I'm back!

I have essentially taken a 4 month break. Not intentionally, it just happened. After my half marathon in February, I had a few small races: a few 5Ks and a marathon relay, but I wasn’t into it anymore. Lack of race reports probably shows that. I also joined Foodie Pen Pals and slacked off in that department too. I owe 2 blogs about packages I’ve received and I also need to try to remember those race reports and re-create them. Just because. It’ll happen one day. Hopefully soon. I need to get back into this.

Last year I was gung ho about everything and was borderline obsessed. I think the disappointment of not completing the half marathon took a lot of the wind out of my sails and I slowly began to put my energy and focus into other things in my life. I pretty much cut training and exercise out of my life. I did a few things here and there, but it was completely half assed and if I missed a day or two or three or a week, I didn’t care.

Last year on dailymile my June’s total mileage for everything I had done was 89 miles. This year, my total mileage for June was 12 miles. That includes today’s 9.6 mile bike ride.

I have a 5K color race in 2 weeks, a duathlon in 4 weeks and a triathlon (yes, I am doing it again...) in 10 weeks.  This time last year, I had 6 months of training under my belt, I had already finished my triathlon training and I was just trying to maintain my level of fitness until the triathlon, and maybe push myself to go faster and harder. This year, I feel like I’m starting from scratch.

Before today’s bike ride, I hadn’t worked out at all. Nothing but a 2 mile walk around a lake over a 6 week period of time.

A week ago, I created a training plan. It was a 12 week triathlon plan, and I figured I’d start in week 2 because I only had 11 weeks to go.  I created it, put it in my calendar and then didn’t do it. An entire week went by and I didn’t do it. My excuse? I was busy. Life got in the way and I didn’t make it a priority. I wanted to do it, but I didn’t want to do it.

Instead of following that plan I put in my calendar and promised myself I’d do, I’ve decided on something different.  Since the duathlon is in 4 weeks, I really need to focus on those 2 sports for now. Running and swimming. One is my friend and the other can go kick rocks. In case you’re new, it’s running. Running can go kick rocks. I still hate it. That hasn’t changed.  So if you love to hear me bitch about running, stick around. I’ve got some plans for us!

I plan on running 3 times and week and swimming at least 2 (maybe 3) and biking one. After the duathlon at the end of July, I will start to add in more biking. And hopefully I’ll have the stamina and dedication to add in biking in the form of biking to and from work every day. That in combo with 3x a week running and 2x a week swimming, I should be fairly ready for the triathlon the 2nd week of September. I hope.

I need to make time for this and stop putting it off. I need to make my training a priority. I need to be happy with making this a priority and stop dreading it. The fact is, I know I’ll feel better and stronger and healthier if I can get back on the wagon, so to speak, and move forward again.

Since April, when I stopped training and exercising regularly, I’ve started eating less healthy, I’ve gained 10 pounds, and I’ve lost strength, endurance, health and confidence.

It’s time to get that back!

Three Things Thursday

1. It’s around that time of the month when pizza and chocolate make me happy. I came home today craving pizza for dinner. I knew I had some frozen ones in the freezer so I didn’t bother ordering out & spending $20 on a pizza. When I got home all I had was Kashi. Apparently I was feeling “healthy” when I picked out a pizza from the Natural Foods section of the store.

Frozen.

After pulling it out of the package I was less excited about having pizza for dinner. But under no circumstances can you not have pizza when you have been craving pizza all day. I decided to give it a try and if it sucked, I’d call & order a pizza.

Cooked

It wasn’t amazing, but it wasn’t as horrible as I thought it would be. It was okay, but definitely not satisfying.  And of course, as soon as I finished eating, I saw a commercial for Papa Gino’s. Their pizza looked better. Murphy’s Law at it’s best.

2. I haven’t been on my bike in 28 days. I have been so focused on running and getting in the lake to swim that I’ve slacked on the biking. I’ve done the stationary bike at the gym and I’ve done spinning classes, but I haven’t been on my bike at all in 28 days. That’s pretty crap. If it weren’t for Hurricane Irene blasting us this weekend, I’d plan a ride to get back into it. But speaking of spinning, I love it. I have done it in the past and haven’t really been that into it. Now, though, I love it and can’t wait til my next class. I’m hoping they’ve been keeping my legs strong enough to survive on the bike.

3. Since starting all this race business, I’ve never experienced a race cancellation. I’ve heard of other races being cancelled or rescheduled with no refunds, but it hasn’t happened to me. Until now. I was planning on doing the Tavern to Tavern 5K on Sunday, but due to the impending hurricane, it has been rescheduled for September 4th. I’m going away that weekend and can’t make it. It sucks because there are no refunds so I can’t get my money back and, of course, I can’t go either. I’ve been monitoring how they’ve been handling this on twitter and whoever is organizing this race has been unnecessarily rude to the participants who are, understandably, upset about the change in date. Being a holiday weekend, lots of people already have plans, myself included. I figured I’d just lose out on the money so I didn’t contact them about a refund, but some people have and they were met with rude responses and sarcastic remarks.

For your viewing pleasure, just a few convos:

Yikes!!

That's almost as good as a 3 year old stomping their feet and crying when someone blames them for something.

Apparently these guys were absent the day that they were teaching people how to attract participants to your race and not alienate them by being an uncooperative and unsympathetic. Nice job Tavern in the Square. Thanks for the invite to next year’s race, but I think I’ll stick with organizations that are not rude to participants. I’ve already dealt with sarcastic nitwits sponsoring races this year. My quota is already filled. 

Spin class survivor

I survived my first spin class today. No, that’s a lie. My first ever spin class was taken about 6 years ago when I lived in Florida and went to a ritzy (expensive) gym. I think I took one class and never went back. I don’t remember hating it, but it just wasn’t appealing to me. Exercise in general wasn’t appealing to me. Obviously.

When I started this triathlon journey, I planned to take spin classes once I brought my endurance up on the bike. But I kind of forgot about it. Mainly because once my endurance was up and I felt ready to take the spin classes, it was becoming so much nicer outside and I didn’t want to be stuck in the gym on a beautiful day. I’d rather be outside on my bike. This weekend I finally got around to doing a spin class. At 7:15 am. On a Saturday. I’m not a morning person.

Besides waking up earlier on a Saturday than I do during the week, I loved the spin class. The instructor was great and the 50 minutes just flew by. Well, not really. I specifically remember looking at the clock at 7:20 and thinking, Oh God, it’s only been 5 minutes. But after the initial shock to my system, it flew by. 

During one of the hill intervals, the instructor said “Dig deep, no one is getting you up this hill but you”. How’s that for a kick in the gluteus maximus? I’ll have to remember that one when I’m out there struggling to get up a hill.

I plan to go back for more spin classes. I really enjoyed it. I also will remember to wear my bike shorts. For some reason I thought a bike seat on a spin bike wouldn’t try to crawl up my butt and stay there. Live and learn, kids. Live and learn.

Do you take any classes at your gym?

What would you recommend?

Three Things Thursday

1. Today, I biked. And you’re never gonna guess where, so I’m going to tell you. I biked through Creepyville. And I survived!

I know I said I would never, ever, ever bike there again, but it looked fairly safe today with lots of activity going on, so I went for it.

I guess the rail trail club rides the tracks during the week. I had to hop off the trail to let them pass at one point.

I knew I wanted to do more than 6 miles and I didn’t feel like going into town and back twice. I thought Creepyville was 6 or 8 miles one way, but it was only 3, so I went the other way into town as well. Once I got there I decided to get myself an ice cream. Actually, I won’t lie, I stopped to get money out of my car as I passed it, so it was a premeditated ice cream stop.

My mom pouted at me when I told her about my ice cream stop.
You snooze you lose, sister!!

I sat along the docks and enjoyed this view as I ate my ice cream.

Even though I survived Creepyville, I was still uneasy the whole time. The second I set foot (technically wheels, HA!) on my usual route, I was more relaxed and actually enjoyed it. There are more sites and pretty things to look at on the route into town.

2. I decided along this bike ride that I do not like Nuun. Actually I had decided it twice before, but I tried it again today. I’ve given it the good ‘ol college try and I just can’t do it. It reminds me of Airborne or Emergen-C. The effervescent fizz is what gets me. It’s not carbonated, there’s just some fizz left over from the alka-seltzer-like creation that makes me gag. I’ve tried letting it sit out to get all the fizz out and throwing it in the fridge to make it super cold. I just can’t do it. So I have half a tube of Pink Lemonade and an unopened tube of Lemon Tea. If anyone wants it, please let me know.

3. Tomorrow I have big plans to bring a huge-ass iced coffee down to the beach early in the morning. Drink it while drinking in the beauty of the lake (see what I did there?) and enjoy the peace and quiet of the beach before all the families arrive for the day. Then I’ll go for a swim, dry off, maybe get some sun, get back up to the house and shower all before noon (hopefully). Then I’ll spend the afternoon at the outlets! And possibly a pedicure.  That’s my idea of a rest day before my Chunky Dunk Duathlon on Saturday.

Three Things Thursday

So I know I said previously that I don’t usually do these things, but here it is, my second one. Maybe it will become a semi regular thing. Honestly I just have random things to say and it happens to be Thursday. Lucky me.

1. Yesterday I completed week 4 day 1 of the Couch 2 5K program. For those of you who don’t know what that means, it is:

3 minutes of running

1.5 minutes of walking

5 minutes of running

2.5 minutes of walking

3 minutes of running

1.5 minutes of walking

5 minutes of running.

I did it on my first try. 

I had a hard time with Week 3 in the program. I couldn’t seem to get over the 3 minutes running hurdle. It was completely mental for me. I had decided that I couldn’t do it. So I couldn’t.  Finally, last weekend, I decided that I wasn’t going to get off the treadmill until I ran 3 full minutes. I had plans later that night so there was my motivation. I did it on the first try. Later that week as I did it again, I thought to myself. If I can do 3 minutes, I’ll be able to do 5 minutes. That set the stage for me. I was tired towards the end of the second 5 minutes, but I kept going. I’m proud of myself. I haven’t been able to get past week 3 in any of the times I’ve tried to do C25K previously, so this is a big deal for me. I’m still having problems with running outside, so I’m continuing on the treadmill until I can build up my endurance, then I’ll slowly start to switch to outside running, and hope that it works! Having the confidence in knowing that I can do this on the treadmill is what is keeping me going. I have a 5K this weekend in New Hampshire. I’m going to see how long I can run at a time. I need to get over this outside running hurdle and hopefully I’ll feel better about this running business. 

2. One of my co-workers had an amazing looking salad the other day and she filled me in on a little secret. Her salad dressing wasn’t dressing at all; It was lemon juice. I’m not kidding. It’s true. Lemon juice. One of my favorite salads is a family recipe for Caesar Salad and one of the ingredients for the dressing is lemon juice. But I had never thought of JUST using lemon juice. I made a salad tonight and I put lemon juice on it. I didn’t realize how much I would love this.

Yum. 

3. I went for a bike ride today through Northborough. About 2 miles in, I wanted to turn around and go home. My butt was hurting. Not bike seat wise, but my outer hip/glute area. It felt fatigued, and the muscles were burning. I don’t know if it’s still tired from the monster hill bike ride I did last weekend, or if my body was just tired from yesterday’s 5 minute intervals of running. Either way. I started thinking that I should have taken a rest day, or I shouldn’t be pushing my body this much, and I have a 5K this weekend, I don’t need to be making myself more tired, etc. Many random quitting thoughts kept flowing through my mind. Even though I remembered that the beginning part of the route was pretty much uphill, and after I hit the 3 mile mark it would switch to flat and downhill for the rest of the way of the loop, I still wanted to turn around and go home. I finally convinced myself that it was okay for me to cut my bike ride short, just as soon as I hit the top of the hill I was on. Then I’d turn around and go back. For some reason I kept going. I had even slowed and pulled slightly over onto a side street. But I just let myself keep rolling. It was downhill at that point and happened to be the area of the loop where it descended to the end. By the time I got to the bottom of that one hill, I told myself that if I wanted to turn around now, I’d have to go right back up that hill I came down.  I kept going. The rest of the ride was fine and my legs seemed to finally warm up a bit. I was still tired and I didn’t push myself at all, but I was thinking about the last time I did the loop and I tried to remember my time. I figured after a few more months of training, I’d have improved a bit. I was excited to see what the results were. I was a full minute slower than I was when I did this loop back in May. I should be getting better, not worse! Even though I finished it, I don’t feel good about it. I guess we all have our off days.

Hell on Wheels. Literally.

I biked the mother of all hills this past weekend. I also almost died. You’re lucky I didn’t, otherwise I wouldn’t be here to warn you about it. Also, thank the lord I had my bike shorts. I find that going uphill hurts the lady parts more than flat or downhill. But that’s not what you want to hear about right now, I’m sure.  A few weeks ago, I biked the triathlon bike route in Hopkinton in preparation for my triathlon in September. After completing it in 1:12, I figured I needed more hill training, since it is pretty hilly. I can now say that I’d rather bike that route in Hopkinton 50 times in a row than to ever do what I did on Sunday ever again. In addition to almost dying, I almost puked. In fact, the entire way up the hills, I was trying to decide whether I had to puke, or if I was going to die. And if you think I’m kidding or exaggerating, you are sorely mistaken. It’s all true.

I planned to bike 6 miles from my house to a beach-y area with a grocery store across the street called 19 Mile Bay. I drove the route over the July 4th weekend and saw just how hilly it was and was even commenting at the time that I probably wouldn’t do it because the hills seemed extreme. It was all downhill (minus one big uphill) on the way to 19 Mile Bay and all uphill (minus that one down) on the way back.

For some reason, this weekend I decided to “Git R Done”. Only because I like Larry the Cable Guy.

Upon leaving my driveway, I had the option to go downhill then turn left for a very short flat area, then turn right and meet an uphill; Or, I could go uphill for a short period, then turn right downhill, then another right and go downhill until I met the uphill. I figured I’d get more momentum into the uphill if I started out doing the latter. So I turned left and went uphill to start. Do you know how hard it is to start out on a steep incline? Your heart rate shoots up and your legs cramp up with no appropriate warm up. A.) Not smart. B.) Legs hurt. C.) Lungs burn. D.) Never doing that again.

Once I hit the first uphill, I realized that I had made a huge mistake, but I was only 5 minutes in and I knew I couldn’t just quit. I’m not a quitter and I knew I’d do more damage to my own mental state by quitting. So I kept going. I hated myself at that moment, but I kept going.

Then I looked up and saw the view. It was gorgeous. Biking in the mountains has one perk and one perk only. During the downhill parts, you get some crazy nice views.

Okay, so you see more pavement than anything.
But there is a view there, and where the road disappears...
that's a HUGE downhill right there.

The rest of the way out was downhill and my max speed was 30mph. Funny how I wasn’t contemplating death while hurdling myself down a mountain at 30mph on a bike. Trust me, going up was worse. It took me 0:33 to get to 19 Mile Bay. It was close to 6 miles. The return time? Yeah, that was 1:08. That’s how bad it was.

On the way back, the gradual inclines were doable. I could spin in a lower gear and maintain about 8-10 mph. It was the steep hills that were torture. For those I was in the lowest gear possible and during one hill (coming back up that hill in the picture that you can't really see, but it's there!), I had to stop at every telephone pole on the way up. But I Did. Not. Walk. With each pedal I had a mantra going on in my head:  “Walking isn’t an option. Walking isn’t an option.” It worked. After the one downhill on the way back, I hit the hill I had busted out my 30 mph on. I realized then why I was able to hit 30 mph on it. It was almost as steep as my mantra hill. This time, though, I didn’t have anything left in me. I stopped at the bottom of it to text my mom and let her know that I was still alive since I was running behind schedule and didn’t want her to panic. She has a thing for panicking. My text read: Almost home. Still alive. Barely. Might puke.

This is what a near death experience looks like.

I made it 3/4 up the final hill and just didn’t have anything left in me. So I walked. Once back on even ground, I got back on and rode the final few feet of downhill. At this point I wanted to get off the bike so bad, I was cursing the downhill for being so steep that I had to ride my brakes. I didn’t want to ride my brakes because that meant I was slowing down and I wanted to be off the bike FAST.

I was greeted with cheers from the house of “Yay! You did it!”, “You survived it!” and “Congrats!”. It took all I had in me to not reply “Bite me”. But I’m mature. Kinda.

I can now add this to the list of things I’m never doing again.

June Totals and Weekend Update

June totals

Swim: 1.36 miles 

Bike: 70.38 miles

Run: 6.65 miles

Walk: 3.61

Elliptical: 7.32 miles

Yoga: 20 mins

Pilates: 30 mins

Rest days: 15

Yikes on the running numbers in June. I did not do well. But I was also having trouble with my shins and as you can see the walking and elliptical were added and have a few miles on them. Not an amazing number, but at least I was moving!  This month (July) I’m joined a running challenge (again, Yikes!). The challenge is to run 50 miles in the month of July. Of course it’s not going to be 100% running, but I’m going to count my running workouts towards it. Maybe when I can run consistently I’ll re-try the challenge to actually run 50 miles in a month. But for now, I’m doing it this way because it’s the only way I can do it and at least I’m doing something! 

This weekend has been a plethora of training and I loved it. I finally got to get in the lake and swim! I’m so tired of swimming in the pool, it’s boring and annoying to fight for a lane or get pushed into another lane in the middle of my swim because of swimming lessons or they are changing the lap lanes, or something else ridiculous. I might start heading down to Hopkinton State park and swimming there during the week. I don’t know how much more of lap swimming I’ll be able to handle now that I’ve been in the lake this summer!  And as a preview for July’s totals, I’ve already swam more this weekend than I did in all of June. Oh yeah!

I bought bike shorts last week and got to test them out this weekend on the Cotton Valley Trail. I did NOT bike toward SpookyVille, but I did go into town and back on the trail twice, because once just wasn’t enough.

 Although the bike shorts do cut into my legs a little bit, the comfort in the seat area definitely outweighs that issue. Why didn’t I own bike shorts before now? I did 13 miles on Sunday and I felt no discomfort at all.

I almost didn’t get to ride my bike this weekend. I packed the bikes up on Friday night, locked them to the car, and took off. Once I got to my place in NH, I realized that I had thrown the bike lock keys on the back bumper of the car and forgot about them. So I had to find a bike store in town and have them cut off my cable.

I have an extra key at home for the lock so I can use the lock again if I get a new cable, but it wasn’t doing me any good at home. I bought a new cable with a combo lock built in so I don’t have to worry about keys again. Because this isn’t the first time I’ve left something on the bumper of my car and took off. It was the 3rd. And probably won’t be the last. I’m smart, I know.

Although I know I should probably get another run in tonight to up my totals for my 50-mile run challenge, I’m letting myself have a rest day today. I’m exhausted from this weekend. And Bruno Mars just says it best:

Bruno Mars - The Lazy Song

I love this song, but this is the first time I've seen this video and I'm torn between being hysterical or horrified. Maybe both.

I biked to New Hampshire today.

I biked to New Hampshire today. No, not in New Hampshire. To New Hampshire. From Massachusetts. I know.

I biked a total of 25 miles. This is my farthest bike ride to date. My previous ride had been 14 miles. I’m tired.

I did the Nashua River Rail Trail with a cycling group. I’ve done a few rides with this group, but people usually break off into smaller groups and ride at their own pace. Normally I bike in the 8-10 mph group. Today? The 15mph group. WHAT! I most definitely pushed myself to keep up with them and it was good. I felt strong and it wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be. In fact, the desire I had to keep up and not fall back (i.e.: failure) kept me pushing to make sure I was with the group the whole time. Granted there was a slight decline on the way out to Nashua that made a 15mph pace not bad at all, but wouldn’t you know it, on the way back that slight decline became a slight incline. If people can walk to school in the snow-barefoot-uphill-both ways, why can’t I bike downhill both ways??

Maureen, Karen and Barry

Me. Obviously.
Trying to pretend this shot isn't set up

We lost Sue (not pictured) a few miles in due to a knee injury and then Maureen about 10 miles in due to a flat tire. Which reminds me, I really need to take a class and learn how to change a tire. I also need to get a tire kit, because if I had gotten a flat today, I would have been screwed. I have nothing with me to fix a flat. My tire pump is an old school pump that is too big to carry along on a ride. I don’t have a replacement tube in case it actually gets punctured and doesn’t just lose air. Going on these long bike rides without supplies to fix flats is just plain dumb. You can bet your Aunt Jemima I’d have been livid if I had to walk my bike back to my car 10+ miles! Luckily Maureen was able to fix her flat with the extra tube she had and was able to make it back to her car!

Welcome to New Hampshire! 

Proof.

Clever little pit stop in someones
back yard along the trail

After we reached Nashua, Karen and Barry let me lead and set the pace. I actually did pretty well. I kept us at about 14mph for the first few miles. As we got closer back to our starting point, the incline was more obvious and I was fatigued from riding that far so we dropped to about 10-11 mph, which is still pretty good. With about 3 miles left to go, we did our own thing and went at our own pace. Karen took off and left us in the dust. She was very hungry and kept talking about her peanut butter crackers that she had in the car. I think she just wanted to get to them faster! I managed to hold onto her for at least a mile at around 14 mph, then I dropped back down to around 12 mph. I had a sweet mantra going on in my head “The faster you go, the sooner you’ll be done”. I was seriously hurting by this point. I won’t go into detail like I did the last time, but I need to invest in some bike shorts, WITH PADDING. Or a women’s bike seat. Either one. Or both. Shorter rides haven’t bothered me, but for these long rides, more padding is a must.

DONE.

Gels and energy bars and sports drinks, OH MY!

What’s the difference between Enhanced water and sports drinks. Enhanced water has vitamins; sports drinks have electrolytes. What does that even mean? I found this web page that talks about what is in sports drinks and why people need them but it started talking about ingredients and using words I can’t pronounce, let alone try to remember as I’m reading a label, so how am I supposed to know what’s good for me and what’s just extra unneeded calories. I mean at this point most calories in my life are unnecessary. Sports drinks will only add to that right?

I’ve seen a lot of talk about sodium and salt tablets too. I realize that sweat will release a lot of salt and just drinking water can be dangerous if salt levels get too low, but as an overweight person, I find it odd that adding more salt to my body will keep me on track for training. Right now in the training process, I’m not trying to lose weight. I know it will most likely happen, since I’m actually moving my body and not lazing around. But up until now I really haven’t seen a change in my weight.

Well, that’s a lie. Technically since January, I’ve lost about 30 pounds. It doesn’t seem significant to me though, because I haven’t seen huge leaps and bounds. I’ve been within the same 5 pounds for 2 or 3 months. I guess it’s slowly slipping down the scale without me really noticing though, because I was seeing the same 5 pounds back and forth 30 pounds ago. It’s a lose 5 then gain 4 type of game. Seeing the same numbers over and over, you don’t think you’re losing anything. It’s just back and forth.

Back to training: I’m trying to get to the point where I can race in my upcoming triathlon and not die not come in last finish. Somewhere in the back of my mind though, I’m always thinking about how professional athletes and people who run and are already stick figures would definitely need to replace sodium and carbohydrates and the other stuff you lose while swimming/biking/running. I don’t need that right? I have enough of that stuff and I could stand to lose a bit of it, right? I don’t get this stuff. Should I use it? How will it help me? And don’t even get me started on Gels. WHAT ARE THEY!! Is it like a meal in gel form? Do the astronauts eat it? What does it taste like? Will I gag? I don’t like gagging. Especially while trying to race. I have enough trouble staying upright and going in a forward motion. I don’t need to be gagging on something that’s not a liquid, yet not a solid. That freaks me out a little bit. Can’t I just eat a Kit Kat? I like Kit Kats. They've got sugar, salt and crispy stuff. It probably has enough extra things to keep me going in a race, should I lose anything (salt, electrolytes, carbs) in the process, and I won’t gag. It’s chocolate. No way can you gag on chocolate!

Oh god, and then there are the bars. Balance, CLIF, Power, Lara etc, etc, etc. What do THEY do? Meal replacement? Give energy? Do I eat a bar or gag on a gel, or is it the time for a sports drink, or should I just go with water?

See there are way too many things to keep track of and do I really need any of it? Can I just drink water and stop thinking about all these things? I need to hunt someone down who has done a lot of crazy races and knows what they are talking about with this stuff and take them out to dinner or something to I can pick their brain. (Don’t worry, the meal will be real food, not gels and bars). All this talk right here proves that even though I’ve been training for a triathlon for 6 months already and have done four 5Ks with another one coming up in a few weeks, I’m still a complete newbie at this stuff. Is there a hotline for people like me?

I'm going on a fairly long bike ride tomorrow. I'm filling my hydration pack with water. I'm going to buy Gatorade to put in my water bottle (or is Gatorade too 1980? what's the new sports drink these days?) and I'm bringing a CLIF bar. It has chocolate in it, so we're good there. Even if I have no idea what I'm doing, I can fake it until I make it. Booyah.

And now that I’ve said it out loud and actually realized it, somebody give me a bleeping high five for losing 30 pounds in 6 months. It may not be a  “lot”, but it’s a pretty damn good number for someone who’s not really trying. 

Do you need some inspiration?

This is my inspiration for today.

Thumbs up for Rock and Roll

One of these days I'm going to ride my bike to and from work, and make it a regular thing. One of these days. This kid believes in me, so I can DO IT!

Learning my left from my right

This is my first blog post at my new blog name, so it’s most definitely cause to celebrate. Let’s start by celebrating the fact that I have mastered the art of the Grab, Gulp & Return. Okay, maybe mastered is a little hasty. But I did it and I figured out why I wasn’t able to do it without possible death on previous attempts. I’m right handed. My initial reaction was to grab for the water bottle with my right hand to make sure I had everything under control. However, this put my left hand in control of the bike. The non-dominant hand that can barely hold a fork correctly was controlling the two-wheeled man powered vehicle. Wicked smart, eh?

A while back, I talked about getting a hydration pack to use while biking so I didn’t have to risk my life for a sip of water. Well, I got one. Technically, I just got a reservoir and it fits inside a small backpack I have. It’s two liters and is good for about 2 hours of biking. Or the way I drink, about 30 minutes. Even though this contraption straps to my back and has a straw-like object that comes over my shoulder and attaches by magnet, it still requires me to reach up and detach it from the magnet and bring it to my mouth. Only once have I dropped it from my mouth and it attached itself to the magnet. All other times, it dangled by my side until I lined it up with the magnet to attach it. What I’m trying to say here is, I still need to let go of the handlebars with one hand to get a drink. It’s not as extreme as leaning over to grab a water bottle, but it’s still letting go! While using this, I learned that it is much safer, and less wobbly if I use my left hand for all my drinking needs and use my right hand to keep my life safe.

I discovered a new bike trail on Sunday. It’s about 2.5 miles long so I don’t need to worry about carrying a lot with me. I decided to leave the hydration pack at home and just bring water bottles. I figured the trail was short enough that I could just stop at either end and get a drink. It was quite a fun trail. It was hilly enough to give me a good workout, and the hills were spaced far enough apart to give me a slight break every once in a while. At one point I decided to test out my left-handed grab theory and I was able to grab the water bottle, drink from it and put it back cleanly. On the first try. High five. Of course I was only going 10 mph and would never try it on a downhill going 20+ mph. But I’m making progress.  Baby steps.

Running is the devil. It hurts people.

As I sit here with ice on my shins, I’m reflecting back to the past few months. I’ve been so emotionally drained because I’m pushing myself physically and yet, still, I cannot run for 3 minutes straight. I’ve been doing this since January. Swimming, biking and trying to run. I’ve surpassed my swimming and biking goals easily. Yet I’m stuck on running. I’ve tried the Couch to 5K program in the past and haven’t been able to move past week 3 because I can’t get up to running for 3 minutes straight. So in beginning this triathlon journey I decided to follow a triathlon plan and work on the running that way. It didn’t work. So I switched to other running plans. I tried running drills, I tried short intervals for longer periods of time, I tried everything I could think of, but I just couldn’t get this running thing done. Finally I decided to give Couch to 5K another chance. I worked my way up through week 2 and I felt strong and confident that maybe I could do this. I had been building up endurance and strength in other areas since January, and now I needed to work on the running. Finally, I hit week 3 and even though I knew I hadn’t been able to do it in the past, I felt confident. Until I tried it again. I’ve tried Week 3, day 1 three times now. I told myself I wasn’t going to go past a day that I couldn’t complete and go about it at my own pace, but that I’d keep to the schedule so that I didn’t do too much too fast and get hurt.


Well guess what. I’m hurt. Last night I went for a walk with my mom and dogs, but decided to do a few running intervals up and down the side streets of our complex. I started having shin pain and had to walk most of the time. Tonight, I tried Week 3 day 1 again and couldn’t run for more than 45 seconds before I had to walk due to the pain in my shins. First, I had a hissy-fit and flailed my arms, stomped my foot (which made my shin hurt more) then cried "Why the hell can't I just DO this?". Finn looked at me curiously, probably wondering if I was talking to him or myself. Then I re-grouped, because now I was crying in public and I tried doing a speed-walker shuffle/pee-pee dance run-walk thing. That alleviated the pain and I was going faster than my normal walking, but it’s still not running. And I’m sure I looked wicked cool. Seriously, just try and picture it.


I started thinking about why I’m having shin pain now, after 6 months of trying this running stuff and I think I’ve found the culprit. Pavement. I’ve done almost all of my training up until now on the treadmill. Besides my 5K races, I haven’t been outside at all before Week 2 day 3 of Couch to 5K. Even though I’m completely discouraged, and pissed off that I can’t do this, I’m not a quitter and I will complete this.


I have two options right now. I can continue my training on the treadmill and finish the couch to 5K program on the treadmill and then transition to pavement after I know I can run for 30+ minutes straight. Or, I can start over. Week 1, Day 1 on the pavement and build up that way. I'm seriously torn between the two. Both have pros and cons. Your thoughts?


Either way right now I need to take a few days off of running so my shins can stop hurting. I also need to be stretching more. Maybe take a few yoga classes like I keep talking about to get myself more limber. 


But no matter what I decide, I will never quit. Quitting is a weakness and I’m way too proud for that bullshit.


By the way, don’t forget to check out my “What’s in a Name” contest. It ends on Friday night. Hurry up and enter, because as it stands, Jenn and Richelle are winning by default as they have the only entries! And really with so few entries your odds of winning are huge! 

What's in a name?

I've been thinking about the name of my blog and I want to change it. I think. 


More specifically, the address. Right now it's http://sariah8.blogspot.com. Since this is a blog about my mission to a triathlon and what I'm doing to train, I'd like it to be something about that and not "sariah8" which is really a username more than anything. And because I'm also planning on a half marathon after the triathlon, I guess I'm in this for the long haul and don't know if I just want it to be all about the tri. But, I'm indecisive. And I also can't think of a name. So I need your help.


Any ideas? I was thinking of making this a contest/giveaway, but I'm new at this and don't really have anything to give away. Um, a pair of socks? YES. A special fun, funky pair of socks. Who doesn't like socks? And I'll choose the socks based on the winner's personality. So they'll definitely be fun, funky & cool! Really, this is a win-win situation for all of us!


Here's the deal, you can list as many blog names as you like. But put each idea/name in a different comment. And follow me too. Yes, bonus points if you're a follower. Who knows, maybe 2 pairs of socks will be given away! (Probably) Actually, yes. I will choose a winner based on the blog name choice and another winner will be chosen at random for a bonus prize.


Okay, let's get organized. First winner will be chosen based on my biased opinion and what I like for a blog name. The second winner will be chosen at random. The prize: besides the sheer satisfaction of being the winner, SOCKS.


Enter as follows (each entry needs a new comment):

• Suggest a name for my blog (or two, or three, or seven)
• Follow my blog (and then you'll have to re-follow my new blog once the new name is chosen, haha!!)
• Promote this contest/giveaway on your blog, twitter, facebook, run through the streets screaming, make posters, etc.

What I'd like:

• Something clever of course, because you know me. I'm clever.
• Using my name is good (it's Sara in case you're new around here)
• Anything dealing with swimming, biking, running, triathlon, racing, etc
• Catchy is good
• Play on words
• What you think when you think of me (maybe I don't want that)
• Brutal honesty

I'll end the contest on Friday of this week (6/17/11) and announce the winner on Saturday, 6/18/11. A whole week of fun!

I can't wait too see all your ideas!! And GO.

Biking 101: The photo companion

The helpful photo guide for the previous blog post:  Biking 101: Don't bike by yourself in a secluded area. Imagination is a killer.

And, go.

The beginning of the Cotton Valley Trail

So it looks like I go across the tracks...

...and onto this path. 

Nope. I had to get onto the tracks.

But then it turned into this and stayed mostly like this. Very nice.

This was where I had no clue where to go.
Off to the left are rocks.
To the right are the tracks, but no path. WTF?

My leprechaun led me down this path.

And then through this fence, where I was sure I was going to
hit my handle bars and go ass over tea kettle.

And then there was this beauty.
Water on each side.

Nice view, eh?

The end of the trail in downtown Wolfeboro

Then I biked back. For that visual, just scroll up and look at the pictures in the reverse order.

This is the Fernald station. Guarding the entrance to Creepyville

Signs informing where to go and how long it takes to get there.

And....an outhouse. I don't know if it's in working order. I didn't check.

I'll leave you with this one bit of helpful information. If a sign tells you to get off your bike and walk across the platform, you should probably listen. Especially if the railroad tracks aren't even with the path.

Like this...

Because something might happen...

Someone didn't read the sign.