Friday, October 31, 2008

Swimming

Last night I did 800 yards in the pool!! HOLY. Friend Dave used to be a competitive swimmer, so we did drills. 200 warm up, 6 x 25 kicks, 12x 25 arms, etc etc. I was tired, but not too bad. There's something about the water that doesn't make me feel tired unless i'm actually doing the swimming, and then i REALLY notice.

Another positive: I've been going into the hot tub after each swim and I haven't realy felt sore at all! WOOT! I'm so glad we signed up for the Y.

GO GATORS! (I SWEAR!)

In the spirit of Halloween, i thought i'd wear a red top and my devil ears and tail. I got all dressed to go to work, and i couldn't find the ears! So i left the tail at home and out the door i went: Red top and black slacks. I'm half way to work when i realize I'm wearing bulldog colors!! AHHHHH!!!! Today we were supposed to wear our 'team colors' and i end up in the enemy's red and black.

CRAP.

Thursday, October 30, 2008

Training... Day 16?

I'm starting to loose count on which day it is...

Yesterday's plan was to run 12 minutes and swim for 16. I finally found my contacts, so i was able to actually keep a decent amount of time in the pool. I swam for about 550-600 yards, but i had to break alot and w/ the breaks i didn't count the time. I was probably in the pool almost 30 minutes. The running was OK. I walked for 3 minutes to warm up and tried to go straight to a 4.5mph jog. Bad idea. I blaim my boobs. Something weird was going on in the heart/chest area - it felt like irregular palpitations, but it could've just been my boobs bouncing on my chest plate. If that's the case, that's pretty funny. :) Either way, it was uncomfortable so i brought it down to 4.1 mph. I could've probably gone 30 minute at the 4.1! In fact, i wanted to because Seinfeld was on and it was pretty funny... BUT time was up and Barry was done and i had to PEEEEEE so i stopped when my time stopped.

Happy Angelle? :)

Now i'm off to the dentist, and then back to the gym! It's a 20 minutes swim day.

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

BRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm SOOOO glad we got memberships to the Y. Our Tri training would go kaputz if we didn't.

Today's high was 60. Luckily, it's our day off so no biggy. But tomorrow morning is supposed to be in the 30s!!! And it's OCTOBER. BRRRRR!! Swimming would be nonexistent.

...Global warming, my ass...

Monday, October 27, 2008

Cake Wreck!

I'm totally submitting these to Cake Wrecks. They are moon pies on a stick and were for sale at the bakery at the bazaar. How hideous!!!

Training 12 & 13

Barry and I were supposed to go jogging/walking saturday morning but it ended be all misty and gross outside, so we walked to the complex's gym and used the treadmill. I chose a speed interval training program and I had to keep upping the mph for it to be worth it. I'm going to do manual from now on - it was such a pain in the ass. Then we went to the Bazaar and ate so much Filipino BBQ Pork - it's so delicious and we only get it once a year (but i found a recipe... heehee)

Sunday was AWESOME. Barry and I met our friend Dave and we went out and biked. 16 miles!!!! I was so nervous at first. On Friday night we practiced around the neighborhood and I had a complete brain fart on my first 'de-clipping' and busted - i have the scraped knee to prove it (haven't had one of these in years! Probably the last time i rode a bike...) BUT it ended up awesome and I really enjoyed myself - even caught myself smiling from time to time. So i'm looking forward to another ride this weekend.

PS Remember that bruise I was talking about earlier? Well here it is. When I busted on friday, i hit my leg in the exact same spot and aggrevated all over again! I put the pen there so you can see how huge it is. :(

Sunday, October 26, 2008

Blogger Withdrawal

OK, I think I'm now addicted to blogging. I see people haven't posted in the last 4 hours and i think "Slacker - wait... i used to blog 2-3 times a month..." Hopefully I won't get sick of blogging about training, 'cause w/ no kids, that's about all i got. :)

N-E Way. I didn't post yesterday because it's my church's annual bazaar and it's a HUGE family affair. We were there ALL weekend, less the time i slept and worked out. We did go to the UFC fight on sat night, but i was half asleep anyway, so i count that as sleeping. (Cote vs. Sliva - Cote popped his ACL in the 3rd round - sucks to be him and made for a sucky fight, so it was a waste of awake-ness in my book.)

I'm quite tired, so I'm going to go to bed early and I'll try and post about my training weekend tomorrow - i did some good stuff! (don't let the tension get to you, it's not all that. :))

Friday, October 24, 2008

A Good Nutrition Article

I love information w/ facts and numbers. Read this article about adequately fueling your body for a workout:

http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/cms/article-detail.asp?articleid=1603

Triathlon Training -Day 11

After that crazy workout yesterday, getting up this morning was a BEAST. We were supposed to wake up at 5:00 to go cycle for 2-3 miles. 5:00 turned to 5:30, and I was able to get up just in time to hear the rain pouring down. :P So i thought that i could still get up at 6 and go to our gym for the stationary bike. So back to bed i went for another precious 30 minutes. The bike in our complex gym is a recumbent and i truly dispise it. This coupled with the sound of the rain, the snuggles from barry, and the warmth of my bed equaled the demise of that plan. I finally crawled out of bed and into the shower at 7:50ish. I packed my gym clothes, made a smoothie and was out the door at 8:45, only to forget my yummy cattiatore leftovers. :(

I found out there was a YMCA about 5 miles from my office -BONUS!- now if i can't get up in the morning i can always go workout on my lunchbreak - woohoo! AND it has a pool - Double Woohoo! So for lunch I got on a stationary bike, but the regular kind, and rode 3 miles at about 12-13mph. Today's requirements were to swim 150m and bike 2 miles, but i forgot my swimsuit. I'm using the excuse that i swam enough yesterday for 2 days worth. :)

Training - Day 10

Yesterday's requirement was to swim 100m, cool down for 50m and to walk for 20 minutes.

I started with walking, then picked it up to a jog about 3-4 minutes in. I then was able to jog the entire remainder of the 20 minutes at 4.1mph, and i even kicked it up to over 5mph at the last minute. I was not expecting to be able to do that! I guess i don't give myself enough credit. After a 10 minute cooldown walk, i changed into my suit and swam the 150m. I had to stop after 100m, and then i had a break while Barry did his (the pool was full!) BUT after that, i wasn't ready to get out. SO, 50m at a time, I swam the full 500m - 1/3 of the triathlon. woohoo! i averaged about 1 min, 5 sec per lap w/ the breaks.
From there, we went to another YMCA and went climbing! the first time in over a year - i probalby only spent about 10 minutes actually climbing, and i stuck to elementary stuff, but it was fun to get back on the wall. It was NOT fun to have to trim my nails though. Oh well.

All in all it felt good! I did way more than 'required' and kept up pretty well. I didn't get tired until after we were done climbing, and that's probably be cause i hadn't eaten in like 7 hours. We got home and barry cooked some AMAZING Chicken Cacciatore, and it was time for bed.

Diet: I'm still having trouble eating ENOUGH calories. I have my weight loss goal set to 2lbs a week, and i'm still having a hard time. My hope is that i'll just loose more, right? I am drinking more water and not eating bad everyday, like i used to. I have not been too stricted, because i think that will just set me up to go overboard when i do eat badly. I've been making smoothies in the morning, and that fills me up. Try this for a great breakfast:

1 large banana
4-6 large frozen strawberries
4oz soymilk
4 oz apple juice
1 tbl PB (organic or "natural")
1 serving carnation instant breakfast
add ice for your choice of thickness. i don't like a lot of ice.

This makes about 32 oz, give or take.

Blend and enjoy! Sometimes i'll add oats and flax seed, but most of the time i forget.

Thursday, October 23, 2008

beginnertriathlete.com

Work today is completely slow, so I've had the time to read some articles on www.beginnertriathlete.com. This is such a great site! I really can tell that I have changed for the better, at least my heart has. My body will catch up.
I've read inspiring articles before. My reaction to them is usually the same: "Good for them - but i don't think i have the 'it' that they do."
Now it's different. I read the articles of people's first triathlons - people with severe asthma and people that have gone through quintuple bypass - and i think, (here comes the cliche) "If they can do it, i can do it!" Reading these articles gets me pumped! I know I've said this before, but I'm so excited! I'm most excited about being heart-healthy and loosing the feeling of being tired and fat just going up the stairs of my condo!

WOOT!!

Air Show

Every year, NAS Jax puts on an awesome air show. It alternates from the beach to NAS Jacksonville and this year it's at NAS, which is right down the road from where i work. It's pretty sweet because we get to watch them practice! Unfortnately, it's cloudy today, but fortunately, these jets are so badass that they fly below the cloud line! I can't wait for the Blue Angels to practice! Swededeu!

Training, Day 9

Well, yesterday did not go as planned at all. The plan was to get to the bike shop at 4:15 and be out by 7 (when they close.), then go over to the gym to swim and walk. I ended up getting to the shop at 4:30 and not leaving until after 8. I hadn't eaten anything since 12:00 or so and i was soooo hungry. I had asked Barry to bring me a chicken sandwich or something, but of course he "forgot". We ended up getting home at 8:30 and i decided that instead of going to the gym last nighti was going to eat dinner and use my day off today to do yesterday's workout. He kept saying i was making excuses and that this is how it starts and that we probably just wasted all that money, blah blah blah...

...that brings me to another "little thing":
  • proving Barry wrong.

I know this isn't very positive, but damn it, i don't think he believes me when i tell him that I'm in a different mind set. He always talks about how we need to loose weight. Now I'm doing it.

So, that being said, today, Training: Day 10, will include swimming and jogging, and then we're going to go do some climbing, which i haven't done in for frickin' ever.

Take that, Barry.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Bikes - And a Truly "Mandi-esque" Post

The Bikes are in the garage, the rack is on the car, i'm wearing my bike pants as i type this, and our checking account is empty! We definitely made a serious commitment! I just hope we can do it!!

NO, i KNOW we can do it. :)

I rode a little bit around the parking lot of the store and have my first bruise. I forgot that... hold on*

* side bar: my kitty Hiro is playing with my mouse - ha! The cursor moving all over the screen and he has no idea - so cute!

OK sorry. :) Now i forgot what i was going to say i forgot. LOL. OH YEAH. I forgot i was clipped in at one point and have my first bike-related bruise. I didn't fall on my ass thank goodness, but i guess my inner thigh hit my lateral bar or something. Luckily i caught my balance w/o falling.

We're going on a ride on Sunday w/ Dave and Jen (friends/former triathletes). I'm really looking forward to it and getting comfortable in the saddle and with my clips.

BTW, I'm only wearing the bike shorts because we were about to go play around the road in our complex when Barry realized that it's Wednesday at 10pm and he HAD to watch his Ultimate Fighter... I'm not a freak that likes to wear bike shorts. For all my men reader (Hi, Mike.): if you wear a pair of bike shorts you will know what it's like to wear a maxi pad. "And Knowing Is Half The Battle!" ... well, maybe not in this case.

As you can tell by reading this post, I'm way too tired and i need to go to bed now. More to come tomorrow.

Four by Four

So the rules are: Go to your folder of pictures on your computer. Open the 4th folder, and upload the 4th picture, then explain it. This is from LAST year's soccer season -Ashton's first year. I was hoping for a cooler picture, but it's got my nephew in it, so it's pretty cool in itself. :) That's my big boy in the #7 jersey. Go #7!!!

I tag Rhi, Jamie, Laurie, & Erin.

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Changarooski

After looking at our current training program and talking to my friend Dave - who happens to be a former triathlete and current lover of all things outdoorsy-sports like - he thinks the program is a little lax. It's quite possible that he's right. I did a little more research and actually like the same program Angelle is doing! SOOOO... we're going to finish week 2 w/ our lax program and start week 3 Monday w/ Angelle's. I already copied the spreadsheet and added rows for Barry and my distances so we can see our improvements. :)

I also stopped by the gym today and signed Barry and myself up! This place is re-DONK-ulous!! It's got everything imaginable as far as equipment goes, but it also has personal TVs on every cario machine w/ DirecTV, all your toiletries ever needed in the bathroom, a sauna, a jacuzzi, & 2 pools. It's got a swimsuit dryer near the showers so as you shower, you can dry your suit to put in your bag! All the lockers have 4 digit combo locks, so you don't have to bring your own lock. All towels are given so you don't even have to bring those! It is unbelieveable!

Ok, time for bed. Tomorrow I get fitted for my bike. Barry spent almost 5 hours at the bike shop today getting fitted! I hope it doesn't take that long for me. :P Then it's off to the gym for swimming and running/walking.

Little Things - 2

More things I'm excited about:
  • Less chafing between my fat thighs! I'm not a fan of walking like an old cowboy when my legs chafe.
  • Not being nervous about biking.
  • Buying new lingerie.
  • passing Lane Bryant without blinking.
  • walking into The Body Shop/5-7-9/Charlotte Rousse without having heart palpitations.
  • being a better climber
  • seeing the smile on Dr. Raspa's face when he sees me in January.

Training, Day 7

We ended up not going to the "Y" yesterday, but instead went to Bicycles, Etc. and to buy our 2008 Trek 1.2's. I called each of the bike shops we visited and asked for their best price. Not only did they give us the best deal, but also spent the most time with us and made us feel truly welcome into their shop and the sport that they obviously love so much. However, when we got there, we got to talking about upgrades and frames and wheels and pedals and saddles and cranks... and started to look around some more. I ended up with an AWESOME deal on a 2008 Scott Contessa Speedster. I saved over $600. Barry is picking out his this morning and getting fitted. I'll pick mine up tomorrow and get fitted.

Training: Don't think we skipped out on training just to go shopping. When we got home, we got to our gym about 8:00 and jumped in the pool. If i had nuts i'd have been singing a few octives higher - it was so cold!! But we got used to it and did 150m in just under 4 minutes. I got our goggles yesterday, but i still tended to keep my head up. I think we need ear plugs because when i tried to do what i thought was better technique, i would get water in my ear. From there we walked our 20 minutes. Today i gave myself an incline and switched up my pace from 3.6-3.9mph. We got home just in time for the last 10 minutes of How I Met Your Mother and watched Heroes.

Diet: From logging everything I eat on the Daily plate, i'm learning that I'm having trouble eating enough calories during the week, and then i go overboard w/ crappy calories on the weekend. It's a strange feeling to actually know that i need to eat MORE. I like it!
It's amazing how much easier it is to stay on track when you have the right tools!

Monday, October 20, 2008

Monday, Monday...

Sooo... 5:30 AM came and went. It was only about 60 degrees this morning! BRRRR!!! Too cold to for swimming! Barry said, "why don't we do it tonight when it's warmer?" I didn't need any convincing. We slept with the windows open last night and I sleep so well when we do that: A cool breeze and all warm under the covers. I ended up crawling out of bed about 7:30... and when I looked in the mirror - WOAH! Angelle and Laurie - do you remember what my hair would do sometimes? It was pretty bad. That's what I get for sleeping w/ a wet head. Needless to say it took way longer to do my hair than it usually does and I was running about 30 minutes behind today.
After I get off of work, barry and I are going to go to the YMCA and get a membership and do our swim/walk. I found out there's a new gym that has an indoor pool! WOOT! And it's open from 5am to 10pm, so we can work out before or after work, and it's only about $60/month for a family membership. I just have to not eat out $60 worth each month to make up for it - with my new eating soon-to-be habits, that shouldn't be an issue.
More to come on how my workout went today...

The Weekend

Saturday was wonderful - we slept in. That in itself made the day great. :)

Seriously though, we slept in, finished watching Prison Break (season 3 - soooo GOOD!!!!) then got over to the gym. We only had to walk for 25 minutes. We get to the gym, and in the 30 hours or so since we had been in the room, one of the treadmills was broken. So i ended up doing the Elliptical for the 25 minutes - that was ok w/ me - probably burned a few extra calories anyway.

After we got showered, we had lunch at Mama Fu's (YUM!), visited another bike shop (another hour!) and went to OP to pick up Zoe, our niece, for a birthday trip to Busch Gardens! She is just 54" so she was able to ride all the rides. We drove down Sat night and stayed with Barry's cousin.

Sunday we got up about 8:00 and had breakfast and got over to the park about 9:30. It was so fun to watch her experience her first time on roller coasters - after the 3rd time around she was a front row-er only! Especially on Sheikra! There were NO lines and the weather was PERFECT. At one point we had about a 10 minute ride on Montu and she was like, "NUH-UH - we should come back later!" She was definitely spoiled on her first trip! I'll post some pictures tomorrow if i have time.

We got home just before 11. Sunday's workout was 2 miles on the bike, so before we even went into the house we walked over to the gym and did our 2 miles! COMMITMENT!! :)

We were in bed by 12, with the alarm set for 5:30...

Friday, October 17, 2008

It's Not My Head That Should Be Spinning

I spent 2 hours in a bike shop today learning about bicycles. I am blown away... When I agreed to do this triathlon, i didn't think about how much it would cost. Honestly, i didn't even think about the fact that i don't even own a bicycle... ONE bike, after helmets, and shorts, and lights, and car racks... is going to cost about a grand. But - oh yeah! - Barry and I are doing this together. 2 bikes. 2 helmets. 2 shorts. 2 light sets.

Luckily, we only need 1 car rack. :P

Training, Day 4

Uck. So, either i'm more of a wuss than I thought, or this Michael Pate guy knows what he's doing for couch potatoes like me...

Today's training was to Swim 100m and bike 2 miles. Swimming was hard, but I got through it w/o any major complaints. Then I got on the bike. 2 miles. I can do it. I got to about 1.6 miles and was dying... i had to stop for a few seconds. But I was close to the 2 miles, so i pushed through and did it in about the same time i did yesterday (10 min). Yesterday all we did was bike and today I had just swum* 100m plus, so i guess that's an improvement, right?

When we got back to the house I was thirsty so i drank a small glass of water, and then started to feel nauseous. Barry said my sugar was low, so i drank a few ounces of vanilla almond milk. I blaim barry - he kept talking about why i was nauseous... I ran to the bathroom and threw up everything... mostly water, but reminents of last night's yummy dinner too... not so yummy the second time. I got ready for work, but i still feel weak and queasy. Now it's 7:00, - all i have left to do is button my pants... and I sooo don't want to. Is this normal? We didn't even workout an hour! WTF? I've gone 2-3 hours of hard martial arts workouts and not felt this bad. I've gone 14 hours of guard practice and not felt like this...

Oh well, as I always say... "This too shall pass."

*Did I use that right?

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Medical Update

I had another follow up with my Doctor about my PCOS. BTW, I mentioned before how much i like my doctor, right? Well, he's just the sweetest man ever. Gives out hugs at greeting and departure - i love hugs!! Anyway, I digress. (or as Matt LeBlanc said at 6:30 this morning on Married... With Children: "I digest...")
At the appointment, he was not happy with the way my chart is looking - yellow stickers everywhere, meaning, I have mucus almost everyday. I have not had a period since the end of June, and although i've been really good at taking my meds at night, i somehow forget almost every morning. I wasn't aware of this before, but he hadn't actually diagnosed me with PCOS until this week. Now it's offical. :P He also gave me another prescription. Now i'm taking progesterone, every night before bed. I'm grateful they're not shots, but they aren't taken orally either. That makes things interesting... Aparently the progesterone is supposed to jump start my cycle and on the 10th day taking the meds, i should have a period. And he warned me that it'll be a big one. That blows. On the bright side, hopefully i'll have more green days and a strong peak after that. *Crosses Fingers!* He says he would like to see more "I" s on my chart, and more green days would accomplish that. (I think his exact words were: "I'd like to see you have more sex.") Now you see why i like this guy?

On the other end of my body, i had some eye tests done a few weeks ago and the results came back yesterday. I thought I blogged about my eyes before, but to refresh: They're shitty. Not so much: Shitty, I'm almost blind, shitty, but more like: Shitty, If I'm not careful I could go blind, shitty. That's right. Blind. I have unusually shaped rods, which can be a catalyst for Glaucoma. On top of this, i am predisposed to be a 'great' candidate for macular degeneration. So every 6 months i get tested for both. And the most recent tests show I'm borderline for both. This means that for the mac degen, eating healthier and doing what i started to do this week will help. However for the glaucoma, the only thing we can do is catch it early. Once i have it, I'll have to take drops for the rest of my life to prevent blindness. How scary is that? I feel like it's just a matter of when. Luckily I get regular eye exams, i'd never know.

So, ladies and gents, just because you don't feel like you have poor vision, you should get regularly scheduled eye exams. Without tests, Glaucoma isn't noticed until it starts affecting your vision, and then it's too late - it's not reversable.

The Little Things

I think it's going to be the little things that will make a difference, once i start seeing changes in my body. I thought I'd list a few that i am looking forward to. Give me a comment, or post your own "little things blog" if you can think of some of your "little things"! Hopefully they'll inspire us, or at least make us giggle. :)
  • Getting rid of the 'front roll'. It's the phenomena that occurs when I wear pants and the front rolls down to make room for my fat belly.
  • Buying tops that have buttons down the front! Or at least wearing them w/o an undershirt, just so i don't flash everyone to my left with the gaping hold between buttons.
  • Not feeling tired all the time.
  • Having regular periods (TMI? Too bad, it's my blog.)
  • Not shopping in the fat girl section (I'm right on the border - 14s are too small, 16s are too big, but 16s are more comfy, so i wear those.)
  • getting second looks from strangers. i used to get them much more frequently than i do now.
  • Adding "Triathlete" on my list of accomplishments. That'll be sweet.

As I think of more, I'll post more...

Triathlon Training Day 3

Woke up again this morning - that is a plus! I feel very good about this, i don't know what it is. I just really feel that i can create a habit this time. Woohoo! I really hope i maintain my excitement. I think that keeping up with my blog will help.

Training: Today (Thursday) is supposed to be my "off" day, but since we started working out just yesterday, We did Tuesday's workout today. All that was required today was to bike 2 miles. Reading what everyone else has been doing is really making me feel like a wuss, but I guess the program knows best. There's only 1 bike in our gym at our condo, and it's the sit-down kind. I can tell that the bike riding is going to be my crux. I haven't owned a bike since i got one under the Christmas tree from Santa Claus. But i was on the LOWEST setting today and it took everything i had to get through those 2 miles. And i was only on for 10 minutes! I hope the stand-up bike will be easier. While Barry did his turn on the bike i did some sit ups and some light weights.

Diet: I still don't have a solid diet plan, but i am WAY closer. I found the link that Angelle gave a while back from livestrong.com: http://www.livestrong.com/thedailyplate/ I'm really enjoying this! I put in everything i eat and all the exercise i do and it spits out how I'm doing, complete with pie charts! I'm so Ross Perot when it comes to charts. I learned today that shrimp, other than cholesterol, is pretty good for you! I ate 10 shrimp cocktails a little while ago and learned that a serving of 80 calories has 12 shrimp. So I'm going to go eat 2 more! heehee :)

Another thing I have to be better about is to blog first, read second. I blame that on part of the reason for not being a better blogger in the first place. I'd read all my friends blogs and then it'd be time for bed! Now i will be sure to complete my own before stalking. :)

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

It's 6:33AM

...and I've completed my first workout and taken a shower. Today was great, but that's probably because it's day one and i was asleep before 11:00 last night. Jumping in the pool was not fun, but i got used to it pretty quickly and realized that i don't have any goggles. I need to add that to my 'things to get' pile, along with some better running shoes and a bike. So today i kept my head above water, which i think made it a more strenuous workout. Walking was boring... my talkative husband only spoke when spoken to - he is definitely NOT a morning person. Next time i'll bring my ipod or figure out the TV in the room.
I really need to figure out a good nutrition program. I don't think i get ENOUGH calories in a day, OR i get too many really shitty calories.
BTW, the straw that broke the camel's back was sunday when i had this to eat:
~Leftover thai food (Duck w/ red coconut curry)
~Leftover Fajita Nachos from LaNopalera Mexian
~5 Honey Garlic Wings from Gators w/ ranch
~Fried Green Beans
~Chili Cheese Nachos
~over a pitcher of Yuengling
~Cup of Funari's Banana Pudding/Brownie Batter Gelato

There. Now it's out in the open. No more eating like that.

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Triathlon Training, Day #1

Ok, so i didn't actually do any training today. But I'm counting today as day one because my heart and mind are still in it and i did alot of leg work today:
  • I got the OK from my doctor. He was glad that i was thinking of doing a program that started slow.
  • I decided on my workout schedule: http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/cms/article-detail.asp?articleid=262
  • We scoped out our gym. We somehow lost the key to our pool/gym area, which was a huge excuse as to why i haven't been exercising. However, a quick sqeeze through some bars that some hooligan bent apart (Thanks, Hooligan!) and making a copy of our neighbor's key and we are IN!
  • I'm still trying to figure out logistics for swimming when it gets cooler outside. I am thinking about going back to school, but if i do that won't be until feb and that's too late. There's only one other gym in the jacksonville area that has an indoor gym, but they're $40/month and 25 minutes away. I mentioned that getting a wetsuit was an idea... that's definitely something to do when it's dark outside! lol

All in all, day 1 i feel has been a good day. We wake up at 5:00 am tomorrow for some walking and swimming!!

Monday, October 13, 2008

OH!

And another bonus: I'm going to be smokin' hot for my cruise in February! Maybe I could wear a bikini??? OOOO I just got tingly!

Triathlon

Barry and I met the Gallers today for a quick visit with lunch at Red Lobster. (Endless Shrimp - yum!) Angelle mentioned that her next big step is to do a triathlon. Her timing in mentioning this was perfect because last night, (while enjoying the 2nd day at Funari's) I was discussing w/ friends what i had eaten that day and needless to say... it was horrible. I did have green beans... but they were battered and deep fried. I started to feel nasty and realized that i really need to change my life - I don't eat right OR work out. I used to do a little of both, but now: NOTHING. Just thinking about it right now is making me nauseous (or maybe it's the gazillion shrimp in my belly right now coupled with 1/2 the boston creme cupcake from Vanilla's for dessert?)... either way it's bad i'm sure.
So, for the first time, I am saying it out loud and in writing:

I am going to train for a triathlon.

Doing it with Angelle next spring will be great motivation - I'll get to visit with friends, have a nice vacation, and have an end goal in mind.
So, i've been online today looking at training programs and things needed. Obviously i'm going to need a bike. Yikes. I was going to use my tax refund to get a new laptop... it may be going towards some new bikes now. Damn. But it's for my greater good, right?
I happen to have a doctors appointment tomorrow. I'm going to get his blessing with this before i start on tuesday, since i am probably 50 pounds overweight.

HOLY SHIT!!! Wish me luck!

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Class of 1998

Last weekend was my 10 year high school reunion. It started Friday night at a local bar called Square One. I saw a few people I knew from Elementary and Jr High, but didn't hang out w/ them in HS. But, it was fun to talk and have some drinks.

Then Saturday was the actual reunion. Out of a class of about 550 people, only 40 or 50 showed up. Amazingly, i recognized almost all of them, although i was only friends w/ a few. I really was just looking forward to seeing some suprise faces and reconnecting with them. Luckily, i wasn't dissapointed! A friend from band, Chris Cunningham, and his wife came. Honestly, i hadn't thought about him since HS so it was a great suprise to see him. He and a few other friends, along w/ their husbands, hung out and caught up, and then went bar hopping along the beach. Aside from my husband and I getting into it, I had a great time. (that's another blog).

It really was uneventful - no amazing stories. But I got some pictures, and if i remember, i'll put them up tonight. I'm looking forward to digging out the HS ones and comparing. :)