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"~