Motivated to Succeed

11:00 AM - Snowing outside. My mom and I drove to the local YMCA about twenty minutes away. It was the first time that either of us had gone to swim there in probably a year if not more. I got set up with a new YMCA ID since I lost the one that I had previously. It was good because I got a new photo. (No more 14 year old baby face!)

The rest of the California trip went significantly better than it had prior to the doc. visit. The tylenol with codeine helped make the plane ride bearable, even though the long flight was made an hour longer because we were out on the tarmac idling for about that time.

Yesterday, Tuesday 1/19, I went with my sister down to Albany to see my mom's friend Inez who is a doctor. I currently do not have health insurance because after graduation I was kicked off of it. Thankfully my mom has known her for like thirty years and she only charged us each $10 to be seen! She gave me a scrip and I took it to Walmart and was able to get 2 months of a prescription painkiller for only $8. What I found funny was that both the doctor and the pharmacist at Walmart told me to STOP RUNNING because it was BAD for me. (HA! Like that'll ever stop me!)

I did 2 warmup laps in the pool and then eased into a steady freestyle and did 500yds, stopped for a drink from my waterbottle and then did another 300yds. Then eased into a combination of freestyle and breastroke, but the breaststroke was hurting my hip so I stopped that quickly. I believe I went through the 1000m mark in about 17:35, with about 25:00 of swimming total today. I am so exhausted that I think I want a nap!

Yesterday the doctor was also concerned because my blood pressure was elevated to about 154/90 and it is usually 130/70 or so. In addition, my weight was a whopping 209.6 yesterday. Ick. So today I started a new plan to elminate salt and prepackaged foods which are usually laced with salt my buddy Jeff told me.

Breakfast was a bowl of raw oats and skim milk with a spoonful of sugar. Lunch was a homemade salad of carrots, grapes, tomatoes, lettuce, a sprinkle of parmesan cheese and fat free vinagrette dressing. Dinner is a bean stew my mom has been making all day.

Now off to go figure out wedding communicant stuff, health insurance, do some loads of laundry, and find a frame for my newly arrived NEW YORK STATE TEACHING CERTIFICATION!! woo hoo!

Total Swimming Time: ~25:00 Total Yards: 1200 yards

11:30 AM - Drove to the YMCA with my mom again before she had to go do Cub Scouts stuff at the elementary school. Jumped in and did 2 laps warm up and then my mom proceeded to teach me how to breathe while swimming. It sounds simple enough, but let me assure you it is not as easy as it sounds! It takes some practice learning how to breathe out and getting into a rhythm. Yesterday I was just exhaling after three strokes and then inhaling quickly. What I found was that I was extremely tired and was short of breath and almost hyperventilating. After she told me to exhale through the three strokes and then just inhale rather than trying to do both, I tried it and picked it up quickly. Then my mom wanted to teach me how to do a flip turn. I tried three or four times to no avail. I think I will have to work on that. So I resigned myself to swimming the 25 yard pool, touching the wall, turning and pushing off the conventional way. Flip turn will be a short term goal!

Did 500 m freestyle just arms with a floatie between legs, stopped for a drink. (10:50)

Another 500 m freestyle without a floatie (11:30). Water stop.

800m Freestyle in 22:03 (really feeling the burn through here!)

Overall, a great workout. Today was my second day of eating raw oats with skim milk for breakfast. Put a little cinnamon on today, and no sugar. For lunch I am having a gigantic salad with an entire cucumber, a tomato, a little cheese, and iceberg lettuce with fat free balsamic vinagrette again. Oh and a sodium free seltzer. Blood pressure was a little lower today.

Also, according to my scale I lost another 2 lbs. WOo Hoo! Getting fit rocks!

Total Time: 44:23 Total Yards: 1800 yards (1.022 miles)

7:00 PM - 300 crunches.

11:30 AM - Sunny out. Ran errands with my mom and then after going to the bank and pharmacy, stopped at the YMCA to go swimming with my mom.  Started with 50 yard freestyle warmup, and then did 500 yard freestyle, 200 yards with the floatie, 500 yards free, and then finished up with freestyle after a water break. Was really crowded today with 2-3 swimmers in all five lanes! Then we hopped in the hot tub and listened to two old men talk about their vacations and seeing lions and tigers and bears oh my!

Sent Emmy some daisies that got there there this morning as apology for the rough vacation. She was so surprised! I denied it at first that they were from me but she said when she saw the delivery person she said, "Yup! Those are Benn flowers!" (white and yellow daisies!)

Am completing my online application and account for several jobs around the region. I am excited. I just want to get a job! 

Total for today was 1900 yards. I am getting better at this swim thing!

Total Time: 47:00 Total Yards 1900 yards (1.079 mi) 

4:00 PM - Read Christopher Marlowe's Dr. Faustus this afternoon. A story kind of like "curiosity killed the cat" where a German doctor dabbles in witchcraft but ends up signing over his soul in blood to Lucifer and the Devil. Even though written so many hundreds of years ago, it still works today with people wondering what is out there and so quick to put down those that don't agree with the same ideas as them. I read it nonstop in an hour and highly recommend it. Marlowe writes with such energy that you can literally see the play performed before your eyes!

10:30 PM - Read first 45 pages of Edward Larson's A Magnificent Catastrophe and then picked up Harry from ski club at the school. 300 crunches before bed.