R1P4D6

LIW 159.4
Daily Loss .9
Total above LIW 1.3
Current Weight 160.7
Food Tracker
Exercise: One hour swimming

Last night I made it to Masters Swim despite lots of pain on the top of my right foot. It looks like I might have bruised it, and perhaps strained the muscles on the top of my foot. Either way, I made it worse last night (especially after using my flippers), and its difficult for me to walk today....whenever I move my ankle or put pressure of the foot, it HURTS! While Im working today, I'm going to have my foot propped up with an ice pack to hopefully ease the swelling...and I will be asking my boss to work from home the rest of the week, since I wont be able to drive if I cant move my foot, right?

On a brighter note, we did 1900m in Masters last night (thats 12 lengths past a mile). Thats the longest I've ever swam in a day. And it has me wondering if I should sign up for the 1.5 mile open water swim held locally at a lake in June. Just the thought scares the heck out of me, especially since my tri wetsuit is probably way too big for me (it is a Mens Size L since thats what I fit into-width not length :)), and I definitely don't want to be in the water without a little floatation to pull me through, just in case...Anyone want to do it with me?

Lost .9 yesterday thanks to the swimming...not thanks to my eating, since it was terrible! I was hungry for crap all day, and didnt really hold myself back too much. Looks like my candida it is coming back with a vengenance. At least now all the cookies are out of the house. And the Tuscan salad from Houlihans. And the flatbread pizza from date night. Its nice to know that I can have anything I want to eat now, in moderation, and it will only throw me off for a little while.

Once I'm down to my goal weight, my plan is to get my candida under control for good, and eat heathly throughout the week and let myself have one day of the weekend to let loose. I will weigh myself once per week on a Friday, and then Sat will probably be my splurge day, since we have our date nights that night most weeks. And then by eating clean til the next Friday, I should be able to maintain spendidly. Thats the goal, anyway.

My short term plan is to do one more long round from mid April to end May, lose 20-30lbs then (fingers crossed), finish P3 by third week of June, and maintain all during the summer and fall so I can train fully for my triathlon season. Then I will reassess in October if I want to do another round or two-or if I can actually lose on my own without the HCG.

Goals for me this year include: (this does not include those things I am presently doing regularly):

• Getting to my goal weight of 130 and staying there
• Remembering to take my supplements daily
• Adding one new recipe to my repetoire a week
• Trying one new vegetable or fruit a week (after P2, of course)
• Increase the quality of the food I serve my kids daily (have you seen food revolution-so eye opening!)
• Daily favorite thing about myself and my day (for me and my hubby)
• Doing 50 pushups in a single session
• Completing the 1.5 mile swim
• Completing a 5K in less than 30 minutes
• Completing two Sprint triathlons and one Olympic, or if I am still having foot issues, completing the same distances are aquabikes (no run)
• Finally doing the 30 day shred video, and if I like it, actually completing the program (ie once a day for 30 days)-I've had the video for about a month now and havent opened it yet!
• Continue to blog at least three times weekly after finishing R2

Goals I have attained to date and will continue to persue (if applicable):

• Drinking 3L of water a day
• Stop biting and picking my nails (now they look GREAT!).
• Returning to Masters Swim at least one day a week
• Walking/aerobic exercise at least three days a week
• Returning to Yoga-doing it once a week
• Loss of 30 lbs
• Signing up to mentor 7 students at my alma mater IIN-starts in April
• Learning to love, be gentle with, and reward myself (constant work in progress)
• Taking time for myself, making time with my kids, making time for my husband

What about you? What are your goals for the the next three months? The next six? All of 2010?

ps-still no TOM

R1P3D13

LIW 159.4
Daily Gain .8
Current Weight 160.9
Above LIW 1.5
Food tracker

So up .8 today...could it be the cashews, the small amount of sour cream I used in my soup, or the swimming?  Does chlorine cause bloat?

I ended up swimming 1000m (~.63 of of mile) last night during the 1/2 hour I was there.  My coach threw me out at 9 saying he wanted to make sure I was back on Thursday, knowing if I stayed longer I might not be able to move my arms before Thurs.  It sure did feel good to get back in the pool...and despite the number of people at Masters last night, I stayed cool (its normally like a sauna in there due to construction).   I felt good, and I swam good.  All of Coach Ken's tips and tricks made my swimming more efficient so I wasn't as tired as I normally am, even after not being there for a while.  I wasn't any faster than I was before, but at least there was someone in my lane that was as slow as me.  :)  Im looking forward to going back on Thursday.

Busy week this week...still doing the endless listing, lots of meetings, girls night out for St Pats Wed, in the office (40 min from my house) tomorrow and Thursday, a week of free tanning to use up, grocery shopping and cooking needed...gotta go!

Make sure to do one REALLY nice thing for yourself today...even if you just look in the mirror and say, You're Beautiful (and MEAN it!).

Rough Night

Last night my husband left for his annual 'Party in Vegas' trip...he'll be gone til late Monday night, so I'm in charge of the kiddies for the next four days. Kieran has been sleeping in 5-6 hour blocks, so I was hopeful that meant I would only need to get up once with him in the night, but he must have known that Daddy was gone, and woke up screaming 4 times. Granted, I only got up one of those times, thinking that he needs to comfort himself and go back to sleep, but irregardless, I was up everytime he was, and basically got about 4 hours total sleep last night. I'm pretty tired right now...yawn. And I get to do this for four more nights, fun!

But I did make it to Masters last night for the last session of the Summer. The pool will be closed starting Monday the 17th for the next 3 weeks, so I have made arrangements with some fellow Masters lane 1ers (yes, the slow lane) to meet at the local outdoor pool once a week until it reopens. Hopefully the weather will cooperate with that schedule!

On Sunday, me and the boys will be volunteering at the Y's Kids Triathlon. Kieran will be helping by staying on my back in his pack and not crying too much (!) and Connor and I will passing out with refreshments, water, you know the drill. Connor helped me at an event two years ago passing out water to runners doing a 5k. You should have seen him, he loved it...he kept screaming WATER at the top of his lungs every time someone ran by. People were lining up to get water from him, jeopardizing their times because he was so cute. Let's hope he cooperates as well on Sunday, otherwise it will be a long, painful morning.

No more Masters?

I skipped Master's last night, opting instead for a good book and going to bed early. At 9:30pm I remembered that Mark will be leaving for Vegas Thursday night and I wont be able to go then, and the Y is closing the pool for three weeks on Monday, which means there is only one masters swim session left prior to my event (instead of the two I go to weekly). Oops.

Lucky for me, Mark said he would stick around til I get back from Masters on Thurs, so at least I will have one time to swim before my next Tri. I guess I'm going to need to go to the local Doylestown pool and pay the guest fee to swim. But I tend not to swim for as long when I am by myself, so hopefully I can find some friends to go with me and do some laps. At Masters, this is not an issue since peer pressure is a strong motivator.

Today I plan to start my running training. I am going to go for an hour, and walk for 30 seconds, run for as long as I can, then walk for a minute, etc, etc. Hopefully by the end I will have run for at least two miles and then I will build on my distance from there. I am going to wear my tri shorts, because they seem to be the only item of clothing I have that do not chafe or ride up when I am running (outside of my long WARM running pants, and those won't do in 90 degree weather!). My goal is to make it up to 4 miles before my next event, and hopefully that mile cushion will help me make it 3 miles when my legs are tired from swimming and biking. I am also going to try the music mixes found at podrunner (itunes podcasts)that go along with the Couch to 5k running program I linked to yesterday. Music is definitely another great motivator for me.

What are your motivators?

Waiting for Split Times

Got out of the house this morning at 5:15am, and boy, was it pouring! But there was no lightning, so that was a good sign. It rained all the way there, and I prayed that it wouldn't start thunder and lightning so I could do my swim. I was really looking forward to the swim since I did the open water clinic there in July. The rain continued during my time in the transition area as I frantically tried to find a garbage bag to cover my stuff, since I didn't even think to bring a bag to cover everything. I just had little ones to cover my shoes-silly me. My friend Kim had an extra one, so I placed everything in it and sealed it up. They closed transition at 7:20am, even though my wave was not scheduled to start until 8am, so for forty minutes I chatted with my new compadres, and waited for my turn in the water.

I was in the 10th wave, and we started our swim around 8:10am. The water was warmer than the air, and I was nice and toasty since I was wearing my illegal wetsuit (on other words, I wasn't eligible for any prizes since I was wearing it). So much for the 92 degrees forecasted, huh? It was about 70, but chilly in the rain.

The swim was good...not too hard, and gratefully, no one ran me over. I did have a couple pokes in the face, and ankle hits, but that was it. I have yet to check my wetsuit for damage, but I think its ok. After the swim, I lost my head a little and it took a few seconds to find the path to the transition area. There was so much mud that I slipped a few times, and hoped that my towel would be dry enough to wipe off my feet before the bike.

It took a few minutes in transition to get the wetsuit off, find my shoes in the plastic bag (they were soaked), and get them and my helmet on. The first section of the bike (ie the first 100 yards) was all uphill...a hell of a hill for my wobbly legs. The course was a little less than 13 miles, and it was hilly...but not too bad. I got to try my aero bars for the first time (yes, I know, I waited til the last minute to try something new, but it worked out) and they saved me a lot of drag and a little time...though my neck and shoulders were not used to that position and got very tired. I figured better that then having to be on the bike longer and having the part of my hand between my thumb and fourth finger in pain (which it has been during practice due to some nerve damage from a rollerblading accident many years ago). The last part of the bike was thankfully down that first big hill, but I breaked most of the way so I wouldn't slide from all the rain (and too avoid going to fast over the big gaps in the asphalt-ouch!).

At T2, I changed my socks (thanks Kristin, for telling me to bring another pair) and put on my dry running shoes (not sure how that worked with the biking ones being so wet), grabbed my race number belt and started running...I actually made it 4 blocks or so before I had to walk. I had the worse calf pain, though my toes and knee surprisingly did not hurt. I alternated running and walking for the rest of the course, and was glad that I was able to run more than walk despite my lack of training on the run. I made it to the finish at 10:09am, which I think is exactly two hours from my start, but I have to wait a few days to get my split and final time to confirm as I did not bring a watch with me. All in all, I felt good at the end. I did not want to run anymore, but if I had to do something else, I think I could have. I definitely was not as tired as I thought I would be, at least not until I made it home.

Mark videotaped all of my transition points with his iPhone ( I LOVE that thing), so I was able to watch myself today with the rest of the family. That was nice, though I definitely realized I want to lose this baby weight. I did this triathlon 15 pounds heavier than my first in 2007, but I felt better this time. My training was better this time around even though I was injured, and I had the support of my TRY to TRI class at the Y, and my Masters Swim class every M and Th night, which was great.

So marks the end of my first tri of the season. Ocean City Tri, here I come (Sept 13)!

Two more days

So last night was an intense session with my chiropractor, who does ART (active release technique-http://www.activerelease.com/) and basically strips out my pain by doing deep tissue work (there is a lot of cursing going on during those sessions) followed by some stim treatments on my knees and neck, and some ultrasound on my foot (for my Morton's Neuroma). After that I went to Masters swim, and was suprised that our lane finished our 1600m (1 mile) in about 45 minutes...thats really cool (for me anyway). At lunch yesterday, I walked 4 miles (and jogged about a 1/3 of it), and even though my feet were telling me it wasnt such a good idea for the first mile or so, when I ran during the next three, it hurt less.

Today I plan to do a short bike ride if the weather holds out and if Kieran doesn't need to come home early from daycare due to his cold. Tomorrow I have both the kids during the day since Mark is working, so I'll take them over to the Y daycare to do yoga in the morning, and then head over to pick up my race packet around 3pm since Mark's parents have graciously agreed to babysit for a few hours. When I return home, I will pack my transition bag, take a shower, and go to bed so I can get up at 4:30am refreshed and ready for the day. Whew!