Yippee for Fitness!

There has been so much going on this week to write about, but frankly, the Tuesday night massage experience usurped them all and basically wrote itself as it was happening!

However, here is a nice little recap of everything that is non-Jorge related!

I was finally about to pinpoint and resolve my sleeping and restlessness issues from last week. It was quite simple, really. All I had to do was stop taking the appetite suppressants I took for a few days when I returned from Italy.

I know, I know…these things are the DEVIL. Believe me, I know this. I took Metabolife back in the day when it was still legal to take Ephedra. Sure, it squelched my appetite. But it also squelched my personality and I would watch and feel myself go from feeling normal to feeling depressed, aggressive, jittery, nauseous and downright psychotic—all in the name of dropping a few pounds.

I am not a believer in these awful things. I’m also a believer in not looking like this again

so I totally PANICKED when I was on vacation and ordered them on-line so that they would be waiting for me when I returned home. The starchy food and wine consumption coupled with any lack of structured training sent me into an almost irrational state of being. I just felt like I would wake up at any moment 50 pounds heavier. Scary, isn’t it? It’s called “ego” and we all have it. It’s not “ego” in the sense that we feel better or more superior than someone else. Our “ego” is just that little voice that speaks to us constantly. Sometimes it tells us that we’re awesome. Sometimes it tells us we’re useless. Sometimes it tells us we’re getting fat and lazy. That’s the pesky little booger I kept hearing.

I won’t say the name of the pills, but they were featured in a recent issue of Triathlete Magazine so I thought, “They can’t be that bad for me.” Wrong…Almost instantly, I felt that old familiar twinge of anxiety when I took them.

In general, if you have to buy two bottles because all of the WARNINGS don’t fit on one label, don’t take the crap! Three days later and the consumption is history. I’m back into my “normal” state of reality and establishing a routine once again.

YAY FOR FITNESS!

In fact, part of that routine involves getting back to Jack and Adam’s Corture class on a regular basis, hitting Gazelle Running workouts consistently and establishing my T3 Training Schedule for the rest of the summer! All of which I managed to do this week!

Monday: Gazelle Morning Circuit Workout and J&A PM Core Class

Tuesday: T3 PM Indoor Cycling followed by Jorge Massage Experience

Wednesday: Gazelle Tempo Workout –this was a 2 mile warmup followed by a 3 mile progressive tempo. I’m actually quite happy with my efforts on a 77 degree morning
2 mile warmup
Mile 1 of tempo: 7:12 pace
Mile 2 of tempo: 7:02 pace
Mile 3 of tempo: 6:56 pace
1 mile cooldown

Thursday: AM T3 Swim class
Several months ago, I put a post-it note in my car that simply said, “2x100.”
That meant that SOMEDAY I wanted to get to a point where I could do 2:00x100m repeats with some relative consistency. At the time I wrote it, I was probably somewhere between 2:10-2:15 per 100m…Well yesterday, I managed to start our workout with 6 x 100 meters all between 1:53-1:58. Later in the workout, I did 6 x 50m between :54-:59…Fabulous??? For me—YES! It illustrates that I have made progress and have managed to hang onto some of the strength even post-IM. I’ve also been able to watch some of my former lane mates get faster and faster, so it’s definitely awe-inspiring to watch their continued progress. (Yeah-I'm talking about you Colleen, Michelle and Ralph!!)

Friday: Rest Day because I CAN damn it!

Sat and Sun: I’ll manage a long bike, run and swim workout throughout the weekend!

In general, I'm lovin' the spirit of summer at the moment. T3 has a ton of new members for their summer and fall programs (including my hubster who officially signed up!), the Gazelle workouts were jam-packed this week with newbies training for Fall marathons and the J&A Core Classes absolutely filled the parking lot with people wanting some additional strength training! This fitness thing is catching on and I'm lovin' it!!!

T3 Indoor Cycling Class (as taken on my bike from the back of the room)

That tunnel of light may have been heaven.

Jack and Adams Core taught by Pro-Triathlete Pat Evoe. His feet are the ones in the air as he demonstrates the next move. It's hard to imagine that so many people would show up in 98 degree weather to work their cores OUTSIDE in a parking lot.

Iron-Carrie is Back!