Quasilaur’s Blog

OK - sorry this is coming so late! I’ve been busy (well, as unemployed life goes) these past few weeks. The report on the running is that I’m not making the progress I wish I was - that is to say, I’m doing the “slow and steady” bit, and so far, am not improving time-wise, but seem to be improving endurance. This is great for the long haul, but I wish my success was instantaneous. The good news is that I’m still doing at least three sessions per week, and I’m mixing it up with some inclines because this is Seattle, long flat stretches just don’t come often, and get boring after awhile.

I’m considering entering a 5k fun run at the end of the month, just to give it a shot. I know that I might end up walking part of the way, but maybe I should just do it. I’ll consider it after next week.

So, what’s been keeping me so busy? (more…)

This week I paid a lot more attention to my heart rate monitor, and less to the distance. This means that the day after yoga, I was a lot slower. Yesterday (see above) I went farther than usual thanks to my accidentally setting a program on my heart rate monitor. Instead of it beeping at me when I was at 76% of my max hr, it was waiting until 84%, which was a lot harder on me. I’m happy that I got a good distance at the end of the week, but it was exhausting and not terribly enjoyable. I set my hrm back to the moderate pace, so next time I hope to not be so strained.

I was thinking of switching my running to 3x/wk instead of 4, but I think I’d miss it. I also want to do yoga at least 1x per week, if not 2, but I need to get my body warmed up to that idea. Then there’s scuba, which I’d like to do at least once every two weeks. We did a brief dive on Saturday, but the viz was horrible and at 68 ft, when it started to clear up, it was dark enough to need a light (this was during midday).

So this week, I try another yoga class, continue to jog with my hrm and train a bit better, and mostly just try to relax.

A colleague asked me how I got over my apprehension about diving (he was asking me in order to relate some of my current struggles in the workplace to my diving success, though he made that point without saying it.)

What I told him was that when I got anxious underwater, when I was scared or wasn’t sure of myself, I would stop, slow down, and just look at the world around me. Look at that fish - that anemone - that kelp - and breathe. I’d soon forget I was worried in the first place, and would move on.

Note: Diving in the Puget Sound is much more challenging than my recent vacation dives in Hawaii. There’s much more to be provoked by, from poor visibility, to cold water making your exposed cheeks a little numb, to realizing you’re over-weighted (you have to wear weights so you can sink under water) and you’re sinking too much, making it hard to compensate.

Just thought I’d share that.

It’s interesting that I find it easier to stop and breathe underwater…

I just completed (with Jon) my Advanced Open Water (PADI) scuba certification with GirlDiver! Of course, we weren’t the only ones on the boat today, so thanks to Julie and Jack who were also certified with us - Julie was in my Open Water class and was my dive-buddy! And a big shout-out to Teal Water Charters, the wonderful boat that took us on our three final dives today (including the 100 ft dive!) They were super-hospitable, handy, helpful and made us feel welcome, and made the hard parts of diving easier (in cold water, it’s getting all the gear on and off, and back to the car! You have to have extra weight to sink!)

It was a blast, even if Friday night’s dive was cold and yesterday’s navigation dive was brutal (snowing, sleeting, raining AND breaks of sun ?!?!?!)

Remember, it’s a cool 46 degrees in Puget Sound! But this weekend, it was also under 40 degrees at the surface! Warmer in the water!

And yes, I dive in a semi-dry (aka, very warm wet) suit. No dry suit for me (but maybe in winter!)

I can’t wait til Hawaii!