Prof40's Group -- Technically full but ... (Page 42)

Underwater. How'd you like it?

the challenge is a part of a bigger work project to raise money for youth of color to get water saftey and swim lessons. The YWCA is sending 15 people to swim the english chanel to raise that money. So those of us who are not as cool are doing a sympathy swim. We had 17 weeks (down to about 13 weeks) to lap swim 25 MILES, which is my 25 yard pool is 880 laps. 25 miles= 44000 yards, 25 miles= 40233.6 meters.

I have been swimming my red bike off, I reached the 5 mile mark yesterday. I have 180 laps down. I have to do 53 laps a week to keep pace and finish before the team swim the channel at the end of July. side note: I was looking in the log book yesterday and some fish man already did 25 miles in 5 weeks. He SUCKS.

So that was my challenge, some people said they were down, if it got lost in the shuffle that is okay. I just need encouragement and support when I post about it. it is like a part time job to swim this much. BGT

It got lost in the shuffle for me but I had agreed to do it and I have been swimming recently (but not logging very well) so once I get to Honkers I will update my log and donate my yardage (or metreage) for this, frankly excellent, cause.

Had dinner with my brother lawt night and feel as though I have been visited by the beer monkey. Top tip for you all. An excellent way to start a long haul flight is not to have a ring burner of a curry (my red bike feels like the Bonanza map) and drink your own body weight in beer but instead to get an early night and have a salad or something! Feel like yellow bike having only lasted two days on my road of good intentions!

Well done on your yardage thus far BGT. You really are swimming like a fish and getting the laps in. Coming from someone who hates to swim, I am jealous of someone who clearly enjoys it (even if it is like a part time job). Enjoy yourself. Some jobs can be fun too.


Edited by Mark Stanley 2007-05-02 8:55 AM

Hi Guys,

Just wanted to say thanks to all for your contributions. Keep up the great work. I know you will all accomplish your goals in triathlon and in life. It's time for me to be moving on. I tend to get too emotionally involved here. When I get a little praise, I take it and go bananas with it cuz it helps so much. And when I get no praise or response, I feel terrible. That's just not healthy. My journey here is about so much more than exercise. I was horribly abused as a child by my father who died, thankfully. My self esteem has been in the toilet my whole life. As a result, I attracted a mate who further destroyed my self esteem and my relationship with my mother is strained because she refuses to believe I was incested. I didn't speak to her for 3 whole years once to prove to her I am telling the truth. BUt my kids deserve a grandmother and she is good at being one. Victims of abuse tend to learn to leave their bodies and disassociate from them. I did so. At 40 I decided I do have a right to be on this planet and my body is the vehicle for which I can do so. So, I am reclaiming my physical self. It's hard for me, though. As I become more grounded and physical, certain emotions of worthlessness come up for me to deal with. YOu all cannot help me with that. That's my own deal. I have survived incredible things and need to accomplish this stuff to prove to myself that I can endure the rest. Cyber relationships aren't real. You guys won't be there when I cross that finish line. Maybe some day I'll have a real person in my life to be my support and cross it with me. But I have to feel worthy of it first in order to attract a healthy mate and one who has enough endurance to stick with me. I'll pray for you all. And I'm sorry Prof if I hogged your site too much or came across like a miss knowitall. Enthusiasm is a tricky thing to temper.

YOU CAN NOT GO! I need you and you are real to me. I am, at work, can not write very much put please do not go. Quiana

I'm with Quiana. I don't want you to leave this forum. You are funny, erudite, witty and charming. We have all seen you grow into someone who clearly values themselves and their knowledge and is, a very rare thing, is a sharer and a carer. We may not be real or physically there with you but we are here for you in a friendship way. I look forward to your posts and enjoy the exuberance with which you write (and flirt!).

Don't disappear. Stick with us and we'll stick with you.

Ok, what's going on? Thinking out loud here: something I said, something I didn't say, is it my breath? What?

PENE- PLEASE STAY!!!!!!

Okay guys, sorry. Been crying pretty much all morning. Patients are even almost starting to notice. And they don't notice much cuz people in pain are really not very much able to notice anything but that pain.

I think I am noticing a pattern here. I train really super hard (for me) and then I get exhausted. Not physically so much because I can control my body really well and turn off pain or any other thing, even hunger. Some days I literally forget to pee because I'm busy. But it's the mental and emotional exhaustion that gets me. I have a much harder time turning off the negatives in my head and heart. So, I'm taking a rest day and hopefully will feel like the world is a kinder gentler place tomorrow. I hate feeling needy. But that's how I get when I ignore my physical signs of exhaustion. Then my body has to tell me in other ways. I just need to learn to take better care of myself and not fight so much with my body. I pretty much blamed my body for what happened to me. Hence the eating disorder, etc. Control issues.

Don't know if any of you experience anything like that or not? I guess when the fight's all out of me cuz I'm tired, then the flight urge sets in and I want to just go away and disappear. Adrenaline is a strange and mysterious chemical. You gotta learn to respect it, I guess.

Bless you all. I love you. And I mean that in a non flirty healthy way Sometimes I just need to borrow someone else's will to keep going. But I just have to keep going with this or I'll really feel like a failure. Thanks for believing in me. (even though I'm a crazy bird/catwoman!)

CMCKEE and PENE - thank you for the encouragement yesterday on my log. I forgot to put the swim in.
Today was the first day I was a little confident on the forward handlebars untill a car honked at me, then my arms were shaking.

Hey J--good job on your bike! I sort of shake, too. It just feels so different than the trusty mountain bike.

I'm attempting to show you guys a new mag!

Attempt #2 This is very funny! I hope you can read the print!





Attachments
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whipped.bmp (95KB - 26 downloads)

Okay, they make you shrink it so much you can't read it. It says:

"Be your own boss, when she's not around"

"Coping with the loss of your friends, and the introduction of hers"

"Avoid confrontation, how to keep her happy without getting yelled at"

"Plus, tips on lying, how to get out of her family events"

and I think you can read the part about sleeping on the couch.....

My running club sent it. See, my humor is back

Wait until you pull up to a stop light and forget to unclip your foot out of the pedal. Now that's some entertainment -- I swear it's the only time I literally fell in slow motion so absolutely everyone at the intersection could see me wipe. Usually, I'm on my back staring up at the sky before I realize I've made a serious biking error.

Prof- I am going clipless, I cannot fall off the darling thing.
By riding the mountain bike on dirt and then going onto a wet road I have learned that you can prevent a fall by using your legs and feet, you might burn a little rubber off the sole of the shoe but it's better than falling.

Edited by JeanetteJ. 2007-05-02 9:49 PM

Good Morning Team!

Today the world IS a kinder, gentler place. Many thanks to all for putting up with my little bipolar episode yesterday. Not quite ready for medication yet, though. Just need to remember to rest a bit more, even if I think my body can take more training just fine.

As it turns out, there is a lady in LaCrosse who also signed up for TNT and we are emailing at this point. I was afraid to call her because I didn't figure I could keep up with another runner yet. She is afraid of the same thing. We can both run like 10 minutes and then have to stop and walk for a bit and can both run 3-5 miles without dying (with the walk breaks). So, that is good! Babysitters are still a problem, but perhaps she can come run on MY track (it's mine, not the elementary school's!) while the kiddos play on the playground there, and perhaps there is a young lady in LaCrosse that could watch them when it is my turn to go there to run. We both feel that trekking to Madison every week just to run with the team is a BIT much.

And the UW Madison running coach emailed and asked me to call him evenings some time to discuss the training plan as he has some questions and figures we can save time just phoning to figure out the best plan for me. So, that's cool. Cuz I could use some one on one coaching with this!

And as freaked out as I am about the fundraising part, it seems the others in the group are JUST as freaked and are expressing that on the google group. So, I'm not alone. It takes a great deal of courage to put yourself on the line like that and ask for donations when you've never run a marathon before and question whether you can indeed finish! They all just seem nice and not as driven as the ironpeople in my tri group. Whew! Yesterday I was ready to back out completely with the marathon deal--very, very stressed out about it. Today seems a bit brighter that way.

I'm itching to go out on the lake with my wetsuit. How warm does the water need to be before you can safely do so and not die of hypothermia??? Prof??? The air temp is 50 today and it only goes up to 60-70 occasionally here yet. The tri group will host some swim/bike and bike/run on the course Thursday eve's starting in 2 weeks. I think that will help calm my nerves immensely! Swimming in a lake is much different than a pool. I'm going to practice breathing on the opposite side today in the pool because someone suggested that in the tri newsletter--you never know which side the waves will be crashing in on you in the open water with all the other swimmers! They also suggested practicing swimming with head up to look where you are going occasionally and get your suit wet before entering the water. And they said 10 minute tempo swims in the pool will do you more good than lap intervals. I'm going to try that and try not to push off the walls today. I thought maybe approach the wall and just flip on back or side for a length and then switch back so I get a breather that way instead of stopping for 30 seconds or whatever. Any expert swimmer suggestions here??? I'm not good enough to do one of those flippy things that look like underwater somersaults.

And a certain strapping young man is flirting back with me now, so I don't feel like such an ugly duckling today. There's a tiny ray of hope on the horizon for my tender heart. Now to get my right eye to quit twitching......nerves! And my right calf/shin is sore from jumping rope! Oops, forgot to switch legs more often. My daughter thinks its fun to race her mom jumping. I've been trying to find ways to include them in this exercise stuff so they don't feel like I'm ignoring them. The sled pull is really really hard, though. I huff and puff and have to quit after a lap around the yard or so. They also do the leg ups and butt kicks and sideways things in the yard with me and think it's fun, too. If anyone else has suggestions for including kids in workouts, I'm all ears.........I'm not up for monkey bars, though. Never could do those things!

I'm doing fine on the swim one mile a week challenge. Today I'll get some yardage in again with that. I'm slow but that's the case with everything still. Maybe when I can press 230 I'll be faster..............or maybe I'll just be a slow triathlete

Yeah, Rob IS a stud!!!!! I got out on my skinny tired dainty little bike today and discovered........I suck at this! Not just a little. I suck BAD! The wind almost knocks me over, the traffic terrifies me. So do down hills (too fast) and up hills (had to get off and walk it twice!) and even the little rocks on the road (don't want to pop a tire). Mercy. I'm such a piece of work! My equipment is going to outperform me if something doesn't change---fast! Sooooo, I went to the bike shop and bought a third wheel for my mountain bike so Mose (the 4 year old) can pedal along behind me. The other two can go on their own bikes just fine. I figured this way I can accomplish a few things: I can do some highly aerobic exercise, I can develop some power in these wimpy legs, I can develop some confidence in just plain biking outside with all the different variables, and it's something I can do every night when we get home with the kids. I'll still need to get used to the tri bike, but I have Thursdays to do that and maybe some kindly old lady neighbor will watch the darlings for like 20 minutes at a time on the weekends so I can just get used to handling it.

I also went for a swim and practiced breathing on the left side, which I usually don't do. I only did 16 laps. Still very tired all over--a deep muscle tiredness. Then I did weights again and discovered that after only a few days, I've developed a LOT more strength again! Like I went from pressing 150 pounds with my legs to 175! No problemo. Cool beans. Makes the deep tiredness sort of worth it. And the strength increased across the board. Except for the overhead press. Gotta work at that yet.

NUTRITION: went to the health food store and got some organic oolong tea, as that's the latest fad diet now, as seen on Oprah, to drink 2 glasses of Wulong tea a day, (which is just a fancy term for Oolong tea). Also got the Udo's Choice oil, which is a DHA, as opposed to the fish oil which is EPA. I'm taking BOTH. And picked up some healthy organic energy snacks with different combinations of seeds, nuts, berries, coconut and even dark chocolate covered raisins. Figured the kids and I will need them to be out (trying) to get up those blasted hills with the wind on the ridge blowing at us full force and pulling the weight of the third wheel and Mose behind me. That will get those legs up to 230# press in NO time. I use that as a goal cuz the super biker dude at the seminar where I got the speed interval info was pressing 230 and his muscles were HUGE in the legs. That's like all that dude does. I don't think he has a day job. Or kids. And I'm gonna be there soon! Hah! (covering for the insecurities I now have after realizing I suck at this!!!!!!!)

Off to pick up the kids and haul them in the beater van (with the cracked windshield, no muffler and smells like garbage cuz that's what I haul it in) and my mountain bike to the bike shop so they can put on that third wheel that they had to assemble for me. I hope we all fit somehow. And no cop stops me. It's gonna be embarrasing enough to drive through downtown LaCrosse in the darn thing, but it won't DIE! So, I keep it. And as it turns out, that's a good thing.

And C--now I HAVE to get in the water in my wetsuit. There's NO moderation in me.......and I may find out I suck at the open water swim, too. Better to find out now than later! I'm not even going to discuss running right now............

PENE- YOU CAN DO IT! YES YOU CAN!
you might find the outdoor swim refreshing

Must be getting mighty close to something---Cause KALI GOT ME!!! Flat tire on the old beater van on the highway on the way to get the third wheel on the mountain bike. Which would have been fine, except I forgot my rechargeable impact wrench in the Blazer........and they put those blasted lugnuts on TIGHT. Well....at least I had a jack and a wrench and a spare. I was doing pretty good and being all brave and such because my sister and best friend, Tracy, weren't answering their phones to go bring me my impact wrench. Hadn't tried the lugnuts yet, was just getting the jack going....and an Angel came and helped me. He got the nuts off (no Prof, not those nuts, don't go wild with that mind of yours) and we got back on the road again in no time.

Got the third wheel, new helmets for the boys. Micah's still fit her fine. Also got Noah new sunglasses so he is set for his duathlon this weekend. And spare tubes for all three wheels. And some body glide for the wetsuit! Laid out $320 in all today (gulp) so I can bike with my kids. And of course, when we finally got home, Mose freaked out. He is scared he'll tip over back there. (Like mother, like son) We got a whole half a block in total! But, Micah is just learning to bike without training wheels and is also getting used to the seat (poor thing), so we went to the elementary school to let her practice on the basketball court just going in circles. And I ran! The good news of the day, is that the run is MUCH easier since doing all this speed training. My muscles are stronger! And I don't get as tired. Mind you, I only did one mile. But it was the easiest mile I've ever done.

My running club is sponsoring an Endurance Training clinic May 21. And guess what they will be discussing? Plyometrics and warm ups!!!!! Velma, here, is a GENIUS. Also strength training and periodization to develop your own training plan

So, my mileage is pitiful today. But I spent the entire day doing tri stuff. And I feel pretty good about it all in all. Oh, my bike fitter, who is like a very cool california type dude you would think would be on a Mountain Dew commercial, did NOT recommend I go open water swimming yet. He said, "when I get an ice cream headache from the water, it's too cold to go in". Oh yeah, well he's never met up with any chick the likes of ME before! I HAVE to be more adventurous than the Do the Dew Dude now!!!! hehehehehe