It's Facebook Official!

Well, last night I made it Facebook official and posted my new race schedule from now till December.

GULP.

I kind of feel like this....

Image from Microsoft Word Clip Art

In the past, I would sign up for a race and not tell anyone so if I chickened out and didn't go no one would actually know. So this time it's official and I've got lots of Facebook friends already excited to hear about them.

Anyone else feel like running and hiding under their bed covers? No? Just me then I guess. 

I talked to Paul last night about them and he helped ease my nerves a little. I also talked Paul's sister in to joining me for one. Thanks Erinn! I can't wait to race with you! Paul even said he might race the two in PA with me! Hooray! He probably can't do the September NYC race because it's the weekend right after school starts and the November or December are hard because he's a teacher and going to AZ for the weekend would be complicated. That being said I'm excited to do the PA races with him!

We used to run outside together but this one time he took me on a 4 mile run by his house and I seriously thought I was going to die. I barely got through it without coughing up blood and puking and I even had to sit down for 10 minutes at one point. Yep, that was the last time he took me on a long run. I was pretty sure he was going to dump me for my lack of running ability after that, since we had only been dating a few months, but he just smiled afterward and said to keep practicing and that I gave it a great shot. :0) This is why I love this man.

So, all that being said, guess I better get started training huh?

Well good news is I officially started yesterday morning with my first run. I'm using a training plan from Hal Higdon where you start running 3-4 days a week and cross-train on the in between days. I wasn't sure if this was the right plan for me at first because you start your first run day with 1.5 miles but I did fine yesterday so I think I'll be OK. That being said because I have some more time than the training plan I'm going to repeat both Week 1 & 2 so I can get into a groove. On my in between days I'll be doing strength training classes with Randi or Swimming and resting for 1 day a week. 

I'm excited but nervous. Before I nailed down this plan I also did lots of reading from fellow racing bloggers on training and most people say that one of the keys is really to listen to your body and adjust your training plan as you need. So that being said Week 1 & 2 are also my experiment to see what works and what doesn't and if I need to I can adjust my training plan.

Today was day 2 and a cross training swim day and I managed to turn in a pretty good endurance workout. I use a triathlon swim workout book I have to come up with the pool workouts and just adjusted it slightly to fit me and my training program. So here's what I did.

300 WU
3 X 150 Pull (10 sec. rest)
100 Swim
3 X 150 Pull (10 sec. rest)
100 Swim
100 CD

Total Laps = 60 in 25 minutes.

I felt a little slow in the water this morning but looking at the lap count 60 laps in 25 minutes it's actually not so bad.When I got home I was starving which after I ate I realized I will need to watch a little closer. For whatever reason, when you are exercising in the pool, scientists say you tend to eat more calories at the next meal after the workout then you do for other kinds of exercise, like running, and this morning I did just that. Scientists say it has to do with sweat and how your body is typically cooler in a pool than running and because of that body temperature you feel hungrier or something like that. Anyway, I ended up eating a bowl of oatmeal with fresh blueberries, 1/2 cup of cottage cheese with raisins, and an English muffin. Oops. Just a tad overboard with that breakfast I think, but I have a light lunch and healthy snack options for the rest of the day so I'll just be careful with meals after a swim from now on.

Tonight I'm going to spend some time stretching myself out because I'm a little stiff from yesterdays run and my arms and shoulders are really feeling the Pull from this morning. I haven't been good about stretching after my workouts either so I'm going to stretch when I get home and also before my run tomorrow morning which should help a little. Moving forward I'm going to try to incorporate stretch time into my workouts to help prevent getting stiff but the ol' desk job isn't exactly helping with that so I'll just try to be diligent and stretch as often as I can. Tomorrow is my second run day and I'm scheduled for another 1.5. I know I can hit 1.5 so I'm feeling pretty good about it. Wish me luck!

Anyway, here is to a great day of healthy living and official race plans! Woo Hoo!!