Focus time...

The past few weeks (ok, the past couple months) have been busy, fun, and stressful. I’d been taking a class – for fun – on becoming a certified personal trainer. Needless to say, between life in general, all the doctor’s appointments (4-5 a week but as of this week will be down to 2 a week), my class, my kids, my training...I was a bit stressed. I took the second part of last week to ‘chill’. One thing I did not do was get as much sleep as I should have. But...that is a new goal of mine. It also falls under focus. Saturday I spent a few hours out in the chilly weather sitting on bleachers at my son’s track meet. It was fun – I got to watch a few exciting races, then after my son ran and then cooled down it was time to leave. I went home and took a much needed nap!

On Sunday morning I was scheduled to run the GW Parkway Classic, 10 miler. I probably should have just downgraded to the 5K. But I did not. Now, I’d only run two times since the Shamrock 8K and little to no elliptical since before then. I opted to not start. I really, really want the Flying Pig Half on 5/1 to be my focus (there’s that word again) for my spring run, as best as it can be. I thought trying to plod through 10 miles now would not be smart. So, I just ran from home less than half that distance (4.35 miles) instead. I did the first 2.88 with Riley the puppy. Then I dropped her off and ran another 1.47. All pain free! What a beautiful thing!

Sunday later morning it was time for another swim test. I was supposed to do this last weekend but kind of flaked on that. Oops. I headed over to Audrey Moore RECenter to do my now familiar test: 300 warm up, 2x:20 treading water, 3x100 build w/:20 rest, 3x300 TEST with :30 rest, followed by a cool down. This was the hardest one yet. I may have over done it on my 3x100s because I had some fast splits! Then on the 3x300 my first was too fast. The second two were not quite so. Compared to my second swim test from a month-ish ago I was about (by my calculations) a half second slower on average. Oh well. We’ll see what the coach says... Maybe I should have done the swim test first? Before the run that is...? Hopefully the next time a swim test is scheduled I will not flake!

Sunday afternoon was awesome! The sun had come out by then for starters! Then my sons and the dog and I all headed out to Herndon to visit a dear friend, her son (my sons' oldest friend), and her two dogs. It was a good social visit for Riley as she’s met dogs before but not really had a good social visit with any one in particular. And it was nice to visit my friend! We’d not seen each other since she came to visit Riley when she was just a little thing! Riley did very well meeting her pups! It was so cute! Sadly...no pictures! This time... After Riley is spayed and healed we’ll be headed back so we can go to the 'place’ (i.e., dog park) and play!

Anyway, all in all, my foot is doing SO MUCH better. The countless visits to the chiropractor for ART and the added visits to the acupuncturist and the deep tissue massage therapist also there has really made a difference. And on Friday the massage therapist showed me a couple of painful home treatments I can do to also help. I now get up in the morning and take nearly normal steps! I’m much more flexible than I had been too in my back. Tonight I am going back to my regular Monday night Yoga class and am so excited to see how it goes! Then hopefully in the next few weeks I can work in the Bikram Yoga as well.

So, now that I’ve said that it is ‘focus time’, which it is, this coming Saturday is the very first tri of the season! That’s right! It is time to get my Rumpus on! Saturday at 10AM is the Rumpus in Bumpass Oly: 1500 swim, 24 mile bike, 10K run. I’m especially looking forward to the beginning and end of the run and the little jaunt on the path through the woods. (hahahaha) This is a Team Z event, too, so lots of fun will be had both Saturday for the Oly and Sunday for the Sprint. I’ve done each event one time. The first year (2009) I did the Oly (back when it was called the Rumpass in Bumpass) and last year I did the Sprint. This will be Jeff’s first official triathlon as well. Woo hoo! If I am up for it maybe I’ll go down on Sunday with Riley to cheer on other teammates. We’ll see how it goes.

And along with focus is getting more sleep, which I mentioned before. The other item is to get back on track with my nutrition. November 20 is really not that far off in the big picture so I want to get a good handle on this, this time around. I think all of my stress lately has let this ease to the back burner. I am going to make a good solid effort to kick the Diet Coke habit, too. I’ve made progress in the past, but always fell off that wagon. My friend Carol has gone over two weeks without it – and she has really inspired me! The final item will be to really try to get all my workouts in. I was doing really well till I started crumbling under the extra pressure with my class. Now that my class is finished, I know I can get back to it. Being able to run pain free though should make the most difference of all!

Five days to Rumpus!

Happy and Healthy Training!!