Ugh.  Getting back into shape is not easy.  It really isn't, and in fact, it's really kind of a pain.  My legs are tired, my back is a little sore (mainly cause my core is a gelatinous sinkhole), and I'm tired.  But I also kind of love it.  I like being on a mission again, I like going the daily workouts and working hard. 

 I've had a hard time making some of my workouts, but I'm doing my best to make them up and make all of the workouts I can.  Now I want to build, I think I might be rushing things just a tiny bit, but I think that I'm going to keep pushing myself a little farther each day.  My last two workouts have been pretty good, if very slow to warmup.  After the warmup phase, though, things have been pretty good.  Let's hope that continues.

Sunday used to mean sleeping in, watching real estate Sunday on HGTV and generally not leaving bed until at least noon.  Now it means that I have to get up and do some sort of workout.  But that's not the case today.  Today I'm visiting my sister and Adriana and I were woken up promptly at 8 by our little nephews saying hi to us.  Now I'm a little groggy and slow to get around to doing things.  

While I'm very happy for both changes, the time with nephews and the workouts, I don't know that the latter is going to happen quite as planned today.  I am on schedule to go for a ride today, but since we're travelling a lot today I think that I'm going to go for a run instead.  This is for three reasons; the first reason is that I am worried about the timing of a 90-minute bike ride today.  The second reason is that my butt is so sore from yesterday that prospect of saddling up again today is more than a little daunting.   The third reason is that since I have tomorrow off and I'm going to be home with nothing to do, I'm going to double up my workouts and go for a swim and a ride.  I hope that passes muster with my coach and guru.  We'll see.  Otherwise, a pretty good week I think.  There's been some heartening moments and some humbling ones.  Overall I'm happy.

I made it.  Though I did not make my workout yesterday, it was for good reason, I got home late from work and then had to pack up formal, interview clothes and drive to Charlottesville.  A very busy day.  I was hoping to get in the swim, but unfortunately I couldn't make it.  I'm bummed by that, but I'm happy that I got right back on the horse and went for a run today.  I felt pretty awesome during the run, though I'm paying for it a bit now.  My IT band is really pretty tight, so I'm worried for tomorrow's run.  We'll see how it feels.  I think I need new running shoes, the ones I'm using now are a little worn.  

Hmm, otherwise, things are pretty good.  It kind of sucks being where I am right now fitness-wise, but I feel like I'm making good progress, check back in a couple months and we'll see where I am. 

So, I went out for a bike ride on Sunday which was absolutely miserable.  It was freezing, in the 30s, and the wind was blowing with gusts of up to nearly 50 miles per hour.  There were times where I was literally at a near-dead stop.  I would be pounding away at the pedals and not going anywhere.  There were also times when I was blown nearly completely sideways.  Yuck.  Not to mention it was my first bike ride in nearly six months, so that made it awful.  Additionally, I forgot my booties, so my feet were freezing.  Double yuck.  On the bright-side, however, it was fun to get out again.  I think with some  booties and a little less wind it would be awesome to go out again. 

Yesterday I went for a nice little swim.  It was a lot of fun, but man am I a big weakling.  I felt pretty good throughout, but my core body is so weak that it felt like I was a hammock.  My stomach and hips were sinking while my head and feet were up on top of the water.  I bet I looked pretty funny. 

Despite the whining, I feel like I'm making pretty good progress, and I'm really excited to be in training again.  Here's to months and months more of this!

So, I went for another workout yesterday and it was rather an inauspicious start.  My run was, how to put this, like a rollercoaster.  One moment I was chugging up a (metaphorical) hill, the next I'm screaming down enjoying the ride. 

The good parts were that my heart rate would recover pretty rapidly if I slowed to a walk.  The bad part is that my heartrate spent a good amount of time in the upper limits of where I like to be on a training run.  The other bad part is that I was very creaky, rusty, and achy.  Not a good way to start off the training.  But I was out there, and things will get better from here. 

So, the marathon has come and gone.  A long time ago in fact.  It was weird, I wasn't too far off on my time prediction, I ran it in 4:11, which was a total disappointment, but at least I finished.  The upside to the whole marathon things was that I recovered like a champ.  After some stretching and some initial the stiffness the day of, I felt fine.  The day after the race I was tight, but otherwise, recovered great.  I was then all raring to continue training after a week off; and then my laziness got in the way. 

So now here it is, a mere four months later and it's just now that I'm getting around to training again.  And this time the slacking is serious, as I'm taking on my first Ironman this year.  So that means that I have a mere 5 months to start from a little less than a zero fitness-wise and get to the point where I can complete an Ironman.  That is incredibly intimidating to me.  In honor of that intimidation I am going to actually plan out a training strategy and do my best ot keep up with it.  Here's to new leaves, and turning them over successfully.  Again.