Maxi Triathlete

This weekend was amazingly busy, but in a good way. It's hard to imagine that I was supposed to be doing a triathlon this coming weekend, but I'm still trying to stick with the "everything happens for a reason" philosophy.

The BIG thing this weekend is that we did our first practice "super sprint" mini tris at Beaver Lake. I think it was like 500 yard swim, 3.5 mile bike & 1.5 mile wun.

First time I got in the water, my first thought was, "HOW THE HELL DID I DO THIS WITH OUT A WETSUIT LAST WEEKEND??" So we scared off some guys that were fishing at the park (one of them actually had a fish- so I know they are in there) jumped in the water, and were off. The swim was OK- I hung back a little bit, and rolled onto my back to calm down and breathe two or three times.

The wetsuit wasn't as tough to get off as I thought it would be (still thinking that sleeveless was a good choice), and I was feeling warm enough to leave off my arm warmers. I slipped on my race belt skirt to cover what felt like my nakedness in my tri suit (yeah, covers more than a bathing suit, but feels thin) and was off.

The ride was OK, but I did get a little cold. We were in a hilly area, with lots of trees, and I was also having some problems shifting. I think I need to get my shifter adjusted, since I seem to be able to giggle it into gear, but who wants to do that in a race, even if I'm not in that big of a hurry.

By the time I got back from the ride, there were several ladies back from their run, so my coaches had me just go out for 3 min, and back for 3 min. Getting off my bike, my butt felt like rubber. I think a lot of it was being chilly, but it really felt like when I actually started to wun like my chub should slough off. Like I really was wearing a fat suit.

The second time we went out, I was feeling more confident. I didn't roll over a single time on the swim, and actually got back right as the first runner was coming in for my bike ride. So this time, I decided I was going the distance on the wun. I ended up walking, but I didn't slow and I didn't stop. I also saw a little deer right at the turn around having a snack.

It was as I was on my way back in that second time that it occurred to me. I have jumped in the water, ripped off a wetsuit, jumped on a bike, come back & dumped the helmet, and the wan. I'm officially a triathlete! Maybe not a competitive triathlete yet, but a triathlete nonetheless. It was a mini tri, but I didn't feel OK about calling myself a mini ANYTHING. :)

On the wardrobe front, the wetsuit went great, the tri suit was very comfortable, and the race belt covered my rear, which was my mail point. It rides up a little, but between now and Sept 20, I'm thinking I can shrink the waistline at least enough to make that work. All in all, I felt great, and I MIGHT be able to do it this weekend, but I'm really happy to have more time to get better. :)

Dance, and Shout! Shake your body down to the ground!

OK- there's my MJ shout out. What I can I say, I grew up in the 80s. The man's music had an impact on my life, and as I've heard many others say, many of his songs are a part of the soundtrack of my childhood. And as they always said on American Bandstand- It's got a great beat, and you can dance to it!

So the passing of someone who was so much, but sadly could have been so much more has been weighing heavily on my world in the last 24 hours, as well as some crazy busy-ness at work. BUT I still managed to get my work outs in! Today I dedicate to how I made excuses, but still got my rear in gear anyway.

Wednesday night was the open swim in Lake Washington. Since we had a big announcement in the morning, I had a lot of last min questions that I had to answer before I could get out the door. And I work in Bellevue, 30 min from Seattle on a good day. Wed there was a Mariners home game. This does NOT make for a good traffic day.

Despite the fact that I left the office 30 min before the work out was supposed to start, and I KNEW I wasn't going to make it, I kept going. I called my mom to chat while I was on the road so that I didn't get REALLY grumpy, and having changed into my swimsuit under sweats @ work, put glide on my lower legs at stoplights.

It took me an hour to get to the park, and I was pretty sure I saw my team way the heck out in the water when I got there, so I pulled on the rental wetsuit that came in on Tue & waited until they came back. One of the coaches hung out with me so that I at least got part of the work out in, and despite the rain that threatened and the fact that Lk WA is COLD COLD COLD, it was a pleasant swim. Still getting over the panic attacks, but I know I'll get there. Oh, and did I mention that the smaller of the 2 suits worked just fine? WOO HOO!

Yesterday was supposed to be 45 min on a bike. My plan was to get up @ 6a when my work thing was happening, send a few e-mails for it and then go do my bike ride before I went to work. Wrinkle #1 came when I woke up at 2am & couldn't get back to sleep until after 3a. So then #2 I was EXHAUSTED when I finally got up, #3 my kiddo woke up early & was cuddly, and #4 work took longer than I really wanted it to. Needless to say with all of the wrinkliness, I didn't get it in.

Work was insane all day, and by the time I got home, all I wanted to do was collapse. Instead, made Ground Beef Stroganoff for my boys, got the little man into his PJs and read a little Despereaux, and went to the gym. It's funny that I seem to have a harder time getting my heart rate to spike there, but it occurred to me about 35 min in that there's actually a lot more pedaling involved at the gym. I don't do it all the time, but I think it's nice to mix things up when it's getting dark out so I can read to my kid on a tough day.

Today is a rest day. I got my outfit in, still screwing up my courage to take a pic & post it here. I may do Pilates DVD tonight since my Race Belt Skirt is a little tighter than I'd like... therefore I need to whittle the middle.

Tomorrow is our 1st practice mini tri. Exciting, scary, and I think I'm ready.

Too much to say, too little time

I tend to think of all sorts of things that I want to say here as I'm working out, and then it takes me days to actually have time to write. So I'll just take a few min to let you know a few of the things I've been ruminating on, as well as w/o progress, and hopefully will have more time tonight. Not holding my breath.

Sunday was supposed to be a bike/run brick. When the thunderstorm started as I was starting out, I took that as a sign that I needed to spend Father's Day with my boys.

Monday was a swim- pool is a LOT busier now that school is out. There were some boys making fun of an older woman (not that she could her them, but I could) who, uh, didn't have a bathing suit physique. I managed to not give them a lecture, but reminds me how important it is to teach MY son right & wrong.

Tuesday night rode my bike. Did some laps in my neighborhood because I noticed my tire was low when I was about a 1.5 miles out & didn't want to tempt fate. Neighbor (over a block away who I've never met) saw me come by and said, "oh it's you again" which reminds me that I need to wear my Trek Training shirt more so that people know what the heck I'm doing. Yes, there IS a reason the chubby chick is riding past your house over & over, and it's NOT stalking.

Today we've got an open water swim (this time in Lake Washington- brr) and luckily my wetsuits came in, so I won't freeze anything off. I'm very excited to try them out, but as I tweeted yesterday, will have to work to get on right. I think what they sent are Men's, which kind of sucks. Most of my team looks kind of hot in their little wetsuits. I look like I'm getting ready to put on a Santa suit over it. It squishes my belly up, and my chest down so much I look like a man with a potbelly & moobs. It's REALLY hard to make me look like a man with my K cups, so I think I may need to do a little more looking into big WOMEN's suits. I've been avoiding going to a store for fear they will laugh at me, but I need to give over it or be content with uni-gut. Will let y'all know how they work in the water after tonight.

The other thing I learned today, I CAN NOT just go out an wun (tired of typing walk/run since I am trying, but in my 'hood's hills, there is very little running going on) with out eating or drinking anything 1st thing in the AM. DH is a teacher, so he's now home in the AM so I can do my w/o 1st thing, and we are supposed to both swim AND run today, so I thought I'd try to get up early & knock out the wunning early this AM. First his stupid alarm went off @ 5a. I was planning to go out at 6:30a. It was still DARK for goodness sakes! Anyway, kept hitting snooze and didn't bother to eat or drink- just went out. Was supposed to be by distance- 3.5 miles. I TOTALLY hit a wall at 2 miles. Got to 2.5 (my loop is 1/2 mile) and decided that it was a lesson learned, and hit the showers. Will try the 45 min bike ride tomorrow... but this time with SNACKS!

Finally, for anyone who decides to do something crazy like this, I highly recommend signing up to do it with a team. When I did the Breast Cancer 3 Day in 2001, I was working nights (when most teams train) and couldn't find anyone I already know to do it with me. (Like now, everyone I know thought I was nuts- but people did after I did!) So I trained all by myself, didn't know my tent mate at all, and met some random people on the trail (no idea how many people I taught the lyrics to "I will survive" to along the way- LOTS) but none of them became friends. It was all a transitional contact.

This time, I've got a team of AMAZING women who have taught me so much, encourage me, and make me push myself harder every time I'm with them. Each of us have our own story and challenges, but we all support each other, and I think I'm going to have to make some plans to go cheer for a few of them in races that I'm not participating in next month... :)

So ladies, if you read this THANK YOU! Could I do it with out you? Probably. But I am glad that I didn't decide to. You make me want to be better, and inspire me every day.

"C" Athlete

I get a lot of philosophical thinking in while I'm doing my workouts. Haven't yet decided if that's a good or bad thing.

I realized as I was swimming, the only one with out a wetsuit, I thought back a little bit about my academic & athletic career. I was never a 4.0 student. Not because I couldn't be, but because I could be a 3.5-3.7 student without any effort.

So I think that has carried over a lot into my athletic career (or lack there of). I couldn't be even a B athlete with out effort, so I didn't really try. It's not exactly a proud realization, but I think it's an important one.

In this case, it carries over into an important lesson. I need to go make coffee cake for Father's Day, so I think that much of this discussion will wait for another time, but I'm frustrated that I've only lost a couple of pounds. I am starting to see some body differences, but considering the extra baggage I'm carrying, I'd love to not have to carry all of the extra weight through the course. But that would take more effort than I've been putting in. I need to do more cardio than just the min training time. I need to figure out nutrition that's more than just refueling, but for weight loss as well.

So back to the swim yesterday... once I got IN the water and acclimated, it went OK. I had a panic attack starting out again, but I think I need to not ATTACK the water, and give myself permission to ease in to it. So starting out I couldn't catch my breath enough to get my face in the water, and once your lungs seize like that, it's really hard to get back on track. I'm going to be asking my Dr for an inhaler, to be ready before I go in the water, but I also think that spending more time in the open water will be important.

Since I was the only one with out a wetsuit, I wore fins. Felt like cheating a little, but knowing that the other ladies had help floating I justified it in my head. I wasn't the slowest swimmer, but I stopped and floated more, so I still took as much time as the slowest. Considering swimming is likely to be my best sport (as long as I don't panic in the big crowds) I need to be pushing myself harder. I keep giving myself these excuses, and I need to stop. I may not be an elite triathlete like our coaches, but I can do better than I am.

With more than four months of training, I'm no longer shooting to just finish. I don't need a GOOD time, but if I'm going to push myself that little bit harder, it's not just finishing, or as my goal has been lately, not stopping, but finishing in a way that will make me proud.

If I do what I need to- Sally Edwards will not be the only one finishing after me.

An Unearned Day Off

Fridays are rest days, and despite the fact that I took Tuesday (kind of) and Wednesday as a rest day... here I am, resting.

I'm realizing that I'm going to do this more than I should... "Gee, the Tri is 3 months away! I can miss a day..." To some extent, that is true. If it were in 2 weeks, I would be a little freaked out, and I don't know that I would have been ready. I would have done it, but I may not have been ready. I KNOW that I will be ready September 20.

Other random developments this week: As I tweeted earlier, ordered a rental wetsuit from wetsuitrental.com. They are actually here in the Seattle area, and the guy I talked to on the phone was really nice. They are sending me a couple (2XL john & 3XL full) to try, and I'm sending one back as soon as I try them on. Unfortunately they don't SELL the 3XL because they are so hard to come by, so if I want to buy a used one from them, I have to hope I like the sleeveless.

I've also started telling more people about my blog, figuring that if I'm going to encourage someone to start this who wasn't thinking about it, I need people reading the blog. For people to read the blog, I need people to KNOW about the blog. So I have to step a little out of my comfort zone. As I sit here typing, I realize that I haven't even told my hubby about it... and he's usually in the room when I'm writing. He thinks I'm working. Obviously I work in the evenings once the kid is in bed a little too much.

So tomorrow morning is a lake swim with no wetsuit. Should be FREAKING cold. Thinking I'll wear my bra AND bathing suit, although two underwires doesn't sound great. I may rethink that once I get them on in the morning. This will be my first open water swim in a gazillion years, and I'm almost as nervous that I'll have a panic attack as I am about the swim itself. thinking fins are a good idea. Listening to it pour outside, I'm wondering if this is a good idea at all, but Beaver Lake is small, so RELATIVELY warm, and I'm going to be there with a team. Too bad you can't ACTUALLY freeze your ass off. Then I'd be all set!

Brrr... no thanks!

I bagged on training again today, but I had an even better reason, woke up with a sore throat that didn't get better and today was our 1st open water swim, and I don't have a wetsuit. After yesterday's post, a commenter made the very good point that I can always re-sell my suit, so I'm thinking I'll make a call to a place that does rentals tomorrow to see what they carry in pre-padded size. Won't have it in time for Saturday's swim, but hopefully would be in for next week's swim & then practice tri.

So something that a lot of people have asked me. What is my favorite of the three events?

That's harder to answer than I'd think. When I was a kid, I spent summers in Alaska visiting my dad, and spent as much time as possible in Big Lake (near the recently famous town of Wasilla). I didn't stand up on the jet ski or try waterskiing, I would just put on a life jacket and swim around for hours.

Also in my youth, I had a friend who lived a few miles away, and I would ride my bike to her house in Goldcrest, and then we'd ride a few more miles to Capital Mall... we'd even ride downtown sometimes, usually getting a ride back up the hill to West Oly.

Anyhow, I (slightly) digress. Swimming and riding both have terrific childhood associations for me. Running, not so much. As I mentioned before, I've never been an athlete. I was talked into playing basketball in 7th & 8th grade by the bike-riding friend, Melissa, and our other friend Jen. But I had problems with heat exhaustion, and all together not loving the running. I'm ok with walking, even walking quickly (hell, I'm 5'8" and all leg, when I get going, my husband almost runs to keep up) but I HATE running.

That said, I'm starting to understand how it is people can love it... maybe there was a moment when others loved running as a kid? Maybe they can breathe and don't have sore knees when they get done?

So the answer to, what is my favorite event? Swimming. Or Biking, depending on which one I'm doing at the time, and how hard it feels while I'm doing it. The only thing that will redeem the running? It's at the end, so it's the only way I'll get across the finish line.

And once I'm done, give Sally Edwards a high five, and collapse on the ground for a couple of min, I'm sure I feel like a kid again. At least until I take my son to his very 1st flag football practice that afternoon!

Wardrobe Malfunction in the Making?

I admit it, I'm bagging out on training again today. This is the one thing I need to worry most about with the Tri moving to 10/22, thinking, "Aww, it's 3 months off, I can skip a day..." However, I have been careful to make sure that I'm only doing this when I have a) no childcare or b) other exercise so that I can mentally justify my slackerness. Today it was three hours trying to keep up with Kindergarteners at the zoo.

So today I'm going to focus on something that continues to weigh heavy on my mind (get it- weigh heavy tee-hee) what on EARTH am I going to wear for this thing?

Tomorrow is our 1st open water swim, and I think I'm the only one who doesn't have a wetsuit. Let's be real, it's my 1st tri. Do I really want to spend that kind of $$ on something I may only use once? And if I do another tri- I'm hoping to need a significantly smaller size, right?

But in other wardrobe areas- where do I want to go? I was all excited about the fact that my butt only hurt for the 1st 5 min or so of my "run" on Saturday since I tried to go with out something padded (I think I mentioned, can't run in my bike skort... it rolls down as I go) since they don't make "tri shorts" in super big booty size, and I don't think I want to run in padded shorts anyway. My coach suggested a gel seat cover, and unpadded shorts. I'm looking in to this now.

So beyond that controversy... what am I going to wear on top? Should I bite the bullet and get a bike top that's big enough, and therefore long enough for me to keep me from developing a sunburn tramp stamp on my lower back? I really like the idea of getting out of the water and and slipping on a dress... but do I need to pockets? And does anyone MAKE the dress in a XXXL? Let's face it, even as I lose some flab on the bottom, the girls are hard pressed to fit in even that size...

So there's my musings for today. Picked up a Champion C9 skort in XXL at Target today, but the shorts have a 1" inseam... so I'll have to break out the body glide if I'm to make that work... at least as I sit here typing it's riding up, not down. Will report back once I take it out for a spin.