BIG CHEERS! :)

AWESOME TIME!  And surprise to all...I wasn't even last!  I was even ahead of a few ladies in my age category!  :)  I wonderful personal challenge...I HIGHLY recommend it!

Guess it's tomorrow!

Since I joined the swim team, I biked there every day leaving little extra time to blog.  I look and feel fab and am so excited for tomorrow!  Had a great time running a 5K with my cousin...we talked the whole way. ha ha.  I'm sure tomorrow will be just as easy!  ha ha.  OK, maybe not, but I feel ready.

Just thinking on finishing.  Don't care at all if I'm dead last in the whole group, would just be thrilled to finish!  :)  Really excited.  This will be FUN!!!

XO,
Thanks for following my journey!

Keeping it up, up, up! :)

Been riding my bike to Swim Team every day :)  A good hour and a half of exercise at least 5 days a week, I felt I was entitled to Numero Uno deep dish tonight with my little boy.  We had so much fun!  I wouldn't want to get too skinny.  ;)  j/k

Loving live, I feel picking up amount of time spent on workouts has helped me really feel the benefits of a nice solid heart rate.  I have such great energy.  Not near what it was in high school...but majorly awesome none the less.

Love the challenge.

I still wont swim in the ocean if it is foggy and you can't see the shore.  I'm just saying.  ;)

Heart Swim Class

I love my swim team class so much.  It's true I am the slowest person, in fact the woman who shares the lane with me is nearly twice as fast as I am, she has a bad shoulder and she wears a shirt.  I'd blame it on her youth but she has a good 10-20 years on me as well.  ha ha.  The men in the next lane over cream both of us, and they are in their early sixties.  So I have few visions of being the star of the Pierce College swim team for old adults, but everyone is SO nice and patient with me.  Today I learned how to do that somersault flip turn that I always mangle, but now that I learned to do it...it is SO MUCH FUN.  Maybe the funnest part of all of it ;)  After an hour of working hard, I'm still happy to do a quick ride or run after, so I think my training is really shaping up for the last few weeks!  Less than 5 weeks to the big day.

I'm so happy to be competing in a 5K run on Sept 11 to benefit Ovarian cancer research and awareness!  I haven't figured out how to link a charity to my tri yet, but I am going to!  I know there are ways.


My goal for the 5 K is to do it in just a little over 30 minutes (10 minute miles)  Should be not too hard, but I do start to burn after a couple miles running at that speed.  I think this will be a good goal and since the race is in Studio City it is comforting that we are several miles from any cold salt water and I wont be expected to immerse myself in it...just run on pavement.  VERY nice.  :)

Still here

Been to the ocean for a swim!  It was...HORRIBLE!  Yikes.  I got in and found that despite what I could do in the pool I had no endurance whatsoever and it was basically horrifying in the cold salt water.  I swam the entire distance on my back mostly and just was wishing I were home.  It didn't help that my friend ( a gym teacher ) pointed out when we got out in the water that I was no longer the top of the food chain.  Veeerrry funny.

Well, that was awful and if it happens to be foggy the morning of the race I might not go.  A lady said that a couple years before it was too foggy too see the shore or even the buoys!!  WHAT??  So, seriously, I have a husband and child to think of...if there aren't easy to see ropes, buoys and lifeguards in kayaks like I was initially promised...I'm not kidding, I wont go =P

I had a terrible day that day in the ocean.  Our shipment from the factory was late...brides were complaining because we'd told them their dresses were going to be EARLY.  They weren't late for the expected date, or even close, but everyone was upset since we gave too much information and got them excited.  We wont do that anymore.  All kinds of other work and family stuff to take care of and I was "enjoying a" stressful "day on the beach" trying to survive in the ocean. I know my colleagues thought I was having a blast instead of dealing with work.  The whole thing was really discouraging.  But I look a lot better and feel a lot more fit and strong.  I'm following through, but what a cruddy day.  It really was NOT fun. :(

Anyway, to deal with the swim issue..I joined a swim team at the junior college...a team for "masters", that is older than college age.  I'm the very slowest one by far, but it's really fun.

I've been training as the program I downloaded had suggested, the last two weeks have been slower rest weeks.  Now I'm freaked the tri is only  5 weeks away!  When I realized that late last night I had a mini-cow.

I hope I'm up for this.  I'm going to start adding swim team to my regular workouts so that maybe I won't get completely smoked on the big day, but I'm starting to think I might.  :( 

Still in there!  But if it's foggy...I'm NOT going.

Still here!

Oh...my...gosh.  Been busy! 

I got a proper bicycle.  It's nice, but I simply could not say goodbye to my new/old Schwinn and am using it for rides with my little boy in his kiddie cart. 

We took a family trip to Mexico where I swam and ran very much! :)  Then home to a pile of work and also a flu!  I was down for a couple of days just sleep, sleep, sleeping.  Getting back up to speed now.

If you EVER feel you want a challenging workout, go for a bike ride then get off and try to run.  Now try it in the middle of July.   It's HARD!!   The good news is that I simply can't imagine doing a few more work outs like that and keeping those extra inches around my belly.  Workouts like this and belly fat simply can not co-exist.  Can they?  I guess we'll find out!   I'll have to post a picture soon!  I think I look quite a bit nicer now!  Lost 2 or 3 inches around the waist, but very few pounds.  They always say weight doesn't matter and I thought that was a crock, but my muscles look much longer and leaner.  I do lots of yoga stretches and I think that enhances everything quite a bit.  It's true, when you are building muscle the pounds may not drop off very quickly, but the results seem to be quite lovelier than just getting skinny.  Will post a pic very soon!

Thanks for all the support!  <3 Dolly

I'm Tightening!

This is my excuse for not seeing the needle on the scale go down much.  I'm actually several pounds heavier than I was a few months ago :(  And I've been so good...wah!

Well...the scale isn't supposed to mean much.  I'm in a healthy weight zone, albeit the very, very top of it, but my Wii Fit told me I'm normal.  ha ha  Oh yes, and my waistline is 2" smaller!  It must mean something! 

Yesterday was great!  I swam the entire distance (22 laps in the POOL) freestyle without stopping.  Imagining I was in the ocean while doing this made me feel a little panicky when I started getting tired.  I can bike the distance in a decent time on my old bike named Helena and while I haven't tried, I feel like I could run the distance since I can run a half hour at a slow speed and know I could keep going or go faster.

Challenges...swimming in open water...biking on hills...running on the cement, not on the treadmill.  I'm working hard but in convenient but also safe ways and avoiding the extreme heat.  The biggest challenge will getting out in nature and putting them all together!  I've tried running after a long bike ride and it is laughably difficult.   Yikes! 

Still having a wonderful time and am for sure in better shape!