Beautiful weather- finally!

This morning was beautiful- warm, sunny, not too much wind (which is, of course, all relative)- a great day for a jog. I ran one mile and walked one mile with DD in the stroller. My muscles didn't hurt from yesterday (I actually haven't really had any sore muscles) but there was definitely some muscle fatigue going on.

I was looking at race schedules today and have pretty much decided on my schedule for the next few months (still have to find more for the end of the year):
1. my first triathlon next Saturday
2. a 5K on the 4th of July
3. the second triathlon I'm doing in the beginning of August
4. a half marathon towards the end of August that is run on the same course as the full marathon I'm doing
5. a 5K the week before the marathon
6. the marathon in September
7. a 5 mile or 10 mile trail run in October

I also found a training schedule for running a marathon- I have just enough time to follow the schedule.

Tonight the storm clouds rolled in and we actually had some thunder and lightning and a little bit of rain. I remember the awesome thunder and lightning storms, where the rain would just pound down and soak everything, that we would get growing in Ohio. I didn't like much about Ohio, but that was one thing I loved, and I have missed. Where we used to live we'd get this wussy mist, rarely actual rain drops, and never thunder and lightning. This wasn't up to par with the storms I remember growing up, but it did remind me of them.

Thursday and Friday (I'm too tired to think of a cute title)

The first part of our road trip was spent looking at some lots that are for sale- working toward our goal of buying land soon. Realistically (financially) we need to wait till fall before we buy anything, but it's still good to get out there and look and see what's available and what areas are just not an option. Two of the lots are definite contenders, but they're 5 acres each instead of the 10 we really want (though my mom says we really want 20, based on my descriptions of what we're looking for). If we could find 20 acres reasonably close to job opportunities, at a reasonable price, and with the terrain we want, I would be ecstatic. Don't know if it's going to happen, though.


After that, we drove to a small town to scope it out. I'd found it on the map, but wanted to check it out for the setting of my book. It looks good, and it was good to actually visit it in person- I can visualize everything a lot better now.

Thursday morning we (DD, my mom, younger bro and his friend) went to the rec center to go swimming. My mom and I took turns swimming laps (20 minutes, 25 laps for me) and working with DD. It's been about 8 months since we last had her in a pool, but she did quite well. Mom had her kicking her legs and putting her face in the water, and I managed to get her to walk around in the shallow end without hanging onto me (a big deal, since in the past she's had a stranglehold on whoever was holding her in the water). Unfortunately, by the time we got home her temperature had gone back up (she picked up a cold on our trip, but her fever was gone Thursday morning), and she was pretty miserable the rest of the day.

She slept well last night and woke up feeling a lot better, which is definitely good. We went on a bike ride today- I loaded everything in the car and we drove into town to use the bike path. I wanted to do 15 miles, and I thought the bike path would be easier since it's flatter than the roads we live on. Not so much. I was in the lower gears (the easy ones) the entire time, which doesn't happen when I'm on the road near home. I got some great sunburn lines, too, courtesy of my sleeves, watch, and gloves. I even brought sunblock with me, but forgot to use it. Way to go me! I ended up doing just 12 miles- that was enough for now. I was wiped out the rest of the day- the exertion and the sunburn (which always makes me tired) definitely got me. DD slept most of the ride, which was nice, except it was a little early for her nap, and since she firmly believes that one nap a day is enough, wouldn't take another one later, even though she was still tired and not quite over her cold.

Catching up ...

DD and I went on a road trip this weekend, so I haven't posted in awhile. I meant to post about the bike ride we went on last Wednesday, but ran out of time before we left. In any case, Wednesday was a beautiful day- warm, a deep blue sky (I swear the sky is bluer here than anywhere else), a few fluffy white clouds, and (miracle of miracles!) not too much wind. I did the 5 mile loop once with DD in the trailer and once without her, getting my mileage up to 10 finally. It's amazing how much easier it is without the trailer. Of course, everything felt good that day- the tune-up was definitely worth the money, and my muscles are finally getting the idea of the whole biking thing.

I took the stroller with us, intending to go for a couple runs while we were gone, but that didn't happen. I did go for a nice long walk while visiting my friend R- she showed us around the development they live in. The developers have definitely done a good job there (not the usual identical ugly houses up and down the street). We stayed with my sister and her family one night, and she offered to have me swim laps with her. It was tempting, right up until she said they swim for about 45 minutes (I'm only up to 20), it's not just laps, but drills as well (would have been good, but don't think I could have held up), and it was at 6 am the day we were leaving to drive back home (I needed to stay awake while driving more than I needed the exercise).

It was a good trip, though. We got to see friends and family and catch up on life. I also did some shopping and spent more than I should have (isn't that how it always is?), mostly getting stuff for DD's room, but also some clothes. Found a great store that sells Pottery Barn Kids rejects (items that were monogrammed, but for whatever reason not sold) for super cheap. I bought DD a suitcase ($10) and a backpack ($2.50) (for the next time we fly, now that she's old enough that we have to buy her a ticket, she gets her own luggage and carry on bag), and bought some super soft baby blankets for $3 a piece. I just checked their website, and the suitcase retails for $69, and the backpack and the blankets each go for $29! Now, I do have to use a seam ripper to remove the monograms, but for those prices, I really can't complain. Movie night, anyone?

The reason I bought the blankets is our ward primary is collecting blankets to donate to some area hospitals. Apparently they're (the hospitals and parents) so strapped financially that some babies are being sent home in newspapers! They can't even give away one blanket per baby. Very sad. One of the primary counselors heard about it, and they decided we needed to do something about it. Everyone's supposed to bring at least one blanket to donate, and I figured at that price I could buy several. It definitely helped me appreciate how much we really do have- even when we've been 'broke', we could still afford proper clothing and bedding for our daughter.

Ok, almost caught up. We went for a run today, but it was so windy I only ran about a mile. We were running into the wind, and the wind was being scooped up by the stroller (DD didn't like that too much), creating a lot of resistance, so I didn't feel too bad about stopping and walking the rest of the way. Today my mom told me about a 50 mile bike ride that the Scouts are doing at the end of the summer. My brother is quite excited about it, and he and a friend who live not too far away started training for it today (they have to do so many rides of various lengths to work up to it), and I think I'll go ahead and do it as well. Between the two triathlons, the 50 mile bike ride, and the marathon, I'm really making a concerted effort to get in shape this summer. Now if I can just control my eating so I can lose weight...

Swimming, Take Two

I swam laps again today. I almost didn't- I've been detoxing (something I have to do every once in awhile because of the systemic yeast infection I have), which always makes me feel crummy and less than motivated. In reviewing this week's schedule, though, there wasn't any other time I could go, so it had to be today. Once I actually got in the car and got going, it wasn't so bad, it's just the getting started part that can be difficult. The swim went well: I only swam front crawl and backstroke (last time I did breast stroke as well), and managed to cut 3 minutes off my time. My goal is to be able to swim all 20 laps using just the front crawl. We'll see how quickly that happens. My breathing technique sucks and I need the backstroke laps to really catch my breath. I noticed today that when I was swimming backstroke I could actually think about other things, like what I was going to write in my blog today. When I was swimming the front crawl, however, it took all my concentration to swim and try to breathe without breathing in lots of pool water. I'm not the most coordinated person, that's for sure.

On the way home, I stopped and picked up my bike. I took it into a bike shop for a tune-up this past weekend. The front brakes have been rubbing (which is really annoying to listen to) and it hasn't been tuned-up since about a month after I bought it more than a year ago. I'm biking tomorrow, so I'll get to see if they did a good job or not.

Thanks to Kimberly at http://kimstemplatetesting2.blogspot.com/ for all her help with the layout of this blog.

Cycling on a windy day

Triathlon training update: I realized today that I've done the full distance for the swim, I'm up to two of the three miles I need for the run, but I've only done five of the twelve I need for the cycling portion. So instead of the swim I had originally planned on, I went for a bike ride. I have a five mile loop I usually do, and starting out, I planned to do the loop twice. Once I got going though, I realized how windy it was, and decided to do the loop once and then do my running loop (four miles), for a total of nine miles. I'm not sure that doing the four mile loop was better than doing the five mile loop, the wind was so bad. It could have been worse, though. At least I didn't have DD in the bike trailer behind me- she was taking a nap while my mom watched her. Both loops have some pretty tough hills. They're not super steep, they're just long- they go on and on and on, which is killer on the legs. I really need to find a flatter course to ride. Either that or suck it up and keep going till I actually have some muscles. Decisions, decisions....

Swimming

Tuesday I swam laps at the local rec center. It turned out a lot better than I thought it would: I started with the goal of swimming ten laps, but after I did that and realized it had only taken me ten minutes I decided I could manage the full twenty I need for the triathlon. All told, it only took twenty minutes to swim twenty laps. Not too bad for someone who hasn't swum in years! Ok, so I'll admit that my form is crap, and I have to keep switching strokes every couple laps, and I can't swim a straight line even with the floating lane markers right next to me, but hey, I have to be able to improve in something, right? My main concern is the chlorine. I have a lot of chemical sensitivities and last time I tried swimming laps on a regular basis I had to quit after a week or so. It was an outdoor pool and I was still getting massive, splitting headaches. I'm only planning on swimming twice a week in the hopes that I won't have a repeat of that. If it becomes a problem, I can stop swimming laps and just hope for the best come race day. Not the best scenario, but doable as long as I'm not actually trying to be a competitive triathaloner.

Cross Training for the Marathon

I’m actually also training for two sprint triathlons that will take place before the marathon. I figure some good cross training should help me get in shape and avoid injury. They’re 500 M swim/12 mile bike/3.1 mile run. The first triathlon is June 7, and that’s the iffiest one- I haven’t swum laps in forever (and I'm not a real strong swimmer to begin with), and it’s now less than a month away. I’m going to have to work hard and pray for the best. The biking and the running I should do ok on- I’m training with DD in our bike trailer and our jogging stroller. Come race day, I’ll have a lot less resistance/weight to carry around, and that should help my endurance and speed. The next triathlon is in August (there’s actually one in July, too, but I’ll be out of town then), and I should do a lot better in that one. Then the marathon is the middle of September. After that, there’s some 5K and 10K trail runs and road races I plan on doing. Once winter comes, though, we’ll have to see if I can keep training. I need to: I can’t go November to April without exercising- it’s just not good for me physically or mentally. I may have to get some exercise equipment and workout indoors. I’ve been wanting a Bowflex Treadclimber, but they're on the expensive side. Hopefully when nasty weather comes again I'll find one on craigslist.

First goal: Run a marathon

It’s been on my list since I ran cross country in high school, but has never happened. I actually signed up for one some years ago, but we moved or something, and I didn’t end up training for it. That seems to have been the pattern- I’m injured (horrible shin splints), working too much to train, studying too hard to train, pregnant, nursing, recovering from a miscarriage, living at sea level (the marathon I’m running is in the mountains), or a combination of the previous reasons. This year I seem to be doing ok: no shin splints, I’m not working or in school, I’m not pregnant or nursing or recovering from a miscarriage, and I’ve moved back to a higher elevation. This is the time!

Last September I ran the Disneyland Half Marathon with my friend R. We trained with Team in Training and raised money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (go to http://www.leukemia-lymphoma.org/ to learn more and donate). It was very hot the day of the race, but we had a blast. I decided that the half is a good distance, but I still had to run a full marathon at least once so I could cross it off my list. I haven’t run much since because we moved just as I was coming off my (long) recovery period. We went from warm, sunny weather to freezing, snowy weather. I was used to walking 6 miles a day, 3 times a week, but that habit died quickly when faced with frigid weather. It’s finally warmed up and I’m exercising again, and it feels great!

One of my training partners and I

Why I started this blog

It seems that everyone I know has a blog these days, whether it's to update far-flung friends and family on the crazy antics of your children, to have an outlet for whatever deep thoughts may be left after having said children, or to show off some skill/hobby/etc that you try to keep up with in what little spare time you have left in each busy day. I would definitely like to have a blog to update family and friends about our cute DD, but with DH deployed, it's too big of a security risk to have too much personal info spread around. That being said, I thought I'd go the route of the deep thoughts blog, except I have no brain cells left, so my thoughts are rarely deep or plentiful. Since I actually want to post regularly, the only topic I could come up with that I could talk about was goals: what they are and how I'm working to achieve them. I've been evaluating my life lately and have realized I need to start making more progress in a variety of areas. In the future I will be talking about various goals I have and what I'm doing to accomplish them.

"An unwritten goal is nothing more than a wish" - Greg Phillips

As I've been setting up this blog, I've been writing posts, but haven't actually posted them because I wanted to get the format just right before I did that. However, it's taking me a lot longer than I thought it would to figure out how to make my blog look like I want it to (see afore-mentioned lack of brain cells; combined with OCD tendancies to want things just so). As a result I have to some catching up on posting, so there may be several a day till then.