Today is the day

As of last Thursday, I have four months until I turn 40.  FOUR MONTHS.  I stepped on the scale this morning after quite some time of having not gotten on the scale, and it was a scary wake up call.  I could tell from the way I look and feel that it wasn't going to be a good number.  I mean, it wasn't crazy bad, but it wasn't good.  I had already decided that I needed to come up with a consistent work out plan.  I kept meaning to find one online but never made actually searching for one a priority.  So I've decided to do P90X again.  I had great results with it when I did it a few years ago.  I'm going to add in some swimming workouts at the gym, too, and I think I'll do the yoga class I like at the gym instead of the P90X yoga video.  I need to take my "before" pictures and measurements today, but I'm pretty scared.  My friend Erica suggested not even looking at the pictures until I have some to compare them to after having done the program for awhile.

Of course, as I sit here typing this yearning to be fit and not want to throw up every time I see myself naked, I'm snacking on Chex Mix.  What is wrong with me?!  Partly I just love Chex Mix and partly we're low on groceries until I go to the store tomorrow, so my choices are pretty slim.  I've gotten in a bad habit of being pretty good during the week, but then on the weekends I tend to go nuts eating and drinking.  My husband has been traveling a lot for work, so I feel like our weekends have turned in to extra party time since he's home.  He's feeling the same "ugh" that I am lately, so hopefully we can work together (on the rare occasions he's home) to both get to where we want to be.

I really would love to be super smokin' hot for my 40th birthday.  Wouldn't that just be awesome to be in the best shape of your life for the dreaded birthday?  I know I can have good results with this workout plan.  I do need to make meal planning and healthy food choices a higher priority, but I think the ticking time bomb of knowing I have less than four months will be a good motivator.

My Chex Mix snack is all gone, so I guess that means I should go eat the frog and get these pictures, measurements, fitness test, and first workout out of the way.

Mmmmm...pie

Sometimes the inner fat girl in me really wants to buy a pie or box of Hostess somethings at the grocery store and go home and eat the whole thing by myself in one sitting.  I've yet to give in to this desire, but sometimes I stare really hard at the desserts in the Safeway bakery and think about what it would be like.

Squishy

Phew...sure is dusty around here after being neglected for so long! ;)  Not that this will be read by anyone other than myself, I mostly just needed to get some thoughts down about my fitness and health.

I'm on the downward slope to turning 40...less than six months to go.  That's so weird to me...40.  I remember when my mom turned 40 (we had a surprise party for her at my grandparents' house, and I almost blew it when I called and asked her to bring some toys for her friend's kids because there wasn't anything for them to play with), and I do not seem as old now as she did then.  I guess technically I have a few months until I'm at that point, but it still doesn't seem feasible that between now and March I'll suddenly feel as old as my mom seemed then.  No offense to my mom.  I was 12 when she turned 40, so of course she seemed old.

I feel like healthwise I'm in this weird rut.  I really hate when I'm lazy and make poor food choices and see and feel my body getting squishy instead of being firm or even just not quite as squishy.  Yet I really just don't feel like I have the motivation or drive to do anything about it.  The best I ever looked in my life and the fittest I ever was, was a few years ago when I'd work out with a group of my friends pretty much every day.  I was spending close to two hours at the gym at least five days a week plus training for various races I'd be doing, and I counted every calorie that went in to my body.  I looked awesome, but it was pretty exhausting.  I don't really want to be at that place again (plus at the time I had at least one kid home with me, so working out for two hours was a nice break.  Now both my kids are in school all day, so spending two hours at the gym means less time I have to myself while they're gone.) because it was a lot of effort, way more than I'm willing to put in right now.  But I also don't want to be squishy and hate how I look when I turn the big 4-0.  How cool would it be if the best I ever looked was when I turned 40?

I don't know.  I need some kind of a plan.  Ideally the plan would be having a personal chef and trainer at my disposal whenever I wanted so I didn't have to come up with healthy meals and cook said healthy meals and then also have someone to motivate me to get my squishy ass to the gym and do something about the squish.  As I sit here typing this, I would normally be getting ready to head out for my Monday morning volleyball.  Realistically it's not a great workout as it's a bunch of moms around my same age playing volleyball in the gym of the local LDS church, but it's fun and something different.  We don't wear booty shorts like they do in the Olympics, there's rarely any diving for the ball, although sometimes there are only three ladies per side so that makes it a decent workout on those days.  Today there weren't enough people, so it was cancelled.  My first thought was, "That's probably better because now I can go to the gym and get a better workout in."  Now I'm kind of tempted to go back to bed for awhile.  I have to take my oldest to the dentist in the middle of the day, so I need to leave by 11:30 to get him on time.  I have three hours from now until then.  The gym is five minutes from my house.  I'm already dressed to go, I just need to actually get my squishy butt there.  Bed sounds a lot better.

See?  What's wrong with me?  I completely overindulged this past week, and I can tell by looking in the mirror.  I know I need to go to the gym (also partly because my husband and I are starting a bet to help us be more motivated to get to the gym and make healthier choices), but the physical act of going seems so meh.  I couldn't decide what to wear to church yesterday and thought about jeans because it was rainy and kind of cold, but I was scared to try and put on any of my jeans.  That's not cool.

I also need to meal plan because I'm going grocery shopping after the dentist appointment today.  I'm tired of meal planning.  I'm tired of figuring out dinners for my family and making sure we eat our veggies and have salad and make well rounded choices.  I'm tired of making lunches and trying to give my kids healthy choices and then not get discouraged when the grapes and carrots come back home, like they just went on a little field trip to see what school looks like and then come back home to hang out in the fridge until maybe someone eats them or I throw them out because no one ever did.  But then I circle back to being tired of being squishy, so what's a girl to do.  She has to buck up and plan dinners and keep feeding her family veggies and sending her kids healthy choices in their lunches, even if they end up trading them for Pringles or fruit roll ups or come back home untouched.  This has been extra annoying lately because my husband has been traveling for work.  I don't necessarily mind him traveling for work, but I don't really like making dinner when he's gone.  My kids are by no means picky eaters so it's not like I'm making stuff that they just won't eat, but I still don't like putting in a whole lot of effort when it's just the three of us.  Also because I'm the only one around to help with homework and pick up after sports or other activities, so I can't be doing all of that and spending a ton of time prepping dinner unless I do it earlier in the day.  For the past couple years I'd been really good about limiting the amount of processed food we eat.  Somehow that's been slipping.  My kids have had Lunchables I don't even know how many times in the past few months, my husband bought them Hot Pockets at one point, and they were totally in love.  They've also been introduced to Totinos pizzas, Bagel Bites, and pizza rolls.  We even had Oreos and Twinkies in our house at various times.  Seriously, I don't know when the last time has been I bought so much crap food.  Our soda consumption has increased, our junky food in general has increased.  I got lax and now it's been a slippery slope to eating like crap.  My 10 year old complains pretty often that his stomach hurts, which I'm sure directly relates to the increase of crap food he's having.  I need to get us back on track.  I need to be motivated so my family can be healthy.

Hopefully the husband and my bet of getting in five workouts a week in which we burn at least 300 calories a time will help.  Hopefully a Caribbean cruise for my birthday is the carrot dangling on the stick I need to get back on track.  Hopefully wanting my family to be putting healthy, nourishing foods into their bodies will help me want to meal plan and make good food choices for all of us.  Hopefully I find some kind of workout plan that makes me want to go to the gym instead of me going and putting in the barest minimum effort possible just to say I went and got it done.  Hopefully after I finish doing the dishes I was too lazy to do last night, I get my squishy butt to the gym and actually do something.

Getting serious again

I didn't even look to see when the last time was I updated this blog, but I'm fairly certain it was 2013 sometime.  I'm doing my first triathlon this coming weekend since I did the half Ironman in October of 2013.  Stupid sprained ankle kept me from the two races I had registered for last spring.  I just got back from a brick workout and felt like updating on here and recording some of my thoughts about how my fitness life is going.

The day after the half Ironman race, my husband and I left for a week in Mexico to celebrate our 10 year anniversary.  Coincidentally I gained 10 pounds while on the trip, and I've been fighting to lose it ever since.  I just go back and forth on how I feel about losing weight.  I know I could weigh close to 20 pounds less than I do now, but it would involve working out for almost two hours each day and counting every single calorie that goes into my mouth.  Frankly that's just not how I want to live my life.  However, I'm not at all happy with how I look now and know I need to make some changes and find a happy medium between where I am now (kind of being mindful of what I eat and exercising sporadically) and the extreme of exercising a ton and monitoring everything I eat.

I did lose eight pounds while having pneumonia back in February, but most of it came back once I was healthy again.  Bummer.  I was looking pretty good there for awhile and fitting into jeans I hadn't been able to wear all winter.

We take an annual trip to Florida every summer with some of my mom's cousins and their families.  I booked our airfare last week, and it was kind of a wake-up call that in two short months I'll basically be spending a week straight in a swimsuit.  Yikes.  So the husband and I made a deal.  He's been in the same boat as me, wanting to lose weight and get more tone and fit but not having the real motivation to do it.  Our wine consumption probably doesn't help us either.  So we made a bet of sorts.  We both want to lose 10 pounds before the Florida trip, so we are using the Lose It app to track our calories and exercise.  Part of the bet is that we have to log every day and aim to be under for the week.  If we go over on calories a day or two, that's forgivable as long as the weekly total is under.  If one of us falls off the wagon and stops logging, we have to give the other person $150 of our Christmas/birthday fun money for the other to have as fun spending money in Florida.  If we both succeed, we each get $150 out of general funds as fun money.

This past week was our first week at it, and it went pretty well.  It's not uncommon for me to start using Lose It during the week and then slack and not record anything on the weekend and then just not go back to using it at all, so I'm pretty pleased with myself that I stuck to it over the weekend, even though I went over pretty significantly on Saturday.  But we were on a day trip wine tasting.

I've been struggling with some lung issues since November.  I had what was diagnosed as bronchitis from the middle of November until early January, then I was okay for a few weeks, then I had pneumonia.  I was well again for about four or five weeks after that and then started coughing again.  Enough was enough, so I went to see my pulmonologist.  She gave me an official asthma diagnosis, so I have a new super inhaler I take twice a day which does seem to be helping.  I wound up with some sinus thing or allergies or a cold last week, and I feel like my lungs are still battling that, especially when I tried to run after the bike ride today.  I felt pretty good on the bike, although I was breathing harder than normal, but the run just kicked my ass.  I couldn't catch my breath, and then I couldn't remember if I'd taken my inhaler this morning or not.  Oops.  At least the race this weekend is only a sprint, which I should be able to muscle through just fine.

My goal for the week is to exercise most days (brick workout today, weights and swimming tomorrow, run on Wednesday, bike on Thursday, take Friday off to rest up for the race on Saturday) but not go into my exercise calories at all to make sure I'm under for the week because I know I will be indulging after the race!  I planned out our dinners for the week (except one day...I need a vegetarian something...) and may plan out breakfast and lunch, too, just to make sure I'm staying on my calories.  We have some pretty busy evenings this week, so I don't think wine will be a problem.  And actually I think I'm going to scale back the wine drinking as well.  If I want an adult beverage I think vodka is the way to go...fewer calories and carbs.  And I'm pretty sure when I was at my lowest weight we consumed more vodka than wine, so surely the wine has to play a part.

I feel like this was kind of all over the place, but I'm glad for me that I wrote it all down.  The "run" today was definitely disappointing and has me slightly concerned for the race on Saturday, but I guess if I have to walk some of it, I have to walk some.  Doing well at the race is not one of my goals...I just want to finish!

Two years later

I grabbed a t-shirt to put on a couple nights ago and saw it was from the first 5K race I ever ran, Girls on The Run 5k, two years ago this month.  I stood in my closet staring at a minute and thinking, "Is that really right?  That was just two years ago?"  I was amazed that it was just over two years ago that I started running, about 2.5 years ago that I lost a bunch of weight and started getting fit and active.  In two years time I've gone from starting the Couch to 5K running program (where I struggled to run 90 seconds in a row sometimes) to being registered for a Half Ironman distance triathlon (that's a 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike ride, and 13.1 mile run).

Really?!  That seems like such a huge jump in activity in a relatively short period of time.

It's funny how ingrained in me it's become to be active and fit and push myself physically and mentally, and really any time prior to January 2011, that was not the case at all.  Sure I went to the gym, but I didn't really try hard, nor did I really even know what I was doing when I look back on it.  And I gave up really easily.  Like, really easily.  There was one time (this was pre-Lasik and pre-kids and pre-husband so maybe not the best example since it's not very recent, but it definitely illustrates my mindset) that I hadn't worn my contacts to work and had worn my glasses instead.  I flat out told my friend from work that I exercised with that I didn't like exercising in my glasses, so I thought I'd just skip and go home after work.  Seriously?!  So, see, it's pretty impressive I've gotten where I am.

You hear people say, "Oh I could never do that" in regards to so many physical activities or racing, and it's really just total bullshit, excuse the language.  You totally could do it if you got motivated or just started trying!  I got in the pool in the winter of 2012 and was an awful, awful swimmer.  I could barely make it a full lap without gasping for breathe at the end.  Swimming was a lot harder than I remembered it being.  But I worked at it, found a training plan and practiced, and I got better at it.  Same with running.  Same with any kind of exercise.

It sounds so cliche, but really, if I could do it, anyone can do it.  I'm never going to win a race, I'll never stand on a podium at the end of a race.  But I'll get out there and do races, and I'll do my best and push myself, and I'll cross the finish line and get a medal.  I'm okay with never winning.  I would have never, ever, ever, never, ever, never, never, ever, never, ever imagined myself doing a triathlon.  Swimming, biking, running all in a row?!  Wait...any kind of running at all?!  No way.  But I tried one, and it was a blast, and I loved it.  And now I'm signed up to do a freakin' 70.3 race in less than five months.  Once I did a tri and liked it, I figured at some point I'd do a 70.3, but I didn't think that would be until at least 2014 if not even further out.  A friend from elementary school who has done several 70.3 and 140.6 races pretty much told me to man up and do one, that I would always put it off if I didn't just go for it.  So I did.  And now I go back and forth between thinking it's going to be awesome to wondering WTF did I sign up to do.  But like I said, I won't be on the podium, but I'll cross the finish line and get a medal and slap a freakin' 70.3 sticker on the back of my minivan and consider myself a total badass.

My friends Jen, Benah, and me at my first ever 5K.

At my last triathlon.  I normally don't look this joyful running, I was just tired of having awful running race pictures and decided to pose a little.  If only I looked this happy with less than a quarter mile to go to the finish line!

Esprit De She post race

Race day was yesterday.  I felt pretty good going into it and really thought I could rock it and take some names.  Then things kind of went downhill.  I should have left a few minutes earlier than I did because I felt a bit rushed to get everything set up and ready once I was there, even though I had 30 minutes until transition closed.  I almost forgot to put my water bottle on my bike and on my run belt, but thankfully I remembered when I was doing a final review of everything I'd set out.

The husband and boys got there before the start, so I was able to see them and get hugs and kisses before starting the race.  For the first time ever doing a race at this starting point (this was my third race to start there), I didn't whack my foot on a ledge getting in to the water, so that was a bonus.  Once again I felt rushed because the swim start seemed pretty far from where we jumped in the water, and the group I started with was HUGE.  It was definitely the most chaotic start I've ever been a part of.  It seemed as soon as I got to the swim start they started the countdown for the wave to go.  I barely had time to pee in my wet suit!  Sorry if you didn't know that's a thing triathletes do. ;)  The wave I started with was huge, so it was really hard to get going at first.  I've done several open water swims, but I still don't like the feeling of being hit and kicked or having people swim over me.  I had an awful time sighting on the first leg of the swim because we were swimming east into the sun, so that made it hard to see, plus my goggles were fogging up a little.  I was really struggling to breathe and control my heart rate, too.  Usually my heart rate stays pretty low during a swim (not like when I run), and this time I felt like my heart was pounding and racing in my chest.  Not in a panic attack way, just a really exerting myself way.  Which is weird.  I still don't know why.  Once I made the turn to head back west I was slightly more confident since I could at least sight easier.  I didn't check my Garmin at all to see what my time was like until I was out of the water.  18:30.  Not bad, not good.  Better than my last sprint, but still a little slower than I had hoped for.  But I guess since I did stop once to try and catch my breath a little that it wasn't an entirely bad time.  I made it out of the water okay and had race volunteers help me get my wet suit off.  I tell ya, that is the most helpful thing.  John and the boys were standing there as I headed towards T1 and I got to high five my kids.  I wish I would have seen them before John took my picture so I would have been smiling, but instead I look...focused.  yeah, focused.

Swim time: 19:32 (time includes wetsuit removal and running a ways to the transition area, plus I didn't start my Garmin right away)

I was really pleased with my T1 time when I saw it.  John said I did a great job in T1.  It probably helped that it was a smaller race so the transition area wasn't that big.  Got to my bike, tossed my wetsuit and swim gear to the side, and got ready for the bike.  Gu in pocket, sunglasses on, helmet on, bike shoes on, grab bike, go.  I hate running/jogging in my bike shoes, but I did it a bit so maybe that was part of why my time was good.

T1 time: 1:41

I had high hopes for the bike.  I really thought I could hold a pace of 17 MPH for most of it.  Then I discovered a good chunk of the course was uphill.  Well, of course there were downhills to counteract the uphills, but going 23 MPH downhill didn't make up for the 13 MPH I was doing going uphill.  It was pretty discouraging.  The one good thing was that I managed to stay on my aero bars except for one section of uphill riding and one or two turns on the course.  I got passed A LOT, but I also passed a few people, so I guess it works out.  I knew on the bike that I wasn't going to PR the race.  I knew I had to be off the bike by 1:10 total time for me to have any chance of hitting a PR.  I glanced at my Garmin at 1:12 and knew it was done since I still had a mile or two to go on the bike.  Awful feeling.  I tried not to let it get me down, but it was really discouraging.

Bike time: 53:51 (ouch)

I figured at this point I could still rock the run and at least get a decent run time.  When I made one of the final turns on the bike I only saw John there and not the boys, so I knew my mom must have gotten there which helped knowing there was one more person there cheering for me.  They ended up over by the transition area and were cheering for me while I got my running gear on.

T2 time: 2:16

I started off on the run and felt okay.  I told myself I was only walking on the two uphill portions I knew of and through the one water station.  And I stuck to that.  I was pleased when my Garmin buzzed after the first mile, and I saw my time for that mile was 11:08.  that's a lot faster than I've been running lately.  The run course for this race was similar to the Olympic tri I did last month.  Obviously this was shorter, but I at least had an idea of how it went and what to expect this time.  The first uphill was pretty tiny, and I stuck to my promise to myself and ran again once I was up the hill.  The aid station was maybe half a mile past that, walked as I drank my water and had a volunteer shoot me with a squirt gun (I should really have us volunteer at a race as a family...my kids would have a blast squirting people!), then it was back to running.  One more uphill a bit after the second mile marker, then I ran the rest of the way.  I was actually a little surprised with how easy the run felt to me.  Or maybe I just wanted to have one decent leg of the race.  The run course took us across a bridge and then basically a u-turn down into a park to the finish chute.  I could see John and my mom and the kids from the bridge, and as I reached them they were cheering and my boys ran up to me and each took a hand. I absolutely LOVED having them run the finish chute with me and cross the finish line with me.  I told them they needed to be fast and they were!  This is the first time I've been excited to see my race pictures because I can't wait to see the pictures of me and them together.  Although really I think they were more excited about the Gatorade I shared with them than anything else.  Even with walking portions of miles two and three, my average pace still ended up under 12:00 which I'm really pleased with.

Run time: 36:28

Total time: 1:53:50

I was looking at race data last night after results were posted, and the average time for the sprint was 1:46.  I'm assuming a lot of people sucked on the bike leg because of the hills.  It never even occurred to me the bike course was hilly.  Normally Tempe triathlon bike routes are along flat roads.  In hindsight I should have driven the bike course I guess to see what it was like ahead of time.  The race is what it is.  I know I really did my best, so I'm pleased with how I did, I just wish my time reflected that I tried my hardest.  That's what's so discouraging I think.

Now I have over five months until my next race, the--gulp--70.3.  I'm going to take a break from tri training and get back in the weight room and work on building some strength, hopefully gaining muscle and losing some fat.  I need to start looking for a 70.3 training plan that's around 16 weeks long.  I think 12 is too short and 20 would be too long, and I'd burn out way before the race.  But for now I'm going to enjoy not swimming, biking, and running twice a week each and focus on making my 70.3 a good race.

Esprit De She Eve

I had my first tri of the year a few weeks ago that I need to write up a review about (my first Olympic distance!), but tomorrow is my first sprint of the year. Actually then after this my only other race is the 70.3 in October. I'm pretty excited to get a few weeks off tri training and get back in the weight room for awhile.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to this race tomorrow, the Esprit De She. This is its inaugural year which is pretty exciting. It's a women's only tri (or duathlon or 5k) which is kind of cool. The last race I did was pretty huge with three different distances, so it was kind of crazy to see such a small transition area today. I'd guess there are less than 1,000 women participating. My bib number is 123 which the husband and I think is pretty cool. I like interesting bib numbers, what can I say.

It's a little weird because this is the first race of any kind I've ever done where I don't know anyone else doing it. With the tris I've done I haven't ever done a leg of them with someone I knew doing the race, it was all solo, but it was still nice knowing that I knew other people out on the course. Most runs I've done with someone by my side (except the last Rock and Roll Half in January, but I knew the husband was ahead of me somewhere and a girlfriend of mine was probably within half a mile or a mile of me). It'll mostly be weird getting my transition area set up and then having no one to hang out with or talk to while waiting for the race to start. The husband is bringing the boys for the race, and they're planning on being there the whole time which is awesome. My mom is going to be at the finish line, too, which I'm super excited for because she's never been able to see me finish any kind of race, even though she's tried many times! I'm hoping my boys will cross the finish line with me because I love seeing that, and I want them to know how awesome it feels.

My previous sprint time wasn't that great, so I'm hoping to improve by a few minutes. Here's how it looked for the one I did in September:

Swim - 20:38
T1 - 2:10
Bike - 45:26
T2 - 2:19
Run - 38:36
Total - 1:49:09

That's a horrible swim time for a 750m swim. I'm hoping to come in around 17 minutes on the swim. I think it's totally attainable because I did a 1500m swim at the Olympic in 35 minutes. My transition times are probably going to be about the same. My average speed on the bike that race was 16.27 MPH. I'd like to be around 17 MPH, but that will partly depend on wind and other conditions. There are a lot of turns in the course which sucks, and it's two loops of a six mile course. Ugh. I hate looping. So if I can keep my speed around 17 MPH, I can shave a few minutes off of that. My run pace worked out to be 12:27. That's maybe a minute slower than I usually run, so I could potentially gain three more minutes there if I really bust ass and make myself run the whole time. I've fallen out of love with running recently, so the run portion is my biggest concern. I walked quite a bit in my last sprint because of some shoe issues, and I know that won't be the case this time, so I'm hoping for a better pace.

So all in all I could potentially cut up to eight minutes off my previous sprint time. I'm not going to hold my breath that it happens, but I really hope I can finish with a better time. I decided during the Olympic that I really didn't care what my time ended up being because it's pretty bad ass that I'm out there doing triathlons in the first place. Granted it was to partly appease myself because I was so over the whole thing and just wanted to be done and didn't care how long it took me. I decided I didn't even care if I was last because at least the person in last place still finishes, right?

My bag is packed, my tri suit is ready to be donned in the morning, my Garmin is charged. I've done hardly zero training since my race a few weeks ago, my nutrition today wasn't the best, and I've been fighting an obnoxious little cold all week. But hopefully none of that matters and I completely rock this race tomorrow!  Oh, and if nothing else, there's a mimosa bar after you cross the finish line, so at least I have that to motivate me along!

The half marathon with three finish times

Yowza, it's been a long time since I've posted anything here! I did a triathlon and trained for a half marathon since my last post. I need to get back on it because this is a big race year, and I want to track my progress and all that.

First up, the Rock and Roll Half Marathon from this past weekend. This was my third time doing the race, second time running it. I don't even really count the walking one anymore, now that I'm fit. That's probably kind of a bitchy thing to say. Anyway, I have never been so unprepared for a race as I was for this one. My long training runs through Christmas Eve (nine miles) were all decent. Some sucked, some were awesome, but I've found that tends to be the nature of the running beast, at least for me. Then I got a cold around Christmas and didn't do much of anything in an attempt to get better and not make it worse. That ended up making running a lot worse because all of a sudden it was time for a 10 mile training run, and I'd only done one short two mile run in two weeks' time. Oops. I didn't even make it the whole 10 miles. It was an awful run. Then a few days before the race I got another cold. I was popping echinacea, zinc, and vitamin C like they were candy. I was really not excited for the race at all.

Race day arrives, and I'm feeling pretty good. I made a new playlist and did the songs in a certain order instead of my usual shuffle. I started out pretty strong and was feeling good. I was running by myself because the husband wanted to finish in two hours or less, and only one of my friends was running it, but she was in a different corral/pace than me. I got to about mile two and knew I wasn't going to make it much further without a bathroom stop. Every other race I've trained for I've had some *ahem* stomach issues on longer runs, but training for this one that didn't happen. I thought maybe I'd overcome it. Apparently not. So I had to wait at a port-a-potty. It cost me about 10 minutes. I knew at that point there was no way I could make up 10 minutes, I'm just not that fast a runner. Talk about disheartening. I plugged along, though, and did okay. I hit a wall around mile 8 and just wanted to be done. Last year at the race I kept having awful calf cramps for the last half, and I had some times time, too, though not nearly as bad as last year. Finally I got to the end of the race, and the husband had finished in his goal time, so he was along the finish chute cheering for me with a big sign he'd made. I was hauling ass at that point, I just wanted to be done. I think I sprinted the last 0.1 mile just so I could be done.

I paused my Nike app while on my bathroom break, which resulted in three separate finish times. I know only one is official, but I'm still counting it as three. The distance on my app was off (by 0.3 miles! WTF?! That's significant!), so I have the time when I hit 13.1 on my app, the time on my app when I crossed the finish line, and then my official time. I was able to make up a few minutes of my bathroom stop at least, so that made me feel a little better. And had it not been for that, I would have presumably finished comparable to last year, so I guess that's good?

Nike 13.1 time: 2:28:25
Nike finish line time: 2:32:30
Official race time: 2:39:38

I think I'm retiring from just half marathon races. I'll stick with running in triathlons, but I think my days of just running races are done. I really didn't enjoy it at all.

One week to go

One week from now I'm hoping to be sporting a new triathlon PR. And I'll probably be getting ready for a friend's baby shower, but that's inconsequential as far as this blog is concerned. Next Sunday morning I'll be participating in my second ever triathlon, the Nathan Tempe Triathlon. I keep feeling like I haven't prepared enough for it, but in reality I think I have. I mentioned that to my friend Michelle who is also doing it (this will be her first tri), and she said she thinks I've been training more than she has. Time will tell I suppose. On my last tri, I really freaked out during the swim. So much so that I mostly did breast or side stroke for pretty much the whole thing. That's the big downside to not having an open water nearby for practicing. Swimming in a pool and swimming in a lake are two very different things. I keep telling myself that I know I won't be able to see anything (I could maybe see to my elbow on the last tri when my arm was extended in front of me) and I just have to swim and sight. I've even been swimming laps with my eyes closed in anticipation of not being able to see anything. The swim distance for this tri is 750m; the last one was 400m. In the pool I can do 750m in roughly 16-17 minutes. Theoretically an OWS (open water swim) should be faster than a pool swim because you aren't having to slow down every 25m to turn around, but since I freaked out so much at the last one, I'm not banking on having a much faster time than what I can do in the pool. I was feeling pretty confident about my bike skills. I've had two flat tires recently, so I'm hoping all flats are out of the way and I won't have to worry about changing a bike tube on the side of the bike course. Friday morning I set out on a ride with the intention of biking a distance comparable to the race to see how my time was. I started out and was flying and felt AWESOME. Then I turned north and found myself fighting a headwind for the entire rest of my ride. So over half of my ride was into the wind which significantly slowed me down. Lame. I was averaging 20+ MPH initially and the last half of the ride was less than 15 MPH. Ouch. I was hoping to finish the 12 mile ride in no more than 42 minutes and it ended up taking 48. Please, please don't let that be the case on race day! Running in AZ sucks ass in the summer. It's too hot to run outside, even if you go at the ass crack of dawn, so I've been treadmill running. I'm not sure which sucks more. I did manage to get in four miles on the treadmill one day last week with an average pace of 10:44, so I felt pretty pleased with myself after that. I had a fitness test done at the gym several months ago to analyze my heart rate zones, and the trainer gave me a heart rate zone workout to do, and I've found it has really helped my speed increase. So, with all that being said, I'm hoping to beat my previous finish time by at least three minutes, even with the longer swim. My time on the last one was 1:48. I'd really like to finish in at least 1:40 if not 1:35. My transition times were AWFUL last time, so I think this week I'm going to work on practicing transitions and time myself. If you see my running out of my house in tri clothes dripping wet, think nothing of it. I'm just practicing for T1. Here's how I'm hoping my splits will go next weekend: Swim: 17 minutes T1: > 2 minutes Bike: 42 minutes T2: 2 minutes (dealing with socks and getting running shoes on) Run: 33 minutes Total: 96 minutes I'm going to have to push myself on the run, I know it. If my times for everything else end up being close to accurate, I at least have a little leeway for the run to still meet my goal of 1:40, but I would really really really be happy if I could finish closer to 1:35. So keep your fingers and toes crossed for me!!

Back in the saddle again...again

I really don't know what my deal has been over the summer. I just cannot seem to get my eating in check. I've been decent about working out (a triathlon looming at the end of next month has helped that), but my food habits have been awful. I did two weeks of South Beach Phase One and managed to drop eight pounds, but they've slowly crept back up. Well, five of them. I attribute it to summer eating and drinking. We have a pool in our backyard, so we have friends over pretty often to swim, which means we end up drinking while we're in the pool. I think I'm going to have to ease back on the vino and Froot Loop vodka if I want to reach my goal weight of 155. I do have some motivation--my brother-in-law is getting married in October, so I'm hoping to get back in the 150s by then. I think it's attainable, and now that I have a goal I think I can do it. I started back using Lose It today to track my calories, and I planned out breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks for the entire week. I know a lot of my issue lately has been not eating a good breakfast or lunch, so I thought if I planned both those out I wouldn't spend my days wandering around the kitchen snacking instead of having a normal meal. Like I said, I have another triathlon coming up in 34 days. I'm pretty freaked out about it to be honest. I don't feel like I've been training as much for it as I should be, but it's freakin' hot here. That makes it awful to get out and do any running or biking. I've been making it to a spin class at least once a week, but it's not the same as actually being on the bike. In these last few weeks leading up to the tri I'm really going to make an effort to spend time on my bike, regardless of weather, and I also need to try and get in a couple runs that are longer than 5K, as well as try and do at least one (ideally two) brick workouts.

Then and Now

I was telling Boy #2 about the dog we had when he was born, and he wanted to see a picture. I was trying to find one and came across this picture of the husband and me from Easter 2006. Granted, I had an eight week old baby, but still. The husband has no excuse. I was SHOCKED when I saw this. I really don't remember him looking like this at all--and I look awful, even for just having had a baby!! To compare, this was us at Christmas this past year:

So far, so good!

I'm on Day 6 of no carbs this go-round, and so far so good. I'm down to 164 which makes me happy (for now). That's what I weighed before we went to FL at the start of June, and just one pound up from my pre-CA vacation weight. It hasn't been too bad going no carb this week, although I did let myself imbibe in alcoholic beverages on the 4th of July, but foodwise I stuck to no carbs. Yesterday my BFF and her family came over to swim and ended up staying for dinner. She and the husband were having wine and cocktails, and it was REALLY hard to not join in, but I managed to not do it and stuck with water. That is HUGE for me! I'm still amazed at my willpower. Tonight we're going to dinner with some friends, and I'm not drinking there either. I may have half a glass of red wine, but I'm not sure. I'm currently eating some tomato soup because I have a cold, so I probably won't let myself have the wine since the soup is carb-laden. For next week I'm going to stick with no carbs as far as food goes, but I will allow myself the occasional glass of wine if the husband is having some. Exercise-wise I feel pretty good about my week. My youngest son has swim lessons right smack in the middle of the day Monday through Thursday last week (and next week, then both kids have them the two weeks after that), so that complicated my gym trips as we either had to be out of the house by 8:00 to make it to the gym for me to get a decent workout and be back in time for swim lessons, or we had to go after. Monday we went before and it worked out okay. I did a great upper-body workout and then did 40 minutes on the bike. I really prefer riding a real bike! Tuesday ended up being an unplanned rest day. I had planned on going to the gym in the afternoon to do a long swim, but I was meeting with someone from church to learn about some reporting I'm going to be doing. That ended up running longer than I anticipated, so by the time we were done it was really too late to drive to the gym, swim an hour, come home, and not be frantic and rushed getting dinner ready and all that. I'll admit I was pretty bummed. Wednesday morning was one of the races in the summer 5K series I'm doing, but it was a four mile race for the 4th of July. None of my friends and I were feeling it that day. There was talk about skipping it altogether and just going to breakfast instead, but we went. Jen and I ran the first mile, walked miles two and three, then I ran the last mile. My only motivation for running the last mile was that I didn't want it to take me over an hour to do just four miles. I finished in 59:06. Interestingly, I was the 1,000 finisher! Sadly there's no award for that. It was insanely muggy that morning which did not help. Thursday I made it to the gym and ended up doing a 2,000 meter swim. I felt pretty bad ass. That's roughly 1.25 miles for those of you who can't convert metric to miles (don't worry, I can't either, I had to calculate it on my phone). it was a great ladder swim, and I really enjoyed it. Friday Jen and I were finally able to work out together. I think it had been almost a month, with all the traveling I did in June, and then her kids were sick. We did a great full body circuit that we both really enjoyed. Then I did 30 minutes on the bike. I don't know why it didn't occur to me to take my running shoes and run on the treadmill. I guess I was just thinking strength, not cardio. Today the husband and I were going to go do some sort of strength and swim, but I woke up with a full blown cold and decided I didn't want to go. he opted to take a rest day as well. Now I just need to come up with a workout plan for next week, coordinate with Jen what days we can go together and then figure out what to do on days that I'll be there by myself (if any). It's so much nicer to workout with someone than doing it by myself, plus I really need to plan out what I'm going to do ahead of time so I don't wander around the machines or free weights trying to come up with exercises. Hopefully by the end of next week (another week of no carbs) I'll be back at 160 or just below.

Operation Bye-Bye-Fat-Claire commences today!

We spent the weekend with some friends at their cabin up north. I went pretty balls to the wall with food and drink, knowing that come today I would start using loseit.com again to track my calories, busting my ass at the gym again, and working on getting down to my goal weight of 155. So my official starting weight this morning after pretty much a month of eating and drinking and barely exercising? 170.8. Ouch. That's a number I haven't seen on the scale in a LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG time, and I did not like it one bit. I guess it was a good experiment/lesson to see what would happen if I was lax about my diet and exercise, and it just goes to show that if I want to stay fit I have to work at it, it won't come naturally for me! I was originally going to do a week of low carb diet, but I think after being shocked by the number on the scale this morning, I'll plan on two.

Backsliding

I'm pretty frustrated. Before I started training for the tri, I regularly weighed in around 157 and was trying to get down closer to 155. I slowly added a few pounds while training for the tri. It makes sense, I cut back on strength training without adding in enough extra cardio to compensate for that missing calorie burn, plus I was eating more carbs so my body could handle the cardio. Now, however, I've slowly crept up to 167, and I am NOT okay with that. I'm now 12 pounds away from my goal instead of 2! Not cool, body, not cool. I know a lot of it also is that the whole month of June has been crazy. We spent a week in Florida where the only exercise I did was running one morning the whole time we were there, then we were home for four days before heading to CA for a week. I was slightly more active there but still nothing to write home about. I haven't had a good routine which I know is a huge part of the problem. I'm planning on getting back on track Monday...start using Lose It again, have regular, PLANNED workouts at the gym (planning what I'm going to do ahead of time really helps me get a good workout in), and I think I'll plan a low carb week or two for myself. I'm not happy with how I look, with how my clothes fit, how I look in a swimsuit. I'm not doing another tri until late September, and the only other events I have over the summer are an occasional 5K, so this is the perfect time to get back into the habit of regular strength training and get rid of this extra 12 pounds I managed to find. BTW, I managed to maintain my weight on both trips which I thought was awesome. I stayed at 163 the whole time, but then somehow once we got home from CA I put on an extra four pounds that just haven't dropped off. Ugh!!

I've been sucked into the triathlon world

My friend Tessa has done several triathlons, and when I told her I was doing the one this past weekend she said, "You'll love it. They're so addicting." One of the husband's friends (who has done several Ironman competitions) had said the same thing. I didn't believe it. I mean, doing a swim, bike, and run all in one fell swoop would be addicting? But, she was right. Especially since I didn't hit my time goal, I have to do more to get a better time. This week alone I've run a 5K four minutes faster than my one at the tri, and my 400m swim at the pool today took me around nine minutes instead of the 11 it took me on race day. Le sigh. So I know I can do it. If you remember, my big bike hindrance was my big bike. Haha...see what I did there? Well that problem has been solved. Not only have I been sucked into the world of triathlons, I've been sucked into the world of the expensive gear that goes with them. I knew I wanted a better bike because I've really been enjoying the biking aspect of training, then after I liked doing the tri I definitely knew I wanted a better bike. The husband and I had been keeping an eye on Craigslist for deals and found one that looked good. It was a little more money than I initially wanted to spend, but thankfully the husband is a good negotiator and talked the price down $100 from what she had been asking. I start to feel lightheaded if I think about all the money I spent yesterday on the bike, then cycling shoes (which were on sale and a smokin' deal at least), as well as pedals. I could have bought a set of really awesome cookware or an entire new wardrobe basically for what I spent on those three things. Ouch. But, my bike is gorgeous and it's fast and it's sleek, so it's worth it. The lady who was selling it estimated there were maybe only 60 miles on it total. She'd bought it from a woman whose husband had bought it for her, but then she ended up having babies back to back and sold it since she didn't know when she'd use it. Then it turned out to be too big for the lady I bought it from. There were a few adjustments we needed to make to it, but they were all pretty minor. I'm really happy with it. I took it for a quick spin around my neighborhood yesterday and loved it, although riding on the aero bars will take some getting used to. Want to see my new toy?

Just Call Me Triathlete

Because after this past Sunday, I am officially a triathlete!!! Honestly I never, ever, ever thought that would be something I could call myself. I was both excited and nervous in the days leading up to the race but more excited. Then Saturday hit, and the closer it got to be to the time we were leaving for packet pick-up, the more nervous I got. I felt a little better once we got there and checked in and got our bikes on the racks and all that. We listened to a walk-through of how it all worked which was helpful, but I was still a bit nervous. we came home and had a yummy dinner of spaghetti and meatballs, got our transition bags packed and ready to go, and the husband and I were in bed by 8:30 with our alarms set for 4:30 AM and a planned departure time of 5:00 AM.

I took half a Tylenol PM before bed and slept great until 3:30 when my oldest son came in asking me to fix his covers on his bed. I don't think I ever really fell back asleep, just kind of half dozed. Then at 4:27 my youngest came in needing me to fix his covers! I have got to teach these kids how to fix their own damn covers. I laid back down for a couple minutes and then got up when the husband's alarm went off. We had all our gear downstairs to get ready so we didn't risk waking up the kids or my mom. My BFF Jen and our friend Dani were coming to ride with us. Dani had said leaving the race check-in she'd be here at 4:45. Jen said she would too and we laughed because Jen is NOT good at getting around in the morning. So I was pretty surprised to get a text from Jen around 4:35 that she was already here. We were all ready to go and Dani was here promptly at 4:45, so we headed off early. We parked maybe half a mile from the race start and walked over, got our transition areas all set up, got our numbers on us (they write your race number on each arm, one leg, and then your age on the other leg with permanent marker), got our timing chips (a velcro band that goes around your ankle...what I'd imagine a house arrest ankle bracelet to be like only this one was easy to take off or on), and waited. I was a nervous wreck by this point...my resting heart rate was right around 118. Yikes.

Our ages put us in Wave 4 for the swim. It was supposed to be a beach start, but that was a little misleading. You walked into the lake via beach, but you were actually treading water to start the swim. It felt like we were treading water for forever. Jen and I were in the middle of the pack waiting, Dani was towards the back. My heart rate was still on the high side considering I wasn't really doing anything, but I was feeling calmer because all I was doing was going for a 400 meter swim...no big deal. Then the gun went off. I felt okay at the start but when I was almost to the first turn buoy I started panicking I was super anxious and just felt completely out of my element. Visibility in the water was pretty much zero. With my arm stretched out in front of me, I could see about to my elbow. I couldn't tell if there was something right in front of me. The lake where I practiced open water swimming a couple weeks prior had been murky, too, but I could at least see my whole arm in that water. I ended up doing some side stroke and breast stroke because I just freaked out too much when I'd be swimming freestyle, plus I was breathing just about every stroke and normally I breathe every four strokes. I turned the second buoy and kept telling myself it was almost over, I was almost there. When I turned the third buoy it was a straight shot back to the beach. I did manage to do most of that freestyle because I knew the end was near and I just wanted to be done at that point. The timing of the waves worked out so that the husband was still waiting for his wave to start when I got out of the water, so he was there on the beach cheering for me. Jen was about 10 feet ahead of me. Dani had planned on doing breast stroke the whole way, so I assumed (correctly) she was behind me somewhere. The waves that started prior to mine had been all men, and I did pass a few men while I was swimming so that made me feel a little better. From the swim it was across the street and up some stairs to the bike transition area. I walked fast because I was worried about running and slipping on the wet pavement. The walk to the transition area counted towards the swim time which kind of sucked. I had my heart rate monitor on and checked when I got out of the lake and was at 11 minutes. A 400m swim in the pool takes me usually 8.5 minutes if I'm really hauling ass to 10 minutes if I'm at a normal swim pace, so I was definitely slower than usual.

Official swim time: 12:41

Walking up to the transition area I was thinking about what I needed to do to get ready for the bike. I don't have cycling shoes, so I had to get on my socks and running shoes, helmet and sunglasses on, have a Gu, have a few sips of Gatorade, towel off a little. I had brought some water along to wash off my feet after walking back across the sand, so I started with that then dried off my feet. Got on my shoes and socks, put on my helmet and sunglasses, had my Gu and some Gatorade and water and was off. There was music playing in the transition area the whole time, and while I was in T1, the song was "Sweet Baby James" by James Taylor. Really?! Don't get me wrong, I love James Taylor as much as the next person, but something a little more upbeat would have been nice. The lady whose bike was next to mine commented on it to me, too. She said, "Couldn't they be playing something like Tool while we're transitioning?" Seriously! Anyway, I got my bike off the rack and headed out to the bike start. There's a mount/dismount line and you have to cross that before you can get on your bike. I got over to the side, hopped on, and off I went. With James Taylor stuck in my head. :P

Official T1 time: 3:37 (this needs to get faster, and I really have no idea why I was so slow)

The bike was pretty uneventful. The course/route was a lot hillier than anything I'd ridden around my house, but they were all small enough hills that I just shifted down into an easier gear and didn't have to stand up for them. I passed a fair amount of people along the way. Normally when I bike I have my iPhone in my pocket with an app running that tracks my distance and speed and time and all that, but I didn't know if that was legal for race day, so I hadn't taken it (plus my shorts were still wet from the swim, so putting my phone in wet shorts didn't seem like a smart idea), so I really had no idea what kind of pace I was doing. I knew what time I had started and set a bike finish time based on that. Like I said, the bike was pretty uneventful. I had a Gu mishap. I had taped a Gu packet onto my bike to have with a couple miles left to ride so I'd have the energy from it to start the run. I had not practiced this at all. It seemed like a great idea, but I underestimated how tricky it was to open one of the packets while biking. I ended up with it all over my fingers and a streak of it on each leg. Nice. It looked like I had a streak of poop on my leg...fabulous. So my hands were sticky which meant that my handlebars got sticky, too. Yuck. thankfully the ride was almost done at that point. Towards the end of the ride I started thinking about what I needed to do in T2 for the run, which wasn't a whole lot since I didn't need to change out of cycling shoes.

Official bike time: 51:10 (about a 14 MPH pace, not bad on my heavy bike)

Initially I had a time goal in mind of 1:45. Actually my initial time goal was to finish in under two hours, but the husband convinced me I could do it in 1:45. I had a secret goal of 1:30 if I really busted ass on each leg of the race, but when I got off my bike and saw what time it was I knew that wasn't going to happen, but 1:45 was still attainable. In T2 all I had to do was take off my helmet, switch to my running hat, throw on my running belt with my race number attached, have a quick sip of water, use my inhaler, and then I'd be off. Yeah, I forgot the water and inhaler part. Oops. But my inhaler was in my race belt so I took a puff off of it once I realized I'd forgotten to take it. T2 went pretty smoothly.

Official T2 time: 2:35 (still a lot higher than most in my age bracket)

My total time at this point was around an hour and 10 minutes, giving me 35 minutes to run a 5K. Normally that wouldn't be a problem at all since I tend to run anywhere between 10:30 and 11:30. But it was hot. And there were hills. I don't like running on hills, so any uphill on the course, I walked. Thankfully there were aid stations every 3/4 mile (or maybe it was 2/3, I'm not sure). At the first aid station there was a guy handing out sponges soaked in ice cold water, so I just squeezed that over my head and held it on my neck for a second. At the third aid station there were some kids volunteering who asked if they could splash me. I said sure, so they threw cups of water on me. I figured my boys would love to do that, and it would feel good, so I might as well let them. It did help cool me down. It was only a little after 8:00 at this point, but it was already getting pretty warm. I think the high that day ended up being around 105. Ouch. The last leg of the run course was up a hill. Really?! Who planned that?! I refused to let myself walk the last 0.1 mile of the run, so I toughed it out. Once I hit the chute for the finish line I sprinted to the end. The picture of me finishing is NOT going to be pretty. I was just so ready to be done. It ended up being one of my worst 5k times, and I did not meet my goal of 1:45, but I was close.

Official run time: 38:14

Total official time: 1:48:20

I did enjoy the challenge of the race and pushing myself. Honestly a triathlon is something I never, ever would have imagined myself doing, so I feel pretty bad ass that I've done one (and plan to do more). And it really helped me figure out what I need to work on to improve next time.

Swim: practice more open water swims...that's really the only solution to improve my time, I think. The husband thinks I should get a wetsuit, too, and that would help me. I probably will because not every swim is going to be in a 75 degree lake.

Bike: get a new bike that's not as heavy. The bike I used was a cheap Walmart bike the husband bought when he wanted to see if he liked biking. He then bought a nice tri bike and passed the crappy one along to me. If I really pushed on a flat straightaway I could get it around 15 MPH but that was about the fastest. I have no chance of improving my bike time unless I get a new bike, which I'm working on.

Run: I wish I would have done longer training runs instead of just doing 30 minutes or 5k runs. My running had really been slacking ever since the Rock and Roll Half back in January, so I kind of anticipated it being a problem. I think I just need to get back out there and do more runs, not let myself walk and slack off on them. I've signed up to do a summer 5k series with some of my friends, and a couple of them are fast. I may try to force myself to keep up with them for at least one or two of the races to see if I can do it. But really I think I just need to get back into my running groove. I know I can do significantly better on the run, I should be able to shave at least five minutes off my 5k time, if not closer to eight.

Transitions: Having never done transitions before (except the couple of times I did a bike to run workout), I know now what to expect from them and what I need to do. Practicing transitions more would have helped, too, I'm sure.

I'm already looking for my next race to sign up for. There's another sprint tri in Tempe in late September that sounds good. There's a great swim area set up at the lake we went to for the open water swim clinic, so the husband and I are thinking we can go do some open water swimming there during the summer.

I didn't have a camera with me, and the official race pictures haven't been posted yet (although I imagine all of mine will be AWFUL), but I did take some on my phone before and after the race.

My bike racked up the day before the race. Like the pink handlebar tape? I did it myself. ;)

Race day! Apparently I should have squatted down or had the husband get me from a different angle.

Transition area. Glad I took a picture so I can study it and see if I should change anything, although I think it was just my slowness and nerves, not my setup.

We're triathletes!! Jen and me after the race. Dani finished almost 10 minutes ahead of me and I think had already left by the time I was done, or at least I didn't see her anywhere.

The Day After The Day After Tomorrow

That's how long until my first triathlon. I guess I'm as well prepared as I can be. It's only a 400 meter swim, which is equivalent to eight laps in the pool. Except this is in open water. Thankfully, the husband, my BFF, and I went to an open water swim clinic a couple Sundays ago. The husband has done a couple open water swims, but Jen and I had not. As we were getting into the lake we were both wondering what we had gotten ourselves into. I was really glad I went to the clinic, if nothing else to just experience swimming in lake water instead of the pool. It really is much different, then throw in having to turn corners around buoys, as well as massive amounts of people swimming around you. Yikes! I did get kicked in the face once, which was my biggest fear. Not much you can do but keep on swimming. I had a hard time sighting while at the lake because so much of the scenery looked the same for most of the swim. Swimming back into shore I had an easier time sighting off a tree. I'm not too worried about the sighting aspect, but who knows. That may very well change once I'm in the water. I did a few 400 meter swims in the pool at the gym earlier this week, and my times ranged from 8.5 minutes to 10 minutes. I've pretty much fallen in love with biking. It makes me feel like a little kid. :) The longest ride I did in preparation for the race was 14 miles. We live near an Indian reservation, which it turns out is a great place to ride because there is very little traffic, it's totally flat, and there are no stop signs or stop lights. Too bad I just found out about it for my last three rides. I did three brick workouts where I went straight from biking to running. Last week's was supposed to be a 12 mile ride and then a 5K run, just like the tri. Jen bailed on the run (she had a decent excuse, she'd been sick the whole week leading up to it), and I was going to but decided to do at least a little. I only did 1.5 miles, but at least it was something. When we did a 10 mile ride followed by a two mile run, the run went pretty smoothly. I was a lot faster than I thought I'd be, averaging under 11:00/mile. My first mile was 10:30, I don't remember what the second was. It's a weird sensation to start running off the bike because you feel like you're going SO SLOW. If I had a nicer (i.e. lighter weight) bike, I could shave several minutes off my bike time. I generally have an average pace somewhere between 4:15 and 4:30, with a few of the miles at a 4:00 pace. (The husband tells me that cyclists talk in terms of MPH, but I run and talk in terms of pace, so that's what I stick with. that and I can't convert times like 4:15 or 4:30 into MPH in my head quickly) We drove the bike course last week, and it's definitely hillier than what I'm used to riding. Not hilly, by any means, but it's not flat like when I bike around my house. I'm not sure how that will affect my time/speed. if I can stick with a 4:30 pace, that should put me around 54 minutes for the bike portion. I really don't know what to expect for the run. It's a flat course which is great, but my running lately has been awful. I just haven't been feeling it. I don't know if it's because I had such great runs when we were in CA for spring break and my runs here haven't been as good, so I'm just discouraged? I don't know, but it's been awful. I have had good runs the last few times I've gone out at least. I had originally hoped to keep about a 12:00 pace for the run portion, assuming I'd just be tired at that point, but since I kept about a 10;30 pace for the two mile run brick workout, I'm fairly confident that I can do faster than 12:00. Plus as my husband pointed out, I might as well go balls to the wall and give it all I have, it's not like I'm working out the next day. Regardless, I'm estimating a 35:00 total run time for the 5K. Not super fast by any means, and ideally I'm hoping to finish it faster than that. Overall I'm hoping to finish in about 1:45. I had originally estimated 2:00, but when I said something about it to the husband he thought that was way too high a time and I could do it in less time. When I really calculated it out, I agreed. I'm hoping the transitions don't take me too long, but I don't think they will since I don't have cycling shoes. Once I'm done with the swim I'll put on my socks and running shoes and helmet, then for T2 (the bike to run transition) all I have to do is remove the helmet, throw on my running hat and running belt thing and I can be off. I go back and forth between excited and nervous, but I guess that's to be expected of any race. I know I can do each leg on its own just fine, so I think if I go into it thinking of each event as its own thing (i.e. "I'm just swimming 400 meters" then "I'm just going on a 20k bike ride" then "I'm just doing a 5k run") it won't be as bad. And it will be pretty freakin' awesome to cross that finish line and be a triathlete!!

Tri training update

I think I'm something like six weeks out from the sprint tri on Mother's Day. I'm really panicking about it. I know I'm capable of doing each leg on its own...swim 400 meters? Sure! Bike 12 miles? Definitely, I just did it this past Saturday. Run a 5K? No problem. But putting them together and having the transitions in between? I'm going to be a freakin' basket case as it gets closer. I'm really nervous about the run because every time I've tried to run after biking (albeit every time was going from a spin bike at the gym to running on a treadmill), my calf muscles have cramped up. It has me very worried. THe husband thinks I need more electrolytes (it is what plants crave, so maybe my muscles crave it too), so I may try having some Gatorade on my bike ride before I run. This weekend I have slated an eight mile bike ride followed by a one mile run, so we'll see how that goes for me. I'm not super concerned about the transition from swim to bike, I kind of view that as mostly having to remember everything I need to take on the bike. I'm going to wear a tri shirt and tri shorts, so I'll just be able to grab what I need, get on the bike, and go. I'm just worried that my legs are going to give out on the run or cramp up and I won't be able to do anything. Ugh! I also need to review official triathlon rules so I don't end up getting disqualified for some silly little thing that I should have known.

I can swim a mile, can you?

I feel like I'm part of some elite swimming club now. A week and a half ago I swam a mile straight--33 laps! I'm still pretty amazed with myself. Isn't it incredible what your body is capable of doing?? When I first started swimming eight-ish weeks ago, I could barely swim two laps without feeling like I was going to die or my heart was going to explode. And then I swam a mile. My BFF Jen also swam a mile and was telling her five year old son about it. He asked if that was something everyone could do, and she said no! We figured other than us there are just two people we know of that can do it (or have done it)--my husband and our friend Tessa. That made me feel even more bad ass for it.

PR for the mile!

I ended up running twice on our vacation, just two miles each time. And each time I got a PR for the mile! Woo hoo!! The first day I ran it was 10:20, then the second time I ran it was 10:01. I was a little annoyed I came so close to breaking under 10:00. I could have kicked it into higher gear at the end had I realized. I'm not sure what the reason is for my increased speed--cooler weather, lower altitude, my breathing is better from swimming. I don't know, but I sure hope it can keep up on runs at home. Especially since I've already registered for next year's Phoenix Rock and Roll Half Marathon with an estimated finish time of 2:15...I'll have to run around a 10:00 pace if I want to finish within that goal!