The Best Part Of Swimming Workouts

Are my cool downs. Not because it's the end of the workout and I'm almost done, but because I cool down probably in a really unconventional way. I take my goggles and my swim cap off, take my hair out of its pony tail, and spend five or so minutes being a mermaid like I used to when I was a kid. There is no better feeling, to me anyway, then water swishing through my hair causing my hair to swirl around itself. I'm sure that the rest of the swimmers, and the old guys in the hot tubs are thinking to themselves, "whats with the weirdo in lane three porpoise - ing through the water... but the water, especially underwater, is so peacefully serene it is my favorite five minutes in my day. I think, that no matter what sport or exercise a person is doing, you should find the fun in it... or the child like moments to really bring the "fun" back into working out. I'm sure that everyone who continues a sport that they started in childhood has one of these. Who says exercising has to be all business and no fun? I don't think we have enough fun in our lives - life tends to be so mundane- get up, go to work, come home, spend a few hours (usually watching tv) and then go to bed just to get up and repeat ... those five minutes I look forward to, and even when my alarm clock goes off and I spend twenty minutes debating whether or not I *actually* want to go work out today, my five minute fun time is usually what convinces me to get out of bed :)

Ive noticed an older lady that has started swimming lately. She wears both paddles and fins at the same time as she is swimming. In case you have decided to start a swimming regimen and think that you can "kill two birds with one stone" attempting this- please don't. She is totally negating the benefits of both of those items. The purpose of paddles is to strengthen your stroke and improve your stroke return. You can't do that when your kick is being aided by fins that are propelling you further than you would normally advance with one stroke. These devices should not be used together.

I didn't pretzel myself in Pilates on Monday. My Pilates buddy ended up not being able to join me on Monday, and I don't really want to go in there not knowing anything totally by myself (the classes are drop in and rolling- so there are never start and end dates- therefore there are tons of super experienced people in the class- EEEEEP- so we'll start hopefully next Monday instead.

In the meantime, Im still swmming every day getting ready for our Family Tri i 2 weeks.

I can't believe that summer is almost over :( School starts again for me in four weeks! -Heavy sigh-

~Millie

First Weeks Weigh In

As I said last week, I joined Weight Watchers. Mainly because after spending all this time training for the triathlon, I still only lost FOUR flipping pounds. So, I need to have focus and know, OK I worked out x amount this time, I should be compensating X amount in return.

I weighed in last week- shocked to find out the massive difference between my home scale and the WW scale- and attended my first meeting. The week went fine. Got my "activity points" for swimming, and even got some "activity points" for things like cutting the grass and housework. So, we were supposed to spend the weekend with my grandpa, and so I decided to weigh in Friday night. Big Mistake. I gained 2 ounces- I know, two ounces big flippin deal, but its still a bummer seeing a plus sign instead of a minus sign on your little weigh in card.

It has taken a lot of effort to know sabotage or derail myself because of my disappointment. I also have to keep reminding myself that unlike a lot of people who are joining weight watchers- they are going from 0% to diet so their first few weeks of weightloss are going to be more significant, because their bodies are like "holy cow- I'm moving, I'm eating well- this is a massive shock to my system" But, since I've been crazy training most of this year and ninety percent of what I eat is healthy - the weigh ins are not going to be nearly as exciting. I guess I did not mentally prepare myself enough for that.

I did WW back in 2002 and I remember my first few weeks I posted huge losses- like four, five and six pounds. But at that time i was going from totally sedintary to activity.

I guess I must be in some kind of funk, because my attitude has turned kind of BLAH towards everything. Swimming- Blah. Weightloss- woo - Maybe its just been a summer of total over committment, perhaps I'm overly tired. Or maybe I just need to find other things that switch things up again.

A friend of mine and I are starting Pilates on Monday. It should be an interesting endeavor. THe two of us will be like circus clowns twisting and turning our ballon bodies into circus animals.

I'm stepping up my swimming. I've been swimming three times a week, but with the Triathlon in two weeks, I want to make sure I am as fast as possible in my leg. Classes start in three filliping weeks- I can't believe summer has flown by so quickly! :(

Anyhow- Swim, Pretzel myself in Pilates, and hopefully start some strength training. Those, are the goals for the week.

~Millie

An Unintended Hiatus

Hey! Remember me? So, maybe my lack of posting made you feel as cheap as a college girl after a one night stand... after all the support you gave me all through the Triathlon, only to suddenly fall of the planet. Yeah, I know- my bad. I really hadn't intended to take this long of a hiatus. My last posting is from like June 30th...and the one previous to that was just after my triathlon. Of course, blogging hasn't been the only thing I took a break from (unintentionally, of course). My motivation just took a nose dive. And, maybe I've spent more days on the 9-5 diet than I care to admit.... (for those of you scratching your head, eating really well all day, only to jump the rails come dinner time) but I am back, and I am focused. My motivation meter is all filled up again, and ready to chug along.

Three weeks to go until the next Triathlon. Somehow, because we are doing it as a relay Tri, and the swim portion is so much shorter than my Tri had been, I guess I just had be kind of lacsidaisical about the whole training thing. But, three weeks left, it is time to move. In a normal swim workout I can do a 400 in about five ish minutes. My goal is to be able to maintain that time in the open water with all the big buff men creating hurricane Katrina like waves in the water.

I joined Weight Watchers with a friend of mine... well we will be weighing in and attending meetings at different locations, but still we're in it to win it together. And, just as I suspected (and- proving my husband wrong was the added bonus) I have totally been under consuming calories. Like, big time. Weight watchers is on the points system, so I'm not sure how the calories would convert, but to give you an idea, for THIRTY minutes of Lap Swimming (maintaing a 50 in under 50 seconds) gives me an extra EIGHT points a day! Thats like almost another meal in points value. Just based on that, the 1800 calories I was eating, was definitely not enough for someone who was working out 2 1/2 hours a day!

We'll see how this goes. My plan going forward is swim every morning- elliptical or strength training, every day after work, for a total of 1 hour and fifteen minutes of exercise a day. That's what I'm shooting for anyway.

Alright, I hate to post and leave but I have plans for the husbands birthday tonight and I must start getting ready.

Have a great weekend!

~Millie