I Do

I hope everyone had a great weekend! Over here in sunny-land the weekend was fabulous. On Friday we went to a wedding – a very good friend that I’ve known since 5th grade got married.  I love going to weddings because I feel like they’re such happy occasions that you could never had a bad time!

This wedding was especially fun – I ate lots of amazing food and had a great time catching up with old friends. There was also a photo booth, which I’d never seen before at a wedding, and it was pretty awesome. There were lots of goofy costumes for people to  wear, and we took a lot of silly pics.

We spent the rest of the weekend with family, and I got home late Sunday night and totally passed out.

I didn’t do much in terms of tri-training over the weekend, but I did get in a 35 minute run on Friday.

Overall, my first week of training looked something like this:

Monday: 20 minute swim, 25 minute run
Tuesday: Strength Training (10 minute incline walk on treadmill, 10 min stairmaster, abs and weights)
Wednesday: 45 minute bike and strength training (abs, weights, squats, lunges)
Thursday: 30 minute swim, 30 minute run
Friday: 35 minute run (about 3.5 miles)

I feel pretty good so far, and think I can definitely complete the tri distance, but still need to get a bit stronger on the bike and with my swimming.

This week I hope to start looking at tri suits (after reading a bunch of reviews and talking with my friend this weekend, I think it’s best for me to get one), and maybe get new goggles.

Today I’m up for some strength training after work!

Some “Cute”

Since it’s almost Friday, here’s some “cute” to make you smile.

Mattingly, my cat, when he was just a baby.

Awwww….

Under Pressure

A few weeks ago I channeled my inner 80-year-old and purchased a blood pressure machine from CVS. All of the blood pressure machines (yes, there was quite a selection) were near the pharmacy, on a shelf squeezed behind a huge support beam. Were I, in fact, 80, I’m not  sure I could have shimmied behind that beam to pick one out. Lucky for me, I had no problems and walked out with a nice, new CVS-brand automatic model.

It’s pretty rad.

My doctor suggested I purchase one because I was having some spells of light-headed-ness, and it would be good to monitor my blood pressure.

One time, in Anatomy class in high school, we learned how to use blood pressure machines. We were assigned one machine per 2 people, and got to practice taking our partner’s blood pressure. It turns out I remember nothing about that class, except that it happened (I think the cat dissection we did later that year was so traumatizing it wiped out all other memories).

But it’s ok, because my handy little machine does everything for me – it really is pretty neat.

It turns out my bp was pretty normal for someone my age – 119/80. But I’m going to track it every day for a week or two just to get a good sense of what my ‘normal’ is.

After all, I don’t want anything to interfere with my training now that I’m a triathlete.

Speaking of which, day 2 of training went smashingly. I accidentally brought 2 different shoes to the gym- fortunately enough one was a right shoe, and one a left. To my credit, both were blue, and I packed my gym bag seconds before running out the door to work.

Today was better. I wore 2 of the same shoes, and rode my 2-wheeler around the neighborhood for 45 minutes. I think I need to make my seat a bit higher, but for now I’d like to keep my feet in close proximity to the ground just in case.

I Tri

Yesterday was day 1 one of triathlon training.  I’d call it a success!

I signed up for the Huntington Sprint Tri on September 25th. Last week, I was debating back and forth about signing up. Yea, I’m indecisive like that.

Then my friend’s soon-to-be husband decided to sign up, and I happened to find an 8 week training plan online that I could start this week, so it all came together as if it were meant to be. Kismet, I tell you.

My first act as a tri-athelete in training was to buy a bathing suit. You might think this would be a necessity before deciding to sign up for a tri, but I assure you, it’s not. They happily accepted my $100 payment when I registered on Sunday night without proof-of-swimsuit.

Don’t worry, getting the suit was easy enough – just a quick lunch-time jaunt over to Modell’s and I’m now the proud owner of a hawt navy blue speedo one-piece.

Luckily I already had a swim cap and goggles (see, I’m sort of prepared). With my newly purchased suit, I was ready for training workout #1: Swim 20 minutes, Run 25 minutes.

Easy enough. I got to the gym around 5:45 last night, and was surprised to find a wait at the pool. It’s a pretty small pool though, so I guess it makes sense that there would be a wait, but I didn’t expect it. 

Still, I was able to get in my 20 minutes. I have no idea the distance I swam – I don’t even think my gym’s pool is a regular-sized pool, not that I really know what the “regular” size is anyway. But the 20 minutes weren’t too hard, which I guess is a good thing, considering that they give you about 30 minutes to complete the swim portion of the tri, so I should be ok there (except for the whole open water thing, which I’ll have to figure out at some point).
 
Afterward I changed into running clothes and hit the treadmill for a 25 minute run – about 2.7 miles.

Overall, I was happy with the workout. Next up, I conquer the bike 🙂

 

Sunny Side Up

Welcome to The Sunny Diaries.

A few months ago I experienced quite a medical scare, and my life was turned upside down for a little while. Luckily things are a-ok now.  So, I’m taking advantage of the fact that I’m alive and doing all of those things I was afraid of doing before, but didn’t realize I was afraid of. Like starting a blog.

I envision this as a platform for sharing stories about my daily pursuits, many of which are sure to be inconsequential, but hopefully entertaining. In light of my recent experiences, I’m trying harder to see more of the positive, “sunny” side of things. Hence the name, The Sunny Diaries.

I’m sure this blog will evolve over the next few months, but in the meantime you can expect to see some posts about running, food, and cute dogs. Oh, and triathlon training. I signed up for one! (See above). 

I hope you’ll keep (start?) reading!