Running with friends

Thursday I brought in the first day of spring with a 5am 5 mile run with one of my closest friends! I appreciate her friendship and support because I know my running speed is no where near hers, but she runs with me anyways! She has helped me tremendously and as long as I keep working at it, I should continue to get faster!! 

I am thankful for her presence in my life, as well as the weather starting to warm enough to allow 5am outdoor runs!!

Sometimes practice goes by quickly

After a pretty intense workout yesterday, my body was feeling a little sore today. Legs stiff from the hills and upper back stiff from swimming sprints. But still headed to swimming practice tonight to hopefully stretch out. Coach bob kept us moving all night. There was no downtime in the workout, so although it was a little exhausting, it was definitely a workout that you couldnt keep looking to see how much time. So I have to admit the tough workout wasn't bad. Made practice move quickly. Even the 8x25 fly at the end went quickly!!

Now bedtime so I can get up and do a bike trainer workout in the morning!!

Friends who encourage

I think I might have written about this already, but today I'm again thankful for friends who encourage and push me. This morning I joined the CSU tri team practice. I am not a runner, and was way behind everyone, and suffered on the hill repeats, but I made it, and had friends supporting me and encouraging me the whole time. It's a lot harder to walk when you know people are watching you!! (I had to walk a little but found it in me to get back to running after a few seconds each time!)

While I was running down one of the hills (let's face it, I wasn't thinking much while going up...!!) I thought why on earth did I think I wanted to do this, but then realized it's all for the feeling after, and my friends told me I could do it!! So although it's completely my choice, if it wasn't for them, I wouldn't have been running in and out of "the pit" downtown at 830 this morning!! Thanks ladies!!

Re-newed excitement

My friends and I have spent a fair amount of time during this "off season" and cold winter months planning out our race season. For me this includes sailing, triathlons, running and swimming... a lot going on! And I will admit lately I have had a hard time getting motivated to work out. Sure, I will head to masters swim practices, but I have not been motivated for 5am workouts yet, and have not spent as much time on the bike trainer as I should be.
Tonight I headed to the Cleveland Triathlon Club winter/spring meeting. While seeing mostly all new faces, we heard a speaker who is the author of a book about the internal workings of doping in the pro cycling ring. The book sounds fascinating, and is now on my must read list! (The Secret Race by Daniel Coyle and Tyler Hamilton)

But also, there was a social aspect of the night. After the meeting and book reading, we got our membership cards and headed next door for food and drink. Met some new people, and hung out with old. And in listening to other people, I think I have found some of my motivation back. Being around all these other people who are decidedly more crazy than I am, I am excited and feel guilty at the same time about the upcoming season. Excited for everything to come, guilty that I have been so lazy lately! But with both of those feelings in there, hopefully I can get some more workouts in regularly and not just wait for someone else to say "hey lets go!!"

student dance and swim practice

Opened up the blog, and I had two ideas to write about for my thankful post today. So without giving you a whole rundown of my day, I will try to briefly explain what made me happy today!
This afternoon my students had a school dance. It was nice to see the kids dressed up and having such a good time. I love getting to see them outside of the classroom when you can see their goofy personalities, and be goofy right there with them! I showed off a few of my dance moves, but mostly took yearbook pictures. Despite the gym reaching what seemed like 100 degrees and super smelly! The afternoon was fun.

Then tonight, after making a great homemade pizza (thanks Melanie for the dough recipe) with my first time making my own crust; I headed to swim practice. Our Thursday night practices are an hour later than normal and usually are a little tough to get motivated. Also our Thursday night coach often does a little more drill and not as tough practice. Well tonight... HE was motivated!! After doing 750 yards of kicking, we swam 14 sets of 100 yards at a pretty fast pace. It was one of those paces that I knew I could do the first 4-5 no problem and get a good workout, so my friend and I decided we would do as many as we good, and if we slowed down and couldn't make it, we would switch to the other set (longer intervals). Well, 5 go by, and we're still making it with about 10 seconds rest... and then 8 go by, and although i felt like I was dying, we were still making the time... so we finished it out. By the end, we were exhausted! And coach was feeling pretty proud of himself! He takes pleasure in our pain.  But although it was tough, and i want to whine about it... the good part is that I know I have become a stronger swimmer.... A year ago, I couldn't have completed that whole set without taking a break, or doing the slower sendoff... But I was making it! So, I guess I owe a thank you to our coaches for pushing us!

A Good Run Helps...

To be honest, I was in a bit of a rut this weekend, Not feeling 100% and camped on the couch most of the weekend. And  I have been in a bit of a workout rut for a couple weeks. But today, I finally got off my butt and went for a run. It wasn't my best run ever, but I managed to push through it (Even without my wonderful running partner!) I am thankful for my health, and my running shoes. And the wonderful feeling after the run! I have to say that I was in a better mood after the run.

It's not the beautiful outdoors, but it'll do!

When we bought our house I had a few things that weren't necessities, but things I really wanted to include. I wanted a room to teach flute lessons in, and a space that could be used as a workout space. A little over a year ago, we found the perfect house with both of those things. Oh yea, and bedrooms, bathroom, hardwood floors etc...! :-)
Tonight I finally set up my bike trainer for the first time this winter on our 3rd floor. This finished space has turned into a rec room of sorts with a ping pong table and plenty of space for workouts, bike, and even some Wii, if you feel so inclined!
 Now that I have gotten over the bump of setting it up and being lazy, it's time to start logging some solid time sitting on that bike! It will be outdoor season before I know it!

Bus trip to the slopes

Living in Ohio, the skiing and snowboarding isn't exactly the BEST ever... but not too far away in NY there are some decent resorts. Today I was lucky enough to hook up with a bus trip out of a ski shop in my home town to go spend the day snowboarding. Double bonus.... group discounted lift tickets, and I didn't have to drive myself there or home!!

Haven't gotten the chance to ride in almost 2 years, so I was pretty psyched to get out there today. My friend was trying her hand (or feet?) at snowboarding for the first time, so while she checked out a lesson, I hit the lifts. Found some friendly lift riding people to chat with in the beginning, then later did some riding with a girl that was on the bus trip with us (her fiance was also back on the beginner hill). Overall, a pretty great day. Slopes were a little crunchy and icy at first, but with it snowing all day, we had some powder at the end of the day before we had to pack it up and get on the bus.

Such a great feeling riding down the hills, and even better, NO INJURY! Had 1 pretty impressive wipeout that I hope someone enjoyed watching, but nothing hurt after, so that's a plus! I knew I was going too fast! :-)

Time to get ready for work. Pretty cold tomorrow AM... think we can get another snow day? HAH

Healthy and happy

This post is a little late, because I fell asleep on the couch last night!
Mondays Happy thought for the day was about my health and strength. I feel like I have probably posted a fair amount about working out lately. After a mostly relaxing day (yet another snow day) and running errands, last night swim practice was cancelled, so I did a home workout. I use an app on my phone that is basically high intensity intervals for a set time. It tells me when and what I have to do. It's great.

But while the workout was kicking my butt last night, I was thinking about how happy exercise makes me, and how thankful I am for my health, and that I keep getting stronger and stronger. Although I might have to accept my limits sometimes, like I can't run as fast, or jump as much, or swim as hard.... I keep improving, and thats all I can hope for!

That winning feeling!

When I compete in swimming, and triathlons, I am doing it for me. I like the challenge. They are both something that is physically difficult for me, and I push myself to get better. When I compete in sailing, it is a little different.  Its not the same intrinsic feeling of getting a personal best. But I have this competitive side... which anyone who knows me are probably laughing and nodding just reading this! But when I swim and do triathlons... I am not worried about the placing as much as I do in sailing. With Triathlons.. usually there are so many people that I don't expect to be as fast, and with swim meets, there are so few, that when you win out of 2 it doesn't feel the same. But that great feeling comes when you finish and you see your time, and you realize "hey I just did that better than ever before!!" Or, in your heat for swimming, you hit the wall first, and see that little 1 next to your lane. Although the people next to you may be in different age groups, or male, its such an amazing feeling to look up there and see the 1 plus a great time!! Today I was able to get a PR in 2 of my events, and placed 1st in my heat in one or 2 of them. Such a great feeling. And I got to share it with the support and excitement of our Lakewood swim group. We cheered for each other, congratulated each other, and supported each other. Overall... a pretty great day!!

Best Saturday Mornings

Most people consider Saturday mornings great when they get to sleep in, make a nice breakfast, enjoy some time at home before beginning their day. Not me. I've never been a sleep in person. As a kid and even a college kid... I was usually awake by 7 or 8 am. Now as an adult, I am lucky if i can sleep in past 7/730!

So what do I do on saturday mornings? Head to swim practice and then often get some brunch after. Nothing motivates you to get through a 730 am 3500-4000 yard practice like the promise of breakfast and friends!!

It also made me think, I have developed a group of girlfriends based solely on working out and food! That's what we do together, and I love it! We run, we swim, we bike, and we eat. Occasionally we might throw in other activities, but those are our go to's! These girls are also great because they are encouraging, pushing and fun.

Happy thought for the day- friends go a long way!

Sunday- we meet up again for a swimmeet!

Sunday fun day (version 1)

There isn't much better than a Sunday with knowing Monday is a day off! One thing that is better is getting to fully enjoy the day with a good book, and the time to read it! Started the day off with a great workout downtown (cold run and then good swim). Then came home and spent the day with the goal of finishing the book I started a day or two before.

If you haven't read Divergent yet, highly recommend it! Fast read, interesting story, and has that futuristic "what could happen" story line. It's similar to Hunger Games but I think this one is a little better written. I like the main character a little more. It is slated to come out as a movie this year, so do the right thing and read it before you see it! 

Thankful for the time to enjoy a good book! 

Friends

To say that I'm thankful for friends would truly be an understatement. My friends mean the world to me. They have been there for me through good and bad and all the cliches you can think of.

I have a fair amount of people in my support system and I love each and everyone of them. But tonight, I'll stick to simply saying I'm thankful for my friends who push me. Some push me mentally, some push me musically, some push me physically ( ok not physically push me, but get me to push myself! )

Without those friends I wouldn't be who I am today. 

So thank you, to each and everyone of you. And thank you to my triathlete girls for a great bike trainer workout in my living room tonight!!!