personal space

Laura’s evil twin here today!

I do try to stay positive and upbeat most of the time (no seriously I do!).  I just don't understand people sometimes.

Yes, a rant is about to begin so bear with me please.

I take spin class now that the weather is colder at the JCC here on the UWS (JCC) and I do love the 6:00 A.M. spin class. The instructor in no frills, no microphone, good music and just work.

The room is big they have at least 34 bikes and that time of the morning the class is not that big, I am guessing 10-11 people at most.

I, like most people, like a particular area of the room. It makes me comfortable and, let's face it, we humans are creatures of habit.  So any way, the area of the room I like is off to right when you first walk in and consists of only five bikes. Originally I gravitated to this area because I don't stay for the cool down as I am usually off to something else like the pool or the treadmill for additional cardio.

This morning, the first bike would not adjust.  The front part that adjusts the height of the handle bars will not tighten. So I move to the next bike to my right.

Let paint the picture for you, three bikes up and a platform against the wall with the mirror on the right of the third bike. Below the three, on the floor are two more bikes all facing the instructor's left side. Now remember, I am on the middle bike on the platform.

A woman and her husband enter at 6:02 (don't even get me started about tardiness) she slides on the bike on my left that I was originally on.  As I look around the room, I see 25 open bikes, is there some reason she must be RIGHT NEXT TO ME?  Seriously? She cannot choose another bike like maybe one where she is not sitting almost in my lap?  So I turn to her and mention that I was already on the bike and had some difficulty adjusting it.

She turns and calls out to the other side of the room to her husband, “hey honey, can you help me?”  UGH! He does and she stays. I turn once again and ask, where you able to get it?  “Yes”. I move one bike over. Ah! Personal Space!

Bitch session over. For now!  Pool session and strength training tomorrow.

Running day

I love running.  Running has been my salvation over the years. 

You never know what your run is going to be like and the first mile doesn't count.  The first mile is painful and chaotic. It’s not really until mile 1.5 that rhythm kicks in and its mile two before you stop thinking and let the run take over

During my first mile, I was triathlon OBSESSED. First Mile thoughts were: “what am I going to wear”;”am I really going to do this”; “will I actually finish”; “can I really run 10k after biking for 40k”?  These thoughts were forced thoughts of things, I thought, I wanted to think about (or so I thought).  Mile three proved me right. 

Somewhere between mile 1.5 and mile 4.5, I sunk into a nice cadence. I stopped thinking about my breathing, my calf pain & my hip pain and let myself go.  Don't get me wrong, it’s not like running on a cloud without a care in the world, hills are hard, miles are miles and inconsiderate people still exist.

But the beauty is you care a little less and know that at the end you are going to feel great. I have allowed my running to be therapy.  I have had a million difficult conversations with the husband, bosses, family members and friends. I have planned parties & weddings and even saved the world a time or two (but couldn’t write them down).

I know running is not for everyone. My mother hates it. I became interested in running at first because, of course, of a guy.  It was during my early twenties. Even though I was indestructible, I admired people who ran. So I set my sights on figuring out why.

 The guy at the time ran 3-5 miles on a regular basis and I thought I was start with just one.  So I got in my car and clocked out a mile. Needless to say, running a mile is a WHOLE lot different than driving one.

If you are interested in starting to learn to run and don't have the endurance right now, here is what I learned to do . I started running for one minute, then I would walk until I recovered enough to run again.  I went on like this for quite some time. Pretty soon, I got up to two miles in about a half hour (not bad compared to couch potato).

When I got  hooked and my cardio improved, I would time my breaks rather than just guess so I would run for three minutes and walk for two. 

In November of 2008, I ran the Philadelphia, PA Half Marathon ( philly half )in May 2009. Jim (the husband) and I both ran the Long Branch, NJ Half Maratho (LB Half) . I think I solved world hunger then but, again, could not write it down.

Play Hard!

Laura

Post Holiday

Hi It's Laura,

After four down days, I really don't know where to begin today. I stopped and started several times already.

My goal over the Thanksgiving holiday was to eat healthy-ish and continuepre triathlon training.  I got half that and Thursday was not my problem.  Friday was the problem. 

Since I cooked the meal, the desserts and the apps for the holiday, I took Friday off. The short of it: fish & chips for lunch, margaritas & chips for dinner.   Everyone needs a day off.  I made up for it on Saturday; one hour weight training session and twenty laps in the pool ending with a well deserved fifty-five minutes massage.  Aaaaaah ;)

Today begins the third week of muscle growth by high reps, low load.  I am increasing my reps and sets progressively

·         currently working four sets, 15 reps, low weight ,

·         next week will be the last week of hypertrophy and the goal is five sets, 15 reps

·         next period of training, max power.

I am shooting for three days a week , but only two is ok for most

Cardio has been a special challenge. My lower calf pain has subsided so I am guessing that it was not the self diagnosed medial gastro but more delayed onset muscle soreness (oops).

As far as the lower back/ hip, that is real as Rachim, the massage therapist and the Chiropractor can attest. Its better than it was but my gluteus medius is keeping me aware that it exists and wants attention (just like my pets).

I am looking forward to a nice normal training week:

·         three swim

·         two rides

·          two runs

I already have one swim completed this week . I am especially excited for spin class this week because I just bought new bike shorts with the padded butt. For some reason these have been particularly difficult to find and Equinox had one pair. woohoo.

An interesting question came to me over the weekend:

·         Are people really gluten intolerant or are they just jumping on the gluten free band wagon?

feel free to share your opinion on this topic http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/27/magazine/Should-We-All-Go-Gluten-Free.html?em&exprod=myyahoo

Regards,

Laura

Today is not Monday

Hi. It's Laura.

I was supposed to be back yesterday, but unfortunately, Thanksgiving is getting the best of me.  Yesterday was filled with shopping, chopping and overall prep for Thursday’s dinner for eight that I am hosting.  Biggest one yet, YIKES and loving it. 

Although I did not get back to you yesterday, I did get back to the gym after a long weekend.

Jim (the husband), Jack (the dog) and I (the princess) spent the weekend in Killington, Vermont.  Although the skiing is “EH”, the mountain is still there and perfect for a hike. The three of us hiked a few miles every day, even in the rain.  Some moving is better than no moving.

I thought this was going to be a short training week, turns out not to be so.

It seems that everyone has extra gym time or spin time booked so we can work off the meal on Thursday. I say eat moderately and often throughout the day and you won't have to worry about over eating.  If you never get hungry, you won't over eat, just watch the alcohol and make sure you drink water.

I am starting this week off with two injuries which I am hoping clear up sooner rather than later. Sometime over the weekend, I strained my medial gastro which is now causing me pain even while sitting.

Of course, I keep forgetting to ice it and swallow a few ibuprofen. No doubt running 3.5 miles this morning did not help.

The second is my hip/back. It literarily feels like it has popped out of the socket. Usually, I can "pop" it back but this feels different. Off to the chiropractor I went. I love my chiropractor but he is downtown and not that easy to get to these days (thank you, “Occupy Wall Street”). Instead I went to their midtown location, don't know the doc's name and don't really care. I just want him to put me back together.   Have you ever had the chiropractor adjust your liver, uterus or jaw?  This guy did all 3 (supposedly). Weird!

Hip /back feel better but not yet 100%. 

Monday this week was swimming & strength training. I am not a great swimmer yet. As a matter of fact I just learned how to swim for fitness. And after one lesson, I was determined to be a good swimmer (hence the triathlon).

My endurance had not gotten any better until just this week when I entered drills in the workout.  Pull, Kick and SPL, when I got back to freestyle, I could already feel the difference.  I think I may stick with the drills.

Running today was just miserable. My preference is run outdoors but the rain sent me to the gym.  Hip pain, MGS pain combined with two super annoying individuals who talk so loud I can hear them over my music, glad it was only 3.5.  I am looking forward to Thursday and an early morning run before all the festivities.

 Also on the agenda for the week: Extended spin class tomorrow and massage on Saturday.

My goal for the week, eat healthy and stay on track thru the holiday. What’s yours?

Early Frustration

Hi, it’s Laura again.

I am not off to a good start here.  My panic level has gone from normal everyday panic to WHAT THE HECK HAVE I GOTTEN MYSELF INTO. No, it never occurred to me that I could not do this (yes the daring triple negative and I stuck the landing).

Sunday afternoon I started looking around the internet for beginner triathlon work outs that include strength training.  I found plenty of workout models that charge a fee or where not applicable to me.

The NYC Tri is Olympic length (1.5k swim, 40k bike, 10k run) and most of the beginner programs out there offer for sprint distance (750m swim, 20k bike, 5k run) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triathlon.

My biggest issue is that there was no strength training to anyone of them.  How can you train without strength?  Well, after reading many websites regarding tri training I realized, I AM A PERSONAL TRAINER. I can make my own work out!

Sunday night I pulled out the text book, “The Big Book of Exercise” and my iPhone to create a periodized strength training plan to take me through hypertrophy, max power, peak and recovery over the next three months. 

Periodization refers to systematic variation in the prescribed volume and intensity during different phases of resistance training (ACSM, resource for the personal trainer, third edition)

Remember I am looking at three months of pre training before I really begin training. To train for these specific events, I have to strengthen specific body parts:

·         Swimming – back and arms

·         Running – hamstrings

·         Cycling – quads

Where to begin? Hypertrophy! which is the growth of muscles and muscle fibers. The dictionary version sounds ugly.  So let's grow some muscles. In order to grow the muscles you need, there is specific formula: high reps (12-15), high sets (3-5), short rest  (less than 1 min), low load

 The first few weeks look like this:

·         barbell jump squats

·         dumbell step ups

·         farmer's walk

·         dumbell step up

·         T pushup

·         inverted row

·         pull over

·         lateral raise

·         swiss ball plank

·         Mcgill curl up

Armed with my workout schedule at no fee, I am very enthusiastic about Monday's workout. I will keep you posted.

DO NOT ATTEMPT ANY EXERCISE WITHOUT BEING CLEARED BY A PHYSICIAN. IN ADDITON ALL EXERCISES LISTED HERE ARE FOR MY OWN PERSONAL USE PLEASE DO NOT ATTEMPT ANY OF THESE WITH OUT SUPERVISION FROM A PROFESSIONAL

The beginning

Hi!
My name is Laura Irving and  I was notified on Wednesday afternoon that I have been selected to participate in the NYC Triathlon (nyctri.com) on July 8, 2012. I am so excited and scared to death!

I am inviting you to follow me on my training journey. As of now , my official training will begin in March with four months before the actual event. The next three months or so will be pre training to get up to speed and work on technique.

Let me start from the very beginning:
Last December I tore my ACL  and meniscus skiing in Vermont  ( killington.com ) My personal goal was 30 days on the mountain which is pretty ambitious when you have a full time job and only ski on weekends. Clearly, that did not happen.

During recovery from surgery, I realized that my days at my corporate job were coming to end.  I worked for one of the largest technology staffing companies whose KPI's would be impossible for me to meet while out on disability. It was time for me to figure out what I really wanted to do with the rest of my life . 
Over drinks one night with my girlfriend, it hit me. Personal trainer.  It made complete sense.

I have always been active and really enjoy exercise and sports and I have always encouraged others to be active as well.  In 2003, I earned my black belt in mixed martial arts from Tiger Schulmann ( tsk.com ).  Once I achieved that I started competing in grappling tournaments in the tri state area. I have also run a couple of half marathons, Philly  (2008) and Long Branch (2009)  and now it is time to challenge myself once again, the NYC Triathlon. 

Yet I digress, so in May of 2011 after leaving  my corporate position, I began studying for my certification through ACSM (acsm.org) and received my certification in October 2011.

 Part of this training journey is to inspire you  to get up offf the sofa and move it! Whatever it is that motivates you keep that in the front of your mind in the morning when you wake up and hold on to it every day. The other part of this journey is help build my personal training practice. I do not want you to do the triathlon unless that is your own personal goal but I would absolutely help you achieve your goal