Triathlon Recap!

So. I completed a triathlon! (Over a month ago. Sorry.)

What a wonderful experience! There were hiccups, of course, but it is definitely something I’d do again!

For the hiccups…. Of course, having a stress fracture and being under-trained didn’t exactly give me warm fuzzies. We drove down to St. George a day early to celebrate the husband’s birthday weekend, and as we drove the course, we realized how bumpy the road would be for the bike portion of the race. Since I am allergic to vibration, this was NOT a good thing. My body freaks out on roads less bumpy than that – turning purple and white, getting hives, experiencing unbearable itchiness…. Not fun.

Sooooo I was mildly freaking out haha. Luckily Kip bought me some compression sleeves, and our pharmacist friend recommended a combination of Claritin, Benadryl, and caffeine pills that worked wonders!

As far as race day, it was chilly in the morning, but the water temps were warm, so my whole group decided to go without wetsuits. We set up transition areas, got our bodies marked, and generally tried not to freak out. The boys’ wave was before ours’, and once they started, everything is a blur! Haha

The swim went well, it was just one big loop. I even saw a girl with a snorkel! Genius haha. T1 was really slow for me, since I was trying to get those dang compression sleeves on wet arms. The bike went really well: that combination of meds plus compression was the best thing to ever happen to me haha. I made some friends on the bike, and despite the rough climb at mile 3, the whole thing was quite pleasant. The run portion was definitely the hard part. The sun was unforgiving in the desert heat, and my untrained legs had a hard time haha. Towards the very end, a nice girl passed me, and I could tell by her body markings that she was in my age group. She cheered me on, telling me I could sprint to the finish line. I dug deep and sprinted past her, and ended up getting third place for the age group! Which I was both proud of and slightly guilty over, since she would have placed if she hadn’t been so nice.

I can’t wait for the next one – injury free! :)

I’m so lucky to have a husband that gave up his birthday weekend to do a race he wasn’t even interested in, and that he stuck to the training and did so well!

Where to find races

I just signed up for another sprint!

I like having a race in my future - something about a date and a commitment keeps me on track. When I don't have a specific goal, it's easy to skip workouts, slack when I am working out, and kind of wander aimlessly through a fitness routine... so having a goal for a race (whether it is a specific time goal or simply to complete it without dying) keeps me motivated.

There are several places I go to find races, some are run specific and some are tri specific, but they're all fun to browse :)

http://www.runnersworld.com/race-finder

https://runsignup.com/

http://runningintheusa.com/Race/

http://www.active.com/

http://www.racetri.com/



Anyone want to join me for the Salem Sprint in May??? :)

My First Half Marathon

The half marathon. 13.1 miles.

For a self-proclaimed non-runner for SO many years, this was such an intimidating distance. However, training for it and completing my first half last month was SUCH a positive experience for me!

I started small. VERY small. A couch-to-5k app helped me progress from being unable to run for 5 continuous minutes to completing my first 5k in March. My surgery took me out for a while, but I slowly increased my mileage. At first, every run was torture. Everything hurt, my lungs burned, and I felt like 13 miles would never, ever happen.

I’ll never forget the day I ran 4 miles. It was the first time in my life I’d ever run that far. I never thought I could. But after slowly building up to it, I just went out one morning and did it. And you know what? It felt good. Better than good. I was hooked! How could my body go from 1 mile being excruciating to 4 feeling so casual? It was the turning point that transformed me into someone who actually enjoyed running. All those months of torture finally amounted to something.

After that, I increased my mileage weekly. I would do shorter runs a few times a week, and I mapped out my training plan so I would hit my longest distances a few weeks before my race (allowing me to taper). It went really well. The morning (before work) I ran 9 miles, I wanted to shout it to the world! I was loving this! Running was still hard, but suddenly it was a challenge I wanted to take on – I wanted to push my limits.

Of course, nothing ever goes as planned. The week of my 9-miler, I hurt my ankle. I figured it was something I should just shake off, so I continued with my shorter runs, but I eventually realized it was a bigger deal than that. I ended up having to discontinue my training plan for a few weeks, missing the Dirty Dash as well as all of my longer training runs.

The week before my race, I was able to do a pain-free 5-miler, so I knew that taking a break was the right decision, but I was terrified that I would struggle through my upcoming race due to lack of preparation. My anxiety was at an all-time high, but I knew I couldn’t back out at that point.

The event, put on by Goldilocks, was in Las Vegas on October 17th. We got started bright and early, and despite some women who got us nervous about the “hard course” we had chosen, I got off to a nice and easy start. The first 7-8 miles were uphill (ugh) and the sky was cloudy. I took things nice and slow, not wanting to burn out. Honestly, after hearing about the hills that I didn’t prepare for, I was just hoping to finish in under 3 hours (2:30 as a stretch goal). I felt really good, though, so I started to pick up the pace as I went.



It did end up raining, which felt amazing, and despite the major (ew ew ew) toe blisters that resulted (still got those suckers), the whole thing was quite pleasant. I never felt that gotta-die sensation I was expecting, and my splits were very negative (I’m talking minutes per mile faster). I finished strong with a sprint, I passed a ton of people in the last half mile, and I pretty much loved every second of those 2 hours and 17 minutes.



I’m so thankful that I’ve had this experience, and I will definitely do another half in the future. :) :)

My First Triathlon: Camp Yuba Sprint 2015

Guys. A triathlon has been on my bucket list for as long as I can remember. I signed up for this sprint last year, but my car accident happened 2 weeks before the race, so this year was the year.

I wanted to test the waters with a sprint, and it was the perfect distance! 1/2 mile swim, 12.5 mile bike, and 3.1 mile run.



We camped down by lake Yuba the night before (so awesome!) and got a bright and early start. I set up my transition area and even got a spot at the end of the rack. People were so nice and encouraging, and I pretty much loved everything about it. They did consolidated age groups since it was a small race, and I got 4th place for women under 35! (technically I was the second woman 25-29, soooo I'll take it haha)



I had so much fun! I definitely learned a lot (don't start in the back of the pack on the swim, sit down to take my wetsuit off haha, go faster! :)) and I will definitely be doing more of these!

Guess it's time to start training for that tri...

So (in a moment of brilliance) I realized that my sprint tri was less than 3 weeks away, and I figured I'd better start training! Genius, I know.

Now, I'm not starting from scratch, I've gone running on and off over the summer, and I teach a few spin classes, so... I'm golden, right? :)

Sigh. Anyway, I've been squeezing in some more swimming, biking, and running, and overall it's going well. Even when I have to wake up at 5 am and take a headlamp to fit it in.


That's my beautiful bike in the back of the car... it's nice to have somewhere to stash it during the running portion of the workout.


Why do I do this to myself? Sign up for a race, then realize far too late that I should have been training all along?

Ah well, next time ;)

Harry Potter 5K!

Very very few things bring me as much joy as Harry Potter.

I used to try to keep that under wraps, but no longer. I just straight up love Harry, JKR, and the whole Potterverse. So. Much. Happiness. I really do feel bad for you if you are too young or too old to appreciate the magic and awesomeness that is HP.

That being said, when I saw that there was to be a 5K on Harry Potter's birthday, I knew it had to happen. I looked and looked for someone who loved HP as much as I do, and I found an awesome friend who gets just as giddy as I do over this series.

Come July 31st, we showed up at Liberty Park, costumed up and ready to party! So much fun! So much birthday cake! So much happiness!!

I walked/jogged the first lap with my awesome friend, then I did the second lap on my own... and at the end, they gave me 4th place in the costume contest (which I didn't deserve, but that's another story)!! Such a fun evening!

It just doesn't seem like exercise when you dress like Dobby and have such a fun time!!

Little Red Riding Hood 2014

Ok, so yesterday's ride was simply amazing. I've totally fallen in love with this sport, and this ride pretty much cemented it. I want to do this every year! Women-only races are so much fun!

I drove up Friday night to stay with my awesome aunt, and we went to check out the pre-race festivities. There was food, music, booths (I bought a sweet cycling headband!), and just an all-around fun atmosphere.


This dude = one of the many awesome (all male) volunteers

Saturday morning, my start time wasn't until 9:35, so I got to sleep in and take my time getting ready, which was SO nice! Everything went super-smoothly with getting there and getting started, which was such a relief. I signed up for this ride with a friend, and when she bailed, I was pretty nervous to do this alone. It ended up being such a great experience though!! I'm so glad things turned out the way they did :)

Everything went so perfectly! The weather was ideal, the scenery was gorgeous, people were so incredibly nice (from the people drumming music on the sides of the roads to the people sitting on their lawns and cheering us on to the amazingly costumed volunteers to all the nice and encouraging ladies, these people were seriously the best), the cold I'd been dealing with all week didn't give me nearly as much trouble as I'd expected, the rest stops were great (ok oreos with peanut butter and banana chunks on top are my new favorite race food), and I felt really good on the bike (especially on the uphill - it's such a cool feeling to dig deep and pass people on those tough parts!)!


lunch stop

Crossing the finish line, I just wanted to bottle up that feeling and keep it forever. I love events like this! I love the preparation, I love the energy, I love the feeling of accomplishment, and I love the people!


finish line sprite and beads

Aaaaand I love the ice cream sundaes they give you



I had the time of my life, I'm excited to sign up for some more rides and races, and I'm thankful to everyone who was so supportive :)


Yeahhhhhhh race stuff :)