Imma gonna be an Ironman Woman in 2012

I think you should all know that I am going to be an Ironman woman one day.  My sights are on doing the 2012 Louisville, KY Ironman.

There.

I said it.  It's public.  There is no going back now.

2.4 mile swim.
112 mile bike.
26.2 mile run.

Goal:  To Finish

2011 Goal:  Half Ironman.  Half way to the full.  One year from the full with plenty of time to train for both.

I think I'm gonna be busy.

I hope to have support from all my friends and family because this is going to be a REALLY big deal for me.  I don't know that I'll ever do it twice.  I don't know that I'll ever want to do it twice.  But I do want to do it once.

Why?
Because I can.
Because I like to dream big.
Because I love a challenge.
Because I want to say, "I'm an Ironman Woman!"
Because I want to prove to myself that I can indeed do anything I set my mind to.
Because I dream of feeling that level of accomplishment when I complete it.

Because I can't wait to hear my son Ethan congratulate me and tell me how proud he is.
Because I'll have major bragging rights for life.

So I will.

My journey is in motion.  Look for me at the finish line at the Louisville 2012 Ironman!

Karma is Reminding Me Not to Eat Poison

I'm really not usually a donut eater but since my eating has been out of control lately, donuts have been on the list.  Our vacation and drives lately have landed me a few too many boston cream donuts from various gas stations and their little Krispy Kreme racks.  Then to top it off a couple weeks ago I felt sick to my stomach one day and had really bad stomach pains.  I had this grand idea that I would stop at Tim Horton's on my way to work and get a couple boston cream donuts so that when I did finally get sick, I would throw up donuts and then never want them again.  Instead, it backfired.  My tummy still hurt for awhile but I never got sick despite feeling so much like I wanted to that day.  So now I had this taste for these STUPID donuts.

HOLY CRAP!!!!!!!!!!  I just googled Krispy Kreme Boston Creme Donut to get a picture to post here.  The first hit was nutritional info.  310 calories in ONE of those suckers!!!!  OMG!!!!  NO WONDER my weight is going up and not down.  Holy cannoli.  This has to stop!  

Oh wait...... I'm still googling.  (Yes, google is a verb these days.)  Tim Horton boston creme donut is only 250 calories.  Whew.  Still NOT good, but I guess in comparison to the 310 it seems less painful and lately I've seen a few too many Tim Horton's donuts.

So since that day of stomach pain I have stopped on too many occasions to admit to and picked up another HORRIBLE poisonous disgusting boston cream donut.  I know that the taste is deceiving. It tries to convince my body that it isn't so bad with it's delicious chocolate frosting, squishy donut body filled with ooey gooey yummy melt in your mouth cream in the middle.  But I know better.  I am officially on donut strike.  I don't even like donuts that much.  

The other day I couldn't find a coffee cup to take to work so instead of taking coffee that was already made at home, I stopped at Tim Horton's to get coffee.  Now if it was just the coffee I would get that would be okay. But I devoured TWO of the evil donuts with it.  The day got worse.

I hadn't packed a lunch that day so I had a work colleague pick me up a chicken sandwich from Wendy's.  I normally pack my food every day and am always with food at work.  It is safer this way.  So I ate fast food.  I almost ordered a Frosty with it but restrained.  I had only the grilled chicken sandwich, but that was enough.  I am normally not much of a fast food fan and can easily go without it.  You will often hear me calling it poison.  There I was eating my second round of poison for the day.

Now it was time to leave work and I was going to work out for a 90 minute Zumba class and then planned to swim laps for another 90 minutes.  Here I was still food-less and going to work out for 3 hours.  You probably guessed it by now, YES, I stopped at fast food on the way to the gym.  I hit McDonalds for a $1 McChicken.  I was running late and had only a couple bucks so I thought this would tide me over.  I grabbed my bag and drove off.  As I fumbled to open it after I pulled away and was back on the road to the gym, I found a bag of apples and no sandwich!!!!  

I think that was a sign that I probably should have taken better note of.  I mentally fought with myself the rest of the drive.  I kept telling myself it was definitely fate telling me that I did not need the poison fast food McChicken sandwich.  They served me a bag of apples for a reason and I just needed to eat them.  I tried to eat them.  They were tart.  I ate a couple but it wasn't a chicken sandwich and was NOT doing the trick.  I continued to play mental games and lost the battle.  I tried so hard telling myself not to pull in and get it.  I passed one more McDonalds before the gym and was still pressing the clock to get there but I did it..... I pulled in and got my McChicken.  I devoured it driving and walking into the gym.  I was a couple minutes late for class.  I felt gross for eating that sandwich.  I should have stuck with the apples.  I tasted that sandwich all night at Zumba.  Yuk!

I wish those were the only bad choices I've been making lately but there have been far too many.  Today was a good day.  I have plenty of food in the house again.  I've made my snacks and salads for the week.  I'm back at exercising often.  When I'm on track exercising, I have less time to eat and I don't want to eat as much, or at least as poorly.  I hope this spell of over indulgence is over.  I'm ready to get back on track .  The bag of apples was a sign.  I'm paying attention to karma telling me to back off and get back to fueling my body for life and fitness.   I love good food.  Good healthy food fuels my body and makes me feel good.  I like to feel good.  Seems obvious in what I need to do.  I think I'll do it.  

Here's to a good week of healthy eating and nutritious food choices!  

Food for the Not Skinny Person

I love food.
I hate food.
I eat too much food.
I'm becoming keenly aware of every morsel of bad food I put into my mouth but I still do it.
I'm eating too much sugar and need to stop.  I know I need to stop.  Why don't I stop?
My worst bad food is sugar and sweets.
I have no control other than to NOT have it around me.
I am craving it daily.
I give in daily with the excuse of "I deserve it".
I need to stop giving in and get it under control.
I found myself sneaking food (old habits).
If no one sees me eat it then it has no calories, right?
I need to eat to fuel my body for exercise.
I need to exercise more so I don't want to eat as much.
I've gained weight and need to get back on the right track before it really gets out of control.
Is this always going to be so hard?
Will I be able to get this under control again?
Or will my exercise and training just make up for my never ending lack of control of eating.
I love food.
I hate the way I obsess over food.
I NEED to focus on food as fuel and nutrition.
Tomorrow is a new day to make good choices.  ........... Or exercise my bootie off.

.......Maybe I'll just have to exercise my bootie off the rest of my life to keep up with my calorie intake.  I mean if it's all about calories in and calories out........ I just need to find that balance.

Ugh......why does it all have to be so complicated?  Can't I just be a skinny person who eats like a skinny person and acts and thinks like a skinny person?

Who Knew How Painful Armpits Muscles could be

My second day at Fraser Bike Shop training consisted of what is called a brick workout.  A brick workout in the triathlon world means doing at least two back to back disciplines in a row such as bike-run or swim-bike.  In the case of this workout, it was a 90 minutes.   I was still nervous but it was Sunday morning at noon so I was much less rushed and relaxed upon arriving.  There were only 3 others that attended so that made the experience much easier than a hustling bustling room full of athletes.

The brick workout scheduled went like this:
10 minute run
5 minute on the swim bench
20 minute bike

Repeat 3 times for a total of 90 minutes.

I followed this workout and then did some other exercises that use various equipment in the lab after.  I wanted to make sure I understood how to do them all while I had the coach there with me.  They were assigned on my schedule the previous week but I wasn't positive on some of them.  So I did 30 minutes of these exercises before heading home.

5 minutes on the swim bench sounds easy enough..... and looked easy enough but I am here to tell you that it was not so easy!  The bench looked kinda like this picture here but when you pull your body moves forward and back.

I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to lay on my breasts and tummy yet (still post op tenderness) and do the swim bench.  I let Coach Tony know after he showed us what to do.  He told me to add time to the bike if I had problems.  I told him I would give it a try but didn't know what to expect.

The run was an easy run, then I went to the swim bench for the first 5 minutes.  I laid down on the bench and didn't have a problem so started pulling away.  By the end of the 5 min I was sweating profusely.  It was much harder than it looked.  On my second round through, it was tough getting through the 5 minutes.  Really tough.  One of the gals on the bike was really great at encouraging me to finish so I kept pushing through.  The third round came around and it took me some extra time to get my sweat jacket positioned under my chest to help cushion the tenderness.  Tony saw me and told me I could just do the bike but I said no, that I wanted to finish it.  That third set was even harder.  I was dripping sweat and it was painful.

I didn't realize how painful it was until Monday morning.  As the morning went on, the pain got worse.  I couldn't lift my left arm above my head.  It hurt so bad.  I took motrin and started icing the area.  I didn't realize I had muscles in my arm pit.  This was a new pain that penetrated from underneath my armpit, along side my rib cage, and down the under part of my upper arm.  My right arm hurt too but nothing like the left one.  I overdid it.  :(

I modified everything working out Monday evening and have been laying off using the arm at all.  It is now Wednesday night and it still hurts just as badly.  I got a deep tissue massage tonight which helped a bit with range of motion but the pain is still awful.  I guess I'd better be more careful and ease back into using those reconstructed muscles when I'm ready to get back at it.  I think I'll be a bit leary of that darn swim bench though!  And since when did arm pits have muscles that could be so darn painful!?!

I head back tomorrow night for another ride but I'm ready to take it on this time!

Out of the Comfort Zone

I keep raising the bar and that includes continuing to reach outside of my own comfort zones.  I want to improve and learn more about the sport of Triathlons so I have decided to sign up for coaching.  Last year I spent a fair amount of time looking online for anywhere to get help with my swimming but was never successful.  Finally at the Fitness Expo before the Detroit Marathon in October I stopped by the Fraser Bike Booth and learned about their Triathlon Team and training offered.  I picked up flyers and stacked them on my table and read through them several times before I finally called.

I called one afternoon and set up an appointment to stop out the next day to meet with the coach and learn more about what they offer.  I was excited and full of energy thinking about taking this sport a step further. I really need help with my swimming.  Well, I don't know anything about biking and other than going out and riding. I really didn't know anything about different kinds of runs either.  I knew in my head I wanted to do a half ironman in 2011 but wasn't sure if that was realistic.  I found it out was more than realistic if I wanted to do it.  I was shown the shop and the training lab in the basement of the building and was ready to sign up immediately. ..... Except that I was scheduled for surgery soon so I had to wait until the new year.

After 6 weeks of recovery I was FINALLY able to start exercising again.  The week after Christmas was my first week back to trying any exercise.   I scheduled an appointment to go back to the Bike Shop and sign up for a training package the first week in January.  During that appointment I sat down with Tony (coach) and shared all the race dates I want to do and let him know some of my times from last year's races and he scheduled it into the Training Peaks software used for tracking workouts and training plans.  He explained to me how to use the software and assured me of what to expect.  I signed up for a minimum 3 month coaching plan which gives me access to the Computrainer lab (pictured below), the swim workouts, brick workouts at the facility and group trail runs.  This is in addition to the help planning workouts to gear myself for my various races.  Before leaving he then asked me if I wanted to be on the team.  Wow, on the team?!  Uhm, but I'm slow.  Being fast was not a requirement, and by signing up for a minimum of three months of coaching and committing to so many races was.  So just like that I went home a member of a new team of people I don't have a clue about, Team Fraser.

The shop is a 45 min drive away on a good traffic day and closer to an hour if I come during the week in the evenings so I'll be limiting my sessions to 2 or 3 a week at the shop.  There are swims 9-10 pm during the week and I'll try to hit one of those following a bike ride at the lab.  I will do my best to adhere to the planned workouts on my schedule.  I'll be adding in my other fun exercise like Zumba, yoga, boot camp, kickboxing, wallyball or whatever else I do.  He'll adjust my workouts taking those into consideration. 

I signed up for my first night riding in the Computrainer lab that same week on a Thursday night.  I was petrified.  It was a rather bad day at work.  I had to leave work early for the dentist for a filling and a crown.  Then I rushed home to throw dinner together for the family, gather my stuff that I thought I might need and get there in time to ride at 7 PM.  Tension was high because I was nervous.  My intent was to do the bike workout from 7 - 8:30 which would be some sort of 'test' and then go to the swim workout from 9 - 10 pm at a local high school out on the other side of town also.  I hate the complexity of my bike rack so I had my son help get the bike in the back of my Trailblazer.  I gathered what I thought I needed and was off.

The temperature was cold.  There were flurries.  I was heading to the other side of town with a mouth that was still numb.  I had giant butterflies.  I was worried I wouldn't be able to get my bike out of the back.  I had no clue if I would be able to swim since I haven't done so since my surgeries.  I was nervous about bringing my crappy bike in when everyone else would have fancy road and triathlon bikes.  Mine is a hybrid bike I bought used last year.  It got me through my first two triathlons though!  

It was dark and I was driving in unknown territory.  I was worried I'd be late.  Traffic was stop and go along the way.  My nerves weren't getting any better.  I just wanted to be there on time.

I pulled in at 6:45 pm.  I sat there and called my husband.  I needed his reassurance.  I was scared to go in.  I didn't know anyone.  I felt alone.  I didn't think I'd be able to get my bike out of my car alone.  He gave me assurance and basically told me to stop it, and go in there and if I needed help getting my bike out to ask for it.  I composed myself and got out of the car.

My coat zipper split open and it was freezing.  I couldn't get it unstuck and had to pull my coat over my head to take it off and fix before I slid it back on.  I needed it on to work on getting my bike out.  I opened the back gate of the vehicle and prodded and pulled on the bike to no avail.  I had to bite the bullet and go ask for help.  I went into the shop and said, "I'm new, I don't know what I'm doing.  I'm riding tonight downstairs but can't get my bike out of my car.  Can someone please help me?".  There....that wasn't sooo horrible.  I did it.  Someone came out and helped me.  He got the bike out, I grabbed my gym bag and followed him inside.  He carried the bike downstairs and as I trailed behind him I shared how nervous I was.  He told me not to be and that I was going to have fun.  

As he took my bike over to the computrainer area, Coach Tony pointed me to the changing rooms.  There were so many athletes everywhere.  They all had their fancy garb on.  There was me in my running shorts because I don't yet own any bike shorts and I was racing to get my gear together and landed on running shorts.  Well, there was chatter everywhere and everyone already knew each other.  No one really welcomed me in and kept at their own conversations which made it just a bit more awkward for me.  I didn't really need to change other than to pull off my sweat pants and sweatshirt so I did that and headed to the bike area.  I met Pam who works there and is part of Team Fraser.  She helped me feel more at ease and explained what I would be doing.  It all felt so out of place.  The chatter continued.  There are spots for 16 riders and they were all full on this evening.  Everyone seemed to know what to do.  Except me.   I got on the bike and started spinning at a low gear as directed.  Pam showed me how to connect the wires for the Computrainer (of which I have no clue what she did!) and told me Tony would talk to everyone and explain what we were doing.  

I pedaled and looked around taking it all in.  I was trying to be brave and not to be bothered by all the stupid small things that kept coming to my mind.  Like the fact that they all had cooler bikes.  They all knew to bring enough water cause once you're on bike you don't get off until it's over.  They had their fancy pedals and bike shoes.  They had their pillow butt bike shorts.  And they were IN their comfort zones.  They looked like athletes, acted like athletes and chatted like athletes.  I took it in the moment of being a part of it all but felt like an outsider.  Finally, Tim, on the bike next to me mentioned to Coach Tony that I didn't have a towel and that I might need one. I thanked him and introduced myself.  Finally someone acknowledged my being there.  I needed that.  

Tony explained how the 90 minute ride would work.  It was going to be a flat course and we were to work in the prescribed zones that were listed on the whiteboard for those of us 'testing'.  A few others followed their own workout.  The zones in order of intensity that we work in are aerobic recovery, endurance, tempo, threshold and aerobic capacity (AR, E, T, not sure what abbreviation threshold is, AC).  I think that is them.  After all, I am a newbie so I may have it wrong or missed one in there.  Seems like there is one more.  Hmmm.  We are supposed to keep the cadence, or RPM between 80-100 the entire ride.  The ENTIRE 90 minutes.  Were they crazy!?  I've never ridden for more than 10 minutes above 80 I don't think.  Actually I don't really know but it was faster than I remember every riding before.  We started with a 10 minute ride in the easiest zone, then moved to 5 minutes of the next speed which is still slow called endurance.  This is the speed at which you can go for very long periods of time. Then 5 recovery, 5 of the next up speed (Tempo), 5 recovery.

We then did 3 sets of 10 seconds of aerobic capacity (most power) follwed by 2:50 of recovery.  We were supposed to be up out of the saddle for this 10 seconds.  I tried peddling out of the saddle but it just plain ole didn't work for me.  I watched everyone around me peddle round and round but my pedals felt like kerplunk, kerplunk with each rotation of my legs.  I couldn't keep them going round while out of the saddle.  I felt like I got more power by sitting and peddling hard.  I have no idea if that has something to do with not having the fancy clip pedals and bike shoes but I know for whatever reason, I was not coordinated to pedal fast out of the saddle.  More practice is definitely needed here.

We then had 1 min of AC, 5 min recovery, 5 min AC, 10 min recovery, 20 minute time trial and ended with 10 min recovery.  Around 45 minutes in my butt started hurting from that darn seat.  Around 60 minutes in my left knee started giving me pain that I have never felt before.  During the 20 minute time trial I spent much of it trying hard to pedal with my right leg only so that my left leg didn't have much to do.  I was hurting and a bit of inner groin chafing going on from my non-smart running shorts I wore on this long ride.  Yes, 90 minutes was a LONG ride for me. I couldn't wait to stop pedaling and get my bootie off that darn seat!  Finally, 90 minutes later I finished my first bike test.........and I made it, alive.

Tony asked how I felt and I told him my knee was hurting.  He had mentioned during the ride that my seat might need to be raised to help with that.   He also told me I should invest in bike shoes and pedals.  Then later told me I should probably get bike shorts.  Everything costs money I reminded him so he said bike shorts first, then pedals and bike shoes.  They are needed to perform some of the one legged drills that will be assigned in the lab.  The bike shorts I guess are to keep my butt cushy.  After the ride, I did let him know that the swim was probably not a good idea that night as I had planned.  (Good decision on my part, I was exhausted and had not swam in a pool since before my surgeries and really didn't want to make my debut swim with the team.)

I hobbled off the bike and off the platform to the floor to stretch.  Everyone was stretching and chatting again.  This time there was one gal who said hi and made a bit of small talk with me.  It was much appreciated.  I was glad that I forced myself outside of my comfort zone, going to this strange place, with these crazy athletes, in my running shorts and shoes, with my not so fancy bike, despite the emotional day I was having.  I teared up in the car driving home.  I was glad I finished, and proud but not yet feeling a part of 'it' yet.  I know it will come with time.  So I will test time and force fears of doing things that are not comfortable because I know that with repeated exposure the uncomfortable will become the comfortable.

After all, I am a machine and CAN do whatever I put my mind to.  So I will .

A New Year, A New Me

2010 was certainly a year to remember.  I accomplished more in that one year than I ever could have imagined.  I lost over a hundred pounds.  I ran my first 5k, my first 10k, my first sprint triathlon, my first olympic triathlon, my first half marathon and built strength and endurance that makes me feel amazing!  I have a lot to be proud of from 2010.  Now is my chance to do it again for 2011.

I have big goals for this year.  Now that I've proven that I'm a machine I had to keep raising the bar.  I have a list of races that I'll be training for to keep me working hard.  Or better yet to keep me burning calories because I love to eat.  Here are my race and training goals for 2011.  I want to better my times as I repeat races and first time races I'm in it to finish it.

March 20 - Half Marathon, Grosse Ile, Rock CF
April 2 - Half Marathon, Dearborn, Martian Marathon
May 21 - Duathlon (5k run, 25k bike, 5k run), Grosse Ile
May 30 - Full Marathon, Traverse City, Bayshore Marathon
June 5 - Sprint Triathlon, Monroe, MI, Racing for Recovery
June 12 - Olympic Triathlon, Belle Isle, Motor City Tri
July 30 - Warrior Dash, Mt Morris
Aug 7 - Sprint Triathlon, Michigan, Trek Women's Triathlon
Sept 10 - Half Ironman, Tawas, MI, 3D Festival
Oct 16 - Full Marathon, Detroit Free Press

I'll add smaller races as it works into my schedule but these are my races I'll be working toward that I have registered for already.  Here's to a fantastic 2011 full of running, biking, swimming and whatever else I can do to keep the pounds off and prepare for the above races!  I hope to see some of you out on event with me...either as participant or supporter.