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SWIMBIKE21's Recent Blog Entries
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Thursday, October 08, 2009
Hello all!
I've been thinking a lot about Sparking again, we'll see if my crazy schedule will allow me at least one/two days a week to get on here!
My first term of school went great! I am so excited and ready to be done and get working in a Medical Office....July 2010, that's the goal!
I've kept my weight steady, but am so frustrated that I'm losing all my muscle tone. I need to force myself to get to bed early so I can get up and exercise in the morning. Also trying to figure a way to set up a "table" so I can read my textbooks while sitting on my bike on the trainer....hmmm....will have to get creative!
I am also having troubles with my endo again. After a lot of talking with my doctor, sister, mother, praying about what to do, I've decided to go on Lupron for 6 months to hopefully subside the pain until I can be done with school and get into a job before I have to make the decision of surgery again. It was a tough choice, but I feel like this is the way right now.
Hope everyone out there is achieving your goals and doing great!
Monday, June 29, 2009
I am going to do my best to watch what I eat and exercise when I can while I go back to school!
I start classes this Wed. July 1st! In a year I will be done and hopefully ready to take my Medical Assistant boards. From there I'm thinking I'll get my x-ray tech certificate....or get into Nutrition/Dietician. We'll see where the path leads.
I'm excited and nervous...see you in a year! I'll probably check in every now and again when I'm on break...other than that, I'll be pretty inactive...good luck all!!!
Tuesday, June 09, 2009
OK...finally getting to a race report!
I headed over to eastern IA on Sat. morning with my daughter and friend Julie. We arrived in time to eat lunch and then head out to get my packet and check out the water! After arriving at the lake and seeing how windy and chilly it was, we opted to head back into town and see what we felt like doing. Stopped at the grocery store for some needed items and then headed back to my in-laws. We were both pretty lazy, but all of a sudden, Julie popped up and said, I need to go run and you need to do a little something today! OK, OK, I'll go for a little jog with you. We had a nice 2 mile jog/walk and then headed out for some pre-race pasta.
With my alarm set for 5am, I quickly fell asleep, only to be woken by a thunderstorm about 4am! hmmm...not getting back to sleep anytime soon! The rain stopped about 5am and I got up to eat my oatmeal and get ready.
Off to the course by 5:40, we arrived and there were already a bunch of people there. I didn't get the spot I scoped out the previous day, but at least there was room a couple spots in from the end. Transition set up...after 2 trips back to the car for stuff! I was pretty out of it from being up so early!
Off to the beach to warm up and get ready for this race! The water felt good at 67degrees. I wore my sleeveless wetsuit and it was perfect!
This particular race started with a time trial start. Each wave lined up in the shoot with a person going off every 3 seconds. It was nice not to have to fight for a spot in the water. I swam a solid swim and didn't once run into anyone!
Out of the water my legs felt like jelly, a slow jog up to transition! Off on the bike and my legs just felt really heavy and it didn't help that we had to go uphill out of the park! About 3-4 miles into it, my legs are finally feeling better. Into Palo was about the halfway point, so I downed my GU and some water and pushed out of town back towards the park. Big hill up to the park entrance...but wait, we keep going...so it's down the hill, around to the turn around and back up the hill into the park...my legs were not liking it at all...not a good sign for the run!
Slow transition so my legs could loosen up a little and I headed out! My goal, run all the way to the mile water station! I did it! Slow to a fast walk to drink my water and off jogging again. A little walk up a little hill about 1/2 mile down the road. Jog the rest of the way to the water station again, this time, just slow down the jog a little and keep going while taking more water. Run another 1/2 mile and walk for a minute to slow the heart rate. Jogging again...dang...one more hill, walk up that....dang, there goes another in my age group! I'm not going to lose her...I keep her in my sights. As I head down the last stretch I hear people cheering and I decide to finish hard and catch that girl! About 20 yds to go I meet up with her and say: "come on...let's go!" She didn't follow, she let me have it.
It was a great race and I am really happy that my run and swim were good. Kind of sad that my bike time was slower, not sure what was wrong with my legs for that!
Here are the official times:
Swim - 500yds - 9:57
T1 - 3:38 - it is a pretty good run up to the actual transition, I didn't start running until about halfway.
Bike - 15.5m - 52:47 - avg 17.7mph
T2 - 2:01
Run - 5K - 32:43 - avg 10:32pace
Total - 1:41:04 (last year was 1:44:30)
My swim, T1, and run were faster than last year. My bike and T2 were slower. Oh what could have been done if all were faster....1:39??
I am happy with it!
Tuesday, June 02, 2009
Official times are:
Swim: 11:59 - 500 yds
T1: 1:51
Bike: 52:23 - 15miles
T2: 1:20
Run (walk): 34:59 - 5K
Total time: 1:42:33
Still Pumped for Sunday!! Pigman here I come!
edited times as of 6/3 - the mats messed up...shorter swim time and longer run time.
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Today's tri for me was a: let's see how everything feels and have fun before next weekend!
I participated in the Bluff Creek Sprint Tri. I went into this with the mindset that I wanted to use it as a workout and to get a feel for my TT bike again and work on transitions. It was a ton of fun and will probably do it again next year!
I got stuffed into my wetsuit and hit the water for warm-up...holy crap...it was COLD! I now have a sleeveless wetsuit and it took a little bit to get my arms and face used to the water. As I'm standing in the water getting used to it and talking with my buddies, I took my arms out to use them while I was talking and they looked dark...what the...oh my...the algae was so bad it was clinging to my arm hairs!! hee hee It looked like I had painted my arms dark green!
OK...to the actual race...
As the gun went off, I hung back and let the "serious" swimmers get a good start. 500yds. It felt pretty good, but with only one other open water swim so far this year, it felt heavy and I was tired at the end. All in all it was OK. By the time I checked my watch in the super long transition, it read 11min...not too bad.
Transition was slow, definitely not used to the wetsuit! I ran out with my bike and with the first time in my tri shoes this summer, I couldn't get the placement right and had troubles clipping in. Will need to work on that this week.
The bike was great! The first 7.5 miles were a breeze! Well, no wonder why, at the turn-around we hit a headwind...it was nice to have a push, but it would have been nicer on the way back! Ahead of me I saw a girl really struggling (I think she passed me on the way out), as I got up to her I noticed she was trying to power through the wind still in her biggest ring! I kindly tipped her to try the middle ring and find a comfortable cadence with that one. A little while later as I was downing a GU and some water, she came up on me. Me: "how does the set-up feel?" Her: "MUCH better, THANKS!!" (I did pass her again after I was done with my GU  ) The rest of the bike was pretty much a nice steady pace with a nice coast into transition. My bike still feels good...I LOVE it!
Ahh...the run...my nemisis! It is getting much better, but I still need work. I headed out into the trees and as I got a couple 100yds in, I was blowing snot bubbles...yep, gotta love those allergies! So I slowed to a walk, got it all out, and started running again. I made it all the way to the mile check, slowed to a walk to drink some water, and kept walking a little to get my heart rate back down. Once it was doing good again, I started a nice jog. I met my friend on the course, she was walking with a cramped leg. I then made it my point to catch her. First had to walk at the 2 mile mark for some gatorade...I just can't run and drink at the same time! I saw my friend on the hill ahead and made my way toward her. Once to her I started walking and told her we were going to finish together. She told me to go on that she was walking too much. Me: "If I keep going I'll push myself too hard and not be recovered in time for Pigman...I'm walking with you!" We tried jogging a few times and once we were getting toward the end, she didn't want too many spectators to see her walking so we started running. I kicked in and made it look like I had a really strong finish!
No split times posted yet...but my overall time was 1:42..... not sure on the seconds. OK, now that is my best time in a sprint EVER! Last year my times hovered around the 1:44 mark! And I didn't push myself to the limit!! I am super stoked!
I am so PUMPED now! Next weekend is Pigman Sprint and I know I will push myself harder and hopefully will do even better than this weekend! Into the 1:30's maybe?? I would even be happy with 1:39:59!!
Stay tuned...
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