Day 3 – Lean Mean Aleta Machine

Last night I did not eat french fries. Let me repeat. Last night, I did not eat fries. I’ve actually been doing better on the mindful eating thing than I thought I would. Last night I got home from the gym, took a shower, and went to hang out with Amy. After playing ski ball and air hockey, we went and had drinks. I had lite beer and no fries. Today I went and swam during my lunch. Tonight I’m going to spin. Maybe I’ll hit my goal after all.

More Pictures from the Triathlon

Here are a few more photos from the triathlon

Can you see us?

Transition #1

What am I doing again?

Putting on my pack.

One side of the lake

Just finished

First Triathlon

My tri box!

Today I competed in the the Blue Lake All Women’s Sprint Triathlon. It was a chilly morning and I had concerns about the swim portion. The line to get into the park was SO long and by the time we got parked, I only had 20 minutes to get marked, set up my stuff, rack my bike, and go to the bathroom. Needless to say I was stressed out. The forty five minutes I had planned on having to do these tasks was eaten up by our waiting in a super long line to get parked.

The water at Blue Lake was actually warmer than the surrounding air. Swimming in the open lake with so many women was nerve wracking. I got kicked a few times and seemed to attract a certain woman who continued to run into me time and time again. Although my swim took 24 minutes for the half mile, it seemed like it took hours. At one point, I didn’t feel like I was making any progress. But eventually I made it.

I'm in there somewhere...

Swim portion

Transitioning from the swim to bike is much harder than it looks. I decided to put shorts on for the bike and run portion. Pulling lyra over wet legs is comedy. Not to mention the sheer amount of mud I had on the bottom of my feet. My first transition took me over five minutes!! The time goes by so quickly. Your legs feel like jelly, you are struggling to get your breathe, and concentrate on the tasks at hand.

Just a little wet..

Get on a bike

The bike portion went great! At first my legs felt a little gooey but after a few miles, I got into my groove and was making great time. My legs felt very strong which is mostly due to the spin class I have been taking. I was actually able to pass another cyclist going uphill!

The transition from bike to run was supposed to be the easy one since I don’t need to change shoes. But I had issues trying to rack my bike. The other competitors bikes were so bunched up there was no room for mine anywhere! Frantically I pushed the bikes aside and attempted to get mine racked. My hybrid bike frame doesn’t really rack so easily. Perhaps I need to practice a bit. I don’t know. Eventually I got my bike racked.

Trying to rack my bike

I lost my water bottle during the bike portion so I had to take a minute to drink some water before heading out for the run portion.

H2o

Andy kept popping up on various parts of the course. Usually when I least expected him. But its always nice to see a familiar face.

Hi!

At this point my legs were fatigued but I could feel a vast improvement on my form and speed over my performance at the Duathlon. For those of you who’ve never experienced a duathlon or triathlon, the first couple of miles after transitioning into a new activity, your legs feel weak and weird. You have doubts on your ability and then after the first mile you start to feel the familiar rhythm and start enjoying the experience.

I felt really strong during the run and enjoyed the experience much more than the last 5k at my last duathlon. It’s amazing how much 4 months of training will help!

I really tried to finish up strong but I was a bit fatigued at that point.

Trying to sprint to the finish

Happy to be done

Much needed water

The camaraderie between the participants was wonderful. Everyone was cheering each other on. There were a lot of smiles and jokes. While there was a sprint triathlon being held, there was also a duathlon and a kids event which meant that this event had a ton of children. I wasn’t so keen on the children throwing toys on the course or people milling around areas that I needed to access. But it was a great experience. And I’m so lucky to have Andy’s support on this event.

Trail Running

I tweeted that I was looking for someone to run 16-18 miles with on Sunday and asked if anyone wanted to join me. @dorothybitestoto replied that she was interested so over the next few days we made plans to run in at Hoyt Arboretum. The Arboretum is a beautiful place conveniently located in Washington Park and has gorgeous trails that you can hike, walk, or run. It’s shady and cool which makes it an ideal place to run in July.

I purposefully didn’t look too closely at the elevation change on the trails surrounding the Arboretum. I knew if I did, I might chicken out. Plus @dorothybitestoto is an ultra marathoner who is training for a 50 mile race in August. But as I found the previous week, having companionship on the long rules is truly beneficial for a variety of reasons:

1. You run faster and harder
2. The time goes by much quicker
3. The advice you receive from experienced runners is so valuable

Having run the Portland Marathon, @dorothybitestoto was able to explain some of the tricky places on the route such as the Saint John’s Bridge on mile 16. We traded stories about post run meals and discussed in detail toenails, IT Band injuries, and how training regimens affected our families. @dorothybitestoto didn’t make fun of me for having to walk the last couple (okay more than a couple) of hills.

After the 3+ hour run, I was sore in places I had never been sore before. My ankles and glutes were very tight and tender. My ankles were actually sore for two days. While running, I was bitten by what I initially believed to be a mosquito. It’s swollen up pretty good and reminds me of a spider bite but has a larger area of redness than any spider bite I’ve ever received. The swelling is going down but it is very tender to the touch. Even socks irritate the area. Next time I run trails, I will put on much thicker and taller socks.

Moving On

I’ve outgrown my neighborhood gym and am moving up to a bigger ‘corporate gym’ that has multiple locations, pool, group classes,etc. I’ve been going to the same gym on and off for over five years. For some reason I feel guilty about moving on. Last night after I ran, I spoke to the owner about my upcoming half marathon knowing this was probably going to be the last time I sought his advice in his gym. I felt sad.

But along with the guilt is the realization that I need more for my money. With my swimming and gym fees, I was paying almost $45 a month. I cannot afford that. The new gym is about $30 a month and has a pool. The old gym is slowly but surely falling apart. There are water leaks, broken equipment, and the place could use a deep cleaning. I am seriously about the cleaning part.

In preparing to move away from the old gym, I did discover that almost every gym will allow you to work out for at least 7 days on a guest pass. I really encourage you to take advantage of this option. I went to a couple of different gyms each at different times to get a feel for the amount of traffic and potential issues that might arise. I went at lunch and at 5pm which are high volume times. I also read a lot of online reviews of the gyms to look at the experiences other people have had. And I talked with friends about their experiences. Then I worked out at my old gym for the last 30 days of my six month prepaid membership to ensure that I did indeed want to leave.

So today I embark on a new adventure. It’s an adventure to me as I work out as much as my busy schedule will allow (which lately has not been as much as I would like). I’m excited about some of the group classes as I’ve always wanted to take a spin class. The new gym has a variety of classes that I want to try out. So I will let you know how the adventure turns out.

It Ain’t Pretty

Last Sunday I made it to 14.5. It wasn’t pretty but I made it. Afterwords, I wasn’t as hungry or as tired as I had been when I ran the 13.4 miles. I think it was the psychological aspect of starting the treadmill three times as the club limit is only 65 minutes at a time. I’m still not entirely sure why there is a limit as the average time spent on a treadmill in my gym is probably around 35-40 minutes.

It’s interesting watching people come in and work out for an hour or two and then watching them leave while I am still running. I run on the treadmill because Portland is rainy and cold and I have access to water and a bathroom. Both of which are awesome. One of my goals is to run outside during my shorter runs weather and daylight permitting.

It’s weird but when I was running less than 10 miles at a time, no one ever paid any attention to me. But now its like I’ve been given access to a secret club. On Sunday I got a fist bump from a fellow gym member. He was impressed with my efforts and suggested several races I might want to think about. A lot more people have come out of the wood work asking to go run with me and several people have asked for my advice about running injuries or how to get started.

My advice on getting started running is to start. Put on your shoes and put one foot in front of the other. When you get so winded you can’t hold conversation, slow down. If you can speed up again after a couple of minutes, go ahead. If you haven’t been active in a while, see your doctor first. The ‘secret’ is to keep it up. Go out 3-6 days a week. Consistently. I run better when I lift weights 2-3 times a week. That’s my advice.

So here are the photos. It ain’t pretty but I did it!

New Uses for Technology

Recently we got our cable switched from regular cable to digital cable. As you’ve read in past posts there were a few difficulties in our transition. I wish I could say that all of our technology problems have been solved but no, they aren’t. It’s almost funny at this point. But our technology issues are not the focus of this blog post.

We now have On Demand. I was somewhat familiar with what this service offered: buy and watch movies that they offered rather than going to the video store or signing up for Netflex and waiting for the movie to arrive. Comcast offers quit a few free movies! Oh yeah. They refresh the list frequently so it’s not a static offering.

But one of the coolest things I found On Deman was a section on Health and Fitness. Wouldn’t you know it!! They have free workouts that you can watch. Eating my brunch yesterday, I surfed through a couple of different workouts looking for one that might be up my alley.

They offer everything from 3 minute toning tips for specific body parts, pilates, walking tips, and cardio workouts. I worked out to one of the trainers from Biggest Loser. (Not the scary looking woman-the guy with the tattoos.) I did try a dance based cardio workout with less than desirable results as I am pretty uncoordinated.

I gotta say that I am really impressed with this feature of On Demand. The workout I completed was 23 minutes long. They have longer ones and shorter ones. I have been trying to vary my usual workout which usually consists of a gym visit: run on treadmill and lift weights. What a fantastic use for technology!