feeling good.

I missed a workout yesterday and so I doubled up today. Initially I was hesitant, because I wanted both my run and my swim to be worthwhile, but I decided to give it a shot. I had to do the two workouts back-to-back because of my work/class schedule, but I went into it determined to go hard during both sessions.

I started out with my 40 minute run. I've been training around a 7:30 min/mile pace, and I incorporated 6 one-minute walks to recover. About half way through it felt like I hit a wall; my muscles were contracting, I was feeling tired, and I was breathing hard. I kept telling myself that I would be so mad at the end if I stopped midway through my run, so I ran 3 miserable laps around the track, hoping that it would get better since I still had 20 minutes left.

It was crazy, because all of a sudden, as I was pushing through, my pace got quicker, my breathing slowed, and my legs stopped hurting. It was an instantaneous change. I was shocked, and yet thrilled at the same time. I think my last half was faster than my first half! This phenomenon is encouraging, and I'll have to remind myself that pushing past the "wall" is worth it. So don't stop when you think you have to!

After my run, I headed to the pool, and I must say I was feeling pretty tired and incapable of busting out a swim workout. My main set was a 6x50 with 10 sec. rest in between. Each swim workout has warmup, cooldown, drills, and a main set that's usually the set that you're looking to dominate, basically. The main set is the speed work that helps you improve. Thankfully, I had a little swim coach to yell at me to keep going. Tiffany had run with me, and stuck around to time my swim. It was motivation and accountability to have her there, and so I did all of it. I wasn't as fast as I would have liked for my main set, but I was consistent and I finished.

One glass of milk, one PB&J, one cup of cottage cheese, and one Gatorade later, I'm exhausted.

up to speed.

So the last time I posted was Monday. Today is Friday....

I definitely worked out in between there. Yesterday I couldn't because of a chemical fire in the area, so I had to evacuate and the REC was closed. So today, tomorrow, and Sunday I'm going to be hitting it extra hard. These are key weeks in training and I need to be diligent.

I guess I can't really help a chemical fire, though. I'll blog about training this weekend. Ask me how it's going if you see me! Even though I love making time for this, I need to be pushed!

I'll write more later. The only noteworthy thing that I feel like I can add here is that I'm slowly but surely radically altering my diet. I ate pizza for lunch on Tuesday with some pasta, thinking that carbs would be a good route to go. My stomach was killing me the rest of the day (a weird feeling for someone used to downing a couple of burgers at a time) and when I was swimming and lifting I barely had enough energy to do anything. I needed protein, and more complex carbohydrates without the grease.

From the many articles that I have read, it seems that I need about 60% of my diet to be from complex carbohydrates (whole grains, pastas, brown rice, root veggies, oats), 20% from protein (meat, dairy, beans), and 20% from unsaturated fats (like fish, nuts, avocados, vegetable oil). I must say that I don't really find myself craving much else. I do enjoy homemade desserts occasionally, but nothing processed and packaged.

For those of you who have known me for a while, I realize this is such a shocker, and I apologize that I am no longer the girl eating entire boxes of cinnamon sticks from dominos (yes, I did this on several occasions...and there were witnesses). That was a fun stage of life, but one that I'm afraid needed to end.

i'm back!

I missed a few days because I was sick, but today I'm back in action. I ran....it was rough after being gone a few days. I think my biggest problem was that I caved while I was off and ate grease and drank Dr. Pepper......

Oops.

I could definitely feel it. My legs were really tight as well, and so apparently I lost some flexibility during my time off. Hopefully it won't take me long to get back into the swing of things.

Tomorrow I swim! And this week begins weeks 4-7 which are the peak training weeks...so it's really important that I push myself and don't slack off. These weeks are key (from what I've been reading) preparation for race day. Wish me luck!

effective (yet unlikely) motivation.

Anyone who watches TLC knows about the Duggar family. 18 children. None adopted. Mrs. Duggar gave birth to all 18 kids.

I was not aware of the Duggar family until this evening. Apparently, the oldest Duggar child was recently married, and they are now expecting their first child. I know this, because as I was cycling my 8 miles tonight at the REC, I was obligated to learn about the Duggars' lives thanks to the flat screen T.V. tuned to TLC. Riveting.

I was bored with the whole scene, struggling to find motivation to push harder, until I heard "Mother Duggar" telling new pregnant "Daughter-in-law Duggar" how many years of her life she spent nursing her children. Take a quick guess. You're probably wrong.

TWENTY-FIVE.

25 years, nursing 18 children is too long. It made my 30 minute bike ride seem like a piece of cake. I immediately started riding harder. I was tired afterwards, but not tired like Mrs. Duggar.

Whatever keeps you going...

tough day.

I wouldn't say that I hit a wall, but today was tough for me. It was the first day of training that I felt like I was really pushing myself...maybe I was trying harder or something.

I ran this morning and pushed through, keeping pace the whole time. It was a challenge, for sure. I had a busy day ahead of me.

Endorphins kicked in, though, so post-run I ran by the house, danced around the kitchen a little, ate some salmon spinach salad, and then headed up to the church to work. Then right after work I headed to the pool.

On my last set in the water, I felt like I was sinking. That's not really a fun feeling. But I pushed through and came home to cook some dinner with some friends, study, and watch the torrential downpour.

It was a nice, full day, and I'm ready for bed.

texas heat.

Well, my day off was yesterday, so I'm back to it today. Saturday, however, I had the brilliant idea of running at 12 noon. It didn't feel too hot when I stepped outside, and there were some trees in the neighborhood that I was planning to run in. Worst idea of my life. It was as if the sun knew that I was outside running and so it intensified the heat and humidity as I went, leaving me exhausted, dehydrated, and unable to get cool!

It probably didn't help that I drank a Dr. Pepper the night before...

It's amazing how your body knows what you've put in it! I felt like I was at an extreme disadvantage: one, because of the heat, but also because of the mexican food and D.P. that I had eaten. Never again. I'll stick to water, gatorade, and non-greasy food.

Non-greasy food. I can't believe I'm endorsing this.

better together.

I rearranged my schedule this week since my parents are moving on Friday and Saturday. So instead of doing my 10 mile bike ride on Saturday, I did it yesterday. Lucky for me, I didn't have to go alone :). My good friend Pilar went with me, and we loved it! Despite it being at least 95 degrees outside, we rode 5 minutes from her house and hit up some country roads. You would have never thought that just prior to our quiet, rolling roads we were dodging cars and construction. It was only 50 meters of busy road, but trust me, it was not fun to ride on. Normally there's a shoulder, but I guess construction has overtaken that, leaving me with a measly white stripe to ride on. All I was thinking was "stay on the line, stay on the line," but my thoughts were distracted by the cars buzzing by. Thankfully this was a route frequented by cyclists, so people aren't surprised to see them, and will often make room.

So for 10 miles we explored countryside with cows, horses, miniature horses (which are for sale I might add), tractors, farmers, and front-porch sitters. Along the way we conquered some minor hills as well. It was delightful. It solidified my love for training. I didn't think it could get much better, but having Pilar along for some company made it wonderful. And it looks like I'll have her along for more than just some of my bike rides! She is going to do the race with me. I'm so thrilled! Everything is better when you have someone to share it with!

Here is a picture of us after our ride yesterday. See how happy we look? It's as if we're just setting out.