Who would have thought?

Who would have thought that my local grocery store follows my blog? I mean, how else can I explain that everything that I wanted was on sale this week. They surely heard my complaints last week and promptly resolved the issue, right?

It seemed that all produce was $.88 cents (each or per pound, didn't matter). Chicken breasts were $1.99 per pound and 99% lean ground turkey was Buy One Get One. Roma tomatoes are slow roasting in the oven (where they will be for the next 6 hours) in prep for a couple of menu items this week. Avocados are ripening on the counter for sandwiches. Joy has returned to my kitchen.

Since Pete worked late a few days this week, I hate cooking for just one, and we had massive amounts of turkey chili left over, some of last weeks items were moved to this week. So while it may not have changed much over last, I feel more inspired with what I have to work with.

Same goes for my work out this week.

Though I'm sure it was sitting back in my subconscious already, I was reminded by Andrea during our swim yesterday, the Pigman is just over three months away. And while I have been better about getting to the gym, I've let my running program go a little lax. Part of it was the lingering cold that I fought for two weeks, true. Part of it has just been my struggle to fit it all in.

So I have decided that I need to start pushing myself even harder. I'm going to start sacrificing the warmth of my bed in the early morning hours to get to the track to run. Sure, I could just do the treadmill, but having been through four 5k runs now, it doesn't seems to be enough to aptly condition my body. The track still offers more shock absorption that the concrete roads that surround my house, and, quite frankly, it's still too cold to start running outside in the dark hours of the morning.

It also seems that the weather has heard my pleas for mercy. The current 10 day forecast shows temperatures at or just above freezing with some sunshine to go with it. At the moment, next Saturday is showing a low of 31 and a high of 42. If that sticks, I may have to bike to the Y for my usual Saturday swim.

And now, in the world of biking and extreme goals for this year....

It has been decided that Pete and I will be participating in the annual Tour of the Scioto River Valley bike ride in May. I'm optioning only the half ride: 50 miles one way. It'll be good prep for both the triathlon and for our planned vacation. I need to get over my dislike of hills and being stuck in the middle of nowhere will force me to complete the ride.

Sign me up, pay the fee, announce it to the world so I can't back out.

"Things that hurt, instruct." ~ Ben Franklin

Training Schedule: Week of February 21st

Since I create the Board on Sundays, it just made more sense to shift the week to Sunday - Saturday. Maybe it'll help me actually make my Sunday work out too.

The menu this week feels uninspired. Maybe it's my irritation with my local grocery store for having nothing even remotely healthy on sale aside from grapes.

I joined a Biggest Loser competition at work a couple of weeks ago. Of course I was sick during the first two weeks of the competition and hadn't really been able to work out. My loss stands at a whopping 1.25 pounds.

Now in the fourth week of competition, my cold is mostly gone and I've decided it's time to light a fire under my motivation. The pot is at $415 for the Biggest Loser to take away with 8 more weeks to go.

And now that I'm getting the energy back to both work out and cook, the sale selection just seems to be blah.

Or maybe my irritation stems from the weather forecast and the additional 2"-5" of snow that will fall by noon tomorrow. Global Warming my ass!!

New swim suits are on their way.

I balked at the $45 price tag of my swim suit when I started on this journey. I figured that I was simply paying for the Speedo name, but with limited resources for swimsuit buying in November in Iowa, I concluded that it was the best deal to be found.

Last spring I came across the website Swimoutlet.com and found fitness suits for as little as $19, so I ordered myself a pretty red one.

It started to shred three months later, and that was with switching back and forth between the pretty new red one and my basic black number.

The original $45 suit has held up for over a year now but is now on its last leg. There's a little more drag in the bottom and I continuously have to pull up the top at the end of each lap. A seam in the back is getting a little threadbare and is making me start to worry that it will soon come undone mid-stroke.

I bit the bullet and ordered the same suit again. Hopefully it'll hold up as well as my original.

American Cancer Society

I promised I would do it again.

I would have even if I hadn't promised.

It's a big part of what holds me accountable.

The link to my American Cancer Society's donation page is up and running again. Click here to make a donation or use the link on the right hand side of this page.

I'm dedicating this season to my mom, who battled cervical cancer over the summer.

And to Lori Michael, a friend of the family, who recently lost her fight.

Help me Tri for more success stories and fewer good-byes.

Goals

Goals.

I have them.

Okay, so clearly I've stated my goals in the past:

1) Complete the Pigman.

2) Not drown while doing doing #1.

3) Raise $1,000 for cancer research.

But I've learned that I'm "Short Term" Girl, the "What's in it for me?" Girl.

The "Show me how I can be better than I already am or I'm going to get bored and lose interest" Girl.

I need something to work towards.

So I've finally figured out a way to measure my training progress. These goals have been hard to come by as I have absolutely nothing to compare my training to. Sure, I can google "Triathlon Training Plans." But most of them assume a level of fitness that I haven't had since my climbing-the-furniture-gymnastic days.

And yes, I'm improving. I've increased my endurance for running and swimming, but how do I know that I'm on track for what I now will refer to as "The Ultimate Three"?

I had asked Ann, my swim coach, if she would help me set these goals for the swimming piece a couple of weeks ago. She proposed her idea at my last lesson. She's not much for tracking yardage, feeling truly that endurance is better. If I can swim for 30 minutes straight, the yardage will follow. I just need to slowly build up my endurance time.

She proved it me on Saturday by making us do our first continuous swim. She set our goal for 10 minutes of straight swimming. The only stopping allowed was to grab or drop our kick board every 50 yards. I'll have to admit, 10 minutes sounded like a long time to someone who hadn't been able to really get passed 37 yards straight.

But what did I have to lose? There were two life guards on duty, my coach, plus three guys in the lap lanes who were told were also "training" for the Pigman. (I'm guess that they're doing the long course in August and not the sprint). I really didn't have to worry about drowning. Only being embarrassed if I had to be rescued.

11 minutes later I had completed 300 yards of continuous swimming.

So back to my goals.

My Vegas vacation is on the horizon. We leave on Friday and won't be back until the following week.

1) Spinning will begin the following week. My first cycling goal will be to make it through my first class. It's all downhill from there.

2) Increase my swimming endurance by 1 minute each week for the next two months. Hopefully at that point, I'll be able to start working on my speed.

3) Continue working on my walk to run program.

***That'll be $10 please.

Team ACS Up and Running

Thanks to the coordinators of the Pigman, I've been able to join the American Cancer Society's Team ACS and start my fund raising. Some of you may have noticed the link posted in the right hand corner of the home page. Though it continues to be a work in progress, I've finally gotten around to personalizing it. Now it's time to get the word out. Help me exceed my $1000 goal for cancer research. I ask that you pass out the link to anyone who has been touched by cancer, who may want to help me make a difference. Together we may be able to defeat it one day.

Resurfacing

Okay, okay, so you may all be thinking, “What was all of this hype about? You were all gung ho about this whole triathlon thing a month or so ago. Where the heck have you been?”

Yes, it’s true. I was all gung ho about this triathlon thing. I have just been too consumed by a stupid book series to post updates to my blog. I’ve gone through the series twice now. Hopefully it’s out of my system and my life can return to normal.

Let me just start by saying, I have not given up my training. I have done everything in my power to cling to my schedule throughout the busy holiday week. Seven family members made the 1,000 mile round trip to visit for Thanksgiving. Despite that, I was up at 5:15 to jump into the pool and then hit the elliptical machine.

Walls were broken down in the past couple of weeks.

I have learned that I absolutely adore swimming. Once upon a time, I was a graceful gymnast. That seems like a bazillion lifetimes ago. Somewhere in from the time that I quit gymnastics to now, I became extremely clumsy. I trip while walking for no good reason. Embarrassing? Yes. True, though. Swimming is giving me that graceful feeling back. The fluid motion is exhilarating and soothing at the same time.

Or maybe I love it because I don’t really sweat while swimming.

Okay, now that whole sweat thing is another issue.

Two weeks ago I started layering my work outs: swimming and then the elliptical machine for about an hour and 15 minutes between the two. It’s a bear, but this whole experience is about endurance right? So now I have two questions:

First, what music do you listen to when you work out? I’m afraid that I’m going to get bored with my iPod selection. I need a heavy rhythm to get me through minutes 4-8 of my elliptical work out, when the machine cranks the tension and incline and my legs start to cry out for mercy. Right now I’m switching between the Faint’s “Symptom Finger” and Jakalope’s “Go Away.” Between the rhythm of the music and my lying to my muscles (“90 seconds more and then you can quit.” “It’s an easy interval, why quit now?” “Hey, this is a really good song. You can quit when it’s over.”), I’ve been able to make it all the way through the cool down. Post your suggestions in the comments and maybe I’ll add them to my play list.

The second question I have is, “Why does dripping sweat feel powerful?” Is it just me and my caffeine deprived mind or are there others out there who feel the same as well? Yes, I still find sweating gross, but empowering at the same time. I guess those are just two feelings that will reconcile themselves with time.

Count down to training

"Aren't you the one who said that you don't like to sweat?"my sister-in-law, Angela, said to me today as we discussed my desire to start training for a triathlon.

"Yup. That's me," I replied.

"You know that participating in a triathlon is going to make you sweat, right?" she shot back.

You see, I am not an athlete.

Sure, my parents put me in gymnastics when I was three. It was most likely to keep my from climbing the walls; hoping it would keep me from using the back of the couch a balance beam. It didn't work. In fact, I'm pretty sure it just encouraged me. I stuck with it for seven years until I entered fifth grade. In my infinite ten-year-old wisdom I announced that I wanted to quit gymnastics to become follow my heart: cheerleading. So my parents switched me from gymnastics to tumbling. Sadly, I quickly lost interest and thus ended my Olympic dreams.

There were the couple of years that I played soccer in a rec league. My dad was the coach. Probably the only reason why I actually got to play. Not that he played favorites. He made sure that all the kids got time on the field, no matter how bad they were. My prowess on the field was probably the reason why I never got to take over the coveted goalie position, now matter how much I begged. The parents of the kids that actually had talent were probably frustrated enough.

And I did play baseball in my church's baseball league. I remember the exhilaration of hitting the ball and making it to first base for the very first time. Sadly, it was in the last game of the season. In the last inning.

Which brings me back to the conversation that I was having with my sister-in-law.

I have come to the decision that I am going to participate in the Pigman Triathlon in June.

There's a lot of sweating that's going to happen between now and then.

Training begins November 1st.

T minus 4 days and counting...