Progress is ... a true brick

Tonight I did my first real brick. "Bricks refer to training on two disciplines during the same workout, one after the other with minimal or no interruption in between, just as you would do in a race." (I am sure you all knew this).

Basically I biked 7.5 miles and then ran 2.4 miles. OUCH. Tired girl.

Totally different work out. I'm so glad I have done it because I now know how important it is to get my body used to the transition. Saturday I am going to do a swim/bike brick. I might throw in a little run just for funsies. I went to a transition clinic earlier this month and I was laughing to myself at all the gals writing down notes, etc. Finding myself just a little bit wishing I had done the same as I am struggling to remember all of the things they went over.

Being on my bike was good - glad to finally have a few miles under my suspenders. Check out my new bike:

I'm definitely feeling more comfortable on my bike, it was nice to have my family with me supporting me in my training. I've got to get 2 long rides in this weekend - Rich will be away at the MS 150 riding 75 on Saturday and 75 on Sunday. Ride Papa Ride. We are proud of you!

I'm thinking that what I really need is to practice putting on and taking off my fancy biking shoes. It took me about 5 minutes to unbuckle them tonight and don't even talk to me about putting them on. On August 15th I'm going to need every second I can get, so now in addition to swimming, biking and running I also have to practice dressing myself?? Great crikey.

Here I am after the bike...
Looking pretty chipper. Thinking I'm all that.
On my way to the run. Have mercy.

I've pretty much made up my mind that I am going to listen to my IPod during the run. I'm going to use just one ear bud so I will be able to hear what's going on around me all while still jammin to Shake Your Tail Feather.

I felt pretty good running tonight, I must say. Currently I'm just sore; much like I would guess an old lady might feel after a rousing game of shuffleboard. When I got home Rich said I kept moaning every time I moved and I think he's right.

My ailments right now are WICKED sore ears from swimming. Ouch. Little bit of heiny ouchies. My legs are tired, but in a good way. And I have a pimple on my face.

This is how I looked after the BRICK:
I tracked the VORTEX today - still in California - bummed I'm going to miss the open water swim Saturday.

What else can I say? Do you want to hear about the fact that I have lost about .4 ounces during this process and the only parts of my body that feel any smaller are my wrists and fingers (rings and watch keep flipping around and around) and my ample bosoms are just a tad less ample according to my scientific cupping method of measuring my boobs. My butt, nothing. Legs, nothing.. Gut, nothing.

Is this where I should mention that my dinner tonight was oreos and milk? While I am spilling my true confessions, mother of the year is going to fess up to packing a LUNCHABLE in Izzy's lunch for tomorrow. We needed something neat & eaasy because she's going to the BEACH with camp. My child is going to think I am the bomb of a mom when she opens her lunch box. She has only had a Lunchable one time so it's pretty fantastic for her.

Night to each and every one (or two) of you that actually read this silly blog. Rich spit his water out when I told him tonight he needed to help me take pictures because my fans were counting on me and I didn't want to disappoint !! Wow I really entertain myself. It's sort of silly, but then, so am I.

B

Progress Is...I'm so tired from my swim I can't be clever

Apparently I swam over 1/2 mile tonight. That's 40 lengths, 20 "down & backs" - and I am so proud of myself I can hardly stand it. I could have kept going, but my training buddies, Iz, Margs & Madi Moos had to get home. I got into a great rhythm and my stroke was really strong. Finally! I have made amazing progress in endurance, stroke and breathing. Especially breathing! My coach suggested closing my eyes when my head is in the water to simulate being in the ocean where you can't see anything even with goggles - so I've been trying to do that in the pool - it is surprisingly HARD and it makes me dizzy. I'm glad to get that advice though, as I don't think I would have considered that particular difference between the pool & open water.

I ordered my wetsuit on Monday - hoping it's here by Friday 'cause I have been invited to an open water swim at SMCC with a nice group of gals. The group is actually doing the whole course, start to finish, but I'm a little unsure. I like to train solo, I always have. I have a huge hang up about holding people back. I am very slow....slow & steady. Anyway, if I can get an ocean swim in Saturday and 2 bike rides over the weekend and 1 run I will be feeling really good.

So, real quick, the wetsuit story. Based on a recommendation from a friend - Thanks Ann! - I ordered my wetsuit from XTERRA WETSUITS at xterrawetsuits.com. I've been looking and thinking about what to order, and all the while, listening to my husband complain about how we have no money, so I decided to be good and go with the value meal version wetsuit and get the $99.00 Sleeveless "Volt". So my receipt looks like this:

Product - VOLT Women's Large (VLTJ WL) $99.00 x 1 = $99.00
Shipping: UPS - UPS Ground $18.71
Total: $117.71

4 hours later I get this email from my buddy at Xterra, Jonathan, (I did actually talk to by phone about sizes):

Hi Elizabeth,
Please see changes to your invoice.

VORTEX 3 SLEEVELESS SKU: V3J WL $300.00
Group Discount (BT / $129.00)
-$171.00
Sub-Total
$129.00
Discount free upgrade
-$30.00

Shipping (UPS / UPS Ground)
$16.38

Total
$115.38

So for $2.00 less, I am getting a better (and cuter) suit. I'm convinced this is going to cut some serious time off my swim :-)
I've been anxiously tracking the progress of the VORTEX making it's way from California to Maine. This a.m. it was still on the West coast.

Ok, so to sum things up, I ran a little, swam a lot, now I gotta get some sleep. I'm gonna read a little bit of "Slow Fat Triathlete" and I'm sure after a couple of pages I'll be snoring.

Happy Training. B

Progress Is: Being Happy.

Check out my new kicks! Thanks Miss Ali Kat. You are always so good to me.

It cracks me up how excited I look BEFORE my run. [Let's all keep in mind that I have chosen to use the term RUN, despite the fact that I am actually moving at a slow trot.] Below is a pic I took AFTER my run. Again, I look super happy. I suppose if someone had snapped a pic of me DURING the run I would not look so chipper; perhaps I would sport a pained grimace or scowl. Perfect Penny always says, "When I see people running, they are NEVER smiling. They just don't look very happy." And for once, I'm not gonna argue 'cause he's right.

Bottom line training-wise: went 2 miles tonight.

And this is how happy I was AFTER the run was OVER:

I went from the track to the pool and did just a few laps, nothing big. One thing I have learned about myself during my training is that I really love swimming. I mean, OBVI I always knew I enjoyed it, but it's clicking that there's something about being in the water, be it pool, lake or ocean, makes me truly happy.

I'm feeling really positive about exercising because I actually LIKE it and look forward to it and it's not boring. Huh, novel idea - if you like something, you might actually stick with it.... sometimes it takes 39 years to learn these basic life lessons.

In the past (specifically when I trained for the B2B) I have focused so much on the event as the goal, and not my health or fitness in general. I literally finished the B2B, was so proud of myself - that was a huge accomplishment for me - and then I put my running shoes away. I don't believe it was really a conscious decision, I didn't wake up one day and say "I'm done running" - I think I was just sick of the monotony. Another thing that was frustrating - I never seemed to make any progress, no matter how hard I tried (but to be totally honest I never tried THAT hard), I never got better. I will say here and now that I really think I will do more TRI events after the TFAC.

The bike thing...I don't really feel safe or comfortable riding alone. I'm too slow for Fancy Pants Penny, and he prefers to go with A Diggity Dog anyway, which I do understand. It is really cramping my style though - not having a riding partner. I guess I just gotta get over it because the bike ain't gonna ride itself on August 15th.

Here's the after picture of Iz and I - we are great partners in the pool! You should see her do the breast stroke, amazing. Love you Iz my little Aqua Rocket xoox.

Progress Is....bilateral breathing...knowing what it means AND being able to do it!

When I started this crazy adventure I did not know what bilateral breathing was - I suppose I knew swimmers did it, but I had never tried it myself. Tonight as I swam I amazed myself in the progress I have made - endurance...so much progress! Stroke, definitely some progress. Control, progress!!! Confidence...progress! And I am bilateral breathing 95% of the time!

O, real quick, for those 2 or 3 of you who have not yet received a self portrait of my new hair style via email, text or FB --how cute is my new hair do?? I love my new BFF Heath. How was it that I left my hair so plain Jane for SO LONG? Anyway...as usual, I digress...

On top of all this splashy swimming news, I also ran tonight! 30 minutes...my play list consisted of GnR, Sweet Child O Mine, Hungry Like the Wolf, The Theme from ROCKY, Faith by George Michael, MJ's Wanna Be Startin' Something and Carrie Underwear "I don't even know his last name" or whatever she is yelling about. It was a good run. Happy. Sweaty. Good, despite the minor and ugly chaffing problem. Ewwwww. It's not pretty, but I'm doing it. I have yet to do a true "brick" - where I am supposed to go straight from the swim to the bike or the bike to the run. This will be my goal for the next 10 days...

How many posts has it been that I have said, "I've gotta get on my bike" - well, consider it said AGAIN.



I chatted with a friend who did a TRI recently, asked her about her training and her response was so interesting to me. When I said, "Did you train a lot?" she said, "You know, In my head I did" it's funny, in my own crazy Beth head I am training a lot, in reality, not so much. But I'm still excited, proud, looking forward to this challenge and happy with the progress I have made so far. All that, AND I know I will have five (5!!!) fans there on race day - Thanks Papa Rich, Iz, Ali Kat, Madi Moos and my Sister a/k/a Kitty Kat Kougar.



I met another young woman at the pool tonight who is training for the TRI - a fellow first-timer. It's so nice to see that "we're all in this together" - she was super sweet, supportive and not a crazy athlete, just a normal girl. Like me. Well, she might be a bit more normal, but we're both girls.

Progress Is...running happy and running well

Tonight I ran inside while Iz had swim practice. For the first time in a long time, I felt happy, positive, and could envision myself running the 3 miles after biking the 15 miles after swimming the 1/3 mile!!! Right now the bike has me most nervous...

I swam tonight after my run and had a coach watch me swim. She gave me a little feedback on technique and guess what...?? I am a pretty good swimmer! My stroke is strong and only needed a little tweaking. I am "sculling" and breathing well - am working now on bilateral breathing, which is coming pretty easily. Until tonight I did not know what sculling was, but apparently I do it naturally! Coach Kara is going to send me some training suggestions and meet with me in a few weeks to watch my stroke and give me some more tips. She has done open water swims and the swim leg of TRIs before so she gave me some tips on what to expect in the ocean.

My fundraising!! So excited - up to $851.00 tonight. Thanks Kitty.

Here's a poll question for you - please let me know your thoughts....one of the TRI coordinators told us at the transition clinic NOT TO LISTEN TO IPods during the run. Her position is that this will be one of the most amazing experiences of my life and I should not take away from the experience by having music blaring in my ears. She says I will be "into myself" and will miss the experience of camaraderie with fellow runners and the support and cheering of the crowd of people on the route. I'm not sure I buy it. I listened to my IPod during the B2B and was able to hear all the cheers and I enjoyed seeing the posters, hearing the music, getting hosed off by spectators. I felt like I was living in the moment each of the 6.2 miles...I felt like I had a great experience and I was also able to listen to music that inspired me, kept me moving and got me smiling...
...to listen to music or not....please weigh in. I'm curious what you all would do. And, assuming I do break all the rules (per my usual MO), I will need some kick ass music to load on my IPod, still looking for some suggestions. Bring 'em on.

Update followed with deep thoughts by Jack Handy

Been swimming some. Been running some. Been biking - not so much. Gotta push it into high gear training. I'm getting nervous! Trying to remember Dani's mantra -- "CompLETE, NOT ComPETE" - thanks Dan!

Fundraising news - I'm so excited about my success... I'm hoping to reach my $1,000.00 goal in the next 2 weeks. Thanks for the support everyone! I have raised $751.00 !! I'm so appreciative of all of you chipping in for this wonderful cause.

Housekeeping news - I've gotta order my wetsuit. I am getting anxious to start open water swimming. I've already got Miss Ali Kat to be my kayak support, so that will be nice. O, and Ali, how's your sign coming??!! I also have to figure out where to get a Tri Suit and how many millions of dollars it's going to cost me. O, and honey, I do need a new bike helmet. SORRY.

Fan Club Progress - I'm starting to recruit friends (strangers are welcome too!) to come out on the big day and cheer me on! I'm going to need all the help I can get! SUNDAY August 15th at 2:00 - SMCC!!!!

I met a young woman at the pool last week and we chatted TFACure a bit. She shared with me that participating in the TFACure last year was the best experience of her life. I know it will not be as incredible as child birth, but perhaps almost as empowering. I never felt as strong and as successful as I did the day I gave birth to my baby girl...I am hopeful that this TRI will be a very close second!

Thanks hubby for scoring me a bunch o swim caps for FREE! If you know Rich, you will understand why he is friendly with just about EVERYONE in Portland...they all love him. Over the years he's received a number of hats, t-shirts, various forms of baked goods & candies, gift cards, cold, hard, cash, etc. etc. from his adoring customers. I can't imagine why! Oh, and his charming personality and sweet face also earned him the title of "Customer of the Week" at Starbucks!! His picture was up all week with a note about his drink of choice (vanilla latte, with whipped cream). Love you hun.

Today Rich, Iz and I attended a beautiful celebration of life. My dear friend's dad passed away suddenly this week and hearing his youngest daughter speak this afternoon about the way he lived his life was incredibly inspiring. Seeing the strength and closeness in his family was heart warming. Tonight as I keep this special family in my thoughts, I'm remembering that life and family are precious. I'm remembering to love people not things. I'm remembering that many different friends and friendships have really touched me and turned me into the person I am today and I am grateful for each and every one of you.