Getting into the groove

It's been a busy old month for me!  We went to LA, got stranded in LA, flew back from LA and are now just about over our jet lag.  Just in time to get stuck into my triathlon training (well, 3 weeks behind, but who's really counting?)

We landed back in the UK on 6th May (in time for R to vote) and I was back in the gym on Friday.  I'm in the middle of a 16 week training plan, and I knew that week 4 would make or break my training.  I swam/ran/cycled a little in LA, but I know I need to get serious this year.  Last year, I skimped on my training and it had a huge effect on my performance.  This year, I want to stick to at least 90% of my plan.  And last week (week 4), I stuck 100%.  Start as you mean to go on!

So today I've got a 58min cycle scheduled (still indoors as I need to get my bike sorted) plus some weights for added strength training.  I ate like a fiend in LA, so have added a few extra lbs (but oh so worth it!).  But now I'm ready to get back into my healthy eating routine, too.  I normally eat pretty healthy, but before we went to LA, I was doing really well eating strictly during the week, with absolute freedom on the weekends.  I'm back into it, and it feels good.  I also need to up my protein intake, but I'm looking for more non-meat ways to do this, including beans and pulses.

Was anyone else affected by the volcanic ash (who is still erupting!)?

to gym or not to gym

The first weekend of the new year is always full of excited anticipation and new resolve for the upcoming year.  I went out and bought some new work clothes, ran 5 miles on Sunday and vowed to get my butt in gear.  And Monday, why Monday was even better!  Off to the gym I went, and had a great workout which left me sore all week, plus a bit of hot tub action.  Tuesday, I decided I needed a day of rest, to recover from my intense workout the previous day.  Whoops.  Wednesday brought us snow, ice, doom, death, etc, which is meant to continue well into next week.  Eep!  It's not that we're covered ass deep in snow.  No.  It's that the roads melt and re-freeze, yikes!  What's a girl to do (especially if she doesn't want to break her neck???).

Running outdoors is definitely out of the question.  Look what we're dealing with here, people:

Looks like I'm gonna have to ice skate to the gym today...

Training's going well

I had a good gym sesh today. I'm 8 weeks into my 20 week plan (culminating, of course, with the Olympic distance triathlon on 2nd August - you can sponsor me here), so I thought I'd try a mini triathlon this fine Friday evening.

I did 40 minutes on the bike, which came to 17.5km and burned 360 cals (you gotta take those with a pinch of salt!)
I then ran 20 minutes on the treadmill at 10min/mile pace, which came to 3.3km (or 2 miles) and burned 275 calories.
Then I hopped in the pool and did 900metres straight, in about 15 minutes. I took it nice and slow, trying to stretch out my arms. I like doing 50 or 100 laps without stopping, just cruising, but I also know I need to work on my speed. Anyway, that came to just under half the distance of the tri, and I was fine for that, so I know August will be no problem! I did this in 1.5 hours, so I should be course for my 2.45 tri time *fingers crossed*

I also managed to put together a photo montage of our wedding - only took me 51 weeks! Well, just in time for our one year anniversary. We hadn't used our vouchers for Habitat yet, but I finally decided to get the 55cmx55cm black frame with a multi-photo mount. I got some photos printed today at the local print shop and they look great! I'm inspired to prance around in my wedding dress on the 18th!

Hopefully we'll get some sunny weather this weekend, as Ronan and I are planning on doing a pub walking tour in Sussex. Walking and pubs, two of my favourite things! All in all, I'm getting super excited about summer and can't wait for it to be here so we can do more outdoors activities. A year ago exactly, Lauren was here in Brighton and it was absolutely sweltering! Here's to hoping for a bit more of that kind of weather soon!

20 week plan, 1 week in

I have to admit, I'm not off to the most brilliant of starts for my 20 week triathlon plan. There was the unfortunately coincidence of St. Paddy's day falling on day 2. Whoops. Cue 2 day recovery, which of course equates to zero exercise.

I think I'm off to a bit of a better start for week 2. Ronan and I went for a 40 minute run on Saturday, felt okay, but I keep getting pain in my left foot, around the arch, as well as my left knee. As I'm not a runner, it's hard to tell what's a 'normal' running pain, and what I need to watch out for.

I did a 52 minute bike ride yesterday at the gym, that felt pretty good, and I got in some crunches and weights. Unfortunately, my double workouts are on Mondays, but it's impossible to get a swim in. I'll have to start going for a swim before work, but this week, I'll just make it up on my 'off day'.

So, what do we have left for the week? I've got a 26 minute run today, I'll do my 26 minute swim tomorrow, the horrific 88 minute bike ride on Thursday, and get in a nice long 44 minute swim for Friday. I'll go off track on Saturday, and try to get in a nice long run with Ronan, I'll be aiming for 6.5 miles. Whew, Sunday will be a well deserved rest day!

On a side note, I'm looking to get my hair cut before I go to LA, hopefully early April. I'll definitely being going blonde blonde blonde for the summer, and I think I'll just go for a nice short bob, with a short fringe, something easy to straighten and easy to muss up with some wax. Perhaps a bit 'Katie':

but without Mr Cruise

get your cycling butt into gear!

I've had such an amazing weekend! As per usual, we did fuck all on Friday night (well, I was frantically sewing away in order to finish Claudia's bag before she arrived), but I still love doing fuck all on a Friday. It's lovely. Anyway, we went for our run as usual, this time 5 miles (5.5 including the walk back from Tesco!) and saw Woodie's diner which I really want to explore now. I love American diners in Britain. They're never remotely authentic, but brilliant in their own kitsch way. We also had my amazing strawberry, banana and organe juice smoothies!

But we got to chill with Claudia this weekend, which I've been looking forward to for so long. It all goes so quickly! I can't wait for her to get her butt down souf.

Then I got to see Claire on Sunday, who's just returned from her around the world travels. Also really good to see her, she looks fantastic. Maybe I need a trip, too....hmmm.

Did my measurements again, 2 weeks on:

Chest: 41.5" -0.5"
Waist: 34" -1"
Hips: 40.5" -.05"
Thigh: 27.5" +0.5" :(
Arm: 14" same

It's good to see some inches coming off the waist and hips, but damn my quads! Well, I'm heading the right direction, so I need to stop skiving the gym when the weather gets a bit wet. Because lets face, I live in the fucking rainiest fucking country in the world, so I better get used to it!

BTW! Looks like good things come in twos.
Shady Ninja and I both got our visas returned to us last Friday! Lets celebrate! Only took the bastards 4 months!

Tuesday's swim

After work, I headed over to the gym (and their 18m pool - who makes a pool that's 18m???), and decided to do 10x10laps. It was great because the pool was almost totally empty, only 3 people, so we each had our own lane. After 5 sets, it got a bit busier, so I moved from the slow lane (which had been empty!) to the fast lane, and did 4 more sets. Just as I was finishing the 9th set, a big bloke waited until I was 2 feet from the wall to jump in the water ON MY BLOODY HEAD! What is wrong with people??? This is the second time this has happened at this pool (and I've only swum there 3 times!).

Even worse, the guy, because he's a guy, decides he's a 'fast' swimmer, even though he is quite obviously not. And rather than letting me go in front of him, he likes to wait until I'm just about to flipturn to jump out in front of me, swimming 0.03miles an hour. Dear lordy. I don't understand why boys feel so threatened by girls who are faster/better/quicker than them. Get over it! Although I did notice later, from the hot tub vantage point, that he did eventually move to the 'slow' lane (a bit too late for my liking!).

My stupid goggles broke on lap 99 so I took it as a sign from the gods above that my swimming set was over and hopped into the hot tub. Yum. So 17820m swim in about 20-25 minutes, felt pretty good, definitely going to try to work on speed sets (note - buy yourself a watch, kira!). Also had yummy fishcakes for dinner, and used up all our leftover greens (runner beans, green beans and asparagus), and made a delish lemon butter sauce with rosemary to top it off! *smacks lips at deliciousness*

On a side note, I've noticed quite a few of the men (and women) in the gym have tattoos. This was also the case at the King Alfred center. Like way more than I see in LA...but then maybe I just don't normally see people in LA in swimming gear? But then I was a swimmer for years and years! But then that was when I was like 16, and people don't have tattoos at 16 (well they shouldn't really, should they?). But then actually quite a lot of my friends have tattoos, too, so maybe I'm just making this all up in my head.

Anyway, I want another tattoo, but I should probably wait until a) I have money and b) I'm not training for a triathlon where I need to swim several times a week!

Monday's Gym Sesh

Had a really good gym session, just felt really strong. I did 45 minutes on the bike, including my 8x(5x1) minute sets, increasing the level for each 5 minutes, repeating 8 times. I was going to do some weights afterwards, but I wanted to see how I felt springing right onto the treadmill (an early attempt at 'brick work', stacking your training for swimming right into cycling, or cycling right into running), and was surprised at how good I felt. I thought I'd just do 5 minutes, which turned into 10, then 20, and I would have stayed for a full 5k, but there was a big queue for machines (gym memberships skyrocket in January - uh, hello Pea-Funk - but I can't wait for the massive dropouts to start. I'm banking on first week of February?), so I let some other people get on. But it was one of the few times I felt like I could 'just keep going'. I think it's because I don't normally get warmed up enough before I go for a run. The blood was pumping, and I didn't have any tenseness in my quads - just a bit in my calves, but I think they would have worked themselves out.

I made sure to stretch properly, and got in a few crunches. Then, I was treated to my favouritist dish ever, made by my lovely, amazing, chef-f Po, prawn tagliatelle. So so so yum, it totally made my day :)

I definitely need to update the pod - this playist is about 1.5 years old, and includes some major crap (ie, Ronan's music) since we did a combo mix for the drive down to London. But I got a few goodies in there, and they always remind me of special times.

The Killers - Somebody Told Me

Without fail, this song always reminds me of my first year in Scotland, particularly Eve, my fellow American in crime. There's even a little Eve dance that goes with, which unfortunately cannont me translated into html. In general, it just makes me think of studying in Edinburgh, going out and getting pissed (and possibly snogging Irish men). Good times. Good times indeed.

Sugarhill Gang - Apache

Sun God! My university, not particularly well known for it's social aspect, had one redeeming feature - Sun God Festival. Every year, on one special day in May, you get pissed, go to campus (note, campus, not class), and enjoy the concert at night. My favourite Sun God was the one I went to once I was no longer a student. Lauren and I headed down and gate crashed at my old flatties, Artie and Alicia. Gin n' tonics, taboo, fags and Apache (on repeat). What's not to love?

Now I just need to get together an awesome playlist so I can rock out to my bad self at LA Fitness!

Triathlon Training Part 1 (of many, hopefully)

Although it hasn't been 'officially' signed up for (I'm still waiting to hear from the Terrence Higgins Trust), I've decided to do the London Triathlon come August. I've wanted to do a triathlon for awhile now - I guess it comes from being a retired swimmer, looking for a new challenge. And I figure if I'm going to do it, I might as well go big, so I'm starting off with an Olympic length tri. That's a 1.5km swim (open water), a 40km bike and ending it all off with a 10km run (dear god). I know that I can finish it, and with proper training, I could even have a good time. That depends, of course, on my ability to stare my nemesis down, and conquer her once and for all. Yes, nemesis, your name is running. The bane of my existence.

See, I'm a water creature at heart. I remember my mom telling me, age 10, how it was amazing how graceful I looked in the water, since I could barely walk without tripping over my own feet. My high school basketball coach went as far as to call me 'waterlogged'. I suppose there are worse things to be called as a gangly, spotty 14 year old.

I tried getting into running a couple summers ago, and I was doing okay with it, but it just sort of fizzled out (which happens when you dont set goals). So this time, I have a goal. Several, actually, to help me reach the ultimate goal of doing an Olympic length triathlon. First one is to build up my fitness level to even begin contemplating doing actual training for this bloody thing. I have a nifty 20 weeks programme to help me (focusing on running, I'm such a masochist). To help keep me motivated, I'm going to keep track of my training. Any advice or insight anyone can provide will always be greatly appreciated!

I joined LA Fitness early this month (I get 1/2 membership with my job, woot woot), so have been doing some random cardio/weights/crunches for a couple weeks. Here's a recap of the week:

Saturday (17/1)
Ronan and I went for a 4 mile run up to Brighton Pier and back. I feel alright getting there, but always enjoy our little 'halfway walking break'. I should definitely try to start breaking myself of the habit, but I think if it helps me increase distance in the meantime, without tiring or demotivating myself, than it can't be too bad.

Sunday - Tuesday (18-20/1)
Not much happened - I was pretty achy from the run (I don't think I'm stretching properly after my runs, boo), and I had an inauguration to prepare for!

Wednesday (21/1)
Dear god, I had my 1-on-1 induction with LA Fitness. Not only was I measured, weighed, and BMI calculated (as per standard induction procedure), but I was fat percentaged (too high), muscle percentaged (too low) and 'metabolically rated' (how many calories I need a day - 1520 if you're curious). The results were disasterous. Actually, that's not true, because my running book tells me to think 'Okay this is the fattest mcfat face I will ever be because there's no where to go but down, baby!!!' (or somewhere along those lines). Anyway, we set up a basic treadmill/spinning cardio workout for me to improve fitness, as well as some strength training and swimming when I feel like it. All in all, a pretty helpful (if not terrifying) day.

Thursday (22/1)
My gym work is supposed to be M-W-F (2xbike, 1xrun), but I've decided to come in and do some cardio work, so I do 20 mins on the treadmill and 20 mins on the cross-trainer, with 200 crunches.

Friday (23/1)
I set out to try the cycle programme the trainer suggested (basically 5x1 minutes, increasing either level or cadence, 8 times) but I really struggled on it. I managed 20 minutes before I scurried to the easy comfort of the cross-trainer. I'm going to need to buckle down next week and just try to get the 40 minutes down, no matter how crap it is. I definitely need to get used to cycling as it has been years since I've done it. Boo. I thought running was supposed to be my nemesis? I can't hate 2/3 events of a triathlon!

Saturday (24/1)
Ronan and I have decided to do runs every Saturday mornings, trying to increase our distance every week, so I can work on distance on the weekends, and intensity and speed during the week. We went about 4.25 miles today, again, I felt pretty good on the way out, but struggled at about 2 miles. Coming back felt pretty good, but then I got a godawful blister (thanks new running shoes) so I'm currently packaged up in pirate bandaids on my feet.

I've also decided to do 'bikini shots' (I need before and after pics!!!) to help keep me motivated, so we'll be taking them every fortnight. I also took my measurements:
chest - 42"
waist - 35"
hips - 41" (that's what I call an hourglass!)
thigh - 27" (yikes, that's what I call a fatty!)
arm - 14"

All in all, I'm feeling pretty motivated. I'm working on portion control and keeping my meat intake to a minimum. I've definitely been sleeping better, and I realised how much I miss the feeling of being sore after a good workout. The world sure does look good from the moral high ground!