Well, the dentist wasn't all that bad. I went in thinking I had 5-6 cavities, and would probably have to have a root canal for my horrible toothache. Turns out I only have two small cavities, and neither cavity is in the tooth that was hurting so bad! The dentist and hygienist both think the tooth pain I experienced in my upper left tooth was actually sinus pain. Whatever it was, I am glad it doesn't hurt anymore and that I don't have to pay to get it fixed!
The hygienist said that for not having my teeth professionally cleaned for five years, they really weren't all that bad. That makes me feel good about my oral hygiene. The cleaning was going so well and was relatively painless, until the hygienist began digging plaque rocks out of my gum line with a high powered WaterPik. That was pretty awful. I didn't even know that could happen! But apparantley, plaque build up can turn into calculus (...anyone remember MTV's "2Gether"?) which is a rock like substance. I will go back in about two weeks to get the cavities filled.
Tips for not accumulating rocks in your gums:
1. Floss at least once a day
2. Visit the dentist every 6 months for cleanings!
This past weekend my sister Megan competed in the CrossFit FX Texas Games Unleashed competition in Allen, TX (near Dallas). She did awesome in this absolutely insane physical competition - she came in 3rd overall female!
Visit her blog at www.texascrossfitter.blogspot.com to read all about the competition. I did a few CrossFit workouts with her when I was home for Christmas and they absolutely kicked my butt. I can't even imagine the physical strength it takes to do a day long competition! Megan is hoping to do well in the CrossFit Games qualifiers this year, so these local competitions really help with her training and preparation. Go Meggie!
My trainer rides seem down right wimpy compared to the workouts Megan is doing, but I've really grown to love the trainer for three main reasons:
1. Allows you to work on your form.
When you are riding on the road, there are all kinds of things that you have to pay attention to. You need to be looking forward paying attention to what the road ahead of you holds (traffic, turns, cliffs, hills, etc.)and watching the road below you to make sure that you don't get into any loose gravel or broken glass or other hazardous materials.
And there are probably a hundred other things that cyclists subconsciously are aware of when they are riding on the road. When you are on a trainer, you don't have to worry about any of it! You don't have to worry about traffic or road surfaces, or upcoming turns, hills, descents, etc. This allows you to work on your form - back straight and not hunched over, feet flat, hips to the back of the saddle, etc. - more so than you might be able to do out on the road.
2. Forces you to stay in constant motion.
As the Fat Cyclist pointed out in a recent post, it is easy to coast on a bike. You can coast as you are coming down a hill and you can coast on a flat section of road. One thing that "Coach" Cody told me last summer was "never stop pedaling." He said that he took all of the hills of Kentucky for granted and got used to coasting, but then he went cycling in Indiana (which is pretty flat) and found that he was exhausted from pedaling all of the time since there wasn't really any time to coast. That made sense to me, so I try to pedal all the time when I am on the roads, even if it means spinning out of even my biggest gears. The trainer really forces you to pedal constantly. If you're not pedaling, you're not doing anything. If you want to ride, you have to pedal!
3. No excuses allowed.
There is really no reason to skip a trainer workout. I love that I can wake up at 5:00am and be on the trainer at 5:05. It doesn't take near the preparation that running takes (at least for me, and I'm talking mostly about preparing to run in the cold) and it doesn't matter at all what the weather is like. The trainer has been especially useful this winter with all of the snow storms we have had. There have been days were it would have been impossible to run outside in the morning without breaking my neck on the ice, so I have substituted trainer rides for runs. Now I know that the two are not equal, but if I can't spend 50 minutes running, I'd rather spend 50 minutes riding on the trainer than 50 minutes sitting on the couch.
Workout info for the week:
The storms we got on Monday and Tuesday night have not been good for my running. It is Thursday night, and I have not run yet this week! I am planning on getting in 4-6 in the morning, and then doing 13 on Saturday. We'll see...
Monday 2/8/10
-Scheduled rest day
Tuesday 2/9/10
-45:00 minutes on trainer
Wednesday 2/10/10
-Rest day
Thursday 2/11/10
-45:00 minutes on trainer
Showing posts with label CrossFit. Show all posts
Showing posts with label CrossFit. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Holiday Update
I had good intentions to blog more frequently during our trip home for the holidays, but things have been pretty busy! Since I'd rather spend my time with family instead of in front of my computer, I'd planned to blog at night after everyone had gone to bed. The problem with that is that I have been the first one to fall asleep every night! Seriously, the first three nights here in Houston I went to sleep at 7:00pm. I don't know why I was so tired - probably a mixture of being tired from traveling, wrangling Emma and all of the wonderful food!
First, we spent five days in Alexandria and had so much fun with Mr. David, Mrs. Suzy, Payton, Jay, and Chad's grandmother Mae. Emma had a ton of fun with her little pal Dana and her very large cousin Miles (German Shepherd) . She played so hard each day, and slept like a baby each night.
One night we went to Natchitoches to see the lights and to have dinner down on the waterfront. We had po-boys, catfish and meat pies at Papa's and then walked down to look at the lights and get a funnel cake. Speaking of funnel cake, I have had SO MUCH good food on this trip. Here is a breakdown:
Louisiana, part 1:
Gumbo
Shrimp po-boy
BJ's pizza
Petit fours from Atwood's Bakery,
Rocky road candy
Cracker candy
Homeade chocolate chip cookies
Texas:
Taco Cabana fajitas
Schlotzsky's "the original" sandwiches (a Christmas Eve tradition)
Christmas dinner: turkey, macaroni and cheese, dressing and gravy, green been bundles, asparagus, and chocolate cake with ganache
Morning Kolache's cream cheese kolaches
Shipley's donuts, kolaches and coffee
Fuddrucker's hamburger and fries with cheese sauce
Gringo's cheese enchiladas
Muffaleta from Spec's
California chicken burger from Cafe Express
Louisiana Part 2:
To be determined
When I am not eating, I try to get a run in! I ran a couple of times in Alexandria, and I've run a few times here in Houston. I've also done one Crossfit WOD (with another one planned for tomorrow), and have gone on a bike ride.
I did the WOD (workout of the day) on Christmas Eve, and I finally was able to walk without pain on December 28th! CrossFit is a totally different beast from anything I've ever done. My sister Megan is really into it, and she is very good at it. It was really nice of her to let me come to CrossFit Bay Area with her, and to walk me through each of the sets.
The WOD consisted of:
Back squat
5-5-5-5-5
(after the squats my legs were shaking like a leaf, and we hadn't even started the workout yet! )
Then..
4 rounds for time of:
15 wall ball (6 lbs.)
6 ring rows
5 shoot-thrus (with paralletes)
15 box jumps
Megan's coach, Coach Laura, had mercy on me and said that I only had to do 2 rounds instead of 4. I did two rounds in about 7 minutes, whereas Megan knocked out all four in just about 8 minutes. Like I said, she's really good. The wall balls weren' too bad - it consisted of squatting down and touching your butt to a medicine ball on the floor, and then tossing another medicine ball up to the wall on your way up from the squat. The ring rows were pretty tough - especially since one of the rings I grabbed wasn't clamped in and I went sliding down to the floor. It was pretty funny, and Coach Laura came to my rescue and helped me get set up with the rings. The shoot-thrus were horrible, and are not ideal for people with long legs. As much as I tried, I don't think I did even one correctly. The box jumps were pretty straightforward, but since I was so shaky and wanted to preserve my shin bones, I did most of the "jumps" by just stepping onto the box.
It was a great time at the CrossFit gym, but it was also kind of embarrassing being so bad at something! I am definitely going to incorporate some CrossFit type workouts into my training plan, as I know that weight bearing exercises can really help me with my running, swimming and cycling.
Christmas Eve was an absolutely crazy day at my parent's house that involved a series of unfortunate events that were strung together in quite rapid succession, involving plumbing fixtures, jammed doors, loose dogs, a broken tea kettle and possibly a broken finger or two. It was very wild, but at the end of the day we were able to all take a deep breath and laugh about the events of the day.
As far as running, I've done a 2 mile run, a 3.3 mile run and a 10.52 mile run. The 10 miler was done with my sister's CrossFit affiliate, CrossFit Bay Area. Megan is training for the Pelican Challenge in Seabrook in March (back to back half marathons on Saturday and Sunday). Megan and I headed out for a 2 mile run before meeting up with the group, in order to get in a little extra mileage. Once we met up with the rest of the group, we headed out for 7 miles. There was a little miscalculation with the route, and we ended up doing 8.52 miles, for a total of 10.52 miles for me and Megan. We headed straight to Chipotle for lunch afterwards!
me, Megan, Wendy, Sonja, Melissa, and Coach Laura
I've been hanging out with my niece Brittany the past few days while she is out of school, and we went and saw Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakqal yesterday. It was pretty cute. I love being able to spend a few days with her!
Chad has been in Denver for the Love Mercy 2009 Wesleyan Youth Convention since the day after Christmas, and he will get back into Houston tomorrow. On Friday, we are heading back to Alexandria for a day and a half before driving back to Kentucky. It has been a wild and fun time with both of our families, and I continue to look forward to the day when we move back to Louisiana.
My next few posts will be of some pictures from the trip so far!
First, we spent five days in Alexandria and had so much fun with Mr. David, Mrs. Suzy, Payton, Jay, and Chad's grandmother Mae. Emma had a ton of fun with her little pal Dana and her very large cousin Miles (German Shepherd) . She played so hard each day, and slept like a baby each night.
One night we went to Natchitoches to see the lights and to have dinner down on the waterfront. We had po-boys, catfish and meat pies at Papa's and then walked down to look at the lights and get a funnel cake. Speaking of funnel cake, I have had SO MUCH good food on this trip. Here is a breakdown:
Louisiana, part 1:
Gumbo
Shrimp po-boy
BJ's pizza
Petit fours from Atwood's Bakery,
Rocky road candy
Cracker candy
Homeade chocolate chip cookies
Texas:
Taco Cabana fajitas
Schlotzsky's "the original" sandwiches (a Christmas Eve tradition)
Christmas dinner: turkey, macaroni and cheese, dressing and gravy, green been bundles, asparagus, and chocolate cake with ganache
Morning Kolache's cream cheese kolaches
Shipley's donuts, kolaches and coffee
Fuddrucker's hamburger and fries with cheese sauce
Gringo's cheese enchiladas
Muffaleta from Spec's
California chicken burger from Cafe Express
Louisiana Part 2:
To be determined
When I am not eating, I try to get a run in! I ran a couple of times in Alexandria, and I've run a few times here in Houston. I've also done one Crossfit WOD (with another one planned for tomorrow), and have gone on a bike ride.
I did the WOD (workout of the day) on Christmas Eve, and I finally was able to walk without pain on December 28th! CrossFit is a totally different beast from anything I've ever done. My sister Megan is really into it, and she is very good at it. It was really nice of her to let me come to CrossFit Bay Area with her, and to walk me through each of the sets.
The WOD consisted of:
Back squat
5-5-5-5-5
(after the squats my legs were shaking like a leaf, and we hadn't even started the workout yet! )
Then..
4 rounds for time of:
15 wall ball (6 lbs.)
6 ring rows
5 shoot-thrus (with paralletes)
15 box jumps
Megan's coach, Coach Laura, had mercy on me and said that I only had to do 2 rounds instead of 4. I did two rounds in about 7 minutes, whereas Megan knocked out all four in just about 8 minutes. Like I said, she's really good. The wall balls weren' too bad - it consisted of squatting down and touching your butt to a medicine ball on the floor, and then tossing another medicine ball up to the wall on your way up from the squat. The ring rows were pretty tough - especially since one of the rings I grabbed wasn't clamped in and I went sliding down to the floor. It was pretty funny, and Coach Laura came to my rescue and helped me get set up with the rings. The shoot-thrus were horrible, and are not ideal for people with long legs. As much as I tried, I don't think I did even one correctly. The box jumps were pretty straightforward, but since I was so shaky and wanted to preserve my shin bones, I did most of the "jumps" by just stepping onto the box.
It was a great time at the CrossFit gym, but it was also kind of embarrassing being so bad at something! I am definitely going to incorporate some CrossFit type workouts into my training plan, as I know that weight bearing exercises can really help me with my running, swimming and cycling.
Christmas Eve was an absolutely crazy day at my parent's house that involved a series of unfortunate events that were strung together in quite rapid succession, involving plumbing fixtures, jammed doors, loose dogs, a broken tea kettle and possibly a broken finger or two. It was very wild, but at the end of the day we were able to all take a deep breath and laugh about the events of the day.
As far as running, I've done a 2 mile run, a 3.3 mile run and a 10.52 mile run. The 10 miler was done with my sister's CrossFit affiliate, CrossFit Bay Area. Megan is training for the Pelican Challenge in Seabrook in March (back to back half marathons on Saturday and Sunday). Megan and I headed out for a 2 mile run before meeting up with the group, in order to get in a little extra mileage. Once we met up with the rest of the group, we headed out for 7 miles. There was a little miscalculation with the route, and we ended up doing 8.52 miles, for a total of 10.52 miles for me and Megan. We headed straight to Chipotle for lunch afterwards!
me, Megan, Wendy, Sonja, Melissa, and Coach LauraI've been hanging out with my niece Brittany the past few days while she is out of school, and we went and saw Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakqal yesterday. It was pretty cute. I love being able to spend a few days with her!
Chad has been in Denver for the Love Mercy 2009 Wesleyan Youth Convention since the day after Christmas, and he will get back into Houston tomorrow. On Friday, we are heading back to Alexandria for a day and a half before driving back to Kentucky. It has been a wild and fun time with both of our families, and I continue to look forward to the day when we move back to Louisiana.
My next few posts will be of some pictures from the trip so far!
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Update
Training Log
Friday 12/4/09
Distance: 4.21
Time: 37:46
Pace: 8:58 per mile
Saturday 12/5/09
Rest day
I got an e-mail on Thursday afternoon that I have a spot with Team LIVESTRONG! I've registered for the marathon and made hotel arrangements for the weekend, and I am really excited. Chad is really excited about the trip, because our hotel is within walking distance of Gruhn Guitars!
Since we have been married, we have not taken an actual vacation with each other! We choose to spend all our traveling and vacation time seeing family, since we live so far away. I absolutely love this, and I wouldn't want to spend my vacation time doing anything else! But, it will be nice to have a "weekend getaway" with just the two of us, to a city that neither of us have spent much time in. The marathon weekend will be just one month shy of our five year anniversary!
So, I am really excited about the marathon and about being part of Team LIVESTRONG. I had the option of picking what my fundraising goal will be, and admittedly, I chose the lowest at $500. This isn't because I don't want to raise funds for LIVESTRONG, but because this is my first foray into doing fundraising like this. Since I'm not quite sure how this will go, I would much rather exceed a low goal, then come in way under a high goal.
LIVESTRONG will set me up with a fundraising website soon, and I will be sharing that link here when it is available. I figure that if I can get 20 people to donate $26.20 ($1 per mile), then I will meet my $500 goal!
My sister Michelle ran her first 5k yesterday morning in 43:46 - way to go Michelle! She is already planning to run her second one on December 19th! I am trying to organize a family 5k for when I am home at Christmas. My sister Megan is really into Crossfit, and plans to take me to some Crossfit workouts. I envision myself being tossed around the place like a ragdoll!
One really cool thing her Crossfit affiliate, Bay Area Crossfit, did yesterday was the Lumberjack WOD a fundraiser and WOD (workout of the day) to honor the people who lost their lives at the Ft. Hood shooting. Four members of the Lumberjack Crossfit affiliate lost their lives in the shooting that day.
On a lighter note, my friend Kelly is training for the Walt Disney marathon in January, and has her first 20 mile run scheduled today. I am going to meet up with her this afternoon to run with her for the first 10 miles. This will be Kelly's first full marathon, and I know she will do awesome! It is really great to be with a friend as they are staring right in the face of a huge, seemingly insurmountable goal, and to see them slowly start to realize that yes, they can do it! And they will do it. No matter what obstacles may come up, it is important to keep pressing onwards towards the goal laid out in front of you! As much as a marathon is a physical feat, it is also a big mental and emotional feat. I am glad I can run with Kelly on a few of her training runs as she continues to press on towards 26.2!
Friday 12/4/09
Distance: 4.21
Time: 37:46
Pace: 8:58 per mile
Saturday 12/5/09
Rest day
I got an e-mail on Thursday afternoon that I have a spot with Team LIVESTRONG! I've registered for the marathon and made hotel arrangements for the weekend, and I am really excited. Chad is really excited about the trip, because our hotel is within walking distance of Gruhn Guitars!
Since we have been married, we have not taken an actual vacation with each other! We choose to spend all our traveling and vacation time seeing family, since we live so far away. I absolutely love this, and I wouldn't want to spend my vacation time doing anything else! But, it will be nice to have a "weekend getaway" with just the two of us, to a city that neither of us have spent much time in. The marathon weekend will be just one month shy of our five year anniversary!
So, I am really excited about the marathon and about being part of Team LIVESTRONG. I had the option of picking what my fundraising goal will be, and admittedly, I chose the lowest at $500. This isn't because I don't want to raise funds for LIVESTRONG, but because this is my first foray into doing fundraising like this. Since I'm not quite sure how this will go, I would much rather exceed a low goal, then come in way under a high goal.
LIVESTRONG will set me up with a fundraising website soon, and I will be sharing that link here when it is available. I figure that if I can get 20 people to donate $26.20 ($1 per mile), then I will meet my $500 goal!
My sister Michelle ran her first 5k yesterday morning in 43:46 - way to go Michelle! She is already planning to run her second one on December 19th! I am trying to organize a family 5k for when I am home at Christmas. My sister Megan is really into Crossfit, and plans to take me to some Crossfit workouts. I envision myself being tossed around the place like a ragdoll!
One really cool thing her Crossfit affiliate, Bay Area Crossfit, did yesterday was the Lumberjack WOD a fundraiser and WOD (workout of the day) to honor the people who lost their lives at the Ft. Hood shooting. Four members of the Lumberjack Crossfit affiliate lost their lives in the shooting that day.
On a lighter note, my friend Kelly is training for the Walt Disney marathon in January, and has her first 20 mile run scheduled today. I am going to meet up with her this afternoon to run with her for the first 10 miles. This will be Kelly's first full marathon, and I know she will do awesome! It is really great to be with a friend as they are staring right in the face of a huge, seemingly insurmountable goal, and to see them slowly start to realize that yes, they can do it! And they will do it. No matter what obstacles may come up, it is important to keep pressing onwards towards the goal laid out in front of you! As much as a marathon is a physical feat, it is also a big mental and emotional feat. I am glad I can run with Kelly on a few of her training runs as she continues to press on towards 26.2!
Friday, January 2, 2009
New Year Additions and Plans
Our friends, the Heron's, gave birth to their second beautiful daughter around 6:30am on New Year's Eve - welcome to the world Eloise!
Pictures and posts about Eloise and her big sister, Margot, can be found at Jason's blog at www.likethebird.blogspot.com
Having two weeks off from work has turned me into an absolute slug. I can't seem to get motivated to do anything! We were out of town and traveling for the first week, and it seems like I've spent this second week recuperating from our travels. I am really looking forward to getting back to work and getting into a consistent routine again. I am also excited about beginning my spring marathon and sprint triathlon training program on Monday, January 5th. My sister (her new blog can be found at www.texascrossfitter.blogspot.com) has started utilizing CrossFit workouts into her workout schedule. These are really intense workouts, but seem to be great for building endurance, strength, stamina and muscle tone. I am going to try and incorporate some of these workouts into my training this spring as well. I'm also hoping to pick up my rate of blogging as my training picks back up.
I'm really excited about training for a sprint triathlon. I've always said that I wanted to do triathlons, but I didn't have a bike and I didn't know how to swim. Well, now I have a great Specialized road bike and access to a heated indoor pool...so I don't really have any excuses any more to not do a triathlon. I think training for the Derby Festival marathon and the sprint triathlon at the same time will work well - the biking and swimming will help with my endurance and hopefully keep me from getting burnt out on running. The tricky part for me will be figuring out how I can run a long and steady pace for the marathon, and a fast pace for the triathlon's 5k. I'm hoping the speedwork I've incorporated into my marathon training will serve to help me in both the marathon and triathlon.
Chad and I had a wonderful Christmas with both of our families. My parents got us a gift that just keeps on giving - a great new digital camera! I am in love with it and we took so many pictures while we were in Houston, TX and Alexandria, LA for Christmas. I am going to be posting the pictures soon - it will probably take 3 or 4 posts to get them all on here! I'm hoping to get all of the pictures posted by the end of this weekend.
Happy new year!
Pictures and posts about Eloise and her big sister, Margot, can be found at Jason's blog at www.likethebird.blogspot.com
Having two weeks off from work has turned me into an absolute slug. I can't seem to get motivated to do anything! We were out of town and traveling for the first week, and it seems like I've spent this second week recuperating from our travels. I am really looking forward to getting back to work and getting into a consistent routine again. I am also excited about beginning my spring marathon and sprint triathlon training program on Monday, January 5th. My sister (her new blog can be found at www.texascrossfitter.blogspot.com) has started utilizing CrossFit workouts into her workout schedule. These are really intense workouts, but seem to be great for building endurance, strength, stamina and muscle tone. I am going to try and incorporate some of these workouts into my training this spring as well. I'm also hoping to pick up my rate of blogging as my training picks back up.
I'm really excited about training for a sprint triathlon. I've always said that I wanted to do triathlons, but I didn't have a bike and I didn't know how to swim. Well, now I have a great Specialized road bike and access to a heated indoor pool...so I don't really have any excuses any more to not do a triathlon. I think training for the Derby Festival marathon and the sprint triathlon at the same time will work well - the biking and swimming will help with my endurance and hopefully keep me from getting burnt out on running. The tricky part for me will be figuring out how I can run a long and steady pace for the marathon, and a fast pace for the triathlon's 5k. I'm hoping the speedwork I've incorporated into my marathon training will serve to help me in both the marathon and triathlon.
Chad and I had a wonderful Christmas with both of our families. My parents got us a gift that just keeps on giving - a great new digital camera! I am in love with it and we took so many pictures while we were in Houston, TX and Alexandria, LA for Christmas. I am going to be posting the pictures soon - it will probably take 3 or 4 posts to get them all on here! I'm hoping to get all of the pictures posted by the end of this weekend.
Happy new year!
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