Back into the pool!

It felt so good this morning to hit the pool. Last night I made a pitiful attempt at biking. Motivation was not there and I couldn't find my headset so I couldn't talk on the phone, plus I ran out of time. So I did half an hour on the bike. I did get my heart-rate up a bit, so that was good.

This morning I was up bright and early at 6:00 and swam with the Masters swim club. It always feels so good to cut through the water on the first push of the workout. I feel like a fish for a few brief moments. We did a lot of backstroke, so I should talk to her about whether I can do more freestyle. At the same time, I really like changing it up. So if I keep doing my long freestyle Sunday swims then it might be good to change it up with these workouts. The workout was a total of 2000m with lots of kick.

After a good 8 hours of sleep and a great workout, I'm feeling pretty darn excellent.

My achilles heel is my achilles heel

So now I'm healthy in the sinus/lungs department, but I irritated my achilles heel dancing like a crazy person at a concert I went to (I considered it a workout!). On the advise of my coach, I am holding back on training because a small problem with an achilles can turn into a big one. I am so antsy to get out running and biking, but I am holding tight and enjoying the extra time I have right now. I'm putting it to good use getting to know new people in my life and re-connecting with already-established people in my life. It is going to be hard to train in the next couple of weeks because work is going to be crazy busy, but I should be able to get in all my swim sessions and run sessions. The bike will have to hold tight. I borrowed a cool video from my friend, which will keep me company on my trainer!

I can't wait to be training so much that I'll be updating this blog all the time! Soon, soon.

Some days are just better than others

A mere two days ago, I ran 3km at a snails pace and felt terrible. It was my first run since being healthy again. Compare that to tonight, when I went for a 6km run in 45 minutes. I felt great from the very beginning. The temperature was perfect at -4 degrees C and the sun was just starting to set. I think it was a mind-set thing. I had a short day at work and it felt very spring-like as I walked home from my staff meeting. It was relatively unstressful and maybe that came out in my run.

As I started, it felt so magical. The snow wafted slowly down as the sky was light pink from the setting sun. People were smiling and happy. I wore light clothing and I felt like I was floating. My stride was long and smooth and I listened to my Ipod shuffle just to kick it up a notch. I used to never listen to music when running because I thought it took away from concentration of my run. I still think it does, but in the winter sometimes I just need a little more boost to get me out of my warm house.

My feet and ankles are kind of giving me grief these days. They just are not happy and I think I might have to change shoes. I have a pair waiting for me at Brainsport, so I'm going to go there this weekend to see if I can purchase them. Sometimes feet just need a change of shoe, even though my current shoes are only 1 month old (they are identical to the last pair I had). I also got a stitch in my side early on, but with some breathing techniques it quickly disappeared. All of this was in the first couple of kilometres. The rest of it was easy peasy and I felt great!

After the run, I did some abs and push-ups to top it off. Again, I felt great. YAY for being healthy!! I can't wait to mellow out with some yoga tomorrow morning.

I'm back and it feels GREAT!

After being sick for over two weeks, I did my first outdoor activity today: I ran. It wasn't very long or far, but it sure felt good. It's nice to use my legs again and get my heart pumping and the sweat flowing. Tomorrow I'm going to swim and go bike riding, but I think I'm going to skip running. I'm going to skip running because I went dancing the other night and I strained my achilles. It is quite sore and I'm trying to baby it. So swimming - yes, biking - yes, running - not hard.

Today I ran about 3km in about half an hour. LIke I said, not long and not far, but I went... and it felt oh so good! I'm back, baby!!!

IRONMAN HERE I COME!!!

Update? Nope.

I really have nothing to report. I have been sick since Wednesday night. I caught a chest cold and have decided not to train until I have recovered 100%. Last year a friend of mine trained through a chest cold and it developed into pneumonia. She was out the whole season. So I'm erring on the side of caution. Plus, my left foot has really been bugging me. I went to the chiropractor and he said it was swollen. He told me not to sit on my feet, which is hard for me because I always sit on my feet. It's because I'm too small to properly fit in chairs. So I've been making a concerted effort to not sit on my feet. I'm going to do some yoga tomorrow and maybe ride my bike to work, but if my cough is no better I might drive.

So that's my lame update. Hopefully I'm better by next week. I signed up for Masters' swimming so hopefully I'll be able to make it on Friday.

Happy New Year!

2007 is definitely going to be one for the books with Ironman, marathon, biking, and lots of training! I'm excited to train hard and be prepared for this year's triathlon season.

This morning I went on my new year ritual run solo-style. It felt good running today. I really like new beginnings and I look forward to this year being a good one. Last night I kind of had a crap time, but I came home and thought about this year being the year of training and Ironman for me. I look forward to being in the best shape of my life going into this summer. And also to enjoy every moment of training (well, maybe not EVERY moment!) that I can. I am super excited to start my log book and track my training. Now THAT is exciting! Yes, I'm a nerd and I'm okay with it. :o)

Also, I did a good one-hour session of yoga and I feel so good doing that. I am definitely going to continue with yoga in my training and life. There are so many benefits to doing it. I wonder if it helps to prevent injuries.