What's next?

For the past week and a half, I've been keeping myself busy. I was riding off my post-triathlon high and I decided to take advantage. Whenever I have those bursts of energy and motivation to get moving, I don't ignore them!

This is a break down from the week:

Sunday: Triathlon

Monday: Upper body workout at my gym

Tuesday: Work 12.5 hours

Wednesday: Biked 14 miles, Swam 400 meters

Thursday: Ran 1 mile, Swam 600 meters, Body pump class at gym

Friday: Biked 20 miles, walked leisure 1.2 miles with Mirza. Did initial "100 Push up challenge test."

Sat/Sun: Worked 12.5 hour shifts

Monday: Rest/Day 1 of 100 Push-Up Challenge.

Tuesday: "Rest"--ie: be lazy

Wednesday (today): Ran 2 miles, Day 2 of 100 Push-Up challenge later tonight...


Whew!!!!!

I've been so busy with all of these things, but if you look closely--no yoga....what? I had it scheduled in, but kind of let it slide. *slaps hand* Bad future yoga teacher, bad!

The thing is, after my body pump class on Thursday, I was dead. The day after, I could not straighten my arms. I'm no stranger to being sore after a weight lifting class. In fact, before deciding to do a triathlon, I hardly ever did cardiovascular exercise, I just simply loved strength training more.  When I say that I was in pain, I mean it. My arms wouldn't straighten and my biceps were literally bulging at all times. It was as if my arms were in a permanent state of contraction. And the following day, I had a patient who was literally 380lbs. Yep. Luckily, she was pretty self-sufficient. And I had two male nurses help me when getting her out of bed. Poor male nurses, we totally abuse them...

 Eventually, my arms did get better, but I don't think I will be going back to that class. It wasn't that I used too heavy of a weight (only 5lbs!), but the instructor had us doing these side bicep curls at like 32523523424124234234324 reps. I suppose I was too eager and jumped in to the weights too quickly, but still. I've never been in that much pain from the gym.

As you see from my schedule, I am doing the 100 Push-Up Challenge! Actually, Mirza and I am doing it together. In my pathetic attempt to get Mirza involved any sort of physical activity besides guitar playing (he's in school for music education) (he has a gym membership purchased by me, but he goes sporadically), I convinced him we should do this fun activity together! For me, I know the only way to stay focused on exercise is to have a goal. The push up challenge is 6 weeks. Tonight is Day 2 of the challenge. We'll be completing the workouts on Mon, Wed, and Fri.  In addition, Mirza agreed that twice per week, he would go on a walk with me. And it doesn't need to be long, I promised (insert evil grin), like 1-2 miles max. He downloaded an app on my iphone that has GPS and a way to log our walks. We were supposed to go for a walk last night, but he was "too tired," ggrrrrr!


The Metric Century training is coming along nicely. I have the next 12-13 weeks planned out, bringing up my mileage each week. I have a lot of wiggle room, too, which is important with any training plan (listen to me, as if I have "trained" for athletic events all of my life! ha). I do not want to set myself for failure or guilt.

Although my training is going well, the raffle to raise money for the ride...is not. We are stalled at $85. I thought people would love a $30 Amazon Gift Card and a copy of Operation Beautiful, but I suppose it just isn't worth $5. Please spread the word...

Remember...

$5 gets you ONE raffle ticket!

$10 gets you TWO raffle tickets

If you donate, and also decide to tweet or blog (one or the other) about this giveaway, then I will double your chances of winning automatically.

The donation page can be found here:  http://web.alsa.org/goto/62.5Nicole


As you see from the past week, it looks like I am still training for an upcoming triathlon...hmmmmm??

Well, the truth is, up until a few days ago, I had my heart set on October 24th. Another sprint triathlon at Fort Desoto. But after carefully looking through my expenses and budget, I simply cannot afford it. It is over $90 at this time. I could easily just throw it on a credit card and pay it off in a short time, but I feel like I've been doing that too much lately. I will still continue to exercise as if I have a triathlon because my ultimate goal for 2011 is...

ST. ANTHONY'S TRIATHLON 

If you recall, it was just a short 5 months ago, on April 25th, that I experienced my first triathlon...as a spectator! From that moment, I was enthralled, and watching those athletes compete inspired me take the next steps and complete my first triathlon(s)! It feels only natural then, that I would progress from a sprint triathlon to an OLYMPIC DISTANCE TRI. That's a 1.5k (1 mile) Swim, 40K (24.8mile) Bike, and a 10k (6.2mile) Run. 

Registration hasn't opened yet, but I will be keeping an eye out! 


Let's see, we've covered strength training, cycling, future tri's, but what about running???


I am still new to running. In fact, I started the Couch to 5k program on April 27th of this year! Since then, I've done two sprint triathlons, and one "5k" (the course was shortened!!!!!). My goal is a HALF MARATHON. I thought it might be fun to do the Disney Half Princess marathon in February, but seeing how expensive it is has lead me to another race...

Gasparilla Half Marathon 2011! February 27, 2011.

I figured, leave the big bucks for the full marathon (yes, it is a goal of mine) and run my first reallllllllly long race here in the Tampa Bay Area! I plan on beginning my official training November 1st, giving me over 16 weeks to train.


Seriously. I have a lot going on.


Let's recap:

• 100 Push-Up Challenge in 6 weeks
• Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure 5k: Oct 2
• Ride to Defeat ALS Metric Century: December 11, 2010
• Start Master's program (pending acceptance): January 2011
• Start Yoga Teacher Training: January 2011
• Gasparilla Half Marathon: February 27th, 2011
• St. Anthony's Triathlon: May 2011~

I'm up for the challenge.