11 days

Eleven days and counting. November 16 is just on the horizon, yet still seems so far, far away.

Now that I am only 11 days away, something new has happened: questioning of how much longer I have. I've been to Baby Gap, Joann's Fabrics, Janie & Jack, the grocery store... regardless of where I've been, at least one person has asked how far along I am. And then when I tell them I have x amount of days, they giggle with little sympathy and make me feel like a rotund beach ball.

I did hear something interesting today; you always hear of ways to induce labor at home (eat spicy foods, have sex, walk, drink pineapple juice) but one that I will happily jump on board with that was shared today. Pizza. Yes, pizza. Not any of the "fast" chains, but gourmet-y type places, like iFratelli's and Campisi's. So what did we have for dinner tonight? Fireside Pies pizza.

I think my husband was trying to make me eat the whole pie.

So, bring on the (stronger) contractions!

To be organic

To be organic, I have discovered tonight after shopping the aisles of Whole Bucks, is you have to spend a fortune. And for what? For crackers that are organic? For chips that are "better for you?" Organic dog collars??? I don't mind going green in some aspects, buy is buying organic dish soap really making a difference in our environment?

But, what I really went to the store for was to try out gluten-free food items. I could be leaning toward a bit of hypchondria, but sometimes I wonder if I have a wheat allergy. So, I'm going to test out some common bread food I eat on a regular basis that is gluten-free: rice bread, gluten-free pasta, gluten-free frozen pizza meals. It was difficult to look throughout all the shelves to find the different gluten-free options but I found a few (even chocolate chip cookies!!) and so I'm going to try them out. I probably have to be pretty consistent in eating a gluten-free diet in order to really see any difference if I am in fact allergic to gluten, but we'll give it a shot anyhow.

In one aspect I see as being organic - in this case getting back to nature - was my second morning swim in the outdoor pool this morning. With the sun coming up so early, it's quite awesome to be swimming laps with the sun rising. Too bad you can't really get a chance to enjoy the view, but it's still nice nonetheless. This morning's swim workout was a nice change of pace - lots of drills! It went a little like this:
500 warm up
4x25 kick with one arm out
100 easy
4x25 one arm drill
100 easy
4x25 fist drill
100 easy
12x25 easy, moderate, hard, 45sec
100 easy
400 kick
100 easy
200 finish
I may be missing something in there, but it should add up to 2300-2400m total.

Last Thursday morning's swim, I did really well even after a couple week's break. I find that my swim is awesome when I've had a week or two off, but going consecutively for a month or more and my body is too tired sometimes to do a whole workout. I need to work on that...

My needs

In the last few weeks and during some of my 'tougher' workouts, I've finally decided on something: I need professional help. Yeah, yeah. Some of you would say "yep, you do because you're crazy," but not that professional help - the help of a triathlete coach/running coach/motivator/nutritionist. It's a bummer, though, that they cost so darn much.

I have drive and stamina to finish nearly anything I put my mind to and decide to do. I just lack the willpower to continue on. I slack off during a workout or something difficult at work and try to talk myself out of it - and sometimes succeed. Let's say I've decided to do a 9 mile run on Sunday, and what usually happens is I get to the 3 mile point that is usually used for turning around or continuing on, and I'll turn around and get 6 in. Or I'll start walking because my mind says to not stress my body or my legs. But then I feel guilty that I didn't give myself the workout I need. My mind wins; my body loses.

I need someone (besides my dear hubby) to push me, to show me the way, to be my rabbit, to be my driving force other than my own body and mind. I need to be told I can do this, I am doing great things - I need to know I'm improving and am capable of reaching such and such goals. I just sometimes wish - ok, all the time wish - that I could just snap my fingers and my fitness is top-notch and my body is 15% fat instead of 20-something.

I have also pretty much figured that I do better with a schedule that's been worked out for me and outlined week by week. I did as well as I could for Ironman last year, when I had Coach Jason provide me with monthly workout schedules. I think I need that again, instead of showing up for masters and weekly runs. And don't get me wrong, I've done this for enough years I can do that on my own, but I want to know the details - tempo run here, speedwork here, hill work here, pick-ups here, etc. I'm very anal and detail-oriented and just going for the workouts that are available to me aren't really cutting it.

Maybe its because I don't have a huge race such as Ironman driving me, but I do have some coming up in the second half of the season that would be great if I can PR in.

I also - desperately - need a nutritionist. I am a horrible eater - and the most pickiest one you'll ever meet who isn't 6. I promise. I'm a meat-and-potatoes-and-desserts girl and I eat maybe 2-3 veggie types and 3-4 fruit types. And I am constantly hungry, but I think that's my fast metabolism. I love breakfast and eat breakfast every single day (eggs, english muffin, maybe a small piece of sausage), a yogurt smoothie for snack, lunch at work with whatever I have time for, another snack around 3 and then dinner. Sometimes in the afternoon I get what I call "work munchies" where I'm getting finicky and seem to need to constantly be eating. Other times I'll come home from work and have a bowl of Special K before dinner.

I would also like to improve my running - and tremendously so. I've never been a runner, have had the notion that I'm not a runner pushed into my head ever since first grade when I was the last one to finish a relay (and it's all on tape - thanks Mom & Dad). I've done pretty darn well the last couple of months, but I would love to see me hanging in the 7 min. pace. Shoot, I know one day I'll be faster than Bryon (he hangs in the 6 min. pace and has qualified for Boston twice now) - when he's 60 and I'm 47, but that's still not for a while!

I NEED MOTIVATION! I NEED AN EXPERIENCED, QUALIFIED COACH! I NEED TO GET OFF MY REAR AND SUCCEED!

Speed Lightning

That was me this morning - Speed Lightning. I ran our group's regular Friday 4.5 mile run in - hold on to your seats - a speedy (for me) ~8.15/mile! That's crazy. Good crazy. I'm ecstatic. And it was topped off with my hubby saying my running's really coming along. A compliment! (Just kidding!)

I'll always take a compliment - I especially seek it out during my training because so many thoughts - negative and positive - run through my mind during my workouts. I oculd use more too, and this morning I thought I had done well and to get to actually hear it from someone else rather than my own beat-up brain was icing on the cake.

Performances like this are making me more and more excited for the Madison-Chicago 200 mile relay we're doing the first weekend of June. Twelve-man teams traveling nearly 200 miles by foot. We did the Wasatch Back Relay last year, which was my first, and it was fun. It's hard, but fun.

Time to try some gourmet mac & cheese that got rave reviews at a new restaurant in town.

Don't forget it's mother's day on Sunday!