Anything you can do I can do better…

Anything you can do I can do better…

28 February 2012

Ok, it is more like anything you complain about I can complain bigger! I have known someone like this for YEARS!!!!! The sad thing is his complaints are nothing! Well, they might seem to be the end of the world for him, but to me they are nothing but petty histrionics! Going around on Facebook.com lately is a cancer thing…

Stupid cancer… Some of us want a new house… A new car… A new mobile phone… To lose weight… But someone battling cancer wants just one thing, to win the battle.  97% of my friends won’t re-post this, but 3% will.  Let’s see who does. Please re-post this in honor of someone who lost their battle, or for someone fighting now.

A friend made a comment that got me to thinking. 

“Some of us want a new house” just reading over this you would think someone is being selfish, but the thought that the people who want a new house includes people who live in houses that could fall apart at any moment or even worse, they don’t even have a house to begin with.

“A new car” Ya know, public transportation in most places in this country SUCK!!!!! And try dragging a couple of kids on the bus to go grocery shopping or get to the ER at 2 o’clock in the morning, I am not saying that cars are an esential part of life, but for some they are a neccessaty. 

“A new phone” yea, I got nothing!

“To lose weight” it is funny how our health directly relates to our weight.  I am not sure how losing weight is considered shallow. 

Way back in 1988 I lost my grandfather to brain cancer, in 2000 I lost my uncle to esphogus cancer.  I have no idea what they went through.

I have a close friend who has lost two of her fur babies to cancer.  Losing a fur child of my own to kidney failure I understand to a degree how she felt watching her sweet babies fight the battle of their lives and eventually cross the rainbow bridge.  I know “but they are only dogs”.

What about military spouses?  Kissing their loved ones good bye for God only knows how long and praying and hoping their significant other comes home alive and safe. 

There are so many issues and not everyone is as strong as everyone else.  I realize I bitch and moan when I have bad days, but I am actually greatful.  I have found out just how strong my support system is and who all is in it.  I have discovered just how strong I, myself, am.  I have learned to not only look at life in a whole different light but to enjoy every minute as much as possible. 

Don’t get me wrong, I support cancer research whole heartedly.  The more diseases and illnesses we find the cure for, the better!

~If you hear that someone is speaking ill of you, instead of trying to defend yourself you should say: "He obviously does not know me very well, since there are so many other faults he could have mentioned"~

Excuses!

21 February 2012.

As a mom of two preteen boys I am pretty sure I have heard every excuse in the book.  When I comes to training however there are a whole slew of excuses that I am sure we have all tried at some point in time.  Today my list of excuses are pretty good one and sadly they are legitimate.

1.     I am tired

2.    My back hurts

3.    I have an ear infection

4.    I have a head cold

5.    My knees are pissy

6.    My goggles leak

7.    …

There will always be reasons why something can’t be done.  It takes true strength and determination to realize when they are just excuses and when they are reasons to take a day off. 

As for me today…

I’m tired. Really? It doesn’t matter what I do, I am always tired, it is a fact of life. It doesn’t matter if I stay in bed all day or go to the gym so I might as well go to the gym and be happy and tired!

My back hurts.  Ok, so don’t do something that makes it mad. Luckily I have found that spin class has no effect on my back.  Yea, my butt hurts but it was an awesome class. Some part of my body is always hurting, I have to decide what controls my life. 

I have an ear infection.  Ummmm, I am on antibiotics and there is a whole heck of a lot I can do about it.  When I am in the pool I wear ear plugs anyway. NEXT!

I have a head cold.  Ok, so bring tissues and make sure all the equipment is wiped down when done! Not hard.

My knees are pissy.  See above under my lower back hurts. 

My goggles leak.  I wanted to spend some time in the pool today.  Ok, so I only swam 100 meetings, but I wasn’t ready to get out.  So I kicked for a bit and when my knee informed me that was enough I stayed in the pool and ran for a while.

There will always be excuses and reasons not to train, and it takes a strong person to understand when it is an excuse that can (and most likely should be) be worked through. 

There is a quote I remind myself of when I am having rough days… I might have lupus. But it doesn’t have me!

~If you hear that someone is speaking ill of you, instead of trying to defend yourself you should say: "He obviously does not know me very well, since there are so many other faults he could have mentioned"~

Painting is an amazing upper body workout!

 10 February 2012.

I am not sure where this week has gone but here we are at Friday! The past few days I have not been able to get any training in, unless painting counts as training. It is a good upper body workout!!!!!  My back is finally feeling better; my hand is still a little pissy but is usable again.

Tomorrow is a training session with BRC Women Fit Team and I have my long run. I am hoping not to need to take it to the treadmill, but if that is what I need to do, that is what I will do! Actually the treadmill isn’t such a bad idea, if my back gets mad I can take my workout to the pool. 

Here is to hoping that the weather is at least a bit nice for the weekend!

~If you hear that someone is speaking ill of you, instead of trying to defend yourself you should say: "He obviously does not know me very well, since there are so many other faults he could have mentioned"~

Finally! Winter weather for more than a day!

7 February 2012.

After accidentally over sleeping, but not horribly late, Cuervo and I went zooming out the door to ensure he wasn’t late to school.  Not exactly sure why Jose let us sleep; I woke him up to take his shower and usually I doze off until he is done.  For some reason he did not find that odd.  Anyway, that is neither here nor there. 

Cuervo was dropped off in a timely manner and I zoomed up to the gym.  Thought I forgot my purse at home and started heading home and I realized I had it in my gym bag. 

I got in, got up to the treadmill, I figured I would put in a 3-miler before spin class.  I could even get a mile in before my back was screaming.  I managed to finish the mile and then I found a foam roller. I thought that might help. No.  I still had about a half hour before spin class started, first thing I did was call my chiropractor to make an appointment.  I am hoping that will help. I went into spin class early with the understanding that is my back isn’t happy with I was not going to fight it. I got set up, put my headphones in and started. Once class started I took my headphones out and joined the class.  We did a lot of work out of the saddle.  Not quite a run, but it was a great workout and my back was happy.

I go to the chiro tomorrow at 2:15. I still plan on hitting the gym, might try some elliptical and then hit the pool for a while for some water running.

Oh!!!!!! And after my class I had a Luna Bar... YUM!

~If you hear that someone is speaking ill of you, instead of trying to defend yourself you should say: "He obviously does not know me very well, since there are so many other faults he could have mentioned"~

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

6 February 2012.

Here we are at Monday again. Sadly I am the queen of excuses today! 10 mile run over the weekend? Yea…. Thursday after I finished my wonderful outing at Garden of the Gods it started to snow and continued to snow.  My boys had a snow day on Friday, instead of going to the gym I used my kiddos being home to my full advantage! We have lots of painting and scraping to do. Saturday we continued painting and scraping. Oh!! I did make it to my favorite running store and picked up a couple of things on sale!

Sunday I was excited to head out for my long run; it was cold, which was fine, I was bundled up! Apparently the trail did not want me out there.  There was WAY to much snow to be running in.

Today I was determined to hit the trail. Once again, I was bundled up. I found a part of the trial that was not buried in snow. I parked… I started walking to the trail (had to cross a small bridge) my lower back was already grouchy.  Ok, I will walk/run it off as usual, not a big deal.  ½ mile in, my back was still cranky.  A mile in I still couldn’t stretch my back out. Nothing I was doing was working so I decided to turn around and call it good for the day. Tomorrow I have spinning and I might try to get some treadmill time and see if my back plays nicer there.  The really weird thing is I got back to my car and BOTH my feet acted as if they had Charlie horses! I don’t know.  We shall see how tomorrow goes.  OH! When I got home I did get an ab session in.  I put in the ab ripper X, took it easy because of my back, but we shall see how that goes!    

~If you hear that someone is speaking ill of you, instead of trying to defend yourself you should say: "He obviously does not know me very well, since there are so many other faults he could have mentioned"~

2 February 2012.

I was not successful in getting my five miles in yesterday, which is ok.  Last week I ended up in the urgent care because I was enjoying the worst bout of vertigo I had ever experienced (it is a very common thing with me!) with a twist of numb patches of skin.  The docs decided it was rapid a rapid onset ear infection (I had holes in both my ear drums), I have no idea what difference there is in a rapid onset ear infection and a normal one, either way, I am still getting over it and my sister is adamant about me NOT pushing it! So I moved yesterday to Friday, Friday to today and today to yesterday, in English:

2/1 – Wed	2/2 – Thur	2/3 – Fri	2/4 – Sat	2/5 – Sun
Rest	3 miles	5 miles	10 miles	Rest/cross

Today I had an appointment with the VA  at 9:00, afterwards I figured I would go visit Garden of the Gods even though we supposedly have a snow storm on its way in.  I completely almost 3 miles of some awesome hill work.  It was mostly walking, but I have time to work on that!

While I am in the processes of getting ready for North Carolina I am also working on fixing up my house.  It is time for a major facelift.  It has taken me months to choose the perfect colors for my bedroom so today I started!  First fix… that stupid popcorn on my ceiling!  I hate that stuff (it has been tested for asbestos, so don’t worry!) I am figuring I get a training workout in and then I get a home repair workout! :D My room is first on the list (hey, I am doing the work, it is only fair I get to have the pretty room first). My room will have the popcorn removed, everything painted and then the carpet will be torn out and replaced with laminate flooring.  I have to say, this has been another difficult choice to make.  My sister and I agreed on Pergo flooring (it has nothing to do with their mascot!), but it has, inadvertently, been put through a Charlie or Freddie test. I had some samples in the middle of my room (trying to figure out what color I like) and one of the dogs got a hold of it and used it as a chew toy.  The back of it is torn to shreds, the front of it… not a scratch! 

We are expecting snow tonight and tomorrow, which will make Saturday’s run interesting. As long as the trail isn’t covered it will actually be enjoyable. It is so peaceful to hit the trails after a nice snow.  The views are usually breath taking.  

~If you hear that someone is speaking ill of you, instead of trying to defend yourself you should say: "He obviously does not know me very well, since there are so many other faults he could have mentioned"~

Here we go!!!!!

Don’t Let the Fat Chick Beat You has gone on vacation until the end of October, but this is for a very good reason!

Here we on 1 February 2012. In 263 days I will be toeing the line at my first iron distance triathlon.  I had dreamed of that day for a few years and I am finally on the on the road. I realize this road is going to rough under ideal circumstances; this journey for me will be very interesting.  I have to ensure I keep a VERY good balance of training properly for the race but not pushing to hard that I end up in a lupus flare up.

During these next 263 days I am keeping my races to a minimum. Between now and 20 October 2012 I have a half marathon (March 2012), a full marathon (May 2012), a sprint triathlon (August 2012) and the training plan I am working off of also calls for an Olympic and a Half Iron distance triathlon.  If I do any more triathlons, I am up for the half iron distance (September 2012), but I haven’t found any Olympic distances that are within in the time frame recommended, not to mention I don’t want to push that much. 

“Official” training doesn’t start until the beginning of May 2012.  I have three months of marathon training to get me ready for the harder workouts.  I have my marathon training schedule, but I still have available time to work with weights, get bike time and happily… pool time!

Part of this journey will also be an experiment!  I can’t help but wonder how my lupus will respond; I am well aware of the fact that I HAVE to be very careful that I do not overdo it and end up in a flare up. Because of this wonderful disease I am on some nasty medications:

      Iron – I get anemic

      Melatonin – if my friend insomnia comes to visit more than three days in a row

      Methotrexate – lupus – takes the pain level down noticeably

      Omeprazole – antacid – I LOVE this stuff

      Flexural – muscle relaxer – thank goodness I don’t need these very often! (My family loves it when I am taking these “free entertainment”)

      Vitamin D3 – vitamin D3 deficient (thank you lupus)

      B12 – vitamin B12 deficient (thank you lupus)

      Plaquinil – lupus

      Vicodin – MAJOR pain pill – again, luckily I don’t have to take it very often!

      Folic Acid – to counter the methotrexate

      Levothyroxine – hypothyroid

      Mobic – anti-inflammatory

Only three of these I do not have to take on a regular basis. I refer to Saturday nights as “Pharmacy Night” and at 34 years old that is just stupid.  I am posting this list and I am hoping in 263 days that list is shortened (not sure how, but it is worth the shot!) On a side note… thanks to methotrexate I get to go to the vampire every six weeks because this medication is so harsh it can wreck major havoc on the liver. 

With all that said the next moth looks like the following:

		5	Misc/Rest	3	10	Cross
		2/1/2012	2/2/2012	2/3/2012	2/4/2012	2/5/2012
3	Spinning	5	Misc/Rest	3	7	Cross
2/6/2012	2/7/2012	2/8/2012	2/9/2012	2/10/2012	2/11/2012	2/12/2012
3	Spinning	6	Misc/Rest	3	12	Cross
2/13/2012	2/14/2012	2/15/2012	2/16/2012	2/17/2012	2/18/2012	2/19/2012
3	Spinning	6	Misc/Rest	3	13	Cross
2/20/2012	2/21/2012	2/22/2012	2/23/2012	2/24/2012	2/25/2012	2/26/2012
3	Spinning	7
2/27/2012	2/28/2012	2/29/2012

The “Misc/Rest” and Sunday “Cross” are my flexible days.  These two days I am going to either take a day off or participate in quieter activities; yoga, Pilates, etc.

Here is to an interesting 263 days!

~If you hear that someone is speaking ill of you, instead of trying to defend yourself you should say: "He obviously does not know me very well, since there are so many other faults he could have mentioned"~