Mixed adventures

Today was a day of mixed adventures. We started off car shopping as my lease is almost up on my Jeep Liberty. I can honestly say I am ready to give this car back. As soon as I walked into the dealership I was greeted like a red carpet star with paparrazi ready to snap a picture. But they were eager and greedy to get to me to make a sale instead. I had a few cars in mind. I still cannot decide what I want so I left the guy hanging without any notice that I would be back to make a deal or not. Oh well, Im sure they made a sale today on some other sucker.

Next was our trip to Petland. I wanted to see what animals they had in stock. The lady said they get new dogs in every Tuesday and after strict observation they can come out to play on Fridays. Now today, the store was packed with kids playing with open ferrets, birds, hamsters. Me I wanted nothing to do with any of them. I wanted to look at the dogs. See I have been thinking about getting a dog for a while. One that can prance around with me when I run. I told the guy our expectations and he pointed out some dogs to us. A lady came over to us in her safari uniform and set us into a socialization room where we could bond with the dog of our choice. The first one was a PUG. That puppy was filled with so much energy, I think she bit me about 10 times in the 10 min we got to play with her. Next up for our socialization was a collie. The puppy was so scared for the first few minutes I felt so bad. I picked him up and held him close. He was shaking. I put him  down on the floor and all of a sudden the walls came down and he started playing with my daughter and My boyfriends shoe laces. The last puppy we looked at was a Boston Terrier. My favorite dog ever. I just wanted to scoop him up in my shirt and jet out of the store. We decided on asking how much it would be to take the puppy home. It will be 1200 the lady said to us. I was floored at how much they wanted for this dog. I reluctantly gave the dog back and cried inside. I will definately look for a Boston somewhere else. I guess pure breds are very expensive, but this one wasn't even registered yet!!!

We did a few more errands, running to the Bike shop for some accessories. I decided to pick up a double AquaCell bottle to put in my aerobars for the HIM. I like the bottle. It has a 32oz compartment and a 16 oz one as well. I will put water in the smaller one and my PowerBar Endurance in the other one. This should last me a couple hours.

Lastly, we hopped into the local pool for a dip. It was a hot day but the pool is in the shade and it was a little chilly. I asked my boyfriend to take a short video of my swimming. You see, everyday I include a little portion of my ventures as a triathlete. Even if it means sneeking strokes in while Im playing with my daughter in the pool!! Here is a Video of my stroke:

This was a quick video but I think I need to Keep my arms a little closer to the water and glide a little bit more, but otherwise I like the way my stroke looks!! 1 week from today is IRONGIRL!! It is a sprint race off of Oneida Shores in New York. I want to go all out and hold nothing back!! Hopefully I will be happy with the results!!

Training

One of My weekly sessions is being a supporting cast to a Training Series. Every Wednesday Evening we gather all our training gear and head Down to Oneida Shores for a few hours of training. What I love about this is meeting new triathletes and how excited they are to be trying the sport out. One of the local Triathlons hitting the scene in August is Iron Girl. If you haven't heard about all the races of IronGirl check it out on Irongirl.com.

One girl came up to me and asked me where you would change after the swim. I kindly said you wear tri shorts and a tri top or a race suit so there is no need to change in between.

Another girl came up to me congratulating me on my AG win at Henderson Harbor. I was like how do these people know what I did?? I guess its a good thing to have followers.

Another girl asked me to help her change her tire as she didn't know how to. I quickly showed her how to change that flat. I think I was under 5 min. (maybe)

Oneida Shores Training Series

The tri training series consists of 600m swim, 12 mile bike and a 3.1 mile run. You can do any portion you want as long as you are back by the designated time which is 2 hours. Last night I did a 2 loop swim in 21 min. I came into transition, took my time getting on my bike, tried keeping my shoes on my bike but got nervous with all the runners in the area running as well, didn't want to crash. I ended up keeping a 22mi/hr ave speed, went out for my run and back in 25 min. When I got back to the table a lady came up to me and asked me if I did the whole bike ride. I said yes. She sighed and said, I don't know how you did it when you were just putting along in transition. I was floored. I have to admit, I am a good bike rider. I have bee racing bikes for 4 years now. I love speed and the faster I go the better I feel. I looked away and then looked back at her and said. Its all about gearing and cadence and if you put those 2 together correctly you will have speed and its about training as well. I decided to also tell her that I did 2 swim loops. Nothing more was said.

Training Series

Everyone is eager to learn, every one has determination written on their faces, possibly a little female rivalry as well with IronGirl Coming up. Last night we had over 200 people training!!! Wow! To think our Tri-club has tripled its number of members in 1 year. This goes to show you how much the triathlon world has exploded here in Central New York.

IronGirl is next weekend and my goals are to beat my times from last year. I am not going to worry about any other woman. Beating the clock is what its all about.

60 mile training ride

Today started off with me deing inspired by all the people I knew that were doing the Lake Placid Ironman. I was tracking them online here and there throughout the day.

The sunshine was out and it was a beautiful day for a ride. Andy and I set out on our 60 mile round trip bike ride to Oswego Harborfest and back.

We went through Liverpool, Pheonix, Fulton, and Oswego. There were a few curse words creeping up in my head as we had a head wind going out to Oswego the whole time. I think we averaged only an 18mph on the way there.

On our way, Andy suddenly came to a stop and turned around at these railroad tracks. Im thinking he must have dropped something. No, He saw a turtle in the middle of the road and didn't want him to get trampled over by a car. He went to pick the stinking pungent thing, and it snapped at him. I think it snapped a couple times at him before I came to see what the commotion was about. I then saw the turtle bite on the bottom of Andys road shoe. The thing was so vicious!!!

The Vicious Snapping Turtle

On our way home I had a mental breakdown. Andy started picking up speed going about 25mph. I had crotch pain and some headaches that were creeping in. I don't think I kept up with my nutrition well. I literally started crying at one of the stop signs we came to. I was upset that I started to get dropped by my boyfriend who is a great bike rider. Why, I do not know. I decided I would ride as best as I could and hang in there and keep up with drinking every 15min.

We ended up with a 21 mph average speed on the way home. 60 miles in 3:18. Im ok with that

I got home, took a protein drink in and went for a run. I didn't go far, only 1.5 miles just to see if I could get a good turnover coming off the bike. My ave 8:42.

Next time it will be a longer run off the bike!!! :)

Movie Snacking GUILT

Me and the little one went to see Despicable Me last night. We stopped at the store in the mall to get snacks for our little outing. We hid them in our shorts so no one would see that we had some goodies that werent from the cinemas snack bar. Who cares is what I say. I dont get why it matters. I know they are trying to profit but come on. Its ridiculous the prices of the things they sell there, not to mention the sizes!! A medium is bigger than the super sized drink at McDonalds!!!

We were well on to watching the movie when I pulled out my movie sized box of Butterfingers. Ok. I have to admit that I am a choco-holic, no matter what it is. If it has chocolate on it, I will eat it. It could be a sardine and I just might give it a try...HA HA!!

Well, I ended up eating the whole box!! Except for 1 that I gave my boyfriend!! I said to myself Im only going to eat a few and put the rest away.....yeah right that didn't work.

So after the movie, which was so cute, I looked at the nutrition content. Should I just say that the serving size per container was 2.5....2.5!!!!! I think I almost cried at that point. I think I shed a tear. How guilty I felt at that moment.

I said to my boyfriend, I feel like the lady on my last blog!!!! He looks at me and says, you stilll look the same to me and it is one day!! You have been eating well for a while now. I decided not to dwell on what I did but try to be concious of it in the future.

Now time to eat my banana and oatmeal...

No it isnt your thyroid or any other reason

Im a bit steamy from work today so I thought I'd right a post about it.

Most of my day to day activities involve mostly overweight woman who want to talk about weight loss.

They say to me...I cant seem to lose weight..There must be something wrong with me. Its got to be my thyroid. Then I ask them about how much exercise they do daily...

"Well I sit on my couch and use a rower with my arms or legs, and occasionally I use my Wii Fit."
me- well, are you working up a sweat for at least 30-40min daily

"I think so yeah" (YEAH, RIGHT)

ME- How are you eating?? Do you eat well balanced meals including lean meats, fresh fruits, veges and little snacking on free sweets??"

"Well, I think so. Yeah I will I admit I snack alot, and I eat late at night, But for the most part I eat well"

ME- in my head (YEAH RIGHT) well its all about nutrient timing and how you exercise. 90%  of weight gain is because of diet and exercise imbalance. You have to take in less calories and burn more to lose weight

"Well, I want my thyroid checked, and could I try some weight loss pills?"

ME--Diet and exercise will work just as well, there is no quick fix, it is a life long commitment to eating healthy and exercising. I will check your thyroid, but I doubt thats the cause of your OBESITY

It is an epidemic and it is hitting my Family Practice office!!! Help!! Im going insane!!

Ok...Im done now

Ithaca Outing

This morning I got up and headed out for my run early in the morning as to not take away from the day ahead. I set out for a 10 mile run but ended up doing 8.5 miles due to time constraints. I finally felt really good on my long run!!!! Progress!! Well it does help that the humidity was low and the temperature was low 70s this morning with a great breeze.

I felt great the whole run until I got home and started making a recovery breakfast. My stomack was very queesy. I thought about my last run and what I had done differently this time. This time I used PowerAId instead of my PowerBar drink. Ill never do that again. Need to stick with what works.

Took me 2 hours after my run to feel better.

It took us about an 1 1/2 hours to get to Ithaca and I was so excited to go. Because today I was going to get my Tri bike fit for me!!! I have been having some saddle soreness and also feeling too outstretched on it so felt it was worth the trip.

We got to the Science Center first and spent a couple hours being amazed by little science projects. I think I tried to put a puzzle of 7 blocks into a square about 80 times and still couldn't figure it out!!! We touched some star fish and hermit crabs, walked onto musical stairs, magified our skin, hair and pants to 300x. There was also a outdoor exhibit where my daughter lifted me off the ground with a lever pulley!! Strong 6 year old!! LOL!!

After our Science trek, we went to the Ithaca Commons for a nice Mexican Lunch then hit the Fingerlakes Running and Triathlon Co. This place is a little shop located in the Commons. This is where my bike fit was. I met one of the owners at a Running Mechanics talk he gave to the CNY tri club a while back. We got there early and perused the store. Not too shabby!! Has some great stock and I wanted alot in the store but knew if I needed anything for my bike, I should wait to make any purchases.

I got on the trainer and we spend a good 30-40 min just on my saddle!! This was most of the problem of course!! It was a toss up between 2 saddles but I decided to mount my bottom on a Adamo Round series Century X seat. I hope it will hold up for the long mileage!!! My seat was also sitting a little too high, but other than that my form on my bike was perfect!! I left the store happy with my purchases. I even got some nice smelling odor control for my tri shoes...PEEEUUUU those things stink!!!

I think I might need to save and purchase some new shoes next!!! ;0)

My first attempt

Not the best, not the worst either..

I finally attempted leaving my shoes on my bike and hopping on!!! Im still a little wobbly with the mounting but my dismount is good!!

I tried swinging my leg back the other way...It just wasn't happening for me, so Im going to swing it forward and hope I dont knock anyone over in the process..

Heres the video of my attempt...

Im so proud...I think I pranced and jumped around for a while saying "I did it!" to my boyfriend about a million times!!! My boyfriend is way better at mounting than I am but just the fact that I can do it means Im getting stronger and more confident as a triathlete!!

Henderson Harbor Sprint Triathlon Recap

It was certainly a great morning yesterday for a race, and having been preparing and training for the 70.3 I have some little races Im doing to really focus on transitioning and not panicking in the water.

Yesterday was the day I managed to do both fairly well!!!

Henderson Harbor is on Eastern Lake Ontario, Just a little over an hour North of Syracuse and about 17 miles west from Watertown area. Its really a relaxed, Picturesque, rural community. See more about this beautiful place at http://www.visit1000islands.com/

Ok back to the Tri. The cost of this Triathlon was very cheap and one of the reasons I chose it with all the other costs coming out of the expense pool this year. Also, the money raised funds for Children's Home of Jefferson County and CREDO Community Center

We arrived pretty early, about 7:15am as we had to pick up our race packet before 8:15a. I was number 123. I got body marked and out to the transition area to pick a good spot. Its nice to get to the transition area a little early because it helps to pick a spot that will make transition times faster. I picked a spot closer to the bike and run leg out and directly in the middle of the swim exit. Perfect. 

My Transition Area

Bike and Run Leg

This tri I wanted to try putting my shoes on the bike and take of from T1. I thought I was taking a risk but what the heck. Why not try it??

Me deciding to put my shoes on the bike

After viewing the course in my mind and how I wanted to do well, I settled into my wetsuit. It was hard getting it on as the humidity was starting to creep and I took a warm-up run before putting it on. I have been using Trislide and absolutely loving it. Its like a thin silicone layer that goes between your skin and the wetsuit. I like it better than BodyGlide. 

Game Faces- Mine is always Sweeter!!! :)

Next my boyfriend and I warmed up in the Lake. We went out to the first buouy which was about 200 meters away. It was cold at first but the water was so clear and calm it was a great warm-up swim.

We then listened to some announcements and got into the water. I wanted to try being up front and making people pass me. I settled into a spot a little inwards on the right hand side. The horn went off and we were on our way!! I got kicked and hit and jossled a bit at the beginning but maintained my composure. I couldn't find anyone my speed to draft off of so I basically spotted and swam my own race!!

Swim:  12:47 (600 meters)

I had a little fumble in swim out which I think cost me some time but not much..I almost stopped because I couldn't find my wetsuit zipper string.

T1- 59 sec (Fastest T1 EVER!!) executed

Bike mount- since I decided to try the shoes on the bike this time. I was a little nervous. got on my bike the regular way and was almost greaet until my left shoe fell right off my bike! I had to run a little ways to pick it up but made the time up on the bike!! The bike leg had a few climbs but nothing major. It was a 15.5 mile loop. Very scenic. The temperature was now creeping up a bit and I could feel it at the end of the bike leg

Bike 45:35 (3rd female fastest time!) over a 20 mile ave speed!

At the end of the bike leg, my feet came out of my shoes and on top. Executed!!

T2- 42 sec (Another fastest ever!!)

Run leg- this is were I bottom out. It was a 4 mile out and back course. I felt strong up until this point. I couldn't breathe as the heat pounding down and with no forgiveness in sight. I managed to run more slowly than I wanted to. I hate it when 8 women pass me because my run is slow. I definately need to work on this!! I feel everytime I run my asthma wants to take over. my legs wanna go but my lungs say NO WAY!!

Run- 39:15.

Total Time 1:39:18

Nice Mug!!

1st place in Age group. 13/73 females, 84/198 people.

Henderson Harbor

It was a great day today for a race!!! I set out to do well with no personal goal time in mind, just to feel well and to go with it as this was my first Sprint Triathlon of the season.

Needless to say I placed 1st in my age group!!!!! YES!!! My first ever!!

Race details to come...

Tour De France and training

http://www.letour.fr/indexus.html

What could be better than watching the Tour De France and Training on the trainer?!!!

I had the most enjoyable ride watching the Tour De France with my significant other while we were on our trainers trying to escape the 96 degree humid temps outside today. There was a heat index advisery in effect for New York today as temperatures soared into the upper 90s as it has been for the last couple days.

Alot of Crashes in the Tour the last Few Days...Geesh!!

My boyfriend and I have a few favorites in the Tour...of course Lance is my favorite, so is Schleck brothers...poor Frank Scheck broke his collarbone..hope everything heals well for him. Im also a favorite of Levi Leipheimer. I just cant decide who I like the most!! I wish they would air the Female Version of the Tour!!! But of course it isn't as popular! :(

I also tried getting in and out of my tri shoes as I was riding..I have made Progress...I might even try it at the Henderson Harbor Triathlon this weekend~

Back to Training

Last week was a frightful week. Tuesday morning I went out with other triathletes to our usual swim spot we were on our way back when I felt like I couldn't catch my breath, couldn't get air in. I yelled to a couple of people next to me and told them I couldn't breathe. They helped my back to shore. I kept my cool the whole way and was applauded by my efforts to remain calm even though I felt like someone sucked every bit of life out of me!

As we were sitting on shore, I kept coughing. Coughing to the point I was coughing up pink frothy sputum. All the way home in the car I was considering just taking myself to the ER because I still couldn't breathe. I finally made it home and had my boyfriend take me to the Urgent Care center by our house. Needless to say they didn't want to keep me there because of my condition so I was carried away on an ambulance to the ER.

AFter 10 hours in the ER, they finally diagnosed me with Viral Pneumonia. I had a total of 3 nebulizers, 2 IV antibiotics, a Chest xray, a CT scan of my chest and and ECHO. They thought maybe a blood clot to the lung at one point. Thank god that wasn't the case because my training probably wouldve been over for a while.

2 days post ER visit, my body decided against the antibiotics and I had a rash from head to toe!! I then needed a course of Prednisone which didn't sit well with my body, made me nauseas and wired at the same time. Kinda weird feeling.

I finally got the ok to get back to training from my doctor on Friday. I set out for a swim..did great. then a 30 min run which was great as well.

Since then I've watched the Tour De France, Had a bunch of cupcakes, potato salad, hamburgers and Hotdogs as it is 4th of July!!!

Ill start again tomorrow...possibly 10 pounds heavier!! LOL!!!