Long overdue

Hi guys - It's been awhile. I have posted my race report in emails, and other blog sites on my facebook and myspace, as well as TNO. So I thought I'd do more of a photo-version since I finally have pics!

We started out the trip with a very loaded mini-van. Most of that was my folks since they were staying in Chicago for almost a week after the race.

There was quite a bit of time before my wave started, and I actually found Dad. It was more than a little windy. Check out my sweet cap in my top - I saw other girls doing it and so I followed the trend. Look how tan I am! The "sideboob" practically glows in the dark!Great transition area pic! My bike is somewhere in there.

I realized after an hour or so waiting, I had to pee. Then I saw the lines. I decided to pee in the lake instead.

Dad and I took a few pics before my swim start. He kept talking about all the ladies, how old some looked and young others were. We saw body shapes of all kinds and all abilities. We were both pretty much in awe of the whole thing.




Uh oh - time to line up. My friend Hilary was in the 25-29 year olds in the green caps behind the 30-34 old ladies like myself! She yelled "KRISTEN MEAD!!!" before I got out there, it was so awesome to know she was cheering me on too!

That's me, yellow cap #2603. And yeah, baby got back!

When we got in the water we got fired up by one of the founders of the triathlon and a million times winner of the Ironman - who is also only 60 and is in kick butt shape. Our mantra word was "Terrific!" and then the countdown began...I tried hard not to cry when I realized it was time. 3...2....1.....GO!

After the swim it was time to get on the bike! Out I go - check out the game face.

The bike was a lot of fun, but pretty tough with a killer wind. Every couple of miles there were signs posted, "The woman who has the most fun wins!" and "Do this for the woman who can't." I hate biking and crying. Meanwhile, as I was killing myself out there, I mean, having fun - These guys were having a blast in the sun!

Here comes T2, slow but steady. I was so happy I didn't crash clipping out!
And now it's time to run - I mean walk. I was bummed my heartrate held me back. But I did manage to run the finish! Check out my smile!

Everyone was beaming and yelling my name! The fam also made a sign which was fun to see coming in. However, someone special literally drifted off when Dad said, "Here comes Mommy!!!"

Oh well - he'll see me finish the next one, hopefully! And now for a great family pic!

Now time to take off the shoes, stretch and EAT!!!!



Thank God they didn't take a pic of my getting back up after cooling down for about an hour. Phew!

So, will I do another, and was it worth it? Absolutely. I am looking forward to a local race in 2 months and hope to drop more weight, and time off my current personal records I set at the race! Luckily I didn't mess up or forget anything too major. I did just about everything I had planned. I think next time I will smile a bit more and cheer on the other racers - I was so focused on myself I felt like a sponge for everyone else's encouragement. The ladies were so awesome cheering me on throughout the entire race. How cool is that?

Anyone want to join for the next one?

We leave for Chicago on Saturday (tomorrow) and the tri is finally here on Sunday!! I won't be able to post again until after the race (be home late Monday because I'm spending the night with a college friend Sunday).

Wish me luck!!!

Countdown!

Well, it's only 12 days til I meet this goal head-on! I have been reading up on the pre-race info and it seems complicated. But my family will be there to help me out and I can trust them to get me there in once piece. Not just Aaron and Rhys, but also my parents are coming out too! I can't say how much that means to me.



Even tho I need to start tapering next week I don't feel like I've done enough? My times are leveling off. Honestly I don't think I can do much more on my times beside lose weight to get faster. With the heat we've had, and the flu hitting our house last week, not eating isn't too much of a problem for me.



But it's very frustrating to work so hard and still feel like I'm moving in slow motion. Remember those cartoons with the characters spinning their legs and not going anywhere? That's me!



I'm not bashing myself - I just know I have a long way to go. This is going to quite the accomplishment and I am excited to have some fun and know that I am a triathlete!

Fun times

First off, I am not liking my clipless pedals. I crashed AGAIN today, but not on the soft grass. Instead it was in the trail parking lot in front of a bunch of people. I have had no problems clipping out - just clipping in - so it happened clipping out, of course. GAWD!

So I have some nice road rash on my left leg and tore up my elbow. Need to put some more ice on it after I eat. But I sucked it up and went for a 400m swim before my yearly gyno exam.

I tried to put my gyno exam off because after July 1st it would have been free with our new insurance plan. But when I called to reschedule they said he is booked a YEAR OUT! Holy crap. So I stuck with it. He is such a great doctor, I can't even tell you how awesome of a GYN/OB he is and I want him to deliver our next child and I had a bunch of stuff to talk to him about.

He is so awesome, he gave me a free sample of BCP's so that I don't have problems with my period for the Tri, I didn't even think of that, I just wanted to go off them cold turkey! Man, I love this guy.

He was pretty impressed and worried about my road rash - but happy he didn't need to suture! Phew. And we he discussed everything and he basically said I was looking great! All my labs were good, BP, etc. He also wasn't concerned about my weight. And I was floating on air because I weighed 10 lbs less than I did 2 weeks ago. FINALLY!!!!! I have tilted the scale.

Now that I have biked, crashed, swam, been violated by a man who is not my husband, I shall eat lunch and treat myself to a very small dish of icecream. WHOOP WHOOP!

Also, for those who actually read my blog, I have more fun stuff coming - just need to get my act together to post it. Keep checking back!

And by the way, anyone watching So You Think You Can Dance? Thanks "Taylor" for posting this on your blog - I was so mad I missed the first real night!

Small victories

I'm getting over a wicked cold and have had to take the past 2 days off training. Kinda annoying since I was really hitting my groove. So today I told myself to suck it up at at least get on the eliptical for 30 minutes. I haven't touched the elipital since I started running, biking, and swimming. Not a lot of time to do anything else!

So I programmed in one of the more difficult levels. I figured I'd get the most bang for my buck if I had to quit. Surprisingly, despite not being able to breathe thru my nose and a lot of wheezing I killed it! It was so easy it didn't even feel like a work out!

I've been a little discouraged because I haven't dropped much weight since working out so heavily. However, after doing a workout that used to be so tough and walking away without barely breaking a sweat - I know that this extra weight is more muscle than fat. And I'm totally cool with that - for now!

Hell has frozen over

So, Wednesday was my swim day - I had to bite the bullet and change clothes in the main locker room area because I was short on time to take Rhys to the doctor. It's hard to change and dry off in the stall, and no one was in there...so I took the chance.



Then today I swam again and decided to just throw caution to the wind and change in front of the nude old lady squad. And I did. And no one noticed my nakedness except for me.



So, there ya go. I have become one of them...... but less gray hair and a little less flabby..... phew!



Workout schedule from this week:

Monday - off

Tuesday - short 15 min walk and 30 min yoga

Wednesday - 400m swim

Thursday - 10.5 mile bike

Friday - 800m swim

Sat - planned 50 min walk

Sun - planned 14 mile bike

Yeah!

I did it! My first BRICK! I know this sounds like babysteps, but for me, this is kinda a big deal. I successful took the front tire off and on by myself, corrected a brake problem as well. Rode for almost 6 miles, tried a Hammergel, which could possibly be the grossest thing ever - but I need to practice nutrition, so there ya go. I also ate a few gnats for protein - ewwww.

Rode to the van, hopped off and got the bike tire back off and put the bike in the van. Took a drink, put my capris over my bike shorts (no one needs to see me walking around in those things - at least not yet) and headed out for my 30 min walk.

While I checked my time I accidently restarted my heart monitor. Total bummer....so had to kinda guestimate how far I needed to go before I had to turn around. I even ran a little - keeping a close eye on my heart monitor.

When I got to my van a noticed a little detail I left out. I forgot to put my friggin front tire back in the van! Thank God the people of CR are trustworthy, that would have SUCKED if someone had stolen it. Oh well....

Instead of stretching (I was pissed off about that tire) I jumped back in the van and here I am, alive and not too hungry or achy. So, if I remember what was previously on my heartrate monitor, I burned about 950 cals in a little over an hour. SUUUUHHHHHWWEEEEEET!

Everybody Wang Chung Tonight

In my neverending webquest of triathlon information I found these pictures and in my lame Sixth Grade sense of humor had to put it on my blog. I never said this was going to be a G-rated blog, folks!!!

Why biker shorts are black:

Postponement

I know that you were all avidly awaiting my Brick results...but there's a crazy storm brewing and I'm too much of a chicken to bike in 30mph winds and rain. Tomorrow is supposed to me nice, so I'm heading out then!!! It will be like a mini tri since I want to swim tomorrow too!!!!

Have a fun Thursday. Aaron and Rhys are both home and we're heading out in the storm to check out landscaping brick for the front yard. Exciting stuff, I know....

Sweetness

I just swam 700 meters and did it in 25 min (with short 15 sec breaks every 50). And I mostly only swam with my arms and left my legs to dangle. Whoo hoooo!

Here I go again

Yet another training week gone by and the tough one begins! I start my bricks this week. (basically, bike for awhile, then jump off and walk/run for awhile to get used to the transition and crazy jelly legs). I'm both excited and nervous to take this next step.

My other interesting experiment is trying to swim freestyle and not move my legs much. This way I don't burn out my legs for the bike/run-walk part. That has been interesting and quite a workout.

But my most crazy experience with this whole training thing has been the women's locker room at the pool. Now, I see naked people all the time at work, in all sorts of different states. I have no problem with nakedness. However, apparently deep down I do. I swim during the day when they have water aerobics for people averaging the age of 85. These ladies are out there doing their thing and I think that is awesome! However, they also like to just "do their thing" in the locker room. I've never felt comfortable just being naked in front of people - I remember perfecting the art of removing one shirt while putting on another at the same time during gym class in middle school.

But these ladies have NO problem. I have held full conversations with totally naked octagenarians brushing their hair - not quite as sexy as a playboy spread, but apparently people do brush their hair while naked as a jaybird. Others stand in front of the hand dryers - completely nude - to dry off. Other's rinse out their suits in the sink, also completely nude. Another lady is pushing her walker, you guessed it, completely nude from the shower to the bench, where she also sits down to dry off and put her clothes back on.

So when one nude lady asks me, "Are you new?" and I say I am....I know they don't need to ask this questions since I change in the bathroom stall and not out in the open. Call me a prude, but I like to keep my private bits, well, private.

Glorified Journal

Since this is my blog and I can do what I want, I plan on posting some kind of training log of I'm doing for this upcoming Tri. It may bore the hell out of you, but it holds me accountable for my actions. And maybe I'll get a little pat on the back or two, can't hurt!

So, let's backtrack a bit this week, shall we??
Monday - 400m swim
Tuesday - 6.2 mile bike (heck yeah, I'm counting the extra .2!)
First time w/ heartrate monitor and was only in my ideal hr for 10/35 minutes. I was WAYYYYYYYY too high! Average 169...should be around 150

Wednesday - off
Thursday - 4 mile walk with hubby and Rhys in the stroller
Successful kept my heartrate in check was in my ideal hr for 50/60 minutes! Ave. 145!
Friday - 550m swim. It felt awesome and I'm doing so much better with my bilateral breathing! plus it only took me 35 min with breaks!

This weekend I'm doing another 4 mile walk and a 10 mile bike. Wish me luck and no crashing!!!

The pain train

So right now I'm awake and it just clicked 6am. However, I have been up since 5 with excruciating back pain. I can't lay on any side, or back, or tummy. Pain Pain Pain. I've been dealing with this since I gave birth 2 years ago. Not sure if it's the pregnancy that jacked up my back, or the epidural, or the fact my abdominal muscles got cut during the C-section which weakened my back.

But now with my training it hurts so bad I can hardly breathe. The problem is, what can a chiropractor do that can actually help? I'm pretty sure the problem is my weight. I feel like if I can just drop some weight and strengthen my core muscles I should be able to do this.

I guess the good thing is as soon as I'm up and walking around for about 15 minutes, the pain goes away. i'm literally pain free all day, it's just after I sleep for a couple of hours...but by the time morning comes I"m hurting like heck. Anyway....just a glimpse into my life right now!

Triathlon time!

On July 8th, 2007 I will be participating in the Chicagoland Danskin Triathalon. I have never done one before, so this is going to be quite the experience!

Years and years ago I got swept up in the Discovery Channel's Ecochallenge. This was HARDCORE..... and if it wasn't for the bugs and foot rot, I would love to do something like that too. Basically a bunch of crazy people went to crazy climated places like New Zealand and hiked, rappelled, biked, swam and kayaked through God's amazing scenery. They did this in high and low altitudes, snow, ice, rain and blistering heat. All in a couple of days. They ate stuff out of ziplock bags and had to go to first aid stations to debrid their feet. They would walk in the middle of the night when they were half asleep, poop in holes and puke all the time. Holy crap they were hardcore!

So I am going to settle for a 1/2 mile swim, 12.4 mile bike, and 3.1 mile run (in my case, mostly wog - walk/jog). Much less bugs and foot rot, but probably just as exhilarating to complete!

The Danskin series is women only, all shapes, ages and sizes and you get a finisher's medal! I'm loving that! I have been following an 11 week training program. I'm all ready proud of myself for swimming, walking and biking consistantly (it's week 3!) I haven't checked the scale, but am using my clothes as a reference. Swimming makes me ravenous, so that's been interesting. All in all, I feel better and know I will be able to fit into a pair of trishorts before I race!

I'll be sure to post pics soon!!