Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Why NO is my New Favorite Word

So you might have noticed that I haven't been posting a lot lately.  Yep, I've been a big slacker on my blog entries.  I'm sorry.  I agreed to be the co-chair of a fund raising event at my daughter's high school.  My other co-chair vanished into thin air so I'm left doing everything.  I cannot wait until Saturday when the event happens...not to get to the event...to get to the SECOND it's over!

I have not been able to run with my running group on Wednesdays because our committee meetings are held on Wednesday evenings.  I tried to move the meeting since I'm the chairperson, but the committee felt that having it at the same time that our kids are there for rehearsal was smart.  I understand the decision but boy is it inconvenient for me!

So now that I'm in the final countdown to the event, I'm looking forward to getting my life (and training) back!  Saturdays are still going to be a challenge to run with the group, but at least I'll have Wednesdays.

I am not having a committee meeting tonight since everyone has pretty much done what they need to for the event.  I am SOOO looking forward to running again!  I am hoping that this time off from running will be good for my knee.  I am going to do what I can and see how the knee feels.  I've been very active with swimming and biking, neither of which hurt my knee.  So hopefully running on it again won't be too bad.

From now on, I am going to prioritize my time and not be pressured into taking on committee chairperson assignments!!  And with my first triathlon coming up on June 1, I really need to focus on training.

Thursday, February 14, 2013

Breathing Pains

Last week I had a challenging cycling class.  About halfway through the class I got a stabbing pain in my side.  I tried to ignore it but it just kept getting worse.  Eventually I had to stop doing the drills and just force myself to keep pedaling.  It wasn't until a few hours later that the pain subsided.

I was so disappointed that I had to stop the drills that I was determined to figure out what happened.  Granted I hadn't drank enough water during the day, but there had to be something else going on...right? 

Well I googled and googled.  There were countless articles on cramps, but most of them had to do with cramps during running.  It couldn't be the same for cycling...or could it?

Finally after reading a couple articles that sounded exactly like what I was dealing with...I decided that the cause of my cramps was shallow breathing (gotta love self-diagnosis).  I know I've had issues with breathing during my swimming...now my cycling too?  Ugh.  I thought I knew how to breathe!

So this week's class was focused on me breathing properly.  And guess what - I rocked it!  I was surprised at how easily I did the entire workout.  Everyone else seemed to be really struggling but I felt very strong.  YAY ME! 

So my theme for the triathlon training is just to BREATHE!

Monday, February 4, 2013

A Family Affair

I really struggle to achieve balance in my life.  I have a very demanding career, three active children and the desire to train for running and triathlon events.  As with anyone who trains for these types of activities, I have a hard time with taking time for myself away from the family.  But I do believe that being a happy, healthy person is a good example for my kids.  So I'm determined to figure this scheduling thing out!

Friday night I decided to have a Family Swim Night.  Ella and Grace are taking swimming lessons.  Grace is like a fish and loves the water, but Ella is having trouble.  She is very scared of the water and is not adapting well to the swimming lessons.  So we all went to the pool...even Ryann came along!  Stephen and the girls played in the lanes they had designated as "rec" and I swam laps and practiced some of the drills we learned in the swim clinic.

So after our Family Swim Night, I was more confident heading into the Swim Clinic.  I eagerly jumped into my lane ready for the class.  We did new drills, some of which I did well and some I struggled with.  But overall I was doing GREAT.  The instructors were making constructive comments to all of the swimmers during the whole class.  I got a "good Karen" but nothing else.  At one point I started to wonder if they were really watching me, but they definitely were.  I quickly realized that I wasn't getting any criticism because I was doing things right!  YAY ME! 

Thoughts on my triathlon training...I feel good about the swim clinic and the cycling clinic...but I don't feel like I'm doing a training program. I have googled some training programs to see what I need to be doing.  Oddly enough, I'm falling short on the running.  If only it wasn't so cold!  I need to get back to a good running routine.