Its been a while....

Hey guys,
Sorry its been so long since I've written.  Final papers took over a couple weeks ago--I did finish them all just in time, however it wasn't without lack of sleep and lack of working out.  Then I went on spring break to St. Maarten.  It was gorgeous and I had a great time, however, I only worked out 4 of my days there, which considering the environment, I thought was impressive.  I should be clear though--my workouts were nowhere near as intense as my workouts here.  The longest I ran for was about 30 minutes and the longest I biked for was about 30 minutes.  I wish I could say I had more motivation but the Caribbean sun is a powerful deterrent.

Anyway, since I've been back, I've also been slacking on my workouts.  It seems my inability to wake up earlier than 8am is really getting in the way of things.  I'd love to say I could workout at night but after my long, long days its really hard to not just fall into bed at 8pm.

Essentially, I'm thinking of pushing my triathlon date back to the end of July.  The Philadelphia Triathlon seems great but its really expensive and I found one in Riverhead (which is where my uncle lives) that costs about $60 less.  Its still an Olympic distance tri and this way will give me more time to train.

Anyway, I'll keep you posted on my workouts....

~Kim

Final papers are consuming my life..

Sorry I haven't written in a few days guys.  Also, sorry I haven't worked out since my bike ride on Monday night.  This is a serious problem, but a more serious problem is the fact that I have yet to finish my papers that are due tomorrow.  Hopefully, I'll stay up all night finishing them then have the chance to do two workouts before I leave to drive back to New York so maybe I'll be blogging about that tomorrow.  I don't know what my internet situation in St. Maarten will be but I'm bringing my netbook and hopefully will be able to blog about whatever workouts I end up doing there.

To anyone who is reading this work of clear literary genius, comment and help me stay motivated!!!!!

(Kidding about the literary genius.....but not about the comments, so DO IT!)

Can't believe I'm doing this instead of studying...

Today was going well.  I woke up at 6am as usual and instead of working out like I had planned, I opted to lie in bed for two more hours and then wake up for work.  Standard.  I got home from work and went for my hour and a half long foundation ride right away.  I did about 25.5 miles in the hour and a half which is better than Saturday's ride so yay.  I got home, eat some dinner, and prepare to go to the pool to do my second workout as per my pre-spring break plan for the week.

I was really excited to actually follow through with my plan so I get to the pool and what happens--my friend tells me the whole rec center is closed for some stupid freshman dinner, which was already over and yet the pool was still closed.  BULLSHIT, I tell you! I was so angry.  I wasted so much time going there and then continued to waste time and procrastinate from studying when I got home by watching Bridesmaids...really Kim? Really?

And, of course, here I am, writing on this blog instead of studying or making any sort of progress on either of my papers due this week.  If only I were as dedicated to doing homework as I have been to this workout plan, things would be going a lot smoother for me right now.

Also, not going to lie, my legs are prettay prettay pretty sore right now.  If you don't get that reference you should be watching more Curb your Enthusiasm.  Larry David is a god.  But I digress, my legs are probably sore more from lack of stretching rather than the actual working out.  I need to try to find more time for that, but its really hard.  The most difficult part about the training is finding the time.  Obviously, I'm an overachiever and belong to more clubs and extra-curriculars than normal people should but honestly, with the amount of TV I watch I should be able to find some damn time for this.  I guess I didn't realize that a single bike workout is equal to about 4 episodes of The Big Bang Theory.

Now I'm actually going to go study.  I'm turning off my computer.  Its official...

Officially done with Week One!

I successfully completed my first week but also since I actually did both a swim and run workout today, I completed my first two a day. Yay me! I did a 40 minute foundation run and a 7ish minute cool down and made it a little more than 4 miles. The only part of my body experiencing any funny business is my back but that's because I have a lingering back problem from 10 years of abusing my body with the sport of field hockey and refusing to ever develop abs.

Anyway, looking at the week ahead, I'm a little nervous.  I have an exam on Tuesday and two papers due on Friday, which is when I'll be driving back to NY.  Then on Saturday, I'll be on a plane to St. Maarten for Spring Break.  I must admit, relaxing in the sun and not working out for a whole week sounds tempting, but I know I'll regret it.  What I'm trying to do is two workouts a day Monday through Thursday, then one workout Friday morning before I drive to NY, leaving Saturday and Sunday workout free.  I figure I'll take Saturday off and do a short run (20 or 30 minutes) on Sunday to keep myself going.  Then try my very best to get at least 7 of my 9 workouts in throughout the week and leave 2 for Sunday when I'm back in Baltimore.

My thinking is that swimming won't be difficult on an island--it will just be open water swimming, which is good training.  The only problem is it will have to be timed rather than a measured distance and it will probably be a long swim rather than a set because that's pretty difficult in open water.  I can find a place to run that is relatively safe--I did last year in Barbados.  The biking, however, will have to be on a stationary bike, if they actually have one in the fitness center (fingers crossed).

Anyway, this is still a week away, but I can't stop dreaming about lying on a beach with a cool alcoholic beverage in my hand.  I feel like I'm in a Corona commercial haha.  I should probably get back to actually accomplishing work now! Goodnight!

~Kim

The Longest Week Ever

Apologies for not writing the past couple of days.  I've been a combination of busy and bad.  I guess I haven't written since Thursday afternoon after I did my run workout from Wednesday that I had missed.  Well, I actually failed to "stay on track."  After my run, I had to go downtown to do internship hours for my Spanish class and I went to coach field hockey for 2 hours straight from there.  I ended up getting home at around 9:20pm.  I was utterly exhausted after dealing with middle school students for 6 hours and opted to crawl into my bed at 9:45pm, blow off any work I should have been doing, and watch "The Help."

Not only did I turn in early on Thursday, I then overslept on Friday.  FAIL.  I was 15 minutes late to work in the lab and missed my morning swim workout.  I got home from work and completed my run workout, which consisted of a 35 minute foundation run followed by 4-20 second "relaxed sprints."   I had initially planned on going to the pool when it opened at around 7:30pm but knew I'd be pressed for time.  I was supposed to be ready by 9:15pm to leave for my friend's 21st birthday celebration.  Fail number #2.  I had now missed 2 workouts for the week.

Saturday morning, I woke up in hangover central thanks to that bottle of Belvedere.  I basically ended up laying in bed all day being a puddle and accomplishing absolutely nothing.  I finally mustered the strength to go downstairs and complete my bike workout, which was an hour and 30 minute foundation ride, but I did it on a stationary bike in my building's gym.  Hopefully this week, I'll develop the courage to take my actual bike out and ride around Baltimore.  Honestly, I think I'm mostly scared because I know nothing about bikes and I'm afraid I'll like get a flat or something.  Anyway, in my hour and a half ride I did exactly 23 miles, which is a slight improvement in pace from my first foundation ride.  (I also accomplished reading a chapter in my Human Sexuality textbook in an effort to study for my exam on Tuesday.  This isn't really relevant to my training but I just wanted to show my attempts to balance school, work, and training.)

Today, I have a swim workout and a foundation run.  I'm planning on heading to the pool in a little while to complete my swim workout and then running after my sorority meeting.  If only I could write my final papers as quickly and easily as I blog, maybe I'd have accomplished more than a very general outline of my paper that's due on Tuesday night. Oh well....Yay for all nighters! And now for my weekly tally:

Weeks in Training: 1
Missed swim workouts: 1
Missed bike workouts: 1
Missed run workouts: 0

Damn you under armour

Success! I've shuffled my workouts so I'll be back on track by tonight.  I just did my Foundation Run workout which was 35 minutes at a moderate aerobic intensity.  I ran a little more than 3 miles which tells me I'm definitely not in the shape I was in in high school, but then again not many people are.  

This brings me to the title of this post--stupid under armour and their lies.  I have these socks that are supposed to prevent blisters blah blah blah.  Obviously they don't but I can deal with blisters.  My problem is that I came back from my workout, took off my sneakers and discovered a large blood stain on the front of my foot.  I figured a blister started bleeding, but no.  Half of one of my toe nails had ripped off! What the hell under armour?! I have run in socks that I paid half the price for and this did not happen! I'm really pissed right now! 

But alas, I can't write anymore--I have to go to my internship for my Spanish class!   I'll write more after my bike workout tonight. 

~Kim

Day 2 but screw up 1

Soooooooo I was supposed to wake up at 6am this morning, run for 40 minutes, then go to work.  Unfortunately, due to my late night bike workout last night, even my thumb tacks on my snooze button couldn't keep me from sleeping the extra hour. FAIL.  Technically the goal of this week is "to get accustomed to my new schedule" so I'll take this as a minor bump in the road.

I'm writing fresh from my evening (aka 9pm) swim workout.  I still smell like chlorine and everything.  And as I got home, I realized I was just entirely too tired to go run for 40 minutes.  On top of that, I have a paper I need to write.  I've decided the reasonable solution is to double up tomorrow and do both a run and a bike workout.  I can probably accomplish both the bike and the run in the morning because I have nowhere to be until 2pm but I may still be in the process of writing a paper, in which case I'll bike in the morning and run at night when I get home from coaching field hockey (the team I coach is going to the National Indoor Tournament this weekend! So Exciting!!!) at around 9:30pm.  The only drawback there is I might also be running early in the morning so the small spacing between run workouts may not be a good idea.  But then again, I don't know, I'm not really an expert at this stuff.

Anyway, the swim workout was great.  It was a set with a total of 1800 yards, which is 72 laps, or a mile. I've been a swimmer my whole life so these first couple of weeks of swim workouts don't seem too challenging.  I'm considering training for the swim at a higher level.  Right now, I'm at a level 7 out of 10 for each discipline right now and I'd like to move up for the swim but I'm reluctant because levels 8-10 are those which I previously labeled "too hardcore for me."  I think I'll wait until I'm at least two weeks in to decide if I need to increase the intensity of my swim workouts.

Now I need to stop writing this and write my paper! Goodnight!

~Kim