a new helmet :)

This deserves its very own post...
I have come to realize that mastering 3 sports is fun, challenging & exciting. But it also means you need gear for 3 sports. There is so much STUFF you can get. Some improves your speed, training some enhances the experience (I don't know if I'm saying that right). Some stuff matters some stuff doesn't. (To me at least). God is so good that I have all the bare essentials. Shoes, bike & swimsuit. I was blessed with goggles! & was using my son's bike helmet. I felt a little silly & a new helmet was on "the wishlist". My son's helmet is black with flames shooting down the side. I was @ the store with a ladies gray bike helmet in hand debating if I should splurge....the answer was no, I really can't afford it. SO as I walked out of the store a friend called & said she had a helmet I could borrow!!! I was so excited! See how good God is :) I'm happy enough to have a loaner helmet for my race!
So imagine my surprise when she comes over & hands me the exact same helmet I almost bought & I noticed it is signed?!?! My first thought was oh this is special to her I can't borrow it. Then she explained she had all my friends sign it & select a scripture for me!!! I couldn't help but cry. It's one of those moments where you feel so blessed & loved by God through others. I know everyone would appreciate a gesture like this but to me it was such a huge gift. The fact that everyone is supporting me in this means volumes. That they went out of their way to do this. I love it so much! I went for 2 rides & I must say I ride a little better cause I don't feel so dorky with the kids helmet & I'm wrapped in the Word!! I now have a loner road bike but it needs pedals so I can use it. I can't even imagine how cool that would be to have a real race bike & new helmet on race day!!!
I love my friends & thank God for always blessing me in the little things showng me He cares about me in every detail!!!

uhhhhh week in review????

I wanted to post after each workout this week...but life & facebook keep getting in the way! I have a very specific training schedule I got from this website. The way my weeks go I kinda gotta see what workout fits in where & mix it up! Monday I was supposed to practice T1 or my first transition. Ideally I would get wet (in shower, pool, ocean) run to my transition area about 50yds away & practice getting into my cycling stuff. There wasn't really a conveinent place to do that so I moved my long run of the week to Monday. It was 60min. I opted for gym/tredmill. I have found my pace is 4.5 miles an hour. Anymore & I run outta steam. Also I found that if I slow down & walk to get some H2o I have a hard time getting & staying going again. Its hard to keep going when I wanna stop or slow down. It is like inner-conflict in my brain. Part of me says just walk the last 7 min. The other part says what the heck is wrong with you?! You come all this way & can't run 7 more minutes?!?! I finished the last 7 min running. It always feels incredible when I don't quit! If I were totally honest I must say I am kinda mean to myself in my self talk! I guess I know myself well enough to know I need tough love.
Tuesday was a pool swim day. I went @ 6am before my kids got dropped off. It helps the day if my workout is done like that before their Dad drops them off :) I really focused on bilateral breathing! I'm getting better & my swimming & stamina in the pool is good!! It is actually at the point where I think about a billion other things when I am swimming besides my swimming!!
Wed. My plan was to do a 2 hour bike ride around the lake by my folks & they would watch my kids. I was gonna add air to my tires first...well like an idiot I didn't know what I was doing & actually deflated my tire. The pump my dad had wasn't the right kind so I couldn't get air back in it :( I had to regroup & reschedule. I went to the gym. I needed to do a 70min cycle followed by 30min run this week so I worked on that. At the gym I can only leave the kids for a max of 1.5 hrs so I rode the bike for 50min/12miles & ran for 20min or so. When I run after cycling I can actually hit a faster pace...weird but true.
Thurs was a beach day with friends so I did another ocean swim @ the same beach I did my first one. WOW I did way better this time! I'm actually breathing/swimming and not swallowing the whole ocean. SO RAD! I was pretty exhausted. Hope race day I have energy left after the swim!
Today is friday & I decided to rest. My shin hurts pretty bad & I had a busy day.
Tomorrow I plan to do the 2hr bike ride. I went & bought an air pump today but then a friend actually loaned me a road bike!! SWEET!!! That paired with the amazing gift of a new helmet this week...I tell you I just may be becoming a triathlete!!!

big wave kate.....NOT

I think my last blog post was about my triumphant 1st ocean swim! Well today was my next attempt @ open ocean swimming @ Moonlit Beach in Encinitas. Its a popular training beach & my new mentor met me out there. The water was stinging cold which did not set the best mood for me. I got in & got wet & was hyperventilating from the shock of cold & just plain fear! :( can't really say what I was afraid of...the waves were definitely bigger, so I was intimidated. But I can't say I was afraid of drowning, maybe of the waves kicking my ass. Plus when I tried to swim the water was soooo churned up it just kinda freaked me out. GEEZ I felt so lame! We got out walked around went back in & I couldn't muster it together like I did before! I dove under waves tried to body surf them, took maybe two swimming strokes but just didn't have it in me. One or two waves had got a hold of me & I couldn't shake off the fear. So I quit :( I gave up. Not for good but for now. The thing is I know I can do it, I just didn't feel ready today. In my defense this other chick that had a wetsuit & swim cap from the half iron in hawaii didn't go out past the breakers either...
I'm not giving up I'm gonna keep at this & one day I will conquer those waves

the ironwoman

I seriously wish I hadn't flaked on the blog all this time. I totally think of stuff I wanna write/archive and then put it off.
I had the flu after my vacation & wanted to document the challenges I had with that.
I had some really positive workout, some @ 530am! And some challenging ones (mostly the bike).
A lot of issues with the diet.
So not to miss out on this nugget I writing this entry. Today I did my first open water swim in the ocean! La jolla shores to be exact! I expected that since my swimming was going so well the transition to open water would be easy. I asked a couple friends to come to no avail. By chance this nurse @ work was around & I told her I didn't have a swim buddy. She said she would! This gal is a triathlete she has done the ironman!! She is awesome!!
She gave me some pointers when we got there, very helpful stuff for race day.
Once we got in the water...I sort of panicked, fell apart, lost it. I would try to swim & end up holding my breath, swallowing salt water & concequenty gagging, choking & spitting. It was sooooo different, shockingly different.
My initial reaction was to quit! To tell her that this was a bad idea, I was not meant to do this & we should stop now. (I didn't say this out loud mind you but it probably was written on my face)
She waited while I relaxed & calmed down and would try again. I would go a little further each attempt before the gagging. Then a little further. We finally got out around 250 meters. She says great let's go in & do it again...again?!?!?! What the :-/
So we made it in & I only stopped about 10 times.

Here is the amazing part. When we went back in I just went for it! I swam & swam until we hit that 250 mark only stopping 2 times on the way out & 2 while headed back.

I had the biggest grin on my face. It was the best feeling, thinking you can't do something & wanna quit but not giving up and exceeding expectations with oneself.
I came away with so much confidence!!

Shout out to my one and only follower!!

the swimming lesson

I should have wrote this a week ago but I am sort of glad I'm a lagger. Last Sunday a friend's husband gave me a swimming lesson. He has experience as a competitive diver, lifeguard, teacher etc. I had asked her if he could help and once the schedules aligned we all went to the pool together (the kiddos too!)
It was not a large pool but enough to take a few strokes across one way. He actually said I wasn't that bad! I thought he was gonna shudder and shake his head when he saw me swim! So I got a ton of little tidbits that I knew would help but the #1 thing I learned was how to breathe! It seems so silly but proper breathing has transformed my swimming.
He asked how do you breath? Well I fill up my cheeks with air like a chipmunk, hold my breath then quickly blow out before getting more air...he chuckled...
I didn't think of it until after, when my swimming changed competely, but what it I ran like that?! Holding my breath! I couldn't I would be constantly out of breath, exhausted, I wouldn't go the distance I go. Well the same with swimming! Now that I know how to breath right my swimming is methodical, and I have a pace set by my breathing and my stamina is incredibly better! I feel like in the next 7 weeks I will totally be able to get up to swimming 500 yards easily! I even feel ready to tackle open water swimming!!

Vacation-Training-Vacation-Training

I dont have time to take a break while on vacation, which is sad but good. The day we got here I took a run in the blazing heat WHEW!! I dont think I went very far but did about a half hour run. Luckily my cousin works at the community pool so the next day I was able to get in the pool for some laps. I havent swam in so long! I have been avoiding it because #1 I am not good at it #2 It is hard #3 Im scared...etc etc. The next day the kids and I took a stroll through the local park. It was a 2 1/8 mile loop with a bit of a hill. The loop was a good walk but then we had to walk up a huge hill back to the house. THAT was a bit much...my poor kids
I went for a second swim with her a few days later and she even gave me some tips...She was probably was shocked that I think I am gonna do a triathlon being such a BAD swimmer...gotta start somewhere though...right???
That afternoon we went for a bike ride...let me rephrase that we went for a bike to death ride...we took a common bike path that was AWESOME, great views, nice and flat...it was when we decided to go beyond Tommy Thompson when trouble brewed...we rode past the oil refinerys and she said it wasnt too much farther to just go around. In my defense the bike I loaned wouldnt shift gears the whole way up until that point past the refinery. So it was challenging to say the least. Then as we went around she said it was further then she expected so we decided to cut through the middle. It was actually really pretty country side views, until we rounded a corner and the hill of death came into view...I could shift all the gears and it was soooooooo hard. I was breathing so hard and my chest was pounding, as I began to fear for my life I finally had to walk the last bit of that hill. Then we ended up walking down the backside as it was SO STEEP it was a brain injury waiting to happen. Geez whose bright idea was this bike ride....oh yeah...mine LOL. It actually was good I always wanna push myself to do more than I think I can...I just wanna live through the challenges...OK
This morning I went back to Tommy Thompson trail. I wanted to run it so badly. NEVER in my life did I ever think I would be chomping at the bit to run something, somewhere...hahaha! It was such a nice flat, shaded, paved path that ran along the water and actually OVER the water on a bridge. I think it was about an hour so maybe I did 4 miles. LOVED IT!!! There was a lot of wind when I headed back and I really had to push it to get back...but I kept running. I should be able to get another swim in tomorrow and maybe Wed before we leave I will do the Washington Park loop again (its sooooo beautiful).
Im really happy that I got a lot of training in and excercise in general while up here. the part that is disappointing is I have totally gone off the diet. Boy do I notice a difference. It is just so hard to stick to it when I dont have my foods readily available & so much yummy non diet stuff available...sigh... looks like another fruit flush is in order when I get back...

OK so I SUCK @ blogging....

I can't believe how lame I am at keeping up with this...

So I ran the 4th of July 10k. I wish I hadnt signed up for it during triathlon training because I spent the 2 weeks prior to the 10k so focused on running. I never got up to 6 or even 5 miles like I had hoped. I ended up doing 4.5miles a few days before. I wasnt sure what would happen when I did the 10k. What happens after 4.5 miles I kept wondering. I set my goal to just go the 4.5 miles I knew I could do and then if I felt like walking I would BUT I ended up running the whole 6.2 miles!!! the last 1/4 mile is all down hill which was NICE.
The feeling of setting out to do something I didnt ever think I could do and acheiving it is something I can't describe but LOVE!!! I was ready to give up, back out and not show up...but I went and didnt stop until I finished. Im not fast, didnt finish first, didnt finish last either...
I'm so proud that I kept it up and saw it through.
glad that it is over so now I can focus on the triathlon which is fast approaching!!!