Busy week

This week has been an epic week. It has been filled with a lot of workouts (did anyone say lots of swimming?). It has also been filled with lots of exam studying and summer homework assignments (Yes. I have homework in the summer! My school is retarded.). It has also been jammmed-packed with a sinus infection that has me consuming large volumes of Day-Quill and has my nose running like a faucet. I also got an award in Social Studies during this epic week!

Okay, I will start with the massive workouts, since that is the first thing I mentioned and this is a triathlon blog. After my 4,400 yard swim on Saturday, I just couldn't get enough of the pool. I decided to swim again on Sunday. This swim was 5,300 yards in length. What can I say? I love to swim and once I start, I don't feel like stopping.

On Monday, I swam again. This time I swam 5,700 yards. I was trying to go for 6,000 yards but I had to leave(my parents decided they had enough of the pool after 2 hours and they were my only ride home). I left with only a 300 left to swim. I was a little upset- but I will get a 6,000 yard workout before this summer's over.

All these swims were done over the Memorial Day weekend when my swim team was not practicing. They were all done in the indoor pool of my local gym. I enjoyed every minute of those swims! I hope to eventually swim to 6,000 yards and beyond.

Following the Memorial Day Weekend of Epic Swims, I swam for another hour on Tuesday with the swim team since practice was again in session. Practice is only for an hour this week (and next week) because many of the swimmers (including me) are still in school. We can only get the pool really late in the summer. Instead of normal practice time of 7:30-9:00, we have practice from 8:30-10:00 in the summer. Practice ended at 9:30 so that we wouldn't be exhausted the next morning for school that starts at 7:30 in the morning.

In addition to this swim, I also ran up and down my street on Tuesday for a total of 3.5 miles. I repeated the hour swim and 3.5 mile run on wedesday. This was before I got sick.

On Thursday (yesterday), I woke up with a runny nose and sore throat that I think has become a sinus infection. Of course, I didn't work out Thursday or today because I feel like crap; however, I feel better this evening after taking plenty of Day-Quill. I hope I feel well enough to work out tomorrow.

I also have a butt-load of exam studying to do. I exempted (meaning I don't have to take) my math exam, which should free up a lot of time otherwise spent studyying. I also do not have to take exams for the two art classes I am taking. We had final projects as opposed to final exams. We did those projects in class, so now we don't have to take final exams.

Since I am exempting math, I do not have to go in for the last day of school. My last day of school will be Wednesday as opposed to Thursday. I also only have to take 4 exams this quarter-as opposed to seven. Don't think I have it easy though. I have to memorize over 300 vocab words for Social Studies! I already got some studying done tonight. I am planning to spread my studying out over the weekend and next week so that I do not have to do a whole bunch of studying at onece.

I also have a boat load of summer homework I have to do before the first day of my next school year. THIS IS ALL DUE BEFORE AUG 26!

English: I have to read 4 books (one of which is Shakesphere-ugh), write 2 essays,and read and summerize a whole bunch of articles.

Chemistry: I have to read the first chapter, and do 2 packets (about 20 pages in length- front and back) which include notes on the first chapter, and lots of math problems. I also have to memorize a whole bunch of stuff for the quiz given on the first day of school over the table of elements,and many other things I already forgot.

History: I have to read 5 chapters in this huge textbook. Each chapter is about 30 pages in length. I have to take notes (a page in length) on each chapter. I also have to take a take-home quiz on each of these 5 chapters, fill out a worksheet on each of the 27 ammendments to the constiution, and memorize each of the presidents and their political parties.

Math: I don't think I have any math homework this year (like I did last year) but my new math teacher might get evil the last week of school and suprise us. I hope not. I hope my new math teacher will be nice. He is pretty nice. I had him 2 years ago for geometry. I am not sure how nice he will be with the summer homework this year.

I will have no summer this year!

Oh, in other good and intresting news, I got an award yesterday at our yearly awards ceremony. It was for social studies and only one other person in my grade got the award. I got a medal too and went up in front of the entire school to get the award.

Am I boring you with school stuff? I would rather not think about school either. I am just so excited that this year is finally comming to a close! I am looking forward to whatever little summer I may have.

I added this race to the races I someday want to do. It is a 24 hour triathlon held in Colorado. It's far away from where I live, but I can always fly there (duh!) I've never been to Colorado before. It would have to wait untill at least 2010 though because I have to be at least 18 to do it. I wouldn't be ready to do it sooner then that anyway. It's like an ultramarathon of running except it also involves swimming! Oh, and bicycling too. You basically try to cover as much distance as you possibly can in 24 hours. The course consists of a .24 mile swim, an 11.2 mile bike, and a 2.6 mile run that you repeat as many times as possible. They aslo have a shorter 8 hour race.

Everyday it seems, I am finding out more really intresting events to do. It seems impossible that I would ever get sick of triathlon and endurance sports. I am getting sick of writing though. Bye for now!

Outdoor pool opened today!

The outdoor pool opened today! I swim in the indoor pool, however. The reason is that every 45 minutes in the outdoor pool, everybody under 18 years old has to get out of the water for 15 minutes. This is Ohio law. They were on one of those breaks when I arrived at the pool, so I decided to swim in the indoor pool, where they don't make you take those breaks.
I swam for 2 hours, and swam a total of 4400 yards. It was a nice workout. Though the weather is not that much warmer yet, I am still excited that it is amost summer.
On another note, I got a new slogan:

Your Slogan Should Be

How Do You Handle a Hungry Man? Amy.

The Slogan Generator

One year ago

I was just thinking about what I was doing one year ago today. I thought about this because they were metioning it on one of the triathlon fourms I like to look at. I realized I came pretty far in a year!

This is what I realized:

A year ago, I was not yet a triathlon finisher. Now I have finished four.

A year ago, I was just signing up with the recreational swim team that I used to be a part of in the summer. I wan't even working out yet. I am now on a more competitive year-round swim team.

A year ago, I thought swimming a mile was hard work. Now I can easily swim 5,000 yards.

I used to swim a 50 meter sprint in 38 seconds. Now I can do it in 35.

I used to barely be able to run a mile. Now I can run 8 without stopping.

I used to not even know how to work the gears on my too-small bike. Now I have a good fitting bike (not a fancy one, still a mountain bike you can find at Wal-Mart) and can ride (slowly) up to 3 hours.

One year to date, I knew about triathlons, found a race that looked intresting, and though I wouldn't start working out and training untill June, I was woundering "what if..."

Where were you one year ago?

Bubble came off today!

The "bubble" went off the pool tonight. What that means is that an indoor pool was transformed into an outdoor pool tonight. The "bubble" is the spherical shaped covering that forms the roof of the area we swim in during the winter. This "roof" gets removed during the summer, leaving only the walls around the pool and the warm sun pouring in.


It was so awesome having the bubble off tonight. The pool area was so bright and cheery. We also did an awesome swim workout today. The main set was 3 X 800. Since I love distance workouts, and love summer so much, that workout today was heaven.


The pool I go to during the summer when I am not at swim practice opens tomorrow too. I can't wait! I love desiging my own workouts in there and making the workout all distance (and a little bit of individual medley thrown in for fun!)


A typical workout I like to make for myself is usally something like this: (if I have 2 hours to spare)
3 X (1000 free, 2 X 200 IM)
4 X 200 IM


I also love going off the high dive at the pool, and just being out in the sun. I can't wait for summer to come, and for school to let out.


9 more days.

Me and my Schwinn are friends

Note: I actually found a picture of my exact bike on the internet. Isn't it pretty? (If you are a triathlete with a $1,000,000,00000 high-tech bike don't say anything!)

I rode my bike (my blue Schwinn) for almost 3 hours yesterday! (2 hours and 55 minutes to be exact!) I didn't start out the bike ride wanting it to be that long. I was originally planning only to do a 2 hour bike ride. I wanted to get some bike riding done because I want to get ready to do an olympic distance triathlon this summer.

It was a beautiful day outside when I rode my bike. It was sunny and almost 70 degrees! We havn't had a nice day like that for at least 3 weeks! Normally, I don't enjoy riding my bike as much as I enjoy swimming and running. Yesterday, however, was the best bike ride EVER.

I basically just rode around the streets near my home. I rode up and down 3 times this really long street, and up and down some cul-de-sacs several times. I was loving every minute of this bike ride! Untill I got home, I didn't realize I almost went 3 hours. I thought I went just a little bit over two hours. Time flies when you are enjoying yourself!

I am guessing I covered at least 20 miles. My cycling computer is broke, so I am not exactly sure of the distance I covered. Howver, with my average speed about 8 miles an hour, maybe a little slower since the ride was so long, 20 miles would seem about accurate.

Don't laugh at my slowness. Laughing at people is not nice! It's okay to laugh if you really feel the need though. I will probably laughat my slowness when I re-read this blog in a couple years.

The only thing that really hurt on this bicycle ride was the muscles in the tops of my legs (quads?) about 2 hours into the ride. I am a little sore today, but not a ton. I slept very good last night!

I have also realized that all this working out and everything has become a part of my life now. A year ago, when I first started doing triathlons, I would have never realized I would continue with the sport so long. I have done workout routines before, but have always quit after a couple of months. With triathlon and swimming, however, I am enjoying myself so much that I don't want to quit.

If I don't get in my daily (except for one day a week I take off to recover) workout, somehing feels very weird. Working out is starting to feel as natural as brushing my teeth.

I have also realized that although, I love doing races, they are not the most important thing anymore. When I first started doing triathlons, I worked out mostly so I could get ready for the next race. Now I enjoy a good workout as much as I enjoy a race.

Speaking of races, there are two races coming up that seem really awesome. The first one is the Columbus International Triathlon and Sports Festival which takes place July 19-20. On July 19th, there are 3 open water swims. The swims are distances of .75K, 1.5K, and 3K. They have the swims staggered out so that you are able to do each one and the swims do not overlap with one another.

They also only charge $25 for the first distance you swim and $5 for each additional distance. That pretty much forces you to do all 3 distances! You could do only one distance if you wanted, but who would do that?

The next day of this fesival, you have a chance to do a choice of various distances of triathlons and duathlons. Of course, I would like to do the international distance triathlon. A whole lot of swimming and a triathlon! How fun does that weekend sound?

Speaking of fun weekends, on the third week of January next year, just a couple of hours away from home in Indiana, there is the Chili Hilly which is a two day race cosisting of five distances. On the first day you get there, you would do a 10K race, and later that night, a four mile race.

When you wake up the next morning (in one of the awesome camp-style cabins they provide) you get to run a 5K race, followed later by a 10 mile race, and a 1 mile race. That sounds really cool to me! I would definatly have to train a lot to do this race-but the training would definatly be worth it. As a bonus, you get a free sweatshirt when you register. Sweatshits are the best thing ever. I'm always freezing cold and they keep you soooo warm. I wear sweathsirts all the time (except in the summer when its actually warm outside!)

Wow! That was a long post. I think I have finally said everything I wanted to say today. I really hope I can do those two races.

Wow! This is amazing!

This person swam 100 X 100 on the 100. That means she swam 4 lengths of the pool (a 100) 100 times, swimming each 100 in 100 seconds (a minute and 40 seconds) Wow! I want to do that someday.

As you may already know, distance swimming is my favorite thing ever. I swam in a swim-a-thon about a month ago for my swim team. We swam a 5000 yard straight swim. Everybody hated it except for me. I swam in the swim-a-thon both days it was offered instead of swimming it the one required day.

That swim-a-thon was only 5,000 yards. I can not even imagine swimming 10,000 yards! I felt tired after the 5,000. I can especially not imagine swimming them on 100 seconds each. It takes me 2 minutes to swim a 100, unless I am sprinting it. I wouldn't be able to sprint for an entire 10,000.

I really admire what that lady did. Untill this point, I didn't even think you could swim 10,000 yards in a single workout.

In other exciting news, I only have to take 4 of my final exams out of 7 classes. This is because 2 of my classes are art classes. We are doing a final project in each of these classes instead of a seprate final exam we have to go to school on exam week to take.

I also get to exempt one exam from a class that I have an "A" in. I was thinking about exempting math. That math exam is going to require a lot of studing. Pre-Calculus is pretty tough! I probably won't be able to exempt math, however, since I got a "C" on the test

I stuidied over 2 HOURS for. My grade in that class is about an "A-" right now. You need a solid "A" in order to exempt. Oh well. I will probably exempt American-History, since that exam will require a lot of studying as well.

13 days left of school :)

P.S. If none of my posts where I complain about the computer and format of the blog make sense, it is because I changed the format of my blog. I used to have a hard-to-read blue background for this blog. I have changed my background to a pretty pink-and-white. This blog format looks so much better! If you have no idea what I'm talking about, you can ignore this post.

cross country

I'm debating over whether to do cross-country next year.

On one hand, it would be an intresting new expierence, as I have never done cross-country before.

On the other hand, it would mean I would have to give up a huge portion of fall swim team practices (which I really don't want to do!)

I still don't know wheter I will do it or not. I guess I will decide eventually. The first pracitce is August sometime.

Summer time

The weather so far this month has been very annoying! Today, the highs were only in the 50s. It is May. I really wish it would warm up.

On the other hand, there are only 15 days left of school (including final exams) ; however,

I don't get to be a lifeguard like I wanted. I failed the lifeguarding class. There was a lifeguarding class I had to take that was two weeks long. I had to pass that class in order to be a certified lifeguard. There were tests periodically in that class, such as how to save someone who was drowning in a certain way.

Apparently I wasn't saving people the way the instructer wanted me to. Instead of explaining things to me ,however, the instructer failed me and made me drop the whole class.

Oh well. Since I am not going to be a lifeguard this summer, more time will be left to workout. I would like to increase my training to about 2 hours a day this summer. That would really get me into shape and reaqdy to race my first olympic distance triathlon!

My race report is up!

You can view the report here.

Don't ask!

Don't even ask why half my previous post is in black ink.

Don't ask me how to change it. I don't know how.

Just highlight the black text with your mouse so it becomes white text.

Then enjoy.

As you can tell, I'm not vey good at computers.

OSU Sprint Triathlon results

That person in the picture above is me!

Haha! Not! I finished dead last. Out of 249 racers I finished #249.

Place: 249/249

Swim 400 meters:

Rnk: 250/ 249 (How did that happen? Someone must have quit the race after the swim?)
Time: 17:21 (I had to poo and change my clothes. That took 10 minutes. It dosen't take me 17:21 to swim 400 meters!)

T1 Time : 1:34 (more like 15 minutes! They counted most of my transiton time in my swim)

Bike 12.4 miles:

Rnk: 249/249
Time: 1:35:51
Rate: 7.8 MPH (I'm blazing fast!)

T2 Time: 1:09 (A little shorter this time!)

Run 3 miles:

Rank: 226/249 (Yeah! Not dead last on this one!)

Time: 30:10
Pace: 10:03 (Either I've gotten really fast on the run or they mismeasured the course. I hope it's the former!)

Total time 2:26:05 (Yeah! I'm blazing fast. Call me the next winner of the Hawaii Ironman!)

Believe it or not, I still got first place in my age group since I was the only one in my age group. It was a very nice first place plaque I recieved.

I think I am ready to move up tp Olympic distance triathlons now (after I work a little on my bicycling skills). I didn't feel very tired after this triathlon like I did after all 3 triathlons i did last year. It felt like the end of a normal workout. Maybe I just need to go faster!

Oh well, that was probably my best race performance yet. Full report comming tomorrow.

Participation lists for the OSU sprint triathlon are up!

Haha. Isn't that picture awesome!

I am already extremly excited for this triathlon. Out of 248 participants, I am the only one in my age group. Yeah! Definate trophy for me!

I already won 2 trophies out of three of the triathlons I have participated in. This is because there are so few people in my age group. Now I will most likely add a third to my collection. You would think I'm actually good at triathlons. I'm actually not. It takes me over 2 hours to finish a sprint distance triathlon. Oh well, at least by winning a trophy I will look fast!

We leave for Colombus at 6:30 A.M. tomorrow morning for a 9:00 tour of OSU. I most likely won't be writing in here tomorrow, unless the hotel I'm staying in has internet acess.

See you after becoming a triathlon finisher for the 4th time!

Wish me luck...

Help!

How do you make the font size bigger so that people don't have to squint to read my posts?

Help!

Hint: In case you don't want eye damage, on your computer tool bar go to the box on the top of your screen that says "View" Click on this box. Later, click on the "Text Size" box in this view windowwindow to select a larger sized texts.

That's the only way I know how to get the font bigger for now.

Does my explination make sense?

Ahhhhh!!!!

Help.

54 things about me

Wow! I can actually make the text size bigger on this blog so that you can actually see what I am writing! (sorry, as you can tell- I'm new at this whole blogging thing) In case this type size runs exactly the same as all my previous posts, consider me retarded.

In case you are woundering who the heck's blog you have been reading for I- don't-know-how-long, here are a few things about me:

1. My middle name's Marie.

2. I have lived in California, Florida, and Ohio.

3. I only lived in California untill I was about a year old

4. I lived in Florida from when I was a year old untill I was eleven.

5. I now live in Ohio

6. Guess which one I liked the best? (hint: It's not Ohio)

7. I liked living in Florida the best because of the warm weather, that I had a whole bunch of family up there, and that we lived in a suburb.

8. Living in the suburb meant it would only take about 5 minutes to get to the mall.

9. I now live in the middle of nowhere.

10. The country roads, however, make for great bicycling and running routes.

11. I now live about a 20 minute drive from the nearest mall.

12. I love to shop.

13. My favorite store is Hollister.

14. I have a dog( a Shitzu) and a bird (a Cockitil).

15. The dog is named Sake and the bird is named Pretty Boy.

16. The bird makes lots of annoying screetches, and drives me crazy!

17. I'm an only child.

18. I'm a vegitarian. (but am not sure if I spelled "vegitarian" right)

19. I have been a vegitarian for over 4 years.

20. Amy's Organic TV dinners are my favorite.

21. I'm also addicted to Pop-Tarts and flavored water.

22. My favorite music is rock.

23. My favorite band is Nine Inch Nails.

24. I was born cross-eyed

25. I had an operation when I was a little kid and am not cross-eyed any more.

26. I still had (and have) lots of other eye issues though.

27. I wore an eye patch untill I was 7.

28. I still wear glasses and contacts.

29. I have a lazy eye and astigmatism (not sure if I spelled "astigmatism" right either)

30. Believe it or not, in 8th grade I actually qualified for the first round of the school spelling bee.

31. There was about 40 people there out of 200 in our grade.

32. I qualified only because for the round to see who got in the spelling bee, you could write words down on paper and erase if you made a mistake.

33. In the first round of the spelling bee, I missed because I got nervous and spelled "sundae" wrong.

34. In that round, you couldn't write words down on paper.

35. I get nervous a lot.

36. I am extremly shy. It is always the first thing people notice about me.

37. If you met me, you would notice it too.

38. My life time dream is to do an Ironman riathlon.

39. I have wanted to do an Ironman triathlon since I was 11 years old.

40. I have wanted to do any sort of triathlon since I was 11 years old.

41. I am doing my 4th triathlon this weekend at OSU (as you may know).

42. Swimming's my favorite part of a triathlon (as you can tell by my user name "Swimming Rose")

43. Once I start swimming, I feel like I can swim forever.

44. I love that feeling!

45. Distance is my favorite type of swimming. The longer the better!

46. I want to be some sort of doctor when I grow up.

47. I'm not sure what kind of doctor yet. I just want to be a doctor.

48. When I was 5 years old, I cracked my head open on a coffee table and needed five stitches.

49. I am a horrible singer.

50. I can bend my thumb all the way back to my wrist.

51. It is 6:32 P.M. right now.

52. Only 3 more days untill the OSU triathlon.

53. I am very excited.

54. I can't think of anything else to say.

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!

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!

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?

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!)

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!

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!

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.

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!

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!

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?