Time Management

I am struggling a bit with my time management. I knew that it would get intense coming down to the wire but I am feeling a bit overwhelmed with my job, the laundry, spending time with the family, the side business, keeping up with the family, learning to swim more efficiently, maximizing my grocery money, driving 5 miles below the speed limit on cruise control to save gas, being part of a team that has to raise $125 Million over the next 7 years, walking on egg shells, maintaining relationships; and then the really important stuff like eating my vegetables, eating complex carbs, not eating simple carbs, remembering to put scraps in the composter instead of the garbage disposal, etc, etc. Writing it down in words actually is reminding me of how much I have and how lucky I truly am. At the end of the day when I go to bed I will still be incredibly thankful for what I have and the fact that I even have the ability to train and try to juggle the rest of it. :)

I have a really good life!!

Total Immersion Drills

I am certainly not proficient but getting better. I will continue and hopefully they will make a HUGE difference!

On a side note, I have admitted out loud and to 4 different good friends my big Ironman secret, it actually feels good to say it out loud. I am selective of course about who I tell, everybody so far have been the athletic type who will understand the drive to do something that is this crazy. I am happy that I am becoming more comfortable and I think it will reap benefits in my training, I no longer have to apologize for the time that I am putting in!!

Logbook Activity

• Type: Swim
• Date: 04/28/2008
• Time: 19:20:37
• Total Time: 00:30:00.00
• Distance: 500 yd
• Average Pace: 5:58.85/100yd

Logbook activity

Type: Cycle
Date: 04/27/2008
Time: 19:32:01
Total Time: 4:15:00.00
Distance: 56 miles
Average Speed: 13.18 mph
Max Speed: 30.2 mph

Check out this tool!

How cool is this Gmaps Pedometer ?!?! Now I can get a good idea as to how far I am running without owning a Garmin! I still want a Garmin, but until I recover form April 15th I will use Gmaps Pedometer.

Here is a pretty picture of the Garmin, just because I don't think I put enough pictures on my blog :)

Total Immersion!

I can already feel a difference in my swimming after working on one set of skills! Maybe it is just a mental change, but what ever it is I am not going to complain, I felt great in the water after completing some of the drills for balance in the water. I am so excited to continue to work on my technique.

I will be spending some time on perfecting the techniques, I KNOW that I will see a big difference!!

Much better today!!

Yesterday was a tough one, I walked for 15 minutes, stopped and went and took a nap, totally worthless. Today, fabulous! I walked for one hour at a 3.5 incline with 2 pounds in each hand. My treadmill is malfunctioning and will not go down past the 3.5 incline which makes it very hard to run, the good news is that when I run outside I can run much faster so I think I am getting the benefits even though I am walking and keeping my heart rate where it needs to be.

I received my "total Immersion" video the other day, boy do I hope that I can master the techniques, I need all the help I can get in the water!! :)

overcoming mental obstacles

I had a very rough couple of days, to the point that I looked into withdrawing from Ironman. Luckily, I couldn't find my registration information and then a phone call came in and distracted me, for once I am very happy that I didn't cross something off my to do list!

Feeling blue last night, I went to bed and I read an amazing chapter in my beIRONfit book that addressed fear. I was letting fear get the best of me. The fear that was getting me however, was not fear of failure or fear of pain but rather embarrassment. Broken down into raw emotion, there are really only two types of fear; fear of bodily harm (death or injury) and fear of embarrassment. I was significantly struggling with my swimming and rather than getting better it was getting worse! I swam a whole 500 yards yesterday and just got out of the pool, I was done. After a good cry I decided that I was withdrawing because if I couldn't make it through the swim, I wouldn't matter if I could handle the bike and the run.

I wasn't going to go to the gym today and my friend told me she was going to be my workout doula :) and pushed me to go. I hit the pool, struggled through 20 laps keeping my eye on the lifeguard the whole time and then it hit me, I have been so self conscious of how the life guard was watching me that I could never concentrate on what I was doing! I was embarrassed by my abilities and felt like she was always watching me and worrying that she might have to get wet. Fear of embarrassment was getting the best of me, UNACCEPTABLE!!! The one thing I am always reminded about in my career is that it is not about me; so rather than worry about what she might be thinking about me, (because in all reality, she is a college student and is probably thinking about calculus) I quickly switched my mental attitude and powered out 46 more laps and you know what? My stroke was better, I was less tired and I accomplished my goal for the day, WOO HOO!

I knew that training for this race and the race itself was going to be as much mental as physical and I have certainly had my days, but man, yesterday was tough. I am proud of myself for working through my issues and I am REALLY looking forward to the next 10 weeks and the race. I am not in this to win, I am in it to have FUN and accomplish a lifetime goal!

Here is a quote that I really like and sums up the lesson nicely: "Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear--not absence of fear" -Mark Twain

I didn't make it to the Pool :(

Pool hours are a little restrictive during the week, only open from 11:30 - 1:30 and a crisis came up at work so I was unable to get my swim in. Hopefully, on sunday I acan take advantage of the all days hours and get a good long swim in, that is of course if I can improve my technique enough so I don’t poop out early on.

My walk/run workout this afternoon was good and bad; my left knee was really hurting so I had to briskly walk, the great part about it was that my husband and dog came along since there was no running involved. It was great to have the chance to catch up after a very busy week!

Great Workout!!

I had a great quick change workout last night and another fabulous ride tonight! I just love when everything feels good, definitely hard but good :) I feel like I am getting more efficient, I hope it is the truth. Hopefully, I will be able to get out and ride on the road this weekend, we didn't have snow this morning so I am hoping that trend will continue!

Tomorrow, I swim again. I have got to get faster and find a better technique because I am really struggling! Hopefully I will get my hands on the immersion videos and things will get better, things can only go up from here!

I thought I was going to drown!

Oh my gosh, I seriously was the worst swimmer today! I think that the life guards at the pool were thinking that they may have to get wet today; luckily, I pulled through. It usually takes me about 200-300 yards to get a groove down but them I am good to go. Today, I swam 1200 yards in 35 minutes every lap was a struggle. I think I was trying to do too many things; like golf, if you think about it too much it just gets worse.

Tomorrow I will run, that I know that I can do and my techniques doesn't really change that much!

Onward!

Sleepy

Well, I didn’t think I was going to be up to a workout but I surprised myself! I stayed up way too late last night and then slept very fitfully and woke up too early which made for a very sleepy day. I figured that I was going to write today’s workout off, since I had a long ride yesterday I could justify it . So I went to the grocery store and a red bull winked at me, and I guess that was all it took to get my rear moving! So not only did I have a great workout, but I also got two dinners made for later this week. I don’t think I am going to drink Red Bull again for a while. Good Night!

I love Harry Potter!

He saved me! I had a planned 4 hour bike ride today and when I woke up the ground was covered in snow and it was 33 degrees, not exactly safe riding conditions. I still needed to get my ride in so I put my bike on the trainer and got to it. Knowing that I had 4 hours ahead of me I decided to watch Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, great movie! Anyway, it got me about 2/3 of the way through my ride so I figured I would at least start The Order of the Phoenix, another great movie! Long story short, while I won't say my ride went fast it was at least a lot more tolerable than flipping through the channels looking for something to distract me from the mind numbing boredom that is my basement. I did decide today that my husband it right, we do need a big scrren TV down there, I think I iwll keep that to myself for a while :)

What the heck have I done?!?!?!

Ironman, are you kidding me?!?! I am having a "you have got to be kidding me" moment, I feel like I am way to slow and I am going to be devastated if I miss one of the cut offs. I am taking a little comfort in the fact that I am doing the "Intermediate" work out rather than the "Just Finish" program. I know that I am not the first person to feel this way, but I have had very few moments where I felt this way so it disturbs me a little. Maybe I am just really tired.

Here is a really huge positive. Nobody outside of my immediate family knows that I am training for Ironman, I am sure people might wonder why I would spend 3 hours and 30 minutes on my bike in one day, but nobody has asked and I am not ready to tell. I just really don't want to hear about how crazy it is, I know it is crazy but I have committed to it and even though my confidence is a little shaky today, I WILL FINISH! Anyway, the point of my story is that I told a co-worker (who is also a good friend) what I was doing and she was sooooo supportive and excited for me. It was an awesome response and so very encouraging. I wish everybody had that kind of enthusiasm for sport and physical fitness.

Okay, I am off to fold the mountain of laundry that is washed and dried but not folding itself!

SLOW...

Everything was slow today, my trip to the gym was slow, it seemed to take forever. I was slow in the locker room getting in to my swim suit, when I finally got into the pool I was slow, the trip back to the office was slow; it was just one of those days. I am looking forward to tomorrow's workout, hopefully I won't be slow!

Quick note on heart rate training: even though I was slow I was in zone 2 so I know that I had an effective workout, fabulous!