We did it!!!!!!

We did it! We finished the sprint triathlon. Jon finished at 2 hr 13 min and I finished at 3 hrs. 1 min. I am so glad it is over. But I am more glad that Jon and I didn't give up and went through with it. The swim was hard due to the distance, but I did it in 16 min. I think I spent 5 min. in the transition to biking. My arms and legs were rubber. I was the last one our of the bike transition area. So I got my very own motorcycle escort........for the whole ride.

I started the bike ride and was into the first mile and a half of the 5 miles up hill. I stopped to get a drink of water and I forgot that my rt foot was in a toe cage.....can you see where I am going with this? Yup! I fell off my bike and I wasn't even moving. Needless to say I have some road rash on my shin and elbow. But I was laughing soooooo hard :-) and so were my motorcycle escort friends . The whole time I was training for this, I had it set in my mind that the bike ride went a certain way. Well I was wrong. It went backwards from what I thought. I had trained going up hill, the down hill part and visa versa. My way was much easier. Wow did my legs and tush burn! My shoulder started causing some issues too. But on I went.

When I finally finished my ride I went to the run part. Well for me the walk part. There was no way I was going to be able to think about running much less actually do it. I had a friend who came down and walked the first mile with me. She has no idea how much that helped. Alex walked with me the next mile and Jon and Meghan and Jordan joined us for the last part. It was great crossing the finish line surrounded by my family. Mom and dad were waiting at the finish line.

Jon did great with the swimming part. This is the part he feared the most. He went on to the bike ride and though he struggled with the up hill part he didn't stop once!! Me? Yeah I stopped about 8 times....

Anyway, Jon started the run part and his damn pants kept falling down. He rolled the waist down, he pulled the waist up, he held them, he kept pulling them up. It got too dangerous so he said "F--- it" and took em off. Luckily under his shorts he had some sliding shorts on. They are kind like bike shorts. You know tight spandexy type things. After he took off his shorts he ran much better.

I am so proud that we finished. We set a goal and didn't give up. Boy there were times I wanted to. But I prayed the whole time and had faith in myself. We both want to do it again next year. We have 365 days to shave off some of our time. :-)

Thank you for all of your words of encouragement and well wishes and prayers. We really couldn't have done it with out our friends and family.

Pride is forever, pain is temporary

For those who know me,.....I am not a quitter. I am a fighter. I still have an injured calf, but I am going to participate in the sprint triathlon on Saturday 8/8/09.

My injury was enabeling me to back out of the event. I have to admit that I was, am terrified of doing this. All of my fears are coming to a head. What if I am not the strong swimmer I think I am? What if I can't make it up the first 5 miles of the bike ride which is all up hill? What if I trip and fall or sprain my ankle during the run? This tape has played over and over in my mind for the last 5 months. My hurt calf was the crack to let all of these fears take over.

Then a few days ago I got a message from a friend, Ian, who told me that it was ok if I didn't finish the triathlon. But what wasn't ok was for me not to try. He told me to preservier and do it and take my time. He also said in not so many words that to not try is to fail. I didn't know Ian to be so prophetic. They were prophetic enough to change my mind and push my fears aside. I am now excited again to compete.

Jon and I got our bikes tuned up today and are hyper hydrating. We will be eating high protein and high carbs for the next 2 days. Too bad hu? Doncha feel bad for us? :-)

One odd thing is that I am having totally messed up triathlon dreams. Last night I was trying to ride in the triathlon on Meghan and Jordan's bikes. It wasn't going so well. Also, I had to pee every 2 minutes, which made it hard to ride. Also, all the peeing made me late and by the time I was done I had to use glow sticks from the Dollar Tree to find my way through the woods where the run will be. Like I said, messed up dreams.

Anyway thanks again to Ian for his pep talk. You should go into motivational speaking!!

OK so here is the deal. 3.5 weeks ago I hurt my left calf. Stepped on a steep incline and heard a big pop and almost fell. I assume I pulled a muscle in my leg. It took 1.5 weeks for me to be able to walk normal and swimming was painful and riding the bike hurt.

So I took some time off. The sprint triathlon is 8 days away. I have been icing and stretching and most of the time it doesn't bother me at all. Some times when I walk fast or stretch the wrong way the pain comes back. Until the morning of the 8th I will plan on doing the event. I am stretching and working on it. Standing on my toes still causes lots of pain. I am deflated and pissed that there is a chance I might not be able to do the event on the 8th. If for some strange fate I do not do the sprint triathlon on the 8th, I will do it with Jon when my leg gets better. So one way or another I will do the whole course in 1 day before the end of the summer.

But like I said. It ain't over until the fat lady sings, and I ain't singing yet! :-)

Well, I finally did it. Planned on doing it. Dreaded doing it. Put off doing it. But finally did it. I signed up and paid for the sprint triathlon. Actually, I signed up both Jon and I. He said he would do it as well. I so did not train as much as I had wanted, but I did more then I expected
:-) I am still a bit concerned about the ride. The swim and walk/run, not so much. I hope it is not a windy day on August 8th. It would seriously SUCK to have to ride a bike in the wind for 14 miles. Still haven't done all 3 events in the same day much less one after another.

We are heading to Jon's family farm in a few days and I don't know how much "training" I can do there. We will see. It gives me an excuse to leave and come every once in a while. hehehehe

I don't know how long the triathlon should take me to complete. Absolutely no clue what so ever. I am hoping to come in under 4 hrs. But what do I know. We shall see. We will see in 29 days!!!!

We went up to Lake Curlew for 5 days. It is about 30 miles south of the Canadian boarder. I spent quite a bit of time swimming in the lake. Great way to continue training. Want to continue with biking, but the wind is so horrible, anywhere from 20-35 mph, that biking is almost impossible for a newby like me. Sorry for the short post, but I am cleaning the garage. Soooo much fun!

So, I had physical therapy on my tennis elbow yesterday and I rode my bike in to town and part way back. Total trip was just a little over 12 miles. It was great!! I really have to up my training for this thing! I am going to start riding my bike up an down the long hill that leads to my house. It is a steady incline, but I soooooo need the training. I also have to start pairing up events such as swiming and biking, or biking and jogging. My body needs to get used to it.

My brain can't wrap around the fact that the sprint triathlon is only 50+ days away! I am excited to do this, but scared too. I swam this weekend. I was concerned my rt shoulder and or my left elbow would give me trouble. I am pleased to say that neither did. For me the swimming part is the part I didn't worry about much at all.

I am thinking this whole thing should take me about 2+ hrs. If it ends up at 3, I am ok with that. I am doing it to finish, not to beat the clock. I think tomorrow I will do the whole bike route for the triathlon. I will let you know how long it takes me.

Good morning! School is now out and I am exhausted. I have taught every day for the last 2 weeks. Loved every minute of it. However I have had to use my brain in ways I haven't done in years. It was extremely challenging...but rewarding!

Now I get to devote more time to training. The kiddos left with Jon's mom yesterday to Leavenworth camping and we are heading up today. I am on my way out the door to go on a bike ride. My knee is aching a bit so I am hoping for a short 5 mile ride. Then we pack. Well I pack and Jon loads. :-)

My body doesn't need an alarm, so I generally wake up every morning by 6:30am, so I plan to use that time wisely and either go to the gym or run or ride in the early morning. Generally no wind at that time either.

Jon confirmed again the other day in front of witnesses that he is going to do this with me. I bet he won't train much at all and will do this just fine! Bastard!!! :-) It will be fun doing this together.

My main goal is to finish this sprint triathlon. My other goal is to get into the habit of exercising again. For some reason my body sees to be resistant to change. No matter how much I exercise I can't reduce my size. Trust me I have tried. I had a trainer 2x a week and worked out 3 times more and she was even a bit baffled. I get stronger I get more endurance, but my ass stays the same! My body seems comfortable bigger. My brain isn't but my body is. It is discouraging to say the least. I know that the rockin body I had in High School is an unrealistic dream. BUT.........any progress in that area would be wonderful. Let me back up just a bit! Something does shrink when I exercise.......my mammories!!!! So both Jon and I are unhappy about that one.

So I am off to have a short ride then to pack for camping.

I went on another bike ride today. I went early in the morning.....8am in hopes to beat the heat. What I didn't beat was the wind!!! We had about 20 MPH sustained winds today. Not too bad unless you are riding into the wind. But I digress. I am all gung ho this morning and ask dad to drop me off and I would ride back. So he took me out to my start point and drives off. I hop on my bike with a smile on my face and the second my butt touches the seat, I feel pain in my posterior that should never exist! I am saddle sore beyond belief. There is a tear rolling down my cheek as I see dad driving away. I am stuck. Oh I have my phone, but I am very stubborn. So on I go.

This part of my ride is 2 miles up hill. It is a gradual hill, but a hill non the less. I would say about 2-3 % grade. Tough for a novice biker, but add wind trying to knock you off the bike coming at your side and it is an E-ride at Disney. So I turn the corner and think I am in the home stretch. About 7 more miles on bunny hop roads in the country. Very doable.

What I forgot was the damned wind. When I turned right, I turned directly into the wind! This was torture! UGH@@!! 10 more miles biking into the wind. Yeah right. I had it in first gear and I could have walked just as faster. I had sweat dripping down my face. Well not really down, more like into my ears.......wind again! So I threw in the towel and called dad to come and get me. I ended up going 4.6 miles up hill and into the wind. My back side is still screaming and my legs are wobbly. I am totally feeling my last 3 days of bike riding. I believe I will take tomorrow off and maybe hit the gym instead. Give my tush a break :-)

Today I rode my bike into to town to Alex's baseball game. Roughly 7.5 miles. We will check that later today. It was a great ride! Today I am going to try to double that distance. The distance for the sprint triathlon is 14+ miles. I wnat to start riding the 14 miles and then slowly chip time off of my original time. I am really enjoying my riding. It is fun and challenging and exciting! I will let you know how my ride today goes after I ride!

The serious biking has started!

So, the last few weeks I HAVE been working out sporadically....going to the gym a few times. Just enough to keep the guilt away. Hey, I am being honest. Anyway, I got a message from a good friend yesterday...Ian, telling me to basically get off my ass and get on track again! Thank you Ian!!! Today, I took the suggestion and hit the road. I went on a 1.5 mile walk and then I went on a 4.75 mile bike ride. This is my first serious bike ride. It was AWESOME!!!! I had my dad drop me off and then pick me up. I had so much fun. I loved the sound of the birds and the stream. Just me and the bike. I would have gone farther, but I forgot I had to go pick up the girls from school. OOPS!!!

My big fear with this sprint triathlon was the bike ride. I now know I can do it. I am going to start biking the 14+ mile triathlon route.....in small steps of course. I am going to work on getting my time down. How fast is a "normal" speed for an average bike ride? Not a race, but not a walk in the park. My left arm held up well on the ride and my rt shoulder did too. I am thrilled and exhilarated!!! The next step is to get into the freezing Yakima River run off pond where the 1/4 mile swim takes place. Oh well, baby steps.

Thanks again to Ian for gently slapping my face and getting me on the road again. It seems that my theory of sharing with everyone about the Sprint Triathlon was correct. Those who care and want me to succeed will help me on my journey.

On the road again!

Ok, so Mike gave me a Mike type kick in the butt about working out agian. That was the purpose for this blog. I can so put my stuff on the back burner and take care of everyone else. Thanks again for directing me to the Right path. Today I went on a 1.5 mile walk. Not a big deal, but I went. I was up at 5:15 this morning. It was frickin sunny and the light came through my window. When the sun hits my eyes, I am awake and nothing can change it. So, I am thinking that instead of being pissed at being up so early, if the sun is up so should I be and off to the gym I go. Now let's see how often I dag my ass outta bed at 5am.......I have done it before, I can do it again!

I have not been "working" for 3 days now and I am flyin' high! I am enjoying myself so much. I took the kiddos to Kittitas High School this morning to buy flowers from their Horticulture club. We are going to plant them in the front. I am also going to plant veggies. I hope they do better this year than last year. I tend to ignore things that don't constantly yell "Hey Mom!!" I am truly happy cleaning the kitchen and doing laundry and pulling weeds. I am thinking I was a bit depressed working so much. I already have a few sub jobs lined up and life is AWESOME!!!

I'm Baaaack

Well, first let me start by saying, I have a dozen excuses for not blogging in a few weeks. Some of then quite valid. And some not so much. I will let you decide which is which....

Meghan had walking pneumonia again a few months ago.
We had to share 2 weeks off taking care of sick kiddos....all were sick.
I got a BAD case of tennis elbow and can't swim or ride the bike.
No time.
Forgot.
Didn't wanna.

There I am all out in the open again.

A good friend of mine sent me a message asking if I was slacking and gave me a swift kick in the butt! I am now not working 8-5, M-F. I have tons of time in between sub jobs. I have only the tennis elbow excuse, but there are sooooo many more things I can do at the gym other than biking and swimming. Right? So I will get off my ass and go to the gym this weekend! I promise. Thanks Mike!

New Decade!

On Saturday, my family and friends threw me a surprise 40th birthday party. It was wonderful! Bright sunny day spent with good friends and family. We had a bon fire when the sun went down. Everybodies kiddos were there too and that made it more special! Thank you!!!

Sunday I decided to go on a 2 mile bike ride with my kiddos up Robinson Canyon: where I have walk/jogged. It is about 1 mile slightly up hill and then 1 mile speeding down hill. All 3 kiddos had a little bit of a hard time going up. We took many breaks to rest and watch the cows and goats. =0) We had a blast though. They really enjoyed the way back.

I thought that my butt or my shoulder would be sore, even possibly my back. BUT NOOOO! None of those bothered me. Ya wanna know what hurts? My frickin elbows!!!!! I wasn't prepared for elbow pain. Butt pain I can handle, shoulder pain I know, but elbows? Come on!!! I spoke with a friend last night who is an avid bike rider and he looked at me with a "Well Duh!" expression and said it would go away eventually. Thank goodness! The kids and I are planning on biking that a few times a week, weather permitting. They told me they like the burn. So Cute!!!

Beat the ghost!

So we went back to the gym last night and Jon tried the bike again. He was determined to do better! He realized he started the first try on the bike at a lower gear. He ended up blowing his time out of the water! He got 11 min .35 sec!!! You can program the bike to have your previous time as a "ghost rider." So, Jon had a ghost rider to beat. Any amount of competition turns him into a mad man! =0) We are going back tonight and he is bound and determined to beat last nights time. Needless to say, he was a wee bit sore this morning and a touch crabby!

I got on the tread mill for 30 min and did hand weights: biceps curls and triceps kick backs. I grabbed my weights and got about 1/2 way through and my arms were shaking and I as ticked! When I couldn't do any more, I put my weights back to realize I grabbed heavier weights then I was used to. hahaha I got my normal weights and finished my work out. I think tonight I will start off with the heavier ones again and do some bousu ball squats......and the bike from hell!!!

Yesterday Jon joined the gym! Whoopee!!!! =0) I got on the bike from hell again and I beat my last time by 1 min 12 sec. Today my time was 14.47. I was super thrilled about that. My legs and arms were shaking when I attempted to get off, but damn it I beat my last time! Jon got on the bike and did the same course I did. I think he wanted to blow me out of the water....hehe. He did real well. His time was 14min 17 sec. He beat me by a little bit and I am pretty sure he was a wee bit shocked he didn't beat me by more. Neener Neener Honey!

If you don't know what a bousu (spelling) ball is, boy are you in for a treat! It is a 1/2 of a ball on one side and a flat platform on the other. You can do all sorts of fun stuff on it. Balance, squats, jumps, push ups. No matter what you do with that damn thing, it will show you just how much you suck! Unless you pop it hee hee.... I am currently doing squats on the ball. 1 foot on the ball and the other on the ground. Does a great job working your core muscles (tummy) and intensifies the squats. I suggest everyone play with the bousu ball a few times. It will knock you down a few pegs, but it will also make you determined to beat the ball. For those of you with dirty minds....get it out of the gutter!

Viva Las Vegas!!!

We just got back from a 4 day 3 night trip to Las Vegas with our friends. We all had a wonderful time. =) I had every intention of utilizing the gym in the hotel......but, it didn't work out that way. haha. I did however get some work outs in. My elbow and shoulder got a work out every day. Many reps were done and they even got tired. A few times I worked up a sweat hee hee.

On a more serious note, we walked all over Vegas. My feet were killing me on a daily basis. If any of you have been to Vegas you know how far you can walk. The fun part was doing my ab workout during the walks. In Vegas they pay people to stand on the sidewalks and hand you "business cards." These business cards have pics of un-clothed women on them. Vegas Virgins who don't know what the cards are gladly take them thinking they may be a coupon and when the look down and see the pic, they drop them like hot potato's. This is where the ab's workout comes in to play. In the evening the side walks are covered with these cards and many of the side walks are polished concrete. Step on a card and it is easy to lose your footing and you slide. Staying up-right takes considerable ab strength and agility. So even though I didn't get to the gym, I did get in a few good workouts.

It is nice to be back home in the 35 degree weather with the 30 mph winds......NOT!!! It was great seeing the kiddos. Missed them a bunch!!! But I am heading to the gym tonight to tackle the fun bike again.

Blah Blah Blah

On Tuesday I went on that same walk.....but this time I jogged about 1/2 of it. It was more difficult, but I did it and enjoyed it. On Wed. I took the car and drove the route I thought was 2 miles and I found out it is only 1.5 miles. That is ok.



I did find the biking and jogging route for the triathlon on line. They look very do-able. The bike ride has a slight incline in the middle for a few miles, but the end of it seems down hill. I am going to try to drive it this weekend and see about starting to ride part of it. The run will wait for a bit. It looks like it is mostly trails, and if you know me then you know I am not the most graceful person. I can sprain my ankle on a pine needle or nothing. So the trail part has me a bit freaked out! Just what I need is to sprain my ankle during a race. =) So for now I will keep my jogging on pavement and gradually move on to less level terrain.



Oh a lighter note, our dog LOVES going with me on my walks and jogs. So much that every time I head for the door she tries to push me out of the way to go too. She has gotten a bit "thick" and will also benefit from all of this. =) I am thinking I might take the kiddos with me on my walk that is close to the house and they can ride their bikes. They want to do the triathlon with Jon and I. So I was looking on line and there is a kids triathlon in Sammamish this summer. Good times!

So at lunch today I walked to Rite Aid. There and back is almost 1 mile......all sidewalk =) Tonight I am going to work out after as well.

I have found out that many of my friends and family want to do this sprint triathlon as well. I say the more the merrier! My good friend Erin is going to participate, my friend Val and her boyfriend are thinking about it and my sister in law Lori wants to participate as well. I am so excited I could do the girlie scream. You know the one. When you get a bunch of women together in a bar and they have had a few beverages and everything is a really loud, "OH MY G__!!" or "WHOO HOO!!" And YES I am having flash backs from my college days. Flash backs, not memories =)

Saw the Dr today and he gave me the thumbs up on the triathlon! I found a nice beginner walking/jogging route close to home yesterday. It is slightly up hill on the way out, and down hill coming back....or course =) Round trip it is about 2 miles. Walking it yesterday with the dog and friend, we did it in about 25 min. I wasn't trying to see how fast I could go, I just wanted to get a base time to work from. Our dog, Bitzy, has some herding breed in her. We did a lot of stopping to call her back. She found some bulls to try and smell, the goats noticed her and she really noticed them.....she was in heaven with all of the stinky smells. She also peed a whole lot more than I have ever seen. She marked every inch of that walk. The poor local dogs are having a hay day today trying to re-mark their territory =) We will be messing them up again tonight. I am going to be walking the 2 miles for a week. Then I think I will jog some and walk some for a few weeks. Of course my goal is to run the whole thing.......eventually.

Big Dreams

OK so 3 days ago I was speaking to my friend Bobbie and she was telling me how she was training for a "sprint triathlon." We spent 45 min talking about it and she asked me if I wanted to do it with her. I quickly said, "Um hell no!" And that was that. Or so I thought. I could not get the thought completing a triathlon out of my head. A sprint triathlon consists of roughly, 1/4 mile swim, 13+ mile bike ride and a 2.5 mile run. Very doable....right?

In high school I was very athletic: aerobics instructor, life guard and horse rider. I was fit! Over the last 20 years I have become less fit.......a lot less fit =) Through out the years I have never lost my desire to be active, just the umph to actually do it on a regular basis. I could list 30 excuses as to why my posterior has grown and my scale screams when I go near it, but I would be insulting myself and you. I have let myself go and talking about a sprint triathlon has got me excited! I can and will complete the Ellensburg Spint Triathlon! It is in August. 5 months to train. I can do this. I am going to use this blog to keep track of what I do and to make sure I am accountable. If everyone knows I want to do this, it will be very hard to slack off.

Another exciting bit of news is that Jon has agreed to do this with me as well!!!

Ok, now don't get me wrong. I have not sat around doing nothing active. I work out regularly. But today was the first day of my new training work out. To be honest, I don't know squat about training for something like this. So, I went to the gym with the goal of riding this new exercise bike. It has a video screen and various courses you can ride. You can go up hill, down hill, through the woods, race people, and even play games and fight dragons all on a bike and in the gym! I hopped up on the bike and picked a 3.36 mile "ocean side" ride. Son of a gun if that little 3+ mile ride didn't kick my ass!!! My legs were burning and I was sweating like crazy! I finished that stupid ride in 15.56 min. It isn't impressive, but it is a starting point. It can only bet better from there.