One down

Holy crapola that sucked! After living the life of a slug for 3 weeks (naturally, if you're going to put a pic of a slug you want it to be a pretty one!) I have buckled down.

Eating on track? Check. No problem. Though could go for some chips. But won't. Don't have any thank goodness, though Steve has chocolates, and I'm not interested. Yippee!

4k run done? Check. And boy did it suck! On the treadmill. Theoretically, the easiest of runs. So why was my heart rate way up there (AHR 144, MHR 157)?? I've never seen numbers like that on the mill. After 10 minutes not only was I ready to give up (but I didn't), but I broke out in hives all over my tummy. Running and scratching, trying not to scratch. YUCK. I think the hives were the reason my HR was so high. I was never so happy to see the timer finish.

Tomorrow calls for a wee 3k! I love that. I need a run that will feel easy!

Yikes

I've gained 4 lbs. In three weeks. With the flu bug I lost weight, with the Olympics I gained. Yikes, not cool.

We re-discovered the art of night time snacks. And not healthy ones either. Crap.

Boy could I go for some crap snacks now :(

But I won't. Today I re-started the program. This includes lowering the carbs, cutting out the crap, and exercising.

Bring it on.

Times, they are a-changin'

Well who would have guessed! Steve accepted the job offer - 10K straight more per year, 15 less hours per week, every second weekend off (current company every 3rd), and an extra weeks vacation! Wooop!

Just to make things interesting, my sudden panic last week due to a re-org in my org at work, my brilliant idea to request mentoring from another line of service to get my skills up to snuff to maybe transition to them in a year may turn out to be a job opportunity now! HUH?? I'm stunned. We'll see how it goes. I'm going to have to put the sell on, because seriously, what's in it for him?!?

Off to play with the resume.

Oh ya, training... nada... not since I came down with the bug. Still fighting it.

What's the deal?

I still have less energy than a sloth, and naturally taking up that appearance. The streak is long gone, just too tired/busy.

The flu lingers, and after last night's 3 hour nap, I'm bagged today, so naturally, bagged my last swim class. I've officially missed 4 classes. Yuck. It starts up again in March, and I'm registered. March is a better month right? My colleague is back and can take her workload back, there's more sunshine to wake my SAD brain and get me outside. Steve is also 90% sure he's moving on to a new job with less hours and more money, so maybe I'll get my training partner back. I guess on top of it all, Mom's anniversary is really brining me down.

This ten day absence from training has not only brought my motivation down a notch, but also screwed me over for running my May marathon. I just don't think after last year's hit and miss, I have enough base. Part of me also wants to play more, get lots of biking, do some DUs, run some trails, get a mountain bike, go kayaaking, and not make my sole focus the 'Sunday LSD'. So I've decided to scale back my ambitions, at least through May, and concentrate on getting some good quality time with myself, my family and my friends, and continue to rebuild. The goal for May will be the half, I know I'll be ready for it, and stronger for it.

In one hour I pick up Steve from work, then going to bed.

Already 1 year

Miss you Mom.

1 year. Feels like 1 day, feels like 20 years.

Love you.

Sadly, our complaints have fallen on deaf ears, the sidewalks are still skating rinks, waiting for the next child/parent/grandparent to sustain a fatal head injury. And we call ourselves civilized.

Blech

Out of commission still - fever started Monday, broke Tuesday, came back Wednesday, still nauseated, head full, ears aching.

Need sleep!

Just finished a 14 hour day. Enough.

Night night.

The guilt

I didn't make it to swim class and feel very guilty. I suppose I could rationalize that I swam an extra night this week, and that makes up for it, but it doesn't.

I drove KT to a friends, and when I came home at 6PM, there were a half dozen kids hanging out next to the house. It's a public walkway, nothing I can do to shoo them, but it made me uneasy. At least when I'm home I know they won't break in (we're not in the greatest of neighborhoods). At 7:45 I leave the house to go swim, and they are still there!! I'm feeling really uneasy leaving the house unattended for 90 minutes, so I zipped off to the Chinese food place and grabbed some veggies and rice. When I got home they were finally gone, but swim class was already 1/4 done by then, and I had yummy food to eat. I feel really guilty, but I made the only decision I felt I could at the time.

I did get in a very good run today - AHR 148 - +12km. It wasn't bad at all, though I was tired at the end.

Yesterday Steve and I went to watch/cheer at the Winterlude Triathlon (well, duathlon... thanks to the this crazy mild weather, the canal is closed for skating). It was run/ski. It was so cool! And very inspiring. I've decided that I'm going to be on the lookout for some skate-skis. Fun!!

One final work out note... yesterday was MUB day, and my shoulders were very sore, as were my legs from Friday's run/swim. At 10:30 I remembered I hadn't done it, so I did. Well, half of it... I didn't do the legs, because I needed fresh legs for this morning's run. The streak lives!

I'm trashed!

Ok, not in the boozy sense! But my legs are so tired this week. Since last Saturday my legs have been heavy, then Monday's 10k felt like 100, plus swim class, not sure what it's about. PMS maybe. I read that PMS causes loose joints, and boy did I have that today! At the grocery store my knee wobbled (for the 100th time this week... only happens the week before TOM) and Steve looked over at me and said 'are we gettin' down?'. Nope just trying to stay upright. My left hip is also feeling out of joint. Add this to my pizza cravings (gave in tonight :D) and I think this is going to be the mother of all PMS.

Anyway, I didn't MUB today because my legs are sore all over, quads tight, and my left shoulder is pinched. It feels like my right shoulder did before it froze up. I'm staying away from MUB upper body until it rights itself, though since it's been there for over 2 weeks now, I fear I've injured it. Some time next month, when my colleague is back, should it still be bothering me I'll check in with my doc for a referral for ART. Until then, I will work the exercises in this poster.

And now the run! Steve and I did get a run in today, my oh my it was hard! My legs are trashed. We were supposed to do 6.5k, and while I got my watch working, the chrono isn't starting (I think I may have gotten a little sealant in there, so going to fiddle with it on the weekend), and when chrono is on the blink, the km tracking doesn't work. So I ran knowing my heart rate and pace only. Steve told me where the turnaround was on his way back (but his Garmin always goes long... or he does!) and the run according to my data recorder was 6.92km in 48:05. AHR 154, MHR 163. Way too high.

I'm going to bed!

You say tomayto, I say tomahto

Why is it that my body insists on doing the exact opposite of what it's supposed to do?

Swim class tonight, and we are learning back stroke (first off, I'm a boob because the whole point of trying to teach us whip kick was for back stroke... I kept hearing back crawl and couldn't understand why she was switching up the kick!). I'm trying to whip kick on my back, and I don't go anywhere. "Una, you're floating, relax your torso and shoulders, let your legs do the work" "Una, stop floating!"... well, when Una's relaxed, it seems she floats! No matter what Jenna tried, I kept on floating. Of course, when it comes to front crawl my legs are sinking... go figure.

Anyway, we finally gave that up and moved to breast stroke, trying to whip kick on our tummies. I went slightly faster, but still really lousy. Maybe next class.

On the upside, we finished the class diving, etc (which I opted out of... not ready for that, so I did egg beater), and on the way over my flutter kick was actually getting me somewhere! I was shocked, and tossed aside the flutter board she gave us and decided to try front crawl, I was super relaxed and it seemed to go better! Maybe I'm finally having a breakthrough!

Tonight was mid-term evaluations, and poor Jenna asked me what I could do to help her help me :) She said that I'm really challenging her because she knows that I'm trying, but my body wants to do the opposite of what I ask it. So next week we're taking the whole class in the deep end. That's ok with me, as long as I have a lane to grab on to if I inhale the pool!

Oh ya, totals... in all completed a whopping 500m.

The run - well, didn't happen. Too busy, had to drive Steve and KT to work and to the train, too much of my own work to do, so I tried to squeeze it in at 6PM, but was too stuffed from lunch. So I power walked for 15 minutes, which is all I had time for. And I was cramping up at that. Oh well, better than no minutes!