Fish Out of Water

Or…actually…the opposite!  That’s what I feel like…some non-swimming thing in water.  It’s a very odd experience coming from someone who used to rock 2 hour swim sets, completing drills and feeling great afterwards.  After more than 4 years since I’ve done any sort of regular lap swimming I am convinced that the swimmer I once was has disappeared for good.  That’s not necessarily a bad thing…just different.  Here are a few things I’ve noticed about this new adventure in swimming:

*Everything is WET!  And not just a little damp…but soaking through my gym bag wet.  One towel is definitely not enough to dry off after my swims and (TMI alert) have you ever tried putting on a sports bra with damp skin?  Not fun!!  And where does all this wet stuff go?  Right now I’m stuffing everything in a gallon size Ziploc until I discover a better system.  Any ideas??

Check out the wet mess of towels on the dryer! 😛

*Shoes- If I head to the pool after work (like I did on Wednesday) I realized after my swim that the only shoes I had to wear home were my work flats.  That looked just a little odd with my gym shorts and tank top lol!  Enter my awesome, teal UNCW Rainbows.  These will be my swim shoes for now unless I decide to get something else.

I used to rock these shoes back in my swimming/lifeguarding days:

Seaweed Shoes

*It’s dark in here!  For some reason, my pool is very dark.  The only goggles I had were also very tinted.  This may cause problems if I ever have to share my lane.  I am investing in new goggles asap!  I think they still make the ones I loved back in high school!!

*I’m sooooo slow!  I’m not really sure what I thought would happen my first time back into the pool but cranking out 50 second 50’s was not what I expected.  Time to chill out and just enjoy the water.  I can tell swimming is working muscles I haven’t used in FOREVER!  This is good.  This is going to be fun.  Besides, don’t I look like I’m enjoying myself? 😀

Anyone know of any good apps to track a swim workout?  

Runkeeper has a swim option but I’d prefer one I can track yards with, instead of trying to convert everything to miles.

What are your favorite summer sports?

I’m going with swimming right now…it’s to hot to not be in the pool! 😀

I’m alive!!

Did you miss me??  I know, I know…it’s been way WAY too long.  Where have I been?  Almost dying…and I’m only being slightly dramatic.

The month of June has not been very fun for me.  The beginning of the month included a cross country road trip from NC to Indiana for Mr. E’s sister’s wedding.  Yes, another wedding.  It was wonderful seeing my new in-laws again and the wedding was very pretty but the toll of the trip definitely wore on me.  It’s 12-13 hours one way and I definitely need to work on packing healthier road trip snacks.  I ate tons of Pringles, Twizzlers, M&M’s, and Gummi Bears.  Not the best foods to eat when you’re stuck in a sitting position for hours upon hours.

Everything in moderation, people!

source: http://pixabay.com/en/pringles-chips-snack-junk-food-331944/

Here are a few of beautiful sites the Midwest had to offer us:

         

Yes, we visited a town named after me!  Those giant windmills are so cool to see in person.  And check out that storm we drove straight into on the way home!

Coming back from this trip left my immune system a little compromised.  This tends to happen after long trips away from home and have to sleep in “not my bed.”  Anyway, the week after the wedding was a long week at work with pretty much no exercise occurring.  And then we hit last week.  Sunday evening things were not looking good…fever & headache.  Monday was a call out with full expectations of returning to work on Wednesday (I only work Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday each week).  Didn’t make it to work Wednesday…or Thursday…and without giving way TMI I was finally able to eat solid foods sometime around Friday afternoon.  It was NOT a fun week.  I ended up losing like 7 pounds which sounds awesome but was not fun or in any way recommended lol.  I also experienced symptoms of heat exhaustion (despite not leaving the house for 5 days) and low iron issues.

My whole week 😦

source: http://pixabay.com/en/ill-cold-sniff-handkerchief-kermit-298909/

So…what’s going on now?  Today was my first full day back at work after over a week.  I’m trying to make sure I’m eating clean and healthy and I’m slowly getting my activity level up.

I’m still kinda over this whole running thing.  I really think it’s the heat.  I have no desire to get up at the ass-crack of dawn to still be drenched in sweat because the humidity level is already 90% or more!  One thing that’s on my to-do list this week is to break up with my current gym and enroll in the one in town with a lap pool.  I’m so ready to get back into swimming!  Something many of you may not know about me is that I was a competitive swimmer all of middle school and high school.

Truth…

source: http://www.sparkpeople.com/resource/funnies-cartoon.asp?id=218

Anyway, that’s a lot of info crammed into one longish update.  I will leave you all for now.  Expect some exciting new posts about my swim adventures, my first diet bet, and some good old fashioned summer fun!  No more getting sick during summer!  NONE!!

 

This is my art…

Anyone who visits our home is treated to many of my photographs decorating the walls. These pictures are framed, in collages, on canvas etc. I love being surrounded by beautiful images I created. That may sound bragadocious but surrounding yourself by beauty, no matter where it comes from, is just a simple joy of this life!

Here’s a little inside peak into my home and what’s gracing my walls these days!

Side note-the husband doesn’t want me to add anything to the walls because that requires more hammering and nail holes lol!!