back to the pool!

I joined a new rec center last night - so no more excuses for not getting in the pool anymore! I took it slowly last night and just swam 550 yards. Just wanted to get the feel of being in the pool again. I think it has been almost a year since the pool at our rec center was shut down and I haven't swam anywhere else. So needless to say that wasn't helping any of my triathlon plans! But now i have no excuses - My plan for tomorrow a.m. is to swim 1000 yards. We'll see how that goes -- oh and did you notice i said a.m.? And... I actually mean that. Me - the night owl actually went to the gym this morning to run and lift. And.... I have to go tomorrow -b/c the hubby is going to go there to swim and he is my ride to work tomorrow! So that will be two days in one week!! go me! miracles never cease.

sticking to the schedule

The last month has been really hard to stick to my pig training schedule. With everything that was going on - I was lucky to get in what i could get in - - but for the most part - i stuck with my scheduled weekend long run - which is good.

Now that I'm back to reality - it's still tough to get the runs in - even though I don't have the time - my winter motivation is pretty low. I have to tell you - if it wasn't for Steve almost literally pushing me out the door most nights - I don't know that I would get my runs in at all - especially the long ones!

Yesterday I was due for a 16 miler. I have not run anything longer than 13.1 miles since a year ago october (that's what happens when you stop training for a specific race!) So - needless to say the mileage seemed a little daunting. So good old steve - shoved me out the door to cover a portion of the neighborhood that was an eight mile route. He said "can you do 8 today?" I said yes - so he shoved me out the door - and told me to come back in after 8 and reassess. So that's exactly what i did - came back in the house - switched into some dry clothes had some gatorade grabbed my now charged garmon and ran in random circles around the neighborhood til I got 8 more miles in. The run was slower than what I have been doing - about a 9:20 pace. I would like to run the pig at a 9:10 pace - so this worries me a bit - but then again it is the middle of winter - and I was taking it easy -- so maybe i'll be ok. Now i'm debating about whether to do the 15k or the 30k at the to catch a leprechaun race on sunday... hmmm decisions decisions...

survey

ok - so i have the hardest time in the world getting morning workouts in. So my question - is am i just lazy/too unmotivated to face the cold darkness of a pre-dawn winter run - or am i just going to bed too late? or what is it? how do other people do it? I don't have children - just me - and I still can't seem to get it done. So here is my survey for those of you who do morning workouts.

1.) what time do you go to bed at night?

2.) what time do you need to leave to go to work?

3.) what time do you get up to get your workout in?

4.) where do you work out - gym, around house, by work?

Just curious - what your routines are - maybe i can get some advice/motivation from you motivating early birds!

Back to life

So - i'm back - back to so called normal life. Don't think it's really set in just yet- i'm still a little jet-lagged to realize that i'm back at my old desk again and not in Hawaii. I am excited that although work is still going to be crazy - my evenings are no longer filled with wedding appointments - so that is a nice feeling. Now all i have to do is unearth our house from all the wedding/honeymoon piles that have taken over.

The trip to Hawaii was amazing - it's hard to believe that such a beautiful place exists - and that the whole world doesn't just pick up and move there! I got a couple of nice runs in while i was there - my body is definately not ready for running in 85 degrees in sun through lava fields - but I did all right. Oh - i have to tell you about the half marathon. Well - it was described as a scenic rolling hills course with timing chips. Well - not quite - don't get me wrong - I'm so glad i did it - but it was a rough a course - and it was a small field of about 100 runners - . Well since i wasn't planning on running a race - i didn't bring a watch with me - but i thought that's ok - i'll just get my times at the mile markers - or at the very least i'll get my chip times afterwards. ha! there were no chips to speak of - and i thought ok - there will be someone somewhere with a stop watch. Well i passed the first mile, then the second, then the third, then the fourth - -still no stop watch. so i thought - alright just go with - you're on your honeymoon - just run to run in this beautiful place. Well i made friends with a surgeon from british columbia around the 7 mile mark. We ran together for about a mile - and he had a watch - so i learned that i was on pace to pretty easily run about a 1:55 - sweet - a random half marathon and I would finally break two hours. Well - as i mentioned - for a pale girl from ohio - 85 degrees can be a bit of a shock. I very quickly started feeling really bad. I just tried to keep going to the next water stop where i was hoping there would be gatorade. no such luck - no gatorade on the course. I started to walk and was really worried about even finishing. I took a gu which helped for awhile - but i found myself on the last few miles just hoping to finish. by the time i got near the end - i saw steve waiting for me - and i said this in my worst race ever - how long has it been? 3 hrs? he's like what are you talking about? so i finished and guess what - no clocks! steve was pretty sure it was just over two hours - but I didn't know for sure. It took me til yesterday to track down the results on the internet. my 'official time' 2:04:16. It was a rough race - but that is actually still a personal best. I should have broken 2 hrs that day - but oh well - there is always the next race right?

save the whales

ok - so Steve and I are on our honeymoon - and i know that i shouldn't even be looking at my blog... but steve and I just got online real quick to send some photos home from hawaii - and I thought I'd take a second to share with you running geeks some exciting news... so steve and i decided to go on a whale watching tour while we are in Maui - well when we went to check out the details of the trip - i noticed a flyer for the "Save the whales" 1/2 marathon and 5k. So... steve and I signed up -- who does a half marathon on their honeymoon?? I do I'm so excited - i'll let you guys know how it goes -it's a pretty small race - only about 100 people did the half last year - but it should be fun-- and hopefully i'll get a t-shirt with a whale on it!