Desert living...

Howdy from the Southwest!

Yesterday my day started out with an early morning walk with my favorite chihuahua, Louie. My poor pup has gained a lot of weight so it's my goal to slim him down.

My sweet chunky monkey.

Yesterday's walk was full of different desert-dwelling creatures! We saw the usual lizards and bunnies, but what really set yesterday apart from the norm was our close encounter with a young coyote. As we followed a winding road further into the desert, I looked up and saw a curious coyote staring right at us. Creepy. I stopped and stared at it until it got uncomfortable and walked away. As we continued on our walk I noticed that the coyote was following us at a distance. It was very interested in Louie and I! Double creepy. Louie and I decided to turn around at that point. Louie is so plump that he would feed a family of coyotes for days. Too risky!

On our way back home we had to stop and let some javalinas cross the road. I kept distance between us and the beasts because javalinas can be really viscous. Considering that I also caught them mating on the side of the road, I decided to back off a bit. No one wants to be interrupted while mating; that's just rude. After they crossed the road, Louie and I continued our journey.

Post-coital prickly pear fruit snack for these javalinas.

Our walk was very interesting. I am surprised by how much wildlife we saw in one morning. Louie is happy that he got his daily walk in today. He walked 1.15 miles! Afterward, he passed out on the couch and began snoring rather loudly. I hope weight-loss will improve his snoring. It is pretty bad.

Smiley dog.

I am continuing my triathlon training. After the walk, I jumped on my spin bike for 45 mins. I love breaking a sweat in the morning. My dog and cat watched me huff and puff with confusion. There is nothing like having a furry audience while I kill myself with my workouts. [laugh] Yesterday afternoon my P.M. workout consisted of lifting weights and swimming laps.           

 

I focused on my lower body. AKA: legs and glutes.

I am new to swimming so while I am trying to build up my endurance, I am also trying to get the proper technique down. Specifically, I am trying to figure out how to simply turn my head to the side to take a breath. Right now I am still lifting my head out of the water to get air. It is harder than it looks! I decided to see how many laps I could swim in 30 mins. I got in 20 total laps, which in our pool equates to 450 meters. I am a slow swimmer for sure. Things I have to work on: endurance, breathing, and pace. The triathlon is in about 2 months so I am hopeful that I have enough time to train myself and vastly improve. Am I deluding myself? Maybe...