I hate running :)

Just wanted to share that... Wondering if I will ever get any quicker... Wondering if running 3 miles non-stop will EVER happen (or one mile or two miles, at 5mph or quicker)... Wondering if it will ever feel any easier... Wondering how in the heck I am gonna do 6.2 miles after swimming a mile and biking 26 :)
Just alot of wondering going on today... Nerves starting to get to me I guess.
Well I actually lifted weights on Tuesday and I can tell that its been a while, because I am actually still a bit sore. My arms are still hurting and my legs from doing the hip abductor/adductor thingy. Gonna shoot for 2 days of weights just now and keep with my running/biking/swimming. Got another sprint race coming up the weekend after next and it would be so nice to not suck so bad at the run and be 3rd from last to finish :) Of course the big bridge scared off alot of inexperienced people last weekend, at least thats what I tell myself, hehe.
So don't think I mentioned that we are filling in out crappy old 45+ year old pool in the back yard. It was 7 feet deep of useless space. Too deep to ever get warm enough to use. Too deep to walk out more than 3 feet from the steps. Too many cracks all over the place to keep the water in. Too many things wrong with it. The hurricane destoryed the screen patio. It is in such a bad spot and we have no back yard. So we decided 6 months ago to fill it in and break up the deck and grass over it. So fast forward 6 months, I must like to wait til it gets to the hottest time of the year to work outside! So my guys that work for us are a little slow this week, since we are between jobs waiting for the next one to start. So 3 of them have been here like little troopers, jack-hammering, shoveling, digging, scooping, sweating... It is coming along, slooooooowly. The main top pieces have been removed from the screen and the sides are still in place since there is still techincally water in the pool. I just hope that my guys don't quit ;) I mean it is realllllly hot outside.
Well I guess that is enough ranting for one afternoon.
Oddly enough I will be running tonight, hoping for 4-5 miles, preferably outside instead of the dreadmill, but I guess that depends on if the rain is going to stay away or not.

Reward if found!

Lost: my motivation. If found please return immediately! Big reward if found promptly.
So I just am not feeling it today :(
I'm not sure my. Probably the crappy sleep I've gotten the last 2 nights has alot to do with it. I haven't really watched TV since ? Maybe I will turn the boob tube on and put that plasma to some use. I've been staying in my calorie allowance, I've been drinking my water, I've been eating healthy, I'm staying off the wheat, I'm exercising, and today I just feel like I am dragging. Well I have cut back on the caffiene too, but that was not intentional, I just don't keep soda in the house anymore and I haven't been eating any fast food lately, so only a little bit of coffee here and there. Who knows.
So tonight went to the gym after Bubba feel asleep, I feel less guilt that way :) I got in 30 minutes of weight training and almost a 30 minute swim. I was just not up for a swim today. Maybe my body is still recovering from the beating that it got over the weekend, yeah that's it. Hopefully a good nights sleep will do the trick.
Gluten free diet is going good, getting more used to what to make. Haven't eaten out a single meal since Friday night, which is unheard of in this house! Plus side of the diet is that it's cut down on DH's evening gas output ;)
Tomorrow I am gonna try to run again and Thursday I am hoping for an after work ride over at my LBS. Supposed to be a group going out for a 25 miler. That would be great. And one of these days I would like to get caught up on my work so I can have a little more free time. If I couldn't type fast, I would never have time to blog and this is really great mental therapy, hehe.

Riviera Beach/Singer Island Triathlon

So I had my 3rd ever sprint triathlon today. It was in Riviera Beach. It consisted of a 1/4 mi open water swim in the Atlantic Ocean, a long transition run to the bikes, a 10 mi bike (over a very tall fixed bridge) and a 3 mi run (also over that same darn bridge).

So I got there on time and picked up my packet & chip. Got body marked and brough all my stuff over to transition to set up. I ran into several people that I know through Team In Training (we are like roaches, we're everywhere!). Also so my old tri coach from last season, and the other tri coach from the Jupiter team. There were a few people from my current team there as well, so that helps.

So I set up my stuff and headed down to the ocean for some warm-up swimming. The water was crystal clear, and flat with a gentle roll. I was looking at the bouys thinking that I must be swimming way to much because this course looked aweful short. So after about 15 minutes of warmup, I headed over towards the starting area and noticed there is now an additional big yellow bouy (the other two were big orange one) and one additional small orange buoy. So now I am totally confused and wondering where the heck do we turn in. Then I thought, what am I thinking, like I am gonna be leading the pack, hehe, I will just be following the thundering flailing heard into the water and follow the lead group. So anyways just before the 1st wave goes off, the announcer points out that we are to turn in after passing the yellow buoy and the small orange one is not theres (probably a crab trap or something). So okay that clears up my confusion, but I guess not everyone heard the message, well everyone but one heard the message. The guy that comes to these local races and constantly kicks the crap out of everyone apparently just flew by the yellow buoy and headed towards the trap. The announced was utterly speechless. Turns out this guy swam ?? additional yards to some other buoy and still beat all the guys out of the water and still won overall by a comfortable margin. Can you say... wow?

So on to my swim. So my swim went okay. I am way more comfortable in the water now and I swam the course without stopping. I wish they would stick the freakin matts at the water exit though. It kills me that I finish about middle of the pack and then get passed by all these people running towards transition because I just can't run very well barefoot or just after swimming my butt off. But anywho, the swim was great and it was off to the bike.

So my bike started out reallllly well. I was blowing by all those people that ran past me to transition. I was cooking at over 20 mph for a bit, once we hit the turnaround, I must of been getting tired and a little wind must of been there because I dropped down to around 17-18 mph. Then with 2 miles to go, the dreaded bridge. Aghhh, I hate this bridge. It is right by the port and its fixed so its verrrrrrry tall. Of course they make us go over this at the end of our ride and then stop immediately at the bottom to u-turn and go back over, double aghhhhh. So I suffer over the bridge and I am not happy with what it had done to my awesome average speed, but thats life. So I speed down the other side with about 1/2 mi to transition and I hit 33.3 mph at the bottom, sweeeeeeet! I love speeeeeed.

So I blow into transition, rack the bike, change my shoes and head out to run, or in the case of today, walk. Yes its sadly pathetic, but I walked most of the course. I was tooo spent and it wa already over 90 degrees and the sun was blazing. I was wondering why I even signed up for this agony, then a few fellow slow pokes reminded me... because most other people are still at home in their beds and you are out here getting healthy and trying to improve your life. I love my fellow triathletes, they are truly a very supportive bunch! They are the ones that keep me going. I also saw some of my cycle buddies that had stopped to watch and cheer (thanks guys!).

So now to the crappy numbers :)
1/4 mi swim: 11:44
T1: 4:22
10 mi bike: 35:28 (16.9 mph)
T2: 1:38
3 mi run: 51:35 (cringe)
Total: 1:44

I was 237 of 240 finishers, but I was 3rd in the Athena group (but there was only 3 of us).
I even got a cool little award plaque, now sad is that, hehe.

By contrast, my sprint race in April, the FAU Wellness Triathlon, my times were:
Keep in mind there was no giant bridge at this race, so I guess I have shown improvement if you factor that in.
1/4 mi swim: 13:42
T1: 3:47
10 mi bike: 34:14
T2: 1:44
3 mi run: 52:04 (cringe)
Total: 1:45

At my sprint race 2 weeks ago in Fort Lauderdale, my times were:
3/8 mi swim: 20:34 (50% longer swim and it was over a 1/4 mi run to transition, my swim was only 14 min or so)
T1: 2:56
10 mi bike: 34:07 (17.6 mph, 2/7 in group)
T2: 2:38
3 mi run: 51:52 (cringe)
Total: 1:52

So needless to say, the Chicago Tri should be alot of fun :) my goal is 3:30 or less, sad I know.

Day 3 of Gluten Free, hey that rhymes

So today was day 3 of being gluten free. I guess its not as hard as I thought it was gonna be. Of course your body decides its gonna crave everything it can't have and you will go running around like mad trying to find an acceptable substitute. Why do our brains do that to us?? So I bought some brown rice pasta, it was actually quite... the same. Imagine that... I also got some brown rice bread, which I think was mislabeled. I think it should have read "very expensive brown rice brick", as it weighed 1-1/2 pounds for a very small loaf and cost over $5.00. I tried the bread toasted and it taste remarkably like .... toast, only not quite as tasty, but not bad.

For those of you unfamiliar with gluten-free, it is basically anything with wheat, barley, rye. So no cookies, cakes, breads, rolls, pizza (boo-hoo), pasta. I am doing this because I believe it will make me feel better. I have a sneaky suspicion that I have a gluten intolerance (and you too mom!). So from now until race day next month, I will give it a try. I can eat any of the following: meat, chicken, fresh fruit & veg, rice, gatorade & gu (thank god). Sounds remarkably healthy! Well I can also eat: ice cream, popsicles, pudding, etc. But I am also trying to limit my sugar intake. It's amazing that 3 days of cutting back on sugar and I hardly crave anything sweet. Now all I need is a good nights sleep. Oh yeah I still need to post my race report from yesterday, very exciting stuff.

The swim that wouldn't end!

Well we had swim training this am and our coach had us swim 3,000 yards. Did I mention that we did this without stopping! I think my time was around 1:15, which I was pretty darn happy with. I was close to the last one finished, but I wasn't far behind some others. Some day I will figure out what I am doing wrong with my stroke...

It was funny, I got in the pool and I must of missed the part about what we were doing. We were getting ready to push off and I was like, well what are we swimming. Coach just said your gonna do 3,000. Someone else shouted out, yeah it will be 60. So I take off thinking, oh I can do 60 lenths, that shouldn't be too bad. Well it is taking my brain a little while to catch up because I was trying not to lose track of what number I was on. So pretty soon I start closing in on 60 lengths and I am feeling pretty darn good. Now I start to think, well why is everyone else still swimming, maybe I need to do the math on this. So my heart sank when I realized that we had to do 60 laps or 120 lengths! Wow I was only 1/2 way done! My time for 1 mile non-stop (66 lengths) was 40 min, so I was feeling alright. Now keep in mind 6 months ago I was winded after 1 lap!

We also got our race wetsuits today! I had ordered a sleeveless and couldn't wait to get home and check it out. It fit great, was a bit of a pain to get into, but real easy to get out of. It is our Team-In-Training suit and they have been supplied by Fit 2 Race. Very happy with the fit! In the next couple weeks I am sure we will have a training session in them!

Thoughts on progress

Well today was the end to another hectic week. Welcome to the weekend!
So I picked up some books today on eating gluten-free. I am willing to give it a try. Hoping this will help me with my skin, my mood and my energy levels.
So tomorrow we will be having a long swim training session. On Sunday we are supposed to be biking, but I am thinking about entering the Singer Island Sprint Tri. I am leaning towards doing the race, it will be less of a beating than our bike training, LOL.

T-minus 29 days to race day. Guess I should get busy booking our flights! Grant & Mac will be tagging along and we will probably spend a few extra days to check out the sites.

Overall training is going good. When I get frustrated, I just look back to last year when I started on this journey and realize how far I have come. Jan of 2007 I got my first road bike and starting training for a century ride. I remember how unstable I felt on that thing and having cars whiz by my tail.

In Sept of 2007 I started to incorporate running, my least favorite activity in the whole world, right next to listening to country music :) When I started jogging, I could hardly go for a minute and my pace was around a 20 min/mi. I remember my big goal was to be able to jog non-stop to the end of my street! I managed to eek thru the Disney 1/2 Marathon in Jan of 2008 at a average pace around 17:00 min/mi. Here we are in July and I am getting around 14:00 min/mi, unless its been a brick run and then I'm closer to 16:00 min/mi.

As a kid growing up in south Florida, swimming was a natural progression. I was on a swim team when I was little and I am a certified open water diver. I "thought" my swimming fitness was okay until the day I went to the pool to start some swim training in Feb of 2008. I could hardly swim 2 lengths of the pool without being winded! How the heck was I gonna do a 1/4 mi in the ocean. Oh yeah, the current. That's what I kept telling myself. As our swim training progressed, I was able to start builiding my swim stamina and I also learned to swim efficiently. Now I can swim seemingly endless laps at a comfortable pace and with a low heart rate. Gotta keep your head down, roll your body, stretch that stroke & feel the water! I'm an experienced swimmer and it took me a while to absorb this stuff, but its finally sinking in.

So next month I have the Loggerhead Sprint Tri and the Chicago Olympic Tri (my big event ). I am really enjoying this new sport and I am such a gear head, I love my gadgets. To those just starting out, be patient. Build your base, view your race as an experience. Me I just embrace being last in my age group :) I seem to do well on the swim & bike, but my run, well it needs some work.

First Post - my ramblings :)

Okay so I found this bloggin site and here I go.
In 30 days from today I will be racing in my first ever Olympic Distance Triathlon. I am doing the Accenture Chicago Triathlon on Aug 24 with Team In Training. I hav been fairly consistent with my training, with the exception of taking vacation last month and getting the flu :(
We had a mock triathlon last week in which our coach had us swim some unknown distance (1/2 mi?) and then we rode 9 miles and ran 4 miles. Needless to say it was hot, but not too difficult. We are swimming every Saturday for around 60 min and Sundays we bike about 30 miles and then run 4 miles afterwards. Someday I will get back from the bike ride with everyone else and get to run the full 4 miles, but who knows when that will be.
Did I mention that I am one of very, very, very few people on my team that has not done several olympic distance tri's? Yes so us 2 or 3 people (depends on who shows up) always end up lagging the group coming back.
My swimming: I would like to think that my swimming will not be an issue. I feel pretty strong in the water, my pulse stays relatively low and I feel pretty efficient. I would like to swim faster, but with a mile swim before my other 2 events, I am thinking it is better to be a little slower and well rested, than gain a couple minutes and be spent!
My biking: So right now my average bike speed when solo is about 17 mph. With the group I can usually hang around 20 mph, as long as I am drafting. Distance is not a problem, as I have recently done a 75 miler, a 50 miler and we normally do 30 milers every weekend. These are no sweat.
My run: so this is where things go badly for me. Yes being overweight makes me a horrible runner. I consistently am close to last as far as run times go. Now I have been making progress. I am running sub 14 minute miles at the gym now and averaging 16 min miles on our post-cycling training runs. Last year I could only manage about a 17.5 min mile and that was straight out of bed. So progress is happening here, just not as quick as I like. Now I did run for a whopping 1/2 mile straight last night. Yes I know, small steps.
Well guess that is all for now. Stay tuned for more pain tomorrow and this weekend. I am on the fence about doing a sprint tri on Sunday. I really need the time in training with the team, but I could really use the race experience too. Well time and weather will tell :)