Exercise

Taking Control

09/27/2009

This was a tough week. We had to put our dog to sleep on Thursday. He was old and very ill. He was also a sweet, sweet guy. We knew it was coming and we knew it was the right thing to do, but it didn’t make it any easier. There were other stressful events this week too. Normally, I can shrug most difficult situations off and deal with them, but when they converge all at once, they can feel insurmountable–out of control. And what do I do when faced with seemingly insurmountable stress? I eat. It didn’t help that this happened on a Thursday, my weigh-in day, and typically a day of more relaxed eating for me. On Thursday though, I let food take over. And that extended into Friday. I was looking for comfort, and looking for it in comfort food. The surprising thing was I didn’t...

The 'Not So Obvious' Benefits of Exercise

09/04/2009

I’m not in love with getting out of bed in the morning to exercise. But I am in love with how I feel when I’m doing it and how I feel for the whole day after. We all know that exercise is essential to good health and fitting into those smaller jeans and muscle tone. We all know that exercise gives us energy and stamina and strong bones. But I’ve gotten a couple of things from exercise that I didn’t expect: My skin looks great. I don’t know if that’s from sweating or all the water I drink because I sweat, but I actually had someone tell me recently that my skin is glowing. Plus I have a tan. A healthy, gradual tan that has come from running and biking outside (and a little sitting on the beach, which I wouldn’t have done in summers past.) Speaking of water,...

When You Least Expect It

08/31/2009

Saturday, because of the rain, was a swim day. I usually swim train with a friend on Saturday morning and that makes it more fun. Yesterday though, Jen was off on vacation, so I headed to the pool alone. I did not want to go. It was rainy and dark and miserable here yesterday. To swim on Saturday, even in crappy weather means getting to the gym by 7:30 am. The pool starts to get crowded around 8:15 or so. I had to coax myself out the door. However, I was off from training on Thursday and then again on Friday, so I made myself go. The way I felt, I wasn’t so sure it would be a very good training session, but these things need to be done. I got there and there was only one other person in the pool. Sweet. I love it when I get...

Running Rain Delay

08/28/2009

I planned to go running this morning. I really did. I got up at 5:50. It was still dark out, so I laid in bed contemplating. I really didn’t want to get up. And I’m really not so sure about running in the dark. By 6:15, the sky had brightened enough, so I dragged myself out of bed and got dressed. And then I remembered that I could play with Runkeeper and my new iPhone. That could be fun. Still dragging, I went downstairs and since my son wasn’t home yet, I had to let the dog out. I had been planning a long run— more than 3 miles— but now it was getting late. It would have to be a regular run. And then I went outside with the dog. It was raining. Not hard. A light drizzle. But who ever knows what that will lead to? The...

Tolerating Two Wheels

08/25/2009

I tolerate biking. I don’t love it. I don’t hate it. It’s my least favorite of the three disciplines in triathlon training, and it takes a lot of self talk to get me out the door with my bike. If I didn’t have a race coming up in a couple of weeks, I would have hung up my helmet for the season. I did go bike riding today though. 10 miles. It took me just under an hour, but then I wasn’t trying to ride fast today. I wanted to find a route that would be about 10 miles for safe training, so today’s ride was exploratory. When I ride it again this weekend, I’ll work on speed. Overall, the ride was good this morning. I cruised through a neighborhood that I never go through in my car, the weather is perfect, and I felt like I got a...

Climbing Back On The Wagon After A Hard Fall

08/24/2009

When I wrote my blog post on Wednesday, I wrote that I was struggling with staying on track food-wise. I somehow managed to stay in control until that evening when I came home to pizza and scarfed two pieces without even thinking about it. I will admit, even though I felt a little guilty later, it felt GOOD to eat with abandon. So good, in fact, that it sent me on a downward spiral for the next four days. By day four, however, it didn’t feel so good anymore. Thursday there was seafood bisque in a bread bowl and delicious chocolate truffles. Friday it was an overload on english muffins with butter and cinnamon sugar (a favorite treat but I always stop at one. Mind you, these are the high-fiber, low-cal multigrain english muffins and I used light butter, but still. Did I really need two of them? Saturday,...

Triathlon Inspiration

08/21/2009

I’m doing the TrekWomen Triathlon on Long Island on Sept. 13. And I have to admit, I’m a little nervous about this race. While it’s in the same park as my August race, this one is longer than that one by quite a bit, and I struggled in the first one. I finished, but it was tough! I was tougher. At these first races, I’m not looking to break records or do amazing things. I’m just looking to finish and that’s how I’m training. I can do all of the parts by themselves. I just need to put them all together and not fall apart on the course in the process.I’ve been slacking a little on brick training (putting the disciplines together). But I’m still nervous. What if the extra 3 miles on the bike and the extra mile on the run do me in this time? Well, I...

Humidity, Kittens and Random Thoughts

08/20/2009

It’s been particularly humid on Long Island this week. And hot. We have had an unusually temperate summer here so this this drippy heat isn’t making anyone very happy. I can’t even talk to my husband most days (he works outside). I kind of like the heat, but I am in no way a fan of the humidity. It makes everything just a little more difficult. It’s even humid in my office. Ick. Last night I went to a benefit for an animal rescue organization at this adorable little tiki bar. The bar and the benefit were outside. I had on a sundress and a short sleeve sweater. It was so humid though, I had to take the sweater off. But for the first time in a very, very long time, I didn’t feel self-conscious. Don’t get me wrong, I still have bat wings for upper arms, but there’s...

There Are Still Days…

08/19/2009

There are still days where I wake up late and don’t get out to exercise in the morning or at any other time of the day, planned or unplanned. There are still days where I would like to eat anything that doesn’t try to run away from me and the more sugar the better. There are still days, after more than a year of eating healthier and exercising regularly, where I’d like to throw in the towel and go back to my old ways. There are still days where the threat of gaining the weight back doesn’t have nearly as much of an impact as eating cake would. Today is one of those days. Maybe it’s hormonal or the time of the year or lack of sleep/stress. Who knows? I would have hoped that after more than a year of a healthier lifestyle, the lure of empty calories and...

Running Away… From Stress

08/18/2009

I have a large family. Four brothers and a sister. Both of my parents passed away quite some time ago, and with everything we’ve been through, we (my four brothers, sister and I) have stayed very close. In fact, my sister is my very dearest friend and we talk on the phone two or three times a day. She lives in Virginia. I’m in New York, close to two of my brothers. My other brothers are in North Carolina and Florida. One of my brothers was having a crisis last night/this morning and sent a text message that had the rest of us scrambling to reach him and reach each other at 5:30 am. When we finally did reach him, everything was fine, but the whole situation left me kind of stressed out. I live in a pretty constant state of stress anyway with things currently going on in...

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