There's a first time for everything

Last week threw me for quite a loop...bigger than I expected. To start, work was ridiculously INSANE. We had 1 of our 3 "big visits" in our store (from the President of Stores for Boomingdale's) which means 12-15 hour days and no sleep for me. Those two factors then contributed to my eating with reckless abandon and zero workouts for 4 days in a row. Not pretty! If there were a race for gaining weight fast, I would be a formidable competitor. Needless to say, I was really looking forward to getting back on track this weekend. And getting back "on track" was exactly what I did.

Friday night, Matt and I got ourselves to the pool. We had the place to ourselves. We swam about 25oom and it felt good to be there...hairballs and all. At least there was hot water in the showers! Saturday I went to intensati in the morning while Matt & Todd met for their run. Aahh...how I love my sati. It truly helps me focus and inspired. I missed Esther, though. :-( Then I met Maija in the afternoon for my first go at a track workout. I have to say that I was a bit apprehensive. After all, the only time I have actually run around a track was back in high school for the thrower's mile relay! Luckily, I had Maija there. She is so supportive and a very patient coach! We did 800 easy warm up and then began the set of 5x 800 (at 5kpace for me) with easy recovery 800 in between each. (Maija - Are they called "sets" in track like they are in swimming?) I was able to hang in at approx an 8:15ish race pace for 3x 800. Better than I had anticipated! Then we stopped to do some stretching for my old lady sciatica and Maija's IT band which were giving us grief. After that, we decided to call it so as not to risk further injury. Maija showed me some basic running drills...proper butt kicks, skips, grapevines and something where I had to leap like a deer! All good stuff for me to work on my technique, which I currently have none of. Shawn - I did see the sand pit and thought of you! I couldn't find the shot put circle though. Maybe later in the spring! I still have my shot put in a box in the basement. Maybe I'll be inspired to dust it off and give it a toss! Matt joined us to get some practice on the camera for the upcoming race season. Here are a few shots of my first ever track workout:


The start of the workout.


Enjoying my day in the sun!



Coach Maija teaching me some technique drills.


Sunday was truly a day of rest at the Carlson house this morning. We decided not to set an alarm and just sleep....until 9:30! Sleep is a good thing! Today was my inaugural ride with my new aerobars! Woo-Hoo! Matt was kind enough to get them on my bike for this afternoon's ride. Matt got a few pics in the Y parking lot to mark the occasion. I was a bit wobbly at first, but soon got the hang of them. A few adjustments need to be made and some more practice, but it felt good to ride with them. I felt fast!! Despite my numb feet/arms due to the cold & wind, Matt and I got in 28.6miles, pretty easy with a few rolling hills. I hit 30mph on a couple downhills. Maybe I'm finally getting past my fear of going fast? Not sure what my average speed was for the total ride. After the bike, we had planned on doing a short recovery swim. We walked into the pool and found every lane full, so we left and went to Starbucks instead! Much better in my opinion! :-)


First ride with aerobars!