sssshhh you might not be able to hear me

Workout was good yesterday today should be even better. Feeling pretty good today but I still have a sore throat, runny nose and ear aches. But my latest issue is the lack of voice. Laryngitis. Yippee fun. What a way to start my weekend.

I have a doctors appointment on Monday morning thankfully so if I am not feeling 100% by then I will be able to find out what is going on.

I am happy to report that I have lost 10lbs so far since the beginning of this journey. Not as much as I would have liked but I am happy. I am still working on getting enough fiber in my diet. It isn't that easy ya'll. I love my raisin bran and my grape nuts thankfully. I also have become a fan of black beans! YUMMY. For all that know me I have always had a huge gripe with beans. I just never liked the taste, texture, feel etc. I think that tonight we will be having some black beans and brown rice.

I have a confession to make. I am nervous and scared. I need to go back out to Clermont and climb but I am just awfully nervous. I ride with a lot of great people, some of the best in the world. But almost all of them are all fantastic riders (much better than I) and climb the hills in Clermont just like they were overpasses. Whereas I am the one saying prayers and drooling from the mouth just to make it up. I have the fear of falling over. The fear of the pain. The fear making it up all the climbs but not having the energy to make it back to the car (like the last time I was out there.) Was this is stupid idea on my part to make this goal for myself? I am doubting myself big time. I just want to crawl under a rock some days. I know that I am stronger and lighter that I was before, but is it going to be enough? I have 3 more months to train for this journey. Will I make it!?

Sickies

Today I finally feel better. I started feeling pretty sick on Monday afternoon. Sore throat, runny nose, ear ache, headache pretty much the gamit from the neck up. My workout on Monday was a little difficult to do but I completed it in addition I went for a nice 18 mile bike ride on Monday. But that was it for the week.

I woke up Tuesday morning feeling like I had been run over by a truck. I came to work only because I knew that I had a meeting for thing and so much work to do. But it very soon became evident that I wasn't going to make it through the day. I left to go home at 10am. I spent the rest of the day and evening on the couch sleeping off and on. Waking up only long enough to get the kids from school/daycare and get them some dinner.

Wednesday came and I felt worse. Why o why was this happening to me!?

Today I feel better. Still have a little bit of an earache but overall I don't feel like roadkill anymore. The only thing that I regret is that I haven't been in the gym since Monday and that I missed my ride last night. I have a feeling that today's workout is going to be a long one. Hopefully I have some muscle memory and I can pick up from where I left off with my workouts. It is going to be a long weekend I think.

Who Knew

I didn't think that yesterday when I posted how sore I was that it would get worse today. I have zero appetite. I can barely move. It sucks. ;) At least I know that just like the saying goes, No pain No gain. I have to pain so I should receive the gain right? Buck up Annie. Stop whining.

Today's workout will be all cardio. Eliptical and treadmill. Hopefully by the time that 12:30 comes around I will be able to put my shoes on. ;)

Last night my bike ride was rained out. I was really bummed. I was looking forward to it. Hanging with friends and cycling is a great pairing. Wednesday is my night out! Oh well. I came home had some dinner and relaxed for a while until it was time to put kiddos to bed. Then I hoped on the trainer. I rode my little heart out spinning as best I could. I will not lie, it hurt. A little work out at home while watching the Tour de Suisse. I pretended that I was riding with Lance and Levi. It was actually fun. :) That will be the only time that I will ever ride with those guys.

Sore :(

How does a body get so sore?! I knew that I worked out hard yesterday but I am just shocked how sore I am this morning. To the point that I am sick to stomach from the intense pain coming from my quads and my arse! I have to ride a bike tonight people?! I am going to have to stretch out or walk some today to try and minimize this pain. Right now I cannot even THINK about pushing those pedals.

Do you feel sorry for me yet!? LOL :D Ah well this is just one more hurdle. I am that much closer to my goal.

Beginning of week 5!

Can you even believe it?! This has got the be longest I have ever put forth this much effort to bettering myself and getting into shape. I am enjoying the extra energy that I have and most of all the 9lb weight loss that I have seen. Not too shabby.

Today was lower body blast #2 which includes using 15lb weights to do some pretty insane exercises. My legs are jello right now. LOL I will most certainly feel the burn tomorrow afternoon. I figure that soreness will start to come about the time that I am getting ready to go for my 18 mile bike ride tomorrow night. :) We shall see. I will update you because I am sure that you would all like to know.

The new curse word

Over the last couple of weeks I have decided that the word Interval is really a curse word. I just hate them! LOL I understand that reasoning behind them but they just suck.

That’s all for right now. I just had to get that out there.

:D

Week 4

I shouldn’t wait this long between updates to my blog. Things are busy busy busy around here. Lots of family time and lots of work outs. Both good things but it means that I have been slacking on my blog. tisk tisk tisk

I happy announce that in 3 weeks I have lost 8lbs. I feel really good about that!! Very good about that!! I am well on my way to my goal weight. I am interested to see what comes in the next few weeks as my workouts get harder.

This week began week 4 of training. Core workouts increase by 2 and I started running on the treadmill! Yes you read that right. Today I officially RAN on the treadmill. Not for very long but I was doing minute intervals at 5mph (12min mile pace) down to 4mph. It was hard ya’ll. Even though I have increased my cardio health in the last few months it was still hard to run. I have NEVER been a runner. EVER! Ask anyone who has known me. I was semi nervous about it (mostly because I didn’t want to fall off the treadmill.) I was very excited to be done and happy that I was able to accomplish what I did. Next time I will try to run longer. Who knows one day I might even do that 5K?! maybe

This weekend I go back to Clermont to the hills. I am just sick to my stomach thinking about it. I have been having trouble sleeping this week. I want to be a better climber. I want to be able to go out there and excel at climbing but I am scared to death of the pain that this climbing brings! My quads and butt are already hurting just remembering the last time that I was there. Hopefully this time will be better. I am 8lbs lighter and a lot stronger (I think!) I just want to be able to get some sleep between now and then.

Hill Repeats

Last night I didn’t do my normal WWW St. John’s ride.  I did miss riding with my peeps but I needed to get some hill training in.  It wasn’t too horrible.  I am feeling a lot stronger than I used to when it comes to inclines but I am no where near feeling like superman yet.

I left from my house last night and rode 6 miles out towards the airport.  The only “hill” that is close to my house is the overpass on Heintzelman Blvd that goes over the 528.  I know that it is sad to think that I am doing hill training on a overpass but it seems to work.  I felt a lot of burning in my quads all the while I was repeating to myself, push and pull the pedals, push and pull the pedals.  Amazingly enough it worked.  It also kept my mind off the fact that I was climbing the incline.  I made it to the top in record time!  (for me anyway)  The way down was a lot more fun but it was short lived because of the red light at the bottom.  OF course I hit the red light.  On ever repeat that I did (4 of them) I found the red light.  What a pain in the butt.  LOL

In all I did 4 repeats of the overpass and 19.5 miles.  I averaged 16 mph amazingly enough.  That was will a horrible headwind on the way out and down Heintzelman’s and a wonderful tailwind on the way back.  Mother Nature did play a cruel game on me though.  I was the furthest point out on my ride when I started to get sprinkled on.  As refreshing as it felt I was really concerned that I was going to get caught in a downpour.  Thankfully it held off until I get back to the house.  I love you Mother Nature.

I did pretty good last night.  I still am worried about the strength that I am lacking when it comes to climbing the hills or even pulling a slight incline.  I am just hoping that in the next few weeks as the weight continues to come off and the strength training continues that I will find a little more confidence in my ability.  Keep your fingers crossed.

Today is my rest day and so far I am loving it.  I had a nice picnic lunch with a book and tonight I will be working on cleaning up the pool for a big graduation party we are having for my niece on Saturday.  Who knows I might even be able to stay awake until Paul gets home from work.

Beginning of Week 3!!

Good afternoon blog followers!! :) (OR lack thereof! LOL) I am happy to report that as of this morning I have successfully lost 6 pounds. GO ME! This is mostly in thanks to my fabulous coach and trainer, David Houle owner of D2 Cycle. So far he has taught me how and what I need to eat and what exercises I need to do in order to increase my strength and my metabolism. With his guidance I have been able to come this far. I know that I am going to a much healthier and skinnier person when my 18 weeks is complete.

This week begins my hill interval training. On Wednesdsay evening I will be going out to the closest hill that I have to me and completing several repeats up and down the hill. The funny part of this is my hill is the 528 overpass on Heinztelman Blvd. at the new Goldenrod extension into around Orlando International Airport. I can't help that I live in Orange County and everything here is flat! :) It is a good place to start and I am looking forward to riding close to home. 5.5 miles out and 5.5 miles back. Some hill training in the middle and a circuit of Heintzelman's to follow.

My smile for the weekend came while I was on my ride Saturday. Paul and I rode out with a small group (8 riders) on a special ride for a little boy named Caden, Caden Epps Caring Bridge. Caden is 2 years old and ran out in front of a car and is now paralized from the chest down. The Seminole Cyclists were raising money to support him and his family on their journey. I am so proud to say that we were able to raise $1700 and two airplane tickets for Caden. While on our ride I learned pretty quickly that I was not the least experienced rider in the group. Halfway through the ride I worked my way up to the front. For the first time ever I was able to pull a line of riders at 20mph for 3 miles. :) I felt amazing. You couldn't have wiped the smile off of my face.

Today's workout made me smile again! I did a total of 38 minutes on the eliptcal machine (including a 3 minutes cool down.) I was able to complete a 5K in 34 minutes. Not too shabby. It really makes me wonder if I would be able to jog a 5K? Maybe in the fall I will find a nice fun 5K to test this theory out. Maybe

Only 15 more weeks until the Assault on Sugarloaf. Even though I am still somewhat scared about climbing the hills on my bike I am feeling a teeny tiny bit more confident that I will be able to accomlish it in record time.