Last week, this week, the week before last

Lots of things have been going on to make it hard to blog. I’ll see what I can remember.

I do know that on that horrible hungover Friday I actually did make it to the gym. I decided I needed to sweat my toxins out and I did 15 minutes on the elliptical, 10 minutes in the steam room followed by a hot shower. I felt almost as good as new. I felt even better when I started drinking again.

I’m not sure what I did last week. I know I took a short walk/run on Easter and then I think I made it to the gym several times during lunch. But I could be wrong. I know I made it to my Friday Pilates class. I think it was a pretty good work-out week.

This week started with an hour of cardio on Sunday and a 30 minute walk on Monday. The rest of the week has been out of my control. I plan to make it to the gym sometime today even if it is only for 20 minutes.

James and I are going to work with a trainer on our swimming! Herpreet, I need all your swimming advice. Specifically, where can I get a good swimsuit? You know, one, that, um, supports me in my swimming endeavors.

Week 16!!! Days 1 & 2

Yesterday I attended ballet again, and I loved it again. I'm not sure what I'm going to do once the semester is over and they don't offer it anymore... for at least a month or so. Then there's the question if they'll even bring it back! But I have grown to also enjoy the PiYo class, and plan to continue with that. And I want to try out the butts & guts class too.

Today I went for a nice, long bike ride. The weather is beautiful, and I wanted to get outside. I'm still here, Herpreet. I'm just avoiding all of the posts in my reader that I have yet to read. I think I'm just going to go ahead and delete all of them. In other news, the end of the semester is looming. I have 3 fairly significant papers to get out of the way, a presentation tomorrow, and I took a final earlier today. I hate that I have given up on blogging, but I love that I've been exercising. I think they both do a little of the same thing for me, but exercise is good for me physically as well as mentally. This summer should see an uptick in blog posting. Nice rambling! The end!

Week 16! Herpreet

Four Months - Where is everyone!?

On Monday, I swam for the second time at Barton Springs. I panicked a little bit. I am working on getting over my fears. One of my classmates walked to the end of the pool with me and we got in and swam the length from the end to the start. Somehow it feels less daunting to begin in the deep end and work your way to the shallow end.


Today we are doing a bike/run brick, and on Friday, we are doing an easy run.

On Saturday, I do my first event of the season - 300 m swim, 12 mile bike, 2 mile run. I am SO nervous about the swim. It is in Lake Travis. I am considering trying to take one last swim in Barton Springs as practice, but I haven't made up my mind whether I'll do that or not. Technically, the week before an event, we are supposed to "taper" so that our bodies are good and ready for event day.

I also have a big shopping day planned - I'm getting a new tri-suit, new goggles, Some electrolyte powders. I think that's it.

Okay guys, send my a lot of good thoughts leading up to Saturday, but especially on Saturday morning.

Week 15, Day 2, Herpreet

Wednesday we did strength training. Where we run a quarter mile lap, do some exercises and run again. The strength training included step ups, squats, push ups, bicycle crunches, oblique crunches, super mans, squats. I think that's it. I'm apporpriately sore in my abs and butt and thighs.

Skipped my bike ride today because it's rainy and my last full day hanging with my old roomie. She heads back to NY tomorrow.

Week Whatever, Day 3 Natalie

I went to PiYo again this afternoon, and really enjoyed it despite the fact that I heard at least two unmistakable farts during certain stretches. I was not bowled over by any noxious fumes, so I was able to contain my teenage sensibilities and keep from commenting (though I did notice a couple of other people holding in their giggles).

Today I had lunch at Subway because I didn't bring my lunch. Honey Oat bread does not have milk, nor does turkey (as far as I know...) The Veggie Patty does have dairy, which was a bit surprising and very disappointing, though the turkey wasn't bad. Actually, it was quite good.

For dinner I had salmon and asparagus. The hard part might be dessert. I heart cookies and milk!

Last Week and This Week, Natalie

Last week I did ballet on Tuesday, and then exercised a lot by lifting drinks up off the bar and to my mouth. Spring Break '09 y'all! Yeah, not much exercise. But yesterday I returned to ballet, and today went for a grueling run. I hadn't run since before I started with the ballet, so I think I've lost my ability to pace myself. I felt really good starting out, and felt like I was running nice and strong, but then I pooped out. I also think this has something to do with me knowing about how far I've run no matter where I am in relation to my house. I need to start running elsewhere.

SO I'll keep it up because it's week 15!
I'm starting a non-dairy diet. Have any of you done that before? I've heard it can have an effect on psoriasis so I'm going to give it a shot... but I figure it will be really hard, because you never know where dairy is lurking. we will see. so far I've tried a silk yogurt for breakfast this morning (it was ok... not great, but tolerable for sure) and bought some tofutti cuties (non-dairy ice cream sandwiches) which were actually really good! I guess I just need to be careful and pay attention. I'll keep everyone posted.

The end.

Week 15, Conquering Fears, Herpreet

Is that right? Is this week 15??

Barton Springs is a 200 meter long pool that is spring fed. It is a natural environmet - you can see the rocks at the bottom, plant life, fish. It is beautiful and clear water, and it has a constant, year-round temperature of 68 degrees.

Yesterday, we swam there. I was a bit terrified. We had to swim the length of it - no stops after 50 meters at the end of a wall pool. I started out okay. I dipped my entire body into the water to acclimate. When she said "go," I went. I was stunned that I was not feeling nervous or anxious or getting worn out. And THEN, the solid rock bottom four or five feet below me dropped off 17'. I had a vertigo sensation, seeing the bottom fall out below me do dramatically, and I freaked out. Happily, I didn't panic in the way I did in the bayou last year. I stuck my head out of water and treaded. Remembering my instructor's words (in a triathlon, any forward movement is good movement), I treaded forward until I calmed down a little, then I flipped over and did backstroke. Eventually, I worked my way back to free style. Then I alternated between free style and backstroke and treading. At the end of the pool, I paused, rested at the wall, tried to conquer my fear of having to swim back over the deep water, and eventually, I made my way back over the 200 meters.

I saw a big fish at the bottom, schools of little fish, and plants that stunned me, plants I had not at all expected to find in the water. It looked like gigantic aloe plants were growing at the bottom of the pool.

Once I did an entire lap, I practiced swimming from the shallow end over the drop off a few times with the ambition to lose my panicky feeling. Eventually, I practiced swimming with my eyes closed and feeling comfortable knowing that 1) the water is DEEP and 2) I can't see the bottom, because, indeed, during the event, it's not at all likely that the water will be clear like Barton Springs. I tried swimming with eyes closed, opening them only when I needed to see to make sure I was swimming in a straight line.

Week 14, Day 4, Cristin

Yesterday I went to the gym during lunch and rode the bike for about 25 minutes. Then I decided it was nice enough to walk back to work (50 degrees and sunny!!) which was about a 20 minute walk. Then I met up with two of my girlfriends for some BYOB sushi and walked 20 minutes to the restaurant. When we got there, the wait was 45 minutes so we walked several blocks to another one and then several more blocks to find a BYOB Italian restaurant for dessert. Lots of walking! I am so pleased that the weather has been nice enough to walk. One, I love being outside and two, more calories burned without trying!

Today I am very hung-over so I skipped my lunchtime Pilates class.

Very very hung-over.

Week 14, Cristin

On Monday, I did 25 minutes of cardio. Ten minutes on an elliptical and then 15 minutes on this stair steppy/elliptical type machine. It’s a great machine. I don’t know what it’s actually called but it uses more resistance than the elliptical and I think that is a good thing.

Tuesday I did 20 minutes of yoga at home from Exercise TV. I really want to add yoga to my life because I think I can really benefit from the calming, relaxing effects of it and I want to be more flexible. It’s really hard to find the time for it since none of the yoga classes at my gym work with my schedule. The grand idea in my head is to wake up in the morning and do it first thing. However, there is that whole I-am-not-a-morning-person problem. So for right now I am just going to try to fit it in where I can.

On Wednesday, James and I went to another version of last week’s torture class. The regular teacher was on spring break (I am so tired of everyone else getting a spring break) so there was a new teacher. He ran the class sort of as a boot camp. By the way, boot camp is hard. With every move we did, he would reference sport that used the move and called us athletes. I like to pretend I am an athlete so I liked it. He also called us soldiers at one point. I care less about being a soldier.

Week 14!!! Herpreet

Today was a run. We have a new triathlon coach, and I sort of miss our former coach. It takes a while to get used to someone new, and I was finally used to Shellie O, and sort of loved her. But she had to leave us for a 9-5 office kind of job. Which, I know she's lucky to have landed, given the economy, so I wish her well.

I also know that I'll come to love our new coach. She is a grandmother. She is in her early 60s, and she started doing triathlons a few years ago. She's been training with Shellie O. ever since. She just got her USA Tri certification. When she first started training, she did not know how to swim at all.

So, clearly, there are already a lot of reasons to admire her. And I do. But she's definitely a quieter sort of person than the former kick-ass coach, who had competed, not one, but TWO iron mans. And she'd competed in three of them. She's also been doing these events for years and years.

Okay, I guess I need to move on. I just needed to mourn a bit.

Like I said, today we ran. I did just fine. I am a fine runner. I have no fears about running, pacing, endurance, etc. (Now if I was doing more than a 5K, I'd have a different story to tell.

On Friday, we bike. One good thing about my new coach is that I think, since she could not swim when she began, that she'll pay extra attention to my swimming (which I told her I am scared about).

Week 13, Days 3 and 4, Cristin

Day 3 was my Friday lunch time Pilates class which I skipped last week so it felt even harder this time around. I wonder if it will ever get easier. A couple moves in particular are nearly impossible in my opinion. One is where are in bridge position and then lift one leg up and do all these exercises while keeping the bridge up. It hurts so much and yet when I look around these girls are doing it as if they could do it in their sleep!

Day 4 was a quick Saturday workout of some cardio and some weights. It was only about 30 minutes but I hit most of the major muscle groups and felt sufficiently sore the next day.

Week 13 Days 3 & 4, Natalie

Okay, so day 3 probably shouldn't count, but I'll do it anyway. When I got home from school Thursday, the options were to go to a class or to borrow a ladder and climb up on the roof and throw limbs down. I'm afraid of heights, but for some reason really wanted to get up there. I feel like I should be on my roof at least once if I'm able, right? SO I borrowed the neighbors ladder and had them watch me as I climbed up and then launched huge limbs off the roof. It was more an exercise of fears than it was physical exercise, but I'll count it anyway. Day 4 was yesterday. I worked in the yard, and was feeling like it wasn't really technically work, but I can feel some aching in my legs and gut from all of the squatting and pulling I did. I yanked up a good number of cast iron plants, which were not really wanting to come up. If my neighbors were home, I'm sure they were curious as to what was going on in my back yard.

I said that I wasn't going to let the teacher from that resistance class affect me, but clearly it has. I haven't been back to the rec center since then. Ballet is still on for Tuesday though, so hopefully it will give me the guts to continue.

Week 13, Day 2, Cristin

I walked home from the bus stop (aka Midway Airport) yesterday for my exercise. I was really hungry and I knew that once I got home I would only want to eat and not work out.

It seemed kind of warm outside but in reality it was cold and windy. I had to wrap my scarf around my head since I didn’t have a hat or gloves. It is April.

The whole walk took about 30 minutes including the walking against the wind and the stopping for lights. James read somewhere that you should walk at least 100 steps a minute for fitness purposes. So I did that.

Week 13, Day 1

Last week I decided to take Friday off since I’d done so much already. Friday turned into Saturday, Sunday, Monday AND Tuesday! Ugh. One thing I have realized is that I get crabby if I don’t exercise. Another thing I realized is the less I work out, the easier it is to continue not working out. I knew both of these things were true to a degree but they both came on strong over those 5 days. In my defense, there was a snowstorm over the weekend (in March!) and I had to work late on Monday and Tuesday. It’s the end of Q1 people!

I finally dragged myself to the gym (with the help of James) during lunch on Wednesday and did 25 minutes on the elliptical. It was amazing! I immediately felt like a normal person again and better about life in general.

Endorphins work.

I was going to try to get up this morning and exercise before work but for some reason it is simply impossible for me to get up early. Always has been. It's frustrating. I want to be a morning person! Oh well. I'm hoping I will do an Exercise TV workout when I get home from work today.

Week Thirteen, Day 2, Herpreet

Yesterday I ran my ass off, figuratively. In my triath class, we did an entire 5K to benchmark our time. I had to stop and walk toward the end. I think I walked about 1/4 miles or a little less, and then I finished out the run and managed to catch up to the girl I'd been running with up until I had to stop and walk. When I caught up to her, I said, "Let's go in really fast," and she and I picked up our pace and pushed to the end as fast as we could.

We ran on a hilly trail (my instructor's words). And I finished in 32 minutes. I'm happy with that time. It would be awesome if ever I could break a ten-mile minute, but you know what? I'll take what I can get. I felt good about it yesterday, and today, my body feels not so good.

I am considering doing a really short event on April 28 to warm up for the real thing on May 17. The reason is that the April 28 one has a 200m swim in open water. 200 meters does not scare or intimidate me in the least, so I feel like it could be a really great pre-event practice to get me comfortable doing the 800m in open water.

Week 13 Days 1 & 2, Natalie

Tuesday I returned to ballet. It was a very small class, so we were able to do some work at the barre... which I had been missing. So it was a good class with some heavy-duty leg stretching. Today I went to my first resistance training class, and I'm not sure if I'll be going back. The girl seemed kind of put-out that I didn't know how to do everything, but she also seemed a little put-out by the fact that the door was locked and she had to go get a key to get in, so maybe it really didn't have anything to do with the door OR with me. I need to stop being so self centered and realize that I'm really not that important to total strangers... it's usually something else. Besides, even if I was annoyed by someone who was lost, I'd admire their stickwithitness if they stuck with it until they got things down. So we'll see. But I did wish I had done the pilates class instead. So what is tomorrow... was it PiYo? hmmmm, that was Friday.... NO Friday was kick & sculpt, so PiYo it is! I think I might try something new again Friday if I can squeeze it in. I also need to try to squeeze a running day in soon too, it's been so long! surely I won't still be bored with it, right?