Today I began the full three events-swim, bike and run-at the gym.

I started off with a 1,000 meter swim. Not bad, as I did it first and was glad that I did because the pool was open with only one other swimmer. The swim was a good one and I realized something funny during it: While I love swimming, I loathe biking, but only at the gym. I have a feeling if I were working out outside, swimming would be tough in the ocean or lakes because I’d be concerned about whatever was below the surface and biking would be great because I’d actually be going somewhere!

Swim: 1000 meters/40 laps; approx. 29 minutes. I stopped a few times to listen for the paging system, in case my youngest needed to leave childcare! I want to do this entire swim next week without stopping, and I’d like a better way to time myself. I know that I did the first 250 meters in about 5 1/2 minutes without stopping; after that, it’s a guess.

The transition was easy: I shed my suit, put on my running clothes and headed upstairs. I did a five mile bike ride. The other day when riding I stood up after and had a really sharp pain in my calf muscle. I made sure that night and the next day after my run that I stretched the hell out of it. It felt better today; no sharp pain. I took it easy on the levels though just in case. I have to do a 11 mile run on Saturday and don’t want any odd pains to stand in my way!

Bike Ride: 5 miles (like 5.2 or something) in 15 minutes.

I then stepped onto the treadmill, glad to see my legs held me up. This is only the second time I have biked and then run after. I’m sure when I get going a little farther on the bike, the run after will be more tough.

I did 2 miles and averaged just 9:30 min miles. I really wanted it to be closer to 9, and I did get down to 8:40 min miles a few times, but not enough.

The entire workout took about 65 minutes. I got done feeling great but really, really hungry! I had started off this morning with a cup of coffee, a hard boiled egg and a banana before the workout. I have a feeling if I go much longer than the sixty-five minutes I’m going to need to eat something during, or take one of my gel packs that I use on long runs.

I realized something about the bike: I need to practice. I don’t enjoy biking. I love to swim and run, so I want to do these two, and I don’t want to increase the bike because I don’t enjoy it. I think if I were outside, again, I would, but inside I just don’t.

So, with shower and all I was at the gym for about an hour and a half. The girls, of course, did fine in daycare, though I was feeling a bit guilty by the amount of time it took. And I know that when I get to doing some longer bikes and runs it will take even longer. However, I think I will cap myself at a certain point before this triathlon. I have to check and see again how long the distances are, but I think the run is only four miles, which isn’t too bad.

Completing all three of those today really made me feel great! I am feeling a bit more confident, like the triathlon won’t be unattainable, especially if I start small.

A question for all of my tri friends; How far are you going in training before a race? Do you try out the entire length first? Or, like a marathon, only go to a certain point in training and push it a bit farther on race day?

I had to write a post about this totally awesome, awesome, awesome (did I say awesome?) new band, new song that I heard on the radio the last few days.

The band: The Airborne Toxic Event (don’t let the name scare you off!)
The song: Sometime Around MIdnight

Want to hear? Visit this link!

Oh man, I can’t wait to download this song and listen to it during one of my long runs.

Here are the lyrics from songmeanings.net.

This band is going somewhere!

And it starts…
sometime around midnight
or at least that’s when
you lose yourself
for a minute or two

As you stand…
under the barlights
and the band plays some song
about forgetting yourself for a while
and the piano’s this melancholy soundcheck
to her smile
And that white dress she’s wearing
you haven’t seen her
for a while

But you know…
that she’s watching
She’s laughing, she’s turning
she’s holding her tonic like a crux
The room suddenly spinning
she walks up and asks how you are
so you can smell her perfume
you can see her lying naked in your arms

And so there’s a change…
in your emotions
and all of these memories come rushing
like feral waves to your mind
of the curl of your bodies
like two perfect circles entwined
and you feel hopeless, and homelss
and lost in the haze
of the wine

And she leaves…
with someone you don’t know
but she makes sure you saw her
she looks right at you and bolts
As she walks out the door
your blood boiling
your stomach in ropes
and when your friends say what is it
you look like you’ve seen a ghost

And you walk…
under the streetlights
and you’re too drunk to notice
that everyone is staring at you
and you so care what you look like
the world is falling
around you

You just have to see her
You just have to see her
You just have to see her
You just have to see her
You just have to see her

and you know that she’ll break you
in two

Okay, I know that some of you are wondering how my little one did today, and I am sooooo happy to report that she was FINE!

I said goobye to her; didn’t want to leave without doing that. She kind of cried out as she watched me walk away (can you say knives in the heart?) and then I stopped to listen but, gladly, nothing came! No crying, not at all! Not the entire time I was gone (for one hour).

I did ten on the bike and twenty in the pool. It was an easy workout today because I kept wondering if I would hear her cry or the page come in that I needed to return to the daycare center to pick her up.

Luckily, that never came!

When I went to get her, she ran up to me excitedly but not as though she were unhappy with being left or terrified. Then she hugged the daycare lady before we left!

I stopped at the front desk and signed them up for two months of daycare (I couldn’t do just one). I will go the rest of this week and then begin doing Tuesday, Thursday and Friday; Tues and THurs to train for the tri and then Friday to take a class-abs and weights!

We got home and had some lunch. As we were sitting at the table, the house started to sway, and then it began to shake. I’ve been in two earthquakes before; this was by far the strongest at 5.8 and just a few towns over.

My oldest daughter froze; the youngest of course didn’t know what was going on as I jerked her highchair tray off of her highchair and ushered them into the hallway. Just as the shake ended my husband called. We are now waiting to make sure no aftershocks come through. I know some have, fifteen or so, but we have not been able to feel them.

Once my hands stop shaking I think I will have a glass of wine! (Just kidding, but OH MY GOSH that was scary!)

All I can say is this: Thank Heavens the girls were not in daycare when the quake hit.

If you are are runner you probably know the name Dean Karnazes. If not, you should. Dean runs ultra-marathons. If you are looking for a good read, and an inspiring one for training purposes, check out his book Ultra-Marathon Man: Confessions of an All-Night Runner about his journeys by foot and the reasons he runs long distances.

After reading this book I was certain I could run 50 miles at one time and I began to consider doing more than ‘just’ a marathon (yes, I am using these terms quite loosely because I know how difficult marathons are!) For instance, his book inspired me to train for a triathlon and to look into some potential endurance runs later in the future, after my second marathon is out of the way.

Dean is currently promoting a movie that he recently starred in called 50 Marathons. The showing happens just once at this point, this Friday, July 31, hopefully at a theater near you. Of course the hope is that it will be picked up after its showing, but that means we, the running community, needs to get out and support the movie.

Check out the trailer:

The premise of the movie is really quite simple in verbal terms: 50 marathons run in 50 days in 50 states in order to raise awareness of childhood obesity and the idea of getting fit and getting physical. What a great way to get out and promote running marathons! I’m hoping to take my four year old daughter to see the film. Since running her first half mile race, she talks nonstop about being a runner, about racing again, and about what foods will help her run fast (believe me, she doesn’t need the latter-she’s going to blow me away out there one day!)

They physical endurance needed for this film is insane, but if anyone can tackle this extreme physical feat, Dean can. Remember, he’s the guy that eats a pizza while running. While running! It was after reading his book that I realized during my own marathon training I needed to incorporate a little solid food into the end of my runs because I was draining myself of energy: Enter goldfish! Great little critters to munch on while out for a 20 mile trek.

Check out the website to see if a theater near you is promoting the movie and if so go! I’m hoping to get there and if so I will definitely report back.

Today is Monday.

Tomorrow, Tuesday, my daughters will go to the gym daycare center for the first time.

While I’ve been a member of this gym for over a year, I have not yet taken my girls. The reason is really one: My littlest is a bit frightened of strangers.

Yet over the past few months she has opened up. She seems to be sowing her wild oats lately, and I think that now, if any, is a great time to put her with someone else for a while.

She’s never even had a babysitter, much less gone to a new place for someone to care for her. To say I am nervous is an understatement.

I have a million things running through my mind. But over all of those is this simple fact: I’m killing myself getting up at 5 AM, sometimes earlier, 6 days a week to work out. I need to schedule things differently so that I still have energy at the end of the day when my husband feels like hanging out and talking.

And mostly I need her to get used to having other people watch over her so I can have some time away, and so that my husband and I can go out for grown up dates from time to time. We desperately need it, as do all couples with kids. You know, getting dressed up, eating a meal without rushing through it because one or both of the two children is climbing the back of the booth in order to attract the attention of everyone around us. Really talking about things instead of stopping every few seconds to say, “Please let daddy finish his sentence. Please let mommy talk.”

Momma’s burned out; so daycare gym, here we come!

I am not taking her in there blindly. Today I stopped by the gym and let the kids run in for a few minutes. The youngest went without turning back. She was so excited about going to play that she didn’t even look for me.

Tomorrow, I don’t know that it will be the same. I will be leaving her there. I’m not sure how she will react.

I was supposed to keep my pager, the one that the daycare will give me, close to me at all times for the first two days. The daycare lady asked that I not wear earplugs just in case. This wasn’t what I had hoped to hear; I want to swim tomorrow morning, swim and bike, but now I am not so sure. I may bike first. That way, if there is a problem, such as she won’t stop crying at the beginning, I will hear myself being paged and can skip the swim.

I think the price is good. I can pay ten bucks for the entire month, and if I keep up with the schedule I would like to keep up with, I will be going three days a week for about an hour or a bit more at a time. Tuesdays and Thursdays will be tri training. On Friday they offer an abs and weight class I’ve been dying to try.

So, this is post one. Tomorrow, once I have gone and actually left here there alone, without me (ah, the guilt is already getting to me!) I will post again and let you know how it has gone.

Fingers crossed!

I thought I’d post about running while pregnant, since I spent the entire last pregnancy-up until the 35th or so week-running. Or, should I say wobbling by that point!

I worried for the first six months. I really thought that the jostling would do some type of damage, even though my doctor and the literature I read said otherwise.

It didn’t help that everyone I knew who didn’t run would look at me like I had three heads and say, “Won’t that damage the baby’s brain or something?”

When you are pregnant, you are paranoid. The two go hand in hand. So I worried. (Fast forward to today, one and a half years later. My daughter is fine. She’s developing normally and as we can tell her brain did not get squashed!)

Paula Radcliffe trained for a marathon during her pregnancy, picked it up two weeks after the birth of her daughter, and ran it pretty soon after that. Now, I don’t think I could have handled this type of training, but then again I’m not this type of runner. I’m in awe of what Paula can do when she isn’t carrying around a child in her womb!
There are some key things I learned to stay healthy and fit while running during my pregnancy.

1. Don’t try to increase too much, but try to maintain. If you are running four miles at a time, do four miles at a time for as long as you can comfortably do so. Don’t try to run a marathon when pregnant, unless your body is accustomed to long distance running (and then talk to you doctor first, of course, which brings me to number 2).

2. Talk to your doctor first. Your physician can alleviate any nervousness you have about maintaining your physical routine and can tell you if you have any adverse conditions that might make running while pregnant dangerous or not a great idea.

3. Remember your balance, or lack thereof, particularly when you get bigger. The only mishap I had was during my seventh or so month. As you may or may not know, your balance is off a bit when pregnant. I don’t know what happened-I believe I stepped on a twig or something-but I went down pretty hard. I had my hand out, so no belly hits, but it was scary, and I was shaken up for a while after that.

4. Hydrate. You are drinking for two. Keep up with the water intake.

5. Eat well. You need to think about running at this point as a fitness routine and not a weight loss method. If you are running to lose weight, stop it now! You need to take in enough calories to make up for what you are losing on top of feeding yourself and your baby, so factor this into the equation.

6. Think of the benefits! I didn’t get nearly as large with my second pregnancy because I ran the entire time. I didn’t do marathons; I didn’t even do halfs! Instead I focused on getting in half an hour at a time three days a week. My mileage decreased as I got bigger, but I still went out up until the very end, when I got so pregnant that I just didn’t feel so great. I also lost weight a lot more quickly, and I believe running while pregnant really helped with this. I was able to get back into a fitness routine fairly soon after giving birth.

I always get this odd look when I tell people that I get up each day (five days a week) to work out at 5 AM.

Four of those days I run; one of those days I do a tri training. On Fridays, rather than get up early, I sleep in and do my abs and arms later in the day when I get time. And on Sundays, I’m supposed to get to sleep in as long as I want.

I say supposed to because, if you have children, you understand that this never happens.

They sleep in on the days I wake early and workout.

On the days I am supposed to sleep in, they are up before 7 AM, every single time!

At this point I am so conditioned to first working out and then to having a cup of coffee before anyone else in my family rises from bed that on the days when I don’t get up early I’m cranky.

Really cranky.

And tired. Really tired. Cobwebs in my head tired. Can’t pull out of the slog tired.

Maybe I should give up this idea of sleeping in, I keep thinking.

Maybe, every single day of my life, I should wake up early to get in my workout time.

On Sundays, my one day off from any type of workout, maybe I should instead get up early and write, or work on projects that are due.

For whatever reason, when given the opportunity to sleep in I just get crankier. It’s like I need that adrenaline rush that I get when I work out early in the morning in order to feel good. Awake. Alive.

I’ve also noticed on the days when I don’t work out with cardio I don’t really feel as great as I do on the days that I run.

I am a bit grouchier, maybe. A little more grumpy.

When I work out and then the kids wake, I’m ready to go. We eat. We take showers. We head outside.

On days when I don’t work out, I’m tired, and don’t feel like I can get myself in gear more quickly.

I’m sure this has to do with those endorphins people are always talking about when they talk about how great working out is for you, and how much energy you’ll have after you get up and get going. I suppose that my body is now used to these, since I have been working out in the early morning hours for the past twelve or so years. Now, my body is conditioned to getting its butt kicked as so as it wakes, and when it doesn’t, it doesn’t feel as though it is awake.

Which made me wonder: If I get a jump rope, which I’m sure my daughter has laying around here somewhere amongst all of her toys, and I spend ten minutes or so jumping on Fridays and Saturdays, my cardio free days, will this make those endorphins kick in and give me the boost I need?

Will this make mom feel more happy, more alive, less grumpy, on cardio-free days?

This will be my experiment next week, and I will let you know if it works.

For now I’m going to fill up on caffeine, quickly, as Sesame Street is almost over and I’m expected to do something with the kids to keep them busy for a few hours.

Maybe we’ll go for a run?!