Actually Pretty Good

Today started off pretty, blah. Not good, not bad, just - a day. I went to whine to Charles, how I often do, to ask to tell me to go to the gym. It worked, and he decided to go for a run with me. Now Charles runs about twice as fast as I do, but we figured we would start out together.

It was actually good to have someone to go with. My heart rate started pretty low even though it was a bit faster than I normally start off - but could keep conversation going.

Here's the down side. We matched. Both had lighter blue long shirts, dark pants/shorts - just too matchie match for me. When I mentioned this to Charles, he said "Oh, I left my camera upstairs". Riigghhtt... Those of you who know me, know I like to coordinate my outfits, but HATE matchie match outfits, and DESPISE couples/workout partners/whoever who wear matching outfits. I mean, Charles and I are super cute (see this older pic of us - and he is in a relationship), but not when we matchie match.

Anyway, the run was really good with a finish up Capital Hill that was easier than expected. Few walks. Decent average heart rate. And the best, little knee and foot pain. YAY!!

Rock. Out.

Some of you may have noticed a theme recently about my workouts - they are not centered around swimming, biking, or running. I am on the quest for challenges, outside the box exertion. Some people refer to this as "a bunch of excuses to not work out" and to them, I stick my tongue out and say "WHATEVER".

But last night, I had a great workout. Doing what you ask... playing Guitar Hero, World Tour!! My totally awesome family got me Guitar Hero for my birthday.

And how is this a workout you ask - 3 fold
1. I completely tighten my body when I am concentrating. My hamstrings are a little tight today. Don't judge.
2. My left hand - dang. My fingers are permanently cramped up like the claw. That can only help for biking when shifting and breaking.
3. Dancing around only makes you ROCK better - but it doesn't do well for my score.

Yup.

Okay, maybe I will go to the gym tomorrow.

Strangely...

I don't feel different. Not that I really thought I would feel different, but this morning I woke up and my first thought was "I am 30. 30. 30." That goes away, right?

Anyway, I took today off of working out. My arm was pretty tired after playing shuffleboard.

And from lifting a lot of these.

Now that I am 30, I really do need to be a bit better about working out. One friend mentioned how as soon as she hit 30, her body started to fall apart. I explained that mine already is, due to the Ironman, however she said it would get worse. Great, something to look forward to.

Maybe a run on the treadmill tomorrow. It's been awhile.

Happy Birthday To...

Well, me!!

And there isn't a better way to start the big 3-0 celebration than a swim with Rahm. Yes, that is right, I got up at 5:15, made it to the pool and jumped into the only lane with 1 swimmer, and it happened to be Rahm's.

Not a bad start if you ask me. So looking back at my 30th birthday, I will know I swam with the White House Chief of Staff. Words might not have been exchanged, but whatever, it happened. And Karen was there to witness :-)

Thanks to everyone for the well wishes. Not much going on today. Some lunch. A few drinks. More this weekend.

To a new decade of life and no longer being in my 20's...

Still Sore, but Yoga Helped

Well, I am still sore from my Crossfit class. Dang, my lats - it's a bit difficult to raise my arms over my head, which makes putting my hair into a pony tail a bit more challenging. I was going to take today off of working out, but did you know January 24 was Yoga Day USA? I missed the memo too. Anyway, Janel is always talking about the yoga classes at our gym and they were offering a free class to day in honor of Yoga Day.

I have to say, it definitely helped. It also confirmed my tight hip flexors. And hamstrings. And back/lats. And calf muscles. There was one move where we had to sit kind of like child's pose, but with our toes curled under. The instructor said runners and cyclists won't like the pose. At first I was thinking to my self, well I am not a runner/cyclists because this doesn't hurt. 3 seconds later - OUCH! But in the good way.

So I liked it. I might pick up a pass and go back a few times. It's a nice change.

25 Degrees is COLD

Sometimes meeting with people to workout is a good idea. Others not so much. Not so much because I wanted to stay in bed, where it was nice and warm, and my body is so completely sore from yesterday's workout. However, Rose said she would meet me and didn't respond to my "Are we still meeting?" text, so I showed up. And she was there. And it was 25 degrees.

Here are the good things.
It was beautiful!! Sunny, clear, no wind.
I made it out of bed and did something.
I got more tips on how to do snot rockets because Rose is a PRO at them.

That's all I am going to focus on. It wasn't a great run, my foot really hurt, it was 25 degrees, I haven't done much of anything in 2 weeks, and I am so sore from yesterday.

But I went, I am glad I did, and Rose and I celebrated with brunch :-)

And now my body is even more sore.

CrossFit Take 2

Well, yesterday I thought it would be a good idea to kick my self in the a$$ by trying Cross-fit again. I went to a different one than the one I tried last time.

I have to say, overall, I liked this one way better - go Crossfit Alexandria!! Maybe it had to do with the fact I had a better idea of what I was getting into. Maybe it was the smaller group that was in the class. It definitely was the more one-on-one help I had. All 3 coaches helped me at one point. And all said my hip flexors are really tight (a common comment by many people...).

When I walked in, I had to sign a waver and on the third page it said in all caps, "AND MAY EVEN BE KILLED" or "DIE". I don't remember which, but the point is the same. That always freaks me out. But the trainers explained how to scale everything down for each participant, insisted that the movements were done correctly (instead of quickly), in general stuff that made me feel much more comfortable.

Now the workout, H.A.R.D.
Burpees - suck. Especially because of the hip flexor tightness and I have a really hard time doing push-ups. My shoulder crunching is a bit more right now.
Box jumps - Not good, but when doing them as a step ups; still hard, but a good butt buster.
Kettlebell Thrusters - This felt good and not too bad. Until I woke up this morning.

I started to feel it last night, but this morning. D.A.N.G! All over body pain. But in the good way. Now I just need to head out on a run. Ouch.

Belated B-day Wish!

I realized that last week I missed a birthday wish.

I complain about someone quite a bit. She makes me get up at (and often before) the crack of dawn. She pushes me to go faster, take chances biking on hills and has introduced me to awesome new friends. And I blame her for almost everything :-) But, I have said it before, during my IM training, she helped me more than I can ever explain - especially on the bike. Without her, I really don't think my bike portion would have gone as well as it did in September.

When I started looking around, I realized I don't have any pictures of her... But Brooke, I hope you had a very wonderful birthday! And sorry this is so late!

EDIT - I remembered a picture I have of Brooke. A few were sent to me, but this is my favorite.

Where's Amanda...

Hi

So, this is what I have been doing

Was in Seattle from Thursday to Tuesday. It was so great!! We did a bit of everything. The first Starbucks, wineries, fairy boat rides, the Space Needle, great restaurants, tons of shopping. Very fun and can't wait to go back.

Wednesday was back at work and worked right through lunch to catch up. At night was Super Diamond. A Neil Diamond tribute band. Good times, so I thought...

Thursday, 6 am, not good. I won't go into details but let's just say from 6 am to about 7 pm, nothing, and I mean NOTHING would stay down. Multiple trips to my bathroom; just not a pleasant day. Boo

Friday. Went to work, but there was no way I was heading to the gym. My boss too one look at me and said "Why are you here, you don't look good." And knowing what I looked like Thursday, I thought I was 1000 times better on Friday. Guess not.

So, that is where I have been. The good news is with all this lack of working out, nothing really hurts right now. Not the shoulders, foot, knees, back...
It's about focusing on the positive, right?

In Seattle!!

I made it Seattle this morning to visit Sarah and Brendan and it's so nice to be in a city where the temperature has a high more than -7 or 34. There is a high of 54 tomorrow. Ha!!

I will post when I can, but am here until Tuesday. Yes, I am avoiding the craziness of the Inauguration - no judgement.

Stay warm everyone!

Wish me sun!!

Is This the Solution to All My Problems???

Yesterday I had a doctors appointment with my foot doctor becuase my inserts arrived!!! Notice the heel... I explained the new issue with the ball of my foot, and he even noticed the swelling. There was a list of things it could be, told me what to watch out of (i.e. more serious problems) but sounded hopefull that the inserts would solve all my pain.

As instructed, I wore than an hour yesterday, will wear them 2 hours today, and continue to break them in as directed. In 7-10 days I can run in them and they should be broken in by the next 2 weeks. Woo-Hoo!! I have a follow up in a month so I should have a good idea if they are helping, hurting, or a just very expensive heel lift that does nothing.

Here's hoping!!

Rahm Sighting, Take 2

This morning came way too fast! My first reaction when the alarm goes off is to roll over, e-mail/text to say I am not swimming, and go back to bed. Instead, I rolled out of bed, squeezed into my suit (definitely at way to much last night) and headed to the pool.

It was one of those mornings where the only 2 open lanes were the "Very Fast Lane" and the "Family Circle/Slow" lane. I figured with 3-4 people, VFL was a better bet. But, it was 5:45 and no one else was there. I start my warm up and Karen came. We determined this would be her regular start time because getting up before 5 am works for NO ONE. And a bit later R came (I didn't ask if I could use her name yet). But no Brooke. She missed out on
1. A great workout
and 2. Another sighting of Rahm.
He was in the lane next to us, again :-) Karen saw him jump in, and I of course missed it. So the 3 of us are swimming along and I am convinced I will miss seeing him get out of the pool. But, during a pull set, around the time we estimated he would get out; he stopped, hopped out, threw his pull buoy into the bin, took off his goggles, glared at the girl staring at him (me), and headed out to the locker room. Sweet! Rahm totally gave me the evil eye!!!
And why did he give me the evil eye?? Not because I was staring, but because I was faster. He didn't know it, but we raced. I pushed off after him on a 200, passed him, and remained ahead of him the rest of my lengths. Yup, I am faster than Rahm!!!! HA!

Towards the end of the workout, super fast people came and we decided it was best if we hopped out and took over a different lane (the problem with swimming in the VFL). The (really slow) guy wasn't happy and complained about the 3 of us jumping in. Whatever, the Y has some R-U-D-E people. R laid down the rules about 5 max to a lane, which I found great at 6:45. He did not.

So that was my workout. I had to run to drop off my dry cleaning except there was a huge traffic issue and some cop wouldn't let me get back to my apartment! We started to argue about how I could get to my place without going on Connecticut, where the 'suspicious package/van' was located. Not good to argue with a cop, I know, but I was totally 100% correct. I think he just was tired of me and let me through (and I had no problems - aka, I was right).

And instead of sitting down on the couch after my shower; I made my coffee, bagel, and headed right to work. No morning nap for me!

I am going to fade very quickly… and possibly look like this guy around 2 this afternoon. Except in black pants, a green sweater, and shoulder length curly brown hair.

Swollen

Blah. I want a new right foot.

Yesterday, after I woke up I did random stuff around the apartment and finally got around to going for my 4 mile run. It started off well and I really didn't feel much foot pain until about mile 3. Then, you know that feeling when you sock bunches up under your foot? That's what it felt like, but it wasn't my sock. I stretched really well, but it still wasn't feeling too great.
This morning, I didn't fall like Saturday, but it was hurting. I showed my friend Charles and he could see the swelling through the sock, without getting too close. Not good. Not fair.

Tonight was the celebration of ME's birth at dinner with Diane and Brooke. Good times. Too many good times in fact - I really wanted to ride the metro home with my pants unbuttoned I ate so much - but that is kind of gross.

Tomorrow is another early swim. I want to blame Brooke, but she said she isn't going to be able to make it due to a water main break. Weak Brooke. So, that left Karen to blame, however she just started to read the blog and I don't want her thinking I am crazy and/or mean. But, at dinner Brooke said she could make it so it's back to her fault :-)

Okay, enough rambling and off to bed. Wish me a new right foot!!

Happy Birthday M.E!!

Hope you have a great day!!
And this picture was taken at night, when it's hard to get a good picture - don't blame the photographer!!

Stupid Public Transportation

NOTE - This should have been written yesterday. Not much happened Thursday and Friday.

Metro sucks. Sometimes, even most of the time, it's great. I get to work on time, home at a decent hour, don't have to sit in traffic (with a car or bus) about 95% of the time. However, when it's bad, it's really REALLY bad. And Friday was HORRIBLE!! I knew there was a delay, I just didn't think it would be as bad as it was.

After work, my metro stop was about 10 people deep. I got on a train, but was kicked out at Farragut North, about 2 miles south of my apartment. They announced what bus to take, so I start walking, looking for the bus, and never found it. So I walked home. Normally, this wouldn't be too big of a deal, however I was wearing heeled boots. Not good, not good at all.

When I got up on Saturday to go for my 4 mile run, the ball of my right foot was so swollen - not good. One step to the ground and I knew there was no way I could run. Boo!! I blame METRO (not the boots).

I therefore spent the morning sleeping and the afternoon at the bar watching basketball - all in very comfy shoes

Ouch, That Hurt

I signed up for a spin class to help me get back into shape. You bring your bike, a trainer, towels, heart rate monitor and spin for an hour. Wait, let me re-phrase that, go through H E double hockey sticks for an hour.

DANG! I have not been on my bike in ages, and it was noticeable. My legs were sore, I was exhausted, but overall, my lady parts are not used to sitting on a bike any more. OUCH! But the class was great and I am really glad I went. I highly recommend to any other DC Tri people out there looking for a butt kicking spin class.

And what bike did I take you are wondering... I took Carlos. I don't want to put Blain on a trainer. But, I might next time, just to get feeling of how he does on the trainer. Plus, I haven't been on Blain since Sept 7, so, he is due for some love.

Guess Who I Swam With...

Yes, Brooke. And yes, Karen. And yes, a very cranky old man who was not happy when Karen and I jumped into the lane and asked if we could circle swim. And that cranky old man was even more upset when Brooke got in (she was a tad late but it was raining and all the news stations were talking about school closings. Yes, I did say rain).

But, Rahm Emanuel was in the lane next to us!!! Now, I am not going to say that I recognized him, Karen did. However looking at his picture and my cloudy vision through chlorine hazed eyes and goggles, I can believe it was him. As you may notice on his Wikipedia page, it says "Emanuel trains for and participates in Triathlons", which includes swimming. Who knew he would be at our Y!! Woot!! And to be honest, I really do want to see Fenty and Emanuel go head to head at Nations. Doubtful, but a girl can dream.

The workout was good, but I felt off. It hurt much more than it should have. I got home, took a shower and put some spare change in the bags under my eyes. They were HUGE! So, i decided to lay down and take a quick 20 minute cat nap. That turned into an hour and I was almost late for work. Oh well, I have my cardio in for the day and will take the weights class at lunch.

Scales are EVIL!

I finally did it. I have been avoiding it for about 2 weeks, but I had to start somewhere. This morning I jumped on the scale - well, got on the scale. If I would have jumped, it probably would have broken. It is disturbing how much weight I have put on in the past 4 months.

Now I understand that the past 18 months of my life have been very extreme - 14 months of training for an Ironman followed by 3 months of celebrating the completion of the Ironman and 1 month of holiday eating. Now, I am trying to find a balance. Yesterday and today went okay. Brooke is making me get up early and be at the pool by 5:45 (still before sunrise).

So, it's starting and a slow process. But it's starting.

Not A Bad Start

Well, January 4th is a good day to start the new year, right? This morning I got up and actually went on a 3 mile run. I am in the schedule for the 10 mile run in April, so I had to get started. It was a pretty day, high 30's, and went long the Potomac River. Not the best run - pretty slow. I would like to blame it on all the eating out I did the past few days with my guests - but I think it's more the not doing much of anything for the past 4 months. However, keeping with my "Choices" theme, I know I am not a fast runner and I chose to run. Therefore, I chose the consequences I know will come along with my attempt at running. Hopefully it will get better, as I don't think it can get much worse - famous last words, right???

And HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!! Hope you have a wonderful day!!

Happy 2009!!

I hope everyone has had a great start to 2009!!

Therese and Warren are visiting visiting from Chicago (Wheaton) and we have been having a good time - or at least I am. There hasn't been much working out, since I have guests, but we were thinking about it.
See, here is Therese and I thinking about something very deep, like working out. Okay, probably not, but it could be...
It's a bit ironic because Warren is a really fast runner and Therese and I met playing soccer when we were 4 and continues to be extremely active. So, if I ever had guests I could talk into a workout - it's them. However, we have been eating our way through the town and starting off this new year right!

Everything can start on Sunday, right???