Time Flies When You're Having Fun............

Chasing after a busy toddler. It's hard to believe that it's been 3 months since I last posted. No, I didn't lose the triathlon bug. No, I haven't lost my ability to type. But, I have lost my ability to blog since Cathryn has been mobile and wanting to do everything I'm doing. Including typing on my computer. We've given her a old mouse to click while she sits on my lap- she's almost figured out that the one she plays with doesn't work. Hmmm.... What to do next?
She's sleeping right now. We already swam this morning, so hopefully, she'll be down for a long nap.
Yes, I'm still a triathlete. I haven't missed a beat. I've completed 2 triathlons since my triathlon in May, and I have 1 coming up in September and 1 coming up in October. Bruce may make his triathlon debut in September also. We'll see............. It's a long swim for his first race, and his heart hasn't been in it. He has a lot of stuff going on, so training has been last on his list. Except for cycling. He does consistenly ride his bike 3x per week.
In the heat of summer it means we get up very early here. My alarm goes off at 4:15am. We're out of the house by 5:15-5:30. Yes, it's early. But, the sense of accomplishment I get from finishing my workout before most people are getting up is good for me. It sets the tone for the whole day. Okay, so I'm practically asleep by 8:30pm. But, for now that schedule works. And I guess I do enjoy sweat, having my muscles burn, and pushing myself when I think I can't.
My goal is to be faster. I have improved in swimming, but I have a long way to go. I've been swimming for 6 months and I can say that only recently have I been able to "feel" the water. My endurance has improved, so now I'm really focusing on my "feel" for the water and my pull. I'll get back to taking pictures. It's something to see people of all ages out there during the group workouts.
Swim drills and strength training this afternoon................

I AM A TRIATHLETE

That sounds pretty awesome. The day was great. I had fun! My family was out to cheer me on! And our Tri Club WON the Club Championship.

Our day started early. I woke up @ 3:50am. I made some coffee, and had my usual oatmeal and blueberries. I only had one cup of coffee since the butterflies in my stomach were already hard at work. I packed the car the night before, so all I needed to do was eat, go to the bathroom and get dressed. I met our group of friends at the Y. We were all very anxious. We followed each other down to Tempe and set up our transition area. We set up near the Bike Out/In section.

It was pretty nerve-wracking waiting for the swim start. The race director started the race and realized after the first 2 waves that he had given us the wrong instructions - or the buoys weren't set up correctly. We had to wait for the first 2 waves to come in, have the buoy's reset and then we were able to start.

I somehow got myself in the middle of the pack, rather then on the end like I wanted. But I did survive being swum over, pushed, etc. and didn't have a panic attack (YEA!). I was really glad I was in a wetsuit.

Finally, the swim leg was over. I can't tell you how happy I was. Then it was off to the bike. I was excited for this part, since it's my favorite and I feel pretty strong on the bike. Well, not on race day. I struggled to get my legs going for the first 5 miles. I felt like I was turning lead logs and my bike weighed about 50lbs. There were some slight hills, and I think I probably put my bike into a big gear too soon. Oh well, live and learn. I only passed one of the gals we train with at the Y on the bike. So I was thinking that I'd never catch up to the others.

I dismounted my bike too early because there were 2 others at the bike entrance that were dismounting. Sh-t. I should've just kept going. I lost a few seconds there. So I got out of the 2nd transition as fast as I could and just continued to go at a steady pace. I saw a little gal with a white hat and a ponytail bobbing far ahead of me. I wondered if it was Tammy, so I just kept on focusing on that and sure enough it was Tammy and Maryann. After I saw Paige on the turnaround I was able catch Tammy and Maryann and eventually pass them. Tammy told me to go for it - but I wasn't sure if I could make the whole 1.5 miles if I started running really hard to get Paige - she's pretty fast. I just kept on staying focused and kept my pace steady, passing one runner at a time. Finally, the end was near and I was able to sprint it in after the little annoying hill at the end.

I finished in 1:19:33 and came in 7th out of 19 for my age group. I feel really happy about that time for my first Triathlon.

The kids were so excited I could hear everyone cheering for me at each transition and then again at the finish. That really did help alot!

What fun we had. Now it's time to plan for more races. We've got 2 picked out for late summer and early fall. I'm going to sign up Bruce as well. We still need to figure one out for summer.

Thanks to everyone to supported me and cheered me on. I greatly appreciated it!

Sporting a Wetsuit

My second day of training in the pool with a wetsuit. Much better than yesterday. There's Paige in the background in the pool trying hers out as well. I swim 32 laps in 17:10, which is faster than yesterday. I wasn't racing, but just trying to go at a nice easy pace. I felt good. That's all that matters to me right now. Then after my swim I hopped on the treadmill for 30 minutes. It feels good to be done with my workouts! Yeah!

Wetsuit, Wind and Achilles Tendonitis

Thank you Paul Dignan for letting me borrow your wetsuit. Paul is my friend Tammy's husband- he's an IRONMAN! I wore the suit in the pool today. A few people said the pool's heated. I said I know, I'm training for a race and I've never swum in a wetsuit before.

I jump in the pool. Hey, I float. How cool is that. I like that.

I start swimming. Hey, I could get used to this. This makes the swim so much easier. Then the panic began to creep in. It felt tight around my chest- like I was being squeezed...... I pushed myself through it and was able to continue. I'll practice again tomorrow. At least I know the feeling now. So hopefully I won't feel panicky again.

It's Wednesday and guess what? It's windy again. Okay, not as bad as the past few Wednesdays. But, geez.......... And today I was riding alone. Tammy couldn't make it today. Riding in the wind is really starting to bug me. I don't like it- it makes a training ride all that much harder. Tammy I missed you today!

I have a mild case of achilles tendonitis. Bummer. At least I'm treating it before it turns nasty. The doc says it's about a 4 on a 10 point scale. So, that's good news. No hill running- or fast training runs until it calms down. I thought I was doing a good thing by doing the elliptical. But, it turns out- I should just run. The elliptical can cause other issues.
Oh, the life of an athlete at 41......................
But, I'm not stopping yet. I see myself doing this into my 70's. :)

Finally my weeks of hard work are rubbing off on others in the family. Bruce jogged for 23 minutes this morning and swam this evening. How fun would it be for the both of us to do triathlon together. I think we should find one with mountain bikes- that would be right up his alley.

The swim

This is Ryan. For some reason the picture didn't upload on my previous blog.

I swam today and used the techniques Ryan taught me. My stroke has greatly improved. YIPPEE. I still need to work on my kick. I noticed during a pull drill I was ahead of 2 other swimmers that are usually ahead of me. This proved to me that my stroked technique has improved. Now if I can just get my legs to work- we'll be good.

Today I also learned to only focus on myself- I spent too much time worrying about what everyone else was doing and questioning why I wasn't as fast- I need to put my energy into the swim..........

Thanks Ryan- see you Sunday.

Where has the time gone?

I haven’t blogged in a while……… I’ve been keeping up with my training plan. Life has just been busy and I guess I’m spending a lot of time thinking about race day and all that energy was preventing me from blogging.
I ran a 5k on April 14th in 25.29 (an 8:11pace) not bad. But, I know I can do better than that. I volunteered at the Ironman on April 15th. What an incredible experience. I’ll volunteer again next year. I don’t quite see myself doing an Ironman. Maybe a half ironman someday.

I’m still a pretty lousy swimmer. This past Saturday my friend Tammy’s son Ryan helped me. He’s in high school and swims on a club swim team. And well, Ryan is a pretty awesome swimmer and he’s only 15. He swims long distance.
We met at the pool on Saturday and he could right away see what I was doing wrong. For the first time it actually clicked. He explained what I was doing wrong and showed me what to do through various drills. Some people can be great swimmers- but not great teachers. I think Ryan has the gift of also being a good teacher. By the end of my lesson I could feel myself gliding through the water with much less effort. Before I was paddling so hard and not getting anywhere. I also do this pretty hysterical move with my legs. I have to practice practice practice. Bruce was able to videotape the lesson. Oh my……… seeing myself was pretty hysterical. It’s a good thing I can laugh at myself because I sure did get a lot of teasing from Bruce. He was actually laughing at me from the pool deck at one point. He exclaimed you really don’t know how to swim.
I’m going to meet with Ryan again next Sunday. Hopefully my practicing will show by the time I meet with him next Sunday. Here's Ryan and I after the swim.

Climbing a hill……
Okay, well we live in a hilly area. I thought I had a good handle on the hills. Well, that was until this past Sunday. It was silent Sunday in South Mountain Park. That means it wasn’t open to cars. A big group from Gage Total Training got together to ride in the park. We rode out to San Juan which is lots of rolling hills. I didn’t warm up prior to this so I felt pretty crappy during most of the ride. Then they were all riding up to the TV Towers. I wasn’t sure I was going to do this. But, Tammy and Bruce said come on let’s go and off we went. OH MY GOD. On the one hand it was good to see that my training has paid off- Bruce had to stop. I thought I’d meet him at Telegraph pass, but by the time we got there I was feeling good and decided to continue the climb to the towers. Slow and steady was the theme for me. At some points closer to the towers I was standing on my pedals very slowly turning 1 crank at a time. Tammy was a head of me and I just kept on focusing on getting to the top. We were about 100 yards from the top when the big group of GT3ers started their descent. They yelled for us to turn around, which we did. Down we went. Sometimes it was a bit scary but we made it in one piece.
I think the fact that Bruce was sucking wind finally pushed him to realize that the once per week workout schedule isn’t working for him.(lol) So we bought him a bathing suit, a cap, goggles and paddles. He’s going to start swimming tonight. I hope he sticks with it. I know he’ll feel so much better if he does.

I did it........

I swam with the group for a 2nd day. My legs felt like lead though. I needed to use the pull buoy through some of it just to get through. By using that your legs stay still and you just pull with your arms and upper body. They need to get stronger anway.......

Cate woke up early today (5am) so that helped me meet the group @ 9:30. She went down for a nap around 8am. I ran during that time- 35 minutes @ a 9:09 pace. I needed to keep my HR under 146. It was a good easy steady run on the treadmill. I set the treadmill on an incline of 1. By doing so, they say this helps mimic outdoor running.

After my run, I stretched, showered and then got my things ready for swimming. I peeked my head in Cate's room @ 9:10- her eyes opened. YEAH. So, I quickly got her ready and off to the Y we went.

I felt excited about meeting everyone for the swim. Today, it didn't matter to me if I was slow- all that mattered was that I got there, and I for now anyway, got over another hurdle.

I need to focus on positive thinking more and keep the self-doubt door closed. Opening that door doesn't do me any good.

I'll do my strength training a little later today. Tomorrow will be another rest day because I'm going to rest for a 5K race on Sat. morning. Caroline and Sara will do the 1 mile fun run, and we'll even get Cate out there in her baby jogger. So, it truly will be a family affair, except for Bruce who will be in a golf tourney on Sat. We'll miss you hon.