Oops. Scheduling Problems.

I've been trying to do more running (although not enough yet to be considered serious) so that I could run the entire course of a 5K race coming up.

Today, I looked at my calendar to figure out what my availability was for something else. I happened to glance at the note in my calendar that I'm judging a 2-day meet out of state.

And the second day of the meet is the same day as my race.

When i informed my husband, he was not happy as he had (finally) registered us.

Argh. Since it's St. Patrick's day themed, I even had green gloves with bows for my daughter and I and cheap little green crowns.

And NOt going means I'm going to have to cram in another race somewhere if I'm going to hit this 10 event goal I set for myself (I was thinking one a month, but this means I'm now skipping February AND March and will need to find something else soon).

And I should probably train a little more than I've been able to, although this morning I couldn't speak without a coughing fit, so apparently I'm still not quite well enough to do anything anyway.

Ah, Memory Lane

Spent most of today getting a present ready for a birthday party for one of my daughter's friends. The party was at a local gymnastics club. While there, I was talking to the mom of the birthday girl and we were reminiscing about old gymnastics compulsory routines. She was prancing around doing the dance from one of them and another mom said, "Wow! Riverdance!"

We were totally laughing--the choreography from those old routines was, well, interesting. We were talking about a different routine and then spontaneously started doing it together, which struck me as hilarious, and then we ended up talking about equipment changes, new compulsory routines and what the kids are doing now.

Having been so in depth with gymnastics for the past 13+ years, and familiar with the progressions, I "get" why things are in place, so it was really interesting to hear the outside observations, which I could see why it looks like the system makes no sense (and in some ways, it doesn't).

We got home just in time to say goodbye to my husband who was off to work at the food cart, so another day of no progress on my goals.

The only "out" I have on that is I still feel rotten with this cold. Last year my husband was sick for nearly five months straight (turned out there were several deep underlying causes, including mercury poisoning), and I'm having a whole lot more sympathy for the ongoing "ugh" feeling he had.

I Am Officially Nothing

Just so you know, that title is NOT some sort of low-self esteem remark, but I will get to the explanation shortly.

After doing nothing yesterday, I had another great day of . . . nothing in terms of physical activity. My cold is still kicking my butt and although I'm feeling better, I'm still not recovered.

I had signed up to volunteer as a meet official at another college gymnastics meet. I was assigned to floor timer and line judge. Basically, I sit on the edge of the floor, all by myself, for a couple of hours, and get a close up of college gymnastics. Way fun and I don't have to do anything for it except 1) hitch a ride there since I refuse to pay for that much gas to volunteer and 2) run a stopwatch and, if needed, hold up a yellow flag.

I only had to hold up the yellow flag once.

I am going to remember, for my next time, to take earplugs. One of the major differences in college gymnastics is the EXTREME amount of yelling (cheering) for teammates that goes on. One of the teams stood RIGHT next to me and it was literally a couple of hours before hearing returned to my right ear.

That same team (who were great, by the way) at one point was giving out high 10s (clapping both hands overhead when a girl finished her floor routine. At one point, they clapped right over me as if I wasn't there.

Officially nothing.

Okay, so I'm probably the only one amused by that horrible pun, but I enjoyed it.

Snow Day!

I actually got up early enough that I could try walking my daughter to school again.

School was cancelled due to snow, which was almost completely gone before her school would have been out. We walked over to the local elementary school instead, where I pushed her on the swing and let the dog chase a ball (which she lost a few times in the snow).

Half an hour after getting home out of the beautiful sunny but cold day, it froze up and dumped snow on us again.

We didn't even make it to gymnastics practice this evening as I wasn't concerned about getting there, but the weather was so erratic that I was concerned about getting home after dark with temperatures dropping. The one thing I really miss on my current car as compared to my last car is four-wheel drive. However, I don't miss the whole not starting, overheating, pouring dark black stinky smoke out of the defrost vents. But I do avoid driving in snow.

Then my husband went and played soccer (he does have four wheel drive, and the roads were oddly fine by then anyway) so I did exactly nothing.

Catching Up

I didn't sleep well last night; partially from my headache, partially from tight muscles, partially from my daughter crawled into bed with me at 3:00 am after waking me up to demand water. At which point it occurred to me that maybe last night would have been a good time to try the rehydration salts my friend gave me yesterday. I'm a genius. We settled back in and finally got back to sleep.

Late morning we headed off to family storytime at the library. We haven't been since last summer since it's conflicted either with school or swimming lessons. My daughter had a blast and then we came home, at which point she was very much in need of a nap, but was too excited to settle down because it was SNOWING, Mommy, LOOK! It's SNOWING! Mommy mommy mommy look look SNOW!

I finally got her settled down and apparently she hadn't had a good night's sleep either because she slept for four hours.

Another Day at the Hamster Wheel Farm

I'm glad I somewhat prepared for today last night because I didn't have time to spare. I got up, made snack for myself and my daughter for preschool, got her up, dressed, and packed, and then went to school where I was parent helper today.

One of the moms at the school, who has been following me on this blog recently, brought me a packet of rehydration salts, after reading about my technicolor displays. I've been lucky that those have come to a screeching halt since I stopped taking the Tramadol, but I took them anyway because they're worth a try for my next bout of anti-moderation.

After school, which we had to leave late since we have to 1) finish our chores and 2) wait for all the other kids to leave, we raced home, where I finished making some bows to sell. Then I packed the almost-finished bows, the supplies, a new display, my daughter's princess castle (and princesses), her bag (with leotard and a change of clothes), my bag (swim stuff, and a change of clothes for after my workout), loose shorts for my Dr. Amy visit, and more snacks to eat for later in the car.

Visited Dr. Amy. Picked up donation for the preschool auction. Went to 24-Hour Fitness and dropped off daughter at the gym daycare.

Got on the treadmill and decided I was going to try for a 2-mile run at a 15-minute mile pace. As I was plodding along, I began thinking about how a century ago, all of this elaborate electrical exercise equipment probably would have been viewed as bizarre. All these people crammed into one space, few if any of them socializing. Our own form of hamster wheels created because our society has evolved in a way that "work" doesn't necessarily mean "labor" any more and so we need other avenues to exercise.

I walked for about two minutes before starting my jog, and at about 20 minutes in (or about 1.2 miles of jogging), I was starting to not want to be doing it any more. However, I was determined to hit 2 miles, so even though I'd forgotten (with all the things I had to pack) my iPod, I looked up to the television to distract myself. I would tell myself to make it to the end of the commercial break. Then to the next commercial break. That became too much and wasn't working, so I started counting. I could only look at the time on the machine every time I hit 100.

I got up to 30 minutes (only 2 minutes remaining!) and then . . . the treadmill slowed down.

Way. Down.

It still said it was keeping a 4mph rate, but I was walking pretty slow. I started madly poking at buttons and got it to speed up again. Then it slowed down again. It did this 3 times until I got it to go again, and I finished my 2 miles (possibly more), but was really annoyed that I ended up getting unintentional "breaks" because the treadmill broke.

There is the possibility that I don't know how to program it properly and it shuts down automatically at 30 minutes, but considering it's the same type that I've used before for as much as 60 (slow walking) minutes at a time, I think it broke. I was mad that here I was, determined to push myself, and the stupid machine wouldn't let me.

Anyway, it was farther than I've run in I don't know how long. Even in junior high and high school when I had to run distances for PE or track, I'm not sure what the longest distance was that I had to run. Since I usually did sprint events (which I was horrible at) or throwing, I rarely trained distance.

Tangent: my two most memorable track and field moments. I'll start with the one from when I was 11. I entered the mile race at an all-city track meet. The only other competitor in the event was a boy my age. I knew, at the starting line, we would both get a blue ribbon because they always gave out placement ribbons, and they always did boys and girls separately. I decided, however, that I was going to actually win the race. I managed to get a good start and stay in front of the guy, although he wasn't far behind me. As we rounded the last corner, I didn't hear him coming up behind me, but I DID hear the announcer say something along the lines of, "He's making a push for the finish!" THEN I heard his footsteps, right behind me.

I took off as fast as I could go, which wasn't very, because I was fairly pooped. My mother later told me that the woman sitting next to her in the stands leaned over and said, "I hope that girl wins!" My mother proudly told the woman that I was her daughter. I heard the cheering (and his footsteps) and I think at one point he even stepped sideways to pass me and somehow I found enough energy for even more of a push--which was when he pooped out, and I crossed the finish line first.

So, a good memory. And a blue ribbon that was real.

My other track and field memory. I was a junior in college and had been coerced into throwing discus and shotput for my small university, despite absolutely no experience. I had pretty decent strength and zero technical capability. Since I'd never done it before, this put me at a disadvantage with other college throwers, who were there primarily because of their technique--and the strength they'd built up over the years didn't hurt. We went to an away meet since our school didn't even have a proper practice area (we went to the local high school for practice).

This happened to be the university of a boyfriend I'd had in high school, who for some reason I still felt the need to impress. Guess what? He threw discus too. But a WHOLE lot better than me (and nearly everyone else, too). I did leave an impression, although certainly not what I'd intended. I got up for my first throw. For anyone who is unfamiliar with discus technique, basically, you have approximately a 6-foot ring that you start at the back of and while traveling forward, spin 1.5 times, plant your feet, then accelerate a twist, finishing with a release of the discus. If you fall out of the ring, you're disqualified. You get three attempts.

I fell not once, not twice, but all three times, with the third spin going so wildly out of control that I somehow ended up going backwards PAST the starting point, tripping, sliding through mud behind the ring to fall on my butt and then slide hiney-first into the protective chain link fence.

Yes. Completely disqualified. Face to match my red jersey. Instead of a blue ribbon, I got a garbage bag to sit on in the car on the way home.

That was the end of track and field for me.

So as for the farthest distance I've ever run, my dad might know because for a short time I ran with him on his "track" in the pasture (basically a giant mowed circle that when we ran, we had to watch out for mole hills and sheep marbles). That was short lived too though as again, I've never much cared for running. The sheep marbles didn't help.

My point? There is a slight possibility this is the farthest I've ever run. I'm not certain, but if I get up to a 5K, then I know that would be the farthest I've ever run.

After my run, I decided to go for a swim. Since I've been edging my time down in decent chunks, I was hoping to make another dent in my 500 time--or, considering how far I ran, at least hit what I did on Saturday (11:28). I got in the pool and since I'm still not over this cold, was having such a hard time with breathing out through my nose, I just gave up.

I went and stretched in the hot tub instead.

Picked up my daughter from the daycare and then took her to gymnastics. I sold 7 bows before I could even get them on the display, changed out some of the others, and am hoping for at least a little income by the end of the month from them.

Then we came home and despite downing water, I had a migraine starting, so I went to bed.

Enough Already!

My husband left to go work at the food cart late last night after packing and arranging everything in the living room for our planned mountain trip for today.

At 3:00am I texted him and told him that our daughter was too sick to go. Our poor Little Bug was absolutely coughing miserable and couldn't sleep. She's a few months short of turning four, but I risked giving her a half of a 4-year-old dose of cough medicine (that's for 4 and up only). She finally fell asleep about an hour later.

When my husband got home (6:00am), got to sleep (immediately, I'm jealous), and woke up (at 10:00am), he was too sick to go too, so went back to bed.

We were all too sick to care about the gear still piled in the living room.

Except for the dog, who was both excited (as she recognizes the gear pile as an indication that she gets to ride in the car) and confused (as the pile was not being hauled out to the car).

Less of a Liar

This morning I wasn't feeling too great, but really wanted to get to the yoga class at 24-Hour Fitness again, just so I was doing something since I haven't been able to get into Bikram recently.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. I can't say how much I prefer Bikram to this class--which is supposedly a very good class. Bikram is slower, the instructions are clearer, and I even like the heat because I feel how it lets my muscles relax more.

But this class does do some different poses, provides me with different challenges, and it's closer (5 minutes away as opposed to 25), so it fit with my schedule this morning.

Afterward, I went swimming and timed my 500 again. 11:28, which is down 32 seconds from when I timed it a few weeks ago before signing up for my April triathlon. Only 28 seconds to drop until I'm at the time I entered on my registration, so less of a liar than I was then, but not yet totally honest.

When I went to soak in the hot tub, ended up chatting with the older gentleman who is going to do the triathlon in Hawaii this May. He's doing better on his swimming, although I'm not yet convinced he has any idea how much harder it will be to swim in open water than in the pool. Hopefully they have lifeguards there like they did in Catalina--and he won't need them.

Took off after my workout to an auction meeting for the preschool. Ended up donating another massage to the event (I figure we won't be purchasing much, so the least I can do is donate stuff that hopefully other people will buy).

Then came home and started planning our trip up to the mountain for tomorrow while my husband got ready to go work at the food cart.

When Will It END?

Preschool for my daughter this morning, I ran home and utilized the time to clean (another change: used to be I could only clean in short spurts and/or would "pay for it" later and have to lie down). I scrubbed the bathroom, organized the front entryway, cleared out the living room, and tidied the massage room.

Yes, I had a client coming over. So what if that was my motivating factor for finally cleaning? It got done.

Picked up my daughter from school and when we got back, my husband was home. He'd been summoned for jury duty. He was also assigned to a case, but the guy took a plea bargain, so my husband was sent home.

I debated going on another run in the afternoon, but it started dumping some darn cold rain, and I may be getting in to this exercise and running thing, but I still have my limits. I am NOT enjoying running enough to torture my muscles AND risk frostbite (it was 35 degrees out, so I'm not kidding that much).

My daughter had gymnastics, and apparently while we were gone it actually snowed at home, so I felt like less of a weenie for not having gone for a run.

However, not only is my daughter getting sicker (it started with a cough a couple of days ago that has gotten worse and is worst when she's trying to get to sleep), but I seem to be getting sick again too.

I actually picked up some kids' cough medicine for the first time. When we got home, it turned out my husband is now getting sick too, so we all went to bed fairly early.

Out of Character or New Character?

I was in the kitchen this morning, looked out the window, and noticed that it was a really nice day, especially for this time of year. Then I was bummed because I couldn't just go outside and enjoy it. Too much to do inside, too much hassle to bundle up kid and dog, didn't want to drive somewhere to do something...too many excuses.

My husband came home from work during lunchtime. I hadn't known he was going to show up, so as soon as he walked in, I asked, "How long are you going to be here?"

"Just until my soccer game is over, why?"

"How long will that be?"

"I dunno. 45 minutes or something, I guess. WHY?"

"I'm going to take a run!"

I quickly got dressed (I was still running around in my pajamas), made the dog do business in the yard, and took off.

My neighborhood is actually a pretty nice area to jog around. There are three separate green spaces within a quarter mile of my house, the high school and elementary school quite near, and mostly quiet streets. Plus there are lots of trees--it's an older neighborhood and they didn't completely excavate everything when they built, like they do now with the new little subdivisions. It's actually a lot of the reason we chose this home over several others we looked at.

It does, however, make our home quite dark in the winter, especially since we have only two south-facing windows, and those both go into bedrooms.

Anyhow, I took off down the street, up one of the green spaces, across to the high school, around the elementary school, and then cut through a walkway to get home.

The dog had a record of zero poops. Possibly because I emptied her first, but that only explains why there weren't multiples, but probably also because any time she acted as if she were going to sniff or slow down, I hurried her along because I didn't want to stop.

The only "mishap" was the stairway at the cut through by the school. A dog was on the other side of the fence at the bottom, so I was yanked down the stairs. I didn't fall, but the unilateral pull on my arm was not so comfortable on the rest of me.

I used my iPod (which I know is not the best tool) to measure my distance. Since I know the distance I actually do is about 80% of what the iPod indicates, I figure I can calculate it out and be close.

Today I did 1.5 miles, without stopping. I finished it in about 20 minutes, for roughly a 13.3 minute mile. So continuing to improve, which is good.

What occurred to me later were two things. 1) It is an indication of how much my thought processes have changed since last May that the first thing I thought of when my husband showed up at home on a nice day was, "Yay! He can watch our daughter and I can go for a run!" 2) Throughout my 20s, I exercised all the time. Yeah, I had spurts of greater and lesser activity, but for the most part, I was always active. I suddenly feel like I am returning to that person.

Although even back then, I never ran.

Honestly, if I wasn't training for running events and triathlons, I'm not sure I'd be running now.

And one more thing. When I started this last May, I was in so much pain I couldn't walk to the end of the block and back without overdoing it. Then later I could, but only if I took pain medication.

Now I'm pushing myself without pain medication.

When I started this entry, I was just thinking about how out of character it was for me to get up and go for a run or that it could be a new aspect to my life. I think both of those are wrong.

I'm finally getting back what I lost over six years ago.

My way of life.

Oops, Wait...Today Is Valentine's Day?!

Bikram Yoga, Day 17

I finally got back to the yoga studio this morning. After my last class, where I was so sick I couldn't even do the lying down poses because it made me cough so bad, I haven't been back.

It was the hardest and best class I've had so far. I didn't feel like I regressed any, which I was worried about, but it did feel more challenging than before. There were a couple of poses where my legs shook uncontrollably, but I made it through and only coughed a couple of times.

My daughter had her first group swimming lesson in ages today. She'd been taking private lessons, and while I really liked that, part of what I think is important for her at this age is learning to wait for her turn and interact nicely with other kids. I was also hoping that the "breaks" she would get while the teacher focused on other kids would help her focus better when it was her turn, as she's been a bit challenged by that lately.

Of course, since she had an audience of two little boys, she was a complete showoff and did everything perfectly the first time she was asked. I wonder where she gets that from?

The rest of the day was uneventful and since my husband had a soccer game, he got home a little late. My daughter ran to the door to greet him, and then came back in shortly after with two cards: one for me and one for her.

My husband actually remembered to get Valentine's cards, which is more than I can say for myself.

In my defense, there was a "discussion" about at least getting me a card for our anniversary last year, even if we couldn't go do something. So now we're even. Oops.

Not As a Family Swim Night

I'm grateful that today I wasn't sore after my run yesterday--or at least not as badly as I feared. Sadly, I can't say the same for the dog, who refused to get off the couch.

That totally used to be me.

I ran some errands, then went and worked with some girls at gymnastics on routines again, and then my husband and I met for Family Swim Night. I knew he would be running a little late--besides just that he's Moroccan, this time it was planned. So I spent about 40 minutes playing with our daughter, trying to reinforce things from swimming again, but much more casually, and on her terms.

Did I let a 3-year-old get the best of me? Perhaps, but in terms of coaching/teaching my own kid, I don't even want to go down that road, so I'd rather let her do what she wants and have fun in the pool than not want to go in the water. She's a good little swimmer and I want her to keep liking the water and be safe around it, so rather than make family swim a battle to practice class stuff, I caved, and we worked on what she liked. Actually, some of it was stuff she's doing in class (not necessarily what needs the most work), but we literally spent 30 minutes with her doing knee dives off the side of the pool to grab a toy on the bottom.

When my husband showed up, I was freezing--the family pool we were in is much warmer than the lap pool, but I was cold because I was standing still, whereas our daughter was warm from climbing out, diving in, swimming down, swimming up, and repeating for 30 minutes.

I went to sit in the hot tub. For another 30 minutes. I will admit that I was a bit more sore than I'd originally thought, but it was mostly in my adductors and upper abdominals, so I really enjoyed the soaking time.

At which point, my husband wanted a turn in the hot tub, so I took my daughter, showered and dressed us, and went out to wait for him in the lobby. Even though we'd driven separately, I thought it would be nice of us to wait for him before we left.

I thought it would be nice, but apparently the thought didn't cross his mind, because he was able to enjoy the hot tub, shower, dress, and leave in less time than it took us, so we spent 15 minutes waiting for nothing.

Our daughter, who is unusually perceptive at times, is still just three, and takes statements we make quite seriously, so when I told her we were leaving, she was extremely worried that we were leaving Baba at the pool. It wasn't until we got home and he was already there that she finally believed me.

Moderashun...Can't Even Spell It Any More

On Tuesday, two of the moms from the preschool suggested we go on a run together since we found out we're all planning on being in a race in March. I tried to warn them that I'm at the very very beginning of my running training and they told me, "No problem, we can just go slow and take it easy."

Me:
Ran first continuous mile in over six years a week ago.
Did said mile on treadmill indoors, with iPod, waterbottle, and large-screen TV at hand.
Did said mile at 15 minute mile pace.
Considered this fantastic personal accomplishment.
So far overdid it I was too sick to drive to the doctor the next day.
Just finished my antibiotics two days ago.
Still can't take a deep breath or laugh without going into huge coughing fit.

Them:
Way far ahead of me.
And not sick.

When one of them mentioned that she'd mapped out a 2.5 mile course for us, I realized I might not have been quite clear enough as to how early-stage my training is. I was somewhat regretting having already tried to empty my dog of her outputs, as I couldn't even use doody duty as a reason to stop if I needed it.

If I haven't mentioned it before, my dog has the (unfortunate) habit of holding in all solid outputs until going out for exercise. Then she likes to make a minimum of two (and a record of five) "dropoffs" while we are out and about. This means that we have to not only have plenty of poop bags on hand, but that I end up carrying an aromatic bundle the size of a Santa sack if I don't take preemptive measures to empty her beforehand.

Once, this meant my husband had to go to a stranger's door and ask for a plastic bag so he could remove the lawn ornament our dog deposited (since he'd already used up the two bags he'd taken with him). They were grateful he picked it up and we learned that our new bag-to-the-park minimum count was 3. (Which is now up to 5.)

Wow, a two-paragraph tangent about dog poop.

Apparently I do need more grown-up conversation time.

Anyhow, we headed out, and I have to say I was extraordinarily grateful for the stoplight and busy street that meant I got a break. They were dedicated and jogged in place at the signal. I think we were maybe a quarter mile from where we started (maximum), and I was already gasping.

You know what? I'm totally blaming my cold for my insufficient lung capacity, because I should not have been quite that tired. Close, but not quite.

As we were then heading up what I never before considered a "hill," one of them announced that we were keeping--according to her training watch--a 13-minute-mile pace.

The out-loud groan I made must have been more pathetic than I actually intended, since they both immediately chimed in that I was doing GREAT.

Me:
Gasping for breath.
Wondering why I agreed to this.
Thinking this is more activity than the dog has had in awhile and she may well end up sore.
Gasping for breath.
Wondering how much longer I will be able to push myself just to keep up.
Did I mention I was gasping for breath?
Have stripped off my sweatshirt and gloves despite the cold temperature.

Them:
Chatting away about plans for a costume for disco BINGO night.
Clearly not gasping. (At least, not like me, because they could form actual out loud words.)

I hung in there, feeling throughout my body what I already consciously knew, which is that training on a treadmill is different, and I needed to do more, even for this "relaxed" pace.

At this point, it probably should have occurred to me that I might be overdoing it. Should have. But didn't.

We arrived at a park, and they decided they were going to loop around it. I told them to go ahead, and I would meet them at the other end of the loop, which came out maybe 50 feet ahead. I let the dog off the leash and she proceeded to run around madly in circles (she chases--and catches--her tail when she gets excited) and then she found something to roll in.

I tried yelling at the dog, but between the run and just not being able to take a deep breath anyway, ended up in a disgusting-sounding hacking coughing fit instead. I was rather glad my friends were far enough away that (I hope) they didn't hear me as they probably would have called for emergency medical help.

They finished their loop and I was almost breathing normally again, and we headed back in the direction we'd come from. I made it a few blocks...and was DONE.

I don't know how far I went, although I'm guessing I ran a total of about 1.25 miles. I know I went at a faster pace--and it was outdoors instead of on a treadmill, so it was a good change for me. Plus, I walked back to where we'd started and then we walked around a bunch more, so I probably did a total of close to 3 miles.

Know what? I didn't even think about my back.

But my adductors are already getting sore.

And the dog is sore too.

Not Quite Healthy, So Not Quite a Workout

Although my antibiotic cycle has finished, my cough is not. It's so much better than it was--I'm not falling down, it's not killing my back, and I can (almost) take a complete deep breath without going into a coughing fit.

I can't laugh yet, though, without going into a horrible-sounding coughing fit.

But it's been exactly a week since I did any form of exercise. So today, when I had my 3.5 hours to kill between my chiropractic appointment and my daughter's gymnastics lesson, I decided I'd go to the gym to work out again.

I knew I wasn't yet up for running as walking up the short, gentle hill by my daughter's preschool winded me into a coughing fit this morning, so I thought I'd do a little swimming, which at least feels gentler.

It didn't go well, for that reason and others. My noseplug wouldn't stay on for anything and I kept getting water in my nose. I finally just decided to swim without it; it's become a bit of a "crutch" anyway, I suppose. I did okay for a few laps, but was having trouble on my flip turns (which I have never done successfully without a noseplug), and I was getting winded and all gross-coughing again.

So I would walk about midway down the pool, swim back, do a flip turn, and swim until I came up out of the water. Repeat. I got a lot better at judging the distance for my turns (something I've been fairly inconsistent with since I've worked on just doing the swimming part more). I was also able to get a lot better at keeping the water out of my nose during the turn.

I'm debating putting an ad on Craigslist for a swim instructor--although I need someone willing to trade, as it would be yet another expense we can't add to our budget.

By the way, for any relatives (or close friends) reading this blog, I just want to make sure no one thinks we're struggling too badly. Things are tight, yes, but manageable, as long as we plan carefully and don't have too many (or a single too great) unexpected expense(s). It's just that adding things like training supplies, competition equipment, competition fees, babysitting (since I can't leave a 3-and-a-half-year-old home alone or in the car) during workouts, apparel, and other things to an already tight budget is challenging.

And yes, we are lucky that we get to do many of the things we do get to do. I won't name specifically what businesses/individuals (since some of them do not want it disclosed) I'm able to arrange trades with, but I calculated out a few weeks ago that we "save" (in quotes because if I wasn't able to barter for the things I am bartering for, we simply wouldn't do them) up to $900 a month. About $400 of that (minimum) is expenses in things I'm utilizing to help my training.

Getting healthy is expensive.

Another Day Lost

So I completely screwed up today. I had a client at 2:00 that somehow, despite clearly writing it in my calendar, I had in my brain as 4:00, and so ended up rescheduling for tomorrow.

I was pretty zonked on the cough medication, and although I felt better, I still spent much of the day sleeping because the stuff is so dang strong.

This was probably better than me trying to do anything as difficult as say, pour milk, because the cough syrup makes my brain go 25 kinds of sideways.

Perhaps an adequate excuse for why I messed up my appointment time, although still not professional.

Then, late this evening, I got a call from the judging assigner. One of the judges for a meet tomorrow had an emergency and could I replace her? Um, no, because I rescheduled today's appointment miss for tomorrow.

Ugh, we could have used the income, too. My sister has been pestering me to set up a web site for my crafts, which I may have to seriously think about as some of the aspects of meeting my goals are adding up financially.

When the cough medicine wears off, I will think about it.

Because clearly, I can't think about anything much right now.

Someone Please Beat Me With a Stick

Because it might get me moving, or at least not be as bad as this cold!

After picking up my daughter from preschool, we both napped until it was time to leave for the doctor's appointment I finally made.

Only once--in college, when friends literally forcibly dragged and drove me--have I gone to the doctor for a "cold."

When I realized late last night that I've been coughing for about six weeks, the coughing exacerbates my back (I've fallen down a couple of times when I couldn't get to a wall to hold myself up before the coughing fit started), and that I've been dysfunctional (fatigued, sore, stuffy head, and more) for nearly a month, I called Kaiser to go visit my doctor.

Again I was glad I switched doctors as my new one is very nice and understanding. He promptly prescribed antibiotics, which normally I would shun as I hear about how much they are OVER prescribed, but since I've taken them once before in my life (the college illness), I was there to get help, and I was too weak to argue, I thanked him.

He also prescribed a cough suppressant with codeine in it. Yay, another medicine I can't drive while taking so must use sparingly and with my day's plans in mind.

My daughter had gymnastics again, which I drove her to after the doctor visit. I set up a new display of my crafts that I've been selling to try and bring in a little income and then I went out and coached the optional team a little bit.

I just jumped in without asking, which normally I don't do, and as soon as I realized what I'd done, I apologized to the gym owner and the other coach. I had to laugh when both of them commented along the lines that they were too tired to care.

Apparently though, that 15 or so minutes of coaching depleted all the energy I had left in me. When I got home, I took my cold prescriptions, including the strong cough suppressant. I laid down for about a half hour and when my husband yelled from the other room for me to come see something, I stood up--slowly, even, and yet was overcome by an . . . interesting . . . feeling.

WHOA.

DUDE.

(Yes, you can imagine those being said in a "stoned" voice.)

So while some of the "strong" painkillers I've had for my back have made me feel "funny," it has been nothing like . . . this.

Operate a car? I don't think so.

For that matter, I'm not sure I should be allowed to operate anything as advanced as a hot glue gun.

Note to self: DO NOT TAKE cough medication unless I KNOW I'm staying home ALL DAY.

I'm not sure beating me with a stick would even phase me right now.

DUDE.

Hello, My Name Is Rollercoaster

Yesterday's "high" of a good workout (and not even being all that sore when I was done) has come crashing down.

I am again so sick that I couldn't take my daughter to swimming.

I am so, so tired of this cold that drains me of all energy.

All I want to do is sleep.

For the First Time In a Long Time, I Ran a Mile

Okay, so technically, I've probably run quite a few miles since I started this whole thing.

However, technically, they haven't been all connected. One minute of run, one minute of slow walking (and gasping), one minute of run, one minute of walking, and so on.

Also, since I'm being "technical" here, "run" might be a less appropriate term than "jog" or perhaps even "gentle trot."

But I'm getting ahead of myself. This morning I had to register for a triathlon. Why this morning? Because the registration opened at 8:00am, precisely, and it is such a popular event that it filled in less than two hours last year.

I have a confession to make.

I lied on my registration.

I'd timed my swim at 12 minutes, as I mentioned a few entries ago. When I registered, I had to enter the time of my 500 yard swim because the swim is in a pool and they arrange the start times by swimmer pace.

I chopped a minute off of my actual time and entered 11 minutes on my registration.

In my defense, my timed swim was done while sick, while not having had a chance to do enough swimming prior to it, and after I'd just done a yoga class (and, I realized, later, after not eating for about 14 hours). So I'm thinking that I can take at least a minute off of my swim.

Or at least, I'd better.

Then, got my daughter up and took her to preschool. I also actually remembered that afterward, I would have to go see Amazing Dr. Amy. Unfortunately, since both Dr. Amy and my daughter's gymnastics lessons are a good 45 minute drive away (and close to each other), I had about 4 hours to kill in between.

I didn't want to waste time (or gas) driving home and back between the two, so when I picked up my daughter from preschool, I ran some errands on the way to Dr. Amy. When I got there, I rescheduled my next few appointments so that they wouldn't have such a large gap of time to fill.

Afterward, I decided I would work out since my athletic club has a location between Dr. Amy and gymnastics. They also have child care. She was asleep in her car seat when I arrived, and stayed asleep as I walked in, with my bag and my daughter on my shoulder.

I opted for a 10-time pass, which they neglected to mention would NOT be transferable to the club I normally go to until after I'd paid for it. After some complaining, they said they could transfer it, but I'd have to fill out a bunch of paperwork. Oh well.

I dropped off my daughter, and although the staff seemed really nice, there were about five kids crying in there, nonstop, the whole 10 minutes it took me to fill out registration paperwork (I didn't even get to the transfer stuff), and one in particular was banging on the small childproof door, wailing miserably.

He was clearly so upset that *I* wanted to pick him up and comfort him. For anyone that knows me, you know that this is terribly abnormal behavior as prior to having my daughter, I refused to deal with a child under the age of 6 if I could help it. Furthermore, my "tolerance" of young children, while considerably greater than before I had my own, is still pretty low. And here I was, wanting to comfort this poor little wailing thing.

Despite the noise, my daughter remained sound asleep on my shoulder and I attempted to lay her down, which of course promptly woke her up.

She was thrilled to be there, and I left, hoping that she wouldn't be one of the crying ones when I returned.

I started on the treadmill and after a couple minutes of walking, decided I'd try running a little bit. I set it just at 4 mph, which comes out to a 15 minute mile. V-e-r-y slow. It seemed like an easy enough pace that I thought I'd try a whole mile, without adjusting it up or down. To take that whole hour off of my time, I'm going to need to actually run, and although I've done a lot of interval training, I haven't truly done anything extended for endurance. (If you can even call a single 15 minute mile an endurance run.)

I made it, and actually felt okay. Not great, other than pleased I'd made it, but also not horrible. I finished with enough walking to make the treadmill time last 30 minutes.

Know what? I still HATE running.

When I wobbled myself off of the treadmill, I still had about one hour and 25 minutes left of child care time, so I decided to go for a swim. Since I still had my watch in my bag, I thought it would be a good idea to try and time my 500 again, especially since I wasn't completely honest in my triathlon entry.

I started swimming and despite my noseplug, was having water-in-my-nose problems. At partway into length 7, I actually had to stop, cough, and splutter out water.

Frustrated, I went back and stopped the watch, giving up on timing myself again.

I swam a lap and it went better than all the others I'd done, so I decided to try timing myself again.

Good news: Despite having just run a mile, and having swam 4 laps (8 lengths) prior, I managed to take 15 seconds off of my time already.

So, if I can actually kick this cold, and not exercise right before the swim, I bet the other 45 seconds should come off too.

With the child care, it worked so nicely that I decided to call Dr. Amy's office and reschedule (again) so that I could do this routine in the future. Thankfully, NONE of the kids were crying when I picked up my daughter, and she'd had fun (she didn't want to leave), so hopefully it won't be quite as chaotic in the future when I drop her off.