WooHoo!

Despite training being totally off of my normal schedule this week, it's been a good week.

Due to sick kids, early morning meetings, and ACT testing I've trained in the afternoon every day this week. I missed swimming one day, but still did the bike workout. Overall, not a great training week, but still pretty good considering all the other things going on this week.

I bought a new bike! It's an entry-level Women's Specific Design road bike, and I love it! I already feel how much easier and faster riding is with the 20 pound difference between it and my new bike. Let alone the difference in shifting, aerodynamics and wheel size!

It's attached to the bike trainer as after 60 of my 90 minute bike ride yesterday it got really cold and windy.

Unfortunately, I only averaged about 10 miles per hour on the ride yesterday. However, it was mostly uphill, no downhills, and some flat riding. I need to increase my speed by about 4 miles an hour to complete the Harvest Moon race in September. I have 4 months to get there...Kind of scary. I'm hoping that the downhill parts of the race will help with my speed.

I signed up and paid for the Harvest Moon race in September! It's a Half-Ironman Aquabike. It's a 1.2 mile swim and 56 mile bike. It's here in Aurora, so the cost of the race was much less than the cost of the Cedar Point race. I am hoping, however, to do the Cedar Point race in 2012. I just love the idea of racing at Cedar Point and near family and friends :-) Meanwhile, if anyone wants to make the trip to Colorado to cheer me on for the Harvest Moon, you have a place to stay with us :-)

I am finally out of the 180s! I weighed in today and the scale said 179.8! It was so exciting to see, especially because I had what felt like a pound of chips and guacamole and ice cream last night (and wine the night before)! I'm now approaching the lowest I've been since I was about 2 months pregnant with Emma :-) About 4 more pounds to go to reach that milestone. My total weight loss is only 8 pounds so far, but hey, it's a start.

Overall, it's about the best "bad workout, time, and eating" week I could ever have :-) I wish everyone, and myself, a great weekend and great week next week!

Ohio Triathlon Update

Just a quick update. After long consideration, I'm not going to be doing the Cedar Point Half-Ironman triathlon this year. It would cost somewhere between $800 and $1000 to get me and my bike to Ohio and to register for the race. I'm hoping that we'll be able to save enough so that I can do the race in 2012. In the meantime, I'm going to keep training for a Half-Ironman so that I'll be in great shape come the 2012 Triathlon season.
There is a Half-Ironman here in Colorado in September. It's a hilly course and the cut-off times are pretty short, but if training goes well maybe...

Decisions, decisions

So, this week is setting up to be a tough one. I've started the training schedule for the Half-Ironman Aquabike. I'm exactly 20 weeks away from the race date. This week, almost every day I'm supposed to swim and bike. The biking is much easier to find time for since I bought the bike trainer. This week, however, finding time for swimming is going to be difficult.

Sunday night, due to the kids along with waiting to bike 90 minutes until 8pm, I was up until after midnight, got woken up at 2am, and decided there was no way I was going to swim a mile at 5am. Unfortunately, it meant that I skipped the swimming portion of my training on Monday. I worked until 7pm, and David had to leave at 7:45 for his hockey game. He didn't get back from hockey until after 11pm, which meant I didn't fall asleep until midnight yet again. 5am did not happen Tuesday morning either. I did bike for an hour this morning, and will swim on my way home from work tonight.

The next two days are even more of a challenge. I'm supposed to go to the gym at 5:15am Wednesday, but I also have to be at work at 7:45 tomorrow. I'm not sure how I'm going to go to the gym, swim for over an hour, get home and shower, dress, get the kids ready, get the kids to school and daycare, and get to work by 7:45am. However, if I don't do that, then I have to swim on my way home again, and still have time to get the kids, cook dinner, get the kids to bed, and relax...Thursday is even worse. I have a conference downtown (hour drive, at least, that time of day) that starts at 8:30am and goes until 6pm. At least these two days happen to be only one activity days.

The problem with busy days, too, is that many times I lose control of the eating, too. I don't have time to think about, prep, and cook a healthy meal. Here's hoping I can find some crockpot meals tonight to cook for the next couple of nights :-)

I'm also really debating the whole bike thing this week. I really want to do this race in Ohio in September, but everything I've read and heard and been counseled towards from friends who've done triathlons says that the bike really does matter. Currently, I have a heavy hybrid bike. I can shave off 3-5 miles her hour more if I get a road/triathlon bike. It could very easily make the difference between being able to finish in the time allowed and being disqualified. However, it's $600 from my family's finances that are pretty tight as it is...

If you asked David, he would tell you that I get obsessed with things. I'm pretty sure I'm now a bit obsessed with this training. It's almost as all-consuming as my kids :-)

A Better End to the Week and a Crazy Idea

So, even though I am tired after getting up at 5am 4 days a week for training, I still look back on the week as a good one. First, I lost a pound and a half this week. Not quite the goal of being in the 170s, but I'm 180.2 now, so it's in sight! When I tweak the eating part just a bit, I lose weight. So, at least it's not complete denial all the time. I just can't eat sweets, not even a cookie, and have to watch my portions at dinner especially.

I'm now up to swimming at least a mile 4 days a week. I can swim a mile in 50 minutes now, doing breast stroke the whole time. That's swimming a pace that I know I can keep up for at least twice the time. I wanted to test myself to see if I could swim 1.2 miles in under 1 hour, 10 minutes. That's the time cut-off for most Half-Ironman races (more on that in a minute). I'm riding twice a week, once for 15 miles and once for 30 minutes plus swimming. It's supposed to be plus running, but you all know where I am on that now. I rode 15 miles in 1 and a half hours last weekend. It wasn't a particularly easy 15 miles, either. Lots of hills and some wind. I need to get the bike ride to be quicker.

So, here's the crazy idea. There's a Half-Ironman Aquabike race in Ohio in September. The race I'm participating in in July is a Triathlon Sprint. I'm doing a half-mile swim, 14 mile bike, and half-mile swim for that race. A Half-Ironman Aquabike is a 1.2 mile swim and a 56 mile bike ride. The bike ride is pretty flat, with only 1 real hill in the 56 miles.

Here's the bike course map for the race in July:

http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/training/map.asp?routeid=154412

Here's the bike course map for the race in September:


http://www.rev3tri.com/pdfs/cedarPointHalfBike.pdf

So, the colleague at my work who's done lots of triathlons including a full Ironman, told me I was crazy to consider going from my first triathlon of a Sprint to a Half-Ironman length two months later. But this is the thing. The race in September is much lower elevation, and is one of the only Aquabike races after July 30th. I would really like to have 1 more race to train for this year to keep myself going with the training. There are a couple more races that are the same length as the one I'm doing in July or Olympic length (1 mile swim, 24 mile bike) but there either pretty challenging courses with strict time constraints or there not as cool of a location as Cedar Point. Cedar Point is awesome because a lot of my family lives really close by (free place to stay...), and it's the best amusement park in the country :-) It would just be so awesome to have a lot of my family there cheering me on! It also has pretty nice time cut-offs. 1 hour and 10 minutes for the swim and 5 and a half hours to complete the two sections. Most of the races I've looked at don't have as nice cut-off times and are much hilly-er. I downloaded a 20 week training schedule for a Half-Ironman, just to take a look. I just would love to do this race!

There is an Olympic Distance Aquabike race in Naylor's Beach, Warsaw, VA, that has potential, but I want to do races where I will have supporters and/or in cool places to visit...

So, today was really windy and I was just not in the mood to ride in the wind. I had to go shopping for Mom's birthday anyway, so I found a good deal on a bike trainer (one of those things you hook your bike to to basically make it a stationary bike). It's supposed to be much better for training than a gym stationary bike. I'm going to ride it during our Family Movie Night tonight. Depending on the weather, I'll either ride out to Mom and Dad's on Sunday or will ride the trainer again. It's supposed to be cold and rainy this weekend.

It seems that every weekend is presenting weather challenges. During the week, it's nice, calm, and warm and the weekends get windy, cold, and wet!


I hope you all have a great weekend!

I'm tired of this already

So, let's start with the good news. This weekend, I rode 15 miles of hill similar to the race hills. Middle leg, check. Today, I swam 1 mile in 50 minutes. First and last leg, check. Of course, 50 minutes is about double the time it should take me, according to the experienced racer I have as a colleague.

I swim breast stroke because a) I like it, b) I can see the whole time, c) I am terrible at freestyle, and d) I don't like freestyle. However, it does make me terribly slow compared to where I should be. I've tried converting to freestyle, since that's a "faster" stroke, but for me it's a slower stroke. I timed it.

I really hit a not-so-great place today. Look, I'd love to be inspiring and upbeat like so many blogs are, but some days/weeks I'm just not in that place. Those of you who know me well know that I'm someone who just tells it like it is. This is where I am right now. I swam a mile today, and rather than being all proud of myself, I came home at 6:30am tired (not the good kind of tired) and just sick of it all today. I got on the scale to find that no weight has dropped yet this week, either. I'm still 181.6. It's kind of like when I said that I just wanted a healthy baby when I was pregnant with Emma. Of course I was more concerned about having a healthy baby, but I really wanted a girl. Of course I want to be healthy, but I really want to be skinny and pretty again.

It's just so frustrating when I spend at least an hour 6 days a week exercising, don't eat dessert every night, don't snack other than fruit, yogurt, or 100 calorie cheese packs, don't have anything to drink except every couple of weeks, and still the weight is not coming off. Do I really have to exercise more? Do I really have to restrict my diet more?

So then, I get frustrated and depressed and I feel like giving up. Not on the exercise, because I have this race to train for, but on the food thing. Like, fine, if I'm not going to lose weight being good, then I'll just eat what I want. So I had a big cookie from Noodles and Company, and Chinese food for dinner. I know both are bad for me, and I feel guilty immediately after. So how do I stop this cycle? I just get tired of eating low-calorie food. I get tired of having to think seriously about what I'm going to pack for lunch and fix for dinner. I really want to bring the easy, unhealthy food like mac and cheese, 100 calorie cookies, trail mix (the kind with M&Ms), pasta, rice, bread, crackers, etc.

Add to that the thought that I am so slow with my bike and swim times, and can't run more than 15 seconds without my shins screaming. I really wanted to be able to compete in more than just this race in July. However, all the other races I look at either have running (and everything I can find says it's rude to walk the run portion) or the times on an Aquabike (swim/bike) would put me at being cut after swimming and not allowed to finish the race.

So, as you can see, I'm very frustrated this week. Hopefully, by the time I write my next post, I will feel better about something. Maybe I'll lose weight despite the cookie and Chinese today, maybe I'll improve my swimming or biking time. Maybe, after giving my shins 2 weeks rest from even walking and doing strengthening exercises, I'll be able to get over the shin splints and start running soon. Here's hoping the second half of the week proves to be better on my psyche than the first.

I did it!

I passed the test today! I had to ride 15 miles, and rather than making it an easy 15, going downhill from my house and riding the flat path, I rode the hills out to Mom and Dad's house! It's very similar to the hills I'll have to ride for the race, so I wanted to test myself. I did it in a hour and half, despite my less-than-ideal bike with less-than-ideal tires on it (Anyone win the lottery and want to shell out the $700 for an "entry level road bike for me? :-)! I was so excited :-)

Technically, I cheated my training and missed the Saturday 30 minute bike followed by 30 minute walk. I just ran out of time. Gibson wanted to practice riding his bike without training wheels, so I modeled for him. Not exactly what the training program had in mind for a brick workout. We did walk for about 15 minutes after, though, and I was practicing pedalling while standing up, since I've had a difficult time figuring that out :-) So, it wasn't a completely lost day.

I'm going to increase my swimming tomorrow. Since I proved to myself that I can ride 15 miles of hills, which is a little longer than the race length, I think it's about time I increase the swimming to the race length as well. I'll be swimming 750 meters tomorrow. That's 30 lengths of the pool (15 laps). I should be able to swim that in 30 minutes. Hey, I may actually be able to finish the race in under 4 hours!

I'm looking forward to another week of training, hoping to get into the 170's on the scale for the first time in over a year. If I could set that pace I would be in the 160's by the end of the school year, in the low 140's by our 10th anniversary and the race, and at my goal by Emma's 4th birthday and Christmas pictures :-) I'll be skinny and Emma's hair will look normal, what a great picture!

What a Friday...

I take one day off a week from training. I make sure it's a weekend day, but it fluctuates depending on the weather. So, I took Friday off this week since it was cold and windy. It means I bike two days in a row, but that's ok. I'll bike 30 minutes and walk 30 minutes today (Saturday) and bike 15 miles tomorrow (out to Mom and Dad's house is 15.2 miles).

Friday at 12:15 was lovely. I went shopping at Whole Foods, ate a salad, and relaxed. I went to pick Gibson up from school at 3:15, and tried to run to see how it felt. I ran for about 30 seconds before I was in a bunch of pain. The shins still hurt, and it doesn't take much for it to kick in. I'm still hoping that after I lose some weight and do more strengthening of my calves I'll be able to run. When Gibson and I came home we got ready for some friends to come over. I bought a really decadent dessert for after dinner, since I get dessert once a week and the more decadent means the smaller amount I eat.

I was planning on having one glass of wine. Really. I hadn't had anything to drink in over two weeks, had a good week, so I was going to have 1 social glass of wine. Well, then Emma decided to cut her own hair.

I was really upset. See, her hair grows really slowly, so it will take years to fix the damage. I proceeded to drink 3 more drinks. I'm not one to normally do this, but I was just so upset. The awesome thing is, I didn't gain any weight! Look, I know that if I were to continue that behavior, it would be terrible for me. I won't have dessert for another week, and I won't be drinking for at least another 2 weeks, but it was still good to know that one bad day didn't totally ruin my progress the rest of the week :-)

Now, it's Saturday and Emma's hair is as fixed as it can be.

I'm off to enjoy Gibson's soccer game, ride to the bike shop, walk while the bike shop puts new tires on my bike, and try to find the humor in my daughter cutting her hair off.

Week 5

I've decided to change my training schedule. I'm waking up at 5am to train Monday-Thursday. That's the only way I can arrange my day so that I get an hour of "me time" built in beyond training. I know that some may consider training time "me time" but even though it's something that makes me feel good, it's still work. I need that down time without kids, work, or anything but me sitting around in quiet by myself. So, I wake up at 5am to swim and walk Monday-Thursday. I swim first, even though it means I'm wet while I walk, because there is this really obnoxious "splasher" guy that swims around 6:15am every day. I want to avoid sharing a lane, or even pool, with him since he splashes the entire 3 lanes when he swims! Friday, I bike and walk after work, since I go to work early on Fridays, and Sunday I bike a longer distance. Each workout takes at least an hour, now. It's kind of amazing for me to think that not that long ago I was lucky to find the desire to do the elliptical for 30 minutes 3 times a week and now I work out for at least an hour 6 times a week!

I'm planning on picking up the running training again in May. Until then, I am walking alot, getting used to the new shoes, and doing strength training in my calves. There's a race in Las Vegas in September that I'm very interested in, and one in Myrtle Beach (one of my dad's favorite places) in October. I'd like to be able to do at least one of these races...

Hey, did you know that the food thing really matters? I hate, hate, hate eating healthy all the time. I get so bored with the food options, especially for lunch. Dinners I can do well, but what to bring for lunch that's healthy? I've made myself sick and tired of salads, especially the boring ones I can put together with stuff I have around the house, and sauteed spinach with chicken sausage. Also, snacks are difficult. I really want sweets, but even when I stick to the "100 calorie packs" I haven't been losing any weight. As soon as I switched to no sugar, or very little, the past 2 days I've lost weight. So I know that sugar is the key, but I really hate that plan. I miss wine, I miss chocolate, I miss sugar, and it's only been 2 days! Giving up sweets and alcohol is sad, but I will do what I need to do for now to start losing weight. I know it's about my health, ultimately, but it's also about being happy with how I look and not dreading clothes shopping.

Almost halfway through the training program, and I really do love this. I always said that I needed to change my addiction from food to exercise, and couldn't ever do it. I sort of have an obsessive personality (David, and really anyone else is saying "Duh" right now) and kept hoping that I would just become obsessed with exercise. I couldn't ever to it before though. I just got bored. It took signing up for, and committing to, a triathlon to change my addiction from food and/or shopping to exercise. The funny thing is that it doesn't feel like an addiction. It's not something I feel bad for doing, like I did after eating something I shouldn't have or shopping when we couldn't afford it. It's the first time in a long time that I really feel like I have finally figured myself out :-)

I have to take a moment now to say thank you to everyone for your love and support. WIthout my loving husband, children, family, and friends to cheer me on, I would not have made it 5 weeks into training, excited to continue!

The Best and Worst of Training

During the week, due to scheduling, I swim and walk. It's more difficult to make sure I have enough time to bike during the week, so I save the two bike days for the weekend. So, you might start to notice that I'm very positive during the week, and less positive when I post on the weekends.

I rode 8 miles today. I did about 5 of those miles on some, what I found to be challenging, hills. The last 3 miles I tried to keep relatively flat. The wind was blowing pretty much the whole time. For the first 5 miles, I pretty much hated life. I find myself, on every bike day, really questioning what in the world I was thinking making this committment. I feel proud of myself after it's done, but during those 8 miles I find that all I can think of is how bad the hills are in the actual race route. So, tonight I decided to go drive the race route and see how it compares to the hills I rode today. I was much relieved to find that even though there are more hills, they aren't any worse than what I conquered today! So, I ended the day feeling much better about the race :-)

I will ride 10 miles tomorrow. It was supposed to be Sunday, but the weather here is supposed to be rainy and cold, and I can't afford a bike trainer yet, so I'm riding tomorrow and swimming Sunday instead. I'm actually looking forward to tomorrow's ride. I'm going to do a mostly flat ride tomorrow, around the paths by Gibson's soccer game.

I discovered something amazing today, that I just have to share. So, I haven't really lost any significant weight since starting training. However, I ran out of size 16 pants in my drawer today and was desperate to find something to wear this morning (very typical of a Friday morning). I decided, heck with it, and tried on a pair of size 14 pants just to see if I could manage to button them and suffer through wearing them for a whole day. Much to my surprise, they fit COMFORTABLY! I tried on another pair just to see if they were a fluke pair of pants, and another pair of size 14's fit! So, even though I haven't lost any weight, I have lost an entire pants size :-) I'm very excited, and motivated to not only continue with training (I'm enjoying myself, so not much motivation needed there) but to go out and buy lots of lean protein and veggies for meals now so that I can see the number on the scale and the size on my pants go down!

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend, and thanks for all the support! My family and friends keep me motivated :-) Love you all.

Turning 32... (This one's about weight loss and gain, not training)

I'm turning 32 tomorrow. It's not really a big deal, but it's yet another year gone by of promising to do something about my weight, wanting to be healthier, wanting to be pretty, wanting to look like I used to look.

6 years ago, I was well on my way down in weight. I had started Weight Watchers right before my birthday. Looking back, it was actually quite amazing how quickly I lost weight. I went from 195 down to 130 in 8 months. I know, not Biggest Loser fast, but pretty fast for a working mom with a child. The food thing was just easy then. That was 2005. Throughout 2006 I gained back 35 pounds. Then, I got pregnant.

January 2008 was when I started promising myself I would get in shape, lose weight, look like I did at the end of 2005. Even non-math teachers can figure out that's more than 3 years ago. I've fallen off the wagon more times than I can count. Joined, quit, re-joined weight watchers. I joined Weight Watchers in person, thinking that would motivate me, joined WW Online with a friend, tried Atkins a couple times. A year and a half ago, I joined the gym. I had stints of going frequently, followed by months of not going. I'd use working out as an excuse to eat more. I've been down to 175, but that's as low as I've been since 2007.

I know, I know, a lot of useless background information. It's important to know where I'm coming from, and hey, this is my blog :-) This is where I'm at, turning 32. Currently, I weight 181 pounds. That's the least I've weighed since my 31st birthday. I've used up all of my excuses. I can't put it off anymore. Not only so that I can be pretty again, and "be healthy for my kids", but so I can be proud of myself. I will ache doing a triathlon with 181 pounds on my 5'2" frame. I want to finish the race for ME. I want to do another race in October. I want this to be my new "thing", my new obsession. I want to replace my food addiction with a healthy desire to train for races. Looking at me now, compared to my work colleagues who are also doing the race, I'm sure you'd think I'd be the one to come in last, or to stop halfway through. But I'll surprise you, and me. I'm going to keep training and start back in with running again in May. By my 33rd birthday, I will be able to proudly look back on 2011 as the year I finally figured it out!

Wow, it's Been 3 Weeks!

I have been training for 3 weeks now. There have been ups and downs, as expected, but overall it has been a good experience. I have only lost 2 pounds (180.6), but that's better than nothing, I guess. I know that I have to focus now on the food part of losing weight, in addition to the exercising part. That's the challenge for week four and beyond.

Working out has become a habit now. It's a habit I sometimes hate, but I definitely feel weird if I take a day off, like I did this past Wednesday. Normally, on my "off days" I at least walk. Wednesday, I took the day off completely. I felt restless because if it. I think this week has been the worst, since it's Spring Break and the whole family is home. It's much easier for me to workout on days when I have to work. It's a good thing that I work year-round now :-)

I did have to stop running. I got bad shin splints, after 2 weeks of running. Deciding to swim two legs of the race has made me very happy! I love to swim, so replacing the running days with swimming and walking is enjoyable for me anyway. It does make the workout schedule a bit more monotonous, but that's the only downside I see. That, and I'll need to buy a second bathing suit...

The biking is less fun for me. Around our house there are lots of hills. So, I tried to bike out at Mom and Dad's house, but it's very windy out there. So, fight the wind or fight the hills...The other problem with biking is that it is very dependent on the weather. For example, tomorrow I am supposed to ride 10 miles. Well, tomorrow is supposed to be cold, windy, and rainy/snowing (in Colorado it's always a toss-up). So, I will probably be riding a stationary bike tomorrow. It's not nearly the same workout, though, as riding a real bike. Even if I have the stationary bike do "hills" it's still not the same. I will get to watch my slingbox, though, which is a nice distraction :-)

The good thing about my training only being a 10 week program is that the shortfalls I am experiencing now, like having to ride a stationary bike, will be corrected by the fact that I have 8 additional weeks to keep repeating the last training week. By then, the weather should be more reliable. Of course, it will also be hot, so I'll have to bike in the morning.

How do I feel after 3 weeks of training?

Mostly, I feel proud that I've kept it up. Every time I have to bike, I end up questioning my decision. About 3 miles in, I'm always asking what in the world (sometimes replaced by curse words) I got myself into. I've always completed the workout, though, which is better than I've ever done before. In my previous attempts to get a workout regimen going, I've found numerous reasons to quit. The amazing thing this time is that I don't even want to come up with reasons. I was actually disappointed when I had to quit running! I felt like that was somehow a failure and that I'm not completing an actual triathlon now.

I have definitely noticed that I am happier with all those endorphins running through me. I have found that I lost 2 pounds despite not paying attention to the eating thing at all. I have eaten dessert a lot in the past week, and consumed alcohol 4 days. I still managed to lose about half a pound this week. Now, that's not the rate I intend to keep up. I really want to lose at least 30 pounds by the race, and would prefer to lose 40 pounds by then. That's 8-10 pounds a month, not unreasonable. I think it will help me race easier, allow me to maybe eventually pick up running again for a later race, and help me be beautiful for my 10 year wedding anniversary. Our anniversary is 9 days before the race.

One other thing I've noticed, this is the first time ever that I have enjoyed working out. Before, it pretty much just felt like working. Now, it's fun and makes me feel good. It's funny how having an external goal of finishing a race can change my outlook on exercise! I am so glad I decided, on a whim 3 weeks ago, to do this! I am looking forward to 15 more weeks of training and taking on the food addiction. I think I am finally ready to confront that demon!