My neck is still pretty bad - it's painful and stiff. The chiropractor definitely helped but i would say that it'll be at LEAST one more day and maybe the whole weekend before i try to work out again.
Maybe I can do something light tomorrow; we'll see.
Friday, May 23, 2008
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Huge Pain in the Neck
I suffered a pretty big setback today. Last night a s I was adjusting my pillow in bed, my whole neck just seized up. It's not the first time it has happened, but every time it does it just throws my whole world into 'pause'. It's excruciating and incapacitating, not to mention expensive (already went to the chiro this morning for a cool $95).
I'm about to begin the ice/heat/ice/heat process for the rest of the day. I have made myself as comfortable as possible on the couch, but it is all relative -- the pain hasn't stopped. I guess I will use this time to continue to read/work on the worst paper of my master's program yet, and pray that the adjustment today helps enough to get me back out training in a day or two. Thank god there's leftover vicodin in the house. I may also go in for some lidocaine injections if my stupid HMO orthopedic doctor can get me in within the century.
UGH. UGH.
I'm about to begin the ice/heat/ice/heat process for the rest of the day. I have made myself as comfortable as possible on the couch, but it is all relative -- the pain hasn't stopped. I guess I will use this time to continue to read/work on the worst paper of my master's program yet, and pray that the adjustment today helps enough to get me back out training in a day or two. Thank god there's leftover vicodin in the house. I may also go in for some lidocaine injections if my stupid HMO orthopedic doctor can get me in within the century.
UGH. UGH.
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Beached Whale
I seem to be missing a little thing called the "whoosh". Coming off a somewhat disappointing swim on sunday, Brad kept close track of my swimming today and well, it turns out I just am not that aerodynamic...or hydrodynamic....It's kinda like pushing a fire hydrant thru the water -- speed is not exactly the result.
My main issue is breathing. I know...small detail. But seriously, though I've learned to breathe in a systematic way every 3 strokes, both to the left AND right, it is a huge gasping desperate attempt for air every single time. Sometimes there's a wheezing noise that accompanies it. Occasionally, I drink a fair amount of water...and whether it has chlorine or salt as the primary ingredient, they both suck.
Turns out I'm a flat swimmer, or at least I just coined that term. I tend not to rotate and because of this, I'm lacking graceful, smooth long strokes, turning to the left and right with ease to get my face fully out of the water to take in oxygen. I lack the "whoosh".
So today Brad kept telling me to keep it smooth, to lengthen, to turn and keep my reaching arm out instead of windmilling desperately to make it to the other side of the pool. Finally at the end of the workout, I was told that I have to now start every practice with 400 meters of 1-arms/regular stroke...not my idea of fun. But I must be broken of my bad habits.
Now to add insult to injury, Brad had me get up on the deck. I asked "are you about to publicly humiliate me?" He said "no". But then he had me lay on my stomach on the deck and practice rolling on each side one at a time, practicing my stroke. Yeah, there's nothing quite like being ass up in broad daylight. Not that i don't LOVE my ass (dripping sarcasm), but I am kinda that person that yells 'HEY LOOK, IT'S ELVIS!' and when everyone turns to look, I rip off my clothes and cannonball into the pool. So I wasn't thrilled, but i picked up what Brad was putting down. And I realize that the bad form is only holding me back.
I think I might start a new olympic sport. Power deck swimming. Ass up.
My main issue is breathing. I know...small detail. But seriously, though I've learned to breathe in a systematic way every 3 strokes, both to the left AND right, it is a huge gasping desperate attempt for air every single time. Sometimes there's a wheezing noise that accompanies it. Occasionally, I drink a fair amount of water...and whether it has chlorine or salt as the primary ingredient, they both suck.
Turns out I'm a flat swimmer, or at least I just coined that term. I tend not to rotate and because of this, I'm lacking graceful, smooth long strokes, turning to the left and right with ease to get my face fully out of the water to take in oxygen. I lack the "whoosh".
So today Brad kept telling me to keep it smooth, to lengthen, to turn and keep my reaching arm out instead of windmilling desperately to make it to the other side of the pool. Finally at the end of the workout, I was told that I have to now start every practice with 400 meters of 1-arms/regular stroke...not my idea of fun. But I must be broken of my bad habits.
Now to add insult to injury, Brad had me get up on the deck. I asked "are you about to publicly humiliate me?" He said "no". But then he had me lay on my stomach on the deck and practice rolling on each side one at a time, practicing my stroke. Yeah, there's nothing quite like being ass up in broad daylight. Not that i don't LOVE my ass (dripping sarcasm), but I am kinda that person that yells 'HEY LOOK, IT'S ELVIS!' and when everyone turns to look, I rip off my clothes and cannonball into the pool. So I wasn't thrilled, but i picked up what Brad was putting down. And I realize that the bad form is only holding me back.
I think I might start a new olympic sport. Power deck swimming. Ass up.
Monday, May 19, 2008
Reality Check
Yesterday I competed in my first multi-sport race. I spent about 1/2 hour in bed between 6 and 6:30 a.m. debating sleeping in till noon, or getting down to the beach by 7 to register for the 9:00 a.m. Aquathlon. This one time, ambition won out and the comfy bed lost its bid to seduce me.
So I arrived for the event, wetsuit and running gear in tow, exhausted but also kinda...just KINDA...excited. This event is called "Playa Del Run" and consists of 1000m swim and a 5k(3.1. mile) run. Encouraged by the fact some of my teammates would be there, I thought it would be a good practice thing to do, to experience swimming in the water with 150+ other people, something I haven't done yet.
Around 8:45 a.m., after chitchat, nervous talk with some of my other fellow novices, and readjusting my transition area 67 times, we walked over to the start on the beach. I was squeezed 1/2 way into my wetsuit and oh MAN was it boiling hot in that sun. I actually couldn't wait to get in the water. In the little holding pen, I saw Erik running towards me, looking for me in the sea of people...I was happy he had made it to witness this hot mess compete in her first race.
Then the whistle went off and we barrel-assed towards the sea...the course was straight in towards a huge yellow buoy, hang a right, go down to the 3rd buoy then straight back in. Initially, I started in the back, but dove in with gusto. I'm nothing if not competitive. Turns out I'm also slow. Though around the first turn there were tons of us, by the final turn towards the beach, I suddenly felt oddly alone. I figured I was either kicking everyone's ass, or somewhere in the middleof the ocean about to do a Tom Hanks scene from Castaway. Turns out I was the latter...I struggled out of the water feeling like I weighed about 400 pounds, and turned aroudn to see VERY few people behind me in the water....Erik was there cheering me on as I ran up the beach and I managed to gasp "am i last?"...He said "no"...ok, phew....
Up to transition area, got my wetsuit off, put on the shoes and hat and took off. The 1st 1/2 of the run sucked. It was a 2-loop course so as I came around the end of the first loop, some guy was like '2 MORE MINUTES!!!'. I snorted b/c while i'm sure it WAS 2 more minutes for some people who had easily lapped me, I still had at least another 15. If I had had the strength I would have clotheslined that guy. So I ran and ran and ran some more, but did not stop once to walk, so that's SOMEthing. I finally got to the end and crossed just as I saw the time 55:45 flash. I actually did the 5K in 33 minutes, which considering it was preceded by my first swim race of 22 minutes, is not half bad for ME.
Ok, so Erik put a fake microphone in my face at the end and said 'how do you feel?' Other than wanting to face plant in the sand, I had a mix of emotions. On one hand I was psyched I did it in under an hour. On the other hand, I was really surprised at how slow my swim was. I'm not sure I pushed myself as hard as I could go, because I knew there was a run behind it, but I did think I'd do better. I KNOW I hate the run and suck at it, but I was unpleasantly surprised about the swim. Also, realizing that I would have to do double the run at the tri in june worries me....I think I really need to step up the running practice and improve on my swimming speed.
So preliminarily, I came in 168th out of 178th overall (so yeah, ALMOST last), but that doesn't include some people who didn't finish. I was 150th in the swim and 149th in the run timewise. And I think it was a pretty seasoned crowd of athletes.
The sunny side of the street is that this shows I have lots of room for improvement, which is something to look forward to. I really need to get some weight off -- I"m sure even 10 pounds would help enormously. It's been 3.5 months of training...really getting BACK in half-way decent shape. once the baseline is established, I know I can do a lot better.
The rest of my day consisted of sleep and whining about my sore body. But still, I'm really glad I did it as it helped me see exactly where I stand (and swim and run) in all this stuff.
So I arrived for the event, wetsuit and running gear in tow, exhausted but also kinda...just KINDA...excited. This event is called "Playa Del Run" and consists of 1000m swim and a 5k(3.1. mile) run. Encouraged by the fact some of my teammates would be there, I thought it would be a good practice thing to do, to experience swimming in the water with 150+ other people, something I haven't done yet.
Around 8:45 a.m., after chitchat, nervous talk with some of my other fellow novices, and readjusting my transition area 67 times, we walked over to the start on the beach. I was squeezed 1/2 way into my wetsuit and oh MAN was it boiling hot in that sun. I actually couldn't wait to get in the water. In the little holding pen, I saw Erik running towards me, looking for me in the sea of people...I was happy he had made it to witness this hot mess compete in her first race.
Then the whistle went off and we barrel-assed towards the sea...the course was straight in towards a huge yellow buoy, hang a right, go down to the 3rd buoy then straight back in. Initially, I started in the back, but dove in with gusto. I'm nothing if not competitive. Turns out I'm also slow. Though around the first turn there were tons of us, by the final turn towards the beach, I suddenly felt oddly alone. I figured I was either kicking everyone's ass, or somewhere in the middleof the ocean about to do a Tom Hanks scene from Castaway. Turns out I was the latter...I struggled out of the water feeling like I weighed about 400 pounds, and turned aroudn to see VERY few people behind me in the water....Erik was there cheering me on as I ran up the beach and I managed to gasp "am i last?"...He said "no"...ok, phew....
Up to transition area, got my wetsuit off, put on the shoes and hat and took off. The 1st 1/2 of the run sucked. It was a 2-loop course so as I came around the end of the first loop, some guy was like '2 MORE MINUTES!!!'. I snorted b/c while i'm sure it WAS 2 more minutes for some people who had easily lapped me, I still had at least another 15. If I had had the strength I would have clotheslined that guy. So I ran and ran and ran some more, but did not stop once to walk, so that's SOMEthing. I finally got to the end and crossed just as I saw the time 55:45 flash. I actually did the 5K in 33 minutes, which considering it was preceded by my first swim race of 22 minutes, is not half bad for ME.
Ok, so Erik put a fake microphone in my face at the end and said 'how do you feel?' Other than wanting to face plant in the sand, I had a mix of emotions. On one hand I was psyched I did it in under an hour. On the other hand, I was really surprised at how slow my swim was. I'm not sure I pushed myself as hard as I could go, because I knew there was a run behind it, but I did think I'd do better. I KNOW I hate the run and suck at it, but I was unpleasantly surprised about the swim. Also, realizing that I would have to do double the run at the tri in june worries me....I think I really need to step up the running practice and improve on my swimming speed.
So preliminarily, I came in 168th out of 178th overall (so yeah, ALMOST last), but that doesn't include some people who didn't finish. I was 150th in the swim and 149th in the run timewise. And I think it was a pretty seasoned crowd of athletes.
The sunny side of the street is that this shows I have lots of room for improvement, which is something to look forward to. I really need to get some weight off -- I"m sure even 10 pounds would help enormously. It's been 3.5 months of training...really getting BACK in half-way decent shape. once the baseline is established, I know I can do a lot better.
The rest of my day consisted of sleep and whining about my sore body. But still, I'm really glad I did it as it helped me see exactly where I stand (and swim and run) in all this stuff.
Saturday, May 17, 2008
Sand in the Crack
Today I did my first REAL ocean swim...like, there were waves and everything. The last 2 times we've been in the water it's been in the nasty disgusting Long Beach closed bay -- basically standing water, with the taste and after-taste to match. So it was refreshing and really a lot of fun to go out into the big ocean.
When we got in at 7:15 a.m. for our first 500 m loop, the waves were small. We learned to dive under the waves and hold onto the bottom so we don't get pulled backwards. Then once you're past the surf you swim and swim and swim, realize you're nowhere near the target buoy, double back, and then finally get where you're going. Heading back to shore, with a north-moving current, you have to swim south and you sorta maybe end up where you were supposed to get out of the water. AFter running back to the original spot, we did it again, only this time the waves were large enough that there were surfers everywhere. Four of us manned up and did a second 500 loop (even though we still maintain our guppie status), and finally made it back in. Coming in is the fun part -- there is *some* swimming involved but far more body surfing and baywatch running (in slow motion, of course) through the surf.
Afterwards we sat in the sand for a little while and jumped around in the waves...until mean coach Brad made us go bike and run. Ok, so he's not mean, but maybe was a little grumpy and hungover after celebrating his 40th birthday yesterday. If anyone gives meaning to the saying "40 is the new 30", it's Brad - awesome guy, coach, and definitely inspiring and great to work with.
Ok, so we took off on the bike ride, through venice and around the marina -- about a 10 mile loop. Even though I got lost briefly, somehow I ended up back with the pack by the end.
I usually spend most of the ride dreading the run. No matter how well I handle the swim and bike, having that most hated part of the day hanging over my head really bums me out. I am trying to start saying "I LOVE running" as much as possible, hoping it will improve the experience...but goddammit, i HATE running. wait, no...i mean i LOVE running.. :)
We transitioned to the 5K run, which I apparently extended a few tenths of a mile by going too far, but whatever, I probably needed it. I ran pretty much all of it and actually had a thought near the end that I would do just fine at the actual triathlon. So yeah, a good day...er, morning. While I cursed Brad at 6 a.m. for making us be in the ocean by 7, with the heat like it was by 10:00 a.m., I'd say he knows what he's doing.
Ok, i'm tired now. Time for the 4th leg...remember? it's "nap" - no equipment required.
*snore*
When we got in at 7:15 a.m. for our first 500 m loop, the waves were small. We learned to dive under the waves and hold onto the bottom so we don't get pulled backwards. Then once you're past the surf you swim and swim and swim, realize you're nowhere near the target buoy, double back, and then finally get where you're going. Heading back to shore, with a north-moving current, you have to swim south and you sorta maybe end up where you were supposed to get out of the water. AFter running back to the original spot, we did it again, only this time the waves were large enough that there were surfers everywhere. Four of us manned up and did a second 500 loop (even though we still maintain our guppie status), and finally made it back in. Coming in is the fun part -- there is *some* swimming involved but far more body surfing and baywatch running (in slow motion, of course) through the surf.
Afterwards we sat in the sand for a little while and jumped around in the waves...until mean coach Brad made us go bike and run. Ok, so he's not mean, but maybe was a little grumpy and hungover after celebrating his 40th birthday yesterday. If anyone gives meaning to the saying "40 is the new 30", it's Brad - awesome guy, coach, and definitely inspiring and great to work with.
Ok, so we took off on the bike ride, through venice and around the marina -- about a 10 mile loop. Even though I got lost briefly, somehow I ended up back with the pack by the end.
I usually spend most of the ride dreading the run. No matter how well I handle the swim and bike, having that most hated part of the day hanging over my head really bums me out. I am trying to start saying "I LOVE running" as much as possible, hoping it will improve the experience...but goddammit, i HATE running. wait, no...i mean i LOVE running.. :)
We transitioned to the 5K run, which I apparently extended a few tenths of a mile by going too far, but whatever, I probably needed it. I ran pretty much all of it and actually had a thought near the end that I would do just fine at the actual triathlon. So yeah, a good day...er, morning. While I cursed Brad at 6 a.m. for making us be in the ocean by 7, with the heat like it was by 10:00 a.m., I'd say he knows what he's doing.
Ok, i'm tired now. Time for the 4th leg...remember? it's "nap" - no equipment required.
*snore*
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
The Rock! (and i don't mean my abs)
I'm ENGAGED to the love of my life!!!!!!!
He proposed on one knee in front of my family in the late part of the day sunday (well after the Mother's day festivities). I was shocked, said "yes" and then called him an asshole (mostly for surprising me YET again). It's very *me* and also caught on tape.
Here is the ring for all you voyeurs. :)
yay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Saturday, May 10, 2008
A good day!
So today we did about as close to the triathlon distance as we've done yet.
First a 3/4 mile swim (slowly and getting used to the water still) -- this is actually longer than I will have to swim.
Then we did a 2 HOUR BIKE RIDE. Granted it was only 1 hour 50 minutes because we had the wind behind us on the way back, but still.
Then an optional 2 mile run. I totally kicked ASS at this part. For the first time, I ran it in 18 minutes - that's 9 MINUTE MILES. not 10...9. I was completely about to puke by the end -- not sure where another 4.2 miles would come from, but I was really proud of my speed for this one. I rocked it.
Somehow I ended up at Renaissance fair in the afternoon and by the time i got home at 8, to have sushi with Erik, I was practically snoozing in my miso soup. It was a great training day, but man, exhausting. TIME FOR BED!!!!
I wish I could say that I'm ready to do the next big workout (tomorrow) on Sunday, but I usually am wrecked a full 24 hours afterwards. Some people are *actually* going to swim and bike tomorrow too. Nutso's. don't they know you must rest on Mother's Day????
First a 3/4 mile swim (slowly and getting used to the water still) -- this is actually longer than I will have to swim.
Then we did a 2 HOUR BIKE RIDE. Granted it was only 1 hour 50 minutes because we had the wind behind us on the way back, but still.
Then an optional 2 mile run. I totally kicked ASS at this part. For the first time, I ran it in 18 minutes - that's 9 MINUTE MILES. not 10...9. I was completely about to puke by the end -- not sure where another 4.2 miles would come from, but I was really proud of my speed for this one. I rocked it.
Somehow I ended up at Renaissance fair in the afternoon and by the time i got home at 8, to have sushi with Erik, I was practically snoozing in my miso soup. It was a great training day, but man, exhausting. TIME FOR BED!!!!
I wish I could say that I'm ready to do the next big workout (tomorrow) on Sunday, but I usually am wrecked a full 24 hours afterwards. Some people are *actually* going to swim and bike tomorrow too. Nutso's. don't they know you must rest on Mother's Day????
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