training update

Wednesday I was super duper hungry at lunch so I decided to postponed my run to 4pm. I had a free calendar and my boss was not here. I worked through lunch and as I was getting ready for my run workout when I get a meeting request for 4-5pm meeting that I can't skipped. So here goes my run!
On Thursday I had another bike workout which was challenging but good. I moved the bike and the trainer in the kitchen so it is easier to see the displays!
Today was swim workout and it was tough. I only did 1700 of the 2000M but since I had a session with my trainer I don't feel too bad.
She reworked my stroke and I believe I understand what I need to do. I now have to do it and hoped I do it well.
I had a nice little chat with my coach afterwards it is still strange to think about having a coach but I love it. I love the fact the only thing I have to worry is to focus on what is required from me. To focus on technique etc...
I picked up some sushi on the way from Sushi Ota and some sake and I am now slowly fading in front of Stargate.
I am also getting a little sick, my throat is bugging me a little but I will go to sleep soon.
Also I had a biometric screening today and my body fat was measured at 25.4% which means that I'm borderline overweight! Crazy! I also had a slightly elevated glucose level which may have been caused by the fact that I ate quite late last night.
I will have a new yearly checkup and hopefully things will get better.

bean soup... think not

Tonight I was going to go back to our soup night tradition which completely disappeared by lack of motivations. I decided to go for a white bean soup. Don't ask me why but lately I have had cravings for the creamy white beans my grand mother used to make with leg of lamb. I soaked the beans overnight then started cooking the soup. I did my workout but oh boy a white bean soup didn't sound too appetizing and the beans weren't exactly creamy :( I decided to ditch the bean soup and go for gorgonzola cheese pasta :)
Nothing better than comfort pasta dish! Oh and did I mention the crispy bacon...

Swim workout

So today I had my first workout of week 3. I looked at my training for the week to come and I had to rearranged a few things because of Parent-Teacher conference tomorrow at lunch. But with the rearrangement I have no days off so I can tell you the 16 min/miles run yesterday was welcome :)
So I hate when I'm in the pool and the fat old guy next to me blows by me! I know I know when am I going to learn not to care who is going faster than me etc... but still.
Besides that I did the workout to the dot. It was pretty much uneventful besides drinking half the pool and needing to pee 3/4 through the workout!
Overall I'm starting to get the hang of it and my weight is happily creeping up and my body fat hopefully will continue decreasing!
My abs arte sore from my flimsy attempt to go through my abs routine and my legs are tight so stretching is a requirement tonight along with some laundry!
Tomorrow more hill workout on the bike!

Out of this world

I find nothing more rewarding than a good meal... well actually maybe some other things are also close to the top!
Anyways today I decided to make shrimps. I browsed for a while the williams sonoma websites for some recipes. I was debating between the "Greek Shrimp with tomatoes and Feta cheese" and the "Shrimp with orange and tequila". Since I didn't have feta cheese and B hsn't been in the mood for tequila since he fought with Jose and lost I had to find something else. I stumbled upon the "Sizzling Shrimp with Garlic" recipe.
http://www.williams-sonoma.com/recipe/sizzling-shrimp-with-garlic-gambas-al-pil-pil.html

I served it with pearl coucous and I added a cup of spinach to my dish and of course since I never have everything I switched Vodka for Sherry. It was a tadd spicy since I didn't bother measure a teaspoon of red pepper flakes. We drank some pinot with it and oh boy was it yummy!
Tomorrow since B is going for his piano lesson and I have a bike workout I will start a white bean soup in the crockpot tonight. More food post to come but now let me tune to NCIS Los Angeles ;)

Heaven

Ahhhh a good home cooked meal is such a great therapy to a downed ego. On today's menu beef stew and mashed sweet potatoes. Sorry bunny no pictures I was too hungry ;)

I sauteed some carrots, celery, onion in some olive oil and a tad of butter.
Added the beef and some thyme, some oregano, some sage and rosemary from the garden
Covered with red wine, a beef bouillon.
Cover and put it in the oven -->Key to a tender beef stew if you don't have time to put it in the crockpot.
Cook for 1:00 at 300F then another 1:00 higher to reduce the sauce.

I finished the dinner with a few chocolate chips and marshmallows.
Soooo good.

Discovering San Diego

Saturdays we do the errands, the long training etc... Sundays we decided to explore, go hike, go to seaworld etc... Today B wanted to go explore down south and go to IB through Coronado. We left around 11am and drove down the weather wasn't beautiful but it make it all the better. I love Coronado. I love the little houses and the small town feeling. We drove down silver strand and today driving by the beach reminded us of our trip up North. We walked down the pier in IB which is super long and much more stable than the one in PB. Yesterday while waiting for the tires to be changed on my car we went to the pier in PB to watch the waves. With each big waves we could feel the pier move underneath our feet.
After our little discovery we drove around in IB a little then when back to Coronado to have lunch at the Coronado Brewing Company. I had a crab and shrimp melt and B a tuna melt. It was really nice.
The week end is already done and tomorrow another week will start!

My hardest run ever...

Today I did my hardest run ever. And for you people too intimidated to come run with me it wasn't a 6M at 8:30min/miles. Today I had to keep my heart rate low, between 111-130! That was tough not from physical stand point but my ego took a beating today! I ran a 5.1M at 16 min/miles. Yes you read correctly! A pace that I wouldn't even consider running before today! I wasn't even able to keep my heart rate in the right zone too! My heart was beating a tad too fast!
It was a nice run, I barely broke a sweat I tried to focus on my gait. I could feel my legs at the end of the run. It was what it was supposed to be a nice easy run. I just wish that I was in a good enough shape to do those at 10 min/miles! Now I know what a run with me feels like for B.
After that I did some core exercise and again I felt inadequate and awkward because it is the first time through the routine and the first time doing core in like 5 years!
This run made me cry! I know it was needed and I know I'll have others and I know it is going to take me a long time to bring my pace up while keeping my HR down. I am so glad I have a coach because I wouldn't have the strength to do it alone. I am so worried of what people think when they see me. At least I can keep chanting in my head I'm following a training program I have to do this, this is how I will get better! Also on the bright side I believe the low heart zone is the fat burning zone!

So to cheer me up I decided to do something that I'm good at cook us a good comfort meal. I decided on slow cooked beef in wine with sweat mashed potatoes.
At least today I'm not famished!

I also went online to try to understand this whole low HR thing and found this article about a well respected triathlete. It made me laugh since it is exactly how I felt today but it seems like it will work sooo stay tune for more training updates.

http://www.markallenonline.com/heartrate.asp

Hunger...

So in week 2 of training the most noticeable thing is the high degree of hunger that seems to hit me after each one of my workout. I eat my meal but this seems to do little to help. My kind coworker have a wide choice of candies which I would rather not eat!. This is something that I have to work on. So today as usual I ate too little before my big workout. I had a chocolate chip bagel and a coffee at 10am. I left for my ride at 1pm with nothhing else in my belly and two bottles of some endurance drink maybe 200 cal per bottle. My coach asked me to consume 300 cal for each hour of bike workout. But the water girl who consumes 100 cal for a 2h00 ride has lots of adjustments to make. So anyhow after 4 Torrey Pines hill repeats and a little more riding followed by a 25min run I was famished. A bowl of pasta at 4:30pm with a granola bar didn't make a dent in this hunger!
Also since it looks I'll be running often after riding I need to try to find a running skirt or something because running in my bike outfit is plain ugly.
Besides working out, we went out on a date night yesterday which was so nice. We played pool at the Society in PB and eventhough I'm getting better very few balls reached their wholes :( We finished the evening at the bar at Sushi Ota for some delicious specials. Always a pleasure!
This morning MAC started in his new swim class! He was very shy at first because he is now with the big boy but he did very well. MEC was fine too.
We went to PB to change the front tire on my car and walked on the pier to look at the ocean. The day was beautiful the water clear a little chilly and some clouds but overall very pleasant walk.
Work has been a little quieter since I delivered my two big projects last week! I am getting started on a new one and it is going to be both challenging and exciting!
We are counting down the weeks until my parents arrival Yay!!!!
Besides that my laundry is still a disaster area. I walk by it every day pretending it doesn't exist and hoping that a laundry fairy will come at night to clean up!
I haven't been cooking anything super duper special this week and I'm ashamed to say that the kids have been eating "Rabioli" a little too many times this week.
I'll try to organize myself a little better next week.

Cooking

So I love to cook. I find it relaxing and it also gives me a nice feeling of accomplishment. I like to create new simple recipes. I just love it.
Lately I made some jams strawberries/blueberries! I know it isn't the season and strawberries are expensive right now but I like the idea of making and eating my own jam. I still have to learn how to perfect my recipes. This batch is pretty good though.
I also made some pierogies last night. I love those things and I am really sad Trader Joes discontinued them. Every now and then I do like to make a batch. My last batch ended up in the trash since they all glued to one another making a big mess. This time instead of piling them up I made a single layer.

When sharing my love of cooking to some coworker I was a little puzzled at the reaction of some. They were poopooing the fact what I do. I hate that especially when they don't do it themselves, when they are less healthy (or at least look less healthy than I do). I do it because I love it that's it let me have my fun ;)

Training Week 2

So after a little adjustments on the time I actually have to train and still do all the other things. The new training plan was

Mon Off

Tue 1500M swim

Wed 50min run with some hill workout on a 12% incline!

Thur 50min bike workout

Fri 1700M swim

Saturday 2H00 bike ride with lots of hill repeat followed by a 30 min run with some intervals

Sunday 1:20 run slow slow and then 15min core training!

So I was so happy when on saturday evening my injuries felt better and I was glad to get into the water today. I was a little sad to see the long course especially with my sprint workout but also because it means less lanes to swim in. I was also distraught when I saw that a whole lane was occupied by two older lady bobbing in the water at lunch time!!!! Anyways I found a lane to swim in and I started my workout. I did everything but I feel so so sluggish.

I felt pretty good myself until I talked to a coworker who is active but not as much as I am, who taught herself how to swim but still manages to swim 2000yds in 60min when I believe I swam 1600yds in 50min! Arghhhh so frustrating! I should not care about what other people do or not do but this is really a work in progress. In other word I totally suck at it!

A wreck!

and the wreck is me! So a few days ago I bruised my tail bone badly since it is still painful to sit in certain positions, get out of the car and such. As a result of that stupid injury I pinched a nerve in my upper back which resulted in a kinked neck! Finally this morning I wanted to take MAC on my back since he doesn't like walking on the wet concrete around the pool before his swimming lesson. I don't know if he grew that much in the past few weeks, or if I wasn't positionned properly but here we go falling off. I land on my right thumb then on my butt which was already sore!

Anyways after lying on the floor for a little bit since I felt woozy again, my thumb throbbed all morning!. Finally at 5pm, I don't have a kinked neck any longer, my thumb isn't hurting much at all anymore and my tail bone either. The ibuprofen probably helped a little and I have to say I feel a heck of lot better! Yay!

Now I'm ready for some wine, food and friends!

No fracture

Thank goodness I didn't fracture my tail bone. But today I am hurting even when I walk. I don't take Ibuprofen so maybe I do like the pain! To top it all up I pinched a nerve in the top of my back so I'm hurting every time I move! Arghhh result on a friday night we have a very sore cranky Sophie ready for sushi!

I'll try to go swim over the week end. Then my training will start again on Tuesday. I quickly looked at my run schedule and I thought 9% incline was bad... I'm in for hill repeats on 10-12%! Well I guess it is true that you get better by doing hills!

Blimmey

So my first training weeks was going great! I finished the swim, the run and the bike workout. Then everything came to a halt when I bruised my tail bone yesterday evening. No I didn't fall off my bike or did anything cool. It was just a stoopid accident. I was putting away freshly made jam jars in the top of my cuboard thus using the step stool we just bought.
On my way down I didn't really looked what was behind me and I must have bent over a little so my butt collided forcefully with the top of the chair that was just there.
It was pretty bad and I had to sit down and take a few deep breath.
After that life went back to its normal self. Sitting on the couch happened to be quite painful. Anyways things are back to normal well almost. I'm not getting up as easily as I did a couple of days ago. I go over speed bumps very very slowly with my car since those are extremely painful. My seat is almost to the most upright position in my car to keep the pressure off my lower back.
Of course my training came to a halt and I'm hoping that the pain will ease and I can start again soon.

Training Week 1

So some of you may know that I decided to bite the bullet and work with a coach for the next few months. I hired Lesley Paterson who finished second at the Xterra world championship being sick like a dog two weeks before! She is this small scottish girl with a ton of energy, fire and toughness that I hope will rub on me. Besides being a professional triathlete she also writes/produces movies. Anyways I am intrigued by her personality and I thought we could work well together.
The other reason why I decided to go with a coach is that since I mostly workout by myself I thought it would be kindof nice to have some more motivation to go the extra minute. Lastly I thought that a professional eye may help me structure and focus my workout since I don't have much time I need to be super efficient.

Anyways here I am sunday night receiving my first week of workout after a 2 weeks off doing anything and 16 weeks mostly running 2x4-5M and 8-12M on the week end.
Monday: 45 min swim with some speed work etc...
Tuesday: 50min run focusing on a max Heart Rate Test. 15min warm up, then set up 9% incline on the treadmill, start 1min at 145 bpm, 1min at 155bpm, 1min at 165 bpm, 1min at 175, 1min at 180 and finally 1 min all out!, 10 min jog, then 6x 1min hill repeat at incline 9% with 1min recovery jog/walk focusing on the form and finally then 5min warm down.
Wednesday 1:00 bike trainer
Thursday: 45 swim in the am, 45min weight training in the evening
Friday: 50 min run interval training
Saturday: 2H00 bike ride
Sunday: 1h00 bike trainer (spin class type exercise) followed by 1h00 easy slow run.
Pfff. I have to confess when I saw I panicked. No way I can sustain that kind of exercise regime for 5 months! B said the same thing. After a few chat with my coach I told her I would do all to almost all of what I had down and we will se how it goes.
Monday I did most 1300 yards out of 1500 yards of my swim training. I say only most because I forgot the piece of paper describing the workout and I couldn't access it off my phone. Today I did most of my run I only managed 4 of the 6 last hill workout and I walked most of the recovery because man a 9% incline on the treadmill is steep. Today I learned that I'm going to have to put my pride in my pocket and focus on my HR instead of my speed. I'm doing most of my runs at 80-100% of my max HR.
Tomorrow since I have a parent teacher conference I will do 30-40min of my bike session.
Since the pool is closed no ealy AM swim (thank god!) so I will combine my friday run with a weight training and do 30-40 min run and 30 min weights.

Besides that work is still completely crazy! I'm hoping it is going to calm down a bit before the second wave hits.
Home is going well. The kids are behaving somewhat. We have been doing a lot as a family so that is nice.
I received my boots but instead of making my legs look nice and long it makes me feel small and sturdy so I will be returning them which is kindof good actually.

Should be working ...

It is 9:45pm we just finished dinner and instead of blogging I should be working. I have sooo much stuff to do but hey there will always be sooo much stuff to be done.

So I was really good at not spending too much money on myself but I fell off the wagon big time. In the past few weeks I bought myself a pair of birkenstock, a purple purse, a dress and legging. So anyways my shopping spree didn't end at there and today I found a pair of over the knee dark gray boots from Kenneth Cole. I did find them on sale though which made the purchase a little easier.

Anyways on the spending front I decided to hire a coach for a few months and see what turns out. I'm excited and a little anxious as well. Then I do have to register for my 3 races Sprint Spring in May, SDIT end of June then US Women mid october.

But I have to admit I haven't done anything since the half marathon. Well we did walk last sunday does that count? I did pack my running stuff this morning but of course a lot of work and little motivation took care of that and tomorrow well I'm pretty sure Dim Sum will just win.

I was looking forward to some special bonding with my bike but I'm afraid that again this will be postponed to next week end! I will go for a run or/and a bike ride this week end!