About Me

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Austin, Texas, United States
I'll make you laugh, or break my neck trying. This is usually accomplished with daily bouts of swimming, biking and running. A former "chub-a-holic," I got fit and healthy the good old fashioned way and went from a mid-pack athlete to top age group runner and triathlete. I'm a Writer and USAT Level 1 Certified Triathlon Coach. I guess that makes me part Tina Fey and part Jillian Michaels. Visit my coaching site at www.fomotraining.com

Friday, May 19, 2006

Cinderella Can Bite Me



Cinderella is a bitch. Not only did she land Prince Charming, but she also can stay up until Midnight before turning into a pumpkin! I hate her. It seems the magic time for me these days is about 10:00pm. If I’m not in bed snoozing by then, I’m pretty much screwed the next morning. I’ll groggily hit snooze and attempt to justify sleeping in just a little longer. The last couple of days have been like that. I’ve been getting to bed later than usual (a whopping 10:30pm) and attempting to get up at 5am and train like I mean it. The problem is that when I’m tired and grumpy, I DON’T mean it. My workouts feel useless when I’m exhausted. I like to feel my workouts and not just drudge through them because the training schedule says so. Yesterday morning, I had visions of getting up and riding for an hour and then running for about 30 minutes. The alarm went off, the cat woke up and start nudging me. I turned over and went back to sleep. I eventually got up around 6:45am and decided to do my arms and core workout from home. I did eventually get my bike ride in last night. Shawn and I met at the new house and rode around the neighboring streets and explored some of the roads and routes that will soon become second nature to us. It wasn’t a hard ride by any stretch, but there were a couple of climbs (including Stratford Hill where you’re literally not sure you can turn the pedal over fast enough or unclip before falling over). Luckily, we both made it up the hill with bodies in tact.

This morning felt like old times! I actually got a full night’s worth of rest and was at Barton Springs Pool by 6:30am. My goal was to swim 4 laps for a total of 1 mile. Although I wasn’t swimming fast (I never do), I was swimming better than usual in my wetsuit. My breathing was steady and my arms weren’t tired or sore. I actually felt like I was swimming!! I finished my mile and decided to go for another ½ lap to make 1.2 miles. It was a total of about 45 minutes with a minute of rest included in that…:15 in between each lap. I got out, felt refreshed and was ready for part two…a 7 mile run around Town Lake, that turned into 7.5 miles.

It was another beautiful bright day in Austin. I was mentally happy with my swim and refreshed from the cool water. I had downloaded an hour’s worth of music from iTunes “PodRunner” podcast to my new Nano. Yay…Normally, I’m not really into the techno/house music thing, but at 161 beats per minute, it really does put you in a trance. I ran 7.5 miles at an 8:25 pace and wanted to go longer and faster. Unfortunately, I had to get to work sometime and I was already late! Now, granted, I actually ran the Boston marathon faster than that, but I’m still trying to find my legs again. Plus, I had biked last night and swam this morning. And, I have a 14 mile run in the morning. Suffice to say, the run felt great and I felt strong. Like I said earlier, I like to feel my workouts.

Cinderella may be able to stay up later than me, but I’d kick her ass in a race anyday, especially since she tromps around in one glass slipper!


Nutrition for Thursday 5/18:

6:15am ½ w.w. tortilla with PBJ, coffee
9:30am cup Kashi with Blueberry yogurt
12pm Salad with vinagerette, ½ tuna salad sandwich on whole grain bread, 1 small piece of chocolate cake from my b-day.
4pm cup of Quinoa with feta, sundried tomatoes, spinach and chicken…a small apple
8:30pm Austin Java co. for turkey burger and side salad. I opted for a soda instead of a glass of wine. Coach Shawn guilted me out of it! 1 Riesen Chocolate caramel instead…

Nutrition for Friday 5/19

6:00 am ½ w.w. tortilla with PBJ, bite of BFL Bar
9:30am (after swim and run) cup of quinoa—see above and an apple, two bottles of water and coffee
12:30pm leftover soba miso bowl from Pei Wei--buckwheat noodles, veggies and tofu
one Body for Life cookies and cream bar.
4:30pm small piece of chocolate
7:00pm-8:00pm Alamo Draftouse to see "Thank You for Smoking" --large Spinach salad with vinagerette, diet coke, falafel, 1/2 pita and tabouli. stopped at Starbucks on the way home to get a decaf coffee with sugar free vanilla syrup.

3 comments:

Deb said...

Great post... I don't believe Cinderella exists..If she did, she would have been on Oprah by now. I love those rides that include a hill like that...only if it's for about 1/8 of a mile. Enough to remember, but not bragg about ;). How was the moive? I've been curious.

Anonymous said...

wow, what a wonderful workout sunday! that is such a great feeling. good job! j

Anonymous said...

Thanks for running with Podrunner!