Here is the third and final portion of my harrowing first attempt at an Olympic distance triathlon, the run edition.

one last chug

After getting off the bike I knew how I would feel, my legs would be wobbly and feel like lead and my spirit would still be a bit down. Knowing these things I just got off my bike and started pulling off my cycling gear. I popped on my new runners with my “go faster” elastic laces, which are the total bomb by the way.

Elastic "go faster" laces

Off I go and the first part is an up hill, one of the few hills on this course. Hmmm not feeling too bad when are the lead legs going to come? … BOOM there they are. Just keep running, running, running. Got about a km in to the run and I needed to walk. Now I don’t like to walk in a running race, in fact it irritates me to walk and it irritates me when others walk and then end up beating me, but that is my own head trash. Part of the reason I don’t like to walk is that it is so hard to get myself motivated to get running again. For the first lap of the 5 km route I did a lot of run/walking. Near the end of the first loop Mark met up with me because he thought something had happened to me, like I had quit or something. He walked along side me for a while which just made me get choked up and I thanked him for the moral support but let him go on his way because I couldn’t stop crying. Weird!

Oh the stress of being a spectator, where is she?...

The second loop was much better. I was able to run a more than walk  and I even started to pass a couple of people. I kept a couple in my sights but I wasn’t able to catch up to them. All in all not a great example of my running ability, but then again it is not just a running race it is a triathlon and all of the disciplines influence each other. I wonder if I had not had such a brutal time in the swim if I would have had more psychological “energy” for the bike and run?

As I was coming up to the last corner I saw a mirage… One of my teammates (Gary S) was walking around the bend. He was coming to look for me. He stuck by me and encouraged me to keep running, bring it home. For some reason his presence didn’t make me cry.  He even called ahead to let someone know that I was almost at the home stretch. Coming down the finish chute was such a great feeling! I actually finished a race that I thought was over from the start. As I crossed the finish line I saw all of my friends and family there cheering me on and I teared up once again, such an emotional day, my goodness. I think I always have the best cheering group on any race. Mark, Mom, Dad, Meredith, Mike and Heather.

time should read 3:50:04 according to timing chip or close to that

If I ever wonder if paying for coaching is a good idea when I am such a newbie. I should just remember that my coach was at the finish line waiting for the very last one from the team to finish and gave me a big congratulatory hug. We are so lucky to live here in Penticton where we can train with great coaches and swim, bike and run on the Ironman Canada course.

coach Kev

I have a great post brewing about a confidence building race I just participated in. Stay tuned.

family, fitness, goals, running, swimming, triathlon family, fitness, goals, Mental health, running, triathlon

After getting out the the water at the WCOC Oliver Olympic triathlon and stumbling to the transition area I stood by my bike and sobbed. What do I do next… I am freezing, confused, demoralized. I looked up and there was Mark looking over the fence at me, encouraging me to get going, come on, finish this thing. I slowly flung my wetsuit over the rack, donned my bike gear, all the while blubbering. When I thought I was ready I looked up at Mark with a pathetic tear stained face and cried DO I HAVE EVERYTHING ON??? “Yes now get going!”

Of I went in a bit of a crowd with the Sprint distance athletes that had started the swim a considerable time after the Olympic athletes. At least I wasn’t completely alone starting the ride. All was well for a while until we reach the turn around point for the Sprint and all the sudden I was alone…, and I remained alone for the most part of the ride. It is difficult to ride alone, with nobody to catch or stay ahead of, you are truly racing yourself.

I did find that during the first bit of the ride I was still pretty demoralized from the swim experience, and I found myself having odd morbid thoughts. Like if I fell off my bike nobody would look down on me for having to pull out of the race. Having survived the harrowing swim I wasn’t going to let a silly 40km bike ride take me down. Besides I knew my family would be waiting for me along Blacksage road to cheer me on a take my picture. Better practice my smile.

As the ride went on I felt a bit more fluid and I even used the aerobars quite a bit. I even managed to catch up to a couple of people and pass them. I was super happy to round the corner to the transition area once again, but a bit concerned about setting off on the run course. Hello Lead Legs.

Stay tuned for the Run portion.

cycling, family, running, triathlon cycling, fitness, triathlon

The Before shot

I have been a naughty, naughty poster. I promise to make up for it with a fascinating post about my recent adventures in triathlon.

May 16th does that sound like a good time of year to go swimming in a lake, in CANADA? Well whether it is rational or not early in the morning on that chilly spring day I embarked upon my very first Olympic distance triathlon. The event is the Wine Capital of Canada Triathlon which is an Olympic distance triathlon, 1500 m open water lake swim, 40 km bike ride, 10 km run.

I need to give myself a bit of a break as I go on to describe the ensuing trauma created by the swim, since I had never really worn a wetsuit, only practiced open water swimming once this year and the water was frigid. I experienced things in the swim I totally had not predicted and never thought would happen to me. I had at least 3 severe panic attacks. To me a panic attack involves rapid breathing, rapid heart rate and a feeling of impending doom. Check, check ,check. I wasn’t sure what was bothering me the most, the restrictive feeling of the brand new wetsuit, the cold water, the mob of people at the the mass start, or perhaps all of the above.

This experience was defining moment of mind over matter for me. I essentially floated on my back, breast-stroked, floundered and did the occasional back stroke. There were moments of bargaining when I was asking a higher power to let me go through labour and delivery with twins again rather than continue on with this madness. I considered stripping off my wetsuit, throwing it at the kayaker and trying to continue on, I was sure death from hypothermia would have been better than finishing this swim.

But… I did carry on. Pretty much the only thing that kept me going was the fact that my family and friends were there at the crack of dawn to cheer me on, and I am a very stubborn person who does’t like to disappoint people. As I rounded the turnaround bouy the Race Director Joe grabbed my hand and encouraged me on. Okay I can do this, back in the water I go. The second lap was pretty tough but somehow a bit better than the first. I do take a while to warm up as I have mentioned before.

Encouragement from Race Director Joe

As I finished the swim, not last, I don’t know how that was possible. Some poor souls dropped out due to the cold and panic attacks. I am glad I didn’t really know of the prevalence of panic attacks before I signed up for an early season race.

What are my feelings about this first race in the open water?

A lot to learn, to improve on, a lot of time to shed. I will get back on the horse that bucked me, because it didn’t kill me, I am stronger.

Stay tuned for the Bike portion of the race report.

family, fitness, goals, swimming, triathlon blogging, fitness, goals, swimming, triathlon

Hi there in webland, if anyone is still reading…. I have been neglecting the blogging lately. One of the reason is my site no longer has the stats on it so I am not addicted to see how many people are reading (talk about ego).
I have also been very busy with triathlon training, writing a nursing paper and general family life.
I have a few goodish ideas for posts so stay tuned.

Uncategorized blogging, fitness

This is me in grade 9 baby

I had a great week 2 of my new attitude and new weight loss goal.

Monday: Spinning 60 min

Tuesday: Running 30 min with dogs, Swimming 60 min with Masters club

Wednesday: Rest day working 12 hours

Thursday: Running 30 min at dark o’ clock, work 12 hours, Swimming 60  min with Master SO TIRED!

Friday: Rest day working 12 hours

Saturday: Cycling outside 40 km rode to OK falls via Maclean Creek Rd. 2 hours of riding (harsh headwind)

Sunday: Running 45 min didn’t feel too bad.

My eating was great while I was on the U turn plan and then for a couple of days after too. Come Friday I ate healthy all day and then at night a gave in to soft serve ice cream and apple pie. After our killer ride I gave in to sourdough bread and spinach dip but managed to have only one slice of pizza and a huge salad.

The key is to regroup from the small indiscretions and move forward with a plan. I was down to 178 which still leaves me 10 to lose in 3 weeks. I wonder what I will have to do to lose this weight. Obviously I am doing enough exercise! Just keep eating well and maybe kick up the intensity of the workouts. I don’t know…

Keep on keep’n on.

Cheers

Betty

cycling, fitness, goals, nutrition, running, swimming, triathlon, weight loss diet, fitness, goals, health, running, triathlon, weight loss rewards

Geocaching and having a giggle. Haven't tried geocaching? Google it, It's super fun.

I took things up a notch this week. I am using a system called U-turn from u weight loss, it consists of a kinda yucky shake (they warned me it would be yucky) sort of tastes like I might imagine infant formula tastes. I am also taking their kickstart product which is a supplement that helps the body flush toxins. I have to admit my energy has been much improved. I have also been much more diligent about taking my calcium, omega, vit D, and fiber as well. Is it annoying to take these supplements? Yes in a way but it is much more annoying to have no energy, be depressed and worry that an airplane seatbelt might not fit.

I don’t think that I will be taking these things forever. I will find the right balance of vitamins, minerals, supplements that work for me health wise, financially, time management.

My eating has been right on track. I am following the U turn recipes to a T. I am following a certain schedule and calorie level for the week and then I will gradually increase my calories over the next month to six weeks until I am at a maintenance level. Hopefully my weight will stabilize and I will be able to eat a normal, healthy amount of food while being active. I really am loving these recipes. I am running the risk of turning in to a chicken again so I am balancing it out with some shrimp too.

Exercise has been off the hook!

Monday: Spinning

Tuesday:Masters swimming (didn’t really like it but I did it)

Wednesday: Working days, walked to work

Thursday: Spinning at noon (testing day,hard!) Met with Olly and set up some triathlon coaching.

Friday: Rest day, thank goodness because I worked nights last night and tonight too

Saturday: 90 min swim with the tri group (never, ever thought I could keep swimming that long)

Sunday: 45 min  run with Mark, good a bit achy but not too bad once warmed up, geocaching with the girls FUN!

This chick is gonna be busy. I am going to have to make friends with 5:30 am to get my short run in during the week. I do not like getting up earlier than 6:00.

I am hoping to be at my new goal weight by the end of Feb. I lost 7 lbs the first week which I am sure was lot of water weight but at least it is off my body. I am going to weigh in tomorrow so I will let you know.

cycling, fitness, goals, nutrition, running, triathlon, weight loss body image, diet, fitness, nutrition, triathlon, weight loss

I found a neat program online called Weight Mirror.  I usually try not to get hung up on thinking about what I might look like but I couldn’t resist. You upload a before photo, preferably a full length with a neutral background. I usually do not have very good luck with these types of things but this was really easy and satisfying.

Here is a before and hopeful after. Before is about 190 ish and the after is about 160 ish. Inspiring.

beauty, fitness, goals, weight loss blogging, body image, diet, fitness, goals, weight loss

WHY NOT BE HAPPY

I have been close to my weight loss goal for months now. It has gotten really hard to lose weight and keep it off at this point. I exercise 3-5 times per week and for the most part follow my eating plan. But it is not budging or only does when I am really really strict.

Should I just decide to be happy and keep up with the exercise and see what happens. Being concerned about the numbers is kind of dragging me down. I am a very competitive person who does not like to cheat. So I have set a goal and I want to complete it. Is the goal dragging me down though. When I weigh myself it can either make or break my day and that is a bad thing. I should just BE HAPPY.

Where do i go from here. Right now the dogs are prancing around the house,chewing slippers, and barking at Jehovah`s Witnesses walking down the street. They need to go for walkies, I need to go for walkies.

goals, ponderings, weight loss blogging, body image, fitness, nutrition, weight loss

I finally did it! I went to a Masters swim session last night. We were running a bit late so we were going to just do our own thing and swim laps, then we met the lovely coach and decided to well just jump in with both feet.

Before I started thinking about triathlon I would have counted swimming as the least of my worries behind running and cycling with clip in shoes. Hmmmm…. swimming is going to be my biggest challenge. Considering that I breast stroked my entire swim portion of my  Sprint Triathlon. The lake was very angry that day but people beat me by 10 mins despite the conditions. I really need to work on my form and I think that will greatly improve my speed and ability to go harder and longer…thats what she said (obscure The Office reference).

To further analyze swimming I think there is an innate fear of drowning that makes me panic a bit. I have trouble breathing on my left side so I have to either breath every 2nd or 4th stroke. When I get tired every 4 strokes makes me feel like I am drowning. My goal is to learn how to breath every 3rd stroke, that would make life so much easier.

When I started running I felt like the odd man out with no stamina or technique, but now I can run a sub 30 min 5k. Therefore the swimming can only get better. I think I will visualize a strong, elegant stroke, breathing every 3rd stroke, having enough air to swim as long as I need to.

Here is to adding the final element.

fitness, running, swimming, triathlon blogging, fitness, triathlon, weight loss

My first 10k

I have been getting a bit worked up trying to meet a certain deadline with my weight loss.  I have decided to just chill and stop being so fixated. Just do what has been working well so far, enjoy the process and love the outcome.

The Law of Attraction is something I fervently believe in. So the more I fixate on not losing weight, the less weight will come off. Does that make sense?

I have been listening to  Bob Proctor, I downloaded his audio book It’s not about the money. It is a great book about a personal journey towards wealth, but it also talks about the laws of attraction, confidence, belief in what you want to do with your life.

I have become reinvigorated on my walks with the dogs. It feels like I have come full circle. I began my weight loss journey by walking along the channel with the dogs. I went for a walk today and just powered through the walk I used to get tired doing, and even went further to boot. It is super cold and windy but I find the walk so calming and enjoyable.

Since I started exercising I have progressed from walking short distances, to walking further and faster, to Nordic Walking, and then to running, which morphed in to triathlon. The sky is the limit now…What should I do next? There is a small kernel that is nagging at me like a tiny rock in your shoe on a long run. The kernel is a large triathlon that happens to take place in Penticton. I am not promising anything but I am starting the process by taking a spinning class with Triathlon coaches. I really need to work on swimming but one thing at a time.

This post might have become a little unfocused along the way but oh well. This is my forum.

fitness, ponderings, running, triathlon, weight loss body image, fitness, running, triathlon, weight loss