My flu has been gone for a few days now, that sucked, I don't think I'll ever forget to get my flu shot again. I have been back to training since Tuesday. Friday I managed a 7 mile run with minimal IT band knee pain. Yesterday I tried to do a swim workout, but ran into the same problem that made me switch pools in the first place, people wanting to coach me. I don't know why I have this problem at every pool I go to. Why can't I just swim? My husband swims too, but nobody ever tries to coach him. What is it about me that people in the pool see me and automatically want to be my coach? I even told the lady yesterday I am just trying to get through the swim so I can get on my bike in the race. I ended up getting out of the pool after only 10 minutes because I got tired of being watched and being critiqued, I just wanted to swim my own sloppy way yesterday. I know this lady meant well, but I just wanted to swim and enjoy my alone time in the pool.
My learning style, the way I like to learn, is at home I watch video after video about swimming and take the knowledge to the pool with me. I am one of those weird people who doesn't like one-on-one coaching. If I ever got "good" at triathlon I know I will never hire a coach to get better, it's just the way I am. Maybe it's a personality flaw, but I just like to do things on my own.
Because of the lack of a solid swim workout yesterday, I took advantage of the awesome weather and went on a somewhat long bike ride. My best friend went with me and did all but about 13 miles with me. I did 33 miles. It was 70 degrees and sunny, perfect riding weather. I loved riding with my Garmin 305. I actually like having it on my wrist, so I won't be buying the handlebar mount for it. When I got home it was nice having all that data from the bike ride for once. I can tell I am getting stronger on the bike. I can stay in aero for most of the bike ride and can push harder gears for longer. My average speed has gone up a lot since last year.
Thursday I finally had my 1 year appointment at the bariatric clinic. My one year was in November, but they were just now getting me in because of issues with my insurance company. Everything was good, they are proud of me. They want to put my story on the website, so that will be neat. I did my blood work 2 months ago and everything was good.
Saturday is the Tybee Island half marathon, one of my only running-only races of the year. After Tybee I plan on seeing primary care about my knee pain while running, hope I can get to the start line of Ironman Louisville pain free.
I'm Jillian,this is my journey from a morbidly obese woman to endurance athlete
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Sick......I Can't Seem to Catch a Break Lately
After have these horrible IT band pains lately, I thought it couldn't get much worse, but it has. I have been feeling horrid all week, and after almost passing out in my history class Thursday I went to urgent care. Just like I suspected, for the first time in years, I have the full-blown flu.
The Army hospital started giving out flu shots in October, right when I started training for the marathon, so I didn't get one since I didn't want it to hinder my training. I had made a mental note to take the girls in for a flu shot, but with so much going on in November and December I forgot. So now I feel like a bad mom because my girls could get the flu, and it could have been prevented, and its my fault.
I was told to lay around, get some rest, and not to train for a few days. I don't like missing so many training days, but regardless I feel awful, so it wouldn't be quality training anyway. I will see how I feel on Monday and Tuesday. I am still keeping up with my stretching and foam rolling routine, so with that and all this rest my knee and IT band might just be good to go when I do get to hit the road again.
The Army hospital started giving out flu shots in October, right when I started training for the marathon, so I didn't get one since I didn't want it to hinder my training. I had made a mental note to take the girls in for a flu shot, but with so much going on in November and December I forgot. So now I feel like a bad mom because my girls could get the flu, and it could have been prevented, and its my fault.
I was told to lay around, get some rest, and not to train for a few days. I don't like missing so many training days, but regardless I feel awful, so it wouldn't be quality training anyway. I will see how I feel on Monday and Tuesday. I am still keeping up with my stretching and foam rolling routine, so with that and all this rest my knee and IT band might just be good to go when I do get to hit the road again.
Monday, January 17, 2011
Waiting for the Ironman.........Its Like Waiting for the New Baby to Arrive
A though I had earlier, since Ironman Louisville is roughly a little less than 8 months away, I feel like I am waiting for the arrival of a new baby, doing everything I can in preparation for the big day.
As you know, I have two children, both girls. Laci is 4 and Miley is 21 months. Finding out I was pregnant with them, both times, was the longest 8-9 month wait in my life, this sorta feels like that too, but obviously very different.
With a new baby on the way you prepare you family for the new arrive. Now I am preparing my family for the 14-17 hour training weeks that are yet to come, and that I won't be around as much. With a new baby you spend hundreds on baby gears, I have been, and will be, spending hundreds on triathlon related gear and expenses.
With a baby on the way you wait and wait, and prepare and prepare, for the big day to arrive. Similar to that, I am waiting and waiting, training and training, for August 28, 2011 to get here. I am getting anxious for that day, much like the way I would get anxious the closer I got to my due date with my girls.
I know the two are not parallel, lol, when I was pregnant with my girls I sat around miserable, watching TV and eating everything I saw. I did not enjoy being pregnant, but my girls are my world. Now I am training, trying to build up my base fitness to start my ironman plan in April. I enjoy training, as hard as it is sometimes, it makes me feel good about myself, and best of all, when I am training I feel alive, I feel like I am living as opposed to just existing.
The next 7 and a half months will be spent preparing for the big day. Much like giving birth to my daughters, I know the reward of waiting and preparing for the big day will be well worth every day I spent waiting and preparing. I have read from women who have completed an ironman triathlon, that the joy of crossing the finish like is the same kind of joy experienced giving birth, and all the pain involved earlier in the day is forgotten for awhile. In 7 and a half months I will let you know if I have the same experience.
As you know, I have two children, both girls. Laci is 4 and Miley is 21 months. Finding out I was pregnant with them, both times, was the longest 8-9 month wait in my life, this sorta feels like that too, but obviously very different.
With a new baby on the way you prepare you family for the new arrive. Now I am preparing my family for the 14-17 hour training weeks that are yet to come, and that I won't be around as much. With a new baby you spend hundreds on baby gears, I have been, and will be, spending hundreds on triathlon related gear and expenses.
With a baby on the way you wait and wait, and prepare and prepare, for the big day to arrive. Similar to that, I am waiting and waiting, training and training, for August 28, 2011 to get here. I am getting anxious for that day, much like the way I would get anxious the closer I got to my due date with my girls.
I know the two are not parallel, lol, when I was pregnant with my girls I sat around miserable, watching TV and eating everything I saw. I did not enjoy being pregnant, but my girls are my world. Now I am training, trying to build up my base fitness to start my ironman plan in April. I enjoy training, as hard as it is sometimes, it makes me feel good about myself, and best of all, when I am training I feel alive, I feel like I am living as opposed to just existing.
The next 7 and a half months will be spent preparing for the big day. Much like giving birth to my daughters, I know the reward of waiting and preparing for the big day will be well worth every day I spent waiting and preparing. I have read from women who have completed an ironman triathlon, that the joy of crossing the finish like is the same kind of joy experienced giving birth, and all the pain involved earlier in the day is forgotten for awhile. In 7 and a half months I will let you know if I have the same experience.
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Gear Grinding and Foam Rolling
Last week I finally bought a foam roller. Right now its a love-hate relationship. It hurts, I don't like doing it, but its relieving the IT-band pain and I feel better after rolling and stretching. Who knew a cute little pink foam log could cause so much pain. I am going to try a moderate distance run tomorrow, so I will see just how much the foam roller has helped. Because of the pain, I haven't ran since Saturday, and that run was painful.
My husband Joel bought me a new Garmin watch last week. A forerunner 305. I love it! It works for cycling and running, which is just what I needed. I loved my forerunner 110, but it only worked for running. Now that I am getting more serious in triathlons, I needed a tool that gives me the data I need for cycling and running. As much as I wanted the 310, it just wasn't in our budget, and I only swim in a pool right now, so being able to measure swim distance isn't as crucial at the current moment. We got it for a steel, $128 on Amazon, and we got the optional cadence sensor for $37. With the cadence sensor I can turn off the GPS signal and use the 305 while I am riding on my bike trainer. I have already done 3 rides on the trainer using the 305, since its been too cold to ride outside. Its great to be able to get the data while riding now: heart rate, cadence,distance, speed, time. When I first started training having the data didn't matter much to me, now that I am more serious and have learned a lot, I find myself analyzing my runs and rides after I upload them on Garmin connect.
As I mentioned, since my IT-band injury I have been biking a lot more and swimming more often too. I would love to be able to run more right now, since the Tybee Island half marathon is on February 5th, but my right leg is not allowing me to run often right now. Running is my best sport, and it comes naturally to me, so I hope I can manage to do well at Tybee without the big run volume. I hate the say it, since I am the forever optimist, but right now I am pessimistic about my goal of getting a half marathon PR in Tybee. My current PR in a half marathon is 1:51:19.
School started again this week for me. I'm not a fan of school, but after I lost the weight I realized that life is short and that I needed to go earn a degree before I got too old. I really don't like it, which is the reason I didn't go to school after I graduated high school. I joined the Army after I graduated so I could "put off" going to school for awhile, since I just hate it. I am hanging in there, I'm pursuing a business degree, my GI Bill pays for it, so at least we're not going into student loan debt.
Only 226 days until Ironman Louisville. I am so excited and nervous about it. I found a great online community of people on beginnertriathlete.com who are doing the race with me. I'm trying to soak in as much knowledge as I can about the race and about training. I found a news story about how Columbia, South Carolina might be getting an Ironman. I hope they get it, it's only a 3 hour drive from here, its also where I went to basic training and AIT in the Army, so it would bring back "fond" memories.
Going to try running tomorrow, hope to have good news to report about it.
My husband Joel bought me a new Garmin watch last week. A forerunner 305. I love it! It works for cycling and running, which is just what I needed. I loved my forerunner 110, but it only worked for running. Now that I am getting more serious in triathlons, I needed a tool that gives me the data I need for cycling and running. As much as I wanted the 310, it just wasn't in our budget, and I only swim in a pool right now, so being able to measure swim distance isn't as crucial at the current moment. We got it for a steel, $128 on Amazon, and we got the optional cadence sensor for $37. With the cadence sensor I can turn off the GPS signal and use the 305 while I am riding on my bike trainer. I have already done 3 rides on the trainer using the 305, since its been too cold to ride outside. Its great to be able to get the data while riding now: heart rate, cadence,distance, speed, time. When I first started training having the data didn't matter much to me, now that I am more serious and have learned a lot, I find myself analyzing my runs and rides after I upload them on Garmin connect.
As I mentioned, since my IT-band injury I have been biking a lot more and swimming more often too. I would love to be able to run more right now, since the Tybee Island half marathon is on February 5th, but my right leg is not allowing me to run often right now. Running is my best sport, and it comes naturally to me, so I hope I can manage to do well at Tybee without the big run volume. I hate the say it, since I am the forever optimist, but right now I am pessimistic about my goal of getting a half marathon PR in Tybee. My current PR in a half marathon is 1:51:19.
School started again this week for me. I'm not a fan of school, but after I lost the weight I realized that life is short and that I needed to go earn a degree before I got too old. I really don't like it, which is the reason I didn't go to school after I graduated high school. I joined the Army after I graduated so I could "put off" going to school for awhile, since I just hate it. I am hanging in there, I'm pursuing a business degree, my GI Bill pays for it, so at least we're not going into student loan debt.
Only 226 days until Ironman Louisville. I am so excited and nervous about it. I found a great online community of people on beginnertriathlete.com who are doing the race with me. I'm trying to soak in as much knowledge as I can about the race and about training. I found a news story about how Columbia, South Carolina might be getting an Ironman. I hope they get it, it's only a 3 hour drive from here, its also where I went to basic training and AIT in the Army, so it would bring back "fond" memories.
Going to try running tomorrow, hope to have good news to report about it.
Sunday, January 2, 2011
New Year, Off To A Great Start
It's finally 2011, this year I will become an Ironman Finisher. Training is already underway. I finally feel recovered from the marathon so I am now building up my base fitness and endurance so I can start my Ironman training plan in April. I went ahead and registered for the Tybee Island half marathon on February 5th. I also registered for the Hunter Army Airfield sprint triathlon on March 5th. It is a pool swim, but it will still be fun. It will be the first triathlon of the year, so of course I am really excited about it. It will also be the first triathlon Joel will see, and he had fun watching me in the marathon, so that will be cool.
Me and Joel went to the pool at the YMCA to swim laps. I swam 2000 meters and he swam 1000, not bad for his first time ever swimming laps. He enjoyed it and wants to do it often so its great we found a form of exercising he enjoys doing. I wish I could enjoy swimming, but I just do it and get through it. Its part of triathlon, which I love, so I will do the swim training and try to get better, and always try my best and give it my all.
Yesterday, New Year's Day, I went on a bike ride with Loraine. I gave her my road bike, so now I have a riding partner. She doesn't have bike shoes yet so Joel installed regular pedals on the bike for now. We rode 23 miles, it actually hit 73 degrees outside yesterday so we had to take advantage. I found a long, flat stretch of road with no traffic and hit 23 MPH on that road, it was fun. The wind was killer on some parts of the road, and I almost got knocked off my bike.
2011 is going to be a big year, I am so excited for all the races, big and small, going on this year. Its been an incredible journey so far and it's only going to get better.
Me and Joel went to the pool at the YMCA to swim laps. I swam 2000 meters and he swam 1000, not bad for his first time ever swimming laps. He enjoyed it and wants to do it often so its great we found a form of exercising he enjoys doing. I wish I could enjoy swimming, but I just do it and get through it. Its part of triathlon, which I love, so I will do the swim training and try to get better, and always try my best and give it my all.
Yesterday, New Year's Day, I went on a bike ride with Loraine. I gave her my road bike, so now I have a riding partner. She doesn't have bike shoes yet so Joel installed regular pedals on the bike for now. We rode 23 miles, it actually hit 73 degrees outside yesterday so we had to take advantage. I found a long, flat stretch of road with no traffic and hit 23 MPH on that road, it was fun. The wind was killer on some parts of the road, and I almost got knocked off my bike.
2011 is going to be a big year, I am so excited for all the races, big and small, going on this year. Its been an incredible journey so far and it's only going to get better.
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