30 Minute Open Swim at Antigua

I walked one mile on deck before we headed to the beach in Antigua. I swam for 30 minutes in the Caribbean. I could get used to this!

5 Miles Running plus a Swim in the Sea at St. Kitts

This morning I got up early and did 25 laps on deck 10 – that’s the equivalent of 5 miles. I would have done more, but the ship was pulling into port and we had to get to breakfast before we went ashore. This time I brought my goggles with me and swam parallel to the shore for a total of 25 minutes. It was the best swimming workout I have ever had. It sure beats laps in a pool. I can see why so many people prefer an open swim for Tri competitions – if only the water were as nice as the aqua Caribbean!

30 Minutes on the Ship Deck

Last night was the first time I really ate whatever I wanted. I had been very good all day, and had exercised, so I didn’t feel so bad. That was until today. I got up early, and did laps around the top deck for 30 minutes. We went to the beach at Philipsburg, St. Maarten and I swam against the current. I hadn’t brought my goggles with me to the beach, but will next time. When we got back to the ship, I did hills on the treadmill for 30 minutes. I think I paid my dues for last night.

Thanksgiving Day - 30 Minutes on the Treadmill

Today is Thanksgiving. Had we been in town I would have done the Andy Stewart's Turkey Trot and logged 5 miles. I spent 30 minutes on the treadmill and tried a few more weight machines.

Day 3 at Sea - 30 Minutes and a Little Swim

Once again, I missed the fitness classes, but did do 30 minutes on the treadmill and a short work-out on the weight machines. Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and I’m not sure what’s on the menu, but I do plan to indulge. Tonight I swam in the indoor saltwater pool. It wasn’t very long, maybe 20ft. I did laps and rectangles for 15 minutes.

Day 2 at Sea - 30 Minutes on the Treadmill

I have to give credit to Royal Caribbean. Although they still offer food at every hour and in every corner of the ship, they have gone to great effort to offer plentiful and healthy choices for those who want to make smart choices. Their salad bar selections are terrific; it’s almost as good as being at Sweet Tomatoes! I had planned to wake up early and attend back-to-back fitness classes (especially after a little sampling of one of the wonderful desserts last night), but with a one hour time change this morning, I couldn’t do it. I would have preferred to run on the deck, but it was extremely windy and cool (I only brought summer things), so I stayed inside and instead walked and ran on the treadmill for 30 minutes and worked out on a few weight machines.

15 Minutes Swimming in a Hotel Pool

We are in Tampa, waiting to head to our cruise ship to take off for a 10 day cruise to the Eastern Caribbean. My plan is to exercise as much as possible and to be mindful of what I eat. With all of the food temptations, only time and the scale will tell. In honor of my plan, I swam for 15 minutes in the heated lap pool at the hotel.

6 Miles instead of 16

FBF had 16 miles on the schedule. I didn't want to get up at 2:30am, so I decided to sleep in and go to Oyster Creek Park. It was in the low 40's and I mostly ran. I made a decision this morning as I was doing my long training - since it has only been 3 weeks since NYC, and I'm still in recovery, 16 miles was too much, even though I'm scheduled for the 30K on December 14th. I cut back to 6 miles and decided that I would drop back to the Houston Half Marathon. I'm too tired to continue to train for a full marathon and even if I could finish in the allotted 6 hour time frame, it would be a repeat of New York. I'd rather run while there are spectators on the course and make it in while the party is still going on. I'll probably still do the 30K, though.

Brrrr 30 Minutes Swimming

The pool temperature was 78 and comfortable.I swam for 30 minutes, wanting to hold off getting out of the pool since the air was 40 degrees and the transition was going to be cold. I also needed to work off some calories from the day before.

15 Minutes Swimming plus Hills

I had good intentions this morning - to get up early and swim. But I put it off until early evening when I swam for 15 minutes. Later this evening, Patricia and I did hills, running uphill a lot. We did 3 loops in 50 minutes.

30 Minutes mostly Running plus Swimming

It was still a bit nippy when I went out to run and it turned out that I had overdressed. After about 5 minutes I was really hot and found it difficult to run. I did 2:1's for the first 20 minutes and then walked for the balance. When I was done, I went straight to the Aquatic Center and swam for 15 minutes.

20 Minutes Swimming

I swam at the Aquatic Center this morning. The air was pretty cool,(in the 40's) but the water was a warm 79. I did laps for 20 minutes. By the time I was done, the sun was shining and the rays were warm. I got into the locker room, though, as fast I could!

35 Minutes Running

The weather was terrific this morning, crisp and clear. I ran for 35 minutes in an attempt to make up for the 3 miles I was short yesterday.

8 Miles instead of 11

Fort Bend Fit met at Sugar Land Memorial Park. The full training group was set to do 11 miles. I started out with the Orange runners and ran intermittently for the first 1:20. It was cold and windy and dark. When I got close to my house,I took a detour to use the restroom and convinced Stan to drive me part of the way back. I cut off 1 mile, running the final mile back to the park. There was an optional 2 mile loop but I didn't do it. Since I hadn't done a long run last weekend and just started running instead of walking, I thought it would be best to ease back into things.

20 Minutes Swimming

I went to the Aquatic center mid morning and swam for 20 minutes. It was not crowded, so I had a lane to myself. I can see my arms reshaping. It's getting easier, again -I wasn't as tired this time as I was the other day,

30 Minutes Mostly Running

Today was my first day back at running. I walked for 3 minutes and then did intermittnet intervals for 20 minutes. I'm going to try running this Satuday with Fort Bend Fit.

A Little Swim plus Hills

I swam at the Aquatic Center for 15 minutes this evening. I still felt tired afterwards, but it wasn't as bad as yesterday. Tonight Patricia and I did hills for 50 minutes. Again, I was tired, but it felt really good to be exercising again. I signed up for the 30K.

Trying to Get Back on Track

The NY Marathon was Sunday, the 2nd. We stayed in NY until Wednesday. We walked around Manhattan all day Monday, logging about 6 miles. That was probably a little too much, especially since it was the beginning of Zero Week, but I felt fine. A bug that was sweeping NYC found Stan and decided to strike in the middle of the night Wednesday. He was sick for several days. I have luckily avoid it. Between prior commitments and a sick husband, my training got pushed to the back burner. I finally got out for a short 10 minute swim this morning at the Aquatic Center. It's amazing how much of an impact a week's break can have. I was winded and ready for a nap.

My plan is to get back on the full marathon training schedule, complete the 30K on December 16th and run the Houston full marathon.

New York Marathon - A Real Adventure

The NY marathon was quite an adventure. It didn't turn out quite the way I had hoped. It's over and we finished and I'm proud that although we encountered enormous challenges, we persevered.The logistics for getting 40,000 people from Manhattan to Staten Island where the race begins could be a nightmare, but the race organizers seem to have that part of the race down to a science. It's the back end that needs some work.Every entrant is assigned a seat on a bus that leaves from a predetermined destination. Steve and I were staying downtown near the financial district and our bus location was uptown at the library. The ultimate destination was the Staten Island Ferry terminal. We decided to take the train directly to the terminal and get a few extra hours of sleep. We left the hotel at 6:15am and arrived at the terminal at 6:40am, just in time to join several thousand others for passage on the ferry to Staten Island.

Once we reached Staten Island, there were buses lined up and ready to take us to Fort Wadsworth where several villages were set up as base camps. We were in the green village corral, third wave (last). It was about a mile walk to the "village". Once there, a variety of booths and hundreds of porta potties were set up. There were refreshments including bagels, coffee, power bars, and water. But there was no place to get warm. Steve and I managed to find a spot behind a tent that was out of the wind and hunkered there for 2+ hours.

When it was time for our wave, we lined up with the massive crowd. There were swat teams posted at the building tops and several black hawk helicopters flew above us. The gun sounded at 10:20am but we didn't get to the start until 10:40am. The start line was at the foot of the Verrazano Narrows bridge. It was uphill from there. My hill training paid off and I had no problems. Our pace was just at a 15 minute mile. By the time we got over the bridge, there were very few people behind us. By the time we made it to mile 3, the crowds were beginning to thin out. When we got to mile 8, the water stations started to close down. After we crossed the 15K mat, there were no longer mile markers. We reached the Pulaski bridge where the 13.1 mat was, but the walkers were directed to use the pedestrian walkway and we did not get to cross the mat. From there on things deteriorated. We had no mile markers and didn't know how far we had gone. It wasn't until around mile 17, when we stopped in a Starbucks to get something to drink that the spouse of a runner told us where we were.

To make matters worse, although 1st Avenue was closed to through traffic, cross traffic was allowed to move and New York's finest decided that we straggler walkers would have to wait for the red lights to turn green. Around mile 18, Steve started having trouble with his back and his breathing, so we slowed down considerably to take stretching breaks and regroup. I told him numerous times that if he didn't feel up to finishing, that I was OK with calling it quits, but he persisted. When we got to mile 22ish, we took a wrong turn off 5th avenue, but luckily another slow poke saw us and yelled for us to turn the other way. Thankfully, we were able to follow the blue line in the road until we got to Central Park. When we entered the park, it was pitch black. The lights were not all on and it was difficult to see. There was a 24 mile banner up in the trees and that gave us hope. We thought we had gone about 2 miles, when the 25 mile marker appeared. We started to see some trucks that were taking down the barriers and knew we were getting closer. We circled around to Columbus Circle,out of the park and finally saw someone motioning us down to the finish area. We kept going for what seemed like a long time and made it to the chute. The finish line was still up. We made it across in 8 hours and 15 minutes. Our times didn't show up at the website, but we got our medals.