progress?

So yesterday was a swim day. I have recieved all sorts of advice on training for this thing. It's enough to make your head swim...mean spin. Anyway so used adult type floaties in the pool. Used a kickboard. So I think not having to hold up my upper body and just kick across the pool would be easy. Completely wrong. Was hard as hell and then my calves cramp up. Also used these floatation things that go between your knees. Keeps you afloat and makes you use just upper body. Swimming is way easy when you aren't dragging your lower half around. Did help with my technique, stroke and breathing. It's a good aid to get timing down which I desperately need. Did 34 legnths of the pool. About half with aids and half without. Lot's of work to still do. Today I ran. Four miles in just under 43 minutes. Good pace for me and first time I've done 4 miles in awhile so again progress.

Think I may have found a good deal on a bike on ebay. Need to go to the bike store see it in person make sure it's the right size for me and I should go ahead and get it.

Tomorrow I'm starting a cleanse. Supposed to help get your body chemistry right and help drop some weight. Not going to be easy. Bought the ingredients today so will see if I can stick with it. Will be hard but results could be huge.

a tri sort of

today I went and swam 20 legnths. My shoulder hurt a bit. Contacted one of the swim coaches at the Y. I definitely need help with my technique. Not breathing right. I'm going to spend tomorrows pool time using some kick boards and leg floatation devices so I can work on mechanics. After coming home and resting for about two hours I felt ambitious and went to the gym, ran 3 miles and did 30 minutes on the spin bike. So did all three parts today. Not consecutively but at least it's a start.

job status

After the interviews on Tuesday I sent out the obligatory thank you emails. First thing Wed I get a response from one of the interviewers who all but offered me a contracting job for 6-12 months. Sent an email to my inside connection. Apparently two different groups want me. Nice to know. Of course I won't know anything about the second job offering for a few days but it would be a full time position and more likely to be good for my career. But seems either way I'll pick up some work and in this enviroment that's huge. Ok off to watch Gray's anatomy and fold laundry from my new machines...amazing how much of that piles up over just a couple of days.

dryers and tri's

ok so the ridiculous dryer saga is finally over. Got the new one today. What an ordeal. Today's drama...the company has me as the first delivery to make up for the previous two screw ups. They own two trucks. Dryer my truck is on breaks down. Takes until 6:30 for the dryer to be delivered. The two new machines are very nice. Maybe too nice. Had to go out and buy HE detergent (high efficiency). No big deal really except guess it shows that even my old detergent was not as efficient. Do have to say washed Hunters ratty bed and it came out way cleaner. Also interesting is that the front panel lights up so when you walk into the laundry room the machines look like some sort of space ship. Bad news is now the room looks really crappy. I get a job redoing that room goes up in priority.

So today went and swam. Did 30 legnths. Which is more than I did last time. Obviously took longer. Was going to go spin tonight but the dryer came way late and honestly the swim took a lot out of me. Also went and looked at road bikes today. Prices and info all over the place. Definitely have to upgrade my old road bike (it's over 20 years old). Will go relatively low end and see what happens. General advice I'm getting is not to buy a tri specific bike but a road bike first as most tri people do 90% of their training on a road bike and upgrade to a tri bike over time. Who knew.

so crappy and good?

Ok so ran yesterday outdoors as it was nice here...ok well above 40 degrees. My time was awful. So how do I reward myself I overeat. Not bad food but a ton of it.

And today, no work out at all. Why? Because I have a job interview. At my level in the org chart job interview is actually several (in this case five) interviews over the course of the day. It's draining. And these were especially weird since I wasn't applying for a job position that exists but rather the company is going through a re-org and is looking for talented people to help them rebuild. The day is spent really explaining in detail my talents and stregnths and now hoping that they can create something that works for me. And this is the good part of the day.

The bad part. Well first I ate like crap all day. Likely three times the amount of food I should have eaten. I will feel worse when I see the scale tomorrow. Second I want to call SP and share how it all went but I can't..or don't want to. How do you share all those details when the other person is sleeping with someone else? Maybe I'm weird but if your best frined is supposed to be your life partner and you break up you lose your best friend too. How can you share this stuff when they are sharing it with someone else. Then I get mad because she's moving on. If not in emotional intimacy at least physical intimacy which eventually will lead to emotional intimacy. I'm not over it yet...at least not fully. So how can she be? Yet on new years eve before the fight we were joking on the couch acting ....well like us. It depresses me that she could be doing that with someone else. And the third shitty thing? The replacement appliance came today...wrong color and gas instead of electric....wtf???

Whole Foods good or evil?

acckkk, hate when blogger doesn't save the post. Kills me because I type so slowly and then can't remember what I said. So stopped at WF on the way home to get green vibrance for my morning protein shakes. Also got good stuff for dinner. They have so many excellent things to buy for meals so definitely makes them good but the prices...ouch...so definitely evil too.

tri training update

Or should it be try training? So today I went to the gym with my trainer and now tri partner Danny. On Friday on my own I completed 14 legnths of the pool. For the sprint tri we need to be able to do 30. So to start off the training Danny tells me he has done some research and to account for outdoor conditions we should train to do 60 legnths. So the good news is today I did 22 legnths (mind you with stops) but it's a 50% improvement from Friday. Danny of course does 30 but has to take as many breaks as I did. So I guess I am roughly in 2/3 as good of shape as him although I suspect he wasn't nearly as exhausted as I was when done. Although I did hit the spin bike for 30 minutes after. My weight is coming down and so far the diet has been going well. Food intake is really key for me

in shape or die?

Ok so you ever watch the show the biggest loser? Hate to admit it but I do. Officially makes me a reality tv watcher I suppose. Well these people have to get in shape or literally they could die. Now I battle my weight like many of us do but not quite to that extreme. But I have done some reading and the days these big folks put in is amazing. With being recently laid off I am working out most every day and on some days twice it's killer. Not sure how they do it

another day

So big excitement today. Went and bought goggles. Apparently you can't swim with out them. Ok so you can swim without them you just can't see afterwards because of all the chlorine in a public pool. I'm used to the ocean and no such issues but a necessity. So go to the sporting goods store...there's literally 50 different kinds. Who knew....or cared. Is this the Michael Phelps explosion? Anyway got a pair and will be in the pool with my trainer and parter tomorrow. Ran and did some spin bike today. Would like to get more in but appliance deliveries sucked up the entire afternoon. Had to take doors and trim off, then one of the new appliances was busted. Needless to say the house is somewhat upside down and will be for a few days until the new appliance gets here. Oh well I'll have to deal.

triatholon training

Ok so I don't like to run, have never done a marathon, hell have never run in any competitive race, haven't ridden a bike in a race in 20 years and never swam in a race either. I'm arguably 40-50lbs overweight so might as well pick an easy goal like a triatholon to do. Well have never been one to set small goals. Actually it was my trainers idea. We're going to do it together. Which is a very uneven proposition. He's in way better shape than me. But he wanted a goal for himself and thinks (and I agree) that I need something to force me over this hump of just blahness. So since Christmas day I have eaten better and started to work out with a plan in mind. So I have to run 2-3 times a week. Bike once a week and swim 2-3 times a week. Plus work my core do some weights and eat well. I have been working out a lot since the layoff almost a month ago. So my general fitness level is better than it was but my eating has sucked.

So today was my first day at the pool. It's a 25 meter pool which means for the sprint tri I need to be able to do 30 laps. Needless to say I have a lot of work to do. I did 16 laps with plenty of breaks and was completely wiped. I have recovered now some three hours later. SO will hit the spin bike tonight for some more cardio work. Bike and run tomorrow and swim again on Sunday. This ought to be interesting.

2009 a New Year a new me?

• So a ton has changed yet again.
• SP and I broke up, or more precisely just ceased to co-exist.
• lost 34 lbs in 2008
• lost my job in a layoff 3 weeks before Christmas
• my daughter has completed her first semester of college
• I don't know what makes me happy
• I don't have the fire and drive I used to
• I'm angry and hurt but not sure at what.

SO goals for the new year?

• get rid of the anger and pain
• find the fire again
• set some goals for motivation
• get happy
• find the right relationship within myself so I can find the external one I so desperately want
• loss another 30 lbs.
• get my second degree blackbelt
• do my first triatholon.