Let's recap the last 2 months

Time does fly people!!! Especially when one is busy doing thins like being a mom, working, training and then training some more. Oh, and sprinkle in some racing too! Let's recap the past 2 months and hopefully after this I will be able to keep a more regular blogging schedule (ha!)

Strength training

I am still LOVING it. Group strength has been so much fun! I am starting to see some muscle definition, especially in my arms (hello biceps!) and my back. The workouts are still challenging, most of the people are friendly (with ONE major exception that to this day I can't figure out what I did to piss this person off), the instructor is great at both pushing me and knowing when I need to scale down the weights. I have some new skills, or rather, I have started to be less afraid to make a fool out of myself; which leads me to try new things and realize they are not as bad as I thought they were. I have discovered that despite all the biking/running... my glutes are still quite weak (won't fire up property), and I am working on getting that fixed. All in all, I am still going 3xs a week and hate it when I can't attend a session --> motivation WIN

Swimming

I am still not as smooth or fast as I'd like to; but I am slowly getting there. After my favorite coach left the local YMCA masters program, a massive exodus of swimmers occurred... This left ME being the fastest swimmer in the program... wait.. there is something wrong with that as I am not that fast. I noticed I was not making further improvements, so I searched and found a new masters team. Made the change about a month ago, and have not looked back. The new coach is great, she has given me great feedback on what I am doing right and what I need to change. We swim in a 25 meter pool (at first the wall seemed SO far away!) and my new lane mates are wicked fast! I can sort of keep up when we do short speed sets, but when it comes to long endurance sets.. I end up getting lapped. I am working on learning how to pace my efforts the right way and not fizzle out as the distance progresses. We have also been having fun with "open water" practices in the pool. Coach Patty brings makeshift buoys, lane lines are moved and we swim in packs, practicing sighting, turning (hello backstroke!) and drafting. All in all, a lot of fun. I am up at 4:45 to hit my 5:30 masters practice --> this is commitment!

Racing

About a month ago I had my first race of the season, a nice flat little sprint race. Things went pretty much as expected. It was a wetsuit swim and since I had not worn my wetsuit since IMAZ back in 2012; to say I freaked out a bit is an understatement. I went out hard on the swim... which I never do, and then had a mini panic attack when my chest felt so compressed. Note to self: do not try to go hard for the first time when wearing a suit you have not worn for over a year. Despite the little panic hiccup, I had a pretty fast sprint swim and came out of the water a lot sooner than I thought I would. Biking is always my strongest part, and I was able to hammer down and put down some good watts. I passed some people but was not really looking for the competition. I thought that since my swim was not as good as I had hoped, all chances for placing (which is what I secretly wanted) were lost. So, I just raced as hard as I could and hoped for the best. I rolled into transition to drop off my bike and got to running. Boy, my legs felt horrible. I focused on my turnover and on squashing the walking thoughts out of my head (those thoughts usually come pretty strong on the first mile). I succeeded and while I did not run a 5k PR, I was able to run off the bike only 2 seconds per mile slower than my open 5k a couple weeks before the triathlon. As a nice surprise, I discovered I actually ended up 2nd in my age group. With this being the first time I have ever stood on a podium in a triathlon --> progress!

Sponsors

Coeur Sports: What can I say? Not only this company makes outstanding racing/training gear (hello seamless chamois!), their philosophy and core values are something I can identify with. Kebby, Reg and Hailey have been able to put together an outstanding team of triathlon professionals and age group athletes of all levels, that are inspirational and supportive. I have gained some great new friendships, have received wonderful words of encouragement and connected with like minded gals in a very welcoming setting. I am super excited to have Coeur's support this year and look forward to representing them through the rest of my season.

Osmo Nutrition: Osmo partnered with Coeur Sports and being a member of Coeur's ambassador team has allowed me the opportunity to also enjoy Osmo's support. I have been using Osmo products since the beginning of the year and love them! Right before my first triathlon of the season, I used the Osmo Pre-load formula instead of regular hydration mix in my one bottle before race start; and I really believe it played a very important role in keeping me hydrated during the race. 

What's to come

In about a week I will be racing another 5K, in hopes of improving my time from earlier in the year and perhaps setting a PR. The course for the race I signed up for (a fundraiser for a local athlete that had to have her hands and feet amputated due to severe sepsis) is not disclosed yet, and I have no clue how flat or not the race will be. I will just go and race my booty off.

June will mark the "serious" kick off for my tri season; having one sprint race per month until October. This year I am racing locally, and in the same triathlon series; hoping to rack enough points to place top 5 in my age group --> there I put my goal out in the open.

September will see me traveling to Wisconsin, to volunteer at IMWI so I can sign up for next year. I have not even committed to the race yet and I am already stupidly excited about it.

Great things are coming, I can feel it. Let's go after them!!!

I have a confession to make

I hate all things weight lifting. I find it monotonous, slow to produce results and hardly motivational. I know it is a good compliment to triathlon training but I just could not get myself consistent enough. Wanting to end that streak of keep up with strength training for 2 weeks... then find a million and one excuses to give up on it; I went ahead and took the plunge joining a group class 3xs a week.

Now, this is not the regular group strength, we use barbells, kettle bells, rings, pull up bars; we jump rope, we row, we do short sprints. It is a fast paced class, but at the same time, it is totally encouraged for people to scale back the weights, and take the workout at a comfortably/hard pace.

When I first joined, I was highly intimidated and scared. Intimidated by the really strong females and scared of the heavy weights. No, I do not think lifting heavy will make me bulk up (and honestly, if it does I do not care) I was just scared of the DOMS or even of getting hurt. After the first class, and realizing I was able to sort of keep up (at much reduced weight) I started feeling better. Most classes start with a light warm up, some zone 1 work and some mobility. Foam rolling, stretching and making sure the muscles are not tight are highly encouraged and built in on every workout.

Some days we work on our "heavy" lifting, focusing on form and progressively increasing weights with low reps. Some other days the weights are a lot lighter and the reps increase exponentially. It varies day to day, and I have been able to pretty much do every single workout. I have a goal for these classes during tri season: to just simply keep going, not worrying about lifting extremely heavy. My priority number one is still triathlon.

I have been going for a little over a month and I have been having... wait for it.... FUN! I know, right? Me, the hater of all things weights, is going to a strength class and actually having fun? What happened???? I think I just needed to find something that kept me engaged. Lifting by myself is boring and there is no "peer" pressure. I think the group setting is what entices me. I work from home and have very little face to face adult interaction (only regular one is my husband); this has helped me in that aspect too.

What kind of results have I seen so far? Husband says I have more energy (always a plus) and I have noticed my runs have been better. I have been looking forward to the classes and the challenge, I think it has definitely spiced up my training routine.

Have you tried something new this year yet? If so, what was it??

Accepting my reality and enjoying the process

A lot of water has gone under the bridge since I last updated. My relationship with food is still a work in progress with success in some areas and adjustments still needed to be made in others. My schedule is coming along nicely. I have finally signed up for all my races this season, and I am looking forward to racing.

Training is coming along nicely, despite some major interruptions from mother nature here in the South. I have been able to keep a somewhat consistent schedule, with the exception of those days in which I was snowed in with the kids. If I have to be honest I felt like a total "poser" during those days. I mean, hardcore triathletes would not let a simple snow storm prevent them from getting into the pool or going out for a run. But in reality, it was practically impossible for me to get things done. I was alone with the kids, husband was stuck out of town due to the same snow storm that had me stuck inside the house; the city has no infrastructure to plow/salt the streets, and drivers have NO clue how to maneuver in the snow. Going outside was NOT an option, risking an accident in the name of training is stupid. Our treadmill is broken, so the only thing I was able to do (provided that my 3 year old decided to take a nap) was ride my bike. I was NOT happy, I felt stranded, going backwards, like I was never going to be able to make progress. It was a rough couple of days. And I made it through them.

I have a really bad habit (as you can probably see from the paragraph above) of comparing myself to others; at always being sad/upset for not being faster/better/prettier/skinnier/healthier/smarter/not having more time to dedicate to the sport/you name it, I am not good enough/suck at it. So I am trying to make a conscious effort to accept my reality as it is and not view it as something that defines me. Just because I can't run a 7:xx mile doesn't mean that my fastest mile is not awesome for me. And it also doesn't mean that I will never get faster.

Learning to accept and be grateful for what I have is not as easy as it sounds. When your head is plagued by constant self criticism/comparison/feelings of non-deserving; it really is an uphill battle. A battle that I fight every day. But I am learning to enjoy the process. Keeping an open mind and acknowledging day in and day out that I might not be the best; but I am the best ME right this moment. I have come a long way, but there is still a lot of work to be done. This is my life, these are the choices I made, and know what? It is pretty damn good!

My relationship with food: and how I am going to make it a better one

The off season came and went. I enjoyed it a bit too much and as a consequence I am left with some extra lbs; that I'd rather not be carrying. Before you ask, yes I still fit into my regular clothes, but I do see some differences in HOW they fit. Confession time: I am a bit of a scale slave.

I know that the sport we are involved with is a bit of a double edge sword. It can be conducive to changes in body composition, but in my experience it is a fine line. Food and I have a pretty good relationship... What kind of relationship? I love food.. maybe too much. My number one loves? Sugar and breads. Exactly the type of things one should be limiting when it pertains to trying to change body composition.

I figured I'd give you a little bit of background on my struggles before I flat out tell you my goals. They are not too daunting and they are more related to habits and making them healthy, attainable, and something I can carry on for years to come. So without further ado, here they are:

- Prepare lunch before the crazy work day begins. Since I work from home, I can always walk downstairs and "make lunch" when hunger strikes; this has proved counter productive... I am either on too much of a time crunch to make a healthy lunch OR I completely forget to eat! Missing a meal = bad athlete strategy.

- Nail down breakfast. I am still trying to figure out what type of food I like eating most in the morning. Most days I crave something starchy, like toast. So I think I need to start experimenting with other options... Perhaps more oatmeal or some overnight oats (I hear those are delicious).

- Have vegetables with EVERY dinner. I have a very "picky" eater family. And this will mean cooking different things for myself.

-Cut down my coffee consumption.. considerably. I am capable of drinking 10 cups (per the coffee maker marks) a day (this equals 4 cups in my IM mug). Goal is: 2 in the morning and NO coffee in the afternoon -- will have to experiment with hot tea. (what brands/flavors do you like?)

- No added sugar. If I want something sweet it has to be a fruit. I will allow myself dried fruit, but with  moderation.

- Limit bread products. This will be the occasional toast or a healthy sandwich for lunch (with LOTS of veggies in it)


So, there it is.. My healthy eating habits goals for this year (say that 3 times fast ;-) )


Do you have any tips you can share with me??

It can only get better from here... Right?

I can't believe it has been almost 3 weeks since my last post... Ok, I can... Not exactly the most regular blogger around here.

A couple of challenging weeks can throw even the best of us for a loop. At a time when I am supposed to be settling into a rhythm with training and such, I find myself struggling to get it done. It is not because I do not want to train, but because of everything else that has been going on.

Between work, parenting (the one that has been the most challenging of all), outpatient surgery, and wifely duties... I find myself busy, stressed and extremely tired!

About 2 weeks ago I had surgery to remove a mass from my side/back, as it had grown quite big and it had become uncomfortable. Surgery went very well, lasted all of 28 minutes and about 4 hours after I left my house to head to the hospital, I was back home already recuperating. I got the pathology from it and it came negative (woohoo!) Of course, having this little surgery meant no strenuous activity for a while and definitely no swimming for 2 weeks. I thought I'd never say this... But I missed the pool!

The scar.

The "thing" I got removed

The inactivity drove me crazy! I could only wait 3 days before I got on my trainer to spin the legs for a little while. I managed 30 minutes the first day back, as I did not want to "pull" anything. Slowly but surely I got my biking legs under me and I spent a lot of quality time with my bike on the trainer. High power intervals, slow recovery spins; you name it.. I did it!

Running... well, that is another story. I have not run a step since December 30th. After the surgery the jostling movement hurt my side, so running was put on hold until the doctor assured me that I would not hurt myself if I went out for some liberating miles. I got the all clear 2 days ago... and I still have not been able to run a single step! WTF?!?!

Friday was a very busy day at work. I am a business analyst for one of the software products my employer utilizes internally, and this weekend we had a release to "production" (meaning... we went live with our changes). A lot of last minute testing, fine tuning, etc; combined with parenting.. and I was stuck without a workout.

The weekend came around and here I sit; with a heating pad placed on my lower back. I can barely move without wincing in pain. I'll spare you the details, but I will say.. my 3 year old is strong, and "fighting" him (for his own good) is not an easy thing to do. The whole situation has made me cry more than I am willing to admit; the feelings of helplessness as you realize he is the reason why he is so uncomfortable and the fact that there isn't much you can do to help him... As a mother, it breaks my heart...

I think it is safe to say, January has not been the poster child for a "great year" start; but I still have high hopes for 2014. I am not defeated yet.. and it can only get better from here.. right?