6 Mile Run - Woot!

Saturday morning I logged my longest post-stress fracture run! I ended up running it solo because my team was meeting at a park that's a good 40 minutes from my house. I just couldn't justify driving 40 minutes there and back just to run for a little over an hour. Plus, I needed to get Rylie to a bday party in a town 20 minutes away by 10am, so I really needed to utilize my time wisely that morning. So instead, I hit up a trail near my house. (FWR, did you hit up the River Front Trail when you stayed at Argosy? That's the trail I ran on Saturday.) This allowed me to sleep in until 6:30am (rather than get up at 4:15 if I had gone to practice with the team). I've never ran there before, but I will definitely be hitting it up again. It's right by my house and actually a really nice little area. Several times during the run I wished I had my camera with me.

There were several high and low points of the run on Saturday:

HIGHS:

**It was my longest post-injury run (6 miles) and it felt GREAT! Took an ice bath when I got home and went about my day like normal. Wasn't even sore the following day.
**PERFECT running weather - low 70's with a cool breeze and mostly overcast, so no blazing sun.
**The trail is kind of elevated and out in the middle of an open area overlooking the highway and some large fields - nice view.
**The trail was pretty flat.
**Passed a pack of wild turkey while I was running.
**Passed several other runners that were all friendly and waved.
**Passed several mountain bikers. One in particular and I had crossed paths several times and at the end he totally flashed me a thumbs up - highlight of the morning! ;)

LOWS:

**I had a couple glasses of wine the night before and was therefore not properly hydrated. I took water with me, but left it in my car. About 2 miles in on my first out-and-back, I was totally regretting that decision. I had another 2 miles to go to get back to my car and I definitely had to stop to stretch out the tight & dehydrated muscles. I also had a little anxiety about not having water on my. I really think I need to get a hydration belt. I had my fuel belt with some Gu...but no water. :\
**I ran RIDICULOUSLY slow. Something about trails and the gravely pebbles makes me feel like I'm running in quick sand. Maybe it's just because I'm not used to it...but trails are just not my thing. Just to illustrate it for you, my 4 mile TM run on Thurs was an avg pace of 10:20 and my 6 mile trail run on Sat was 12:33 - WTF?? And the funny this is....even tho my pace SUCKED....it didn't really feel like it sucked. It actually felt pretty good at the time. So I'm not stressing over it. First "long" run in 4 months, so I'm okay with it. ;)

Anyway, the rest of the weekend was spent fundraising. After doing it for about 2 years, I've finally learned the key - take your adorable children with you! ;) Rylie is a money-making machine! And, she LOVES doing it! We did a "boot block" Friday night at the Wal-Mart near our house. (In case you don't know, this is just when you stand at a busy intersection with signs and buckets and people donate cash.) Anyway, I've never made so much money so quickly! And she had a blast! She kept begging to do it again on Saturday, but the weather wasn't so favorable. By the time we got out there, it started raining within 10 minutes, so we had to pack it up and go home. Yesterday we sold beads at the Wizards game and then did another boot block at Wal-Mart after that. Total for the entire weekend: $350!! Only about $1000 to go! And only 2 more weeks to do it....so, if you're feeling generous and would like to donate to The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, please check out My Fundraising Page.

I hope everyone has a great week ahead! It's supposed to rain/storm for the next 4 days here, which kind of puts a damper on my training. I can't swim if there's lightening...nor can I bike. And the stationery bike just isn't the same...but it looks like I've got a stationery bike/treadmill workout in my future. *Sigh* Oh well, better than nothing I suppose.

Saturday, August 15, 2009: 6 mile run

Running & Yoga!

Yesterday I ran on the treadmill for the first time in probably 5 months or so. I really don't care for the TM....but I also don't care for running in 90+ degree weather with added humidity. So...I didn't really have much of a choice. I did, however, pound out 4 miles in 41:22. Granted...I had no wind and no hills, but it does please me to be able to run a bit faster on the TM. (Hey, I never claimed to be speedy, people.)

After the run, I enjoyed about 45 minutes of yoga. Wished I could have done more....but I already went waaaaay over my allotted lunch time (which I made up at the end of the day).

Today I'm getting my colonic. And for the record, ever since all the recent discussion of parasites, I've hardly been able to eat a thing without gagging. Last night I watched my (almost 1 yr old, as of this coming Tuesday) baby sitting on the floor playing with her toys. The same floor that my dogs sit on. And I watched as she picked up toys and put them directly in her mouth. I cringed!!! THEN, this morning my husband took my bike out of my car for me since I'm going to pick the oldest up from my folks' house tonight and need room in the car for said child. Well, he didn't even take the bike into the garage...just directly into the living room. Yep, my parasite-infested bike tires are just hanging out on my living room floor...where we put the baby to play. *Shivers!*

Well, I probably won't be around much this weekend - lots going on. Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Thursday, August 13, 2009: 4 mi run (TM), yoga

P90X, Bike Rides, and......Parasites??!! EW!

Yesterday I was involved in a day-long conversation (via email) with Fair Weather Runner, the Self-Proclaimed Running DORK and Kristen the Running Lawyer about (you guessed it) PARASITES. After all the research I've done over the past few days, I'm pretty much convinced that I not only have parasites...but so does everyone else! From what I've read, you can get them from improperly washed fruits and veggies (Do you get veggies at restaurants? Do you know if they were washed properly??? And don't even get me started on salad bars!), undercooked meat (I love my steak medium rare and I *heart* me some SUSHI!!!), TAP WATER, you can even inhale pinworm eggs in the air you breathe, and other types of worms can enter through your bare feet - no open cuts needed...they just crawl directly through your skin!!! Are you grossed out yet??? Not to mention, if you have pets, your chances of getting parasites are even higher. Awesome...I have 3 animals living in my house. AND, roughly 80% of children have pinworms as they are super easy to contract and spread, so if you have children living in the home (as I do), your chances of having parasites are even higher. So, call me paranoid. Call me a hypochondriac. But I'm pretty positive that I have parasites, causing me extreme bloating as well as other gastrointestinal problems. And after all the reading I've done, I've learned that parasites are much harder to get rid of than I thought. Scary!

Sooooo.....if anyone has any insight they would like to share, I'm totally open to hearing about it! And I'm pretty sure that Fair Weather Runner, the Self-Proclaimed Running DORK will post a more entertaining blog about the discussion we had yesterday. ;) I also asked Amanda at Run to the Finish to blog about parasites as well...since she seems to be a plethora of health-related information and could probably shed some light on the subject. By the way, Amanda's got some great give aways going on right now, so go check 'em out!

Anyway, moving on from the "creepy crawlies," yesterday was a decent workout day for me. I did P90X (Arms & Shoulders and Ab Ripper). We cut the Arms & Shoulders workout short just a tad due to time contraints. Then after work, I headed over to the airport to enjoy a bike ride with my new friend Mike that I met at the airport last week. I put in 14.6 miles and could have kept going if I didn't need to get home to the fam. Having a buddy to ride with makes the ride so much more enjoyable. Plus, I like Mike. He's good people.

Today I'm doing the P90X Yoga workout - YAY!!! I'm so pumped! I haven't done yoga since the beginning of May since my yoga instructor moved away - sad. :( I also have a 4 mi run on the schedule...and with it being in the 90's today, I have a feeling it's gonna be a treadmill run - yuck! I'll be honest, I'm pretty much dreading it. I LOATH the TM. Haven't ran on it since March, I believe. It's soooooo booooooring. So, any words of encouragement are welcome! ;)

Wednesday, August 12, 2009: P90X Arms & Shoulders and Ab Ripper X, 14.6 mi bike

1500m Swim!

I dragged myself to the pool last night for a 1500m swim. Honestly, I wanted to quit after 800m. I told myself to make it 1200m. Once I got to 1200m, I told myself I might as well finish up with 1500m. I did it. It wasn't pretty, but I did it. 1500m is the distance I'll swim in my tri. I did it in about 40 minutes last night, but I have a feeling that won't be the case on race day. I'm sure I'll zig zag around, probably inhale water a couple times and choke, have a little anxiety, etc. I'm hoping to finish in under an hour on race day, but I guess we'll just have to see what that day holds.

Tonight I'm riding my bike up at the airport with the new friends I made last week. :) Then I need to try to raise some more money for The LLS. I have only about 2 weeks to raise $1500 - yikes! Here's another shameless plug, if anyone would like to donate go to: My Fundraising Page.

Tuesday, August 11, 2009: 1500m swim

Brick, Race for the Cure, and REST!

Hello, Bloggies! I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend! I had to take yesterday off to catch up on rest from mine!

My Saturday morning began at 3:30 am. My alarm was actually set for 4am, but a lovely text message woke me up at 3:30 instead...sigh. Anyway, I was loaded up and out the door before 5am. I had about a 45 minute drive down south for practice and needed to get my transition area set up prior to practice.

We started out with a half mile swim. It was interesting because we were swimming at Longview Lake and it's really shallow there. There were times when we were about 100 yards out and our hands or knees would hit the bottom, LOL. So we would get up and walk out a few more yards and then start swimming again. It was funny...looked like we were walking on water in the middle of the lake, LOL.

Next up was a 23.5 mile bike (our schedule only said 15 miles for Saturday...I love how the coaches sneak in extra miles!). It was a beautiful day for a bike ride. It was in the 80's with a nice breeze and only 1 killer hill (that we had to ride twice).

Last, but not least, was a 3 mile run. The run sucked the life out of me. My time was horrible, but it was so hot and humid and I was exhausted from the swim and bike. I sure hope I don't feel that zapped during the run on race day!

Anyway, overall, it was a good practice. Very close to the distances I'll be doing at Nations...minus another half mile swim and 3 mile run. I finally feel like I can actually DO it now, though. It may not be pretty and my time may suck, but I know that it can be done.

Sunday morning I joined the record-breaking 30,000 people for the Race for the Cure of Greater Kansas City. It was a HOT one, folks! Soooo hot, in fact, that I witnessed the heartbreaking event of an older man having a stroke. My stomach is still in knots over it...haven't been able to get it out of my mind ever since... :(

Rylie did the race too, but she mostly walked it with one of my friends. I PRed (according to my Garmin), but my chip time was longer.... probably because I stopped my Garmin at the 5K point, which was a good 3 blocks before the finish line. Oh well. My time wasn't spectacular and my splits were all over the place, lol. My first mile was 12:06. I like to blame the congestion of the crowds on that one, lol. My second mile was 10:02...and I even walked a huge hill at the end of it, so I must have been running pretty fast (well, fast for me). The last mile was 11:16. My Garmin says I finished in 34:34. Yeah, it's slow....but it was the first 5K I ran without Rylie, so it was faster by default, LOL. I also drank quite a bit of wine Saturday night, so I wasn't expecting much. I think I can only improve from here. ;)

Yesterday I took the day off to rest. I had worked out for 7 consecutive days and I think my body just really needed a rest. The weekend took it out of me.

Anyway, I hope everyone had a great weekend!

Saturday, August 8, 2009: 1/2 mi swim, 23.5 mi bike, 3 mi run

Sunday, August 9, 2009: 3.1 mi run

TGIF!

It's been an exhausting week, people! I had swimming on my schedule twice this week, but never made it to the pool, sigh. But I did 2 bike/run bricks, so I'm happy with that. The other 2 nights this week, I had stuff going on. I thought about going tonight...but I have a 6am practice tomorrow and I'll swim then (and bike and run), so I'm not too worried about it. I've done P90X every day this week too, so even tho I missed my swims, I'm not really feeling like a slacker by any means.

I've been doing some research on colon cleansing, parasites, and detoxes lately. I know a good detox would do me good. In fact, I did a great one last fall: Martha's Vineyard Diet Detox. I got it from the book 21 Pounds in 21 Days. I didn't do it for the full 21 days, because it doesn't involve EATING, which is pretty hard. It's a liquid/juicing detox. VERY beneficial and I would LOVE to try the full 21 days one of these days... But right now, while I'm training for endurance sports, this type of detox would not fit my lifestyle. I HAVE to eat to have the energy to train. That's not to say that there aren't other ways of cleansing, though. And that is why I just scheduled an appointment for my first colonic. Has anyone else ever had one? I've heard great things about them and I'm actually looking forward to getting "cleansed." :)

Well, I hope everyone has a great weekend! Here are my workouts for the last 2 days:

Thursday, August 6, 2009: P90X - Kenpo

Friday, August 7, 2009: P90X Back & Legs, Ab Ripper X

Foto Friday!

Okay, I suck cuz I still haven't uploaded the pics of FWR and me....guess you'll just have to wait. Sorry! I'm actually in town this weekend for the first time in 3 weeks, so hopefully I'll have some time to actually get on the computer for once.

In the meantime, I leave you with the following pics of my Little Nuggets from a couple weekends ago. The first pic is on the way TO the lake. The second is on the way HOME. ;) Enjoy!!

Makin Friends Everywhere I Go!

I made some new friends at the airport yesterday. That's just how I roll. :) I went out there right after work to do a quick bike/run. ("Quick" actually ended up being almost 2 hours. More on that in a bit.)

Anyway, as I was getting my bike out of the back of my car, I remembered my tires were pretty low. I scoured the parking lot to see if any cyclists were at their cars so I could try to bum an air pump off of someone. No such luck. So, just as I was about to take off, a man and woman rode right up to me. They were parked right next to me and were taking a water break. They were so friendly and the woman introduced herself before I even got a chance to ask if she had an air pump I could borrow (she did), so that was cool. We got to talking and they asked if I would like to ride with them.

I rode my first 2 laps with them and as we got to talking I found out that they both live near me. In fact, the guy lives right in my neighborhood. What a small world. Found out the guy is a former runner and the chick has done some tri's. How cool! She even told me I could meet up with her to swim in her neighborhood if I would like. So we exchanged email addresses before they left and then I went on for 2 more laps.

My schedule yesterday called for a 10 mile bike and a 2 mile run. Well, I ended up doing a 15 mile bike and a 3.3 mile run. The bike was pretty slow. I think because I was with people for the first half and we were chatting, which tends to slow you down. It was more of a casual ride, but enjoyable nonetheless. My last 2 laps were faster, but my avg speed was pretty low overall. It took an hour and 5 min to do 15 miles. My run was also pretty slow and I'm sure the heat was a factor. The arch of my foot kept cramping, so I had to keep stopping to stretch it out. I had 3 bottles of water while I was out there, but I was drenched in sweat and I'm sure the heat had a little something to do with the cramping.

I made sure to stretch really good when I finished up. So between the bike, run, and stretch, I was at the airport for over 2 hours. Not to mention that I did P90X yesterday on my lunch break too. We did the shoulders & arms workout which is an hour long...AND the ab ripper workout, which is another 15 minutes. So yeah...I basically worked out for 3 hours yesterday. Crazy. What's even crazier is that I'm not nearly as sore today as I thought I would be. But....I'm sure that will change as the day goes on, lol. I did take a cold bath as soon as I got home last night, so I'm sure that helped the legs. But I know my shoulders/arms will be feeling pretty stiff later on.

On the agenda for today: Kenpo - yay! <---one of my favorite P90X workouts! And some pool action after work. Have a great day, everyone! :)

Wednesday, August 5, 2009: P90X (Shoulders & Arms, Ab Ripper X), 15 mile bike, 3.3 mile run

P90X, Training, & Fundraising

Yesterday I did P90X over my lunch break. It was the Cardio X workout. The girls and I decided to start over on P90X this week and do the "Lean" program. Previously, we were working out with some guys here at work who were following the "Classic" program. It's a good program too, but we felt that "Lean" would be more appropriate for us. So we started Monday with Phase 1 and we're going to try to be more consistent over the next 12 weeks and hopefully we'll see results.

I didn't work out last night since I went to Happy Hour with my old boss instead. Wine & sushi was a lot more fun than swimming anyway. ;) BUT....the scale didn't quite agree with that this morning, sigh. Oh well, another bike & run in this crazy heat tonight should help out with that. Tonight is another brick. It'll be slightly cooler than it was on Monday, but the humidity is pretty crazy. I just need to make sure I'm staying properly hydrated throughout the day.

On another note, does anyone have any suggestions for fundraisers? I need something relatively simple that doesn't require a lot of planning/preparation. I need to raise just under $1600 for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society by the end of this month! Feel free to email me with any ideas at randyandashleyrobbins@yahoo.com. If you would like to donate, please check out My Fundraising Page. Thanks!!

Tuesday, August 4, 2009: P90X (Cardio X)

Most Productive Monday EVER!

Not only was yesterday a productive day at work AND home, but I also kicked a little ass with my workouts as well. :) I did P90X over my lunch break - Core Synergistics. Then I did an 11.2 mile bike ride, followed by a 2 mile "run" in the evening. Now, I have "run" in quotations cuz it wasn't a full-on run. I met up with a girlfriend of mine that signed up to do Race for the Cure this weekend and has never even run a mile in her entire life. I've been on her over the past several weeks to get out and run a little bit, so I told her I would meet up with her and walk with her when she needed to walk. She actually did a really great job. She ran the first half mile without stopping and at a pretty decent pace. Not to mention it was over 90 degrees out, so I think she was a total trooper!

What's interesting is that after an 11.2 mile bike ride in 90+ heat, I took off for my run and glanced down at my Garmin to notice that I was running WAAAAAY faster than I typically run. It immediately made me think of Mel's post yesterday. Why is it that after a bike ride, our runs begin at a much faster pace than if we were just running alone without the bike ride?? You would think it would be the other way around. The only answer I can come up with is that my average pace on my bike was 14.7 mph (yeah, I really need to work on speeding that up), so running 5 - 6 mph feels extremely SLOW compared to that, thus the body's need to feel like speeding up...?? Does that even make sense? I just found it to be strange. I had to force myself to slow down. I have a swim/bike/run coming up on Saturday, so it will be interesting to see what my pace is like then.

Tonight I'll be going to Happy Hour with my old boss (whom I ADORE), so no tri training tonight. Just a little P90X action at lunch again. Happy Tuesday! :)

Monday, August 3, 2009: P90X Core Synergistics, 11.2 mile bike, 2 mile run

July (and June) Stats

Okay, I never posted my June stats since I was pretty much out of commission that month. My surgery was June 5th, so obviously I didn't do a whole lot. AND, I wasn't technically released to begin working out again until July 20th. So...these months aren't going to look the best...but here they are:

June:

Cycling: 1 day, 15 miles
Walking: 2 days, 3.8 miles
Weight Training: 5 days (2 were P90X)
P90X: 3 days
Total Days of Cardio: 5
Total Days of Work Outs: 9

July:

Cycling: 1 day, 12.5 miles
Swimming: 5 days, 3550 m
Running: 5 days, 14.6 mi
Weight Training: 2 days
P90X: 4 days
Total Days of Cardio: 9
Total Days of Work Outs: 10

YTD Totals:

Cycling: 23 days, 247.15 miles
Swimming: 20 days, 17,100 m
Running: 39 days, 144.6 miles
Weight Training: 41 days
Yoga: 23 days
P90X: 7 days
Misc Cardio: 12 days
Total Days of Cardio: 85
Total Days of Work Outs: 111

Just a little side note: July was my best month of swimming so far this year! I'm pretty pleased with swimming 5 times...so I'm gonna try to keep that streak going. Obviously, looking at these figures, it is very clear to me that I need to get on my BIKE, stat! Good think I have a bike/run scheduled for tonight.

Here's looking forward to a great July! :)

Catching Up

It's been a few days and I have lots to blog about. First off, I finally got to meet up with Fair Weather Runner, the Self-Proclaimed Running DORK last Thursday. What was originally supposed to be a lunch date turned into a super fun night of dinner, drinks, & silliness. I wanted to post pics to accompany this blog post...but I've been on the go the past several days and haven't had time to upload anything yet. I'll get to it tho...I promise. :)

Friday the fam and I headed back to the lake for one last weekend before Labor Day. I realized on Friday that we have plans EVERY weekend from now until November except for 1! Craziness!!! My workouts over the weekend didn't go according as planned. When I got to my mom & dad's Friday night, I had intended to take my sister's bike out for a spin. Well, she had 2 flats and no air pump. Fail. I also planned to get some open water swimming done out at the lake...but alcohol interefered with that plan. Double fail. BUT, I did get a nice little 2.85 mile run in Saturday morning. I had some pain again, but it was in BOTH legs and I'm really thinking it's shin splints and not a re-injured stress fracture. So...that's good, but not great. More on that later.

Anyway, we just got back into town last night and I'm pretty wiped out. PLUS, I've got a hectic work out schedule this week that I really hope to stick to. Nations Tri is just 6 weeks away! Plus....I saw a number on the scale this morning that made me want to cry. Which leads me to seek out opinions: any advice on how to lose weight while also training for endurance events? The problem I'm running into is that it's hard to cut calories when I need the energy to swim/bike/run. In addition, my body needs the carbs for energy...but it's the carbs that also seem to stick to my body. Advice??

And while we're on the subject of advice....can anyone give me some 411 on compression socks? I've been wondering if they would help with my calf/shin issues? Advice??

I'll have a separate post later with my monthly totals for July. They won't be pretty, but I was still recovering from surgery...so at least I have an excuse. ;)

Saturday, August 1, 2009: 2.85 mile run

Should FWR Be Taught A Lesson??

So....did anyone happen to read Fair Weather Runner, the Self-Proclaimed Running DORK 's blog post yesterday about us getting together today? If not, you should go read it right now. THEN you should let me know if I should go ahead and wear this get up when I meet up with her in an hour? Cuz I'm thinking:

A) This little you-know-what needs to be dealt with. ;)

and

2) I really can't wait to see the look on her face when I show up wearing this. LOL....priceless. ;)

Samsonite! I was WAY off!!!

So, I had all intentions of a 4 mile run yesterday after work. Let me start off by saying that running at 3pm in July is probably not the brightest idea. And even tho it was *only* 77 degrees out yesterday, which is unseasonable cool for the midwest, it was still humid and I was not properly hydrated at all. In fact, earlier in the day, I had just told my friend at work that I had been SO BUSY at work that I didn't even have time to pee, therefore, I also had no time to keep hydrated the way I normally do. I probably had less than 48 oz of water during my entire workday as opposed to a typical 96 or so oz.

Anyway, I headed out to the downtown airport to run the loop out there (3.6 miles). It's a pretty flat area and one of my favorite spots to run. Plus, it is RIGHT on my way home from work.

Well, I knew at the end of the first mile that I was not well hydrated and should probably turn around and head back to my car rather than finish the entire loop. But I was stupid...and kept on going. Once I turned the corner, things took a turn for the worse. The cool breeze I had been running into on the way up the loop was gone. It was hot, humid, and I was dragging. Not to mention that my left leg started to give a familiar pain. :( I'm *hoping* it's just shin splints. I'm *fearing* it may be my stress fracture. Needless to say, I walked pretty much the rest of the way around the loop. How disappointing. I had a great 4 mile run last week and thought that I was getting my groove back. And yesterday I probably didn't even run 2 whole miles of the loop.

I'm gonna feel it out over the next few days. Rest, ice, etc. I really do hope it's just shin splints since I just started running again after being off for 2 months. I really can't afford another injury. I've already registered for Nations and I'm doing it no matter what, even if I have to walk the run portion. But it's just disappointing to think I may have an injury again.

At this point, I'm really thinking I need to invest in a stride coach. It's not cheap, but if my form is getting me injured, I need to make the investment to correct it. I'll follow up more on that later.

In other news, Fair Weather Runner, the Self-Proclaimed Running DORK is headed my way today and we're going to do lunch! How exciting, my first bloggie meet up - woot! I feel a pic for Friday Foto coming on....!!! :)

Wednesday, July 29, 2009: 3.6 mile run/walk

It's a Busy Time of Year!

Sooo busy, in fact, that it's been challenging finding time to squeeze in my workouts! Between work meetings, going out of town, and multiple activities in the evenings, it's definitely been a challenge. We were out of town Thurs - Sun, but I still managed to do a little. Here are's how I rounded out the last bit of last week:

Wednesday, July 22, 2009: P90X

Thursday, July 23, 2009: 4 mile run

Saturday, July 25, 2009: 1/2 mile swim

The swim was at the lake and it wasn't the best swim ever. I had some anxiety in the open water, which isn't uncommon...but it was my first time to attempt an open water swim without anyone (people or boats) near me. I was just swimming from buoy to buoy. Not the best idea. My wetsuit was choking me, which started the anxiety. Then I started having horrid thoughts of random snapping turtles...lol. Soooo, needless to say, when I attempt another open water swim at the lake again this weekend, I'll make sure to have my dad in the boat along beside me "just in case." The security of having someone near makes it so much better.

Unfortunately, today is Wednesday and I haven't worked out all week. I've just had too many things come up - meetings, lunch dates, plans in the evening, etc. But it's all good. I have plans to have dinner & a movie with a girlfriend tonight...but I'm going to run right after work and then shower before we have to meet up. Tomorrow I'll have to squeeze in a quickie right after work again, but it's do-able. Friday we are going out of town again, so I may not have time on Friday unless I run that night once we get to said destination. We'll just see...

The past weekend was a BLAST! We had our annual lake party and we had a really good turn out. I'll try to post some pics later this week or next when I get some time. This morning I attended a talent show at Rylie's school where she performed a gymnastics routine (I had to take an early "lunch" in order to attend). She did such a great job...but stupid me, I got there with the video camera in tow...but no disc. :\ Oh well, at least I was there.

In other news, has anyone heard of wellsphere.com? I received an email this morning inviting me to be a featured blogger for their triathlon community - how exciting! I'll write more about this later.

I hope everyone is having a great week!

ATTN: RUNNERS - Help A Great Cause!

Hey everyone, please take a moment to visit Fair Weather Runner, the Self-Proclaimed Running DORK's blog. She's on a mission to cover the feet of humans the world over...and YOU can help! Go check it out! :)

Guess Who's Back?

Back again...
Ashley's back.
Tell a friend.

(Are you singing a little Slim Shady yet??) ;)

I think I finally got my groove back - woot! Monday I did P90X (chest, shoulders, triceps - and I'm STILL sore!). Yesterday my running buddy Jen and I busted out a nice little run on our lunch break. Jen said the route we did was supposed to be 4 miles. The Garmin only read 3.5...but it did lose signal several times since we're downtown in the middle of all these tall buildings. I don't think it was 4 miles cuz we did it in just under 40 minutes and we are slow runners - there's no way we were busting out a sub 10:00 mile pace! So....I'm thinking it was around 3.75 miles. Not bad, considering it's only my 3rd run back and I just started running again a week ago. I was quite pleased with myself. It was just a good run overall - it was a cool/rainy day out and we really pulled off a good run, even with all the hills.

THEN -brace yourselves- I even made it to the pool again last night! I went right after work and pulled off a 1000m swim - yay! I was exhausted last night after 2 heavy workouts, plus all the running around I did (picking up the kids, taking Rylie to gymnastics, getting groceries, etc). But I'm feeling very accomplished!

Not sure if I'll be able to squeeze in a workout today or not... I have a pretty hefty day at work and tonight is going to be crazy. Randy has a final, so he won't be home until late. I've gotta get both kids, get them fed, make food for this weekend, and start packing. We are leaving right after work tomorrow for my parents' annual Shrimp Boil at the lake - it's an all out food/booze/muz(ic) fest - SO PUMPED!!!! Maybe I'll even see a few of you there....?? (Running DORK and Running Lawyer, this means YOU!!!) :) Oh, and the beauty of going to the lake for 3 days is that I'll get plenty of open water swimming time!! **hopefully**

By the way, I had my post-op follow-up appt on Monday and my doctor said everything looks GREAT and I'm officially released to go back to my old routine....I mean, I was starting to ease back into it anyway, but now it's OFFICIAL - yay!

Hope everyone is having a great week!!! :)

NOTE: Has anyone else notice the shift in my mood since I started working out again? I just noticed how many smilies I had in this post....LOL! :)

Monday, July 20, 2009: P90X (chest, shoulders, triceps and ab ripper x)

Tuesday, July 21, 2009: 3.75 mi run, 1000m swim

Plyo, Brick,& Girls Night - WOOT!

Yesterday I did the P90X plyometrics workout. It was fun, plus I was in good company with my workout buddy Jen. :) Last night was date night (we RARELY get these, so they are cherished!). I think this is maybe the third? date night we've had since Harper was born and she's 11 months old today. LOL. Anyway, we enjoyed a nice Italian dinner at Lucia's in Liberty (I had AMAZING seafood stuffed ravioli - YUM!!!) and then we went to see The Hangover - GREAT flick!

We didn't get home until after 10pm last night, yet I was still able to get my butt up by 4:15 this morning...got fueled & out the door by 5am, made it to practice by 5:45 and had my transition area ready to go and was in the lake by 6am. I'm a rockstar. ;) (Oh, and if you're keeping track, this is the THIRD time I've swam this week - a new record, people!!!)

Anyway, today's practice was a 1/4(ish) mi swim, 12 mi bike, 3 mi run. I kicked some ass with the swim - I was the FIRST one done! Don't know how that happened, but I'll take it! Amongst the other swimmers were 2 Ironmen (one of them has completed 4!!) and my friend that just did his first oly tri a few weeks ago. So, needless to say, I felt pretty good about the swim.

As for the bike, I'm usually in the middle of the pack. Nothing to brag about, but it was good to be on the bike again. I've only gotten in a few rides recently, so I needed it. Plus, it was a BEAUTIFUL day out for a bike ride/run.

Now, mind you I just ran for the first time this week since my stress fracture and surgery. So my coach told me to def not go for 3 miles with the rest of the team. She really wanted me to just do 1, so that's what I did. I had to walk a bit too...and my legs totally felt like jello after the bike. But in the end, it felt GREAT to have another swim/bike/run under my belt. I'm finally getting back in the game. :)

Now I need to go make some snacky snacks cuz I'm meeting up with my girlfriends for a day at the pool with adult beverages, followed by dinner and a movie. Hope everyone is having a great weekend!! :)

Friday, July 17, 2009: P90X Plyometrics

Saturday, July 18, 2009: 1/4 mi swim, 12.5 mi bike, 1.25 mi run

Oh Mommy, Oh Daddy, I Am A Big Ol' Baddy!

*dances around*

So, either I made it to the pool again last night or else Gloria Estefan was right...eventually the rhythm IS going to get you... ;)

Brace yourselves, bloggies: I made it to the pool again last night! 2 days in a row - woohoo!!! :) AND I did P90X Arms & Shoulders yesterday too. That's right, Stella's got her groove back! ;)

Thursday, July 16, 2009: P90X Arms & Shoulders, 800m swim

JoBros, Yo!

So, thanks to my homie Fair Weather Runner, the Self-Proclaimed Running DORK, I got the opportunity to enter my 6-year-old in a contest to win Jonas Brothers tickets here in KC. To enter, you have to submit an essay in 96 words or less (the radio station is 96.3) on why you are their biggest fan. I entered the following in Rylie's words:

"OMG, the JoBros are SOOOO awesome! Nick is my fave cuz he dated Miley and she's like totally my hero! I'm their biggest fan cuz I have JoBro EVERYTHING, even a lunch box. I know the words to all their songs and rock out to them with my BFFs Mannon and Henley. One time I saw the Jonas Brothers walking down the street with a pizza. My daddy said it wasn't them...but I know it was. Cuz I'm their biggest fan, so I know what they look like. Please pick me - I LOVE JoBros! "

Wish us luck!!!! :)

PS

In honor of running again, I went ahead and registered for the Komen Race for the Cure this morning. :) Yeah, it's under 4 weeks away....but it's just a 5k and it's just for fun. AND I CAN'T WAIT TO RACE AGAIN!!!!! Woohoo!!!!!! :)

I Rock

Why, you ask? Well other than the fact that I'm just plain bad ass in general (LOL), I also rock cuz I got my bootie to the pool last night!! That's right, I'll take my bow now.

First, let me explain that I used to swim at a pool right near my house. Let me back up and explain that I have a lifetime membership to 24 Hour Fitness. Randy and I got a really good deal 4 years ago and paid a lot of money up front, but now only pay $20 a year to renew for life. We can work out at ANY 24 Hour Fitness, so if we go on vaca or move or whatever, our memberships our transferable. Well, the 24 HF near our house does NOT have a pool. When I started training for my tri, I searched near and far for a pool near me....but everywhere wanted to charge me for a full gym membership just to swim laps a couple nights a week. Um....I've already paid my life time fee for 24HF and really don't care to pay another monthly fee on top of that, esp when places were asking $30 - $40 a month just so I could swim twice a week.

Well, I finally found a pool in Gladstone (about 3 miles from my house) that let me in on a good deal. Basically, they let me purchase a "Corporate Challenge" pass that is basically a punch card that allows access only to the pool for $4 a session (yes, I realize this can add up and end up being around $30 a month anyway.....but I never REALLY made it to the pool THAT often.....and when I did, most of the time they didn't even check my card, therefore I got in several times for FREE). The only thing is that Corporate Challenge was the last week of June, so the pass expired then. If I wanted to continue using their pool, I would have to purchase the $40/month membership. F that. Initially, since my original tri was supposed to be June 28th, that was a perfect deal. But now that I've transferred my event, I've had to find a new place to swim.

I finally figured I would just have to drive to a different 24HF in the city that has a pool. The only thing with swimming is that actually getting to the pool is most of the battle. Sooo....I've come up with a plan. On the days I plan to swim, I'll just take all my gear to work and then head to the pool directly from work. That way I don't have to worry about going home and getting too tired to leave the house again. So that's what I did yesterday. I found a 24HF that's only 10 miles from work (20 miles from home). I was under the impression that I was going to have to pay a little to upgrade since my membership is to a 24HF Active and this gym was a 24HF Sport (meaning they have more amenities than my gym), but the guy didn't charge me anything - even better!

I was pleasantly surprised to discover that swimming was not nearly as difficult as I had expected after a 6+ week hiatus. In fact, it was waaaaay easier than when I first started swimming a few months back. The only thing was that I had planned to swim 800m last night, but stopped short at 650m cuz I forgot my earplugs in my other bag and the water was really getting to my ears. Had it not been for that, I would have been able to knock out 800m easily.

Anyway, I'm meeting up with my new tri team tonight for the first time for a group swim practice. I'm excited to finally meet my team. They've been practicing together for a month already while I've been in recovery. So, hopefully they don't all blow me out of the water....literally. ;)

Wednesday, July 15, 2009: 650m swim

Let's Give 'Em Something to Blog About....

So, over the past few months, my workouts have been few and far between. I mean, between my stress fracture and surgery, I haven't been able to do much. I started doing P90X a few weeks ago and my body quickly told me it was too soon. Then last week I ended up with a wretched case of bronchitis. But, I'm pleased to announce that this week I am finally back in the game!

Yesterday I did P90X with a group (I think there were 6 of us) at work. It was the Cardio X workout. Then at the end of the day, I decided it was time for a RUN! I met up with my friend Jen after work and we put in 2 miles. It was my first run since the Mothers Day 5K and also my first run with Gigi (my new Garmin....which happened to be a Mothers Day gift). We had to walk a couple times, which I expected my first time back. Between the heat, the humidity, the wind, the hills, and the fact that I haven't ran in over 2 months, I was pleased to finish in under 24 minutes. Best pace was 8:37 (down hill, of course). Overall, it felt great to be back. My lungs were burning, I'm not going to lie. The heat was killer. But hey....I RAN, and that's what counts.

Reality hit me Monday as I realized that my tri is in exactly 2 months and I've been out of the training circuit for awhile. I need to get my ass in gear and really focus. I've been saying this for weeks, but I really REALLY need to get my butt to the pool at least twice a week from here on out. Starting today. So, feel free to hold me accountable. Email me. Comment on my blog. Call, text, FB, whatever....just make sure I'm getting to the pool!

Anyway, hopefully I'll have more frequent workouts to report from here on out. I still haven't even posted my June totals yet...not that there's much to report, but I'd like to have a record of it for my own benefit. I'll try to get on that.

Tuesday, July 14, 2009: P90X (Cardio X), 2 mile run

By the way, yesterday was an amazing day in history, folks. MTV finally released The State on dvd after 15ish years! It was a happy, happy day in the Robbins household fo sho!

Foto Friday - 4th of July Style!

Okay, bloggies, for your viewing pleasure, I present to you: Friday Foto, 4th of July style!!

***All pics are going to be at the end due to some uploading issues I'm having**

First, we have a pic of Randy, Rylie, and me on our new water toy - FUNNEST.TOY.EVER.

Next we have Harper ready for her turn. ;)

A pic of both my little nuggets.

A pic of Coop Doggy Dogg.

And.....as promised, a pic of me & Ry sporting the pink hair. ENJOY!! :)

P90X, Bike Ride, Thoughts

I did P90X again on Friday. We did the legs & back workout and the ab ripper x. I could barely walk all weekend, LOL. After doing P90X 3 days last week, I've decided I'm going to take it easy for another week. Friday marked 3 weeks post surgery. I'm not supposed to engage in any strenuous activity for 4 - 6 weeks, so last week was clearly too soon. I've had some bleeding since then that has told me I need to cool it a bit. Hopefully after the holiday I can jump back in there. For this week, I'm going to focus on light biking...and swimming - for the first time in a month!!

Saturday morning I got up and went for a 15 mile bike ride at the down town airport. My legs were super sore from P90X on Friday, so it helped loosen them up a bit. The ride took just over an hour with an average pace of 14.4 mph. The down town airport is pretty flat, but there was a strong head wind on Saturday. There was one small straight away on the west side heading north where it was calm. In that spot, my speed was typically 19 - 22 mph. But the rest of the loop was generally 11 - 14 mph. Man, that wind was brutal. It was also pretty hot out and near the end of my second loop, I saw an ambulance pull out of the parking lot with sirens on as a group of cyclists stood watching. I wonder if someone suffered from heat exhaustion, dehydration, or a crash..?

Sunday was spent in recovery from the wedding Randy and I attended the night before. In all the years I have been with my husband, I have never, ever, ever, EVER seen him as wasted as he was Saturday night. WOW. Let's just say he vomited in a center piece, threw glass vases out the window of a moving vehicle, and urinated on the carpet in our bedroom. LOL...never a dull moment. If you know Randy, you know he's good people with a laid back temperment and typically doesn't drink that much...so this was all very out of character for him. But entertaining, nonetheless.

I hope everyone is having a good week!! I will be lake side in 48 hours - woot!!!

Friday, June 26, 2009: P90X legs & back, ab ripper x

Saturday, June 27, 2009: 15 mile bike ride

P90X - It's No Joke!

Okay, I did 2 more P90X workouts yesterday and let me tell you - WOW!!! I did it with my girlfriend and 2 guys at work and one of the guys said he started to see results about 2 weeks in. He said you just start dropping weight like crazy due to the muscle confusion. I really hope this works! I'm going back down today to do another workout with one of the guys. Next week I hop to start swimming again too. :)

Thursday, June 25, 2009: P90X Shoulder & Arms, Ab Ripper X

By the way, I didn't get a chance to get any pics of me & Ry with the pink hair, but I will def get some over the weekend. Have a great weekend everyone!!! :)

Workouts - what??

So, I still have a few weeks to go before I can get back into training. But as most of you know, it is soooo hard to not do something that you love. Don't worry, I'm not running. In fact, I haven't done any biking or swimming either, tho I probably will start to ease back into that next week. But I have managed to do a little this week as I have been ridiculously stir crazy!! So, here are my "workouts" (if you can call them that) for the past few days:

Saturday, June 20, 2009: 2.5 mile walk (took about 40 minutes, avg pace = 17:04)

Tuesday, June 23, 2009: light weight lifting (focusing on arms, back, shoulders)

Wednesday, June 24, 2009: P90X Kenpo (1 hour video - kickboxing)

The P90X video was probably way more intense than what I should be doing right now...but it was so much fun and such a great workout! Once my girlfriend gets back from her honeymoon in a couple weeks, we plan on doing the full P90X series. I am definitely sore from the Kenpo video from yesterday.

In other news:

Miley Cyrus is coming to town October 3rd and I am pleased to announce that I am the proud owner of 2 tickets. They will be Rylie's birthday present and the look on her face is going to be worth the extreme price we paid for them. I am SOOO going to be Mommy of the Year with these babies! The only downfall is that Rylie's birthday is not for another 2 months and I have to keep these tix a secret for that long. Sigh....

MORE "other news" - yesterday I made a trip to the hair salon to get a few pink extensions put in my hair A) cuz pink is my favoritest color in the world and 2) I like to mix it up a bit and do something different from the norm from time to time. Well, needless to say, as soon as I picked Rylie up from school, she promptly stated that she too would like pink hair. Soooo, being the cool mom that I am, I drove back to the salon and got a pink extension put in my 6-year-old's hair. She's even more of a diva now than before. But she really does look cute. I'll try to get some pics up tomorrow.

Work has been crazy busy this week...but I prefer crazy busy to long and slow any day. I've got some new projects coming my way, which I'm VERY excited about! I left work yesterday with a great sense of accomplishment and a very clear head. I wish I could say more...but I'm sure it would just bore all of you anyway. ;)

I hope everyone is having a wonderful week!! If any locals would like to get together for a walk, a light bike ride, or even some swimming, feel free to hit me up email stylee. **Amanda, this means YOU!! Or anyone else that is interested...** :)

Friday Foto!

Ah, my bloggie friends, it feels good to be back! I know I've been on a bit of a hiatus, but that's because my workouts have been on a bit of a, well, hiatus. I'm still recovering from my surgery, so I really don't have a whole lot of excitement to post about, but I do have some pics to contribute to Nikemom's Foto Friday!

Last weekend our family enjoyed a soccer-filled Saturday at the KC Wizards game. The afternoon was spent tailgating and the evening was spent watching KC kick New England's ass, 3-1. Here are some pics, for your viewing pleasure:


Here's the fam, sitting on the berm. Notice Ry's visor tilt. She's a little thug on the rise. (Srsly, I don't know where she gets this...??)

Here's a pic of the hubs (white jersey) playing boccer. Yes, boccer = BEER SOCCER. Clever, eh?


Here's Ry, keepin in gangsta.

Here's a pic of Randy with the cutest little (guess I can't really use "little" to describe Harper, LOL) soccer fan. And wow...I just now noticed that Randy wore 2 different jersey's that day, 1 to play boccer in and 1 to the game. Wow...he's hardcore.

Okay, that's all for today. I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!! We will be lake-side for Fathers Day. I love having a father and a husband that choose the lake for Fathers Day - woot! Oh yes, and good luck to those racing this weekend!!!!!!

Shout Outs!!!

I just wanted to wish GOOD LUCK to everyone who is racing this weekend! A special shout out goes to my girls Fair Weather Runner, the Self-Proclaimed Running DORK and Kristen the Running Lawyer who are running the Rock Chalk...RUN 10K tomorrow - GOOD LUCK, LADIES!!!

To everyone else out there racing, good luck and HAVE FUN!!

Recovery Road

Hello, bloggies! It's been over a week since my last post....I think that's a record! Of course, not much to blog about in terms of training, but I'll go ahead and brief you with a life update:

I had my surgery last Friday. It went smoothly, for the most part. I'll spare you the details, but I came close to having a catheter for the weekend - yuck! In the end, I dodged that bullet...but it probably would have been for the best if I had gone ahead and kept the catheter in for the weekend. All the swelling in that area made peeing a bit of a challenge. :\

Anyway, I've been pretty sore and taking it easy for the most part. I felt fine most of the weekend, but Sunday night I broke out in some strange sort of rash. I returned to work on Tuesday and felt fine for the most part, but Wednesday I had to go home early. It's hit or miss...sometimes I'm feeling fine and other times I'm feeling less than fine. I'm hoping that will pass and I will be good to go soon. Today I'm definitely feeling sore, but I'm going to take some pain meds as soon as I get some food in the belly.

In other news, the official team training for the Nations Triathlon begins this weekend. I will, of course, be missing this training. I'm not going to lie, I'm pretty nervous about being ready for this tri. It's an olympic distance and it's only 3 months away...and I won't be training again for another month. I really hope I can get to where I need to be in 2 months! It's a lot of pressure and I really don't want to re-injure myself. I'm a little stressed about it...

In other news, my best friend at work was let go last week. It's been really depressing for me. We were hired together 5 years ago, went through training together, and are good friends outside of work too. He's been like my little brother for the past 5 years and during this time we have spent our days IMing eachother throughout the day, we have gone to breakfast together every morning, and taken our breaks together everyday. My work life will not be the same and it's very depressing....

I've honestly been pretty blue lately. Not being able to work out at all is depressing enough. I need those endrophins, dammit. I haven't been able to pick Harper up either, and that's been depressing as well. In all honesty, I'm just feeling very lonely... I feel like many sources of happiness in my life are missing and I really want to try to stay positive, but right now it's just hard... When you have kids, it seems that your friends stop calling to hang out. And when you're injured, you can't hang with your running/cycling buddies... And when your work BFF gets fired, there's really no one left. Just definitely experiencing the blues right now....

If...

you had a package of something and it read "0mg caffeine," would you take that as it has NO caffeine (or 0 milligrams, if you will)...or as "Oh...my...god - caffeine! There's a buttl0ad in here!" Cuz I took it as the latter...which was apparently wrong. LOL

I forgot...

...to post that I had an 18 mile bike ride on Friday. I just did it at the downtown airport since it's flat out there, so less pressure on the stress-fractured leg that I'm not supposed to be doing anything on... :\ It was beautiful out and a pretty pleasant ride, other than the strain on my neck/shoulder that always bothers me from the 2 herniated discs in my neck. The ride took about an hour and 15 min. Average speed = 14.7 mph

Friday, May 29, 2009: 18 mi bike ride, weight training

May Stats

Well, due to injury and not being able to run for the past 3 weeks, my stats for May are not that great (sigh). I took an ENTIRE week off from working out completely, so it's not surprising that my figures aren't the best for the month of May. And sadly, they will be even more pathetic for June since I'll be having surgery on Friday and will be pretty much laid up for the entire month. BUT, I am proud to report that I had the best month of swimming so far this year - at least I have a PR in there somewhere, lol! And what's funny is the fact that I only swam 4 days of the month, but in those 4 day I just happened to put in more laps than normal. Plus I did that bad ass open water swim over Memorial Day weekend, so at least I have a little bit to be proud of.

Anyway, here's my totals for May:

Cycling: 5 days, 51.1 miles
Swimming: 4 days, 4650 m
Running: 4 days, 15.1 miles
Weight Training: 7 days
Yoga: 1 day (I need to find another place that offers yoga since I no longer have it at work....)
Misc Cardio (I just added this for elliptical, walking, stair stepper, etc since I will be having more of these days due to injury/being unable to run): 3 days
Total Days of Cardio: 13
Total Days of Work Outs: 15

And now, Year-To-Date Totals:

Cycling: 21 days, 219.65 miles
Swimming: 15 days, 13,550 m
Running: 34 days, 130 miles
Weight Training: 34 days
Yoga: 23 days
Misc Cardio: 10 days
Total Days of Cardio: 71
Total Days of Work Outs: 92

Happy training to everyone and HAPPY JUNE - welcome to summer!!! :)

Good News, Bad News, and Acceptance

Okay, I've been trying to find time to post this, but I just haven't had much of that lately. ....you'd think I would since I'm no longer in training... :\

ANYWAY, I'm going to make this brief, but wanted to at least leave an update cuz I'm might be away for awhile... not that I'm going anywhere, but I'm taking a break from training for obvious reasons, so I won't really have much to report.

First, the good news: over the weekend I had my first open water swim - yay! I went to the lake that my parents have their lake house at and swam almost the entire length of the lake - woot!! I'm estimating it was close to a mile, but I'll be sure to take my Garmin next time we go to be sure. AND it only took about 30 minutes!! Waaaay faster than I anticipated! That was a great experience and it's funny that it happened on a holiday weekend cuz as it turns out, TONS of people saw me doing it, LOL. I posted about it on my facebook page and I've gotten several comments from people that saw me - awesome! ;)

Other news: I transferred my tri to the Nations Triathlon in Washington, DC on September 13. I do have to raise about $1500 more, which I'm slightly nervous about. I will also only be on a 3 month training program as opposed to the current 5 month program I'm on. This also makes me nervous. Yes, I know I have built up a good fitness level to go off of....but I'm about to lose that, and you'll find out why in just a sec... But the other good news is that my mom is going to go with me and that excites me to no end!

The "bad" news: okay, it's not really bad, so don't freak out. But I'm going to be having surgery next Friday, the 5th. I have some "woman issues" that need to be addressed and I have been putting it off until after my tri. Since that is all on hold, now is the time so that I can get back in and train for Nations after I recover from the surgery. The thing that really sucks though is that I will be completely unable to work out AT ALL for at least 4 weeks following the surgery. Not just running, but no biking, no swimming, no weight lifting, NOTHING. This is scary to me, folks! We're talking about losing a lot of ground that it took quite awhile to gain... But in the end, while I'm already injured, I might as well use this time wisely and go ahead and have the surgery I've been needing to have.

So, there ya have it - I've been looking forward to summer for MONTHS now, and now that it's here I'm stuck sitting on my ass instead of outside running and biking. :( I'm completely petrified that I'm going to lose my fitness level and not be able to be back in shape in time for Nations. I'm also scared to death that I'm going to GAIN a ton of weight when I should be losing it. I'm having a lot of mixed emotions right now, but I'm trying to maintain focus on the fact that everything happens for a reason and there is a reason that I won't be doing the tri in 4 weeks.

With all that said, I want to extend a HUUUUUGE THANK YOU to everyone for all the wonderful and supportive comments you have left me throughout all of this!! I appreciate everyone being encouraging on my last post, yet also respecting the fact that I wasn't quite up to hearing how everything will be fine just yet. You guys are all such a great group of people and I'm lucky to have all of you around to remind me that injuries are not the end of the world and that I'm strong enough to bounce back from all of this.

I'm sure I'll be around over the next 6 weeks....just with not much exciting to post about. But you can bet your asses I'll be stoked to post about my first RUN next month!!! To the rest of you out there training, racing, or just rocking out by being yourselves this summer - best of luck to you all!! I will be living vicariously through all of you! :)


Saturday, May 23, 2009: 1 hour weight lifting, 1 mile swim

Tuesday, May 26, 2009: toning, crunches

Wednesday, May27, 2009: abs/crunches

These Are The Breaks

Okay, so you may have noticed (or maybe not) that I've been MIA for over a week. I took some time off from training, mostly so I could wallow in my self pity that's been brewing for some time now. But I can also justify my 7 day hiatus with the fact that last week I had a sinus infection, accompanied by some wretched allergies. It was also "down week" with my work out classes here at work, meaning it was the week off between the 8 week sessions. So, with feeling crappy, having no classes available, and not being able to run while waiting to see the orthopedic surgeon, it all equated in me not working out for a week. After the Mother's Day 5K, I realized I had worked out every day for a week straight and needed a day of rest. Well....that day turned into 7. But I returned to my regimine (sort of) on Monday of this week.

Let me start off by saying that I have not gone 7 days in a row without training/working out in some manner since I was on maternity leave after having Harper and was not yet released by my doctor to work out. Yes, I've taken a few days off for being sick or whatever, but not a full week. That's just not me. But I've been down, stressed, concerned about injury, and, well, just not myself lately.

Last week I finally saw the ortho about my left leg. He took x-rays, which turned out fine, and then we discussed my injury. He said it sounded like your typical text-book description of a stress fracture and referred me to get an MRI (this past Monday). I finally got the results this morning and that dreaded call confirmed what I've been fearing for weeks: I DO, in fact, have a stress fracture in my left fibula.

What does this mean? Well, it means that the olympic tri that I have been training for all year is a no-go. It means a walking cast for the next 6 weeks. It means no running, or even biking, for the next 6 weeks. It means that I ran a half marathon with a stress fracture...and then 3 more races the following 3 weekends in a row, with a stress fracture. It means that everything that I have been working for this year is on hold. And yes, I do realize there will be other races. I realize that I need to take care of myself so that I can heal properly and so I don't re-injure myself. I realize it's not the end of the world and I realize that things could be a lot worse. But for right now, in this very moment, I am devastated. I feel like my dreams just got yanked out from under me. I'm disappointed and upset, and not a whole lot is going to cheer me up right now.

In addition, this means that I will be transferring my event, and the next olympic tri that our local chapter of Team in Training is doing is the Nations Triathlon in DC in September. The one I was supposed to do is in Des Moines in June. Des Moines is just a few hours away. Soooo...this means more fundraising since it will cost a whole lot more to FLY to DC than to drive to Des Moines. I'll have to ship my bike and everything. It means that I won't get to do the Hy-Vee Tri with my team that I have trained with for the past several months. Instead, I'll be doing it with a new team. AND......since it is so far away, I won't have my family there to cheer me on. We can't afford for Randy and the girls to fly to DC for this. My mom, dad, and sister can't afford to either. Even all of Randy's family was going to go to Des Moines to support me. Now, I won't have a single familiar face in the crowd cheering me on.

Everything about this right now sucks. Yes, I know that I will move on. And yes, I know that these things happen. But it doesn't make me feel any better.

In the meantime.....just hitting the pool as much as I can. I need to maintain my fitness level so I can do Nations in September with full force. Oh yeah, this also means that I won't be doing the Redman Half Ironman in September either....

I'm pretty blue. But like I said, these are the breaks. And in this case, literally.

Workout Update (LIFE Update Soon To Follow)

Monday, May 18, 2009: 4 miles on the elliptical

Tuesday, May 19, 2009: muscle conditioning, 14.75 mile bike ride (downtown airport, flat course, heavy wind from the south)

Wednesday, May 20, 2009: 20 min on stair stepper (limited time that day)

Thursday, May 21, 2009: muscle conditioning, 1200 m swim/aqua jog

My Blog is SUPER!

One of my favorite bloggie pals, Dancing Sweet Pea, gave me an award!!! And in my busy absence from the blogsphere lately, I completely missed it until yesterday (sorry again!!)!! I am truly honored to be recognized and cannot even begin to say how much this made my day! Especially after having a downer week last week, and now having a yucky sinus infection that I'm battling in addition, it totally brightened my day to pop over to her blog and read the kind words she had written about me! And not only that, but she throws sweet words of encouragement my way ALL THE TIME! This chica has been a great source of support & encouragement and I always look forward to her comments. She is such a sweet girl and I know that if she lived closer, we would totally hang out! Oh - and you have to go to her blog and check out her cake-making skills! She seriously needs to quit her day job and open up a bakery! WOW!!

So now, the rules are: tape the award on your blog somewhere and pass it along to 5 fellow super bloggers. Then comment on their blog to let them know how lucky they are today! When you present your Super Blogger awards, link back to the Super Blogger who gave it to you :)

This really is tough to narrow it down to just 5 people, cuz all of you out there are pretty freakin awesome - always giving me great advice & encouragement. So, I wish I could give this award to everyone....but since I can't, here are my 5:

1) Fair Weather Runner, the Self-Proclaimed Running DORK - this girl and I have so much in common, right down to our injuries, that it's straight up SCARY! We have almost the same last name and we were even born just 1 day apart, which might actually explain our "pisces-ian" similarities. She constantly keeps me laughing, smiling, intrigued, perplexed, mortified, and mostly just cracking up. There's no doubt we will meet in person one day, since we're only about 3 hours apart and surely we'll run a race together (and I use "together" loosely as she will totally leave me in the dust!).

2) Kristen the Running Lawyer is from the same home town as me....and funnily (is that even a word??) enough, we were following each other's blogs for MONTHS before we came to this discovery! Pretty crazy, considering our home town is pretty stinkin tiny. I mean, hello - we went to the same high school at the same time! Crazy! This lady has accomplished all kinds of goals this year, including her first half marathon, her first full marathon, and most recently a 10K PR! Talk about inspiring!

3) Super Dave is a really awesome guy. We "met" on justfinish.com. We then started following each other's blogs, and are now friends on Face Book. He even earned extra "awesome points" by donating to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society through my fundraising website, which helps the world get one step closer to finding a cure for blood cancers, and helps me get one step closer to my triathlon. (If you, too, would like to earn "awesome points," you can do so by clicking here.) ;)
4) Stacy is my favorite tri buddy! She has definitely been a go-to girl for me. She always has great advice and knows just what to say to get me focused. She is constantly on the go and a true inspiration to me. Her training schedule is very similar to mine, so it's fun to compare notes (and stats). ;) Her blog definitely keeps me motivated!

5) This last one is tough, cuz there are soooo many people worthy of this award. But I'm giving it to someone who truly deserves an award (and some cheer in general) right now: Melanie, another fellow justfinish.comer. I have to give a shout out to a fellow mom, and not just any mom either. This gal has been through a LOT, including seizures, BRAIN SURGERY, and recently some running injuries. She is one hell of a fighter and a true inspiration! Through it all, she just keeps pushing through, and I'm proud of her and honored to be her bloggie friend!

Okay friends, there ya have it - SUPER BLOGGERS UNITE! :)

I'm Baaaaaack....

It's been a few days (5 to be exact) since my last post. Soooo, I have a lot to catch up on including updates from the last blog post, updates on my workouts, and even a race report. Since that's a lot of stuff, I'll try to make it as brief as possible.

First things first. I'm seeing an orthopedist on Thursday about the issues I've had with my left leg. I'll post more on that when I find out what the deal is. I'm also seeing an endocrinologist next week about my thyroid. I had an ultrasound done on it Friday and it turns out that it is larger than normal (thyroiditis), which could be causing the low functioning of my thyroid. I'll find out more next week. But....I guess it's good to finally be getting some answers.

K, now here are my workout for the past several days, and I'll discuss them in more detail in a few:

Thursday, May 7, 2009: Muscle Conditioning

Friday, May 8, 2009: 4 miles on elliptical

Saturday, May 9, 2009: 1/4 mile swim, 10 mile bike, 3 mile run

Sunday, May 10, 2009: 3.1 mile run

Okay, my muscle conditioning class kicked my butt on Thursday. I could barely walk on Friday. Friday I decided to do the elliptical after my disasterous run on Wednesday, knowing I had tri practice coming up Saturday morning and didn't want to injure the leg any more. Saturday I had tri practice. I did really well on my swim, despite the fact that we were in an overly-heated pool. The bike was okay. I was a little behind everyone else, but it was a rough ride into the wind on the last leg. The run.....sucked. I was in agonzing pain and I doubt I even ran 3/4 of a mile. I pretty much walked the whole thing. It was sooooo frustrating and I was in tears at the end. I felt disappointed and like a huge failure.

After practice, I went home and took an ice bath and relaxed the rest of the day. I knew I had the Mothers Day 5K the following day and really wanted to do it with Rylie. Well, Sunday rolled around and amazingly, my leg felt fine. If Saturday was a 9 on the pain scale, Sunday was about a 1.5. We started off the race at a really good pace and I was so excited to finally be having a good run. I honestly don't think I've felt this good since the first 5 miles of my half marathon. It was a great feeling! The only thing holding me back was the fact that I was running it with my 6-year-old daughter.

Let me tell you something about running a race with a small child: it's hard....and unpredictable. The last time we ran a race, Rylie bolted out in the beginning and I couldn't keep up with her. Then she ran out of gas at the end and I had to drag her along. This time, we were only about a 1/2 mile in and she was tired and wanting to walk. I slowed my pace waaaaay down for her, but didn't want to walk because as soon as I stop running, the pain kicks in. I finally ended up walking with her a couple times. I felt bad cuz let's face it, she is only 6. But at the same time, I was feeling so good and wanted to keep my pace going. In the end, we finished with a time of 36:53. Not bad for those little legs of hers. And of course I'm proud of her for doing it! I just wish I could have kept the great pace I had going in the beginning. But...this race wasn't about ME, it was about US. So, I leave you with these great photos from the Mothers Day 5K:

Me & my little running buddy, Rylie - pre-race.

Ry & me with our matching sunglasses, cuz that's how we roll. LOL, she's such a diva!

At home before the race.

Waving to Dad.

Me giving the "thumbs up" like the uber dork that I am.

The best part of the race was at the very end when we ran as hard as we could. Randy didn't get any pics of this, so I hope the official race photographer did cuz we were hauling @$$! :) I'm sure it was a site to see....cuz I totally felt like Phoebe in Friends, just flailing away, LOL!

Oh yeah, and when we got home, I got the Mother's Day gift I was hoping for - a Garmin Forerunner!! Woot!!! I was so excited about it, I *almost* went out for another run! :)

Debbie Downer Time....

So, back to this "calf" issue I've had in the left leg for the past month. Well....it's not just the calf. It's the entire lower extremety of my left leg, and I'm beginning to think it's tendon or bone. I saw my family physician last week, who ran some labs for various things. He went ahead and ordered a lab that indicates something along the lines of muscles tissue and how it breaks down or something like that, which came back normal. He said the next step would be to get an MRI to see if it is possibly a stress fracture, but first he wants me to see an orthopedist. I'm praying it's not a stress fracture. The triathlon that I've spent the last 4 months training for is just 7 weeks away. If anything prevents me from doing it, I will be absolutely devastated.

I've been really down in the dumps for various reasons the past few days. A lot of crap has been going on at work, and I'll spare you the details...but let's just say I am stressed and unhappy. I know I should be grateful to even have a job right now, and I am. I just don't deal well with change and I have a lot on my plate right now.

Secondly, I'm very unhappy about my weight. And not your typical "I'm a girl, so I think I'm fat" kind of unhappy. But the kind of unhappy because I am currently at an all-time high (other than when I was pregnant, of course), which is 20 pounds over my normal weight. I had Harper in August, dropped 40 pounds over the next 8 weeks and have been stagnant ever since. I cannot get rid of these last 20 pounds for the life of me. I lost all my baby weight after I had Rylie and I wasn't nearly as active then as I am now. How is it that I am working out 5 days a week, sometimes twice a day, and sometimes for 2 - 3 hours, yet I'm 20 pounds over my normal weight??? How is it that I am doing all this, yet I have not dropped a single pound?? How is it that Memorial Day weekend is just 2 weeks away and there is NO WAY IN HELL that I want to even THINK about wearing a bathing suit, yet my parents have a lake house...so it's inevitable. I love going to the lake in the summer....but right now, I could care less about taking my fat ass anywhere that involves people seeing me half naked. It's so depressing. I saw my doctor about it last week and he ran labs on my thyroid. I'm having an ultrasound on it tomorrow. But I have a feeling the news is going to be "Your thyroid is fine, you're just a fatty." :(

And to top it all off, if I DO have a stress fracture, that will eliminate a lot of what I can do (running, and probably cycling as well), which means I'll probably just GAIN weight.... The weather is FINALLY nice out, and if I can't run, I will be crushed. Absolutely devastated. I have been so excited about good running weather and summer....and now I'm just annoyed. My girlfriend and I had made plans to start running during our lunch breaks on MWF. (Side note, my yoga class is no longer being offered because the instructor moved, which already has me bummed out....but I thought running on those days would help ease the blow.) Well, we went for a 3 mile run yesterday and 2.5 into it, I couldn't run....I could barely even walk. The left leg was in agonizing pain. So much pain, that it hurt just sitting at my desk the rest of the day. It hurt in the middle of the night and I couldn't sleep. And now I feel like my plans of running are now ruined. I have practice on Saturday (swim 1/4 mile, bike 10 miles, run 3 miles) and the Mothers' Day 5k is on Sunday and I'm afraid I won't be able to do either. I'm upset. I'm in pain. I'm annoyed. I'm grumpy.

Anyway, enough of all of that. Looks like I'll just being doing a lot of swimming for awhile, which we all know how much I LOVE! *sarcasm*

Tuesday, May 5, 2009: muscle conditioning

Wednesday, May 6, 2009: 3 mile run, 6.75 mile bike

Sorry to be a downer, folks. I just had to let that out. I'm also sorry I haven't been keeping up on everyone's blogs. Work is really cracking down on internet time and I really need to keep my job, regardless of how much I love (or don't love) it right now. I'll try to catch up this weekend.

Forced Myself to the Pool Again

...and I'm glad that I did.

I was soooo tired yesterday. I even took a nap after work, which I NEVER do. But I think the weekend was finally catching up with me. Traveling, plus less than 8 hours of sleep a night, plus having not slept past 5am in 3 weeks = veeeery tired me. Anyway, I was so not in the mood to go to the pool last night, but I forced myself to go....and went ahead and busted out 1500 meters! That's pretty much a record for me. And just for the record, that's the distance that my swim will be in my tri....so I'm feeling pretty good about it. It wasn't the fastest 1500m. It took a good 40 minutes. But hey, I did it.

Today is our Cinqo de Mayo Fiesta at work. I love food....but a day of binge eating is not really what I need right now. *Sigh*

Hope everyone is having a great week!! Oh, and sorry....I really need to catch up on everyone's blogs...just haven't had the time! :( Sorry, but I'll get out there and comment away as soon as I can!

Monday, May 4, 2009: yoga, 1500m swim

John Blaufuss 5K

The family and I ventured back to my home town of Emporia, KS this weekend. Saturday was the John Blaufuss 5K and the race benefits scholarships to ESU. Being a graduate of ESU and being a scholarship recipient, I felt this race was fitting...and since the race is what my mother used to lure me home for the weekend, I went ahead and registered for it several weeks ago.

The original plan was for my best friend to run it with me. She's never ran a race in her life. In fact, she's never even ran in her life, unless being chased by a large dog or to escape a burning building. But I casually brought up the race thinking it would be something fun for us to do together, and surprisingly she agreed to do it. I sent her a "couch to 5k" program to prepare for the race and I was truly impressed with her commitment. She's been getting out and running and working so hard. I've been so proud of her. But unfortunately, she ended up hurting her knee pretty badly. Bad enough that she now needs cortisone and can no longer run on it...at least for now. :(

So, at the last minute, we had an extra race bib and no one to run the race. But fear not - my 6-year-old Rylie boldly stepped up to the plate! That's right, yesterday my little Rylie ran her first race - a 5k!

Here's a pic of me & Ry before the race.

Here we are at the starting line. Doesn't she look cute with her little race bib on?! :)

Here we are during the first mile. She ran non-stop for almost the first 2 miles!

Here we are during the last mile. Can you tell she was getting tired? The last mile was a struggle, with mostly walking. But she toughed it out and finished anyway!!


Here we are at the end! By the way, the fat baby to the left of the photo is my little nugget, Harper. ;)

Rylie was pretty pooped at the end of the race.....but that didn't last long. Her Papa took her to buy a new bike (to keep at Mimi & Papa's house) shortly after the race and she proceeded to ride her bike all afternoon! Ah, to be a kid again.

After we got home from the race, I went out and ran another 3 miles so I could get my scheduled 6 miles in. My knees were hurting after the run, but during the run I actually felt pretty good. Hopefully this continues.

Saturday, May 2, 2009: 6 mile run

April Totals

First, let me say that my totals for this month are pretty skewed: HEAVY on the running, super low on swimming, average on biking. With my HM training, running got more attention than swimming and cyling, but hopefully it will be more even in May. Anyway, here they are:

Cycling: 6 days, 65.05 miles
Swimming: 3 days, 2600m
Running: 9 days, 49.5 miles
Weight Training: 6 days
Yoga: 6 days
(I also had a day on the elliptical and 2 days of walking, but I'm not counting those miles anywhere)
Total days of Cardio: 16
Total days of Working Out: 19

And now, the Year-to-Date Totals:

Cycling: 16 days, 168.15 miles
Swimming: 11 days, 8900m
Running: 30 days, 114.9 miles
Weight Training: 27 days
Yoga: 22 days
Total days of Cardio: 58
Total days of Working Out: 77

Yesterday's Workout

Yesterday was a pretty good day, despite some set backs (timing issues, etc). I made it to the pool again (in case you're not keeping track, that was day THREE in a row that I made it there....except I forgot my towel on Tuesday, so only 2 days of actually swimming....but that's quite an accomplishment for me). I pounded out a 600m swim (only had 400m on the schedule, so I pushed a bit harder) and then took the bike out for an 8.5 mile ride. Not to mention that I had muscle conditioning yesterday too. So....I feel good with that.

Thursday, April 30, 2009: muscle conditioning, 600m swim, 8.5 mile bike

By the way, my work is cracking down on internet usage....so I'll be blogging/reading/commenting less now. :( Sucks...but I need to keep my job.

I'll be posting my monthly and YTD stats shortly.