My Own Worst Enemy

Today was my first Intermediate level swim class.  Apparently I was nervous about moving up to Intermediate because I had a bad dream about swim class last night.  I dreamed that I went to class and was completely unprepared...I had forgotten everything except my swimsuit...no goggles, swim fins or even a towel!  Then everyone in the class was going so fast and I couldn't keep up.  It was a very stressful dream.

So when I was getting ready to go to class, I double and triple checked my bag to make sure that I had everything.  I got to class with enough time to leisurely braid my hair and chat with Abby.  Then I took a deep breath and headed into the pool area.

Kind of like lunch on the first day of school, everyone was a little unsure about selecting a lane.  The lanes are typically divided slowest to fastest.  I was hoping to find a spot in the middle lanes, but by the time I got there, the middle lanes were filled.  So I took a spot in the 2nd slowest lane.  I was sure that I shouldn't go into the 2nd to fastest lane!

There were 3 of us in the lane.  When we do our drills, we go in groups.  So the first swimmer in each lane is group 1, the second swimmer in each lane is group 2, and the last swimmer in each lane is group 3.  When we started our drills, another woman in my lane asked to be in group 1.  I was fine with being in group 2 until I realized that on every drill, I was catching her.  Finally we realized that it would be better for both of us if we switched.

So being in group 1 was an interesting challenge for me.  I am definitely my own worst enemy when it comes to my competitive side.  So we would swim our drills and I would gauge my performance against the other group 1 swimmers.  I was not the fastest of the group 1s.  I wasn't even close to being the fastest.  So I started to feel badly about how I was doing.  I kept thinking "why can't I keep up with the other group 1s?" 

What I should have been focusing on was the fact that the critiques I was receiving were minor.  Overall, my breathing and my stroke were great.  The group 3 swimmer in my lane had an asthma attack and she sat out of the pool for awhile while she tried to get her breathing under control.  She commented to me that I made swimming look so easy and natural.  What a nice compliment!  Unfortunately the response in my head was "yeah but I wasn't as fast as the other group 1s". 

I talked a little bit with Abby about this after the class was over.  Abby was exactly right.  She basically told me that I'm focusing on the wrong thing.  It's not about being fast in this class.  It's about learning how to perfect the technique of swimming and that speed would come once that happens.  How true!  I am really going to try to keep away that competitive side of me when I'm training.  Let's worry about fast after I have some more experience!

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.

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!

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.

Weather Woes

It has been a week since my last post.  I am sorry to anyone who checks this page.  It has been a struggle to get my outdoor runs in.  Wednesday I had a meeting so I was not able to go to the track.  Then Saturday was snowy so the long run was postponed until Sunday.  Of course Sunday is my Zumba class with Ryann, then this week was my first swim clinic class.

I don't have an issue with running in the cold weather, but I won't run when it's icy.  My klutziness knows no bounds, so I am confident that I will slip on ice. 

The recent weather has allowed me to focus on my biking and swimming, since I can do both of those things indoors.  For some reason, I'm able to ride on my indoor trainer without an issue, but I am a mess on a treadmill.  I can barely run a half mile on the treadmill before my head and body start telling me that I should stop. So now that I know I don't mind riding on the indoor trainer, am I still getting enough training for the half marathon?

As I mentioned, I had my first swim clinic on Sunday.  It was AWESOME!  I decided to register for the beginner level class.  I walked into the pool and I was really nervous.  Of course I had done some swimming classes back when I lived in Berlin, which gave me a little bit of confidence.  But the swim during the triathlon had really put a doubt in my mind about my swimming ability.  I needed to start at the beginning and really build my swimming habits correctly.

That was exactly what the swimming clinic did.  The first thing we did was split ourselves up into ability levels.  Lane 1 was supposed to be people who were very uncomfortable and Lane 6 was people who were really good.  I put myself in Lane 4 but Anne (one of the instructors) moved me to Lane 5.  We did a warm up where Anne and Pam (the other instructor) watched us and evaluated our stroke and breathing. Of course I was breathing all wrong.  I knew it and was so out of breath by the time I was finished with a few laps.

So Pam taught us breathing techniques to help get the breathing right.  As she explained, if we don't breathe right during swimming, we are wasting all our effort.  So after the breathing drills, we did some body rotation drills.  They were fun.

So by the end of the class, I was swimming WELL.  I was breathing properly and I was feeling the rotation that I was supposed to.  I really love the class.  I am going to try to fit a swim in this week before my next swim clinic!

Hilly and Chilly

As I am writing this entry, it's a beautiful, warm day for this time of the year.  It's a balmy 55 degrees and the sun is shining brightly.  However, this morning when I met some of my CCR buddies for our long run, it was a cold 31 degrees.

All the CCR locations were having a joint run at the Baltimore store.  I didn't want to drive into the city since I had so much to get done today.  Both of the little ones had birthday parties at noon and I hadn't gotten gifts for the birthday kids yet.  So when Glenda asked if anyone wanted to run in Howard County, I jumped at the chance.

It was a struggle to get up this morning.  I was tired and didn't sleep well...plus my bed was SOOO comfortable.  I can honestly say that if I wasn't meeting a group of people, I probably would not have gotten up to run.  After making my protein shake and getting my cold weather gear on, I hopped in the car and drove to Centennial Lake.

I met Glenda, Heather and Erin M. at Centennial.  I had picked that location because it was the closest to my house.  So we discussed the various routes we could take from the lake.  The group decided on a route that I had never run before.

My knee was doing OK overall, however the route was very hilly.  By the big, long hill up Centennial Lane, I was in need of a short walk break.  Luckily Erin was willing to walk a bit with me.  Heather and Glenda ran ahead of us.  I enjoyed today's run.  Erin had just completed the Goofy Challenge, which is a half marathon on Saturday and a full marathon on Sunday.  So she chattered on about the race for most of the run.  I was so thankful for this, because I was really struggling with my knee and it was better to not have to try to talk.

We ended up running 6.5 miles.  I felt good when it was over.  My knee didn't have a good day today.  I'm hoping that it was just the cold weather that made it so painful.  The band that worked so well the week before didn't seem to make any difference today. 

Biker Babe

My pretty new bike and I went to my Spin 90 class last night.  John warned me that he was going to "tear apart my legs".  I had no idea how much harder the class would be when I could actually participate!

I am getting really good at clipping into the pedals.  My problem is getting out of them.  This is a little troublesome since when I'm riding outside and not on a stable trainer, I will have to unclip before I fall over.  This could be quite a challenge for a clumsy girl like me.

I felt really good about the class until he had us doing stand up drills.  I couldn't hold myself up.  I'm not sure if it's because we did this at the end of the class and my legs were jello by then, or if I am just really weak and not able to hold myself up.  I think maybe it was a little of both.

Two big disappointments: First, my feet still went numb.  I was really hoping that the fact that the new bike fits me so much better would alleviate the numbness.  Second, my butt hurt badly.  I know that "seat time" on a bike is not exactly the same as sitting on the sofa, but I didn't expect so much pain with the new bike.

Today my legs are pretty angry with me.  It's partly the workout that Clara and I did on Monday, but most of it is the Spin 90 workout from last night.  I hope I am able to walk tomorrow!

I am a little apprehensive about the upcoming workouts in Spin 90...I'm also very excited.  I am enjoying discovering the good and the bad on the bike.  This is fun!