Gettin' Healthy: End of Week 2.

We're closing in on the end of Week 2 for the Gettin' Healthy challenge. We have got some fierce competitors, to be sure! I made two stupid mistakes that have taken me out of first place (falling asleep before I meant to and not finishing my water for the day; accidentally snitching while I was making a cake for Sunday). BUT, this week, I have managed to stay on top of everything. Definitely the 5 servings of veggies/day is the hardest for me/takes the most planning, but Chad and I are in a rhythm with that. We each usually have one V8 per day and one huge salad, and then maybe some frozen veggies or something else veggie. It works pretty well.

On a personal note, I started my official training plan for the half-ironman. I am using this plan from Triathlon Plus, and so far it has pushed me hard (yikes, and it's only week 1) but also focused my workouts in a way I was really struggling to do on my own. I have been working out consistently (mostly) for 2 months now, but was burning out during my workouts once I hit 20 or 30 minutes. I felt like I had to FORCE myself to go any longer.

On Monday and Wednesday, I swam 1800 yards (just over 1.6 km) and it was great! I was not bored, and I was able to push myself to make it through the 200-yard front crawl intervals (previously, I would do 100 yards of front crawl and then switch to something else, exhausted). Running has gotten so much better, too--focusing on being at a certain intensity level and adding sprint intervals has made all the difference in terms of staying focused. So far, so good! Obviously, I am going to have to keep pushing myself even more if I'm gonna be ready for the race on June 1st!

A friend of mine, KT, blogs about her progress towards losing 100 pounds. I enjoy reading about her commitment to her goals, and she has a nice online community of people cheering her on. She is now hosting a virtual 5K on June 1st, which is really awesome because that just so happens to be the date of my Half Ironman! Whatever your fitness goal, you can participate--whether you are looking to get back in shape, or back into running, and would like to have some peer support, check out her challenge here! There will be weekly link-ups on Tuesdays for everyone to share progress.

Happy Friday!

Let the training begin!

Today was my first official training day for the half ironman on June 1st. I say first "official" day because I've been running now and then, but today I swam. For the first time in--YIKES--several months, at least. I stuck to the goal on my training plan, which was to consistently swim 750 meters (.47 miles) for the rest of January (I'll move up to 3/4 mile in February). Swimming half a mile today was definitely a stretch, but I'm glad I did it. I was able to push through the moments of fear and the ridiculous parade of thoughts like, "What if you drowned right now?" and "The half ironman is going to be a lot harder than this. Just the swim alone might be too much." (I also couldn't help but think about the recent in-flight magazine article I read about the hoards of people who died last year doing the swimming portion of triathlons because of some swimming-induced heart condition no one knew they had--yikes). I think I was able to reassure myself because I've trained before, and I know how much easier training--particularly the swimming-- gets once I've done it a few times. The first time is always a little scary, though. Glad it's done!

Last Chances.

I have a tendency to think it's always my last chance to do something. My family makes fun of me for it. I went through a stage just after I graduated from high school and before I went to college, when every time I asked to do something and my parents hesitated or said no, I would protest with, "But this is, like, my LAST chance to go ____ with ____ before ____!!!" (Imagine a really whiny teenager, and multiply by ten.)

It's become a family joke by now, and whenever we feel like doing something, we'll use the "could be my last chance" template. For example, "We better go to Cheesecake Factory--this could be the last chance to go on a Tuesday in Louisville with just the four of us." (when my parents were here). You get the idea.

Anyway, I can joke about it but I really do suffer from immense anxiety about missing out on last chances.

I have wanted to do a half ironman at some point in my life. Last summer I was supposed to do a shorter tri but backed out because I moved to Louisville, in part because all my training buddies (some of the young women from church in Alabama) also backed out when they couldn't figure out how to get to Nashville, where our race was supposed to be. Anyway.

But I don't always back out. I finished a sprint tri in 2009, then an olympic tri in 2010, and then another olympic in 2011. And then I whimped out last year. I really, really don't want to turn into someone who talks about doing things and then doesn't. But I'm afraid to say I'm doing a half ironman, because it seems like it'd be pretty easy for SOMETHING to come up and get in my way of doing it. I have that "last chance" feeling, though. Don't know why.

Can I just say I'm doing it? I already found an event three hours away (Muncie, Indiana) on June 1st. I already wrote up my training plan for the next 4 and a half months. My training plan starts THIS WEEK. I am shopping around for gyms with pools. I asked Chad how he felt about my spending a chunk of our money on the race (he approved). I am relatively serious about this, but scared. Oh, but I just have to do it! It really could be my last chance...before what? Oh, I dunno. It just could.

Triathlon Goals 2012

Coming up with goals for the triathlon this year is a little tricky, a) because I haven't been training very much, and b) because I'm doing a sprint this year, which is shorter than the olympic distance I've done the last two years.

Here are my past times:

Year 1 Swim: 26:39

Year 2 Swim: 44:25

Year 3 Swim: 40:39

Year 1 Bike: 1:00:43

Year 2 Bike: 1:43:20

Year 3 Bike: 1:24

Year 1 Run: 29:37 (that's a 9:33 mile)

Year 2 Run: 1:16:41 (12:22 mile)

Year 3 Run: 1:00:17

I think I would be pretty happy to manage half of last year's olympic time, since that was my best time and I had trained a lot. I should be able to keep a quicker pace since it's a shorter race. 

So, my goal: swim in 20:20, bike in 53:10; run in 30:08. 

Honesty

training buddies

I've been feeling pretty bummed about not doing a triathlon this year. Then I went to Girl's Camp and made friends with these lovely girls who are now my training buddies! We've been running a little and we'll do a sprint tri in Lenoir City, Tennessee this fall. I'm excited!

Here's an interesting question: what do you think about indiscriminate honesty? Chad recently shared a piece of advice he had received from someone that in marriage, and especially when you are first married, you should focus on being 100% honest with your spouse. The person giving the advice had heard an older, married man share this advice. The man said he had never been untruthful with his wife when she cooked a meal he didn't like. He said it was great, because he had never had a bad meal twice, and now he liked everything his wife cooked. But hearing about it made me a little sad. Isn't it okay to lie sometimes to spare someone's feelings? How important is it to constantly give accurate and piercing feedback?

FORTY-FIVE DAYS LEFT. Can't wait, can't wait, can't wait. Must wait.

Triathlon 2011

It's hard to believe Triathlon 2011 is now over! There were definitely some ups and downs, but overall it was an incredible experience. I am the third of my friends to blog about it, so I worry it'll be hard to find a new angle. But here goes:

Last Friday Esperanza, Alisa and I set out for Sarasota, FL. It was an 8-hour-turned-9-hour-because-there-was-lots-of-crazy-jungle-rain drive. On the way there, we passed a town called Camilla, GA. Can you believe that?! Camilla! (I just looked it up, and apparently their annual Gnat Days festival is fantastic. You read that right...gnat days).



Anyway, due to some lack of planning and inability to leave on time (I know...weird!) we missed the pre-race clinic on Friday morning. But we got to take a glance at the course, and the beach was utterly breathtaking. Definitely the best beach I've ever seen outside of the Caribbean. (sigh...)






We stayed at an awesome hotel because my roommate, Alisa, knows a guy. Actually she works at a Hampton, so she gets a great deal. That was awesome.

Saturday morning, due to more lack of planning and inability to leave on time (I know...weird!), we arrived so late we risked missing packet pickup (and thus, our race). I don't remember the last time I felt the urge to wet my pants so strongly. But...I didn't. And the triathlon worker people, who had just shut the registration table down, begrudgingly gave us our swim caps and told us to get our bikes in the transition station. My wave was supposed to begin at 7:08, in just a few minutes.

Because I was running around so frantically trying to pick up my packet late and set up my bike and not pee my pants (oh, and I ran down to the waterside with my paper number safety-pinned to my front before realizing I shouldn't swim with that on, and had to run BACK to the transition station and BACK to the starting line), I forgot my goggles up in the transition station (a little jog away from the starting point for the swim). And since I had just arrived breathless at the starting point, and there were only 1 or 2 minutes to go before race time, I decided I'd just have to suck it up and go without goggles. Which I did. And yes, it burned. Salt water. By the end of the 1 mile swim, I couldn't see much. But I did it! Yay.

Okay, but aside from my being a jumbled bunch of nerves and adrenaline and hyperventilation at the beginning, the race was WONDERFUL. The swim was great. The bike was great. The run was great. I loved the bike portion because it was totally flat and easy and I just flew. The run was hard-packed sand next to the ocean, and it was beautiful. It was just starting to get hot as I ran. I had a serious goal to run and not walk for the entire run portion. When it got hard, I remembered how I used to feel as a little kid forcing myself to run the entire Pioneer Day 5K in Grand Junction, and I decided I could keep going. And then when it got harder, I decided I would be everyone's personal cheerleader. So when I passed people going the other direction, I would tell them good job. (I don't know if I helped anyone, but I DO remember last year at the Scofield Tri when some family in a van decided to make me their little cheer project and they kept following me down the road and yelling at me to keep going--that was awesome, if a little weird).



Anyway, perhaps the best accomplishment of all is that I swiped a gargantuan 43 minutes off last year's time! I finished in 3 hrs 12 minutes. I swam my mile in 40:39, biked the 40k in 1 hr. 24 min, and ran the 10k in an hour and 17 seconds. I am really proud of how much I've improved, even if I'm still pretty slow compared to a lot of people.

The time spent with Alisa and Esperanza was really wonderful. We ate at an amazing Thai restaurant, lounged around and slept in the hotel, and were basically on top of the world after our feat. I'm so proud of both of them, too! It was their first tri and they both made their time goals. It's satisfying to get a couple more people hooked on one of the best sports ever.

It's kind of a let-down that the tri is over now. I so looked forward to it, and so enjoyed the training and race experience. Can't wait to do another one!

Progress towards tri goals.

Yay! Only a month to go til the triathlon. I had a super duper training day today.

Biked 26.some miles in app. 1 hr. 22 minutes
Ran app. 5.78 miles in app. 58 min.

I think I'm going to adjust my goal slightly--I believe I said I wanted to get under 3 hours. Right now, with my fastest 1 mile swim time at app. 40 min plus the run/bike times above, AND leaving a few minutes for transitions, I think I will settle for a goal of 3 hrs. 15 min. I'll still be slicing a ridiculous chunk off last year's time. YAY!! (Oh, and my transition time today between bike and run was about 4 minutes.)

To take a line from Rebecca what's-her-name Friday-lover lady, "We we we so excited."

2011 Triathlon Goals

I came across my time from last year's triathlon. I came in at 3 hours, 55 minutes, and 49 seconds. I was actually pretty slow--the average female time was around 3:15, and I only beat a handful of people. In my sprint triathlon the year before, I came in at 2:02.

An olympic triathlon is twice the length of a sprint triathlon, so comparing my swim/bike/run times from the last two years is actually pretty helpful in identifying trends (year 1 was a sprint, year 2 was an olympic).

Year 1 Swim: 26:39
Year 2 Swim: 44:25

Year 1 Bike: 1:00:43
Year 2 Bike: 1:43:20

Year 1 Run: 29:37 (that's a 9:33 mile)
Year 2 Run: 1:16:41 (12:22 mile)

So clearly, I improved in swimming and biking from year one to year two. Most of the improvement in my bike time is probably due to the fact that I raced on a road bike the second year instead of my mountain bike. Evidently, I got a little better at swimming, too. The run, though--awful. I still remember what an awful run that was. I didn't adequately train last year, so once I finished swimming and biking, I was dead.

This year, I should be able to shave a good bit of time off. I would really love to come in under 3 hours. I know it's kind of crazy--who takes 55 minutes off their time? But I've definitely completed a 10k in around 50 minutes before, so there's 25 minutes. If I can manage to take 20 minutes off my bike and 10 minutes off my swim, I'm there. I need to train a lot crazier than I did last year, though.

Here is how I plan to reach my goals:
-I'm probably gonna have to bite the bullet and do a lot more front stroke than I do now (I've gotten by with a lot of breaststroke and only a little front stroke, but I know I'll go way faster if I can just build up the strength and endurance to front stroke). If I could freestyle the whole mile, I'm pretty sure I could take off those 10 minutes.
-I need to bike at least a couple times a week, and put in some loooong rides. Last year I neglected this aspect a little.
-I need to run more. I guess I neglected that aspect a little, too.
-I'm planning on doing a mini-tri every single week as part of my training. I did my first one on Friday. (12k bike, 1 mile run, 600 m swim)

Oh, and check out the AWESOME triathlon I get to participate in this year! July 23, 2011. I can't wait!! My roommates are both planning on doing the sprint tri and I'm so excited for them to experience their first tri. I'm so excited to swim in the ocean and bike/run on the beach. :)

SNOW

That's right, it snowed today. It's almost June, and it snowed today. My birthday is in 3 days, and it snowed today. My birthday! Which is--it always HAS been--a "summer birthday." Meaning, I never brought cupcakes to school on my birthday. Because my birthday was during SUMMER VACATION. I don't care if the summer season doesn't officially begin until June, my birthday is a summer birthday. And it snowed today.

That said, I shouldn't complain about anything that keeps people in their homes and away from our busy Will Call office on a Monday morning. It's like a lovely little Christmas gift, in May.

I'm training for my second triathlon. Only this time, I kind of want to challenge myself and go for the Olympic one instead of the Sprint one. The sprint one was pretty comfortable, but making the jump to the Olympic one seems completely daunting. I don't want to regret not going for it, though. I was terrified of the swimming section of the sprint until I did it last year, and it wasn't bad! So I'm hoping that's how the olympic one will be, this year. Can you tell I'm still trying to fully convince myself I can do it? I still haven't registered. But I made up my training plan. Too bad I started late--it's already three weeks into what's supposed to be a 10-week plan. Whoops. I can do it though, right? I'm young! If I can't do it now, then when will I? Although, I remember learning in an Adult Development class that old people, while they decline in speed and agility, actually IMPROVE in endurance. Isn't that cool? That must be why there were so many elderly folks at last year's triathlon kicking my trash.

I went to an awesome concert on Saturday. Check out the Local Natives, if you haven't listened to them before. Also, the opening act was pretty good, too. Check out The Suckers here.