Wednesday, April 30, 2008

More Blogger issues


The formatting on the previous post is really weird. There are no spaces between the last couple paragraphs. I tried to edit the post, but no matter how many times I tried, the post would not change.
Aaahhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!

At least I can add pictures now, unlike my previous computer frustrations.

Oh! And now I can link random words! (Don't click the link unless you want to be take somewhere very random!)

Hopefully, nothing is wrong with this post!

Treadmill runs can solve anything

I love exercising because it always puts you in such a good mood afterwards. Everytime I have a long workout (i.e. 2 hour swim, or a triathlon) the way I feel afterwards is on top of the world. Even short workouts can help a lot.
Yesterday I was in a really bad mood thinking about something depressing that has gone on in my life for quite a bit of time. I normally try to forget about this particular thing but yesterday I couldn't stop thinking about it. I was in a bad mood all day and was really looking forward to my workout.

It was amazing because after about 40 minutes on the treadmill, the problem didn't matter as much anymore. I felt relaxed, calm, and ready to go to sleep and start a new day. I was still upset, but a little less so.

I am loving all my workouts. I love the way you feel afterwords-relaxed, calm, and ready to take on the world. I don't feel that way so much in my regular life. Some things I just feel powerless to change.
Ending on a happy note, I am really looking forward to going to Colombus this weekend for the triathlon I am doing at Ohio State University . I am spending the weekend in Colombus. On Saturday, my parents and I are driving up to Colombus to get a tour of Ohio State University.
OSU is one of my college choices, though not a top one. I would rather go to college somewhere warm, such as Florida. Since we are going to be in Colombus for the triathlon, however, I decided to tour the campus. I will tour the campus to get a feel for what the college is like even if I don't decide to go to college there.
I may decide to go to college there, however, since it is only 2 hours from where I live. Like I said though, I am more intrested in going to college somewhere in Florida. I have toured the University of Miami campus while vacationing in Florida and really love it. University of Miami is definatly my first college choice. I used to live in Florida a few years ago, and really miss living there.
After the tour is finished, my parents and I will explore Colombus. We will later go back to a hotel and stay the night. In this hotel I get MY OWN ROOM, like I said on a previous blog post. I will spend the night in Colombus, do the triathlon Sunday morning, and then drive back home. It will be an intresting weekend!

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

The SOMIHID and swim coaching evening


SOMIHID (pronounced some-e-hid) stands for the Spur-Of-The-Moment-Incredibly- Hot-Independent-Duathlon I did yesterday. I did SOMIHID because since I was swim coaching, I would not be able to do a swim workout. I went to the gym an hour early to get in a good bike and run workout before I had to do swim coaching.

I decided to put this workout in the form of a duathlon because I loved the Independent- Du I did on Saturday. and wanted to do another workout of the same kind. This duathlon was spur of the moment because I didn't decide to do it untill I got to the gym.

I called the duathlon increadibly hot for reasons already stated. The cardio room where I did
my bicycle riding was incredibly hot. Sweaty hot. Forida in the middle of Augst hot. I was sweating buckets, and I'm not a huge sweater to begin with. That place really needs to get more fans!

This was also called an Independent-Duathlon for reasons already ovbious. It was not an offical duathlon. I did the "race" all by myself. SOMIHID conisted of a 15 minute run on the indoor track, followed by 40 minutes on the stationary bike, followed by another 6 minutes on the indoor track. I know 6 minutes is a random number, but it was exactly how much time I had remaining untill I had to go over to the pool to coach swim practice,

Since I don't feel like making this a huge, long post, I am not going to say every little detail that happened during SOMIHID. I am just going to say that is was a lot like Saturday's Independent-Baby- Du except it was a little shorter, a lot hotter, and indoors instead of outdoors.

The swim coaching thing was also pretty awesome. Everybody basiclly liked my workout. I actually had a couple people say to me how much they liked it. I would have liked it too if I got to swim it! Maybe I will swim that particular workout in one of my own workouts. Maybe not. I tend to prefer a lot more distance swimming.

As I was being the "coach" I got to talk to the actual swim coach while the swim team was doing the workout I assigned. He gave me lots of swim tips, such as how to improve my flip turns. He also had a lot of intresting stories to tell, such as the fact that he used to be a lifeguard, and swam a 20 second 50 meter freestyle. (he almost qualified for the Olympics in 1980, before they got boycotted)

I thought it was very intresting to make up workouts and have everybody swim them. It was pretty neat being the swim coach!

Monday, April 28, 2008

Swim coach for a day


Tonight I am going to be the swim coach. You heard that right. I'm going to be the swim coach! Recently, my swim coach has given the entire team a chance to be swim coach for a day. This means we get to write out the workouts and shout them out to the team to do. Tonight is my turn!
The rules were that you can make the workout anything you wanted it to be- the only constraint was that it had to total 5,000 yards. I was almost going to make the whole workout distance freestyle (including a 3000 freestyle straight swim) because that is what I love to swim. Since I don't want the whole team to hate me, however, I am sticking with this workout. A lot of this workout is intresting things I did while on each of the 3 different swim teams I have been on.

Here is the workout:
Warm-Up:
500 SKIDS (100 swim, 100 kick, 100 IM, 100 drill, 100 swim)
Main Set:
(Pyramid)
100 free
100 IM
200 free
100 IM
300 free
100 IM
400 free
100 IM
500 free
100 IM
400 free
100 IM
300 free
100 IM
200 free
100 IM
100 free

100 easy

3 X 200 reverse IM

Cool- Down:
10 X 50 pull

If you were coach for a day, what would you have as a workout?

Sunday, April 27, 2008

Weekly workout totals: 4/20/08-4/26/08


Another great workout week!

Swimming: 410 minutes (6 hours 50 minutes)

Biking: 30 minutes

Running: 53 minutes

Yoga: 55 Minutes


Weekly total: 548 minutes ( 9 hours 8 minutes)


My longest workout week ever! ( This blog is really inspiring me to get into shape!)

Saturday, April 26, 2008

Independent-Tri #1: Independent- Baby Du


Note: This picture is not of me (since I'm a girl!) or anyone I know- but the guy is really cute!

My first Independent-Tri was today. It was actually a duathlon. I ended up running 2 miles, then biking 4 miles, then running another 2 miles. My total time including transitions was 1 hour 27 minutes (yeah, I'm slow!)



This morning I went for a swim at my local health club, which lasted about 45 minutes. I then went to the grocrey store with my mom and did some other things before I went home. I started my Independent-Baby Du (called "Baby Du" because the distances were so short) in the late afternoon. The weather was perfect for a bunch of running and bicycling. Temperatures were in the lower sixties.



Run #1: Run #1 started out nice. I ran almost to the end of a long street and back. This was the first time in a while that I wore a watch while running- actually the fist time in a couple years. I ended up staring at the watch for a good portion of the run! I was still a little tired from this morning's swimming when I started, but I quickly warmed up. As I ran back towards my house, I spent a few minutes fumbling around to get my bike (The garage door was locked, so I tried to open the back door. The back door was also locked. I finally went in my house from the front door then went to the garage to get my bike) I got my bicycle, put on my helmet, and took off bicycling.



Total time for the run (excluding the transitions) :25 minutes



Bike: I rode my bike up and down the same street I ran on- I just went further. It felt nice to be on my bike outside again. There have only been a handful of times I rode my bike outside since last September (the end of triathlon season for me) My legs burned riding the uphhills, but I loved riding the downhills! It felt incredible having the cool wind blow on my increasingly sweaty face. I eventually rode back to my house and put my bike up. Transition only took about a minute this time since I left the garage door unlocked. This made it easy to put my bike up. I then quickly ran out of the garage to start my final leg of the Baby-Du



Total time for the bike (again, excluding transition): 30 minutes (I never said I was fast!)



Run #2: This second run was located on exactly the same route as my first fun. I ran up and down the same street on much more tired legs. My legs did not feel as brick-like as when I do triathlons, however. This was probably because I only rode my bike four miles. I ran through this route, enjoying the spring weather but eager to get done. I was hungry and wanted to shower. As I ran back to my house, I was proud that I finished my first Independent-Du and resolved to do these types of "races"more often.



Total time for Run #2: 28 minutes (yes, it actually WAS possible to slow down)



Total time for the whole event: 1 hour 27 minutes



Home: I was pretty tired when I got home. I took a quick shower, ate a bunch of food, read a book for a little while, then started on this blog. I am now eager to go to bed, and now have a new favorite workout.

I LOVED DOING THE INDEPENDENT- BABY DU!

Friday, April 25, 2008

Awesome Swim meet!


I am doing the most awesome swim meet June 28! It is an open water swim where I get to swim 3000 meters!

That is like doing four 750 meter sprint triathlon swims. That is twice the longest event in a swim meet-the mile. I never did a swim meet that long before. It should be exciting!

Thursday, April 24, 2008

Good morning!

Yes..It's 10:24 A.M. on a Thursday. I should be in school right now. Don't tell anyone! I missed today because we had a 3 hour play in the afternoon that I didn't feel like sittling through. I only missed one other day this semester so it is not like it counts for anything. I really didn't feel like sitting through one of those plays. The plays are normally 2 hours, which already feels like an enternity. I really do not want to sit through 3 hours!

I swam for an hour yesterday. It would have been more, but my coach got really angry at some people. he stopped practice to give a 20 minute speech on why the whole team wasn't taking swimming seriously enough. He must have been really upset because my swim coach is normally a very easy going, nice guy. I have never seen him yell like that before. I am definatly going to work a million times harder then I already have been working because I do not want him to get mad again!

I am planning to do an Independent-Tri this weekend perhaps. It would probably be a duathlon.that I would do it after a swim workout. I would make it about an hour. Since i am oh-so-very-slow, that would mean a 2 mile run/4 mile bike/ 1 mile run. Something along those lines. I'm not quite sure yet.

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

The Yoga confilct is resolved


I am loving the warm weather here today! 76 degrees! Yesterday I finally made it to yoga practice for swim team. We normally do yoga once a week, but there were conflicts about finding an appropriate room to do the yoga in (most of the rec rooms are being used for other things such as aerobics classes at the time we need them for yoga).

First, the yoga was scheduled for Mondays at 7:30 PM. Then, it switched to Tuesdays at 7:00 PM. Later, it switched to Wednesdays at 7:00 PM. FINALLY, it switched back to Tuesdays at 7:00 PM. I kept getting confused, as you would imagine, and showed up for yoga class on the wrong day.

I also showed up half an hour late on days there actually was yoga class. This was because I did not know of the change, and swim practice starts normally at 7:30. I would show up at 7:30 for normal swim practice and end up missing yoga. As you can tell, I was glad to finally make yoga class this week.

I can tell that this week will be a big workout week. Normaly, on Wednesdays after working out 3 days in a row, I would be exhausted and would have to take the night off. Today, I feel energetic enough to go to swim practice. I am only planning on taking one day off this week. I hope to get as much, if not more, training time this week than last week!

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Independent-Tris and other ramblings


Dear Blogger,

It is a very nice day out again today. it is about 75 degrees. I am very much looking forward to the OSU triathlon May 4. It is now official. My mom even picked out the hotel rooms. This time she actually booked 2 rooms, giving me my very own hotel room. I am spoiled!
This is awesome because dad's snoring and the TV running untill late at night mean I never get any sleep when I share a hotel room with my parents. Now I get a good night's sleep before the triathlon. I guess mom just got sick of the complaining.

I am so excited for summer! I am really eager to try out the Independent-Tri idea. I am hoping to to one this Saturday at the gym. If i can't get to the gym, I will make it an Independent- Du (run, bike, run).

Ways an Independent-Tri is different form a triathlon:

1. I can do them when ever I want

2. I can do them where ever I want

3. They don't cost anything

4. There are no other competitors (no 100,000 "on your lefts" on the bike- also no motivation to sprint to try to catch a 10-year old on the run!)

5. No t-Shirts or any other freebies

6. I don't have to rely on anyone to take me to an Independent-tri (except if I want to go to the gym)

7. I can pick the distances ("lengthen the swim?" you ask. I'm already ahead of you!)

8. It's less official :(

Ways an Independent-Tri is different from a workout:

1. it will be timed

2. I'll go as fast as I can

3. I will plan for the Independent-Tri at least a day ahead of time

4. It will be in the format of an official triathlon

5. It will usally be longer then the average workout

P.S. I just had the most IMPOSSIBLE math test today! I understood how to do most of the problems, but it took forever and I'm not sure how many problems I got right. I'll find out my grade soon. I hope he adds a curve to the test. I really want an "A" . I need an "A" average this quarter so I can exempt the final exam! I don't want to take the final exam in math. Finals in math always take 10+ hours to study for. Ugh!

Monday, April 21, 2008

Spring is finally comming!


There are less than 2 weeks untill my first triatlon this season. 13 days to be percise. The thing that is intresting about this triathlon is that the swim will take place in a pool. All the triathlons I have done so far have had swims that took place in lakes. A pool swim will be very intresting. Not really- since I swim in pools all the time.


Speaking of which, I am also looking forward to long course season in swimming. It starts for me, in June (Since I have to take lifeguarding classes in May) One of the swims I am really looking forward to is a 3000 meter (or yards, I can't remember) swim that will be taking place at the end of June in Lake Eerie (spelling?)

It is finally Spring and will be summer in a few months. I am also thinking about what other races I would like to do. I would like to do an olympic distance triathlon and half-marathon this year. There is a good olympic distance triathlon about 20 minutes from home that I could do in July.

I am also thinking about doing my own triathlons. These would be triathlons that I would organize and complete all by myself- in the gym or on the road somewhere. I remember I used to do a few of these when I was 11 years old (this was when I thought I was too young for triathlons- so I did some of my own). These triathlons were typically very small distances- about a 300 yard swim, 3 mile bike, and 1 mile run.

I thought about the idea of doing some more of these types of independent triathlons after reading this blog: http://crackheadfe.blogspot.com/ where she talks about doing NothingMan triathlons.

The benefit to doing these types of triathlons (with real races thrown in, ovbiously) is that untill I learn how to drive (which I am hoping to learn how to do this summer) I can only go to triathlons when my parents feel like taking me. This means I can only do a triathlon maybe once a month, if that.

If I did Independent-Tris (as I will call them) I would not have to collaberate my idea of fun with my parent's ideo of fun as much. Plus, I can do Independent-Tris in the winter as well!
I will do as many triathlons as I can, but the idea of an Independent-Tri sounds awesome!

P.S. If photos do not upload correctly, is there any way to delete them?


Sunday, April 20, 2008

My first triathlon


Note: This was originally an essay I published on http://www.helium.com/ but decided to put on this blog.


It was 4:30 P.M. on Saturday June 30, 2007. As the horn signaled to start the race, I excitedly realized that I was finally becoming a triathlete! This was the moment I had been anticipating for the past 5 years! "5 years?", you wounder. "How could it possibly have taken 5 years to train for a triathlon?"

Let me back up a minute. Ever since I was 11 years old, and first heard the word "triathlon" mentioned, I have made it my vow to do one. I was completly astounded with the level of dedication and endurance these athletes posessed to become masters of three entirely different sports: swimming, bicycling, and running. Yet, I held off on the idea of actually doing a triathlon for so long becaus I thought I was too young to do one. "What 11 year old does triathlons?", I thought. Plus, I assumed that the distances were impossile. " A half-mile swim, 10-15 mile bike, AND a 5K run", I thought. "And that is the shorthest distance avalible? How will I ever do that?"
Even through all of this, I could not give up on my dream of finishing a triathlon. For the next several years, my thoughts would always drift back to doing a triathlon. I would oftentimes pick up triathlon books and magazines, reading them for hours. I would look at the pictures of smiling, exhausted athletes crossing the finish line and think to myself "that could be me." The longing never went away.

The dream finally surfaced into a reality when I was on the internet looking up bicycle races. My parents and I had just finished an amazing bicycle race. I wanted to do another bicycle race with them and was on the internet looking for others. I was on a website that had events listed for every sport. Of course, the longing came back and I had to check which triathlon events were avalible. Amidst all the notices for extremly long and intimidating (at least to me at the time) events, I found a link that provided informatiaon about a race taking place 3 weeks from the time I was looking at the computer. It was in a town only an hour away from where I live. Best of all, the race was at 4:30 in the afternoon, meaning I could sleep in! This race was a Super-Sprint triatlon.

"What is a Super-Sprint triathlon?" you may ask. A Super-Sprint triathlon is one of the shortest and least intimidating distances of triathlon availibe. It was a distance I had never heard about, up untill this point. The distance was a 300m (about 12 lengths of a pool) swim, 6 mile bike, and a 3K run (shortly under 2 miles). This, I realiized, was a perfectly feasable distance. Maybe my dream of becoming a triathlon finisher could finally become a reality!

I quickly thought of whether I would be able to cover these distances with only 3 weeks of training. I suddenly realized that it was a definate possibility. I was on a summer swim team at that point, and was swimming about an hour a day. 12 lengths of a pool was merely a warm-up to me! I have also ran a small amount in the past, and had even joined the track team 2 years ago in middle school. Running the 3K race would be doable with a few weeks of training. I could already comfortably run a mile! The biking would be relitivly easy as well. The bike ride I completed with my parents was 12 miles, double the distance of the bike leg in the Super-Sprint. 3 weeks later, I was able to comfortably run 2 miles. I was also becoming more famillar with the gears on my bike, and of course, going to swim practice. I felt very confident that I could complete the distances of the triathlon.

After 5 years of longing to do a triathlon and 3 weeks of traning and anticipation so strong I could barely sleep, I was finally ready to start my first triathlon. The first thing I remember about the triathon was that the lake was very warm. As I stood engulfed in the pleasent water waiting for the signal to start, I thought about the race ahead. The whole expierence was surreal. The dream I had fantisized about for the past 5 years was now about to come true! The horn sounded. I could not believe the race was actually happening!

I dove into the comfortable lake to begin my swim. "This is just like every day at swim practice", I kept telling myself. Eventually my body obeyed by slowing down my breathing and allowing me to become more comfortable in the water. The swim quickly ended and I ran out of the water to grab my bike and helmet. I turned my head around, and saw my parents waving at me and encouraging me. I smiled back. They also told me I was one of the first people out of the water. I could not belive my parents untill I looked behind me and saw almost everybody was still in the water. Now filled with even more energy, I hastily grabbed my helmet (carelessly putting in on backwards, alost chocking myself, and having to have a whole team of people help me turn it around) and was off to the bike course.

The bike course was astoundigly beautiful. The race took place in the Ohio country and the summer landscade and trees were the most beautiful shades of olive green. The course was also extremly hilly and on one hill I actually had to stop, get off my bike, and walk it up the trechoursly steep hill. The lead I created from the swim did not last very long. All the people I passed on the swim (and some people from the longer triathlon that started about half an hour after the Super-Sprint) blitzed passed me on their high-tech carbon fiber bikes. I plodded slowly along on my completly out of gear, too small Schwinn, and I couldn't have cared less. Towards the end of the bike ride, I was starting to get tired. I was also incredibly thirsty! As I rolled into the transition area to get my running gear, and put away my bicycle and helmet, I gulped down two full cups of water. After I guzzled the water like I was stranded in the Sahara Dessert, it was time to start the run.

The run took place in another beautiful location. It was a bike trail with several tall trees hanging above, providing shade on this hot summer day. The run went by relitivly easy and by this point, I was confident that I would finish. The only pain I felt was a slight tiredness and a heavy feeling in my legs, which came from transferring from bicycling immediatly to running. This heavy feeling even had me walking for part of the run! As the run drew to an end, I could not believe what I was about to accomplish. As I saw the finish line, I used every last reserve of strength and sprinted toward the finish line.

I saw my time on the clock. 1 hour and 12 minutes. I finished second to last; however, my final standing in the race did not matter to me. I was so thrilled that I finally became the thing I was dreaming about for so long. I finally became the smiling triathlete I saw crossing the finish lines in all those glossy triathlon magazines. I sudddenly realized I was starving!

I walked to the snack table to grab a couple Rice Krispie bars, and to my dad's truck to grab a swandwich and soda. I ate this food ravenously. After I finished my dinner, I walked from my dad's truck over to the site of the race to watch the organizers announce the results. I was shocked to found I had won a first place trophy in my age group. Even though I was the only one in my age group at the triathlon, that trophy made me feel very proud.

I was overjoyed to complete this onece-thought impossble feat and realized that not many people my age are doing triathlons. I suddenly felt very special and made a promise to myself to do more triathlons! As I rode home in the truck, I thought about where my next triathon would be. I decided to do a triathlon in the same city, a month away. This triathon would be a sprint, one of the distances that I used to belive was daunting.

Just to let you know, I finished that triatlon, and one additional triatlon before that summer ended. I am also planning to do many more triathlons this summer. I now either swim, bike, or run every day to keep in shape for my next triathlon. I have ran distances up to 8 miles, shattered personsl best times in swim meets, and also have gotten a better bike.

I plan do triathlons for the rest of my life and now relize that limits are only in the mind. This is true for triathlon as well as every other aspect of your life. Becoming a triathon finisher has made me confident in many other aspects of my life. One example is that it has made me more determined in my school work, helping me study harder and get the best grades I have ever recieved. I strongly believe that becoming a triathlete is not as hard as it sounds. Finishing a triathlon is feasable for every person that has a desire to do so and is willing to work hard.

Swim-a-thon: Part 2

Today was my second day of the swim-a-thon since I swam another swim-a-thon on Friday. (Get it? Today was part 2.) I swam 100 laps again (down to the end of the pool and back- It bugs me when people call one length of the pool a lap) for a total of 5000 yards.

I enjoyed my swim-a-thon today. I don't feel as tired as I did on Friday. Maybe that day of rest I took yesterday actually helped. The one thing I didn't enjoy however, was that there were 3 other swimmers in my lane. Very fast swimmers. They kept running over me every other lap. It was very annoying. As I was getting kicked and bumped, all the while, I was looking forward to when they finished their 100 laps and got out of the pool.

Eventually they got out of the pool and I had the lane all to myself. No kicking or brusing. Yeah! I got the lane to myself for about 20 minutes. I was getting the nice, wounderful feeling I get when I do a good, hard workout. The only thing that wasn't so good though was that I really had to pee. I'll save the details, but all I can say was that I was very excited to be done with the swim so that I could run to the bathroom.

When the swim-a-thon was over, I felt a little tired, but not extremly. I only felt as tired as I normally do at the end of swim practice. I wasn't very hungry this time and still havn't ate a snack. It felt really awesome doing 2 swim-a-thons in a weekend. I was the only one on my swim team to do 2. I love distance swimming, as I said before. I wish they had swim-a-thons more then once a year. Every week would be nice. Maybe twice a week. Three times...

Saturday, April 19, 2008

Biggest workout week ever!


This week has been my largest volume workout week of the whole year, according to my training log! The graph that shows my weekly workout minutes in each sport used to have an interval of 0-500 minutes of workouts per week. Now, after this week, where I worked out over 500 minutes this week, my workout graph now goes from 0-600 minutes.


I've been having so much energy lately. Normally, I will workout anywhere from 2-4 days-then have to take a day off because I am falling asleep on my floor. This week, I worked out 7 straight days in a row (my longest contiuous string of workouts ever) and don't feel a thing.


I want to workout again today but have decided to restrain myself. I need some rest after the swim-a-thon yesterday (and before tomorrow's!) . I guess I need rest even though I don't fel like I do.


I think improving my nutrition is helping a lot. When I started working out, I was eating the same amout as when I sit around and do nothing, even though I am swimming or ding some other type of workout 1- 2 hours most nights of the week. I have started eating a slim-fast bar every night before I go to bed (and sometimes more then one) . I like slim-fast bars because they taste good (strawberry-cream cheese is the best!) and have lots of vitamins and other things.


I will probably still, however, have to eat yet even more. I want to gain enough weight so that I am up to 95 pounds. I was 89.5 pounds before I began eating the slim-fast bars. Now, after a month of eating them every night, I am only up to 90.5 pounds.


This week's workout totals

Swimming: 440 minutes (that would be 7 hours 20 minutes)

Bicycling:20 minutes (kind of pathetic but I'm not a huge fan of bicycling)

Running: 78 minutes (or 1 hour and 18 minutes)

Total: 538 minutes (or 8 hours 58 minutes!)


My largest workout week ever.

Friday, April 18, 2008

Swimming laps+ 2 hours=happiness




Today was the wounderful swim-a-thon (part one-since I am doing another swim-a-thon on Sunday). I loved it. All together, I swam 5300 yards. That was the longest I ever swim! It was really relaxing swimming all those laps on a Friday night. I am very wounderfully tired now. I am the kind of tired that only comes from a nice, long workout.




I shared a lap lane with one other person. That person normally is a very fast swimmer. I am usally the slowest swimmer on the team. (I honestly mean it- I love swimming but I am really slow!) Today, for some reason, she was swimming really slow. Even slower then me. She was probably very confident that she would make the 100 laps and trying to save her energy. She did make the 100 laps!




I neve swam a swim-a-thon before so I was sprinting so that I could swim the entire 100 laps on time. I must have lapped her about 10 times in the whole practice. It was pretty nice being the faster one in the lane, instead of being the one getting run over- even though come practice time, she can swim circles around me.




The swim-a-thon was supposed to be 5000 yards all together. I actually went a little bit over the designated distance. The reason is that I went an extra 100-200 yards because I did not realize I already finished the 100 laps untill I heard my coach yell my name. I also honestly didn't want to stop! After the swim-a-thon, I did a short cool-down and practice was over.




I'm not as tired as I thought I would be. I am a little sleepy right now, but I normally go to bed in about 10 minutes anyway. I will have a great night's rest tonight!




I was also very hungy! I ate a snack as soon as I got home. I ate outside and enjoyed the wounderful weather. It went up to 75 degrees today! After I ate, I felt a lot better.




Today was a perfect day for swimming. I am very excited that I get to do the same thing again on Sunday. I love long workouts like that. They make me feel on top of the world!

Thursday, April 17, 2008

Creepy


I just had some online pervert add me as a friend on facebook. I cllicked "yes" on the friend request, not knowing that it was a pervert. I quickly realized it was a perv however, when I saw pictures of penises on his profile page. Also, his name didn't sound famillar and neither did the names of his friends displayed on his profile.


The only reason I cliked "yes" on the "add to friends request" was because usally, if I don't recognize someone's name, I will remember them onece I see a picture of them, and what school they go to. In his profile, there was no picture of him or his school. Only pictures of penises.


I quickly clicked "remove from friends" button on Facebook and was more then a little weirded out. If there are any pervs looking at this blog, please get the fuck off here.


In other news, my swim team is having a swim-a-thon both tommorrow and Sunday. What this means is instead of regular practice, we get to see how many laps we get to swim in 2 hours!!!! I am very excited because I love distance swiimming.


There are two days we can swim in the swim-a-thon and we have the option of swimming either day. I am ovbiously swimming both days because why wouldn't I? I LOVE distance swimming and am very excited for the swim-a-thon(s) !!!!!

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Reflections on why I do triathlons


1. The mental and physical high you get after a tough workout.

2. The feeling of confidence you get after going farther or faster then you ever have before

3. Three sports in one race means you don't get bored

4. Seeing how far you can go

5, Swimming in lakes

6. Enjoying the outdoors

7. All the fitness you gain from training for 3 different sports

8. The possibility of doing an ironman triathlon, or achiving another tough goal

9. Expierencing the outdoors (I once ran a 5K in the middle of a snowstorm!)

10. Free T-Shirts!

11. Biking/Running in the rain on a hot summer day

12. You can escape the mundaness of daily life for a liitle while (during your workouts)

13. The way time seems to dissapear in the middle of a good swim workout

14. Feeling on top of the world after your first triathlon

15. Feeling on top of the world after every triathlon you do

16. Seeing different part of the country (or of a state) as you do different triathlons

17. Seeing how much you progress as you train ("I used to think that was hard?")

18. Riding a bike full speed downhill

19. Realizing that missing a workout makes you go crazy!

20. Always looking forward to the next event...

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

I finally got images to load! (I'm just not very good at figuring out how to move them)



Yesterday, I did not swim, but I ran. My parents couldn't take me to swim practice because they had to do taxes. Since I couldn't go to swim practice, I ran outside instead.

It was pretty chilly outsde, only about 45 degrees. Right now it is only about 55 degrees outsde. I am getting very annoyed with all this cold weather. It is the middle of April already!

Anyway, the run was pretty nice. I ran for about an hour, and the cool air felt nice when I was running. I kind of hurt a muscle at the top of my leg when I was running, however. It is still a little sore today but it is getting better. I have pancke-flat feet so I tend to injure myself a lot when I run. I never get very serious injuries. Just small, annoying ones.


P.S. I finally got images to load on to my blog. I think I am finallly starting to get the hang of this. All I need to learn how to do now is move images where ever I want them on my blog post.

Monday, April 14, 2008

crap!

I try to upload photos, but somehow, they do not display. If anybody knows how to fix that, please tell me. (notice the blank photo thing on the post below this)

Start of this blog, and long course season in swimming







Hi again. Since this blog is all about swimming and triathlon, I guess I will start off by talking (or writing!) about the workout I did yesterday.


I did a 1:50 swim workout with the swim team. We are starting to get into the summer swim season (long course) so the swim workouts are starting to get harder again. For the past month or so, we have mainly been working on drills to make our swim strokes better. Now we have been doing a lot of endurance stuff, which is my favorite type of workout!


Our main set was 3,000 yards. I left the workout feeling so wounderfully tired, the way I always feel after a long workout. I was hungry too! I actually ended up eating two dinners last night. I ate my normal dinner around 4:00 and had to have a second dinner after my workout. don't think I'm a pig or anything. I'm 5 ft 1 and only 90 pounds. I'm actually trying to gain weight.


This has been my first year on a year- round swim team and I am loving it so far. This will be my first summer swim season in a long course pool (50 meters long instead of 25 yards) and I am really looking forward to it.


I'm going to have to start my long course season a month later then I would normally be able to. Instead of starting the season in May, I will have to start it in June. I can't swim any of the meets we have in May because I am going to take classes to become a lifeguard. The classes happen to coincide with the same exact days of the swim meet.


I am very excited about becoming a lifeguard. I hope to lifeguard for 5 seasons, a place with a very nice pool only 5 minutes from my house. It will be my first job!

Sunday, April 13, 2008

Hi Blogger!

Hi. This is my first time using a blog. I decided to write about swimming and doing triathlons becaues that is what intrests me the most. I also started this blog to show my journey. I know that sounds kind of corny but I would like to look back some time in the future and see how far I have come with my training and with life.

I remember a year ago I was barely working out at all. I did a season of swim team at school, but that was the extent of everything I had done that year. Now, I swim almost every single day and have done three triathlons. I am signed up for a fourth next month!

I like swimming, triathlons, and working out in general because it gives me so much confidence. Last year, i could barely run a mile. Now I can run 8 without stopping. Last year, I could barely figure out my gears on my bicycle. Now I am slowly getting somewhere (even though bicycling is my weakest sport) Last year an hour swim felt really, really, long. Now I can swim for two hours easily. I am also a lot faster at swimming then I was last year. When I improve that much at something in so little time, I feel like I can do anything.

This comming up year, I would like to do even more. I want to continue to improve my swimming times. I also want to do farther distance triathlons, such as an olympic-distance event. Last but not least, I would like to run a half-marathon. This is a goal I had since August of last year. I hope to accomplish it this year.

Someday, I would like to run a marathon and do an ironman distance triathlon. I know that is a very long way off. It seems unachiveable now, but maybe when I look back on my blog 5 years from now, I could laugh at this post. I could laugh because I would already have the finishers medals hanging up in my bedroom.