New Record Distance

FIFTY miles today! Yes, this was my longest ride ever! And yes, I'm pleased... I'm very glad that Kim was with the group today or else I'd have been left alone in the back of the pack. But, that's okay - I'm new to this.

Total Distance: 50.19 miles
Avg Speed. 14.8 mph
(we did stop twice though) It is slow, but thats okay. We still have several weeks to improve before Longhorn.

Fun in the Pool.

I finally gained the courage to try the YMCA Masters class again - I'm hooked. The coach is great and was willing to work with me. Gave me numerous pointers throughout the night and really broke my stroke down. I was told that I have a lot of room for improvement and that each week he will make a necessary adjustment. Also, at the end of the practice, we did an exercise that breaks down each element of the freestyle stroke - very helpful!

Randomness...

Okay, its been a while... a long while. I never did the race report. I'll make it short - everything but the swim went well. Somehow I averaged 19.1 mph on the bike and 9:33 miles on the run. I'm happy with the bike and I'll accept the run. I haven't been pushing myself enough on the runs and I'm working on it - honest. With regard to the swim, it just sucked. Yes, that is the technical word. For some reason, I flipped out at about 20m into it. I think that it was a combination of nerves, breathing, and only swimming a handful of times in a 50m pool.

Since the tri, work has been crazy. In this day of settlement, we actually went to trial... Needless to say, I had several busy weeks. Now, I'm really back with it and have learned a few lessons -

1) My swim sucks... I gotta spend a lot of time in the pool. I'm giving the Downtown Y Masters class another try this week and will try UH Masters next week.

2) My core is weak... Haven't done core in ages and did it yesterday - boy was it embarrassing.

3) Hills are tough... Yes, I know that this is not really a revelation; however, this past weekend was my first round of hills on the bike. I was hurting Saturday afternoon.

4) ATP is practice... Houston Fit ATP is not a running group. We have practices that require mandatory attendance unless a prior excuse has been cleared with the coach. Well, at least this is what I'm telling myself.

5) The scale can be a dirty liar... So, I've been a bit frustrated that I haven't actually dropped that much weight. Then, yesterday at the office, someone commented that I was looking good and that she could tell that I'd lost some weight. Yes, I have a new favorite assistant.

Race Report... Coming Soon...

Reading everyone's race reports from CDA is inspiring me to write mine from my FIRST tri! I'll update soon...

I'm Alive.

I just realized that its been a while since I've posted. And, I'll confess, its been about 2 weeks since I've been for a swim (still biking and running). I've just been busy with work and this week was out with vertigo. Seriously, had a prescription for vertigo (not fun) and have been too nervous to get into the pool. That terrible streak will end tonight at Twin Lakes.

Hmm... here's to two weeks of schedule success...

Choices

I just read June's blog this morning and her comments on the topic of weight loss. Like everything, its about choices and deciding what is important. I've been making an effort to make better choices and actually eating more often. Hopefully I will have good news to report at the end of the week.

Confessional...

The Slim Down Challenge is here and I now have 12 or so ladies holding me accountable. Sending out your weight to the group is a bit frightening. That said, you'd think that I'd be able to get through a day without screwing up the plan. However, I get home tonight and the hubby is eating cheetos. What do I do, grab a few, then grab a few more - before I know it, I've grabbed something else and am eating it. For dinner, we'd ordered chinese - not too bad considering that I get the steamed chicken and broccoli - no sauce. But, all good intentions to not eat rice went out the window the moment the doorbell rang. Aargh! I need to be more disciplined. I cannot send out an email Friday morning saying that I've lost no weight this week. I feel like I have the self-discipline to do whatever it is that I want in life; however, when it comes to food, I become powerless. I know that I'm an emotional eater. I eat when I'm lonely, bored, sad and now, I eat to spend time with the hubby.

While talking with my sisters-in-law yesterday afternoon, we discussed body image and weight gain. I then realized exactly how far I've come since middle school and that I'm beginning to slip into some of those old habits again. I actually weigh LESS now than I did in the seventh grade. My twelve year old sister-in-law is afraid of gaining weight in middle school (as her older sisters did) and doesn't want to be the fat kid. I explained that I began seventh grade weighing 180 pounds. Needless to say, they were shocked.

After realizing that I've gained over 20 pounds since beginning law school, I realize that I really need to do something about it. During the 25k last year, I finally acknowledged how much harder it was to run with the extra weight; however, I failed to do anything about it. I need to figure out why it is that I turn to food. I must accept that the M&Ms will not make me feel better.