Wednesday, May 19, 2010

A New Beginning

Yesterday I ended a significant chapter of my life: it was my last day of work for a while. I've found a better career opportunity which will take effect mid-June hence I have almost a full month of freedom! For the next two weekends I have weddings (one here in Louisville, the other in Mobile) and then I'm heading to South Carolina to visit friends and enjoy the beach.

So what does one do with all their free time? Train! I absolutely love having this flexibility to workout whenever, taking advantage of different yoga classes or exercise classes both at the studio and my gym, riding my bike, running the park, swimming, tennis, you name it!

This morning I slept in until 9 (it was GLORIOUS) and then I got up and had a quick breakfast of plain organic yogurt (maybe 3/4 cup), Nutty Nuggets (Grape Nuts), a small spoonful of peanut butter, and about half a banana. I wanted to put something in my system before I hit the gym. When I go to the gym super early in the morning, I have a few glasses of water mixed with Accelerade, but no food.

When I got to Milestone, I was kind of shocked to see that the parking lots were as full (or even more so) than they are after work. Ah yes, the geriatric/stay at home mom crowd. Despite the crowd, I didn't have a problem finding a treadmill. I walked for 7 minutes to warm up and then ran 2.5 miles while I went back and forth between MSNBC and Who Wants To Be A Millionaire. If you need a song to add to your playlist and aren't afraid of girly pop, try "Naturally" by Selena Gomez.

That reminds me: blister update. Alice (because she is such a good friend) poked a hole in my blister last night to let the pus ooze out. Delicious. I wrapped some medical tape around my foot this morning to protect it from my shoe.

Although the blister area felt a bit sore towards the end, I had a successful run and then hit the locker room to change into my swim suit. The lap pool was filled with, you guessed it, geriatric folk, but they made space for me and I was able to jump in and swim 1/2 mile without stopping. I'm not sure what my time was, but let me tell you, I felt STRONG during that swim. Before I even hopped off the treadmill, I had already burned through my breakfast so I was sort of running on empty as I got into the pool. However, and I'm sure there is a term for this, I felt as if my body was using air extremely efficiently. I maintained a steady speed and focused on using good technique.

A few things about swimming:
1. Beginning swimmers (when swimming freestyle) tend to look out a few feet in front of them instead of looking straight down at the bottom of the pool. If you maintain your neck in a neutral position and keep your gaze downward you will avoid straining your neck.
2. Learn how to breathe on both sides. Most people will breathe to their left; that's how we learn and that's what we do. I've been adamant about breathing on both sides and not only does it relieve tension in the neck, it keeps things interesting too. The easiest way for me to adapt to breathing on the right side was to imagine my neck was a swivel and I was just rotating it to the right. It's a strange sensation at first, but you adapt after several swims.

I'm at home now and I just had a green monster with the chocolate whey protein and I'm roasting some veggies right now (sweet potatoes, brussel sprouts, and asparagus).

What a great day so far!

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