Back Up and Running

I'm back y'all. My blog account has been disabled because it tripped some security filter at blogspot. It has been looked into and I am obviously cleared to post as usual again. I am just returning from a week at Tybee Island with family and now it is time to get back to working out. I only had one successful run the whole week I was gone so this week should be interesting to say the least. We have our first bike ride on Monday evening and I am really looking forward to it. I am happy to report that Janine is done with her rotation and will officially be joining us for our weekly training sessions - whoopee! My Mom is getting some Kennedy loving and has her for the next week and a half so I will be working hard to wrap up some fundraising -about 1200.00 left to raise and getting myself ready to train hard until the event in October. I will post some beach pics soon! Thanks for letting me know my blog was out you faithful readers!

Just Keep Swimming...Just Keep Swimming

Well I will start off this post by telling you about our AM run. It was crazy humid and Courtney and I both had sore muscles but we perservered. We completed a 4 mile run with two speed sessions in between - go us!

The swim: well, where do I begin? The new pool times kinda stink first of all. As soon as I got there Susan ordered (and I do mean ordered) to "get in the pool right away, we only have an hour you know?" The pool is packed at that time because of recreational swim so James and I were sharing a lane with two non-english speaking girls who were more interested in social hour at the pool rather than swimming hour. Need I say more? Once recreational swim ended at about 7:00 I was soooo super thankful because we could actually swim for pete's sake. Shortly after the pool cleared out Susan told me to take off my flippers because she said she felt as though I was becoming dependent on them (well duh!). I took off the flippers and attempted to do my drills for the remainder of the practice. Susan left early and our one mentor who was there was swimming herself so it was kinda blah. Anyhow..I thought I would share with you a fond memory that was helping me to stay motivated throughout my swim. Enjoy!

Ready ready ready ready to run

As you all know...my week hasn't been that productive in the exercise department. I am happy to report that came to a halt this morning. Courtney and I met bright and early and hit the road for a 5 miler. I have missed it. I just feel so great after a good run - it makes the whole day better! Thanks Courtney! You are the best!

I should add to this posting a little fun fact about the bugs that have settled over Nicholasville in Biblical proportions. The little "winged beasts" as I have affectionately taken to calling them are called Cicadas. I will post a link to give those who are interested some scientific/factual information but what you need to know is that they are AWFUL! I can't even take Kennedy for her evening stroll because they literally dive bomb her in her stroller. They create a constant deafening buzz in the air and their dead bodies are littering the streets - yuck! So...we ran into some of them this AM and I warned Courtney that if they touched me I would lose grip on reality - literally. Luckily we didn't have to deal with any getting on us today. This week one followed me in the building for work this week on the back of my neck and when I realized - you would have thought I was having a full on heart attack. I screamed and had after shock heebie jeebies for like an hour afterwards. Supposedly they are here until the end of June and I am counting the days until the little punks are gone for good.

Some good news - I spoke with our local Zaxby's manager this week and she has agreed to let me do a fund raiser one night at her restaurant. Yippee! Of course I don't want to do it without my buddy so Janine and I plan to create a brochure and invite all our friends. We will get 10% of all sales from like 6-9 pm on our evening of choice. Hopefully we will have our 75% of funds before recommitment day (6-28-08) and then Zaxby's night will rap us up. That day is rapidly approaching and she and I both have a long way to go!

We have swim lessons tonight so I will post again tomorrow. Thanks to all of those of you who are following me through this journey. It helps me to know that I have such awesome support.

The winged beast link:
http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080531/NEWS01/805310509

Photos of the disgusting evil beings:
http://www.batw.net/Cicada.html

Blah, blah, blah...

This week has been a wash so far. Saturday, Janine and I met at the Tates Creek Pool for a little swim lesson and to say it was overcrowded is an understatement. The pool was crawling with people - it was insane. I am a little claustrophobic and I already have heightened anxiety associated with swimming so it was more of a disaster than a lesson. Kids kept swimming in and out of the one swim lane that pool has and I just couldn't focus. I was getting more frustrated than getting a workout so I called it short quickly. It turns out discouraging situations are not a good thing for a beginning swimmer like myself. I was super bummed and told Janine I reserve the right to bow out of the tri and go for the duathlon if swimming doesn't get any easier. Obviously that was frustration talking because on the drive home I again reminded myself of the patients we are training for and how their struggles are much worse than our training sessions. So...back in the saddle on Thursday for our next swim lesson. I have decided that until I am a much more confident swimmer - public pool swimming is totally off limits. Back to my sanctuary - the UK pool. =)

I haven't been able to run with Courtney this week either because we declared Monday as my rest day and then Tim was out of town this AM and tomorrow AM so I don't have anyone to watch Kennedy so I can go run. Sorry Courtney...I am not much of a running buddy lately.

I did have a volleyball game tonight and that was fun but we lost - boo! Sorry for the melancholy blog - hopefully I will have a more positive one for you before the weeks end.

Sore Muscles

All this working out has made my quadriceps a little angry with me apparently. Let's just say walking up and down stairs is a rather painful experience currently. So...out of respect for my legs, I decided to only do 2 miles at our run yesterday at the Arboretum. Janine and I did a lap (2 miles) at a steady pace and then walked about 1/4 of a mile after that to cool down. We took some pictures for your viewing pleasure....enjoy! The Arboretum in all it's glory

Post run - sweaty and worn out!

Stretching out after our run - I am trying to make nice with my quads again! =)

Tick...tick....tock

Last night was our first night swimming during the new pool hours. Usually we swim from 8-10 PM, but now we will only be able to access the pool between the hours of 6:30-7:30 PM. All of that to say that while I am in the pool I need to utilize my time as wisely as possible. James and I shared a lane and let me just tell you that he CAN swim. All that "I cant swim" stuff must have been just his attempt to make me feel better. I did, however, show him the drills because Ruth thought Susan would still want him to know them. We did drills, drills and more drills and then did drills without flippers. I didn't swallow as much water without flippers this week as I did last week - praise the Lord! I was so super tired when then hour was up but it was an eventful hour - we got lots accomplished: yay! I can honestly say I am learning. I am so sore from all the working out so I am looking forward to a rest day at the end of this weekend. Tomorrow the team meets up at the Arboretum for another run and then Sunday Janine and I are planning on swimming.

Holy Heat Batman!

It has been a crazy week so far. Monday Courtney and I took the day off from running because I hadn't had a rest day. Tuesday, Courtney drove from Richmond to meet me to run and it was thundering and lightening outside so she sacked out on the couch and I stayed up with my child who is cutting more teeth at one time than anyone should ever have to. Wednesday it was calling for rain so we cancelled plans to run and then it didn't rain - go figure. The team was running together last night at the Arboretum again so I figured what the heck - I will join them and get my run in for the day. I should start by saying it was 80 + degrees outside and humid as heck! Yuck! I was sweating and panting and feeling nauseated but James and I ran the first lap together with Peanut (his dog) leading the way. The second lap I was solo and thank God for my Ipod or I would have walked because it was soooooooo hot. I have gotten so used to running in the morning that running in the afternoon was a bigger adjustment than I thought. Courtney and I got back to our normal this morning and ran but it is still super humid. We cut our run short by about 1/2 a mile because I am a little sore from yesterday (new courses will do that) and Courtney hasn't run since last week because of the insane weather. It was a good run but I will say that the heat and sore muscles had me wanting to toss my cookies a couple of times (sorry if that's TMI for you). Anyhow...its off to the pool tonight so tomorrows post should be interesting. Our coach (Susan) is out of town so she has left me in charge of teaching first time swimmer James the drills - lets all take a moment to laugh audibly at that! Ha! Me, teach someone anything that has to do with water - that's hilarious! Anyhow - I will surely have funny tales to tell tomorrow. Until then......

Pictures from yesterday's ride

Just saving the life of an innocent turtle mid-bike ride.


We took a water stop by this boat ramp on the KY river - beautiful!

Although I am not a KY girl born and raised, I will say one of the best things about this state are these awesome rock wall fences. They are everywhere on old farms and they are amazing.

Gorgeous ride, but hilly!

Here is the ride Janine and I completed today. It started out kind of a dreary morning but then the sun broke and it stayed beautiful for the entire ride. We had a great time minus some barking dogs who made us fear for our lives temporarily on Sulphur Wells Road. It was an incredibly hilly route so we definitely got our workout in. It is reassuring for me to know that we can complete the ride and the run even though we aren't doing them together just yet. I will post some pictures tomorrow. Until then....


To see more specifics about this ride, click on the title and it will take you to the route in mapmyrun.com