hello 2011, it's a 15 hour week already!

Today I finished up 2 really good, consistent weeks of workouts. A 70 minute run and a 60 minute bike this afternoon brought me to a total of over 15 hours for the week (14 if you don't include yoga). I am really happy with that. It's still January and I am hitting 15 hours already? Yes, some of it is strength, but even so, it helps me remain confident about my June Ironman. One more pretty big week and then I get a rest week (that will fall on a week of working nights so I should be able to see if my sleep issue has improved at all).

After a rough start (workout-wise) to the year, I feel like I have finally pulled it together. I feel my run slowly coming back and my swim getting faster. And I am REALLY itching to get outside on the bike. It's 33 degrees out, which is great for Rochester in January but definitely not "yay lets bike outside!" weather. But at least running outside will be fantastic!

I'm not afraid to talk about those weeks of bad workouts that I was having. I am a prime example of how your personal life can affect your training. How stress at work can affect your training. How lack of sleep can affect your training. And I don't even have a husband or family to worry about! Mix these things together and sometimes it's a struggle just to exist day to day, much less try to train for an Ironman. Everyone has low points, and the key is to just keep swimming. Do what you have to do to feel better, do the workouts you can do, do the best that you can. Sometimes it's a scramble at first but then eventually things start to improve. And when that happens, you realize that you haven't "lost it" or gone off the deep end..

And I'm going to go ahead and link you to one of my FAVORITE songs to listen to while I am running. Perhaps I don't really seem like the type of girl that likes Eminem, but I do. Unfortunately, people upload so much crap on youtube that I couldn't find the actual music video.

On an unrelated note, I have managed to keep my apartment clean and organized for over 2 weeks (might be a record), I have not seen the squirrel in the kitchen since my landlord boarded up its hole last weekend, and yesterday I finally spent my Christmas money on a pair of Lululemon Groove pants. They are currently being held hostage hemmed and I will get them on Friday - can't wait! Also, the Verizon iphone is finally going to be available for pre-order this week! I am totally hopping on board with the iphone.. I have only been waiting 2 years to be able to get one!

My parents called me today.. from the IKEA store in Philadelphia! My parents are awesome enough to have driven 3 hours to buy me a bookcase (and as it turns out.. TWO bookcases) for my new apartment because the closest IKEA store to me is in Canada. Seriously, you don't find better parents than that! I have set a tentative moving date for the Feb. 19th weekend.. everything just depends on the weather!

3 weeks and counting!