to improve on that time, but that's what I can submit now. I'd love to be able to do it in 8 minutes, but we'll see how the next few months goes.

During the workout we continued to swim 2100m (1.3 miles)! Because we are overachievers, we also went to do the optional bike after the swim - our first transition workout from swim to bike. After over a mile of swimming, I couldn't get more than 20 minutes of biking - I was worn out.

We went home, sore......

Week 3, Day 12

If ever there was a workout that would make me utter the words "I can't feel my legs," today's was that kind. "I can't feel my legs" turned quickly into "ouch, ouch, i don't want to feel my legs." We biked for about an hour and then ran for 15 minutes. I made it about a half mile before I had to walk for a break. Then.....this is where I got perhaps overly ambitious.....Back to Abs class? Sure! It's a 25 minute ab/back class at the gym. I was only able to do about 30% of what they did and even then I had to do the "modified" versions of everything.....and afterwards, you would have thought I just gained the use of my legs by the way I "gracefully" stood up. So now, it's "ouch ouch" over my whole body. But I know that just means I did something good for myself and when I weigh and measure myself in 2 weeks, I'll hopefully see results because of it!

So besides running a sprint and losing weight (used generally, I guess I don't have a set goal for weight loss)....I want to tack on another goal to this journey. There are 2 pairs of pants in my closet that currently have a purpose of gathering dust, rather than covering my rear end. One is a pair of jeans that I love and I would love to fit in again (I haven't fit in them in 3 years....am I asking too much here??). The other is a pair of dress pants that I bought and they fit EXACTLY. I wouldn't have been able to fit a penny in the pocket - I'm talking, exactly fit. I wore them once about a year and a half ago and then I ate an apple (ok ok....it was probably a candy bar) and never fit in them again. That one day I wore them I looked good though! HA! I can currently fit in them and practically button and zip them - it's just NOT a pretty site. I'm setting myself to try these on April 24th - the day before the traithlon and we'll see how it works!

Week 3, Day 11

So if I had to give myself a grade for this weekend: D-

I didn't completely fail with an F because I didn't do EVERYTHING wrong. We had Subway for dinner Friday and lunch Saturday and with those meals alone, I would have given myself a B-. Saturday night and Sunday........ not as good. Buffet for dinner and of course every option looked good.....except of course the vegetables, so I passed on those. A million choices of wedding cake.....yes, please - had to have a piece. At least I had Diet Coke in my rum instead of the regular cola, right? HA!

Sunday breakfast in the hotel: C-. Lunch Sunday, drive-thru Wendy's: F for food, B- for effort. I should have followed what I said I would do - let Adam order for me. I got a grilled chicken club...meal with fries. Adam blurted out "Cheater!" and my own guilt got to me, so as I pulled away from the drivethru, I dumped about 75% of the fries out in the garbage. OK.....let's get back to a regular schedule and go get some groceries so I can get back on track!

I did workout today though - swam 1500 yards...and I'm tired. Tomorrow will be another transitional workout - bike then run.

Getting back on track TODAY will be the key! Not wait until next week or next month or a date that's an even number or a day of the week that starts with M.....NOW! I can't beat myself up for my D- that I gave myself - that does not do me any good and this is a principle I've failed to pay attention to in the past. My pattern seems to be that once I do poorly for a weekend or day or even one meal, I seem to think that I've blown it and have a hard time continuing with what possibly was wonderful progress for weeks before that. I refuse to let myself fail and struggle for a lifetime that could be filled with so much more instead of being unhappy with myself or the way that I eat. NOW! TODAY!