Thursday, August 18, 2011

Hello, Hello..I am at a place called Vertigo

WOW what a week!! So last week I was diagnosed with positional vertigo. It is exactly what it sounds like, I feel like I am spinning when in certain positions. The good part is they can fix it, the bad part is when the earthquake happened, I was the most confused person in the world. I was thinking to myself, "Holy shit is this some part of vertigo they didn't tell me about?" then I noticed my water glass shaking, a la Jurassic Park, and the lights swaying and, well then I really didn't know what to think, since New York isn't really known for their quakes!

Then by Saturday after a nice long week of subbing more classes and working my ass off, we are told we need to evacuate for the hurricane. Well not for nothing, there was no way we were going to do that. We decided we would just stay awake and fight the water as it approached. And it worked! Then after a full 30 hours of no sleep and all work and panic, the remaining people in our building headed out to the bars to reward ourselves. I mean at that point, we had no plumbing since our system is below the water table so the toilets didn't flush (yep I peed in the bathtub, I had running water so that was the best option), no sleep, no power and no human interaction outside of the 6 of us. So what's a girl to do? Drink is the answer!

With water up to 3 feet in front of our building, Monday was spent putting the house back together and getting ready for the week. Everything was closed so I had no classes to teach so I went about cleaning. I am subbing again this week for a bunch of classes and today I make up the 3hr Z1/Z2 ride I couldn't do on Saturday followed by a 50 min Z1/Z2 T run. And now I am getting ready for class.

Hopefully this week won't be quite as eventful as last week. No more natural disasters please!!

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

It's Gonna Be a Long One Folks

Day two of the 5am wake up, it's currently 9am and I am ready to crash! As I mentioned I am subbing a few extra classes the next few weeks for a friend who is away on vacation. Now, there is an up side to this:

1) I am making a little extra cash and that never hurt anyone.
2) When I get up and get moving early in the morning, I get my blood pressure up and it keeps the dizziness from settling in for a few hours.

There is also a downside:

1) I am exhausted and fall asleep around 8pm every night.
2) When my blood pressure returns to it's normal sleepy state, I get way more dizzy than normal.
3)Did I mention, I am freakin tired!!

Ok I will stop complaining now and start psyching myself up. Today should be a my most challenging day. I taught a 6am sculpt class, I have work and I need to get in 2 hours of speed work on the bike, followed by a 40 min T run, and then it is back to the gym to teach my Tuesday night spin. Then I envision my night ending with some dinner and passing out on the couch. I hope Nick is up for another night of carrying me to bed!

Then it is just back to standard training until I teach again on Friday. I mean if wanted to lose those last few pounds this is the way to do it! Other than that it is life proceeding as normal. I am hoping to get a hold of the spinning state of mind this week with a trip to the neurologist and maybe some blood work. It has been happening since the middle of July so hopefully we can figure it out in the next few weeks, so I can go back to being a "normal" person. (I laugh to myself at the thought of normal!)

On that note, onto the next workout!

Friday, August 12, 2011

Can Someone Please Make the Room Stop Spinning?

While I am still contemplating my race plan for September I am now dealing with something else that is kinda fancy. I have perpetual spins. Yup, it is kind of like I drank too much 24 hours a day. I recently went to the doctor for another ailment and he informed me that my blood pressure is super low. Nothing to be concerned about, but is low. He referred to it as "athlete low" so it can't be too bad. I then started to put two and two together. I have been super dizzy for about a month. Usually when I first wake up in the morning and then about 2 hours into the day I am fine. It seems to happen the worst when I am laying down and move quickly. I mentioning this to the doctor and he confirmed that this is a direct result of low blood pressure. Hoooray!!

The funny thing though is that I am not dizzy when I run or bike. Swimming I can feel a little off, but it does not seem to be affecting my training in any way. On the subject of training this week has been pretty bike heavy since I missed out on biking last weekend due to the Cancun trip. Each day I have logged about 1.5 hours on the bike and I am looking at a 5 hour ride tomorrow. Here's to having an achy butt for the rest of the weekend.

Outside of the spins and training this week has been just a lot of the usual. Working, training and counting response cards. On that note, I need to go check my mailbox! Have a great weekend everyone!

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

To Race or Not to Race....

I have been throwing around the thought of getting in one more half this year before my wedding and I found one. I was then given free entry to it, if I wanted it, from the race directors because they are the same group that hosted the race I hurt myself in. I mean could there be any more signs that I should do it?

Then there are the signs that point to the contrary. I am finding that my Z1 run pace has been slipping lately. I have lost about 10 seconds/mile in the last two weeks. Now mind you, I did just spend a weekend in Cancun for my bachelorette party, which consisted of little to no working out, but I have been keeping up with all of my workouts. And then there is the whole I am getting married in two months and the weekend of the race is literally my only free weekend until then. Lastly, and most importantly, the goal this year was to go for a sub 4 marathon, and I am worried, with my honeymoon in the middle of October if I don't start focusing more on running, can I do reach my goal?

So to race or not to race, that is the question (of this week at least!).

As for the rest of life and training, I have been busting my ass for the past two weeks, and have just realized I haven't had a rest week this year! Odd? Yes! But, I am over it. I spent last weekend in Cancun with 3 good friends for my first bachelorette party and had a blast, I returned tanned and relaxed, but it was back to the grindstone at 5:30am the next morning to teach some classes. And now I am looking forward to my 2nd one!

The next two weeks I am taking on 3 extra classes a week to cover for a friend and to bring in some extra $. So let's see how bad I am complaining by then! But for now, I am content. Another 5:30am wake up and I will be on the bike in about 15 min to start my day with a 1:30 Z1 ride.

Happy Hump Day everyone!!