Motivation...Sometimes you got it, sometimes you need to borrow some

This past weekend was a hard one for workouts. And by hard I am not referencing the physical part of it, more so the mental part. It all started on Friday. It was raining and I was couch bound all day. I just had no desire to do my run. And my run was legit the easiest one of the week, a 35 min Zone R run. And I just couldn't do it! I started to think of some excuses, when my neighbor text me and said, you know, we should still go running. I knew it would make me feel better if I just went and I actually had never been running with her, so I did it. I used her motivation to get my ass moving and it worked.

Then came Saturday. I had to switch my Saturday and Sunday workouts because I was supposed to go see my brother play in Brooklyn so I had to manage my time accordingly. I would usually get up and get on the bike on Saturday but instead I had two runs and a bike to do. I ate and headed to the gym for the first run. I got there, and the place was packed! I got a treadmill and started running. By 2 minutes I was frustrated. By 4 minutes I had stopped twice to pout. By 5.5 minutes, I had packed up my gym bag and was about to head home. I was just not feeling it. I text Nick to let him know we could leave earlier if we wanted because I was throwing a hissy fit and giving up on my workout.

When I got back home Nick told me to change into cold gear and that we were going on a run. He said if I wasn't going to do the prescribed workout I had to do something to get rid of my tude! So off we went. By the end of the run, I was trucking and feeling quite a bit better. I realized when I got home that some days, even though we are the ones who do this stuff everyday, we just don't have it and need to borrow the motivation from others.

So needless to say I have been playing a mean game of catch up this week, but I can't say it is all too bad. Taking it easy for just one day was enough to feel better and more focused on the task at hand.

Now I am going to go dig into my egg white and spinach omelette and focus on today's tasks.

The Show Must Go On

So I forgot to mention yesterday that on Tuesday outside of my normal spin class, I helped out and picked up a 60 minute sculpting class for the hour before my spin class. I figured, I was going to bet there anyway so why not go in an hour early and make some extra cash. Well, I did make some extra cash, but I forgot to calculate in the fact that I don't really do full body lifting workouts, EVER. So after the hour I headed over to the spin room and began to worry a bit because my arms were still shaking quite a bit and I was having trouble lifting them. Spin didn't seem to give me as much trouble as I thought it would but yesterday morning my body revolted. And it got worse as the day went on.

At around 5pm yesterday I decided I had to get my swim and run in and I thought, considering it was a Zone R 35 min run, it couldn't be that bad. Well, it was! I was running at a speedy pace of 10:45 min/miles and my HR still came in way over where it should have. That is when I started to question my swim. It was a strength swim of:

1000 pull
1000 pull with paddles
1000 free

Sounds easy enough, right? (I can't emit enough sarcasm here for you to ever fully grasp how sarcastic I am being) So I completed my run and shuffled like an 85 year old over to the pool and got in. The first 1000 my arms were killing but slowly started to warm up. The second 1000 I actually was feeling ok. The third, I felt like it was my first time ever attempting to swim. I felt like I was not moving at all. And I can admit it, I swallowed about 4 mouthfuls of water, since you know, I have no idea how to breathe while swimming, since I have never swam before!

So this morning I got up nice and early to see if walking around the house might make me feel better. The scene of me trying to get out of bed would make for a great blooper reel! I am hoping after today's bike and mile repeats I will feel a little more limber. If not, I will just get up and hope for the same thing again tomorrow.

Because as I said, the show must go on, I got a marathon to train for here people!!

Being Conservative

Now wait a second, those of you that know me personally and are looking at this title, must be thinking, there is no way that word has anything to do with the person who is writing this. And to be honest in 3/4's of my life, you are correct, I am anything but. But in racing that seems to be my theme. This past weekend, Nick and I headed up to Rochester to spend the weekend with the in-laws. We didn't have many workouts on the agenda because I was supposed to race a 5k on Sunday. Well due to the always cold weather up there I couldn't find a race, so I had to do a race simulation.

On Friday Nick and I decided to head out for a quick run outside. We haven't been running so much together lately, but honestly I love it. As long as it is 4-5 miles and no longer Nick is happy to tag along and keep my company, as long as it is not below zero out. So we did a quick 40 min run outside just to get some energy out. Saturday was a rest day, so we did nothing besides go to Sticky Lips BBQ and fill ourselves with pulled pork and a deeelish Ithaca Apricot Pale Ale.

Sunday we got up ate some raisin toast and I headed out to run my 5k. I felt great, my legs felt rested and I was ready to go. I started out at an 8:17 pace and then picked it up a little. Before I knew it I was at 2.5 miles, but the problem was, I really wasn't pushing it that much. I picked up the pace and finished the last .3 miles at a 6:50 pace (that is no where near a normal pace for me), and I did it only because I had so much energy left. Once finished I realized that once again I had gone too conservative. I pushed hard enough to feel like I was working but not hard enough. I felt a bit disappointed when I was done because I know I could have gone faster.

Now I need to reassess my game plan. I have a marathon coming up in 1 month and I need to be able to go into it with a plan. A plan that will help me to reach my fullest potential while still being able to survive. I mean really, f*ck being so conservative!

So this is my new hurdle, that I need to be able to clear in the next 30 days so I can race on the 25th with a new frame of mind. Here's hoping!

Happy Valentine's Day!

I hope everyone is having a wonderful Valentine's Day. My has been great so far because it is my day off from working out. So I have spent a lot of time on the couch recovering from two long workouts this weekend! This weekend I had a 3:10 Z1/ZR ride followed by a 50 min Z1 T run. Followed on Sunday, by a 1 hour Z1 run, 1:30 Z1 ride and 1:00 Z1 T run. So needless to say I felt like this rest day was deserved.

Now mind you, I do have to teach spin tonight but there is a silver lining, right now I have a bottle of Veuve chilling in the fridge and we have 9pm reservations at one of our favorite restaurants tonight, Anthony David's. It is our Valentine's Day tradition. And I can not wait!

So with nothing other than eating on the horizon this is going to be short post.

Have a good night and be sure to tell someone you love them!

Angry Pigs

And by pigs I mean toes and by angry I mean two of them are on strike and don’t want to bend. How bizarre is that? On Tuesday night after my spin class, two toes on my right foot started to feel almost sore. Yesterday, I decided to go for a quick run outside to see how my pigs were doing and about 15 minutes into the run they started aching. I went home and decided to take an Epsom salt bath to see if maybe I was cramping from working out so much. Although it was nice to sit and drink a glass of wine and read a book in the bath, the only thing it did do for me, was make me tired. So off to bed I went.

This morning I got up and was stretching in bed and there it was again. Every time I tried to curl the toes on my right foot, all I felt was pain. Today I was supposed to do a Z3 ride and a Z3 run. I decided that I would wait and see how my toes felt after my ride. While they didn’t hurt too much they still did hurt a little bit. I decided I would push my run to tomorrow and give my toes some time off.

But the thing is, what is wrong with them. I mean, I know if they are sprained or something like that, there isn’t much I can do besides tape them together, but if that is the case, how did it happen. The only other thing I can think is maybe they got irritated with my long run followed by some heavy spin classes. Not that that has ever happened before, but it could be possible. Right?

Tomorrow, I will take them for another test drive to see if they are ok with working out. If they protest I will have to tape them together and pray for the best. Outside of my run tomorrow I also have a 45 strength set in the pool which consists of me tying my feet together for a 10 x 100 freestyle set. Good thing my pool goes no deeper than 4 feet, or else drowning could also be on the agenda.

Well I am off to soak again, this time sans the wine.

Lead

That is what my legs feel like. Pardon me while I complain a bit here, but they are really shot today. I got on my bike for 2:00 hours of speed work and had to start with 35 min in ZR/Z1 before I went in to the speed sets and I was dying. I could hardly get myself into Z1 and I was riding in a very wimpy gear. But hey, at least I forced myself to keep riding. The speed sets were even more pathetic. But again, they got done. Then it was off for a T run. I am surprised no one stopped and offered to give me a ride home, if I looked anywhere near how I felt, I can only imagine what people were thinking. And complaining is DONE! Phew! Thanks for letting me get that off my chest.

So if you didn't notice I am feeling a little beat up from this weekends work outs but I am hoping since tomorrow all I have is a swim, I will be refreshed and back to normal by Thursday. I am planning to get the swim done nice and early so I have all day to relax my legs. I may even opt for a salt bath or two, if I can get up the energy to clean the tub. I have big plans here people!

Other than that, it is just another Tuesday. I finished my workouts and in a few hours I have to go work other people out. I am considering teaching off the bike tonight, but I know how that story ends. I say I am going to go light, and then I end up riding harder than I ever would in the first place. So maybe I will just keep my big mouth shut.

Let's see if tomorrow brings a lighter feeling to my legs.

Focus

That is the theme for the next two months. I am trying very hard to focus on my upcoming race and getting faster. Yesterday I got in a 1:30 Z1 ride with two 15 min intervals at a cadence of 70, then took a break to get some food ready for our party and then I went out for a 1:48 Z1/Z2 run. And let me tell you I was focused. I started out and was already making excuses as to why I could stop if I wanted to and then I promptly told myself to just man up and get the job done. I completed somewhere around 11 or 12 miles at a 9:14 pace and I actually felt great.

Then it was time to get down to some serious junk food business. Once I got home I prepped my bacon bleu cheese dip and artichoke dip and securely wrapped all my pigs in blankets. Then I sat down with my neighbor and a glass of prosecco and some buffalo chicken dip and it was time to relax. We had about 10 people over from our neighborhood and we ate and some drank to our hearts content.

We did have a funny realization at the end of the night. We are getting old. Yup, we have confirmed it. With 10 people we went through a total of 20 beers for the entire night, I had one and then decided I wanted to switch to seltzer instead (LAME!!). By halftime, a few of us were snuggled on the couch almost ready to pass out, and the Madonna halftime show surely didn’t help to wake us, as we sat there embarrassed for her while she pretended to be 26 again. For shame Madonna, for shame! And I think the best part was while we were cleaning up after the game, Nick and I were discussing how old we are and we both noticed one of our friends didn’t drink anything. Instead of thinking she might be hung over, the first thing we both said was, well maybe she is pregnant. My how times have changed!

After our crazy night I headed to bed and got up nice and early for my 6am spin class. Which, due to the game, was comprised only of girls. After class, I hopped in the pool for some catch drills. I mentioned my new fancy speedo I bought myself last week. Well I forgot one detail, when you buy a new bathing suit, even if you buy the correct size, the first few times you wear it, it is like wearing a straight jacket. Man, nothing makes you feel better, after a night of gorging on junk food, than a bathing suit that feels like it is going to explode off of your body at any time during your swim. But there is an upside to this, now I will have to get up early and do my swims when no one is at the pool, so no one else has to suffer with me.

Tomorrow, thankfully I get a break from the bathing suit torture chamber and I will log a little more time on the bike and on my feet. Let’s hope my legs wake up by then. Happy Monday everyone!

The Itchy and Scratchy Show

Yeah that about sums it up for me! On Tuesday I noticed after my swim, run and teaching that I had acquired a very dry spot on my face. As my husband puts it, it looks like someone punched you in the face and their knuckles left a mark. By Wednesday it seemed to have gotten worse. I noticed it was at it's worst right after I worked out.

Now in the past, when the weather gets cold, my face has become more sensitive to the towels I use when running at the gym or cycling. Almost as if the dryness in the air combined with the harshness of the towel were too much for my skin. So originally that's what I thought it was. Then on Thursday I found a dry, itchy patch on the inside of my elbow. And last night before bed i noticed it was on my back as well.

Well this morning, I got up, made a peach and yogurt smoothie, had half of a bran muffin and hopped on the bike. 3 hours later, I changed out of my soaking wet bike clothes, and into my running clothes and headed out for my 50 min T run. As far as the run went, I was dragging ass. My heart rate was super high and I felt like I was crawling. I got back we made some grilled chicken sandwiches and then I jumped in the shower and that is when I noticed the itching was getting worse. Once I got out of the shower I saw it, the rash had spread all over my chest and back and now I wanted to scratch my skin off.

The only thing we can think it might be is a reaction to our new detergent. I washed all of my workout clothes last week and that is when it first showed up. So now we are rewashing all of my clothes with a different detergent to see if we can stop it. If not, Nick will need to put socks on my hands before I got to bed, like you do to an infant, to make sure I can't scratch when I want to!

Has anyone ever had this happen? Was it an allergic reaction or due to the dryness in the air?

Annnd Breathe......

I am finally back to normal. And by normal I mean getting to work out every day and not being consumed by work every waking moment. The past two weeks with work were the craziest I have had in a while. I spent all of last week in the city at my office, working with my boss and this week, I had back to back events. The only good thing was this week I worked from home. So that meant nice healthy home cooked dinners and working out.

I have been in the pool a bunch this week and as a reward I bought my self a brand spanking new speedo. This actually being a reward to the other people in the pool at 7am, as my other speedo is so stretched out I think it was actually creating drag while I swam. So a gift for all!

Along with spending some mornings in the pool I also have been doing these fantastic Z3 bikes and runs. I always seem to dread them more than necessary. I am not sure why. I only need to be in Z3 for 15 minutes at a time and as long as I don't watch the clock it really isn't too bad. I seem to psych myself out a bit before I do it and afterwards I feel fine. Oh the joys of the mind fuck we are able to produce for ourselves!

This weekend I have a 3:10 Z1/Z2 ride followed by a 50 min T run on Saturday and then a long run and short bike on Sunday. Followed by delicious non-core diet food, drinks and football. While I am a Bills fan, I think I side with the majority (of smart people), who want the Giants to win. I kid, Boston fans, no need to get your Victoria's Secrets all in a bunch! (or do I?) But Giants aside, we throw a Super Bowl party every year and it is the party I live for. I make all deliciously bad dips and provide equally bad foods to pair with them and we just sit and eat all day. The past few years I haven't really been too interested in the game but this year I will enjoy both the gluttony and the game.

Next week is actually a relatively quiet week for me, which means more focus on eating well and training. Less than 2 months until my marathon. Wow, that freaked me out a bit just writing it! So we will not speak of it again. Have a wonderful weekend! GO GIANTS!