Insanity

So, I started planning my athletic schedule for the summer. I had hopes of doing a series of races, but other things have come up on weekends, so I'm taking registration a bit slower than norm. Because, really, if I have to pick between the mental sweat of competition and sitting at a bar with my buddies in some distant land (Michigan, Toronto, possibly Seattle, St. Croix, D.C., etc.) the friends are gonna win every time. And I can still sweat -- I just don't have to compete on those trips. :-) But open water swimming with Robin in the Caribbean would be a personal dream.

To be fair, Seattle in June may very well be a meet up with a friend from D.C. around an athletic event, but we'll see if she does that Rock N' Roll Marathon or if she does the San Diego one.

Right now I'm registered to participate in:
Feb. 6 (Charleston, IL) Mid-winter Classic 10k
Feb. 20 (Danville, IL) 8th Annual Fat Ass (but I'm doing the Baby Ass) 3.29 miles
March 13 (Champaign, IL) Earth Wind and Fire 5k
April 3 (Rockford, IL) Arny Johnson Run for Habitat for Humanity 10-miler (!!!)
May 1 (Champaign/IL) Illinois Marathon Relay (my portion should be around a 10k)
August 14 (Toronto Island, Ontario) Try-a-Tri

My college friend Andie is starting on her improved fitness journey this year. She wants to do a 5k with me, so I'm looking for one in Bloomington or Peoria to do with her.

Special K and I tried running at the armory for the first time last weekend. It's easier than the Rec Center because the track is bigger, but holy moly it's boring. At least it's warm and has a clean place to pee, which is more than I can say for outdoor runs.

I joined the Urbana Aquatic Center. I've been twice, and so far I'm enjoying it. The first 10 minutes of my workout, I feel completely uncomfortable. And then suddenly my body gets into a groove and goes. Although I did my swim workout today after I did a cycling workout. My triathlon training manual calls this a brick workout. I'm sure they mean for it to happen RIGHT after the other workout, but um, I needed a morning snack and to pay some bills. So I was on a bike from 9-9:45 a.m. and then in the pool form 11:50 until 12:30. I'm pretty sure it's called Brick because it's like you're smacking into a wall. I ended up doing a lot of pulley work in the pool today because my legs were a bit jelly from my 12-mile bike ride that morning. But it's good for them. It means that when I get to August, they'll be more used to the workout and I'll (hopefully) have built up their endurance.

In other news, I fell off the eating wagon hard last week. And by hard, I mean, I reached my lowest weight ever and decided to have a good time and then got my period two hours after weigh in. I've always looked at women who complained about gaining 2 lbs as being insane because some months when I get my period the water weight is a lot more than 2 lbs. For example, this week -- I gained 8 lbs in a week. We traveled for 4 days, so there was a bit of a hail mary pass there. And now I know... I can't throw the ball the week before my period and still run down the field, catch it and score a touch down. Go figure -- turns out I'm not a "super."

So, another good side effect of the brick workout -- I burned just about 700 calories today at my "goal" weight multiplier. I expect to reach that number on most days of the week from now on since I'm training for things.