Where is the time

I have been struggling to try to fit everything I want to do into a week. When I started working out three months ago, I would swim about 5 times a week. When I started doing spin classes, I was doing about 3 swim and 2 spin classes a week. When I added running to the mix, I started having trouble getting everything I want to do to fit in the week and still have rest days.

My current schedule is something like this:

Running - 2-3 times a week.
Swimming - 1 time a week.
Spin/Cycling - 1-2 times a week.

My problem is I want to do everything 2-3 times a week and my body cannot handle that much. On Wednesday, I tried to run and only made it about 1.25 miles before having to walk the rest. My legs were just dead after running 3 miles on Monday and doing a hard Spin class on Tuesday. Basically Wednesday turned into my day of rest. The worst part for me is where I used to do about 5 swims a week, now I am doing 1 every 7-10 days. I feel that I need the most work in running and cycling, but I do miss doing swimming more often.

On other fronts, the countdown is on to vacation and my first tri. Vacation is in 2 weeks at the beach and we cannot wait. The tri is in 6 weeks and I cannot wait. :)

Scott

Second Bike to Work day

Today I am doing my second Bike-to-Work day. I found that this was much easier this week than it was when I rode the same path last week. I am not sure if it was due to going a little slower or if my legs are that much stronger after only one ride. I am going to side with the stronger :).

I noticed on the ride that my bike computer is shot. It won't even come on. Since it is only about 2 months old and only cost about $20, I am not going to even try to get it fixed. It also might be broken since it fell off the last time I rode. So now I am trying to think of what I want to get to replace it. I have been thinking about how nice it would be to get a Garmin watch and it would work just as well on a bike as on a runner. The problem is that they are so expensive and I am not sure if I really need something like that when my running distances are still as short as they are. I will probably just get another cheap bike computer to replace it and maybe get the garmin at a later date.

Yesterday was not a good day for the diet, but it was a good day for my taste buds! It started out with lunch at my daughters school. Bag lunch of a hot dog and chips and rice krispy treats. It went further down hill at work with a fundraiser where we bought ice cream Sundays with the proceeds going to children's hospital. Then it ended later at Fudruckers with a good hamburger and onion rings! Yum! Oh well, back to sensible food today!

Scott

Second weight goal reached!

This morning I reached my second weight goal. I weighed in at 264 pounds. That is 40 pounds less than a couple of months ago!! YAY!! Now I get to set my next weight goal of 250! I am not sure how much weight I can loose, but as long as it keeps coming off I will be happy. Here is a graph for my weight for this year. The dotted line is the projected weight.

My running is really starting to pick up. On Saturday I did my first loop in my neighborhood, 2.3 miles with only 2 short walking stops. Today I did it without stopping! I have been running for about a month now and I am finally starting to feel like I can do this without falling over. Here is a graph showing my run distances since I re-started running.

Along with the distance, my pace has also been increasing. When I started, my pace was about 12:30 a mile mostly due to having to stop and walk every so often. Today, I did the 2.3 miles at an 11:00 minute pace. I know that as I loose weight, the pace will do nothing but go down as well. Hopefully by the time the sprint tri comes up in July, I will have the time around 10 minute miles.

Later,

Scott

Free Ticket? Right

This is the second free ticket I have gotten from Regal cinemas. The first one I did not use because every movie I wanted to see was pass restricted. So, when I get another one 3 weeks ago, I was determined to use this one. So I wanted to go see Star Trek (again) today since it has been our for a week. I checked their website 2 days ago and it mentioned no-passes for thursday, but not for Friday. Unfortunately, when I got tothe ticket booth, they said it was restricted until Monday. ARRRGH!!!

The good news is that instead of eating popcorn and sitting around for a couple of hours, I went to the gym and did 45 minutes of spin class. It felt good since I have not been to a spin class this week. bye bye 700 calories!

This week I am struggling with trying to figure out when to take a day of rest. It just seems like a wasted day if I do not do something. This week I took monday off, but since then I have:

• Biked to and from work on Tuesday. (total 26 miles)
• Played basketball on Wednesday for 1.5 hours.
• Ran 2 miles and swam for 50 minutes on Thursday.
• 45 minutes of spin on friday.

So, does just running count as a workout or would that be ok on the days off. I am not really up to much yet. The most I can do is 2 miles, but it is growing.

I guess I will figure it out as I go.

Scott

First Bike Ride!

I made my first bike ride this morning. It was only 10 miles to work, but it was a hilly ride. I rode with two co-workers who have been doing alot of riding. They just finished the 3-state 3-mountain ride 2 weeks ago in a pouring rain. I am sure I slowed them down, but they said I did fine. Hopefully I will continue to build my endurance up (especially on the hills) and increase my speed to not be such an anchor for them!

The ride this morning started out kind of cold. It was about 48 and very foggy. We all had blinking lights and I had a head light and we had no issues with the traffic. For the most part the ride was fine, but there was one section where I was going up a hill and a school bus was behind me. Since I was going so slow and the bus was not passing me, I pulled into a drive way to let them by. When I did, I hit a bump and my bike computer poped off and basically re-set it self. to use it again, I would have to enter the wheel diameter and re-enter the time and everything. I decided that heck with it. The other two both had computers also, so I knew how far we had gone.

The hills are by far the hardest for me. I still weigh about 267 and going up hills with the extra weight is hard. It is also hard to remember which way to shift the gears. I am still getting used to the shifters incorporated in the brake levers and several times I up-shifted when I meant to down-shift. This would slow me drastically when I was starting a hill. By the time I got to the top, I would be way behind and have to catch up on the down side. The good thing is that my weight made it easier to catch them!

Well, riding in this morning was fun, and riding home this afternoon will hopefully be just as fun.

Later,
Scott

Running is picking up

My running is starting to pick up a little. The two runs I had over the weekend were both about 1.8 miles. for the one saturday, I ran over a mile without stopping for the first time! Yay. Small steps will get me to the goals (which are continuing to evolve).

When I originally started on this path, I was only interested in loosing weight. To do that I was swimming alot. As I have diversified, my goals have continued to expand. First I signed up for a sprint Tri in July. The healthier I get, the more I feel like I can do more. Now I am thinking about doing the Tour de Blount on Saturday and now I am dreaming about doing longer runs and doing runs with my wife.

Three months ago I could not dream of doing a race with her. Now I am thinking of how long a race :).

Tomorrow I will be riding my bike to work for the first time. I was hesitant about this before, but now I am looking forward to it. To see how I can do on a ride with friends who do alot of cycling. I am sure I will slow them down some, but I do not think it will be as much as a month ago.

Scott

Finally, no rain

It was finally not raining this morning. After 4 straight days of rain, I was finally able to run again this morning. I am still very slow and have to stop occasionally, but I finally made a mile without stopping. YAY!

At this rate, I will be able to do the 3 miles before the Triathlon in July.

I am also thinking about doing the Tour de Blount in maryville. This should be a nice ride without too many hills.
Later

Rain, Rain, Rain

Ok, I really want to run. Really. Its just hard to do when its raining all the time. Oh well, it looks to be another day of inside exercise. Hopefully tomorrow morning I will be able to start running again. Three straight days of rainout in the mornings. Swimming will have to do for today.

Old Hot Tub = Expensive

Our Hot Tub at home is getting to be almost 10 years old. That means that things have started going wrong with it. So far in the last year, I have had to replace / repair the following.

1. The heater shorted out and had to be replaced. $85 (for the second time)


2. The Ozonator has failed three times. about $50 each time (only once in the last year.


3. The number 1 pump has been loosing power and stopped working about 2 months ago.


4. The number 2 pump has a clog or something somewhere in the line (not in the pump). This means that it does not pull through the filter appropriately. Although it does have a strong flow.


5. The main controller blew a fuse the other day (I think due to pump #1) and the fuse was $12 to replace. Ouch.


6. I just tooke the number 1 pump to a pump repair place to see if there is anything wrong with it. I am not sure if they will actually test it or just tell me it needs to be replaced when they call me back. Who knows how much that will cost.

Sometimes I wonder if it is worth it to keep trying to repair it. What keeps me fixing it is that the girls love to play in the small heated pool. When I see them in it I just can't help myself and I have to keep throwing money at it.

Another concern is how do you get rid of a 8'x8' huge hot tub. I cannot even move it by my self. It weighs a ton.

Oh well. Vent over.
Scott