New Year, New Start!

That's me preparing for my final race of 2012. Vystar Gator Bowl 5k in downtown Jacksonville on Dec. 31st

 

Well, 2013 is here and I have to say I'm pretty excited to have a fresh start. Not only for being more active, eating less, and learning to say no to sweets more often but also to really read my Bible every single day, pray so much more throughout the day, and be more patient with my kids. I wouldn't say these are resolutions but more like lifestyle changes.

All in all, 2012 was a good year for me, thank goodness. I made a goal back in January to run a race (of any sort) and read at least one book every month. Well....I DID IT! The only hiccup was back in May when the Memorial Day run was cancelled due to hurricane-like weather and rescheduled for June, meaning I ran two races in June. Out of my control. As for my reading, I read a total of 48 books in 2012, averaging 4 a month. I don't want to toot my own horn but it does feel good to complete a goal I set for myself for the year. I can't say that's always been the case.

My favorite race in 2012 was a prediction 5k run I ran back in November, which required entrants to predict their 5k run times and whomever was closest to their times, won. So this was a race whee the fastest runner didn't necessarily won. No one was allowed to run with watches, MP3 players, or any portable GPS devices, so you're running with no sense of time. The top 3 runners with the closest times won money. And guess what?!  I got 2nd place, only being 7 seconds off my predicted time. I won $40 bucks, which was pretty cool. The 1st place winner won $60. Good times.

My favorite book I read in 2012 was called the Book Thief. Absolutely in my top 3 of all time.

Since 2013 we'll be moving to a new place, I've only decided on 3 goals: drinking nothing but water all year, and eat less at every meal. Also, I will weigh myself every Tuesday morning and keep a log. I don't want to overdo it with resolutions, and those three feel pretty solid to me.

I wish you all the best this new year! God bless and keep on truckin' on.
 

The Olympic distance Tri is a few days away...

 

So the big race weekend is finally here. I'm excited and super nervous at the same time. Like I've written before, the only thing I am really nervous about is the .93 mile swim, especially since we don't know if wetsuits will be allowed or not. Either way, I think I'm leaving it home and swimming without it as the water temps have been hovering around 79 degrees. I can only pray the water doesn't cool off by more than 3 degrees or so.

 

As of now, I am the only Athena registered to run the Olympic distance, but I suppose there may be a few late entries up until Sunday. If it stays that way, then I'm guaranteed a podium finish, which would be pretty cool since this is my first ever Olympic distance triathlon and earning a 1st place medal would rock. It kind of stinks no other Athena is racing as of right now, but man, that helps with putting no pressure on myself and allows me to just run my race. MY GOAL = Finish.

 

1500m swim, 24.8 mile bike, 6.2 mile run.

 

I'm confident about the bike and run but am hoping for a swim time of about 45 minutes, which I know probably seems slow.

 

Nutrition-wise, I plan on waking up like at 3 am, and eating the following: cup of oatmeal with brown sugar, cinnamon, and raisins; yogurt, banana, juice and water. The go back to sleep and wake up at 4:45am and eat some toast and jam an hour later. Finally, I'll eat some energy chews with water about 45 min before the race begins at 7:45 am. During the bike portion, I'll probably down 2-3 gels and eat one during the run. Hopefully that should be enough for an estimated 3 hours and 30 minutes of continuous exercise. We shall see!

 

Wish me well. This is my last triathlon of the year.

Putting in my lumps

Sometimes the swim portion feels this scary. I have no clue where this is.

About 8 days ago, my hubby and I ran our first sprint triathlon together, the Hammerhead Olympic Triathlon (HOT). It was at Camp Blanding, south of Jacksonville and was an awesome time, although we only ran the sprint course. Below is a "before" pic.

And here's our "after" pic:

The race itself consisted of a 500m swim, a 12.4 mile bike, and a 5k run. I clocked in at 1 hour, 31 minutes, 21 seconds. Patrick came in at 1 hour, 24 minutes, good enough for 4th in his military group. His time was quite impressive since he battled a bad stomach bug the two days leading up to the race. My time awarded me 1st in the Athena group, and had I run with the 30-34 age group of women, I would have come in 5th place overall--not bad.

The swim portion was in a nice lake, but too bad I had a horrible swim (17:15) so I was forced to make it up on the bike and run. That's usually been the case. BUT, I recently ordered Terry's Laughlin's Total Immersion swim dvd to help me since I've never been anything but a mediocre swimmer. I've done lesson 1 out of the 10 but am trying to stay confident.

I am still slowly putting in my lumps for my very first Olympic triathlon on Oct. 14th. Luckily, my folks will be in town for the race, so at the very least my dad will be able to cheer me on in case Patrick flies out-of-town for work and my mom has to stay behind with the kids. I have to say I feel confident biking the 24 miles and running the 6.2 miles but swimming 1500m in the ocean is what gets me.

Oh, and I am signed up the run the 1st annual Iron Soldier sprint triathlon in Ft. Bliss this Saturday while I am in back home in El Paso for my cousin's wedding. I'm renting a bike from a local shop so hopefully all goes well there. Beats having to pay to ship my tri bike with me. So excited to be running a race in my old stomping grounds. Woo hoo!!!!

My next post will be after the big race in October!!!!

Training and random thoughts

 

 

The picture above comes from the website I get my daily devotional from. Proverbs 31 ministry is specifically tailored for women of God and offers an array of topics that women of all types can relate to. Needless to say, I love it. And I while I haven't been perfect in reading each day's entry, I can honestly say I am making a better effort to find ways and get closer to God.

 

I am currently reading a book from Lysa TerKeurst called Made to Crave, in which she explains how to learned to lean on God for fighting cravings and wanting to exercise. I am fortunate that I like to get out there and exercise, trying new things and running in races. Otherwise, with the amount of (bad) food I eat, I'd probably weigh closer to 200 lbs instead of the 172 I carry right now.

 

As of this moment (7:30 am), I've made the conscious effort to become closer to God and really turn over ALL my doubts, fear, feelings of self-worth, and undue negativity to Him. I don't know how many times I've told myself I can do it on my own, but to move forward I need to lean on Him and not on my own understanding. I don't know why I think I can do all this on my own but the truth is, I cannot. Time and time again, I've come up short.

Women running in the 2000 Sydney Olympic triathlon (I wouldn't mind a body like theirs.  :)

 

In turning over a new "spiritual" and "physical" leaf, I recently made the decision to train for an Olympic-distance triathlon in October. The swim is 0.93 mile long, with a 24.8 mile bike, followed by a 10k (6.2 mile) run, essentially double the distances I've been running in sprint triathlons. And as you can imagine, I'm most nervous about the swim portion, which will be in the ocean. OMG. (Why do I put myself under this pressure?)

 

I've slowly stepped up my training and ran for 40 minutes yesterday when it was warm out and thought, "if I think this run is brutal, then that triathlon is going to kick my butt." Good thing I have a solid 7 weeks to prepare, and thankfully I have a great training book written by Matt Fitzgerald called the Triathlete Magazine's Essential Week-by-Week Training Guide: Plans, Scheduling Tips, and Workout Goals for Triathletes of All Levels. If you're thinking about running a tri, please spend the $13 and get this book. Right now I am following the level 1 training plan with my goal being just to finish. Sometimes the training isn't fun, but I am putting in my daily lumps and am now trusting God to give me the strength to stay strong and give me power over any kind of temptation in order to properly fuel my body.

 

2 Corinthians 12:9 says, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."

 

Good thing, Lord. I am so weak when it comes to food. This is my biggest obstacle to face everyday, and I'm just tired of it.



2nd Sprint Triathlon of the Summer

Race Report: Jax Sprint Series #3

Aug. 4, 2012

The elite men taking off!

This past Saturday I drove about an hour and 15 minutes northeast of Jacksonville to take part in the Jax sprint series triathlon. Woke up at 4:55 am, ate two cinnamon raisin toasts with butter and yogurt for breakfast, and went on my merry way to the race site. I thought I was early but the race area was quite filled up by that point. I parked the truck and got my stuff. At race packet pickup they made me get on the scale to be weighed, I suppose so other folks claiming to be in the Athena group who weren't really over 150 lbs would be forced to race the in regular age group. The scale showed 174 lbs for me so  I was good to go.

I set up my stuff and checked my new bike over a few times. I've only had it for about 2 weeks and there was definitely a breaking in period because triathlon bikes are soooo much different from normal road bikes. I wasn't sure how I'd do on the bike leg with it but I prayed everything would go safe and sound. I had a little pent up nervous energy so I ate a Hammerhead gel, and headed out to the beach to get acclimated to the ocean. The water felt great!

The Swim:

Unfortunately, the wave starts began late so my wave (second to last) didn't start until a little after 8am. I did well swimming the 1st 100 meters to the yellow inflatable buoy but when I started swimming parallel to the shore,  I felt more fatigued and begun swimming breast stroke (just like Olympian Rebecca Soni, only much sloooooooower). With that stroke, I actually felt great! But I must say ocean swimming is absolutely nothing like pool (lap) swimming. I swam 400m in about 8:45 but running towards the transition area made my time an official 9:23.

Transition 1 (T1):

I wasn't planning on wearing socks for either the bike or run so this made my time faster. I got my bike off the rack and went on my way.

The Bike:

At first my feet felt a little weird in my bike shoes with no socks on but I made do. It took me a good couple of miles to get adjusted to my bike gears until I found one I wanted to stay in the entire bike portion. Many people seemed to pass me, which kind of gets you a little down but I had to remind myself this was my race and no one else's. Riding so forward and high on a tri bike makes you feel all the little grooves in the street so I was a tad bit nervous about that but managed to keep at it. Every 4 miles I would get up from the aero position to stretch my back and drink some water. I ended up biking the 16 miles in 53:04 (18.1 mph).

Transition 2 (T2):

I got off the bike, and ran a short way with my bike shoes on and slipped on my new Zoot shoes. Easy peasy.

The Run:

Blister on the inside of my foot.

These cuts still hurt when I walk on the them!

A few days before the triathlon I bought my 1st pair of triathlon shoes meant to be worn barefoot by a company called Zoot. I've attached a pic above. The lacing system is meant for easy entry. But if you notice the heel portion, it sits high on your Achilles tendon. And within the first mile I felt two things: a massive blister on the inside of my right foot (from my still wet feet) and the backs of my feet getting chewed up by the shoes. Here is a picture of the result after I got home. I was determined to run through the pain and in the run I managed to pass a few folks. My goal was to beat my triathlon time from last month's race so I high tailed it the last 30 meters of so and actually finished in 1 hour, 33 minutes, and  6 seconds whereas last months race I finished in 1:33:42-- not too shabby considering this race had three more miles to bike.

Final thoughts:

I'm happy that I finished strong, even if it meant I had to hunt down some band-aids from the paramedics afterwards for my bleeding heels. I made a conscious effort to eat more before the actual race so I wouldn't be so gassed during the run and that helped quiet a bit. I finished good enough for 2nd place and was only about a minute and 15 seconds away from the gal who took 1st. I loved the area, the feel of the race, and even though we waited quite a while for the awards ceremony to start, I would definitely run it again. The post-race food and drinks were plentiful, and there was just a good vibe all around. 

Back in the saddle again

Montoya BFAST triathlon....July 14, 2012

(My 1st triathlon since 2004)

Swim start with the elite males group

So last Saturday I completed the BFAST sprint triathlon, covering a 400m ocean swim, 13 mile bike ride, and a 5k run. Naturally since swimming is my weakest of the three sports, I was extremely nervous about swimming in the ocean, especially when I practiced only in the pool for it.

The (Dreaded) Swim....

I consumed a lot of carbs the two days leading up to the race, which explained why I wasn't hungry whatsoever the morning of (also too nervous to eat), but I managed to choke down a buttered biscuit from McDonalds on my way there. That was pretty much all I ate before and that came back to bite me during the run.

When I got there, I parked my truck, almost got stuck in some thick mud if it weren't for the nice Aussie man who pulled me out, and went on to set up my stuff, get my number markered on my body, and make sure my bike was ok. I went out to the ocean to take a look at what was in store for me and upon overhearing some women saying they might cancel the swim because the waves were too choppy, it dawned on me that the swim would suck. So I got myself wet, swam a little before the gun went off, and prayed. I was in the 4th wave to go (there were a total of 5) and I was determined to just keep swimming (like Dory from Nemo would say). When the gun went off I jogged into the water and realized "this is going to suck!" For one, we didn't quite go far enough to be past the breakers so the entire swim we were battling waves. I was exhausted by the midway mark. I just kept swimming and realized I was the last one from my wave to finish. But finish I did! My time was just shy of 10 minutes at 9:52.

The transition to the bike area was long, through sand and then through a rough, gravely parking lot that hurt my bare feet. I quickly put on my socks on my wet feet, fixed my helmet on my noggin, and off I went.

The Bike...

Honestly, I felt great on the bike and immediately consumed a Gu gel to help with energy at the start. With the exception of pedaling over the Nocatee overpass twice, it was a nice flat course that allowed me to make up time and finish the bike portion in a little over 47 minutes.

The Run...

At the end of the bike I consumed one more gel before I hit the pavement running. Turns out, that wasn't enough fuel for me. I immediately starting dreading the run not only because we were running at a slight incline but because I felt out of gas. That's where not eating something besides a biscuit for breakfast hampered me. Couple that with a blister forming because my socks were completely soaked didn't help either. Rookie mistake. Because this was a sanctioned USTA race, headphones are grounds for disqualification so not having my music also sucked. Finally, I crossed the finish line at 1 hour, 33 minutes, 42 seconds. Not bad for my first tri in over 8 years. I also managed to place 3rd in the 1-39 year Athena division (for women 150 lbs +).

I'd like to post a picture of me doing the triathlon but the sports photography company charges way too much. If you'd like to see me in action, go to this link below and type in 344 for my bib number. http://www.racephotonetwork.com/QPPlus/SearchBibNumber.aspx?EventID=1071432&_AccountNumber=468&EventName=BFAS%20Tri Warning: I don't look like a happy camper during the run pics, but after the swim portion, I was allllll smiles!!

So, we'll see what's next. Dare I try to do a half Ironman next year? That looks to be my next goal.

Triathlon tomorrow!!!

That will be me tomorrow morning at 0700: the last one to go in.

It's been a while since I've last felt like this, but I'm starting to feel as if I bit off more than I can chew. As in, my first ocean swim sprint triathlon is tomorrow morning, and I'm feeling a little SKEERED!!!!

Tomorrow is the 3rd race in the Montoya BFSAT triathlon series at Mickler Beach in Jacksonville (but my first triathlon here in the state of Florida), and while I've been mostly diligent about practicing my swim (my weakest event of the three--by a lot), I know that swimming laps in a pool is nothing to swimming in the ocean with the added current, all those folks around you with flailing arms and kicking feet, plus the added adrenaline of everything going on in the race and the thought of sea critters lurking.

In all honesty, I'm not worried about the bike and definitely not worried about the run since I've been staying true to my New Years goal of running a 5k or longer every month. It's almost a shame that the swim is first, but once I get through that, no matter how long it takes, I will pedal like crazy and "run like the wind blows" to finish strong. Since this will be my first ocean experience, my goal is to simply finish. I entered as an Athena, which is for women weighing over 150 lbs. Men who are over 200 lbs are called Clydesdale's. Both "heavy hitters" are in the second to last swim wave at the start (thank God it's not an all-out mass start) while the first-timers are set to go off in the last wave. Even though this is technically not my first triathlon ever (it has, however, been 8 years since my last), I decided to swim with the last bunch of people in hopes of making less contact with others.

Finally, I returned my wet suit I purchased from amazon and went instead with a tri suit from Pearl Izumi. The water is expected to be in the high 70s/low 80s so I'd probably be too hot while swimming-- not a good thing. Wish me luck!!! I will write a race report tomorrow once I'm through. 



I wonder what color our swim caps will be tomorrow.