Friday 11/9/07 - Alone But With My Fans! :-)

Tonight there were only a few swimmers at the Friday Optional Workout. I really like to pound out a long distance workout, most of the time pulling/.

After my normal 500 w/u, I decided I would pull the rest of the workout. 800 / 600 / 400 / 200 / 100.

The 800 started out tough, but by about the 600, I started to loosen up more. I turned at the 400 at 5:38 and came back to finish around 11:08 or something.

The 600 really felt good. Its now Sunday, and I am struggling to remember my time. But it was strong and fast. I probably averaged 1:22s, so around 8:12 would be right.

The 400 I had Agnes and Daisy cheering me on. I told them I wanted to be under 5:25. I ended up going 5:18, so I was really happy.

The 200 I was told by Daisy and Agnes that I had to be under 2:30. I went out in 1:13, and came back in 1:15 for a 2:28. I was pleased, but not overlly happy.

The 100 was just a mad dash down the pool and back. The goal was under 1:10. I came in at 1:08 high, so I was happy.

200 cool down.

OK the workout was nice. I just need the consistant training.

Wednesday 11/7/07 - Almost, But Not Yet

This morning's workout was tough, more mentally than physically. The main set 3 X 200s, 50 smooth, rest 10 secs, 100 hard (50 build with faster arms, 50 apply the legs), rest 10 secs, then 50 bring it all home.

Round 1 : Not too bad. 2:16 was my time after deducting the 20 secs rest.

Round 2 : It started to hurt, but I hung on barely, to get a 2:17.

Round 3 : Mentally I just didn't have it. I was on pace for another 2:16, but at the 125 I just hit the wall and stopped. I wasn't happy with it, but it just means that I I need to be more consistent with my training and be more focused.

Saturday, 11/3/07 - Banquet Night

Today was a busy day. First swimming. Then errands. Then prepping for the banquet. Then the banquet.

The workout this morning was really fun and brought back a lot memories during my first year on the team. We had part of the old gang all swimming together from the pain lane. There was myself, Viking (visiting from up north), Dr. Tom, Drew, Ken Bixler, and BGS.

When trying to remember the workout, I am drawing a blank except for the main pull set. I believe it was 5 X 200s pull on 2:45. the 2:45 was a good interval. I went 2:24, 2:28, 2:25, 2:24, 2:16. I stepped up the last one when Viking said I had to beat him or I'd have to buy his drinks all night. Now of course I knew I really didn't have to, but it was a fun wager. He said he would make his move on the 75, so I made sure I took the first 75 smooth and work my ass off the last 125. My final 50 was all but a mess as I did whatever I could to get my arms to go as fast as they could. I finished in 2:16, to my amazement. I'll take that. Viking always knows how to make me swim fast.

The rest of the day/night all I did was stress about the banquet. Will I say the right things? will I be funny? Will I do the team justice? So many things to do. This will be my third year as head coach and occupying most of the stage with award presentations. Even when I got to the banquet, all I did was stress. I really need to not worry about it. I guess though its sort of a sacrafice though for the good of the team. Honoring my swimmers with serious and funny awards make the night fun and entertaining to all. After analyizing it more, I think due to my promotion at work, I didn't have the nomal free time to prepare more in advance. So I think next year I will just make sure I am ready over a week in advance so that I can relax at both the pre-party and banquet and then roll. After talking with others, the banquet came over as a success. I was funny. People enjoyed the awards. Kenny did great as my co-presenter of funny awards. The only glitch was the video Bart, Don, Anne and myself did a few weeks ago. We pretended that I traveled the night of the banquet to Bhutan to see Anne and give her the UCOC patch she earned.

OK I am getting sleepy now and want to go to bed. I will proof-read later.

Tuesday 10/16/07 - Promotion? Me? Really?

Yup, you heard it here first. After a ho-hum morning at work, I was taken into the conference room for my mid-year review. Normally its to go over how I have performed so far, am I reaching my goals, what do I need to do to perform better, etc. At the end of the review, the last sentence my senior manager wrote was, "I recommend a promotion". I thought that was really nice of him. Damn straight I deserve one, but its great to hear it from someone else. I thanked him for his nice remark and then stated, "Let's hope others feel the same way and it gets me one". He then responded with, "Well that leads us to the next folder".

To make a long story short, I received a promotion, a nice salary increase and a big smile on my face. The day couldn't get any better.

After work, we went to the gym where I took the spinning class. I had never taken Stacey's class before, but it was FANTASTIC. I will definitely be going to her class again. I worked my butt off and with the high of my promotion, the endorphins I was producing put me on cloud nine.

Drew and I celebrated with a nice bottle of Dolcetta (sp?) red wine. It was a $40 bottle we purchased at Callaway winery in Temecula. I have to say it was probably one of the best bottles I have had.

Tuesday - October 16th. Great day for Brian. Plain and simple.

Monday 10/15/07 ....and Brian's getting LARRRRGER

I've done it. I've completely fallen of course. Motivation has once again escaped me so bad that not only have I slacked off in my swimming, but also in my diet. Its like a broken record lately. Why do I like food so much? And its ALWAYS the bad food I go for. Why do I have no control? I just go nuts and can't stop. I lack the discipline that is needed, and boy does it get to me. If only I could not be bothered by my physical appearance.

As I was taking a shower this morning, my belly literally increased before my very eyes. I instantly hopped out of the shower and onto the scale, soaking wet to see what the damage was. 195. WTF!?!? How did that happen? Where was the 178 of two months ago? Its amazing that I can gain that so quickly. I about fainted at those three numbers. To make light of the moment, I pushed out my belly as far as it could go, pretending I was pregnant. Then when I realized that it looked more like I was 9 months pregnant than 2, the humor quickly vanished. How did I let this happen? Better yet, how am I going to fix this?

So once again, I'm at that all too familiar spot. Where I tell myself this time I'm going to be more serious and be proud of the body I have worked for. But the question remains, what will I do THIS time to make sure it happens? Why will this time work, unlike all the others? Do I need to start up P90X again? Do I need to plan out my diet and weeks worth of exercising? Schedules always work best for me, so that has to happen. What about my eating? How will I eat an apple instead of a slice of cheese or spoonful of peanut butter when the cravings hit? And what of my snack when I get home from work? How can I make sure I get something healthy, but also filling enough that I don't eat whatever is in sight, and don't stop until its all gone and my belly is full? It also must taste good, or I can forget it. Are the lean cuisines I have at lunch really that good for me? Should I be also having other meals that aren't so high in salt? And then there's the knee. So no running right now, but I need to definitely get spinning. I'd also like to get a bike soon, so I could possibly joing the guys training for ironman on the bike rides.

I have so much to figure out, that the solution isn't here yet. I will swim tonight and try to have a light dinner. I need to also stop eating desserts (well once a week is ok, but NO MORE!!). When you have a boyfriend with a HUGE sweet tooth, the temptations come even more frequently than before. Next time he bakes brownies, grab a banana. Or yogurt. Whatever I can. BE STRONG BRIAN!! That is what I have to remember. There is a goal I want to acheive, and always allowing a little bit of cheating turns into a complete waste of time. Snack a little bit here. A little bit there. Next thing that happens, I have lost my way and am eating an entire jar of peanut butter.

For now I will put together my diet and exercising and begin another try. I Have 7 1/2 months until I turn 35, and for a present to myself, I'd like to see how disciplined I can be. I'm 195 now. My goal will be 170. But more, I want to finally look at body in the mirror and be proud of something I worked hard for. It will be a great birthday present to surprise myself with. Because I can tell you for certain, I won't be expecting it.

Good luck, self! :-)

Update - Went to workout tonight. Knowing I was out of shape, I made the decision that my sole goal was to finish the workout without getting out early. Here it was:

LCM
600 w/u
8 x 50s - ez down / fast back
3 rounds of 5 X 100s on 1:45, 1-3 medium, 4 fast, 5 EZ
3 X 100s sculling
200 pull / 100 kick X 2
Total - 3400 meters

I felt really out of shape but just made sure I stayed motivated. My 3 fast 100s were 1:14, 1:12, 1:08. As always, the more I got warmed up, the faster I swam.

I have decided my swimming will me Monday nights, Wednesday mornings, Friday nights, Saturday mornings and Sunday mornings. I think I will spin on either Tuesday or Thursday (or maybe both). Then I need to incorporate P90X.

Sunday 9/30/07 - Still A Little Under The Weather

Yesterday I pretty much laid around the house since I wasn't feeling to well. I rested a lot and took some meds to prevent myself from getting any worse. When I woke up this morning, I felt a lot better so I decided it would be ok for me to swim. But 1/2 way through the workout, I really began to feel weak, so instead of pushing it any further, I decided to just pass 2000 yards and call it a day.

Here was the workout until I stopped:

500 yards
12 X 25s - forgot how we did them - 300 yards
12 X 75s - M, MF, F - 1:10, averaged 48s - 900 yards
200 kick
150 easy swim

During the 75s was when I felt somewhat weak. The 48s were not bad, but they were draining me a lot more than normal, which I knew was a sign that I had not recovered. So I decided to finish the set, get passed 2000 yards and get out.

This past week I was off in my training with company here. I hope to do better this week, but with me being in El Paso for 2 1/2 days and not being able to run, I'm at a loss. Maybe the hotel has a gym I can use.

Wednesday 9/27/07 - Short but sweet

So its been a week since I blogged, but training wise I have been ok. Diet and P90X have been put on hold until Drew's parents leave.

This morning's workout was fantastic. We didn't go far, but I produced some eye-popping times for my standards:

SCM pool

Each swim should get faster:
500 w/u breath every 5th - get 400 split - 500 was 7:33, 400 was 6:00ish
8 X 25s kick stream line
400 swim breath every 3rd - get 300 split - 400 was 5:25ish, 300 was 4:00ish
8 X 25s kick stream line
300 swim working on turns - get 200 split - 300 was 3:50, 200 was 2:30
8 X 25s swim working on streamline and hard kicking
200 swim fast - get 100 split - 200 was FAST 2:18, 100 was 1:09
8 X 25s swim working on streamline and hard kicking
100 swim all out - 1:04
200 cool down
Total - 2500 meters

This set produced fast 200s and 100s. After going a somewhat easy 2:30 for the 200 on my 300, I was thinking a 2:23 or 2:25 would be good. So when I came in at the 100 at 1:09, I knew something good could come out of it. I pushed the 2nd 100 as hard as I could to finish in 2:18. Seeing how I was on the wall for 1-2 seconds, I'd say a 2:16. That converts to a 2:01 SCY or a 2:19 LCM. Damn! That is really fast for me. The 25s after the 200 were basically just a recovery. I knew that with the 2:18, I could get under 1:05. But immediately when I pushed off the wall, I felt the 200's results. That first stroke made me want to stop. I internally cried real briefly. But then I told myelf its just over a minute of pain. As I was going down the first 25 I saw something to my right. "Oh great," I thought, "Drew wants to race." Of course that made me have to work even harder, thus ever more pain. We flipped even at the 25, but by the 50 I had began to take off. The next 50 I felt like a spaz just trying to get to the wall as soon as I could. I finished in 1:04, which is good as well. I was really happy with this mornings workout.

Wednesday 9/19/07 - Make It Hurt So Good!

After not working out yesterday (I worked over 10 hrs), I wanted to put in a good workout in the pool this morning. I can feel myself feeling better in the water since I have upped my swim workouts per week. Here was the workout:

W/U - 300 swim / 3 X 100s kick no board - 600 meters
6 X 50s on :60, descend by kicking harder - 300 meters
6 X 100s on 1:40 - nice and easy, working turns - 600 meters
Main Set:
4 X 50s on :60 (1-moderate;2-increase kick;3-increase kick even more;4-less kick but rapid turnover. Follow that by a 100 easy.
Do this 4 times through. R1 on :60, R2 on :50, R3 on :45 and R4 on :40.
150 cool down.

Total for workout - 2750 meters.

The main set was really good for me. I was able to produce low 30s for the 50s with just a little kick involved. My final broken 200 added up to 2:13, which I was pleased with. :34, :33, :34, :32.

Starting next week, I will be coaching Monday morning workouts. The morning coach wanted a break from the 5:30am schedule. Knowing I would be the only one who can help, I offered to switch. It really doesn't effect me much. Now I will be coaching when I swam in the mornings, and swimming when I coached in the evenings. Plus I'm sure Mr. Bixler will be happy to have another workout he can swim with me :-)

In other news. Drew's parents arrive from Georgia this Saturday for a week. It will be a fun and busy week. Aside from house upgrades, we are going to go wine tasting on the 28th and possibly the Aquarium on the 27th. I'm going to take both those days off, which I hope will be relaxing.

Monday 9/17/07 - The 9:15am Tired Wave

This morning's workout was good. The water was slightly cooler than normal, but still a warm 83 degrees. I woke up refreshed and ready to begin the week with a good head on my shoulders. Here was the workout

SCM
500 w/u - 500 meters
4 X 75s (BK/BR/FR) - 300 meters
main set
8 X 125s (FL/FL/BK/BR/FR, FL,BK,BK,BR,FR, etc) - 1000 meters
6 X 75s (25 kick hard / 50 swim EZ) - 450 meters

So this workout only totals 2250. I'm not sure if that is accurate. But hey, maybe it is. The main set was decent. I really need to work on getting my hips up more though.

Getting up at 4:55am on Monday and Wednesday morning for swimming has been great for working out, but boy do I feel the effects around 9:15am. Its funny, as its not only me. Kurt has said the same thing. So now I make sure I have an energy drink on those early mornings, ready to drink anytime between 8am and 9am.

Work is crazy right now, so I will cut my lunch short and get back to it. P90X is up next when I get home and then off to coaching. I will be back after that is all done!

Sunday 9/16/07 - The Domino Effect

Its funny how one thing can effect another and then another and then another. Up until a month ago I was going great. Running a few times a week. Diet wasn't too bad. Pretty consistent with the P90X training. Swimming at least twice a week. I had lost about 12 pounds and was down to my lowest in years of 178. Then I just fell apart. First it was my kitchen situation. The remodel took about a month longer than anticipated so eating better became a more difficult task. Then my knee starting giving me major problems. This resulted in me having to back off from my running and even some of the P90X training. Then I just began to eat worse and worse and hardly do any exercise. I even fell off my blogging. After reviewing past blogs I have found this to be a pattern. I am on top of my blogging when my life is more in order. When I'm eating better. Exercising better. Work is better. Homelife is better. But when I begin to sink, I fall apart.

I've gained all my weight back. But the kitchen is done. My knee is still messed up. But I'm ready for P90X again. Work is difficult. But I'm swimming with new found motivation. So here I go again. I'm ready to work hard and discipline myself. Even with the holiday season approaching, I'll be tough. I won't be mad if I choose poor diets occassionally, but its the bigger picture I need to focus on. Portions baby, PORTIONS.

Tomorrow it will begin. Morning workout. Better eating. P90X after work. Then coaching. Sounds like a lot, but its what works for me. I need planning. I need a schedule. If I don't have one, I get lazy.

If all works out well, you all should be hearing a lot more from me. If not, well, then most likely you all can draw your own conclusions.

Tootles!

Saturday 9/1/07 Bye Bye Bye!!

I have finally come to terms with what I knew would be. My knee decided it wouldn't have anymore to do with this crazy marathon training. The pain has gotten to be so bad, that last week I was only able to run less than 2 minutes. "Why me?" I would ask. I don't get injured. But I'm no teenager anymore. I made the decision today to forgo (sp?) the marathon. I need to rest my knee and let it heal. Instead, I will test it out in a few weeks, and if its better, then I will run the LB 1/2 Marathon instead.

Here was this morning's swim workout:

500 w/u
4 X 100s - skull/catchup/fingertip/drill - 400 yards
200 easy

Main Set
1600 IM as following nonstop:
100 fly
200 back
300 breast
400 free
300 breast
200 back
100 fly = 1600 yards

100 EZ

4 X 100s as followed:
25 fast / 75 EZ
50 fast / 50 EZ
75 fast / 25 EZ
100 fast = 400 yards

1000 pull.

200 cool down

Total - 4400 yards.

Good workout. I was glad to go over 4000 yards. With runnning on hiatus, I'm going to really focus on my swimming. Workouts have been shitty lately and I am having no energy at the end, which in return gets my butt kicked!

the 1600 IM was fun but with the hot weather, it was tough. The 100s were decent, as I got my final 100 down to a 57. The 1000 pull was just mindless swimming which was nice. I enjoy long pull sets where I can zone out.

Wednesday 8/22/07 - Felt Like Mush In The Water

This morning was a tough workout to do. I didn't feel good in the water at all and have to fight to stay alive. Kurt was swimming next to me, and working it pretty hard, so that helped me. Here was the workout:

SCM Pool:

W/U
400 swim
200 kick
400 pull

6 X 100s - alternate IM with back per 100 on 1:40

Pull set:
9 X 150s - 3 on 2:15, 3 on 2:05, 3 on 1:55

150 C/D.
Total - 3,100 meters

The IMs were tough which was a sign of things to come. Kurt was working the fly and back. Normally I am slightly ahead of him at the fly and we turn even or close at back. This time around he was even at the fly and ahead at back. This forced me to work the breast and surprisingly my swims were strong. I was able to get ahead of him and extend on free. My times though weren't that great. My IMs were 1:28, 1:23, 1:19. My backs were around 1:25s I think. The water was hot like always and wavey, but I got a good workout it. I really struggled.

The pull set was also not clicking. On the first round of 3, I went 1:53 (realizing too fast), then 1:57, 1:58. For the second round on 2:05, I went 1:53 - 1:55 on them. The final round I went 1:47, 1:50, 1:51. I had nothing but was surprised I only did a 1:51 on the last one.

It was a tough workout, but I did leave feeling I worked it hard.

Sunday 8/19/07 - Rollercoaster of Life

The world goes so fast some time. 7 years ago last week my father passed away. It was, by far, the worst day of my entire life. For 7 years now I have relived that night over and over in my end, most of the time resulting in me sobbing uncontrollably.

Peter Carl Kremers was 55 years old when he was diagnosed with cancer. A smoker since his early twenties, he had tried numerous times to quit. His parents smoked. His family smoked. His in-laws smoked. Everyone smoked. How does one quit when it is everwhere around him? Like everyone else, he thought he was invincible, so when the cancer appeared so early on in his life, it was a major blow. But like everything else in his life, he was confident he would beat it, or at least survive it.

After about 9 months, we were told he had Phase 4 (or 3?) of cancer. Viki Welling, one of my parents best friends was a nurse and knew what this meant. No one really defeats cancer at this point. But my father felt he could. But sadly, the cancer began to spread to his lungs and lymphnodes. He was confined to a wheelchair. My father was an outdoorsman. He loved hunting, golfing, swimming, camping, nature, etc. The list goes on and on. So to be confined to a wheelchair couldn't have helped his state of mind.

About a month later, things got so bad, he needed to go to the hospital in La Jolla. At first they had him sharing a room, but our family would have nothing to do with that. Within a few hours, my father had a private room in the corner of the hospital with a few of the golf course and water. I took a few days off from work and stayed with my mother. The second day he was there, the doctor took the three of us into a room (my brother as well) and said it was time to make a major decision. "Peter isn't getting any better. We need you to make a decision on how you want the hospital to react if he needs to go onto life support. Do you want us to keep him on it, or let him go?" This threw my mother into a crying hysteria. I wasn't much better but knew we had to make a decision. Of course I wanted him around as long as we could, but deep down I knew what the decision should be. We jointly decided no life support.

After we met with the doctor, my brother and I each went into his room seperately to talk with my father. As I sat down next to him, I held his hand, and probably for the first time since I was a child, told him I loved him. It wasn't that I didn't love him before now, but we just never vocally said that phrase. Maybe since prior to 4 years ago I was a closetted gay man, that I thought saying those words would have been suicide and it would have "outed" me for sure. He looked at me and told me how proud he was. "Really?", I said. "Of course Brian, you're my son." Deep down I didn't feel like I was a man yet. I had so much more to learn. I wasn't ready to let go of the man put here to teach me. I began to cry uncontrollably. He said he loved me too and we just sat there and smiled.

The following day, the doctors told us that there was nothing they could do anymore for him. We decided then it would be best for him to come home and enjoy his last days in the house he purchased with his success in life with the friends and family he loves. We set up hospice and my brother and I along with my mother and sister-in-law set up shifts to monitor him. We never wanted him alone for even one second. The first few days on my watch I would sit with my father and watch his favorite movies or I would just listen to him snore as he slept.

On day 3, my watch was from the later evening to early morning, or something like that. At about 11pm, my father asked me to help him get up so he could go to the bathroom. After he was done, we went back to his bed, and I got him settled. About an hour later, his breathing began to worsen and worsen. I screamed for my mother and brother to come down. We all knew something was wrong. We were all hysterical, not knowing what to do.

"Breath Peter!!", my mother yelled. He looked at her, and took a long deep breath. Then his breathing stopped and we all knew what was about to come.

"Breath DAD!!", Mark (my brother) screamed. My father turned to him and took another long deep breath, and then stopped again.

"BREATH DAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!", I cried outloud. He looked right up at me and took his longest breath of them all.

And then he was gone. What a magnificent man. Even until the end, he showed us how much he loved all of us. He took one last breath for each of us.

My father was my idol. He had so many friends. Everyone had kind words to say about him. He was a success in life. A successful businessman. A wonderful husband. An incredible father. A trustworthy friend. He had many best friends he kept throughout his life. His brother since the day he was born, Jess. His college roommate Dana. His best friend from San Jose, Brent Welling. My father was the life of the parties. He loved to flirt with the girls and drink with the boys. When I came out as as gay man, instead of freaking out and banning me from their lives, he instead took me out to his favorite bar and bought me a beer. He asked, "Do you feel better now?" "Yes, I feel like a piano has been taken off of me", I answered. "Good", he said. Privately, he took longer to adjust to my lifestyle, but never once let me know.

I miss you dad. I miss you more than ever now. Although I should remember the good times more, I can't erase your final night on the earth from my memory. It will haunt me forever. I need my dad. I still have more to ask. More to learn. Do we ever learn enough? How do I fix the sink? How do repair the tile on the floor? I need you to teach me more of the "man" things a boy learns from his father. I will always think of you as I am mowing the lawn. It was you who showed me my first way to mow. The first one to tell me which outdoor chores needed to be done. You taught me to ride a bike. You taught me to pee in the toilet. I am who I am, because of you. And I can't and will never have the opportunity to thank you enough for all you have given me.

RIP Peter Kremers 1944 - 2000

I love you dad.

Monday 8/6/07 - Back in the Saddle Again

After an exercise-enduced weekend combined with Dr. Tom returning to Monday morning coaching, I decided to focus more on swimming again. With the past few weeks motivation somewhat lost, I realized I need a balance of swimming, running, P90X, eating healthy and fun to make me feel good all around. The kitchen remodelling has hampered my diet. The travelling has hampered my swimming and P90X. Its not that I am laying blame, because we all know that if you really want to get something done, you will find a way. Instead I am just stating what has caused my detour!

This week Drew returns and we move forward with almost finishing up our kitchen remodelling. The final cabinets will be installed, the countertops placed, appliances arrive and will be installed and then all that will be left is for us to do the backsplash with Drew's father in September. So YEA! That means for the most part I will have a kitchen after Saturday. This will, in return help me eat better since I can cook again and have countertops!!

SCM Workout This morning:

4 X 200s -
1 - last 50 is fly
2 - 2nd to last 50 is fly
3 - 3rd to last 50 is fly
4 - first 50 is fly

5 Rounds of 2 X 100s
R1 - on 1:30
R2 - on 1:25
R3 - on 1:20
R4 - on 1:15
R5 - on 1:10

400 pull easy
4 X 100s pull on 1:25

Then something after this

The main set was good. Beginning with R3, I took 30 seconds rest in between each round. I went 1:15s on R3. On R4 I went 1:12 and 1:14. On R5 I went 1:07 and then 1:12. It was good to force myself to work these, especially since the times weren't that great, but the effort was there. My pulling I went 1:12s.

Saturday 8/4/07 - My Own Little 1/2 Ironman

First off, I am normally not this crazy, but I blame all this on Kurt. Scheduled this weekend was the Mission Viejo LCM swim meet. Also scheduled was our 13 mile run on Saturday. I wanted to do both, but at the same time, I really needed a day of no exercising and down time. After discussing with Kurt, we decided that we would just go balls out on Saturday and then leave Sunday for whatever we wanted to do independently. This meant the following:

7am - 13 mile run

11am - 7 events BACK TO BACK. Hardly any rest. We would do the following events in this order: 200 fly, 100 free, 100 back, 200 IM and 50 breast. Then we would follow it with the 4X100 Medley relay (me fly) and the finish with the 4X200 free.


13 MILE RUN

After last weekend's disasterous 17 mile run, I knew I had to make some serious changes. I made sure I drank lots of water the entire week, emphasizing even more on Friday night and Saturday before the run. I also had a decent meal (pasta with a light marinara sauce and some chicken). I went to bed early too. I woke up, had 2 glasses of water, a powerbar and a nutrigrain bar. I also purchased 4 new water bottles for my belt, and these were 10 ounces, instead of my standard 6. And to just go back to normal, I planned on taking GU instead of the cliff shot blocks or jelly beans.

When I arrived at the bluff at 6:45am, I saw the overcast in the sky, which brought a sense of relief. Last week the sun was out in full effect, draining whatever energy I had in my dehydrated body. Today's run I knew would be different. I was ready for the 13 mile deamon.

When we all took off, the stiffness in my legs once again sent signals to my brain asking me why I was doing this. This happens EVERY time I start running. The pain in my lower body just doesn't feel right. Its a mental barrier I need to get over. I know after mile 2 it will be fine, but that is 20+ minutes away, so unless I am up for the challenge, its a long and painful 20 minutes. JC and I took off for our run, watching the faster groups distance themselves from us. I looked at my watch and already saw I was struggling for the 11/mile pacing. "Oh great.. here we go again", I thought. I guess those days of 10:30/mile are all but in my past. After mile 2, my body began warming up and my running felt stronger. I was still just over 11/mile pacing, but whatever. I still had 11 more miles to run, so I didn't want to play any mind games with how slow I was. After reading on the internet about rehydrating every 20 minutes, I decided that with each 10 ounce water bottle (of gatorade) I had, that I would have 1/2 of it (5 oz) completed every 20 minutes. That means I would go through 3 out of the 4, plus 1/2 of the last one. It also meant that whenever needed I could fill up the empties with water.

Around mile 4 JC and I started picking up the pace. We were now going 10:30/mile. The overcast was blocking the sun from zapping our energy and I was loving every minute of it. We kept up the pace for the next 6 miles, and then some. I would randomly check my watch and saw instead of 10:30s, we were ranging anywhere from 9:50s to 10:20s. We reached 6 1/2 miles at 1:10:27. Finally, my old speed I had. If only I would have had this last week. But since last week was well... last week and its this week now, I'm glad I have it now! Around mile 10, JC needed a break and told me to keep on going. I kept the same pace, but didn't see a need to pick it up, although mentally I wanted to. I had to force myself to slow down to 10:20s and try and get as close to 10:30s. That is my pace and I need to keep that. There was no point in picking up the final 2 miles of running. As I saw the finish, I was happy that my energy level was high. I could totally keep up this pace for another 4 miles, and part of me wanted to. "I need more days like this", I thought to myself. As I crossed the 13 mile mark, I stopped my watch at 2:17.27. That meant I was out in 1:10, back in 1:07.

Now off to the pool.

I won't get into too much detail with the meet. My events were tough.

The 200 fly was the worst of them all. Since I haven't been swimming, why I entered a 200 fly, I have no clue. But I had to match Kurt being tough. He was doing it, so I had to do it. I took the first 100 out as easy as I could, but with fly, that is tough to do. Coming in to the first 100, the piano dropped. No way was I going to make it all the way back down and back. In order to not embarrass myself, I went into survival fly mode the third 50. Two swimmers past me and as I came to the wall, my teammates were cheering me on. "Oh fine, I'll go hard again", I said to myself. With only a 50 remaining, I knew I could get out of surivival mode and bring it home. The time was really slow, but hey, no worries.

The 100 free I still felt the 200 fly. I literally took a breath every stroke for the entire two laps. The time was a good workout time when I am in shape.

The 100 back I had no legs. I chose to use only arms the first lap, and legs the 2nd lap. I made it.

The 200 IM has always been a fun race. Although I knew my energy was almost all gone, I wanted to do something decent. I pretty much hadn't eaten since breakfast, but still went for it. It was fun and I had a good time with it. No need to mention times, since that's not what this meet is about.

50 breast felt good and I thought the time was good, but after seeing what Kurt and Ken went, I realized I was slow :-(

4 X 100 medley relay - I did the 100 fly. Take me home now. I am tired. I am hungry. I did the 100 fly.

I'm doing no exercise tomorrow aside from cleaning. Myself and Ally are going down to Irvine Spectrum to meet my mother for PF Changs for lunch and to see Bourne Ultimatum. I'm excited for yummy food and a good movie.

Tuesday - Friday 7/31 - 8/3/07 - Lots of mini workouts

Quick recap of the middle of the week.

I took Tuesday off. Work just got too busy and I decided to push my run out until tomorrow.

Swam on Wednesday. Still out of shape, but forced myself to swim so that I wouldn't embarrass myself at the Mission Viejo meet on Sunday. After work I was also able to complete the 6 miles of running which I was happy about, but I ran really slow. Averaged between 11 and 12 min miles, and I don't know why. I am beginning to feel like maybe that is what my speed has become now. Oh well. After the run I realized that I just want to enjoy the running. When that stops, then I stop running.


Thursday morning was P90X with Kurt. We did Chest/Shoulders/Biceps I think. My neck was bothering me, but I was able to get through it. I will put a heating pad on it tonight.

Friday morning was P90X with Kurt again. I only did 20 minutes because my neck really was in pain. I hope its nothing serious.

Monday 7/30/07 - Out of Shape!!

Tonight was a big wake up call that I have lost a lot of conditioning in just two or three weeks of slacking off. My focus had turned to running and P90X along with supporting Drew is his 1/2 Ironman, but due to that, my training in the pool suffered. Luckily this is my off season for swimming, so I'm ok with that. But after tonight, I realized that I don't like falling out of shape and having to build back into it. Luckily tonight was a mini taper for the meet this weekend.

Here was the workout:

LCM

500 w/u

7 X 200s - odds are smooth, evens are hard. All of them on 3:30 interval

400 kick.

200 cool down

Total - 2,500 meters

The 200s were rough. I felt tight and out of shape on all of them. The first hard one was an easy 2:33. Although it was easy, it was misleading, since I don't have the conditioning to keep on going. I really felt it on the 2nd hard one, and was only able to do a 2:38. The final hard one, I was able to go 2:29/2:30, but not without the piano dropping down on my back with 25 meters to go. I literally fell apart. It was not pretty. Swimming next to me was Mr. Bixler who did a fantastic job on the last one. I think he busted out a 2:26, which is really great. He seems to have good workouts when I am training next to him. I bet had I not been in the water he would have gone 2:30!! LOL. But hey, if I can help him train harder and faster, then that is great. He's been swimming well so hopefully we can get him to carry those swims over to competition.

Saturday 7/28/07 - 17 miles - YOWZERS!

17 miles. The farthest I have ran since LA Marathon 2006. Actually I ran 16.25 miles. I learned a lot today. This past week I really didn't run that much. On Tuesday in my attempt to run 6 miles, my legs, knees, feet, etc just weren't in the mood. Instead I got in about 2 miles or so of nothing. Thursday is my scheduled 3 mile run. But instead of going forward with that, I chose to rest my body in preparation for the 17 miles today. Was is a good idea? Sure why not. Yes its bad since I will not run much this week, but good since my body needs a recovery.

The first few miles started off like normal and I found my groove at 10:35/pacing. Slower then normal, but I beginning to be fine with that. My focus on this marathon has changed slightly. Originally the goal was to be around 4:30 maybe 4:40 and hold under 10:30/mile. But now, my body is not recovering like I would like it, and I am more sore. My feet. My knees. My shoulder. Yes I said my shoulder. So instead on a time for my goal, my primary goal is to just stay motivated, continue with my training and HAVE FUN. I see no point in doing this crazy journey if I'm not having fun. And today's run made me question my motives. Quite a few times I wanted to stop. I wasn't keeping my pace and that became frustrating. I was at the back of the pack, and that doesn't help out either. Being slow isn't that big of deal to me, but if I am not enjoying this, why do it? After analyzing my run more, I found the reasons. The biggest change that I need to work on is hydrating myself 7 days a week. I just don't drink enough water (as I now open my bottled water and take a few swigs!). My lack of hydrating the day/night before my long run and even the morning before I run is crucial. Today I paid a huge price for this error. I did some temporary damage to my kidneys, I think. Without getting into details, if you can figure out what I mean, then you know. If you can't, then tough. But the results made the rest of today very unenjoyable. (update - its Monday now and I am all better as I have been drinking tons of water) So I am not ready to give up yet on this run, but will now make this major change in my training. And its just good to hydrate every day for your general health anyway. My other adjustment that I need to make is my weekly runs. I need to be more consistent with them. 6 miles on Tuesday. 3 miles on Thursdays. Maybe throw in a Wednesday 3 miler every once in awhile. Its all great that I can go out and do a 17 mile run like that, but why not prepare better? There is still almost 10 miles to go if I want to finish the marathon. If its anything like today's run, I am doomed!

Before I close for the day, I 'd like to send a shout out to Ms. HotRunnin DigitalGlitter Girl - Amy. Welcome to the blog world.

Check out her blog here Amy's Blog, and also over on the right side of this page. LB Marathon will be her first marathon and I want to tell her that she's doing a great job and to keep it up!

Thursday 7/26/07 - My Poor Knees

It was bound to happen. My body has been pretty good to me. No real injuries, no soreness and the ability to just keep on truckin. That is until now. There was the potential. I heard the warnings. But I was invincible, or so I thought. First, in June my foot hurt. It still hurts. It will probably hurt for awhile, or at least until after the marathon once I can rest it and let it heal. Now its my knee, or I should say knees. Mainly my right knee, but the left one is sore. The last few days I am even walking funny because of the knee. I hope its not serious. My athletic brain won't let me stop though. I will take a break tonight, but will go for the 17 miles this Saturday. Last Saturday's 9 miles were fine. But Tuesday was a different story. I ached everywhere from the knee down. It was just a bad day. But to rest it and let it get better, I won't run until Saturday. I know it won't be enough, but its the best I will allow.

I did though, do P90X this morning. Chest/Shoulders/Arms was the workout. I think that was the official name. Its only the second time we have done this combination and I did a lot better than last week. I stayed focused for the most part and did hundreds of push-ups. But on the tough ones, like one arms and clapping, I humbled myself and did them on my knees. (funny since I just spoke about how my knees are hurting!). Doing them on my knees allowed me to continue the intesity of the workout. I was happy with my workout.

Last Friday I weighed in at 178. Its my all time low in over 10 years. I know I have gained back a lot due to me completely disregarding my diet over the weekend, so I am prepared to not get discouraged. Instead I will take the next week to get back down to 178 by Friday 8/3. Short term goal is 175 by Pistons. I think that is August 19th.

Wednesday 7/25/07 - Back In The Saddle Again

So I am finally back in the water. The last two weeks have been somewhat crazy. Dealing with the house, training for the marathon, dealing with swim team issues, trying to swim, bla bla bla. I have been running and swimming, but I have been busy and tired, that I just haven’t found the time to blog. So in order to keep this going, I am going to try and dedicate 10 minutes before I go to bed to blogging. Hopefully that will do the trick.

This morning I felt the consequences of not swimming since last Wednesday, which even back then wasn’t a good workout. Here it was:

SCM
500 w/u

R1 - 200, 2 X 100s, 4 X 50s, free on 1:30 base interval

R2 – 200, 2 X 100s, 4 X 50s, IM on 1:45 base interval

R3 - 200, 2 X 100s, 4 X 50s, free on 1:30 base interval

100 EZ

6 X 75s, 25 kick / 25 hard swim / 25 kick IM order

100 cool down

Total – 2,950 meters

R1 I started going. I went 2:40, 1:19s and :39s. I felt being out of shape, but could feel better with each swim. R2 I did IM and it felt good. I need to focus on some fly before the swim meet in a week and a half, since I’m doing a 200 fly LCM. I went 2:55, 1:25s and random for each 50 of stroke. R3 was free again, and my free felt better. 2:35, 1:17s and :38s.

Friday 7/13/07 - Timed 3000

42:13.78

Monday 7/9/07 - Feeling the fatigue

I'm tired. Plain and simple.

Sunday 7/8/07 - Farewell Giulianotti Family

SCY Workout:

500 w/u

12 X 25s S-M-F on :30

8 X 100s pull on 1:20, descend 1-4, 5-8.

8 X 50s drill down/build back

8 X 75s IM on 1:10

4 X 50s fly drills

500 half fly

Total 3300 yards



The pull set was solid. 1:15, 1:08, 1:04, 1:00 for both rounds. The 75s IM were tough but I worked them. I ranged from :53s to :59s ( I think ). The 500 fly was fun. But boy my shoulders got a workout.



After workout, I enjoyed a fun Grunion breakfast at Hof's Hut, returned my stretch cord and headed to San Diego. One of my best friends, Marc and his family (Elaine, Owen and Ryan) are moving to Florida. A swimming friend of Elaine's hosted a going away party for them, and in fear that I won't see them again for awhile, I really wanted to say good bye in person. Marc was my friend who I had the rematch back in April 2007 in the 200 IM. I have now known him since the summer of 1988, so 19 years. We became fast friends and always kept in touch, sometimes far less than other times. But one thing can be for sure. Ever since college, we both have called each other on our birthdays. His is April 1st, mine May 2nd. There were years that we hardly spoke, but I could always look forward to a call from Marc. 10 years ago he married the best possible person I could ever think of for him. Elaine is probably one of the coolest girls I have ever known. She keeps Marc in line, but at the same time, seeing them together is really something special.

About 4-5 years ago we both started to get back into swimming. Marc was already an incredible triathlete. It was then that he introduced me to the blogging world and I haven't really left it since. We would be each other's inspiration/motivation to keep on training, for whatever event we were going for. Two years ago, I met up with Marc, Elaine and their two beautiful children at the LB Marathon. Elaine (we'll call her Pea), was running the full marathon. As I waited at the finish line, I experienced that incredible rush runners say they get with doing marathons. I wanted to do one. I had always said I wanted to, but this time I was serious. I can honestly say, had Pea not ran the marathon, I wouldn't be running as much as I am now. That was the fall of 2005. I still hadn't really gotten to know Pea or their kids, but after that meeting, things changed. I got to see why Marc fell in love with this incredible woman. I really can't see Marc with anyone else.

I'm going to miss this family. Although they were in San Diego, and me in Long Beach, they were always 90 minutes away. Even if we didn't see each other too frequently, they always felt close. I wish them the best of luck out in Florida, and I know that they will all return soon to sunny Southern California.

Saturday 7/7/07 - 14 miles - Easy Breazy Cover Girl

This morning was my 14 mile run. This will officially be the farthest I have ran since completing the LA Marathon in March of 2006. We had a great turnout this morning. I think at least 15 people. Like every other run lately, 3 groups split up. Two in front of me, and then whomever runs with me. Today it was Drew. We decided to run 10:30 miles the entire time. And I have to say, it was the easiest 14 miles I have ever ran. The first three miles were tough, but after that, I got into the zone. Its great having my new watch, showing me my splits/pace/distance. Along with my ipod, running just takes me into a kind of euphoria. I can zone out and clear my mind of my problems and come up with ways to make my life better. I get ideas of things to do around the house, how to better my work, what to do for fun, and so forth.

I finished the 14 miles at 2:26:50. That puts me at an average of 10:29/mile. PERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRFECT!!!

We also did Shoulders and Back later on. Neither one of us wanted to do it, but we did.

Friday 7/6/07 - Why am I a prick sometimes?

OK so that isn't a great opener. But sometimes I am. I don't mean to be, and its part of my humor, but really, why? I like to joke. I like to make people laugh. I'm good at that, and it puts smiles on people's faces. I have a ton of friends, at times more than I can really handle, so I don't want to be unaware or unknowingly say something that makes me as a person seem uncaring. Sometimes, I feel my smart ass attitude just needs to go away. I say sarcastic statements that are meant only in humor, but at times I wonder if my friends don't always take it that way and become hurt or annoyed. Most friends are used to it so its not a big deal. But if I am feeling this way, there's a good chance others are. I know that its not something that is going to change instantly, but since I am trying to better myself physically, why not bit by bit better myself in other ways as well. There, now I have officially turned this into a diary. Ha!

Not much to report on for working out. We did Plyometrics this morning. I still was still down about my weight, but I kept on trucking.

Thursday 7/5/07 - Week 3 of P90X Begins

Week 3 begins of P90X. Things are going well, but my weight is fluctuating. I ate pretty crappy that past few days, so I understand why, but its still sometimes frustrating. I need to stop weighing myself everyday, but I can't stop it. Everyone says you should only weigh yourself once a week. I'm so obsessed, that just now, in the middle of the last sentence, I had to go weigh myself once more (since the today I ate like crap). Why do it? I just ate all this food, so of course I am weighing more. And then it gets me depressed! Ideally I should only weigh myself after my long runs on Saturday, because I know it will be low!

Anyway, enough about my weight. Today was Day 1 of Week 3. Chest and Back. I can really state that my chest is becoming tighter and better shaped. I used to have a decent chest, but with age and diet, it became flabby. I still have a ways to go, but so far so good. I was down because of my weight, so I had a hard time with motivation. I did what I could, but my heart wasn't in it like before. I need to turn frustration into a harder workout.

Wednesday 7/4/07 - Good times, bad (good) food!!

Ahhh 4th of July. Can't beat a national holiday, day off work and a day to relax. Although with my current life, relaxing has a whole new meaning. Knowing that with it being the holiday, I decided that I wasn't going to worry about what I was going to eat. So in order to make me feel better about it, I worked out hard in the morning.



I started the morning with an 8 mile run. There was a group of about 10 - 12 of us. Instead of doing our normal run direction, we headed in the other direction and ran part of the LB Marathon course. It was refreshing to go in a different direction but I just wasn't on. The group began to take off and JC and I stayed back. For the first 3 miles, I had trouble keeping our 10:30 pace and thought about only doing 6 total. Hey, it was supposed to be my rest day, so why not, right? But then my competitiveness kicked in and I had to keep going. At the same time, my body had warmed up and my pacing became easier and under 10:30s. In the end, my finshed pace was 10:39/mile, finishing in 1:25:25.

30 minutes later Kurt and I travelled down to the Belmont Pool to join Dr, Tom, Drew, Agnes and Anne for a swim workout. I forgot the total workout, but here are some sets I remember:

3 X 300s pull on 4:15.

My pulling was on fire. I went 3:11 on the first one and 3:13 on the second one. I was aiming for under 3:10 on #3, but a horrible cramp prevented me from completing it.

Also, the final set was 5 X 100s. 100 EZ, 75EZ 25 HARD, 50 EZ 50 HARD, 25 EZ 75 HARD, 100 HARD.

The last 100 I took the first 25 out hard but with no legs. Then I put my legs into it. That second 25, my legs felt so strong and fast. I turned at 28 high. As I pushed off for the third 25, I still felt strong and gave it everything I had coming back home. I finished in a 57. After a 8 mile run, I was stoked.

Swimming is going great. I just need to keep it up!

Personal life:

After working out twice I enjoyed a great breakfast and then worked around the house. Then Drew and I met up with Kurt, Steve, Bart, Don, HB Steve, Brian and Brian's friend. We had a nice relaxing 4th of July at the park listening to the LB Municipal Band play and eat appetizers and have cocktails. It was perfect. No real stress going anywhere. No big party. Just laying on the grass hills and enjoying life with good friends.

Here was my run:

Tuesday 7/3/07 - Kempo Power!!

Today was our first experience with Kempo. Its kickboxing, regular boxing, Taebo and yoga all rolled into one. Our trainer on the DVD started off fast and was doing combination after combination that I just got so confused. I felt so uncoordinated and wanted to stop, and sometimes I did. But midway through it becam easier to follow and I found my groove. Kempo began to be fun! The simulations of kicking someone, then jabbign someone else wehre great ways to release some aggression. I think next time though I should picture whomever pissed me off that week!

Afterwards Kurt and I did an easy 2 1/4 mile run. I was slow, but it was good to run. I need to eat better and work harder at the P90X. I feel like I can give more.

Monday 7/2/07 - Fly Boy Learned A Lot

5:30am morning workout.

SCM
w/u - 3 x 200 on 3:30 - nice and relaxed
8 X 25s - alternate fly undulatin drill and 1 arm fly
400 fly - do 4 good strokes then go easy free each 25
8 X 25s fly - all hips/core :40
8 X 150s pull on 2:05
4 X 75s breating 3-2-1 by 25.

I learned a lot today in the pool. First off, although I am a decent flyer, I'm a powerflyer. I'm all arms. That's fine for some, but learning to get my hips and core into the stroke will not only make swimming the stroke easier, but also more efficient and faster. It will take some time to make this stick, but I think I am on the right pass. Secondly, during the 150s pull, I was working them hard, going between 1:49s and 1:51s. On the final once, Dr. Tom asked me to try rotating more on my left side. I get emough on the right, since that is where I breath, but not as much on the left. Immediately, I felt faster though the water. I cam in an finished at 1:45. The effort wasn't all out, so that was even more promising. Getting more individual coaching attention from Tom is beginning to help. He's providing me more challenging intervals and helping me correct my stroke here and there. So if you're reading this time, THANK YOU!

Later on in the day we did Legs/Back/Abs. This is the day Kurt and I do our P90X workout seperately. Today was really hot so my body sweat a lot more. As for the workout, I feel I did better than last week. I don't work the calf exercises as hard as I can, but only because thanks to genetics, they look fine on their own. I use that time to fast forward becuse of most of the time (like today), getting this workout in after work and before coaching swimming is tough enough and time pressing.

Side note - Diet sucked last two days. Won't be shocked if I gain a pound or two.

Sunday 7/1 - Namaste

On today's schedule was my 7:30am swim workout and it was followed with something new to me, yoga. Swimming has been going well, but I need to try and get in more Friday swimming so that I am in the water 4 times a week and don't go more than 1 day with not swimming.

Here was the workout:

SCY
500 w/u
8 X 50s drill down/swim back = 400 yards
Main Set:
R1
4 X 25s on :30, paced :20s
4 X 50s on :45, paced :36s
4 X 75s on 1:00, paced :51s
R2
4 X 75s on 1:10, paced :56s
4 X 25s on :25, paced :17s
4 X 50s on :40, paced :31s
R3
4 X 50s on :50, paced :40s
4 X 75s on 1:05, paced :50s
4 X 25s on :20, paced :14s = 1800 yards

Kick set - 25 -50-75-100-75-50-25 = 400 yards
12 X 25s breating #1-2, #2-1, #3-0, then repeat until #12 = 300 yards
400 pull

4 X 50s w/d
Total - 4000 yards

I enjoy longer sets because my midpoint I can really start to feel the water better. R1 of the main set I was just getting started. The 75s hard were 51s. R2 I began to feel better. The 50s were 31s, but I feel that I should be 30s or better. R3 I was finally warmed up. My medium 75s were :50s or better. but with a lot less efford than the hard 75s in R1. The 25s hard were good too.

The rest of the workout wasn't too demanding. Kicking is probably where I need more discipline. I have never been a kicker, but I believe there is a difference between being a slower kicker and not working the kick set. Unfortunately, I think I have fallen out of the first one, and am now more comfortable in the second one. Hopefully by stating this outloud and on my blog will help me to realize that and switch my kick training.

Sunday continued with Yoga. I am not flexible and I have some issues doing it. But instead of just giving up on doing it, I will continue for the remaining 76 days of this program. Its only once a week for about an hour, so can I really complain??

Update on my P90X training. I'm dropping weight, my legs feel stronger (running helps too) and my arms look and feel bigger. Today I weighed 183. My weight goal for just under two weeks is 179. That date is Saturday July 14th. I know that as I get down in weight, it will become more of an issue to lose. As I lose fat and gain muscle, my perception of my weight will change, and it will be more what I see in the mirror.

Why am I so obsessed with this? I have no clue.

Satuday 6/30/07 - 10 mile run, Forerunner style!

Yea, I got my Garmin Forerunner 305 Watch. Its great for training, showing splits, monitory my heart rate and tracking my location via GPS. Here is a picture of it:


Just a quick entry today. Ran the 10 miles. Although the pace group is supposed to be 10:30s, they run 10:00s, sometimes even as low as 9:30s. I don't get it. It was during this run that I decided I need to focus on what I can do. I would like to be 10:15s, but 10:30s are ok too. My goal for LB Marathon is 4:30. Now actually if I go 4:40, I will be equally happy. 10:30s put me at 4:35:18. Here is a breakdown of paces:

9:30 - 4:09:05
9:45 - 4:15:38
10:00 - 4:22:11
10:15 - 4:28:5
10:30 - 4:35:18
10:45 - 4:41:5
11:00 - 4:48.24

So based on the above chart, I think a good goal would be 10:20s. But realistcally, a 10:45 pace something I will fall back on, depending on how my training is going.

For the run today, I did it around 10:05s I think. Below is my first official run with my new watch. See how it shows where I ran along with my pace and heart rate. There are many other screens it shows, but I picked this one to post. Based on my heart rate, I think the 170 average may be a little high. I am going to try and bring that down to the 160 range for my longer runs.
After my run, I met up with Kurt to do Shoulders/Arms/Abs. P90X is going well and the weight is coming down. I fear though that my diet will suffer for the next few days, so I can't get too frustrated. After July 4th, I will be back on track!

Fun and Uplifting Video

Here is a fun and uplifting video I got from my buddy Court:

Friday 6/29/07 - David Noyes' Killer Spin Class

This morning Kurt, Rich Saldana and myself joined our friend Nicole for our friend David's spin class at Frogs at LB State. He teaches a fantastic class and kicks our butt. I have done it once before and am now back for more. Every last Friday of each month, his spin class is 90 minutes long. Since the three of us were spinning for free though, we had the fear of being kicked off for members arriving late in all bikes were used. This morning came as close as we could all imagine. Nicely enough, David gave up his bike after 50 minutes and then continued to teach without one, just so neither one of us had to stop our spinning. He's so sweet!! :-)

After spin class I decided to weigh myself on the gym scale. 183. Yea! I know I need to stop weighing myself so frequently, but I can't help it. I am obsessed with losing my gut, reforming my body into something healthier and more visually attractive to myself.

My diet has been a great part of this as well. I still continue to treat myself when needed, but 80-85% of the time I am eating well.

Tonight I will swim. Going to pass on the timed 3000 that Kurt is doing, since I have decided once a month is good. I may do a long IM set. I was thinking. 100 IM. 200 free. 300 IM. 400 free. 500 IM. 500 free. 400 IM. 300 free. 200 IM. 100 free. That is 3000 meters. If I include a warm up of 600 meters and 400 of drills, that will put me at 4000 meters. We'll see.

Thursday 6/28/07 - Cabinets are alomst installed!! Yea!

Here are some pictures of where we stand on the kitchen remodelling. After the contractor finishes today, we have some touch-ups to do, then the countertops need to be made and installed, appliances installed, and some other items. I am thinking probably another month, or just over that.

As for working out, I did a quick 3 mile run before I met up with Kurt tonight. We started week #2 of P90X. Chest and Back for 55 minutes and 16 minutes of Ab Ripper. Things are going well for me. I started last week at 190 and I was 185 today. I know the first week always has a big drop so I'm not concerned I am losing too much. Now if I continue to lose 5 lbs per week, we have a problem!

Wednesday 6/27/07 - It hurts, but its so so good to swim hard

Great workout this morning. Here it was:

SCM
900 w/u - 100 kick / 100 pull / 100 swim (repeat until 900 meters)

Main Set:
Round 1 - 3 X 150s hard on 2:00 (1:54s)
4 X 50s recovery on 1:00
Round 2 - 3 X 150s negative split on 2:30 (1:52/53s)
4 X 50s recovery on 1:00
Round 3 - 3 X 150s descend each 50 in the 150 on 3:00 (1:52, 1:52, 1:45)
4 X 50s recovery on 1:00

Total - 2850 meters

Good workout given by Dr. Tom. The 2:00 base (1:20/100) for SCM is looking more and more like what I should be holding. Tom wants to see me do 20 X 100s on 1:20 eventually. Give me another month or two I think. Either way, I worked these hard. On Round 2, I negative split them, but with the extra rest I was able to go faster than R1. For R3, descending within each one along with more rest allowed me to go faster than all of them. On the final one, Tom wanted me around 1:47 I think. I went :37, :34, :33 I believe. Perfect. The pool was hot, but I think this time around it was because I WAS ON FIRE!!!! :-)

Tuesday 6/26/07 - 5:30am? I don't think so!

So I denied my body the opportunity to run 3 or 4 or 5 miles this morning at 5:30am. I woke up and along with just wanting another hour of sleep (it was 4:55am at this time), my foot was hurting. I decided that instead I would run after work.

What I forget to think about though, was that we had the contractor installing the kitchen cabinets and Drew had to go to his piano lesson, so I was only limited to 35+ mins of running. So I got in 3 miles. Wasn't too bad. Foot didn't hurt. But I iced it that night. I will continue to ice for 2 weeks.

Monday 6/27/07 - Keeping it strong

This morning I was back in the pool. I am doing my best to stay focused, with the goal for DC next year. Its 12 months away, so already applying so much hard work might be difficult. I don’t want to burn out, but at the same time, I don’t want to slack off. Its real motivating to produce some decent times in workout, or at least leave the workout knowing that I gave it my all and helped my progress to become a faster swimmer.

Here was the workout SCM:

600 warm up – every 3rd 25 – sculling

8 X 50s kick on 1:00

Main Set:
3 X 200s on 3:15 – descend – 3:00, 2:45, 2:28
3 X 150s on 2:30 – descend – 2:15, 2:00, 1:48
3 X 100s on 2:00 - descend - 1:30, 1:20, 1:07
3 X 50s on 1:00 - descend - :37, :33, :29

300 pull
Total - 2800 meters

My fast 200 was ok. I think I just didn't have that extra gear. The 150 was about the same, maybe a little better. My 100 was better, but only about a 1:00 for yards. Then my :29 was good.

Later on before I had to coach, I had to make sure I did my workout for P90X. Tonight was legs and back along with ab ripper. I was sort of rushed and only did about 85% of the workout, but it was better than nothing.

Sunday June 24th - Back in the water

So I didn't swim Thursday, didn't swim Friday and didn't swim Saturday. I like to try and not miss more than one day in a row with swimming, so on these occassions, I need to try and avoid. In the future, I think I will not give up my Friday swimmings, and just incorporate extra workouts.

Here was the workout from this morning SCY:

500 w/u = 500 yards

12 X 50s - descend 1-3,4-6, etc on :45 = 600 yards

4 rounds of 3 X 75s hard on 1:05 plus 25 sprint = 1000 yards

24 X 25s kick (S-M-F by 25) on :35 = 600 yards

12 X 50s on 1:00, #1 - 3 breaths total, #2 - 2 breaths, #3 - 1 breath, repeat for 12 50s = 600 yards

4 X 200s pull on 3:00, use last one as cool down = 800 yards

Total - 4100 yards

It was a good workout. The 50s descend I started getting back into the groove, but still used them as warmups. The 75s hard I was going betwen :48 and :50 and then sprinting the 25s. The kick set was murder on my legs, especially after that 13 mile run yesterday, but I still did them and didn't just do them 1/2 ass. The breathing set was fun and a challenge. 3 was easy, 2 had to get adjusted to and 1 breath was tough, but I did it. By the time I had gotten to round 3 though, I was in a rhythm so they became easier. On the very last one though, Kurt challenged me to ZERO breaths for the 50. I did it, but boy was it tough. I hope these exercises will help strenghten my lungs. The 200s pull were decent, but I could totally feel my arms from working out. I went around 2:10 on the first 2 and then on #3 I was on pace for under 2:10, but my pull buoy began to loosen up. By the time I was at the 150, it was literally at my ankles. I probably should have just stopped, but I didn't!

After workout I did some errands. Main errand was getting a yoga mat, stretch cord and push-up bars. I also ended up buying some running shorts and shirts, and spending over $200. Oh well. Things I needed.

I forgot to mention on Saturday I purchased a Garmin Forerunner 305 GPS watch with Heart Rate Monitor. I'm hoping to get it by Friday before my Saturday run.

Saturday June 23rd - 13 mile run day

Two weeks ago, I successfully ran 8 miles. Then I ran twice during the week, but missed our on the long run on last weekend. This past week I did get in 5 miles on Tuesday and 3 miles on Thursday. So with the 13 miles today, I felt that I was close to being prepared.

This morning we had a pretty large group. I would estimate about 13 or 14, possibly more. For me, that makes running more fun. Although I primarily like to run with my ipod and zone out, having friends around and going through the same journey make it just a tad easier (for me at least).

We began the group and split up into 2 groups. A 9:30 pace and a 10:15 pace. I fall into the 10:15 pace. Immediately when we took off though, I felt like I was struggling to keep up. I made sure I did, but I felt like my effor level was more than it should be. Kevin and I were the back and running along. He has been having some knee problems that won't seem to go away. It was even last year at the LA Marathon that he had to pull out due to it hurting. I believe I mentioned that in my marathon blog. Anyway, at mile 3, Kevin felt it was a good place for him to turn around so that he could finish at 6 miles. As he took off, this meant I had to pick up the pace a little bit more so that I was with everyone else. We then kept on going, approaching the bridge to go over to the Queen Mary. Boy did that hurt. On the way back I found out that we were averaging under 10 minute miles. HELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLO!?!?!?! OK this is why I felt that I was struggling a little bit to keep up. I was expecting 10:15 miles. OK no biggie, but at least now I know why I felt like I was applying more effort. I chose to keep with them, but not push it anymore. But then as we began to climb that bridge to head back on over, everyone began to take off from me. OK go ahead I thought. I need to focus on finishing these 13 miles.

After I got over the bridge, the group was about 10 seconds ahead of me. That was fine. They were within eye contact. I just kept on focusing and keeping my pace. About this time, I began to feel fatigued. Luckily Kurt had provided me a gu that I had taken just after I went over the bridge the first time. About 15 mins later, I finally felt it kicking in instead of that continual fatigue I was having. I kept on running, as my ipod played on. I was happy that my music was going strong with no boring music. With 3 miles to go, I was still going strong. I was going to be right around 2:12 I believed, which is about 10:15 pace. Last year I ran the 1/2 marathon in 2:11 and this year in 2:05. So to be around 2:12 is far better than I had planned. The last two miles were survival. Thank goodness for the weather though. It was overcast and never once was I feeling wiped out. But then it happened. I hit a song in my ipod that just didn't belong. This means though that I have 2 hours of non stop marathon music. Plus the two songs after the bad song (I don't want to say bad, more non-marathonic music), were great. I want to make sure come marathon day (October 14th), that I have minimum 5 hours of great music to keep me going.

I finished the 13 miles at 2:12:05. I'll take it. 13 miles down!

90 minutes later, I was back at Kurts for DAY 3 of P90X. Today we did Shoulder & Arms and another set of Ab Ripper. Here is what was said about Shoulder and Arms: This workout incorporates a potent combination of pressing, curling, and fly movements that will do wonders for the development of the deltoid muscles and the biceps and tricepts. We did chair dips, shoulder presses, curls, and others. Another great and hard workout. I can still feel my body aching in a good way. Followed up that 60 min workout with 16 mins of Abs.

What a workout day, and done by 12:30pm.

Friday June 21st - Day Two P90X Plyometrics

Met with Kurt this morning at 5:30am for our Plyometrics. Plyometrics is a cardio workout (some call it "the Beast"). The program offers over 30 EXPLOSIVE jumping moves. At 5:30 in the morning, you have to ready for something like this. AND I WAS!! GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR! :-). We did tons of different types of squats, kickings, circle runs, lunges, and jumps galore. I definitely need some shoes with better cushions!!

Decided to take Friday off from working out. Its rare that I do this, but it was nice to do. I will post my weekly schedule on Monday for the week.

13 miles of running tomorrow. That's over 2 hours of running, but its with a group, so that should be fun!! Wish me luck.

Thursday June 21 P90X POWER!!

So Kurt has fallen into the infomercial world and has sucked me into it. He has purchased some DVDs from BEACHBODY and the program is called P90X. Their slogan is, "Get Absolutely RIPPED in just 90 DAYS with P90X. This is what they say:

P90X is a revolutionary system of 12 sweat-inducing, muscle-pumping workouts, designed to transform your body from regular to ripped in just 90 days. You'll also receive a comprehensive 3-phase nutrition plan, specially designed supplement options, a detailed fitness guide, a calendar to track your progress, online peer support, and much more. Your personal trainer, Tony Horton, will keep you engaged every step of the way, and you won't believe your results!

Here is the linkP90X Website,

Why is P90X so effective?
The secret behind the P90X system is an advanced training technique called "Muscle Confusion," which accelerates the results process by constantly introducing new moves and routines so your body never plateaus, and you never get bored! Whether you want to get lean, bulk up, or just plain get ripped, there's an endless variety of ways to mix and match the routines to keep you motivated the full 90 days and beyond!

OK so sounds interesting, huh? I'm not one to fall for these things, but since Kurt was the one who purchased it, what do I have to lose? Its just a bunch of weight exercising, watching my diet and other things. So its not some quick fix in my eyes. If anything, I am getting my body back into muscular shape. I hardly ever do weights, so this will be good. Also, I have always wanted to get into yoga and have yet to succeed.

My Thursday after work began with a 30 min run. It was probably right about 3 miles. With my new shoes, everything was in order and it was a fun run at 5:30pm. Drew ran it to (at a faster pace and he had just biked and was already warmed up and ready to go).

After the run, I headed over to Kurt's for our 6:30pm Day 1 of P90X workout. Day 1 consisted of Chest & Back and the was followed up with Ab Ripper. Chest & Back is a 53 minute workout. It's all about pushing and pulling during this resistance workout. It offered 12 "dynamic" exercises to strengthen, tighten, tone and build the major muscles of the upper torso. The majority of these exercises were either push-ups or pull-ups. (most of what I just wrote was quoted from the book). After Chest & Back, we followed up with Ab Ripper for 16 minutes. Its a quick routine that hits all the areas of the midsection to burn the fat and tone the muscle, ranging from sit-ups to pilates moves. I was able to do most everything, but there were times I needed a break. Boy did I sweat!! It was a great workout (both) and I rewoke muscles I haven't worked in awhile. It's too early for me to tell you all out there if this works, but so far its good.

As I do these routines more and more, I will get into more details which ones I do and what I think works and doesn't, but for now, I need to learn more about this program. Kurt and I also did "before" pictures, that I and still debating if I will post. They are not that flattering so I am not sure I want to show them to the world. I'm no Valerie Bertinelli who wants to show the world! But we'll see. Maybe I will post a picture each month.

Wednesday June 20th

Swam this morning. Only got in about 1600 meters. Crazy work week and with a few meetings today, I wanted to get into work early. I made sure to work the 1600 that I did though.

Tuesday June 19th - Running wid da puppies!

Ya ya.. I wrote in ghetto. Or is it now called IM talk. Ugh. That is another thing. I hate these kids who IM or blog or comment on things with their own versions of how to spell words. Especially when they are only dropping one letter or even sometimes adding a letter just to spell their "slang". I am not referring to LOL or LMAO or BTW, as I can understand those, but you all have to know what I am talking about. Or better yet... let me give you a sample:

ya ya.. i rote n geto. or iz it now clld IM talk. Ugh. Tht iz anuther thing. I hate thez kidz who IM or blog or coment on things wid there own verzhun of how to spl wrds.

Okay enough of that. I ran this morning with Drew and the dogs. Right around 4 miles. Running at 5:30am isn't my normal cup of tea, but Drew likes it and its a way to spend some quiet time with each other and get the dogs some exercise.

I will also run on Thursday to prep me for the 13 mile run on Saturday. I am thinking around 5 or 6 miles on Thursday, but not sure what time or where.

Monday June 18th - Get into the Groove

This morning's workout was hard but good. In the beginning I just wasn't feeling it, but of course that is because its at 5:30am. Dr. Tom gives good workouts and this one I really enjoyed since the main set was a pull set. And I looooooooooooooove pulling.

Here it was:

Pool - SCM (Short Course Meters)

300 swim
200 kick
300 pull - warm-up

4 X 100s on 1:40 - descend

Main Set:
5 X 300s pull on 4:00

6 X 50s IM order by 25.

100 cool down
Total - 3,100 meters

The 100s descend were a good additional warm up. I went 1:28, 1:23, 1:17 and then 1:10. They were solid swims, nothing all out.

The main set was fun and painful. I went 3:37, 3:40, 3:41, 3:41 then 3:35. This is one of the workouts I discussed earlier that since sometimes we only have a few of us, I was able to step up the interval and do it on my own.

I need to feel more pain. Work harder. Swim farther. I need to see what I can really do. The swim season of 2007-2008 will be my test. The final..... Washington D.C., June 2008. IGLA. Do you dare to race me? Bring it!

Saturday June 16th - Old friends and salty water

This morning I drove down to Camp Pendleton to see two old friends from mine that I have now known for about 23 years now. Inga and Ericka Keithly. I wasn't sure if I was going to see Ericka, as she was on call at the hospital, so the visit was mainly to see Inga. Inga and I were Junior Homecoming Dates back in 1989 and also swam together on Blue Fins Swim Team (so did Ericka). I got to meet Inga and her boyfriend/fiance Jason along with all their friends doing the mud run. Oh boy what a place to go if you want to see perfectly chisled men. Ay yi yi. ANYWAY. Ericka eventually showed up too and I was able to spend some quality but way too brief amount of time with both Inga and Ericka. I can only hope that maybe during the holidays we can all get together and have dinner sometime. Here is a picture of the girls and me. As always, I don't take the best pictures, but the girls look fantastic:

After hanging with the girls, I headed back up to Long Beach. Since I had missed my normal Saturday long run and also the swim practice, I met up with our open water swim team and did about 0.8 miles in the ocean. I try and try to enjoy it, but its just not for me. I get dizzy having to look around and don't like the taste. I end up spitting out water for an hour after I get out. The fun part of it though was the casual swimming with friends on the team, which is the only reason for why I would do it again. That and since it wasn't wavey.

That evening, our good friends Chris and Jeff had their bachelor party to celebrate their soon to be domestic partnership. It was really fun. I will just post one picture that won't be too controversial (like the penis cake):

Friday June 15th - Timed 3000 Round 1

Tonight Kurt and I decided to start our rounds of timed 3000 meters. My foot has still been hurting me, so I wasn't too sure how the water would be on it. When I dove it, my stomach/abs were SOO sore. I had forgotten how hard we worked our abs yesterday. OH BOY! We did a 500 warm up and then got ready for our timed 3000.

I started off the 3000 feeling strong and holding right around 1:25s (LCM) per 100. Immediately, I calculated that this pace would place me right at 42:30. At the 800 mark, I flipped exactly at 11:20, so I was holding strong. By the 1000 though, my foot was really beginning to cause me pain, so I quickly transitioned into pulling. For the next 1000 though I picked up the pace (due to pulling). I think I averaged closer to 1:23s. So at the 2000 mark I was at 28:00 exactly. 20 seconds faster than pace. First 1000 - 14:10, Second 1000 - 13:50. By the 2000 I felt that I needed to let go of pulling and see if I could survive the final 1000 without pulling. Mentally knowing that I only had 1000 left, I took off. Around 2600 or so, I lapped Kurt for the second time, giving me an extra boost and somehow I found some extra ooomph. I finished the time in 41:58.90, meaning my final 1000 was 13:38. That put my final 1000 at a 1:23 high pace, and to finish the race with a complete average of 1:23.9.

I think this was a good first timed 3000. I may try and do this once a month, with the ultimate goal to be under 41 minutes. That is averaging 1:22/100 which I don't think is too bad. Now that I see that 100 pace, maybe 1:21 or even 1:20 is a better goal? What do you think?

Kitchen Demolishing

Here are some pictures now of our kitchen with no more cabinets or appliances after the demo yesterday:

Thursday June 14th - Sweaty Mess at Gold's Gym

Today's workout at Gold's was a whole lot of sweatin! I met up with Kurt at 5:30pm to do our 60 minutes of spinning. We followed it up with 15/20 mins of Dara's ab workout. Boy did that hurt. Then we followed that up with 2 miles of running.



For the run, I was worried about my foot, as it was still sore. I will start icing it tonight and try to do it a few times a day. As for the two mile run though, it didn't hurt at all. I am really hoping that it gets better by Sunday, as that is when I will run around 8 miles. I love it how 2 years ago, 8 miles was crazy, now its just like .... "hey... let's go run 8 miles".

New Shoes

NewBalance 857. Let's hope these do the trick with my feet

Wednesday June 13th - Back to the Basics / Training

IGLA 2007, Paris has come and gone. I swam really well and enjoyed my week hiatus in Italy. Now its time for my next journey in my athletic life for 2007-2008. There are a few journies within the yearly journey.

1) - Long Beach Marathon - Sunday, October 14th.

I have already done two 1/2 marathons (HB in 2006 and 2007) and 1 marathon (LA 2006), so running isn't as new a sport to me anymore. Each time I run a race, I get better and better, as my body learns this new sport. Running is a very humbling act for me, since up until 3 years ago, the farthest I had ran was probably 2 or 3 miles. I am by no means as fast runner, or even moderately fast. But thanks to my athletic background, I am also not one of the slow ones either. The sport of running embraces me more and more as I do it. I am lucky to live close to the beach that a lot of my runs are along or around the harbor or ocean. With my ipod and my thoughts, I ride off of my endorphins and enjoy life. The first 2 miles are always rocky for me, but then after that I feel as though I can run forever. Shoreline Village in downtown Long Beach is so fun to run around with the water as the background.

My first 1/2 marathon I ran in February 2006, I ran right around 2:11:11. The first half of the race I averaged 10:30/mile, and the second half was around 9:30/mile. That put my race at 10:00/mile. You can read about it here: HB 1/2 Marathon 2006,

I followed up this race with the LA Marathon the next month. I ran with Drew, JC and Kevin all together, which made the experience a lot of fun. We did the race strategy of 6 mins of running / 1 min of walking the entire time. Its not my preference, but for this marathon, I wanted it to be fun and be with friends. I finished around 5:09:00, accomplishing my goal of finishing, but short of my goal of being under 5 hours. I was certain I had blogged my experience, but I can't find a record of it. I will search further later on.

Then I pretty much didn't run after that. In November, Drew talked me into signing up for the HB 1/2 Marathon again. I began to train for that half-ass in December, running probably on average once a week, doing no more than 3 or 4 miles. Ya I know, not great training. Drew eventually withdrew from the race since he injured himself, thus leaving me by myself. Well not so much by myself, as I had other friends run it. I ran great and went 2:05, thus dropping my time from last year with hardly any training. You can read about my race here: HB 1/2 Marathon 2007,


So here I am again. Not sure why I signed up to do the marathon, but I did. So here we go. I purchased new running shoes yesterday to get me through this round. They feel a lot better than my other shoes did, so I am excited. My plan is to run 3 times a week, doing roughly 3 or 4 miles on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and then my long runs with a group on Saturdays. The group is already up to 11 miles on Saturday, which I am not. As I stated in an earlier blog, I ran 8 miles on Saturday, which was probably too much. I will probably repeat the 8 miles again this Saturday or Sunday and then join back up with the group in a week.

2) IGLA 2008 - Washington D.C.

This is my other journey. The one I love more. Its swimming. I have set my goal times for next year and am now focusing on training even harder this year and working on the little things.

Taken from my kick-ass runner pal Elaine, I will state what I am happy of from this year and things I need to work on for next year:

Things I am happy about :
- Stepping up and doing the 200 fly at IGLA
- Working more consistently hard leading up to IGLA
- Focusing on my butterfly more
- All my performances at IGLA, especially the 800 free in the final heat

This I need to work on:
- More butterfly training - higher hips, more drills, entering the 200 fly in more meets
- Flip turns, focusing on streamlining off the wall and not breathing first thing. This is the PRIMARY focus. Try to avoid popping right up.
- Endurance races, I need to enter more of them in little meets. I also need to use Friday nights to create my own workouts for me.
- Take advantage when I can get my own lane to do faster intervals that others cannot. This morning was a perfect chance.

Wednesday June 13th - AM Swimming

This morning's workout was good. I had a lane to myself, so I could go at my own speed.

Pool - SCM -

10 X 25s warm up
Main Set :
50 (slow/medium)
100 (slow/medium/fast/slow)
150 (slow/medium/fast/slow/medium/fast)
100 (slow/medium/fast/slow)
50 (medium/fast)
Do this set 3 times through
8 X 100s pull on 1:20.
100 cool down
Total - 2,900 meters

The main set was good. Slow interval but I used this time to make sure I worked on all my turns. I will probably say that about 90% of my turns were on. I just need to keep it up. The pull set was great. I averaged 1:11s, just getting into a rhythm.

Tuesday June 12th - GOLD'S GYM WELCOMES BACK BRIAN

Tonight I returned to the gym. I have decided to not just rely on running and swimming and spinning to shape my body. I think weights are a key ingredient. I forgot tonight, but for future gym attendences, I will also work on key core exercises for my swimming.

Tuesday nights will be my gym workouts with my buddy, Mike. He is currently taking a break from swimming and dedicating himself to become a 4 day / week gym bunny! Tonight was back and biceps. Boy its been awhile. We ended up doing weights for just over an hour. I went a little lighter on weights since I am just gradually getting back into it and want to be able to lift my arms tomorrow.

After weights, our plan was to run for 30 mins (or 3 miles). My foot was still hurting me just slightly, so I didn't want to over do it. I decided to run 2 miles instead and walk another 1/3 of a mile. Although I could have ran at a faster pace, I chose 5.8 which is 10:20 mins/mile.

Also, at lunch today, I bought my new running shoes that will take me to my first ever marathon under 5 hours. Well actually I am hoping it takes me to something more like 4:40. They are NewBalance 857. Let's hope these do the trick with my feet. Here is a picture of them:

Monday June 11th - So so tired

Morning workouts. So so tired. In reality though, I think I am still trying to recover from jet lag. Let's hope so.

Here was the workout at 5:30am:

SCM -

6 X 100s warm up
Main Set:
4 X 50s drill - 10 secs rest
4 X 100s (25 stroke / 75 free) - 2:00
300 swim
Do this set 2 times.

My fly felt great. The 100s were fun. I averaged around 1:20 on round 1, and 1:15/1:17s round 2. I decided to work the last 300 of the workout with the goal of being under a 5:00 400 free SCM pace. I was successful as I came in a 3:41.

Sunday June 10th - OUCH MY FOOT.. OUCH MY LEGS

OK so now that run is killing me. I am more concerned about my foot. I have old running shoes from last year that I need to replace. They say one should replace their shoes every year or every 9 months. I am way past due and my foot paid the price. I think its just badly bruised and should be fine in a few days.

My legs are also killing me, but I expected that. Long runs + No previous runs = SORE SORE LEGS. I should be fine by Wednesday.

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Drew and I are remodeling our kitchen through Lowe's. Today we spent 5 hours boxing up our kitchen (my legs got a workout). This coming Thursday Lowe's will come out and demo the kitchen and then go from there. Here is a picture of our kitchen pre-demo. As you can see, we have blue cabinets. One is either a fan of them or not at all. :