What's In My Swim Bag

I have a bag that I use specifically for my swim stuff, much like many people may have a "gym bag" or the like.  I'm also not one of those people who clean out their bags with any regularity.  While I was swimming on Monday, the plastic nose piece of my goggles snapped.  Ugh.  Coach Jeff tried to fix them, was unsuccessful, but lent me his goggles to use.  So the plan was for me to go home and fish my other goggles out of their hiding spot (they weren't really hidden).  But I quickly forgot that plan.

Let's fast forward to today, Wednesday, where I am supposed to swim after work.  I brought my swim bag, but I still have the broken goggles.  Fart in a box!  My options were to:  A. Go home during lunch/after work and get the goggles (aka pain the booty) or B. Attempt to fix the goggles myself during lunch.

As I am pretty attached to watching Doctor Who during lunch, I chose B.  I retreived the swim bag from my car (sans swimsuits - for the reason detailed at the bottom of the linked post).  I thought "I have not a clue as to what is in this bag - Why don't I find out and blog about it?"  Yes, I am trying to bore you to death.  But nonetheless I bring you:

THE CONTENTS OF MY SWIM BAG

1. Swim Bag (containing 1 pair of unmentionables)
2. Power Bar Energy Gel - Vanilla (from my Super Tri)
3. 2 samples of Nivea body wash
4. 3 types of razors
5. Jewelry that I tossed in a side pocket after work
6. Flip Flops
7. Random pieces of crumpled paper = old swim workouts
8. Random sandwich bag = "waterproof" swim workout holder
9. Hair brush
10. $5 "Sports" Watch
11. L'Oreal Facewash
12. Infusium 23 Shampoo
13. Infusium 23 Leave in Conditioner (the regular conditioner wasn't on sale!)
14. Plastic bag with old swim workouts in it + rock to make sure it doesn't float away if it falls in (above watch)
15. Hair tie
16. Luggage tag thing from the Y
17. Current cap (pink)
18. Goggles (before getting fixed)
19. Empty water bottle
20. Empty Powerade bottle
21. Extra Swim Cap
22. Fork (yeah IDK about that one...)

I threw away all my old workouts.  There were 14 and most of them were soggy.  And 2 of the razors.  I recycled the bottles.  And then I fixed my goggles!

I like Swedish Goggles.  The kind I have now aren't true Swedish Goggles, but very, very similar.  I think I got my first pair in middle school and I haven't looked back.  And don't step on them.  Ouch! 

And for your viewing pleasure:  My Goggles restored to their former glory...

Ooh, about 10 seconds before the middle piece snapped of my face bc it wasn't on there tight enough

Got it!  Just cut off a piece of goggle strap and whittled it down!

The aftermath :)

Any impromptu "I WILL make this work" workout stories?

Putting my goggles on at work: A. Awesome B. Dork C. Your hair is a hot mess D. All of the above?

Super Tri

Sorry for the hit or miss posts...my name is EmDub, and I'm a Doctor Who addict.  I'll just leave it at that.  

Here are the results of my indoor triathlon:

15 min swim:  900 yards
20 min bike:  7.8 mi
20 min run: 1.23mi


Start time:  In my last post, I said I didn't have a start time, but would probably show up around noon and see where they could fit me in.  Well I got a call at 11 for a 1:20pm start time.  Works for me!  Too bad I had a nervous stomach all morning.

I fueled up on Qdoba's breakfast quesadilla (haha, poor planning on my part) and grabbed a Starbuck's protein bistro box to go.  I got to the Tri early, "checked in", meaning I told the lady in charge of swimming that I was there, I set my stuff up in a locker for easy transition in T1, and I went to cheer on the bikers/runners for a bit.

I half-assed (pardon my French) my pilates class that morning (we NEVER rarely (once every couple of months) do lunges or squats, but of course we did that morning) half due to wanting to feel strong in the Tri, half due to hammies that were still sore from 3-4 days earlier!  I was nervous I was going to have a heat with incredibly fast people in it, but when my heat showed up, I felt good!  Myself, an older gentleman named Bob, and a mom type named Karla who swam with flippers on :)

Swim: I was aiming for 800 yards, as I would have liked to obtain splits that were a little faster than 1 min per 50 yards.  The rule was that if you swam over halfway at your last 25, it would count toward your total.  I started swimming at a nice tempo, focusing on keeping the number of breaths the same in each 25 (5 strokes between breaths, except for 3 or 4 right before the turn).  I lapped my competitors near the 100 yd mark (made me feel fast!).  I was so worried I would have an awful swim like I did earlier in January, but I just told myself to keep going and if I felt really bad (high BP, seeing spots, etc) I could slow down or do backstroke.  The tension kept building in my head and I did a 25 of backstroke around the halfway mark (unlimited breathing...yay!).  That gave me the push I needed, but I had long since lost count, but I took a glance at my watch every 100 or so.  I saw my watch was at 14:20 something so I cranked it up to try to get another 50 in...at least the halfway mark on the 50 so it would count!  I dug deep and barely reached the halfway mark and then slowed down for the rest of the 25.  When I got to the wall, my watch said 15:12.  I heard the young man who had counted for me say "36 lengths" and I tried to do the quick math, but my head felt like I had just got punched in the face!  The lady in charge of the swim and the aquatics director were both standing over me, telling me I did a great job.  I hate compliments, but am getting better at accepting them.  :)  I said "Thanks...ugh, two more things to do???" meaning spinning and running.  I made my way to the locker room to change and grabbed a power bar energy gel, the only one my local grocery store had!  I took that and some powerade and water and headed for the spin room.



A little shopping beforehand...oh that ice cream was for after :)



Spin:  I asked the lady in charge of spin to help me adjust my bike because I had never been on one before!!!  She was very gracious, and my new friend Karla was totally a spin pro so she gave me some tips (don't point your toes!).  The biggest relief:  Fans.  Several fans and almost right in my face.  Felt sooooo good.  My face was still beet red!  I took it easy on the bike.  The resistance was a 10 for most of my 20 min ride, but I bumped it up when I stood and rode for a minute.  The lady in charge of the swim part came in twice in those 20 mins to tell me how good my swim was.  Really felt like I was getting athletically hit on!  (something I never thought I would say!).  The ride went by pretty quickly and I got to 7.8 miles which I felt good about for my first time on a spin bike.  The instructor said most people were getting to 10.

Run:  I had not run on a treadmill in half my life! (Gym membership in Jr. High!)  We were supposed to have 5 mins for T2, but we were the last heat, were ready to go, and there were the perfect amount of treadmills open.  I logged onto Netflix, propped up my Kindle over the treadmill readout, walked for 2 mins and then got to running!  I was doing 2 running, 2 walking until about 5 mins left, I decided to run the whole way and found myself pushing the button to go faster because I wanted to see 1.25 on the readout after 20 mins!  I got to 1.23 and was very proud of myself for that.  (and again, the lady from the swim was by to tell me when their group met for swimming and how she hopes I can join them in the coming week.   Spoiler alert:  I did!

Triathlon completed!

After a short cool down, we were off to one of the community rooms where I was surprised to see water, bananas (very green bananas), bagels and chips.  I had not even thought about them providing some snacks afterwards, but was happy they did.  They also wanted a bit of feedback afterwards because this was their first tri.  I thought it was wonderful and I was very proud of myself!  Part of me wants to run and hide from scary things and I'm trying to overcome that introvert part of myself so I can have fun and meet some people.

This tri gave me some much needed confidence!  Oh, and when I signed up for "non-competitive", I guess that just meant that I got my results and did not see how I stacked up against everyone else - bummer!




Coach Beth, me, Bob, Karla, Coach Jeff

Weigh in:
Last week: 243.6
This week:  241.8

I'm slightly freaking out on the inside because I typically have not lost weight this fast in the last year.  Perhaps it is because I'm swimming more...

I'm just going to touch on this today and maybe save the bulk of it for another post, but:  I may not weigh in every week anymore.  I made one promise to myself when I started this and it is that I WILL NOT sacrifice my mental health/stability to lose weight/get in shape.  Before my Friday AM weigh in, I found myself thinking "oh, if I don't eat a full dinner tonight, I will show a better loss tomorrow".  Dumb, dumb, dumb.  That shit (oy, French, sorry!) will NOT fly in this camp.  If those thoughts continue to creep into my head, I will outlaw that scale so fast!

A Chance to Win $10,000 - A Risk

**Busy week!  Update about "my tri"later!  For now, here is something I have been thinking about for a while!**



About two months ago, I was getting some lunch at my usual place - Walgreens.  I love their fresh little salads, etc.  Oh and I usually get a wee bag of chips too, if we're being honest.

I was second in line to check out when I heard the cashier utter the unfortunate phrase, "If you buy 2 candy bars for $3, you will be entered for a chance to win $10,000".

First thought:  Holy smokes!  Imagine what I could do with $10,000!  I would buy ALL THE THINGS!!!

Second thought:  Candy!  Candy!  Danger!  Danger!

Third thought:  Okay, I k now it's not good for me, so I won't get the candy.

I stepped up to the cashier when it was my turn.  I heard that unfortunate phrase, turned down the offer, paid for my things and left in a hurry.

Did you know you can be haunted by candy bars?  Not that I truly wanted them.  But just to be offered them like they were mine to begin with.  And throw in an opportunity for a cash prize?

The rest of the day I couldn't get this off my mind:  Is it worth the risk?

What are the chances I would win that $10,000?  1 to 100,000 or more?

What are the chances I would eat those two candy bars in the next 24 hours?  100 to 1.

Clearly, I'm not winning that battle, so I'd rather not participate.  

We face battles like this everyday. 

Don't blindly go into life, ask yourself...is that ____ worth the risk???



What are some things that aren't worth the risk?

Tell me some things that ARE worth the risk?

J/K. My motivation was just hibernating.

Well you could have fooled me!  Last week I felt so depleted of energy and sad about my missed morning workouts.  This week I was feeling fairly rested and entirely nixed morning workouts in favor of evening workouts.

Monday:  No activity due to headache.  Went home and slept 11 hrs.

On Tuesday, I brought my swim stuff to work with me*.  I was reading some blogs at work and one of Mary's blogs had a "related content" link to one of her old posts about swimming in preparation for a triathlon.  The pics had the bluest pool water and being the swimmer at heart that I am...it made me drool!  I was perusing the YMCA's website for swim schedules and was looking at the YMCA webpage for my favorite pool in the area (a post on that in a week or two!).  I was scrolling through their news when I saw the mention of an indoor triathlon...this Saturday.  Sounds nice, on my list for this year, but no thanks, too soon.  I had a pretty good swim.  I did this workout...the 2200 yd one.  It was lovely.  Just swimming at a reasonable pace and not looking at (aka worrying about) what was next until it was time for the next thing.  I finished in 57 minutes and felt great.

On Wednesday, I knew I wanted to do Yoga, but was going back and forth between a video at home or going to the yoga studio where I have (had) 4 classes left on my package.  When I got home, SwimSis asked if I wanted to go to Yoga...duh!  I had been thinking about the triathlon since I saw it yesterday and I asked SwimSis if she wanted to do it.  Something akin to "hell no" came out of her mouth :)   Yoga was pretty good, but fairly easy.  I did over do it a bit though because Coach likes to start riffs between people.  When we were still at home, he said to SwimSis "So EmDub is better than you at Yoga, right???" Which she emphatically answered "NOOOOO!" and then my reaction was "WHAT???".  So I had to prove I was as good as SwimSis (who is probably 50lbs lighter than me, so she can naturally do things a little better than I can!).  My hammies are still sore today!

Going to bed that night, I was like what is stopping me from doing this triathlon?  Am I unable to do any of these things?  No.  Am I uncomfortable on the bike?  Yes.  Do I hate running on the treadmill?  Yes.  (PS haven't run on the treadmill since I was 14!)  Would I LOVE to knock something off of my 2013 goals list in February?  YES!!!  Would I be hella proud of myself for accomplishing something that is challenging and out of my comfort zone?  DUH!

I packed the gym clothes the next morning so I could go to that Y after work and see the equipment (aka other things besides the pool).  I had emailed the director to try to get more information (what are transition times like?  How do I know when I start?) but he never emailed me back.  Part of me, typical me, wanted to say "Oh, I didn't get adequate information about the triathlon and now I just won't do it". And then I would mope all Saturday and be disappointed in myself.  Well, I decided to suck it up with my minimal amount of info (at this point, all I knew was that there were transition times so I could change out of my swimsuit...not even that it was timed events instead of distance based.  It is I thought it would be distance based, but she had read a flyer at a different YMCA that said it was time based (ie 15 min swim, 20 min spin bike, 20 min treadmill run) and they just document how far you go on each of these.) and go sign up for it.  I went to the YMCA and signed up.

"Competitive or Non-Competitive?"
"....Uh, is there a category for 'I just want to finish'?"
*Quizzical stare at me*
"...Non-Competitive"

I asked her if she had more information about the triathlon.  She said no.  But said I should "probably"show up 10 or 15 mins before noon to see what was going on.  I thought about asking for a tour of the facility since I had only seen the pool (right at the entrance).  They were super busy so I decided to wing it....and promptly got lost.  I saw the blue shirt of an employee and asked for help/directions.  And guess what...it was the aquatics director who was in charge of the triathlon.  Then I got all the information I needed!  What luck!  Although he said most people who signed up in advance had been given a starting time, so I should just show up and see where i can get in a heat.  Good thing I'm rather laid back.  Hopefully I won't have a nervous stomach :)

So he showed me to the cardio room and I hopped on a recumbent bike for 30 mins and then got on a treadmill for 25.  I was too timid to run on the treadmill, but I got my pace up to 3.5 walking, which is faster than I walked on a treadmill before.

So it was a pretty solid work week.  No lack in motivation.  Perhaps just reasonable expectations of myself?

Time to hear from the scale:
Last week's weight: 247.0
This week's weight:  243.6

Okay, I thought last week's weigh in was too high anyway.  I was just hoping to see 245 again this AM, but I will GLADLY take 243. 

Thanks for the comment Wallflower.  I'm hoping it was just an off week too.  But a big congratulations on 50lbs lost to you!!!!!

It's February, so let's see how I did on my January "challenge".

Challenge:  no candy January
Results: Good!  But not perfect.  I had a cupcake on my bday w/what I thought was a gumball on top.  Nope, it was a big lemonhead.  I ate it.  Then the next week I was offered 1/3 of a large Reese's PB cup Blizzard from DQ.  Totes ate it for dinner.
Thoughts:  Happy!  I think I got off the "HAVE TO HAVE SUGAR AFTER MEAL" kick.  Before my challenge, I would definitely start thinking of sugar even before my meal was done.

February challenge:
Makeup February.  I've never really been into makeup.  Only for special occasions type.  Obviously it doesn't hurt to have at least mascara and lip gloss.  That minimum is my goal everyday.
Results of 2/1/13:  I had no idea where my makeup bag was this morning.  I haven't put on makeup since Christmas.   Well maybe I put mascara on on my bday.  Anyway, I had mascara in my purse that I swiped from TeenSwimSis at Christmas.  Day one:  challenge met, but not exceeded!

Jan 31st:  Sans makeup.  But plotting something?

Feb 1.  Mascara and lip gloss.  And a bright light to even out my complexion :)

This is how I really look. ha!

EmDub, how do you feel about your upcoming tri?

*Swim Tip of the Week:  If you live somewhere where it is winter and are going swimming after work/before work, do not leave your swimsuits (even dry) in the car beforehand.  They will not warm up in the 5 mins you have before putting them on.  They will be freezing and so will you!