Exercise Updates

So, are you dying to know what I ended up doing yesterday? (ha ha) Well, I went to the Y and tried to talk myself into swimming. The pool looked lovely - clear, blue, wide open lane lines... but no dice. I don't know what's up with me but I just don't want to put on a bathing suit and get in that water. So, I did a 45 minute step aerobics class instead, followed by a one hour weight training class. I hadn't taken a step class in forever. And the weight class is my favorite. By going after work, I even got to see some instructors that I hadn't seen in a long time since I usually go at lunch time these days. It was fun.

This morning, I did my usual Thursday morning run of five miles through my neighborhood. Stats were 43:43 for a 8:44 minute/mile average. I'm starting to get used to my under 9 minute mile pace but it is lonely running by myself. I know I will incur the wrath of running purists, but my MP3 player is a big help on days when I run alone!

Speaking of MP3 players, while trying to figure out a way to get myself motivated to jump in the pool, I went to www.swimoutlet.com and bought myself a pretty new bathing suit in TriGirl pink (of course!) and a suposedly waterproof MP3 player. Music gets me through my runs - why not swims too? I'm assuming that my lack of interest in swimming stems from boredom and not fear of seeing my fat pasty body in a bathing suit! I'll let you know whether it works or not... both the device and the motivation technique. Thank goodness our swims with Som start again in January!

Next, I will have to find a waterproof timer for my swims (assuming I actually start swimming!). I am addicted to my Garmin for runs and my bike computer. I don't even have a baseline for swimming other than the 400 meters I did in the ACAC sprint tri - and I was so jacked on nerves and adrenalin that it isn't a fair comparison!

I do have a love/hate relationship with my Garmin. It is wonderful when it works but it frequently loses signal or provides results I don't trust. I have tracked mileage for this run in my car (pre-Garmin) and on the Garmin many many times; however one morning last week, the Garmin decided to only reflect 4.5 miles. I didn't cheat, I promise! I also did a long run last week, combining two of my shorter runs for what I think was about 7.5 miles. The Garmin again let me down, showing only 0.6 for the first mile and ~ 6.5 miles for the total run. I think I need to find the right cable to connect it to my computer (this model didn't come with one) and update the sattelites or something. Any advice?

Anyway... after my run this morning, my kiddies and I went to Maymont for a play date with some other TriGirl mommies. There were three 5-year old girls, one 7 year old girl, one 6 year old boy, and one 2 year old boy. They seemed to have fun running all over the Nature Center and the Children's Farm together. My kids showed off their favorite tree again, and it was a big hit with the other kids. A good time was had by all, I think. We will definitely plan to do it again!