Taking time off

I'm taking some time off from training. I know it's such an odd time with Iron Girl less than 2 weeks away, but I'm listening to my body and I think it'll make me even stronger at IG to take this week off. I've been sick with allergies, extremely overtired and today I threw up 3 times. I have no clue what's wrong with me and I don't feel sick sick, just not normal. I can hardly eat, no appetite at all and everytime I take my vitamins in the morning I get completely nauseated. I've even been getting completely winded by just walking upstairs! And yes, we've wondered if I'm pregnant but we just don't think it's possible. So with that said, I've decided that if I push myself too hard this week when I obviously don't feel very good then I'll end up crashing the week of IG and that could be more detrimental to my performance. I'm having a hard time not doing anything this week. I just keep reminding myself it's for the best. Today I was craving to go do something, I didn't care what... but I could hardly keep my eyes open. I think I'll be refreshed and ready to go by the begining of next week.

Holy Benedryl

The wind picked up here in Vegas yesterday.. well really it's been windy of and on for quite some time, but this particular time it blew all the trees, dust, pollen, etc and I had the worst allergy attack I've ever had. I wanted to rip my eyeballs out. Like I've said before, I'm not one to take medicine. I'd rather have a cup of tea and some echinacea when I am feeling sick. But last night, I was blowing blood out of my nose and I figured it was time for some benedryl allergy medicine. I took ONE and it knocked me on my butt! lol I slept so hard. Harder than I probably have in 6 years (since having kids). If Kai woke to nurse, I don't even remember. She probably could have and I'd have slept right through her whines. Poor baby.

So needless to say, I missed my swim workout last night. I took a day to rest my knee today. Tomorrow I hit spin and a run again. Our pool is finally open!!! YAY. So I can get out there, and even with my wetsuit to practice.

I have 2 new goals/desires. I want this road bike. It's at a specialty store here and it's cheaper than I've seen around for a brand new bike. I don't think I'll ever be able to afford it though. It's $800 and although in triathlon world that isn't that much money for a nice bike, in my real world that IS a lot of money.

And I want to be a Tri Chic. I want Nicole as a coach so bad. I want to be on the Nix Tri Chix team so bad. Again though, it's just too much money. She's a total sweetheart, I've seen her interact with her girls, and I'm ready to take my training to another level. I'm ready to improve even more. I feel as though I've hit a plateau and I feel myself getting weary yet I'm still so stoked and excited to race! I think I just need that accountability, I need to mix it up a bit and see some better results. I really want that team environment. I may just be silly though. I may be making a bigger deal out of it than it's worth.

If and/or when the time is right, it'll all happen.

I'm excited to one day look back on my "mountain bike riding, came in last in my age group" days of triathlon.

Just get in the water

Spin and run done! whew. Today's class is run by the guy who hooked me up with those girls. He has an awesome class, he has us push really hard.

My knees are a bit beat up lately so instead of "running" I really did a walk. But I added a nice incline the majority of it and climbed 385 feet. Then did some small run intervals at the last 3/4 mile. I'm really looking forward to the swim tonight. Now that I have gotten over the "what's a triathlon swim going to be like" concern, I am much more confident in the water. Also, I realize now that (DUH) just like in running and biking, even smaller amounts of swimming will build up endurance and strength in the water. I was SO focused on the distance. I was so worried that I just wouldn't make it the entire swim portion that I beat myself up during swim training. Now I realize just getting in the pool, just like getting on the road, treadmill and into spin class, is all going to help.

You don't have to run 13 miles every day to build the endurance it takes to run a 1/2 marathon. And eventhough I've known this, I still never put it together with swim training too.

The Rage Aftermath

Well now, it's been 3 days since Rage and I thought I'd write a bit about how the aftermath has been.

Physically:
I feel pretty good! I'm always tired after a race, even if it's only 3 miles. I tend to sleep for what seems like days, and this was no exception of course. I'm over the need to sleep part, and I'm already back into training for the IronGirl triathlon coming up, but my knees are in not so good shape. I have been icing them for days. I also really don't like medicine. You won't hear of me really asking for or taking meds for anything. I like to feel the pain so that I can treat what's wrong... but this time, I'm resorting to the ibuprofen to take away some swelling in the knees. It's a constant pain that hurts even when I'm sitting. In this case I'm not sure if it's one of those "push through it and it'll get better" pains or a "see a sports doc" pain... I just can't help but think a couple things -
A. I'm only 25, I don't want my running time clock to start ticking away already! To think of not ever being able to run again by 40 just tears my heart apart.
B. I need to lose weight. Seriously, I'm sick over it. How am I doing all this hard work and still haven't lost a pound!? I just have no idea what could be going on. I eat well, and am now a vegetarian. I eat a lot of protien and always have, of non-meat sources. And all I drink is water. No soda, juice, sports drinks.. nada. Everywhere I read about training for triathlons and running, they all talk about "oh and guess what, you'll start losing weight and dress sizes! oh yay!" ::picture me rolling my eyes here:: because I sure haven't. I lost 10 pounds in the begining back in January and haven't lost anything since. This effects my knees and my biking as I'm carrying so much more weight on the bike with just myself!

Ok back on track....

Mentally:
I'm ready to go for IronGirl. However, I'm still nervous!! How can I be sitting here saying "can I do it?" when I JUST DID? I crack myself up. I guess it happens everytime huh?

I'm feeling very accomplished and confident. Still a bit shocked at times. It takes my breath away when I look at pictures of the race. I can't believe I was there and I did it.


Current training:
I went to 45 minutes of spin yesterday followed by a 1.25 mile run w/a 40 foot climb thrown in at the end. Ricky and I had soccer practice immediately afterwards, so I had to cut everything a bit short.

Today, my knees were really bad but I gave up my jacuzzi time to go to Target and buy a new summer bathing suit. My speedo one for training just wasn't leaving flattering tanlines lol It did feel good to be able to find something so quickly. I guess I might be toning eventhough I'm not losing. Speaking of tanlines, you should see the tanlines I have leftover from the tri-shorts, halarious!

Tomorrow, 6am spin with 2 mile run immediately after. Soccer practice and a swim in the evening.

I saw a tagline somewhere.. maybe it was in the triathlete magazine they gave us in our swag bags... and I just loved the message:

Stop working out, start training.

I LOVE IT! It totally sums up why I love doing all this stuff. It isn't just working out. It's a goal. An attainable goal on a set date. It isn't just waiting around to see results in your dress size or on the scale. It's about learning something(s) new, the excitement of seeing your hard work pay off even if your body isn't showing it on the outside. It's about the inner spiritual endurance you acquire. It's the getting nervous and excitement of race day! I LOVE TRAINING.. and I'll never be someone who "just works out" again. It's such a different level now.

"Everyone in life is looking for a certain rush. RACING is where I get mine."
-John Trautmann

Free Cone Day!!

Oh heck yeah, you know I'm SO there!

http://www.benjerry.com/scoop-shops/feature/free-cone-day/

Tri-ing For A Cause!

http://www.active.com/donate/vegasCHOA/valarienardone


That's the link to my fundraiser page! Check it out and please donate whatever you feel comfortable with. No amount is too big or too small.

I'm way excited to do my next tri already and even more excited I get to do it with a cause!

I tri-ed

So where the heck do I begin!?

Yesterday and last night

We were making mad dashes to find a wetsuit, a bike, get a number belt, pack my stuff, read all the USAT rules one more time, get a water bottle on the bike which we stayed up until 12am last night trying to friggin get it on, doing mock transitions in my bedroom. It was all I could do given the time and circumstances.

Wake up - race day

I woke up at 4am and left for around 4:30. Got there around 5:30am. Parking was easy and they had us right next to transition. It was colder here at my house than over there at Lake Mead! I was so grateful for that! The women's sprint distance was scheduled to take off @ 6:47am.

Transition set up was relatively easy. Thank goodness for the mock drills last night. The only negative to transition was how tight everyone was. I put the number sticker on my bike, grabbed my PB sandwiches, filled up the 1 water bottle I started drinking (I brought 4! lol) and picked up my timing chip.

Here's all I had for set up:

wetsuit

swimcap

helmet

sneakers

socks

shin sleeves

sunglasses

number belt

chapstick

1 hammer gel pack

headband & extra hairties

pink skull bandana to put on my bike so I could find it

1 water bottle to wash my feet after the swim

1 refill water bottle

1 handheld running water bottle

(not shown - one water bottle on my bike)

I ended up not using the body glide

I wore Zoot tri shorts, a Reebok T-back shirt and a Shock Absorber sports bra.

The Swim
I headed down to the water before putting on my wetsuit just to put my feet in and take in everything around me that was going on and about to happen. Went back to transition and started getting my wetsuit on for about 6:30am. The nerves were really starting to hit me. Once the male sprinters were heading out, most of the women were all in place to go. We were all there trying to figure out what bouys we were suppose to swim to. As people asked me if I trained for this, I quickly explained I was suppose to be the runner of a team that bailed on me at the last minute. As soon as I said that, most everyone was all "oh my, I heard about you". I had a mini panic attack. I think moreso just a good needed cry after all the emotions I went through in the past couple days and now my nerves. It felt good to get it out. Another girl, I wish I had gotten her name, she took me in the water and taught me how to prep, get water on me face, get the water flowing in your wetsuit, etc. Thank you miss lady, whoever you are! I was ready to go! I stayed in the back though, as I knew I'd be a slower one and figured I'd save myself the kicks and hits of faster passers.

5-4-3-2-1-GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In most of the sports I've practiced in the past months, it usually holds true that going out is harder than coming in. For me personally it's been that way. The swim, however, that does NOT ring true! Going out was pretty easy as you have a lot of energy. As you see the end nearing, it seems to take forever! At one point, I was trying to figure out if I was just treading water but thought I was swimming. Your arm and leg pushes just don't have the same umph behind them and you don't get very far with each push anymore. Oh and the whole "swim on your back if you're tired" thing - yeah right. Everytime I went on my back, the water went up over my face and I swalled more water that way. Not to mention, you can't see where you're going so you end up going way out to the side and wasting time coming back or you risk the chance of crossing bouys. I drank more lake water than regular water and was throwing up nastiness in my mouth until the run.

I was one of the last ones out of the water, but I didn't give a rat's booty - I WAS OUT!! That was all that I could think about. I starting ripping off my wetsuit immediately. ONE DOWN!! WOOOOOOOHOOOOOOO

The Bike
Got to transition, it went like clockwork. Threw the wetsuit down, sat down, tried my best to dry off my feet and get dressed from the legs down. I didn't feel as jelly or disoriented as most people say they do after the swim. But I think that's because of how slow I swam.

The bike out was hard, uphill in fact. That sucked and I decided to hoof it on foot with the bike until the top of the hill. From there I jumped on and cycled as hard as I could but also kept in mind that I still had to run 3 miles after this. I didn't want to push too hard and give up in the run, which would have been sad for me since that's my strong area. Going to the first turn around was very hard. I walked almost every hill. BUT that meant that once I turned around, it was going to be mostly downhill! I screamed with joy so loud when I hit that first turnaround. I was cruising so fast on the way back I scared myself a little. I held those handlebars so tight lol

Then they tease you a little bit.. you go PAST the race area and up another long hill for another turnaround. I again had to walk most of it. This time when I got off I clipped the seat with my foot, bent my knee sidways and broke the chain. I fixed the chain super quick, but from then on my knee hurt for the rest of the bike. I begged of the photographer not to take any pictures of my walking. She made me a deal and said she'd do it once I hit the turn around and was cruising back. FINALLY, the last turn around. I could have friggin cried! This was it, a couple miles downhill back to transition and I was on my run!!! I just couldn't wait to get my feet hitting the ground again.

The Run
Again, probably because I walked the bike section a few times, I didn't feel the gooey jelly legs that everyone talks about from the bike to run. I did feel it ON the bike though, when I tried standing on the bike to push up a hill. Transition from bike to run was very easy for me. I wasn't changing shoes, so I just had to rack the bike and grab my Nathan handheld water bottle, take off my helmet and grab my headband. I popped the Hammer gel pack in my mouth - honestly that was gross lol It was banana and I thought I grabbed berry. Definitely a wierd feeling to think one taste and then feel another going in your mouth.

The begining of the run was ridiculous! All sand and rocks. I was praying it wasn't like this all the way through. It ended up being harder dirt ground for the main run part but there were lots of rocks. This was a challenging run physically. I'm a low-to-the-ground foot runner. I can go fast without picking my feet up too high. Well...while on a rocky dirt road it was pretty much impossible to run that way. My legs wouldn't get UP because they were definitely tired from the bike portion. So I sadly admit that I walked a lot of my run. This disappointed me as this was my strong sport and I feel like I just couldn't get a rhythm going. I was so scared I'd twist my ankle and then that would be it. I'd be out of the race right before the end. So, I figured since I know my walking speed has picked up, it wasn't that bad and I ran when I could.

The Finish

THERE WAS A FINISH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Need I say more?

This was a mental challenge more than anything. You have to be able to tell yourself to keep going, keep trying, don't get discouraged, and don't try to impress anyone. Physically I knew I could do it, but mentally I was scared as heck. Would I do it again? Well if you asked me during the race and immediately afterwards, I would have told you NO WAY. I was mentally challenged and just so relieved it was over with. Now if ask me my answer is OF COURSE I WILL!

Unfortunately I had to pull out of the 10k Lovell run because I can't miss another soccer game. I coach Rick's team and it's Christian's first season, and I had to give up both their first games today for the triathlon. I don't want racing to become something they remember taking their mom away, but rather something that made their mom a better mom.

Am I crazy? I feel like heading out for a run....

Oh and for good old times sake, I ate some peanut butter cup Ben and Jerry's.




THE RESULTS ARE UP ALREADY:

overall place: 235
division place: 27/27 (last lol, it's all good)

sex place: 109/114
swim: 26:43
T1: 5:00 (this honestly doesn't sound right, i can't believe I was there for 5 minutes!?)
Bike: 1:21:42
T2: 1:47
Run: 44:55 (wow, my longest run EVER... a bit diappointing)
TOTAL TIME: 2:40:04

OK well, now I have to do another one just so I can improve my time! lol

Update - Rage here I come

It's way late and I am heading to bed but I wanted to update.

The swimmer ended up being a total sweetheart about it and is going to pay me her portion. The biker has ignored my calls and texts.

The swimmer girl's guy friend ended up not being available so it looks like by this time tomorrow night I will be calling myself a full triathlete!!

I ended up with a road bike from my pastor's wife who JUST bought it a couple weeks ago at a garage sale. I've checked it over and added a water bottle holder. Then I found a wetsuit for $75. It sucks I had to put out even more money, but I WILL tri again so dh and I are just trying to look at it as an investment.

Please be thinking and praying for me tomorrow morning. I'm nervous as heck, and can't beat this headache I've had for 3 days. Not to mention the 4 hours of sleep it seems I'll be getting.

However, I'm ready to KICK BUTT!

You're kidding me right!?

I was on a team for the relay style olympic distance Rage in the Sage triathlon here in Las Vegas tomorrow.

WHY in the world do I get a call from my biker saying her and the swimmer decided they aren't comfortable with that distance and aren't going to do it. She says "I know you made a deposit but...."DEPOSIT MY FRIGGIN FANNY! I paid in full biotch. AND YOU KNOW I DID. Neither of them paid me. They both knew the distance when we signed up. They have been complete slackers and didn't train or prepare and now I'm going to be out $160???!

WHY do people do this crap? more like HOW. How can someone do this to someone else. I have been training my butt off for the 6 miles run, it's the most I've ever run and that's all I should be focusing my energy on right now. Yet instead, here I am the day of packet pick up and 1 day before race day having to do damage control. I was shaking when I got the message. I was just in utter shock.

Here are my options now, after a night of phone calls and emails. I got ahold of the swimmer girl, she basically told me in other words that it was our biker who gave out, but that she has a guy friend of hers who bikes seriously and we could maybe use him. OR, I talked to the director of the entire race and he said I could do the sprint distance by myself if I want to. But I won't be getting a refund either way. I don't know wth to do! The morale of working with a team is so out the window. I am anxious, worried and stressed right now at the thought of trusting people again. However, I will then get the money I'm owed from the other parts of the team. If I do it by myself I'm paying double for my first ever triathlon that I can only pray I'm ready for and then I have to rent a wetsuit and buy slick tires for my bike (or hopefully I'm can borrow one form a friend) because there's no way I'll make it with the mountain bike tires I currently have.

I'm sick to my stomach.

Nerves

I can't believe this. The first timer jitters yet again! I get that cold chilling sensation throughout my body when I realize my race is only days away. I've never run this distance in a race before. I... I just...I'm just nervous as heck! I know it's all part of the fun of the event.. getting nervous and excited...but I don't like it. I feel like the nervousness slows me down, it makes me unable to sleep, makes me want to rush train at the last minute as if it'll help which I know it won't. In fact, if I overtrain in the last few days then I'll only end up hurting myself and being tired come d-day.

Oy. I can't sit here and say "it's ok I can do it" because I don't even know if I can. I'll know after saturday, but unfortunately I'm being held to an expectancy by my team. Why did I do this? Who in their crazy mind signs up for their first time doing a distance IN A TEAM?

I hope I can do it. I hope I can do it. I hope and will try my absolute hardest to do it and do it well.


Running goals this week have changed:
I didn't get to run saturday.
Ran 4.1 miles on sunday and a 1 mile walk with the kids.
Today I rested, but kicked butt at soccer practice with the kids!
Tomorrow - hoping for 3 miles.
Wednesday - hoping for 2 miles plus a good swim.

WTF is wrong with me!?

I can't get motivated! I don't feel like going to the treadmill at the gym because it takes so much longer than on the road, but I can't get motivated to get outside either! I haven't run since the 6 miler the other day. I need to get in at least a small 3.5 miler or more today. I NEED TO. I don't have much time before the triathlon and I have a thing about resting the 2 days before a race, and it's worked for me so far. So that only leaves me 5 more days to train!

OK here are the goals:

saturday: 4 miles
sunday: 2 mile
monday: 4 miles
tuesday: 2 miles
wednesday: 3 miles
thursday: rest
friday: rest
saturday: THE RAGE TRI

Snowball and new PR

Lots of stuff going on lately. Ever since my "emotional day" post, it's been crazy around here mixed with a little shake shake of excitement.

The news was that we aren't moving to Pennsylvania. Matt's been working hard on this transfer and I felt bad mostly for him and the kids who were crying at the fact we won't be close to maw-maw and paw-paw. :(

It was one of those major life-changing moments to get the news. They wanted Matt to come so badly, but at a 20k salary cut. With the amount we're at now we're living well, but with 20k less it would have been almost impossible. I only say "almost" because I don't think anything is totally impossible, but our quality of life would have been pretty crappy. So many of the reasons we wanted to move back would have been cancelled out by making such a low amount. We didn't even know if we would be able to afford rent and forget EVER trying to buy a house. PA let us take a week to think about it. We prayed, cried, discussed, sought council, read the bible, and discussed some more. It was a very hard decision, but we really feel it was the best for our family and our future to stay in Las Vegas.

I can't say I'm totally complaining though! I had so many races I was looking forward to. Even with the wind, I still love running here in this beautiful city and up at Red Rock.

So now, let's talk about races! :o)

Last weekend, on April 4th, I ran a 5k at Lake Havasu City in Arizona. Just taking a little vacay was nice. Went swimming at the pool, sat in the jacuzzi after the race, went on a ferry ride, ate some really really good pizza, ended up with a $100 gift certificate to eat at a nice restaurant there, that was also kid friendly! Oh yeah...and finished my race with a..... NEW PR! Due to the emotional roller coaster we were on the weeks before, I hardly ran. I ran no more than maybe 2 miles. I usually come in a 5k race at around 35-36 minutes. So I gave myself 40 minutes this time for lack of training the weeks leading up to it. I ended up finished in 34:04! Even cooler is that it adds up to a pace of 10:58. Why is that so awesome? - well because A)I'm now in the 10-minute mile range! B) my bib number was #1058! Ironic huh? lol

Upcoming stuff:
Through a crazy cool series of events, my spin teacher hooked me up with a swimmer and a biker and we're now a team in THE RAGE IN THE SAGE TRIATHLON!!!!! I'm so incredibly stoked. Ok and a little scurred. I don't know how well I'll do running 6 miles (olympic distance)... ok let me say that I didn't (past tense) know how well I'd do with 6 miles... until yesterday that is! I went up to Red Rock, despite the 25 mph winds and ran 6 miles! With some stopping to look at the beautiful sights and to ask if there was even a 10 mile marker to a passer by, I finished in 70 minutes. That's in the 11-minute mile range. Not too shabby. I hope to increase that a little bit, but during a race I'm always faster than in training. The competitve side in me shows up :o)

Then I have a 10k the following weekend as well - Labor of Love @ Lovell Canyon. Looking forward to it! Afterwards I'm volunteering. The race goes up to 50 miles, so there's plenty of runners still going once I'm done.

mmm... OH and then there's the big one. Not until June, but I'm SO in that race. Running with the Devil. I had planned my 1/2 marathon training to do my first 1/2 at that race, but I'm not sure how I'm feeling about it. I think I may just do another 10k. We'll see how my training goes and how I feel with the two 10k runs I'm doing this month. I may love it, I may hate it.

Any ideas for what to do in May?