Boy did my day not start off very well! As you are well aware bloggy friends, I am plagued by running GI problems. Mostly only in the morning. No matter what I do, I can't seem to do my business before 6 am and then it hits me - BAD - mid run. Well, I decided to try something new this morning, I got up at 5;15 and drank 2 cups of coffee. So, my body had 35 mins before I had to leave the house. I ran in place, I massaged my belly, I did yoga twists, all kinds of stuff, to no avail. So, I get to the nature center at 6 and only Brock showed up today, we had planned on doing 6 miles. I knew off the bat I was going to have problems. I ran 1.77 miles with him and then it was emergency time and I had to race off to my car. I mean how embarassing, of course I relive it here for all of you guys, but most of you are runners, so you know about runners trots all too well. The coffee made things way worse and I almost didn't make it home! But I did, thank goodness I only live 2 miles away. So, after I made it home, I forced myself to go back out, but my stomach was all wonky, so I made it 3 miles and called it a day. So, I am really going to have to figure out a way to put a stop to this. I am going to have make my diet really bland and add things back in. First step - cut out dairy and fiber one bars and high fiber cereals. Maybe I get too much fiber. I remember one of the second sole running coaches telling me that she can only eat one piece of fruit a day or else she has problems. So, yeah, cutting down on dairy and fiber might be the key. Also, on Tuesday, I am going to take a quick jog around my block before I even go meet my group and see if that will get things moving. But man I hate to get up super early, if I didn't have these stomach problems, I'd get up at like 5:35 and be good to go!

Anywho - poop aside -

People often ask me how I fit so much into my day b/c it sounds like I am always busy, but I really don’t feel like I am, so I thought you might be interested in a typical day in the life of me:

5:15 – 5:30 AM – Wake up
6 – 7– work out
7-7:15 – drive home from workout
7:15-8 – get ready for work, sometimes ready sooner
8:15 - 8:30 – arrive at work
8:30 – 5 – work
5-5:30 – drive home
Once home, it varies, but I always walk the dogs, some nights I workout, usually 6-7, Gary and eat dinner together 85% of the time, by 8 I am done with whatever needs to be done and I lounge and watch tv and read until 10 when it’s lights out. I try to do light cleaning every evening and then one major cleaning session on the weekend.

Gooooodddd morning Bloggy friends. I made up for some lost time in the last 12 hours! After work, I set out for a 9 mile run. It was cold and windy, really windy. But hey it wasn’t raining! Gary joined me for the first 3.7 miles and we ran a loop around the furthest shaker lake. It was pitch black and we were running on a paved trail next to some woods, kind of spooky! But I am glad he joined me, he decides to run every now and again, it amazes me he can just go do that. If I took a month off of running, I would struggle so badly. After we parted ways, I stepped my pace up a bit to around a 9 min mile. It is still an amazing thing to me that I can run comfortably at a 9 min, even an 8:30 min mile sometimes, as I was a 10min miler most of last year. I felt really good the whole run, up until the last mile, it was a struggle for whatever reason. I wore my heart rate monitor for the first time ever. My average heart rate was 168, but I have no clue what that means. I am taking a seminar on training with a HRM on Dec 4th at the Bike Authority, maybe that will help to give me some direction. When I got home, exhausted and with that icky cold weather running sweat chilled feeling, Gary had made dinner. And it was yuuummmy! He took chickpeas, spinach, eggplant, squash and chicken and sautéed it with a 1/3 of a package of taco seasoning and we ate it on a wheat tortilla with sour cream and lots of salsa. So good, I brought leftovers for lunch today! After that I CRASHED into bed and cuddled with the dogs and watched the Biggest Loser and read this months Health magazine. A little something about me – I am a magazine fanatic, I have a zillion subscriptions: Health, Shape, Fitness, Oprah, Bicycling, Runner’s World, Women’s Health, Backpacker, National Geographic Adventure, and I always pick up People and Redbook at the library. I love me some magazines!

This morning, I was tired, long runs always zap me, but I got my butt to spinning anyway and it was a good class. No history lesson today.

Over lunch I am going to run to Fleet Feet and get some new shoes and also drop off like 10 pairs for their recycling box. They have a box you can put your old shoes in and they give them to the needy. Very nice.

Tonight I will either take a short easy jog or go swim. I know for sure I am going to take the dogs on a long walk b/c they haven’t had a good walk over a mile for awhile.

Have a great Wed!

Well now that the messy business of a holiday is over, it is time to get back on plan. I hope that someday I am the type of person who has the willpower to not let a holiday derail me for days on end, but alas, I am not that person now! But instead of beating myself up for eating too much and excercising too little, I will do something different and JUST MOVE ON. We did have fun. My sister and bro in law cooked T-day and everything was really delicious. Tina is an awesome cook. They made a smoked turkey and a brined turkey. Yum. Tina and I got up early on Black Friday and went shopping. I normally never go for that sort of thing, I hate shopping on normal days and hate crowds. But Old Navy had their cashmere sweaters on sale for $40, so we braved the crowd and hit up Old Navy and Kohls. I got a few Xmas gifts taken care of and saved some money. It really wasn’t that bad, the lines were long, but it’s not like people were elbowing and pushing you out of the way. The sales, aside from the sweater, were nothing too amazing. Saturday Gary, Tina and I went for a nice hike. When we arrived a black dog met us at the trail head and stayed with us the whole hike. It was pretty funny. We played board games on Friday night and we had so much fun we did it again on Sat! Battle of the Sexes and Pop Five were our games of choice. I love me some board games!

I slept in this morning and it was much needed. We didn’t sleep very well at my parents house due to the dogs being on edge and moving around all night and barking every time they heard any little noise and a bad mattress. So, I fell asleep at 9 last night! And then when my alarm went off at 5:15 am as a signal to get my butt to spinning class, I turned it off and slept until 7:30! Oh well. Tonight I will go swimming and get back on the exercise horse. I have only run a measly 6 miles since the virtual tri started. Hopefully I can get in some 2- a days and make up for it. I am thinking I want to run 15-17 miles next Sunday, so that will help!

It is so hard come back to work after a break. Someone get me out of here, I would much rather be at home snuggling with Mushi and Tai. I was thiiiis close to calling in sick this morning. But there is plenty to do, so hopefully the day will move quickly. I honestly don’t feel well at all. My stomach hurts, and so does my head. I just want to go home and sleep, but I am going to try and be upbeat and happy to be at work. Yeah right.

Hope all my bloggy friends had wonderful holidays! We have a lot to be thankful for.

Yeah, I only have to work for 3 more hours and I can get out of here and hopefully forget about work for 4 long days!!!!! Highly doubtful b/c work is very stressful right now and it's been causing me to lose sleep and grind my jaws, joy. I love sleeping in a mouth guard!

Anywho. I got up this morning and went to spinning. Wednesday's teacher is the guy I wrote about before who likes to throw out all kinds of obscure quotes and references. Today we learned about why a cross country skiing marathon is 33K. It's b/c in 1260 the king was a baby of 8 months old and the village was being attacked, with the intention of killing the baby, so his guards got on skiis and skiied to a nieghboring town that was 33K away. Okay. So, we had to play along and pretend like we had 12 lbs of baby strapped on our back and climb up a mountain. Very challenging today, my legs were really giving out on me. I guess they are still worn out from Sunday.

I am already packed, so I just have to zip home, load the hubby and dogs into the car and go! I soooo hope it doesn't rain the whole way. While I am home I plan to run each day. My goal is 30 miles this week, I have 17.5 done. The CTC virtual triathlon starts Friday, I am excited for it. I think it will be very motivating. It's basically a 3 months contest where you accumulate points for every mile ran, lap swimmed and min/mile biked. Should be fun! I will try to come out of the gate strong by running 10 miles on Friday!

Have a great Thanksgiving everyone!

Good morning Bloggy friends. Still feeling triumphant after my great Sunday race!!! I slept in yesterday; I am always whipped after long runs. Came to work, which is such a downer right now! Then after work I hit the pool. I was really proud of myself b/c I didn’t want to go…at….all. I kept trying to talk myself out of it, but ended up going. And you know what? For the first time it felt okay. I felt like I was swimming well, and that I could have swam for more than a half hour. Some guy even told me I was a fast swimmer, who knew! I did 12 laps and tried not to stop for more than 5 seconds at the end of a length and would then rest for 15-30 between laps. It felt pretty good. I have been swimming with a float belt on, which is probably bad, but I just feel like I need it right now. I think I will let myself use it until December and then start trying to swim without it.

This morning I met Brock and we ran 4.25, nice and slow. My calves are still really tender from Sunday. Once again I was dealing with dreaded GI issues this morning. I hate that and wish I could figure out a way around it. I have tried getting up earlier to give my body more time, but it doesn’t help. By the time I am done running, I really have to go if you get my drift! Maybe I need to get up early and run around my block before I go meet people for my real run….hmmm…maybe I’ll try that next time. Runners– isn’t it amazing the things you end up talking about with other runners? Only runners would blog about their pooping habits.

Tonight I might go to yoga. I want to go, but have a lot to do tonight. We are heading home to KY to visit my family for Turkey day. We’ll be making the trek with the pups, so there is a lot to prep and pack. But if I go to yoga, the class is 6-7:30, so I’ll be gone 5:40-7:50….then I’ll need to walk the dogs and clean the house. I’ll have to see how the day goes. I need to go out on lunch and pick up cat food, but have a work call from 11:30-12:30 which might take even longer. Boo. I will get out of work at 3 tomorrow and I took Friday off. I am looking forward to a long weekend. I hope I can eat like a normal person while I am home. I am finally seeing a downward trend on the scale and hope to not gain everything back while I am home! I am going to try and run 30 miles this week (16.5 down) to conteract all the grub.

I did it folks, finally. I have been trying to get a sub 2 hour half marathon since I did my first half 2 years ago. And today I did it! 1:59:23, but I'll take it! And that is clock time b/c it wasn't a chipped race.

So, I rose bright and early to get myself prepped for the Cleveland West Road Runners Fall Classic HM & 5K. It was all the way our in Strongsville which is about 28-35 miles from my house. It was really bitingly cold when I got up, so I put on some pants (thank goodness right), a tank top shirt - the kind with the built in bra, a long sleeve half zip shirt that has the glove built in and my running vest. The race took place at the metroparks, starting from Bonnie Park. It was a gorgeous sunny crisp day. I couldn't have asked for better weather. The race started at 9, but I got there at 8, good thing I did! THe parking by packet pickup was already full so they police directed us to parking about 1 mile away at the top of a giant hill! So, I had to walk all the way down the hill, get my number and giveaway shirt (a long sleeved tech tee!) and then climb back up the hill, and back down, all before the start! So, I probably had already walked 2 miles by the time we got ready to go. As I said before, this was not a chip timed race, so there start was just a big cluster. We ran out into the park 3 miles or so and back and then did it again. So, it was a 2 loop race. I like those kind b/c you can watch all the fast people as they come back by. People watching takes up time. I felt really good today. I tried something new today and drank one of those 5 hour energy drinks before I ran and I think it really helped. I didn't start feeling downtrodden until after mile 8. I took 2 GUs. I was running really fast for me - I don't know how fast b/c my stupid Garmin battery was dead so I ran without a watch for the first time in forever. But I met up with 2 nice guys who had the same goal and ran with them off and on - so shout out to Larry and George! Good job today guys. They were a little faster than me, so I am glad I tried to stick with them. The course was totally flat and there were enough water stops. The finish line had quite a few people hanging out and cheering you on. There wasn't any finisher's metal or much food. Compared to the spread yesterday of panera bagels and flavored cream cheeses - and that was just for a 5K! But I had a good time and I was so happy to get under 2 hours, I honestly felt like I was going to cry!

I am a little sore, my legs are kind of twitchy. I feel like I should probably ice down my knees. Gary and I went to the outlets this afternoon to do some Xmas shopping and are now making some dinner. I am soooo looking forward to a short work week.

1:59:23 bitches! wooohoo.

Songs I loved running to today: Crazy Game of Poker - OAR, Ayo Technology - 50 Cent w/JT, Breakfast in America - Supertramp, This is why I'm hot - Mims, Suzy Greenburg - Phish, Shake it Off - Mariah Carey, Dirt off my Shoulder - Jay Z, Cry me a river remix- JT w/50, Fidelity - Regina Spektor.

So today, Abbie, Sara, Tracie and I drove downtown for the Pigskin Classic. Which is a 5K that centers around the OSU/MSU football game. It was a sea of red, with a few blues thrown in. It was set up on West 6th in front of the bar district. There was a tailgate, so there was a mix of a crowd - drunk college kids, tarted up women in high heeled boots, runners, kids, parents. It was cold today. I walked the dogs before I left this morning to test what I had on - just a pair of running pants with some tight shorts underneath, a thin brooks long sleeve shirt and a vest, with gloves and an ear warmer. I was slightly chilly so I knew I would be okay. When we got downtown though it was really windy and I felt like I didn't have enough on.

So, the bell went off and we ran from West 6th, down St. Clair, down a big hill to marginal road and ran around the Browns stadium, down marginal and then retraced our steps. The first mile I did in 7:58! Which is really fast for me, but there was a downhill thrown in. I felt great the first 2 miles, stopped quickly at the water stop at 1.5 miles and ran hard up to mile 2, which was 16:25. But then on the way back, I was faced with the big hill we ran down. At this point I had started to get overheated and feeling all sticky and gross, so I pulled off my gloves and my headband and then my bangs were driving me crazy. I charged up the hill, but had to stop at one point and catch my breath. Booo. I was on track to PR, but since I let the hill defeat me my chip time was 27:30. Not the worst I have ever done, but not the best at all. Afterwards we got some coffee from starbucks (yummm soy sugar free gingerbread latte), talked to a few people we ran into from CTC and then headed to the tailgate. It was hella cold and the outdoor part seemed to be where all the drunks were gathering so we headed into the Blind Pig and found a nice basement corner with couches and congregated there. We met up with about 4 of people we knew and hung out for awhile. It was fun.

Now I am home and sleeppppy. I think I am going to take a nap. I was going to go swim today, but since I have the half tomorrow, I think I am just going to rest up. Abbie and I decided we are going to start doing speedwork together once a week. I am looking forward to that. I really want to be a solid 9 min miler for my next marathon. I am certainly a 9 min miler nowadays for 10Ks and below, but I need to be able to maintain that comfortably for 4 hours. Abbie is doing Big Sur and I am doing the Flying Pig, so we should be able to do some long runs together which will be nice. It's going to be hard to train through winter again.

Man my knees are sore today....better take some ibuprofren. Gary will be home soon and we're going to go to the Cheesecake Factory and use a giftcard I have. They have the stupidest portion sizes at that place. Their salads could feed a family of 3. Maybe we'll just get some appetizers. $25 will go quick I'm sure.

So, I got up this morning, saw that it was raining and went back to sleep. Bad monica. I am not going to melt, I have run in the rain. So, I have been beating myself up all day. I hate missing longish runs, that 6 miles I didn't get done and 6 miles I don't feel like doing tonight b/c I really want to go to yoga. I know that I get really mad just b/c I am trying to lose weight, but I really believe that you can excercise all you want, but losing weight is 80% about the food you eat. I have read that many times before and believe it b/c I excercise a lot, yet I'm still 10 lbs overweight. Why - b/c I put crap in my mouth. I sooooo want to be that person who eats healthy whole foods, shuns preservatives and candy and I am about 70% of the time, but it's just not good enough. I said awhile back I was swearing off sugar and that only lasted 4 days! I am going to give it another go starting the day after thanksgiving. A long time ago, I lost a good amount of weight and got to 120 by pretty much cutting out all refined crap, so I know it works. But I just have never been able to get it right again. I don't have a lot of willpower and it stinks. I'm just crabby today and pissed off. It's been way too long since I was happy with where my weight was, yet I can't seem to get motivated to really do anything about it. I'm having a self loathing day bloggy friends. Back on the horse, today's eating has been pretty good and I will keep trying. I am going to splurge on T-day, but T-day only, no eating half a pumpkin pie the next day!

Tara - wondertwins reunite. Let's do this.

So - here's what I need to do. Here's my plan. 120 here I come. Dear old pants in the closet, we will be reunited :)

#1 - prepare. If I take the time to pack food for work the night before I always do so much better! Only eat what is in my bag, no VENDING MACHINE, no eating the office goodies
#2 - put down the cereal. You don't need it or those chips. Get back to the days where you never ate anything carby food aside from brown rice and whole grain bread.
#3 - Get the miles back up there, there is no excuse (aside from injury) for not running at least 20 miles in a week
#4 - Quit eating after dinner. If you must eat, have a 100 calorie bag of popcorn or some frozen berries.
#5 - Eat the majority of my carbs at the beginning of the day and don't have any (aside from veggie or fruit carbs) with dinner
#6 - Sugar = devil - I know I don't react well to sugar, so how about I quit eating all those fucking sweet tarts on Amy's desk

I love the Biggest Loser. I really do, I love seeing those people transform their lives. Last night they did an indoor tri as their challenge, which I thought was really cool. I’m rooting for Julie – go Julie! I'm also rooting for me - go me, lose those 13 lbs!

So, I supposedly had a swim lesson last night, but it really wasn’t. Some teenager stood outside the pool in sweats and gave me a few pointers, but she also looked to be doing homework and at one point was braiding her friends hair. I don’t know if she considered that an official lesson b/c she said something about being in the water with me next time. I don’t think I’ll bother. I am just going to concentrate on swimming 500 meters until it is do-able without resting so long in between and go up from there. My goal is to be able to swim one mile straight (32 laps, I’m doing 10 right now) by March 1. It’s so hard right now, I can’t even swim a lap without stopping at the end of each length to rest for a second.

Tonight I have a haircut, then I am meeting Tracie for coffee. Then I want to try and fit in a short run, but it will probably be too late.

Started off the morning with a 3.4 mile run with the Shaker Snails. Tonight I have a swimming lesson! I am nervous about that, I hope she can give me some good tips, but I'm sure I just need to practice, practice, practice. I have been reading all these blogs by triathletes and ultra runners and I get so geeked. I really want to be there.... I think one thing I need to do is make sure to do one speed workout a week. So many things I want to do, but really I can't work out more than 12 hours a week or so, there just isn't enough time. Of course if I do decide to do an Ironman I'd have to work out 20+ hours a week I'm sure!

Yesterday was a nice boring day off of work. We played a lot of scrabble again! We're such dorks.

I really do, I am like a kid with new school supplies when a new year is rolling around. I am the type of person who tears the page off of my desk calendar like 3 days before it's even a new month b/c I am so eager to start marking up the pages of the next month! I want to plan out my races for next year. I get race happy -I do too many races, I don't want to think of all the money I have spent on races. I mean hell, I am doing 2 races this upcoming weekend, is that really necessary?

Jan - Perhaps the Buckeye Winter half marathon?
Feb - Chili Bowl 5k & CTC indoor Tri if my swim is good enough by then
March - Mill Creek Half
April - Hinckly Duathlon
May - Cincinnati Flying Pig marathon
June - OH city Pub crawl 5K & Summi Ti & Sunday in June bike (probably 50 or 62)
July - Winking Lizard 4 miler & Sweet Corn 100 mile bike & Lake Eerie 2 mile swim if I able to
August - Great Lakes Escape Olympic Tri
Sept - River Run Half marathon & Portage Lakes OlyTri
Nov - Fall Classic half

For the Beast (Hinkley Du, Mill Creek HM, Summi Tri, Sweet Corn, Lake Eerie swim, Great Lakes Tri, Portage Tri, Fall classic HM) Also - if things are going really wel I would like to do Akron marathon as well

Sooooo today I got 2 good workouts in. I met some folks (Sara, Ilana, Abbie, Sherri & Chris( at 9am at Shadow Lane picnic area and we ran 8 miles towards Bedford Reservation. It was a very nice crisp day and the run was very challenging. It was basically all rolling hills. By the time we got back to the cars I was ready to be done. We ran 4 miles out and turned around and were pretty much running into the wind the whole way back and it got really cold! Averaged a 9:49 pace. Must get faster!

Afterwards Sara and I had coffee and had a nice chat as alwasy. I count my lucky stars that I met Sara, she's the best. We are only friend b/c she happened to see my walking Mushi and she pulled over in her car to talk to me b/c she had just had to put her black shar pei to sleep and was surprised to see someone else to be walking one. We exchanged numbers, then I found a shar pei running in the middle of a snow storm, brought her home, dubbed her Deliah, showed her to Sara and her hubby John, they adopted her and the rest is history.

After coffee talk, I went to the pool and did some laps. I consider this my first real swimming workout. It is humbling how hard swimming is for me, it kills me, but then again I just need to remember how hard running was for me when I started it 2 years ago. I did 2 laps with a kickboard, then 10 laps freestyle, then 2 laps to cool down on my back. It took me 30 mins, I pretty much stopped at the end of each lenght of the pool. If anyone has any good tips on how to get the breathing down let me know.

I made a pot roast with root vegetables for dinner and it simmered all day. I freaking love CROCK POTS. Gary and I just played 3 rounds of scrabble. It is amazing how stupid scrabble can make you feel. I think out of 3 rounds we only got like 4 words with more than 4 letters that wasn't a plural! Gary won 2 rounds, boooo. Oh well. I'll get him next time.

Tomorrow I am taking the day off of work! I am super pumped, but I actually have 2 conference calls that I can't miss, so I have to deal with those and a few other things I need to do, so I think I will only log a half day off of work

1. Really bad reality TV, especially if it’s on VH1
2. Celebrity gossip and shows about celebrity gossip and blogs about celebrity gossip and so on (seeing a pattern?)
3. Makeover shows
4. Howard Stern – I love my drive to work for the 30 mins I get to listen to my man
5. Stand up comedy shows – do not get to Pickwick & Frolic nearly enough
6. That feeling of being utterly exhausted, but smiling after a grueling workout
7. Bosu – I love doing squats on this sucker
8. Yoga – I always feel sexy after a yoga class
9. Coming home from work and letting the dogs out in the yard, they are so happy to see me, it’s impossible to be in a bad mood
10. Running on a perfectly clear, cool, sunny day
11. Really cute workout clothes ( oh title nine catalog, how I adore you)
12. Finding a good deal on Ebay
13. Coffee
14. Finding a good home for a great dog (check out http://www.sharpeisavers.com/!)
15. My Book club (reading Crake and Oryx this month)
16. Making lists and filling in calendars
17. This guy:

Alright bloggy friends, as Josh would say! Josh is my friend from when we were kids (we did a a production of Peter Pan together!) and he gives me a great shoutout in his blog from yesterday. He does video blogging and they are always very entertaining and remind me of home b/c he never lost his country accent! Mine only comes out when I drink. You can check out his blog – it’s in my list- and watch his daily adventures as he acclimates himself to his new city – Philadelphia. Josh and I lost touch and reconnected through the power of myspace! Here is a picture of me and Josh when I went to San Fran on business and saw Josh for like the first time in 12 years!





Anyway bloggy friends, I made up for my indiscretions over the past 2 days. When I got home from work yesterday I did a nice 5.8 mile run that is a steady incline and my legs were screaming by the time I got to the top of the hill. Then it was downhill on the way home! I had a nice light dinner and went to bed early! This morning I met Ilana for a workout. I started out with 10 mins on the dreaded stair machine and then 45 mins of weights. Used my favorite machine, the gravitron – which is an assisted pullup machine.

Tonight I have my first meeting with the Cleveland Tri club, I am excited. I love meeting new people and I can’t wait to be a triathlete!

Oh I don’t want to blog today b/c I have been bad, bad I tell you! Yesterdays eating was horrid at best. I skipped my swim last night and slept through my morning runL I am super peeved, but trying not to let it get me down. I made the tragic mistake of stepping on the scale this morning and it’s official, I am 15 lbs heavier than I want to be! Not good. In order to get faster and be a better athlete I have to lose some weight. I am a small person – 5’2 – and I just basically eat constantly, I know I take in way more calories than I should. I’m on a diet ya’ll (said in my best Britney impression), wish me luck. I think I am going to try and eat as close to the abs diet as possible and allow myself 1 cheat meal a week which will allow for the holidays.

Mini goals
Be 130 by Dec 1
Be 125 by Jan 15
Be 120 by Mar 15

I know what I need to do. My eating has just literally been out of control for over a year, it’s like I eat 100% wonderfully healthy and then 100% horribly bad, I’m a woman of extremes. Maybe the cheat meal will work for me. I start today and my first cheat meal will be next weekend. I need a week of clean eating under my belt before I “cheat”. I have cut out diet soda and almost cut out splenda, but need to keep working on that. I’ll weigh in on Fridays and report here. I know no one really cares what I weigh, but it is part of my training and this is my blog! So, I want to keep track of this. It’s more mental for me than anything, so I just need to learn to control my mouth once and for all! Guess there will be no more beer for awhile! I got a little notebook and will write everything down.

Alright ladies and gents, I made my triumphant return to spinning class this morning! I am ashamed to even figure out how long it has been since I went to spinning! This summer I rode my bike outside a ton while training for the MS 150 which was in August. Every weekend from June to August we were riding almost 50-75 miles; but I haven’t been biking since! Soooo bad. So, my goal is to make it to spinning 2-3 times per week from here on out. Spinning is awesome for my quads and they are in really bad shape right now.

The Wed teacher is such a trip. He’s like this really fanatical bike guy who is crazy smart. He’s always throwing out all these weird comments. Like today we listened to all classical music. And the opening song was something called Bolero, which I have never heard of. But he acted like we have all of course heard of it and was telling us all these facts about the song. He’s quite entertaining and I love how much he LOVES to teach the classes, you can tell that he puts a ridiculous amount of work into planning them. The class was tough and I was smoked after about 45 mins b/c we did basically all hills.

I bought clip shoes for spinning about a year ago and I have never been able to figure out how to get clipped in. Isn’t that embarrassing? I wear them and always try try try at the beginning of class, but feel so stupid, I always give us. I have asked for help a few times, but no one in class has ever been very helpful about it. One time only I got one shoe clipped in. It stinks. I don’t know if it’s the shoes or what. But I ordered the shoes off of ebay and they are a bit too big, so I need new ones anyway and I will make sure to get some that work with my spin bike and my road bike. I don’t have clip pedals on my road bike and am SCARED to death to put them on, but will. I know it will make me go faster. When I did the MS 150 I averaged about 18 miles an hour, which really isn’t that fast, but as a beginner I felt good about that speed.

It was snowing and nasty last night after work and Gary had dinner made for me when I got home from the dentist, so I didn’t make it to the gym! For shame! Oh well, we are going tonight, no excuses and hopefully my snorkel from swimoutlet will be waiting for me after work!

PS - and since Josh asked - on Tuesdays I don't eat before my run b/c it's short, on Thurs for the 6 miler I do eat usually a banana with a little PB. If it's an evening run I will eat before. I go to bed at 10pm most nights! Although I have been know to fall asleep at 9! Or stay up until 11 b/c the tv show I Love New York is just too addicting.

All through last winter I ran with 3 people at 5:30 am on Mon, Tues, Thurs. I couldn’t believe that I actually ran through the winter, but I only ran on the treadmill one time last year. I did all my marathon training outside no matter the weather. So, of those 3 people, one moved, I’m not really in touch with one of them and the other one is coaching high school sports and too busy. So, I knew I had to do something or I wouldn’t get up in the am and run, it way too tempting to stay in bed and way too scary to run alone, I need people depending on me, waiting on me. So, I took to craigslist and posted an ad looking for people interested in running together. It started with just Brock and we ran a few times together, then Rachel contacted me and the three of us ran together, and then this morning 2 more additions – David and Chris. So, yeah – I have successfully created a running group, now hopefully it will stay put through the winter months! I have dubbed us the Shaker Snails and we meet at the Shaker Lakes Nature Center. I need to make a website and post some flyers at my gym. It would be so great to get like 10 people and do various workouts – hill repeats, tempo runs, etc.
We ran 3.2 miles this morning. I was having a heck of a stomach problem. I have been avoiding this for along time, but it’s just going to have to happen. I am going to have to get up at 5freakingam to allow my body to do it’s stuff before I go run at 6. If I don’t, 10 mins into my run I get that horrible “I’m going to poop my pants” feeling. So, starting tomorrow – 5am. Tomorrow is spinning, which is not a stomach issue; but in order to get used to the time, I have to get up at 5 everyday.

So, run in the am, tonight I am going to the gym with Gary, I will swim. I would take a 6pm yoga class, but I have a dentist appt., so I don’t think I’ll be done in time. I am contemplating joining the tri club for their Wed night run tomorrow. Yesterday was a rest day and it was much needed!

Well I got up early and met Becca to walk Mushi and Bronson. Tai was really sad that he wasn't invited along, so after Mushi's hour walk, I went back out with Tai and went on a short job with him. He loves to jog, but is super beefy and can't go for very long. So, once the dogs were thoroughly worn out, I put on my swimsuit and dragged myself to the pool for my first official swim. Ummmm, not so good. I forgot my goggles, so bought some at the gym and they were the worst. I had water in my eyes, ears, nose and mouth. Despite wearing goggles, a nose clip and ear plugs! It just sucked and I was only in the pool for about 20 mins. I think I did like 5 laps. Oh well, better than nothing. I saw a guy wearing a freestyle snorkle and I might get one. I just can't decide if I need to suck it up and learn everything at once, or if it would be beneficial to use the snorkle and get really good at freestyle and the timing of the stroke and then incorporate breathing into it? It's the breathing that I am bad at, not the movement of arms and legs all together. Something to think about...

Oh well, I must go to the grocery and to get some needles from the pharmacy to give my dog his allergy shot. Ta ta.

I’m reading a book called Slow, Fat, Triathlete, it’s pretty good and pretty humorous. It’s about a gal, who at 35 and 220 lbs, decided to train for a tri. It’s all very tongue and cheek, but really informative too. There is so much I need to learn and unfortunately buy! Wet suit, clipless pedals for my bike, more bike shorts, a decent swimsuit or two and the list goes on. I have all the necessities though.

The Cleveland tri club has a members meeting on November 9th and I am going to attend. I hope to become very involved in that group. For me working out is a very social thing. I very rarely work out alone. Last night I walked with my neighbor Kelly, this morning I met my friend Ilana to lift weights, I run with various people several times a week. I used to be a big drinker and pretty much lived at the bar I worked at in college. Exercise is now my social outlet and I’m sure I’m much better off now!

So, Ilana and I lifted this morning. I pulled a workout from a book called The 12 week triathlete, it has several workout plans for multi sport athletes that target each muscle group in a short span of time – we did 2 sets of the following – chest press, one arm row, shoulder press, bicep curl, tri row, lunges, squats against the wall with a resistance ball behind out back, hamstring curls, calf raises and toe lifts (sit down, put a heavy weight on your toe and lift – sounds easy, but you feel it). Then some ab work on the Bosu. Took about 40 mins in all. I checked out the pool and it looks pretty empty in the morning, at least today.

Swimming is a big question mark for me. I used to be a great swimmer, but that was when I was like 12. I got back in the pool this summer and was stunned at how bad I was! My friend Erin swims a lot though and gave me some pointers. I am going to hit the pool using a pull buoy for awhile. It’s this foam thing you put between your legs that keeps you back half in the right position and you basically just swim with your arms. It helps you correct your stroke. I just don’t know when I am going to fit the swimming in. There are so many workouts I want to do, but where it the time, ideally, here is how I would like my weekly workouts to be structured:

Sunday – Long run – 8-15 miles
Monday – sleep in, light swim or weights in the evening or rest
Tuesday – AM run 3-5 miles followed by abs at home, PM yoga class if I have time
Wed – AM Spin class, PM swim
Thurs – AM run 6 miles, PM weights at home or yoga
Fri – rest or weights or AM spin
Sat – Bike/Yoga/Swim – maybe not all 3, but it would be nice!

The goal is basically to get in 3 runs, 2 swims and 1 spin and 2 weight sessions. Yoga is just a plus and something I enjoy. I will of course have one rest day. Looking at that schedule I know if sounds crazy, but aside from the long runs, I really don’t burn many calories running anymore. I really just want to get into the habit of getting my major workouts out of the way in the morning and then doing a workout in the pm too. I mean why not? I spend 8 hours sitting at a desk, if I work out 2 hours a day, that still leaves me 14 hours to whatever else I need to do. It’s just getting into the habit!

I am so happy it’s Friday. Guess I better work, boooo! Bye for now.

For those of you who don't know, my beautiful sister Tina and her lovely husband Tim have lost almost 300 lbs combined! They got to be on the Today show last week and you can watch their clip below. I am so proud of them and cannot get over how far they have come. Everytime I see this now, it takes me a few minutes to register who they are!
http://video.msn.com/?mkt=en-US&brand=msnbc&vid=91503178-abc9-4eec-b306-2dfb25f1860e
There was also an article in our town paper on them, you can see that at
http://www.amnews.com/public_html/?module=displaystory&story_id=35498&format=html
Here are some before and afters of Tina - hope she doesn't mind me sharing them with the world, but they are so inspirational!

I’ve decided that sugar is the devil. Well I decided this a long time ago, but still continue to eat it and make myself sick! Yesterday I definitely had too much candy and today I feel like crap. Why do I put things in my body that make me feel like crap!?! So, I am swearing off sweets until Thanksgiving. For the next 22 days, no junk food is passing these lips! You hear me! Ugh, such a sugar coma today. We got a lot of tricker treaters, best costume was a toddler dressed like an elephant. Too cute. A group of middle school aged girls walked by me wen I was walking the dog and told me they were playboy bunnies, so sad. I said – does your mom know! And the mom following behind, said – yes! LOL. Woops. I guess I dressed like a little skank too when I was in middle school, but at least we pretended we were dressed like rock chicks, not people who pose naked for a living!

So, due to the sugar coma, I slept through my morning run! Woops, not the best way to start my training. I would run tonight, but I already have a date with my neighbor to walk 4 miles. So, that will be the exercise for today. Tomorrow I lift weights with my friend Ilana. Sat, I have a long walk planned with Becca and yoga class. Sunday I have a half marathon. I really excited for that. I really want to get in under 2 hours. My best time so far was 2:02. My last half was the Akron one in Sept and I was really sick that day, horrible cold, but boy did I run fast, but I crashed the last 3 miles and finished in 2:04. But up until those last 3 miles I was on target to finish a few minutes under 2 hour. Boo. So, hopefully I can redeem myself on Sunday! If not, I have another chance on the 18th, then no more halves this year.