Today was weigh-in/body fat day. I'm up another 4 lbs from 6 weeks ago to 148. UGH. The good news is that my body fat is about the same at 18.4%. My training for tri season starts up again VERY soon, so hopefully that'll help with the weight some.
I get my blood tested again towards the end of February, so we'll see what my TSH levels are doing. I'm worried that this whole thyroid thing is messing with my weight.
On to the accomplishments...
Today's workout was HARD. After the ab workout, the first thing we did was a body hanging hold. What this entailed was hanging from a chin-up bar with bent arms for as long as I could. I had 4 sets. I have no idea how long the first hold was, but I do know my second was about 12 seconds and the first was longer. This is HUGE for me. These things are super hard and I wasn't expecting much at all. My trainer let me know that my first one was definitely longer than my husband's. (He does class right before me.)
Later in the workout, we did negative pushups. Feet higher than the rest of the body. These are also super hard. My trainer wanted us to do a slow descent and "collapse" at the bottom if we couldn't do the pushups. Well, me being me had to try the actual pushups. I did 7 before I had to "collapse" on the 8th. I got in 2 more on the first set. For perspective, the guy in my class with me couldn't do a single pushup. He barely could do the collapse thing. To the point where it was almost funny.
It was a tough workout, and I am so proud of the accomplishments I had today.
Now, to get my cardio back in gear!
Triathlete, Personal Trainer, Hypothyroid - working towards a healthier me!
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Holy Shoulder!
Today, I had a massage. This is not an abnormal thing for me... but this one was. My right shoulder has been bothering me for years now. Seriously... years. Anyhow, it's been getting worse the past couple of weeks, and nothing I do makes it better. So, during today's massage, I mentioned that it's getting worse.
K (masseuse): How's the pressure?
Me: It's good, but you know, just do whatever you need to to get that knot out. I'm tired of it.
K: Ok...
K: (stands on tiptoes with thumb in my knot): Tell me if it's too much... actually don't, you asked for this!
Me: Just do whatever you have to. Seriously.
K: Why isn't this thing breaking up? (beats my shoulder into oblivion)
K: Finally... I mean, I usually do deep work on your shoulders, but never this deep. That was not budging!
Me: Heat or ice tonight?
K: Definitely ice with Biofreeze.
Me: This is crazy, I can feel that there's actually blood flow to the area.
K: Is there normally not?
Me: Apparently not.
Yea... sooooooo, my shoulder hurts like crazy now. It'll be good for it, but man did he manage to do some work to it. So, ice and biofreeze it is for the night.
No wonder it hurt so badly to lift & swim...
K (masseuse): How's the pressure?
Me: It's good, but you know, just do whatever you need to to get that knot out. I'm tired of it.
K: Ok...
K: (stands on tiptoes with thumb in my knot): Tell me if it's too much... actually don't, you asked for this!
Me: Just do whatever you have to. Seriously.
K: Why isn't this thing breaking up? (beats my shoulder into oblivion)
K: Finally... I mean, I usually do deep work on your shoulders, but never this deep. That was not budging!
Me: Heat or ice tonight?
K: Definitely ice with Biofreeze.
Me: This is crazy, I can feel that there's actually blood flow to the area.
K: Is there normally not?
Me: Apparently not.
Yea... sooooooo, my shoulder hurts like crazy now. It'll be good for it, but man did he manage to do some work to it. So, ice and biofreeze it is for the night.
No wonder it hurt so badly to lift & swim...
Friday, January 18, 2013
Almost a week later
So, it's been almost a week since the half marathon. I feel surprisingly good for coming off the couch to bust out 13.1 miles. I really need to get my training back in line and start paying a bit more attention to food intake. Jon decided that we start over the weekend. I pulled out all of my "healthy" cookbooks and will be going through them to figure out lunches & dinners. I've lost about 2 lbs since we've been home from Disney... probably just from the sheer amount of food we were eating there.
I've been slowly making my way through the book The Thyroid Diet Revolution. There are so many interesting tid bits. I feel like a lot of it should be stuff your dr tells you. It kind of saddens me that they don't!
I've been slowly making my way through the book The Thyroid Diet Revolution. There are so many interesting tid bits. I feel like a lot of it should be stuff your dr tells you. It kind of saddens me that they don't!
 |
| This makes me happy :) |
Saturday, January 12, 2013
WDW Half Marathon Race Report - January 12, 2013
Pre-race
Months before the race, Jon decided that it'd be a great idea to run the WDW half marathon as his first half marathon. Our triathlon team made it an "A" race, so it'd be a big trip.
Note: I gave him a bunch of outs!
Fast forward to December. My longest training run was a 5.75 mile trail run. Jon's longest training run was 4 miles on a treadmill. Yea... not great training for either one of us! At least I had done this before so I knew what I was getting myself into.
So, we headed to Disney and got going. We arrived Thursday and had dinner at Ohana. Friday morning, we headed to the race expo to get our race bibs and packets. It was CRAZY!
We headed to Animal Kingdom to tool around for a little bit. After we were done there, we headed to Downtown Disney to have dinner at Earl of Sandwich and do some shopping. (YAY!) We had a 2am wake up call on race morning, so we headed back at a decent time and got settled in for some sleep... or trying to sleep at least.
Race day
The alarm started going off at 2:00AM. The "bad" thing about Disney races is that they start insanely early... at least this one does. Jon had a small fit because I was putting off getting ready, but I know how long it takes me to get ready, so I wasn't worried. We decided the night before that we needed to be out of the room by 2:50am to be to the bus stop by 2:55. The busses were supposed to start at 3am. Apparently, several people had the same idea, because we were pretty far back in line. We chatted with 2 guys in line around us and waited and waited and waited. Around 3:15, the bus finally showed up. Disney's normally on time with everything, so I was a bit surprised (and having a Type-A personality breakdown) that the bus was running late.
We got to the EPCOT parking lot and were dropped off about a 5 -10 minute walk from the family meet up area. We walked over to where Team Z was supposed to be, but couldn't find any of them. We finally found one of our teammates and chatted with her for a bit. I ran to the port-a-potty and then came back to hang out. A couple more of our teammates found us after a while.
Around 4:15 or so, we were all told to go to the other side of the bag check tents to head down to the corrals. At 4:30, we went through the tents and were greeted by a mass of people. Basically, a corral before the corrals. It was nuts. No one really knew what was going on and what exactly we were all doing standing around. Apparently, Disney has decided that it's efficient to make everyone walk to the corrals all at once. (I don't really think it was.)
Around 4:40/4:45, they opened the gates and we were allowed down the road towards the corrals. We said goodbye and good luck to Nadia, as she headed to her corral. Then, when we got closer to the corrals, I gave Jon a quick kiss, wished him luck, and hoped he'd make it through the run. It was 5:15 by the time I reached corral B. I sat and stretched out a little bit. Mostly, I just sat. I knew I needed to give my legs a few minutes of a break. I should note that at this point, I needed to use the bathroom again and there were no port-a-potties. What I'd give to be a guy sometimes!
The National Anthem was sung, and then the wheelchair race was started. Not too long after, the Elite race started. You could feel the energy rising with each start. Corral A was sent off and our corral started making it's way to the start line. Before I knew it, we were sent off. The temperature at start was in the mid-to-high 60s, with a crazy high humidity of 94% or so.
The first couple of miles went by pretty quickly. I found the 2:15 pace group and decided I was going to hang with them. 2:15:00 comes out to a 10:18 pace per mile, which I'm totally capable of. Anyhow... around mile 3, I decided that I really REALLY needed to use the bathroom, so I stopped at the port-a-potties that didn't have a line. Funny thing, I glanced at my watch for mile 3 and I did an 11:08... even with the stop! I lost the pace group by making the pit stop, so I just ran on and did my thing.
The water stops were CRAZY! There was no real way to run through them. I ran past the Powerade part of the stops as best as I could since I was carrying my Infinit and just wanted to get to the water.
Around mile 5, just before we entered the Magic Kingdom, I decided to walk just a minute. The humidity was getting to me, as was my lack of real training. This started my mental break down. Whenever I've told myself it's ok to walk, I let myself off the hook easier and more often than I should. I ran through the Magic Kingdom. It was so great to see the castle all lit up and glittery. I thought to myself that when I ran this race in 2008, I didn't get to see the MK and castle this way because I was so slow that the sun had already come up by the time I got to the MK. The crowds were so much bigger than I remembered them from 2008. After getting out of the MK, we headed behind the Grand Floridian and it was packed with people! That was definitely a nice change.
Around mile 8, one of the Team Zers ran up behind me and we chatted for a few minutes. Around this time, we also heard the "call of the Z" so, we looked for them and smiled and waved for the camera.
Miles 8 - 10 were pretty uneventful. Just before mile 11, my left Achilles (the one I pulled in 2009) started to bother me, so I stopped to stretch it out a little bit. Then, my right knee started to twitch, so I stopped to massage that out a little. Needless to say miles 10-11 weren't my best. Ah well. I got it done. Miles 11.5 to the end were great. There was so much crowd support heading into EPCOT. Once in EPCOT, the cast members were awesome.
Around this time, I realized that not only was I going to finish (I've learned that it's never a given in any race!), but I was going to set a PR. My previous best for this distance was 2:42:xx. I was really hoping to go 2:15:xx, but knew with the warmer temps and the humidity that it may not happen. I kept running the calculations based on my current pacing and knew I'd beat 2:42 if I just kept moving at the current pace.
There was a REALLY cranky guy who was just behind me around mile 12.8. He said some not so nice things, and you could just tell he was having a bad day. I knew we were getting close and refused to let his bad mood have any affect on me.
Around mile 13, Disney has a gospel choir set up. They're literally just before you can see the finish line. I had wondered if they'd be there like they were in 2008. I almost started crying when I saw them. I knew the finish line was close and I was just happy to be there. It seems silly that I still get emotional over finishing distance races, but I do. To throw down a 5k is nothing these days... but there's still something a little crazy about going out and putting down a half marathon.
As I crossed the finish line, I fist bumped Minnie Mouse and smiled for the camera. It was awesome to be done! I got my medal, missed the mylar blankets, grabbed a couple of waters and some food, and made my way to the family meet up area to see the other Zers... and started my wait for Jon and Nadia.
Side note: My watch said I went 13.31 miles. That extra .2 miles? Weaving in and out of "traffic"... and the pit stop for the potty. My 13.1 time was more like 2:31:xx, but that's unofficial, so I'll leave it at that.
I was so nervous for both of them. I KNEW Jon could do it if he got his head in a good place. Nadia's been recovering from an injury, so I wasn't sure about her. I was so excited when I got the email that Jon had crossed the finish line.
I was happy when I got the email that Nadia had finished too! The one bad part about finishing the race was that there really wasn't a way for me to get back to the finish line to see them both cross. I wish I had been able to.
Then we waited in the crazy line to get on the bus to our hotel. It actually didn't take nearly as long as I thought it might.
Post race
After getting back to the hotel, we all showered and then went over to the food court for lunch. We all decided to have "make your own pasta", which took forever, but was good. It was a ton of food!
Nadia was having problems with her foot, so she decided to head back to the room and stay off of it for the day. Jon & I headed to EPCOT and met up a couple of our Team Z friends. We thought about Test Track until we saw that the wait was 100 minutes for standby and 40 minutes for single rider. No thanks! We then decided to head to Mexico and grab some margaritas. Yum!
After a while, we met up with a few other Zers and headed to the Italy pavilion for some wine... right after waiting for the Friendship boat to be let into the lake.
After the wine, it was time to meet the team for dinner at Downtown Disney. So, we headed down and it was good to see everyone. We headed back to the hotel after dinner to catch up with Nadia and get some sleep. I kept reminding Jon & Nadia that the next day would be hard, but as long as they moved around, it'd get better.
The next morning, we woke up and were kind of sore. I knew it was best to massage out what I could and just keep moving. I woke Jon up by massaging his shoulders, legs, and feet. Basically, everything that hurt. We had decided to head to the Magic Kingdom in order to avoid the marathon (since it had already gone through the MK by the time we were up & moving). As the day progressed, both of them were fading pretty fast, so we decided to head out before Wishes! (darn!). I think they were both happy to not be walking around any more.
Tuesday, everyone felt a good bit better. We headed to MGM/DHS before we had to leave. It was a good ending to the trip.
Official Results
5k split - 33:38
10k split - 1:07:49
15k split - 1:46:20
Overall time - 2:33:32
Pace per mile - 11:43
Overall place - 9614 out of 23126
Division place - 730 out of 2090
Gender place - 4193 out of 13138
Things Learned
It really is better to actually train for a half marathon!
It's hard to run in 30-40 degrees more than you are used to.
Humidity still kicks my butt.
Disney puts on a great race. Yes, it's expensive, but man do they keep you entertained on the run.
Sticking to my nutrition plan was a good idea, especially in the heat/humidity.
Months before the race, Jon decided that it'd be a great idea to run the WDW half marathon as his first half marathon. Our triathlon team made it an "A" race, so it'd be a big trip.
Note: I gave him a bunch of outs!
Fast forward to December. My longest training run was a 5.75 mile trail run. Jon's longest training run was 4 miles on a treadmill. Yea... not great training for either one of us! At least I had done this before so I knew what I was getting myself into.
So, we headed to Disney and got going. We arrived Thursday and had dinner at Ohana. Friday morning, we headed to the race expo to get our race bibs and packets. It was CRAZY!
 |
| Our race bibs |
 |
| Craziest race expo ever |
 |
| Me, Jon, & Nadia at the race expo |
Race day
The alarm started going off at 2:00AM. The "bad" thing about Disney races is that they start insanely early... at least this one does. Jon had a small fit because I was putting off getting ready, but I know how long it takes me to get ready, so I wasn't worried. We decided the night before that we needed to be out of the room by 2:50am to be to the bus stop by 2:55. The busses were supposed to start at 3am. Apparently, several people had the same idea, because we were pretty far back in line. We chatted with 2 guys in line around us and waited and waited and waited. Around 3:15, the bus finally showed up. Disney's normally on time with everything, so I was a bit surprised (and having a Type-A personality breakdown) that the bus was running late.
We got to the EPCOT parking lot and were dropped off about a 5 -10 minute walk from the family meet up area. We walked over to where Team Z was supposed to be, but couldn't find any of them. We finally found one of our teammates and chatted with her for a bit. I ran to the port-a-potty and then came back to hang out. A couple more of our teammates found us after a while.
 |
| A few of the Z'ers who made the trip to Disney. 3 of these guys were doing the Goofy Challenge! |
Around 4:40/4:45, they opened the gates and we were allowed down the road towards the corrals. We said goodbye and good luck to Nadia, as she headed to her corral. Then, when we got closer to the corrals, I gave Jon a quick kiss, wished him luck, and hoped he'd make it through the run. It was 5:15 by the time I reached corral B. I sat and stretched out a little bit. Mostly, I just sat. I knew I needed to give my legs a few minutes of a break. I should note that at this point, I needed to use the bathroom again and there were no port-a-potties. What I'd give to be a guy sometimes!
The National Anthem was sung, and then the wheelchair race was started. Not too long after, the Elite race started. You could feel the energy rising with each start. Corral A was sent off and our corral started making it's way to the start line. Before I knew it, we were sent off. The temperature at start was in the mid-to-high 60s, with a crazy high humidity of 94% or so.
The first couple of miles went by pretty quickly. I found the 2:15 pace group and decided I was going to hang with them. 2:15:00 comes out to a 10:18 pace per mile, which I'm totally capable of. Anyhow... around mile 3, I decided that I really REALLY needed to use the bathroom, so I stopped at the port-a-potties that didn't have a line. Funny thing, I glanced at my watch for mile 3 and I did an 11:08... even with the stop! I lost the pace group by making the pit stop, so I just ran on and did my thing.
The water stops were CRAZY! There was no real way to run through them. I ran past the Powerade part of the stops as best as I could since I was carrying my Infinit and just wanted to get to the water.
Around mile 5, just before we entered the Magic Kingdom, I decided to walk just a minute. The humidity was getting to me, as was my lack of real training. This started my mental break down. Whenever I've told myself it's ok to walk, I let myself off the hook easier and more often than I should. I ran through the Magic Kingdom. It was so great to see the castle all lit up and glittery. I thought to myself that when I ran this race in 2008, I didn't get to see the MK and castle this way because I was so slow that the sun had already come up by the time I got to the MK. The crowds were so much bigger than I remembered them from 2008. After getting out of the MK, we headed behind the Grand Floridian and it was packed with people! That was definitely a nice change.
Around mile 8, one of the Team Zers ran up behind me and we chatted for a few minutes. Around this time, we also heard the "call of the Z" so, we looked for them and smiled and waved for the camera.
 |
| Maureen and I answering the "call of the Z" |
Around this time, I realized that not only was I going to finish (I've learned that it's never a given in any race!), but I was going to set a PR. My previous best for this distance was 2:42:xx. I was really hoping to go 2:15:xx, but knew with the warmer temps and the humidity that it may not happen. I kept running the calculations based on my current pacing and knew I'd beat 2:42 if I just kept moving at the current pace.
There was a REALLY cranky guy who was just behind me around mile 12.8. He said some not so nice things, and you could just tell he was having a bad day. I knew we were getting close and refused to let his bad mood have any affect on me.
Around mile 13, Disney has a gospel choir set up. They're literally just before you can see the finish line. I had wondered if they'd be there like they were in 2008. I almost started crying when I saw them. I knew the finish line was close and I was just happy to be there. It seems silly that I still get emotional over finishing distance races, but I do. To throw down a 5k is nothing these days... but there's still something a little crazy about going out and putting down a half marathon.
As I crossed the finish line, I fist bumped Minnie Mouse and smiled for the camera. It was awesome to be done! I got my medal, missed the mylar blankets, grabbed a couple of waters and some food, and made my way to the family meet up area to see the other Zers... and started my wait for Jon and Nadia.
Side note: My watch said I went 13.31 miles. That extra .2 miles? Weaving in and out of "traffic"... and the pit stop for the potty. My 13.1 time was more like 2:31:xx, but that's unofficial, so I'll leave it at that.
I was so nervous for both of them. I KNEW Jon could do it if he got his head in a good place. Nadia's been recovering from an injury, so I wasn't sure about her. I was so excited when I got the email that Jon had crossed the finish line.
 |
| Jon & I post race |
I was happy when I got the email that Nadia had finished too! The one bad part about finishing the race was that there really wasn't a way for me to get back to the finish line to see them both cross. I wish I had been able to.
 |
| Nadia & I post race |
Post race
After getting back to the hotel, we all showered and then went over to the food court for lunch. We all decided to have "make your own pasta", which took forever, but was good. It was a ton of food!
Nadia was having problems with her foot, so she decided to head back to the room and stay off of it for the day. Jon & I headed to EPCOT and met up a couple of our Team Z friends. We thought about Test Track until we saw that the wait was 100 minutes for standby and 40 minutes for single rider. No thanks! We then decided to head to Mexico and grab some margaritas. Yum!
 |
| Mmmm, margaritas! |
After a while, we met up with a few other Zers and headed to the Italy pavilion for some wine... right after waiting for the Friendship boat to be let into the lake.
 |
| Bridge opening |
 |
| Wine! |
The next morning, we woke up and were kind of sore. I knew it was best to massage out what I could and just keep moving. I woke Jon up by massaging his shoulders, legs, and feet. Basically, everything that hurt. We had decided to head to the Magic Kingdom in order to avoid the marathon (since it had already gone through the MK by the time we were up & moving). As the day progressed, both of them were fading pretty fast, so we decided to head out before Wishes! (darn!). I think they were both happy to not be walking around any more.
Tuesday, everyone felt a good bit better. We headed to MGM/DHS before we had to leave. It was a good ending to the trip.
Official Results
5k split - 33:38
10k split - 1:07:49
15k split - 1:46:20
Overall time - 2:33:32
Pace per mile - 11:43
Overall place - 9614 out of 23126
Division place - 730 out of 2090
Gender place - 4193 out of 13138
Things Learned
It really is better to actually train for a half marathon!
It's hard to run in 30-40 degrees more than you are used to.
Humidity still kicks my butt.
Disney puts on a great race. Yes, it's expensive, but man do they keep you entertained on the run.
Sticking to my nutrition plan was a good idea, especially in the heat/humidity.
Wednesday, January 9, 2013
Wednesday's thought
Today, I'm feeling VERY much like this. I'm getting discouraged about a couple of things, but know what I need to do to turn them around... so I'm going to. Right after we get home from Disney.
The two major things I'm discouraged about:
1) My weight keeps doing whatever it wants... that being said, I haven't been good about making it a priority like I should be.
2) As soon as I regained focus for my tri training, I got a cold that's knocked me out for 2 weeks. UGH. I'm on the mend, so hopefully that'll change VERY soon.
Just need to keep trying. And that I will.
The two major things I'm discouraged about:
1) My weight keeps doing whatever it wants... that being said, I haven't been good about making it a priority like I should be.
2) As soon as I regained focus for my tri training, I got a cold that's knocked me out for 2 weeks. UGH. I'm on the mend, so hopefully that'll change VERY soon.
Just need to keep trying. And that I will.
Monday, January 7, 2013
Week 11 challenge
So, this week, I'm not quite sure how this one will go. We're traveling this week, so it may be harder than it seems.
I still haven't kicked this cold. It's getting a bit old quite frankly. ARGH!
Week 11: Eat local foods – Eat at least 1 locally grown or raised food at each meal. This includes, but is not limited to: fruits, vegetables, eggs, grains, nuts, meats, and sweeteners like honey.
I still haven't kicked this cold. It's getting a bit old quite frankly. ARGH!
Week 11: Eat local foods – Eat at least 1 locally grown or raised food at each meal. This includes, but is not limited to: fruits, vegetables, eggs, grains, nuts, meats, and sweeteners like honey.
Saturday, January 5, 2013
First week of the year
This first week of 2013 hasn't been exactly what I was hoping for. I've had this cold since pretty much the end of 2012 and into 2013. Instead of being able to do my workouts as planned. I went Friday morning to lift like normal and was sorry I did about 15 minutes from the end of the workout. So, I'm taking it easy for the next couple of days. Letting myself recovery. After all, Disney is just DAYS away.
Tuesday, January 1, 2013
Week 10 - way late
Week 9, with no refined sugars, didn't really happen. It was over Christmas... which I know is a cop out. Week 10 already hasn't been much better.
Week 10: No refined oils – No refined or hydrogenated oils including (but not limited to): vegetable oil, organic vegetable oil, soybean oil, corn oil, canola oil, organic canola oil, margarine, and grape seed oil.
I'm pretty sure I've broken this one already this week. I'll try to keep it mind for the rest of the week.
In other news, my triathlon team coach sent out a "State of the Team" address (think "State of the Union") today. It was just the kick in the butt that I needed. I'm planning to keep a personal workout log this year. I've never done that before. I have a LOT of time goals (and just a lot of goals in general). It'll be good to be able to see what I've done if I'm able (or not able) to meet the goals.
Week 10: No refined oils – No refined or hydrogenated oils including (but not limited to): vegetable oil, organic vegetable oil, soybean oil, corn oil, canola oil, organic canola oil, margarine, and grape seed oil.
I'm pretty sure I've broken this one already this week. I'll try to keep it mind for the rest of the week.
In other news, my triathlon team coach sent out a "State of the Team" address (think "State of the Union") today. It was just the kick in the butt that I needed. I'm planning to keep a personal workout log this year. I've never done that before. I have a LOT of time goals (and just a lot of goals in general). It'll be good to be able to see what I've done if I'm able (or not able) to meet the goals.
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