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A New Blog Name

23 Aug

Because it’s been a while since I lasted changed my blog name, I decided to change it again.

Just kidding.

But seriously, I did change it again.

Here’s why:

I decided on the name Joy in Being Broken back when I was really questioning my life, my relationship with God, and learning some hard lessons. 99% of my blog posts were about what I was learning and struggling through – I used this blog like a public journal, a space to put my thoughts into order.

While I’m still (obviously) a broken person in need of a Savior, I expanded the scope of my blog when I decided to stop maintaining my old triathlon blog and I just didn’t feel like the old blog name was the right fit anymore.

I have been trying to come up with a new name for the past couple of months. A few ideas I had:

From the Inside Out

My Whole Self

Healthy Inside and Out

Girl + God

But none of them screamed “This is it!” Until I had an epiphany today with this current name: Life, Really.

This name resonated with me for 2 reasons:

1) Like I mentioned last week, I am committed to being an authentic blogger. I don’t sugarcoat things, I don’t hide things and I don’t pretend to be someone I’m not. This blog is about my life as it really is.

2) Jesus said in John 10, “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” I didn’t know what life was really about until I knew Jesus. So my spiritual posts also reveal what life is, really.

As for the tagline, I chose:

  • “Authentic” for Reason #1 above.
  • “Journey” because, like I mentioned in my last new blog name post, life is a journey: “You grow, you shrink, you step forward, you step backward, you succeed, you fail. But through it all, those who have Christ, have ‘a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain [into the presence of the Father], where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf…’ (Hebrews 6:19-20).”
  • “Faith” because Christ the center of my life and my reason for living.
  • “Fitness” because I love being active and blogging about my athletic feats. 🙂
  • “Fun” because I believe God wants us to enjoy our time here on earth with our family and friends

“And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent” (John 17:3).

What do you think about my new blog name?

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Warrior Dash Recap

23 Aug

The idea first came from our care group leaders, Paul and Carrie – they found out about the Tough Mudder, which is the Warrior Dash on steroids. The main deterrent from that race? The hefty price tag. Once we heard about the Warrior Dash (and the more reasonable cost), there was no question.

Travis was originally going to go on a fishing trip with a couple of buddies that weekend so I signed up to go with 2 other couples. I have no problem being the fifth wheel. Once the fishing trip was off and Travis decided to do the Warrior Dash, it was sold out. Boo!

Anyway, Paul and Carrie, and Leif and Karen stayed up in the mountains Saturday night so me and Charlotte (the best spectator slash cheerleader ever!) drove up Sunday morning. We left my house at 6:30 and arrived to Copper around 7:45. After a round trip on the shuttle because I forgot my ID, we got up to packet pickup, where we found Paul and Carrie. Soon after, Karen and Leif arrived and after bathroom breaks, checking bags, and decking ourselves out in star stickers, we took a picture in front of the Warrior helmet and headed over to the start line.

In case you haven’t figured it out, I dressed up as Rainbow Brite.

Before we knew it, the start line was shooting flames and the race had started. The first approx .5 mile was an out and back dog leg on pavement.

Then we encountered our first obstacle: hanging tires. Amazingly, I emerged on the other side having not gotten hit in the head (totally something I would do). After walking up a hill and running down, we encountered the second: a 4-foot wall to jump over, then another topped with barbed wire to duck under, times 5. The walls were high enough that I had to sit on top and swing my legs over. Other people (including Paul from our group) could swing their legs over. I tried but got rejected.

We walked/jogged around the bend and there was the third, most infamous obstacle: the mud pit. As we watched athletes emerging covered head to toe in mud, we knew we were in for it. Surprisingly, I was all about the mud (I generally don’t like being dirty). As I got in, I sunk in the mud up to my knees. The first thing I noticed was that it was ridiculously hard to walk. My feet were stuck in the muck! (I saw a guy later who had lost his shoe in the pit.) I was able to unstick my feet and wade slowly through the mud. There was real barbed wire strung across the pit, so you had to either crawl on all fours or duck down. I chose to duck down, as I thought it was too deep for me to crawl on my hands. I still got plenty muddy though.

The muddy group

The next .25 mile was slippery, slimy mud. You couldn’t run so much as you could waddle, trying not to fall over. We were still slipping and sliding when we came upon our next obstacle: a spider’s web of bungees. The tricky part about this one was not stepping off the bungees too quickly and tripping the person behind you.

Up another hill and across a very muddy puddle, we came upon #5: a plastic tarp stretched across a wooden frame, which you had to go under. The clearance was about 3 feet so you had to crawl through on all fours. We were surprisingly winded when we came out.

We walked up a hill, turned the corner and there was another obstacle: the plank – 2 x 4’s with rungs set up across a frame. You had to walk up the first board on an incline, across another board, up another board, and down the other side. This was definitely a test in balance – it’s surprisingly difficult to walk the line while going up an incline. But everyone made it!

Then, we came upon the Mega Hill. We walked it. That was perhaps the most surprising thing about the race: all the people walking. This is definitely a race done by 95% of participants for fun (I’m sure there still are hard-core runners who do it) – much more so than a regular race. Oh and there were way more hills than a regular race.

We reached the top of the hill and ran down to the next obstacle: a wooden frame with ladders on both sides and a cargo net across the top. I saw one lady do the roll to get over the net. I opted, once again, for the all fours approach. Another obstacle done!

The next obstacle was soon after: a 15-foot upside-down V with a ladder on one side and then on the other, 2 rungs and a solid piece of plywood for the bottom 6 feet. I got myself over the top, got my feet to the bottom rung, and then slid down as slowly as my little arms would let me. Done!

As we ran back into the Copper Mountain village, we encountered a similar obstacle – another (taller) upside-down V covered in a cargo net. This one was a little tricky because the net moved around a lot. And the top was very high off the ground. Leif was not a fan.

We continued on through the village and came to the 2nd to last obstacle. This one was, in my opinion, the hardest – or should I say the most technically challenging. It was another upside-down V. The side facing us was solid wood with ropes strung down to the bottom. The back was a very widely spaced ladder. I was a little skeptical that my wee little arms could pull the rest of my body up the side of that steep ramp but amazingly, I did it! But then the trick was to get over the top. My strategy was to swing my left leg up and get my foot over the lip for leverage. Then I pulled the rest of my body over. And done! I’m pretty sure I pulled a muscle on that one though.

Finally, we were on the home stretch: the FIRE! We ran past some condos, crossed a bridge and there it was. The flames were higher than I had expected so you definitely had to jump plenty high to ensure nothing got singed.

A few hundred yards more and we crossed the finish line to be greeted with water, bananas and a medal. We did it!

The race was definitely a blast, especially because I did it with 4 other people. I don’t think I would’ve enjoyed it as much doing it by myself – it was fun to talk about the difficulty of the obstacles, to watch each other complete them, and cheer after each successful one.

The race organization was some of the best I’ve seen (especially for a 5K distance) – all of the volunteers knew what they were doing, packet pickup was set up perfectly to avoid long lines and confusion, email communications were informative and timely, and they have plenty of useful information on their website. There were hot showers at the finish line (the Warrior Wash), they had lots of options for food and swag, and their music and announcements were loud enough to be heard. I have to say that I was impressed. (And I worked for a race company last year so I know a lot of what goes into an event like that!) It’s obvious that Warrior Dash organizers have gotten this race series down to a science. Case in point: their medals, while still cool, aren’t specific to the location you do – perfect for organizers because they can order 100,000 or however many racers they have and use the same medal for all races. Genius for a series like this!

So, all in all, this was a great experience and I would recommend this race series to anyone interested in doing a mud run. Can’t wait to do another!

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Weekly Recap: 8/15 – 8/21

22 Aug

I’ve finally made it to taper week! While some athletes hate tapering, I love it with big puffy hearts. I mean, I’ve been waiting 3 months for an excuse to sit around and read instead of exercise! I’m definitely not complaining.

Since I ran the Warrior Dash yesterday, this past week was a kind of quasi-taper – in that, I still worked out but planned my workouts so that I wouldn’t be ridiculously tired. I took Saturday off completely and we went out for sushi, then to the Carnation Festival in Wheat Ridge for a fried Twinkie, a funnel cake and one of the best fireworks shows I’ve ever seen… seriously. Wheat Ridge does it right. And I was having so much fun that I forgot to record my workouts so I’m going purely on memory here people.

Monday: Rest

Tuesday: 7 mile run (1:18:15)

During this run, I tried an improvised Galloway method by running 9 minutes and walking 1. A couple of times, I got into the running zone and forgot to walk. But I remembered for the most part. It did help my pace – I ran an average 11:07/mile instead of the 11:39 pace I ran back on August 3rd. So if I feel like I have to walk during the tri next weekend, I will try to do a regular interval like this.

Wednesday: Rest

Thursday: 750 yard open water swim

Friday: 18.5 mile bike on trainer

I discovered that the reason I hate being on my bike trainer so much is that I hate leaning over. It makes my butt hurt and my arms hurt. I don’t mind it sitting up. So I’m thinking that maybe I need a longer handlebar stem. And potentially a different seat. But those changes will have to be saved for after my tri next weekend.

Saturday: Rest

Sunday: Warrior Dash 5K 

Official time was 49:40.

Official costume was Rainbow Brite.

Weekly Totals:

Swim: 750 yards

Bike: 18.5 miles

Run: 10.1 miles

My focus this coming week will be:

1. Get lots of sleep – as in, go to bed at 7:30 to fall asleep by 8:30. Hehe. Travis is gone all weekend to count cacti in NE Utah so this will be a lot easier than if he were here.

2. Drink at least 64 oz of water a day (not counting water during workouts) and eat normal amount of carbs (60-70% of calories).

3. Stretch a ton.

4. Think through/practice transition again (I haven’t raced since the middle of June!) Don’t want to forget anything important!

5. Enjoy the time off! For this week, I’m planning on doing one workout of each discipline, very easy effort, for about half the race distance. Right now, I’m thinking run tomorrow, bike Thursday, swim Friday (other days off). I’ll take next week pretty easy but then it’s back at it (in a lesser degree) for a sprint tri in Sept and a 10K in October (the half marathon relay).

After the October race, I’m seriously giving myself the green light to not workout for an entire two weeks. If I feel like running, fine. If I want to do yoga, fine. But if I have no inkling whatsoever to do anything besides lay on the couch, bake chocolatey goodness, or get caught up around the house, then I won’t.

Warrior Dash recap coming up!

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A Day in the Life

19 Aug

I always find it interesting to see what other people’s days look like (shoutout to SUAR!) so here’s one of mine (though not every day involves so much dog drama, clothes changing, and bean throwing. 🙂)

2:45 am — Get up to pee and decide to let the dogs out while I’m up. Charlie does not go. Go back to bed.

4:30 — Hear dogs moving around. Get up and feed them so I can leave them in the laundry room. Go back to bed.

4:45 — Hear dogs whining. Get up and let them out of the laundry room. Go back to bed.

4:50 — Realize that Charlie might have to pee now so get up to take her outside. She doesn’t go.

4:55 — Come back inside to see that Charlie didn’t go outside because she had already gone inside, right after getting out of the laundry room. Clean pee up and go back to bed.

6:00 — Alarm goes off for the first time.

7:00 — Finally get up after many, many hits to the snooze button, and eat breakfast.

“Do I look like a trouble maker?”

“Not to me.”

7:15 — Evaluate my hair in the mirror and decide to wash it. Hop in the shower.

7:25 — Do my hair and makeup.

7:40 — Get dressed in Outfit #1.

7:50 — Set up iron and ironing board for wrinkly shirt. Make lunch and snacks while waiting for iron to heat up.

From left to right: banana; Laughing Cow Sun-dried Tomato & Basil cheese; Triscuits; Colorado peach; 2 clementines; leftover Baked Mac & Cheese; spinach salad with craisins, feta, almonds and poppyseed dressing; and bing cherries. (For the record, I didn’t eat the clementines or peach and I ate the banana right before our swim.)

8:00 — Iron shirt and promptly decide to change out of the skirt.

8:03 — Get dressed in Outfit #2.

Eh. Not feelin’ it.

8:07 — Get dressed in Outfit #3. Winner. (Or I just no longer care.)

8:10 — Sit down for a short time in the Word.

8:25 — Make iced coffee while talking to the husband.

8:33 — Leave for work.

9:05 — Arrive at work. Our campus is comprised of four buildings like this one:

The desk where I will spend the next 8 mind-numbing hours being extremely bored:

At least the campus is pretty:

3:00 pm — Actually have work to do! Last 2 hours fly by.

5:05 — Time to go home! Traffic is bad but there are pretty views.

I can see Denver from my car!

5:35 — Arrive home. Let pooches out to pee while I check on our zucchini jungle garden.

Mmm… sweet cherry tomatoes.

Yes, our winter squash grew through the fence.

5:45 — Feed pooches. Travis gets home.

6:00 — Decide to do an open water swim so we change and leave.

6:35 — Get to Big Soda swimming beach.

The water’s actually not that bad once you get used to it. Decide that the water is too choppy for an extended swim (hello, water up the nose!) so do roughly 750 yards and get out.

7:10 — Drive home and take a shower to rid me of algae and stank. Eat Stacy’s Pita Chips while writing grocery store list.

7:40 — Travis takes dogs for a ride to the auto parts store and I go to the grocery and liquor stores to buy some dinner necessities.

8:15 — Get home and start making dinner (Spicy Crab Salad) while Travis grills some corn on the cob and waters the lawn.

8:20 — Crack open a glorious Mike’s Hard Black Cherry Lemonade. Hits the spot.

8:35 — Finally sit down to dinner. Delicious!

8:55 — Leave the dinner table in a huff after an intense debate on whether healthy eating involves carbs (one of those conversations where Travis and I probably agree but just can’t seem to communicate in a way that we both understand).

9:00 — Make Travis not do the dishes because he faked throwing my black beans in the garbage. (Hey – I was angry and nonsensical and didn’t want any innocent food to meet an unfortunate end.)

9:10 — Dishes done. Watch Downsized for a bit, feeling pretty good about our financial choices.

9:45 — Decide I need to go to bed so brush my teeth, make the bed (I can’t stand getting in a messy bed!), and soon after, Travis follows.

10:30 — Finally asleep, after laying awake thinking about what we’re going to do with the dogs on our upcoming trips, what my Warrior Dash outfit is going to look like, and how nervous I am to freeze my butt off during the Oly Tri in just a little over a week.

Whew!

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Par for the Course

18 Aug

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Travis and I joined the projection team at church recently as leader/co-leader and fellow projectioneers. (I just made that word up.) Having a responsibility on Sunday morning again (we worked in the toddler room until I took the job with Your Cause Sports in January of 2010) has brought into sharp focus how much church we will be missing over the course of the next month and a half, as well as how uncharacteristically busy we’ve been this summer. When we first moved out to Colorado, we hardly ever had weekend plans. Now, we hardly ever don’t. Since I’ve been reminiscing on everything we’ve done since June and are still planning on doing before November, I thought I’d share it with you.

June 4-5: Boulder Sunrise Sprint Tri

June 11-12: Greeley Sprint Tri (missed church)

June 18-19: Visited our friends, Jon and Chasta, in Divide, Colorado

June 25-26: OPEN WEEKEND! That’s shocking.

July 2-4: Got my butt kicked Backpacked on the Eaglesmere Trail near Silverthorne (missed church)

July 9-10: Ran 5 mile trail run in Evergreen, hosted care group BBQ

July 16-17: Birthday weekend! Dinner, bowling and ice cream Friday; Bike ride from Frisco to Breckenridge, BBQ and Rockies game Saturday

July 23-24: Arrived in Minnesota on Saturday; Day of relaxation Sunday! (missed church)

July 30-31: Cousins wedding on Saturday; Drove back to Colorado on Sunday (missed church)

August 5-7: Care Group camping trip near Twin Lakes, Colorado (missed church)

August 13-14: Helped friends move on Saturday

August 20-21: Warrior Dash at Copper Mountain (will miss church)

August 27-28: Steamboat Springs Olympic Triathlon (will miss church)

September 2-5: Going to visit our good friends, Mark and Sarah Norman, in Charlotte for the first time in FOUR years! (will hopefully go to church with them, but will miss our church)

September 10-11: OPEN WEEKEND! I am going to do NOTHING this weekend (except maybe eat). Travis will be antelope hunting.

September 17-18: Crescent Moon Sprint Tri (and potentially my parents in town)

September 24-25: OPEN WEEKEND! (I think…)

October 1-2: Cousin’s wedding in Minnesota (flying back this time! will miss church)

October 8-9: Denver Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon Relay (will miss church)

October 15-16: Travis’ family in town for elk season (will miss church)

October 27-28: OPEN WEEKEND!

Before we know it, it’ll be November! I am seriously putting my foot down on doing anything in November. I will make absolutely no plans for anything (unless it’s for my mom coming out to visit). I don’t want to go anywhere for Thanksgiving. Heck, I don’t even care if we celebrate. I am SO DONE with being busy, it’s ridiculous.

There are some people who wouldn’t bat an eye at this kind of schedule. And I have to admit that most of this was my own doing (see how many races I have on the calendar – the most I’ve done in a year ever!!) and all of it is fun stuff. But even when we only have something going on one day out of the weekend, the other day is spent catching up on laundry, dishes, cleaning, grocery shopping, fitting in workouts, and diminishing all the piles of crap that seem to magically accumulate during the week.

I have amazingly not had a meltdown through all of this (I am not a person who has historically handled busyness very well) but I can tell that I’m on the precipice because I keep daydreaming and fantasizing about laying on the couch, pretending to be sick so I don’t have to go to work, cancelling plans with friends, rejecting party invitations, having no social life, and sleeping beautiful 70 degree days away in my swamp-cooled house. The simple truth:

I need a break!!

I am counting down the days (22!!) to my open weekend on September 10-11. It will seriously be awesome.

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The Future, as Yet Uncertain

17 Aug

I feel a buzz of anticipation in my life. Some of it comes from goals I am looking forward to accomplishing. Some of it comes from major life milestones being realized. Some of it comes from knowing exactly what I want to do with my life.

There are 5 things in particular:

1. Running my first full marathon in 2012

I tried (and failed) last year because I was stupid about training. Not next year! I will train smart and I will cross the finish line! (Which marathon is TBD.)

2. Moving back to Minnesota (in 2013?)

As we were driving home from our Minnesota vacation, Travis and I started talking about seriously moving back to Minnesota. We thought about what we would need to do to our house to make it sellable, where he would look for jobs, what cities we would be interested in moving to, when we would shoot to move (anytime but the winter!), etc. These practical considerations made the idea so much more real and got us both really excited. While we love Colorado, our hearts belong to Minnesota (and to our families).

I most look forward to seeing our family more than twice a year and even seeing our extended family on a more regular basis (instead of every 3-4 years!). These also have me excited: seeing more fall colors than just green and yellow; spending time on the lakes; having a bigger yard for the dogs to run around in; and watching lots and lots of hockey games.

3. Getting pregnant (in 2012?)

Starting a family has been one of those things that over the years, Travis and I have continued to put off, saying, “It’ll be a few more years.” At that rate, I’d be 40 before we’d have our first! Since we are in agreement about wanting at least 3 kids, age 35 marks the start of high risk pregnancies, and I just turned 28 in July, I told Travis it’s getting to be “about that time.” So we are tentatively planning to start trying in July 2012 and who knows from there?

Along with that…

4. Being a mother (in 2013?)

I don’t know how long it will take us to get pregnant but this would be the ideal timeline. Then, I’d be having our first child at 30. Which is old enough, I say.

Having kids feels like the last real step in becoming an adult. Even though I am 28, I don’t feel 28. Sometimes, I’m still shocked that we own a house, we’ve been married for over 4 years, I have a well-paying job, and I am old enough to be a mother (and have been for some time). Some day, I could be entrusted with a kid of my own (here’s asking God!). It boggles the mind.

As a mother, I am hoping to either stay home full-time or work only part-time. My mom had the privilege (and yes, I consider it a privilege because not every family can afford it!) of doing this when I was growing up and I have so many great memories of being with her all day, every day.

5. Being a published author (in ????)

Being back in a 9-to-5 in corporate America definitely has its perks. And for the most part, I enjoy what I’m doing (regardless of the fact that I’m crawling the walls with boredom). But it’s not what I really want to do. I’ve had countless conversations with my mom about this. She’s offered me many helpful ideas that I’ve seriously thought about. But none of them seem to be it.

Then I listened to the audio book of A Million Miles in a Thousand Years by Donald Miller. He wrote (read?) something like, “When you find what you’re really supposed to be doing, you’ll encounter resistance.” That is exactly how I feel about writing. Anyone who has read my blog from the beginning (I am probably the only one 🙂 ) knows that I have always wanted to write, but have continued to listen to the doubts, the fears, and the reasons why I will never be a published author.

But if you asked me, “If you could do anything with your life, what would you do?” The answer hands-down, 24 x 7, no doubt in my mind: “I’d write.” And not just write anything (because as a copywriter, I am currently writing for a living). But write about what I feel passionate about, what I feel like God has given to me to tell to the world — which happens to be mostly about my life and the lessons I’ve learned.

Yes, I’ve struggled with the whole “That sounds really vain” objection. Who cares about my life? Who am I to say that I’ve learned enough to teach others? But I can’t escape the fact that writing is my passion and so is God, faith, and what I’ve learned from making SO MANY mistakes. I honestly believe that God has given me this desire and my writing material, and I have to step out in faith to pursue the dream He’s inspired.

So what’s different this time? How am I going to overcome the tendency I have to get wrapped up in the busyness of life, push writing to the side and say, “Yeah, I still want to write but I just don’t have time.” Well, self, I have news for you:

If you don’t make time, you’ll never find time.

And if you don’t find time, you will never be an author. An author, by definition, writes.

Are you really willing to compromise your dream in order to do the dishes? Are you really willing to long for this aspiration to come to fruition but never work for it? Are you willing to put hours upon hours of training into a race that is done in 2 hours instead of investing in what could become your career?

This is life fulfillment we’re talking about here.

The reason why you were put here on this earth, the person you were created to be.

Don’t you dare take this lightly.

I am done with making excuses, with being half-heartedly invested in writing. I don’t care if I get published by Crossway. Or Doubleday. I don’t care if I have to self-publish or print on demand. I don’t care if I only make an e-book and sell it for $.99 to Kindle users. The bottom line is, I need to take my writing ambitions seriously. Because if I don’t, no one else will. And I will continue to gaze through the misty cloud of future hopes, wishing I could be a writer.

And I have a plan. Once triathlon training is done and I have 4-5 more hours a week, I am going to write. I am going to determine a set time, most likely in the morning when I’m most apt to stick with it, and sit down and force myself to write for at least 15 minutes. This is great advice for writers. Don’t wait until the inspiration hits you. Write now. Even if it’s crap (which it probably will be). Eventually, something good will come out of you.

Another great piece of advice I’ve heard (that I might even frame and hang up at my desk) is this:

The Secret to Success: Disconnect Yourself from the Outcome

Writer’s block often comes from worrying that what you write will be crap, no one will read it, and you’ll just be a writer wannabe. This happened to me when I was working on my book at the beginning of this year. I was too concerned about the outcome to focus on the process. So I just need to let it go, trusting that God will help me write my best.

So here’s my BHAG (Big hairy audacious goal):

Be done writing my book on walking by the Spirit by the end of this calendar year.

There will be more on this once my Olympic triathlon is over (just a little over a week left!).

Of course, in the midst of all these exciting goals or milestones, I recognize that God is the one in control of my life and that any one of these things could not happen, or happen differently than I am anticipating right now. But this is my assurance through it all:

“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28).

 

What are you looking forward to over the next couple of years? Any big life changes or BHAGs?

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Weekly Recap: 8/08 – 8/14

15 Aug

Somehow, even with the impressive workout shuffling I did last week, I managed to log 5 hours and 45 minutes of training, burning 2,825 calories. Not too shabby.

Obstacles to Sleep #1 and #2

Monday: 19.8 mile bike (1:12:24)

Tuesday: 3.91 mile run (47:45), abs + upper body

I took the dogs on a 1.5 mile run, then went to the Rec and did a treadmill workout for the rest, which involved alternating a fast walk (4.5 mph) on an incline (4.5) with a run (6.0) on less of an incline (2.0). It’s a good workout! I ended with a 1-minute sprint at 7.5 mph – an 8:00 min mile pace! Fast for me! AND I finished it all off with 30 man push-ups (3 sets of 10). I was a good sore the next day.

Wednesday: 2 mile walk with pooches

Thursday: 13.5 mile bike (58:20)

This was my bike home from work and I finally didn’t take any wrong turns! I did, however, have a close encounter with the bike police. (Eep.) This was also my fastest pace on my bike to/from work route: 13.9 mph. Hey, there’s a LOT of hills. I think my getting up to 40 mph down Simms helped my overall speed a bit.

Friday: 14.4 mile bike (1:15:13)

This was more on par with my normal speed (11.5) going to/from work – distance was longer because I missed my turn (again!) and speed was slower because of those blasted hills! But the hills are precisely why this route is good preparation for the Steamboat Springs Oly Tri. I fear the bike course is going to be all downhill on the way out and all uphill on the way back.

Saturday: 7 hours of moving, 2 mile walk with pooches

We helped our friends, James and Cathy, move from their 3rd floor apartment to a house. I was exhausted by the end of the day (and sweating like a man-beast) and ran out of time for any workout because I went to church for a ladies’ night of Bunko!

Sunday: 1,750 yd open water swim (47:52), 4 mile run (45:33)

I was very sore from moving on Saturday – specifically my quads (from making 40 trips up and down those stairs!) and my biceps (from all that man-handling). I had pushed this open water swim from Thursday to Friday to Saturday to Sunday. And I still debated skipping it. But I’m glad I went.

I discovered the real reason why I don’t like doing the breaststroke in a full-body wetsuit: it’s hard to bend my knees. As the knees are crucial in forward propulsion, it’s no wonder why I always felt like I was flailing like I did in the Boulder Sunrise. Even though I still don’t like swimming the breaststroke in a wetsuit, I think it’s a better option than braving water with temperatures in the upper 60s sans-wetsuit. (I am hoping to get up to Steamboat in time to do a test run on Saturday without a wetsuit, to see if I can handle it. Then I’ll make a game time.)

The 4 mile run afterward was done at a comfortable pace. I think my goal pace for the Oly run will be 11:00 min/mile (though really, I’ll be shooting for 10:00s).

Weekly Total:

Swim: 1,750 yards

Bike: 49.7 miles (woot!)

Run: 7.91 miles

Walk: 4 miles

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My decision to train at night and get in the Word in the morning has, so far, worked out very well for me. I keep telling myself, Only 2 more weeks! Then I can drop down to 3-4 workouts a week. Even though I have been training since the end of March, it wasn’t until the week before I went to Minnesota (4 weeks ago now!) that I started feeling very drained emotionally/mentally. I am actually impressed that I made it this long without feeling burnt out. But now, I just want some time to relax already!

Anyway, I’ve been doing good about spending time with God during the week and yesterday, I was looking forward to getting in the Word and reading a lot. Twenty minutes in, though, I knew it was useless and took a nap instead. That is going to be one of my main focuses (foci? 🙂 ) for this week and especially next week (taper time!): SLEEP. I’m hoping to go to bed at 8 and get up at 6. Mmmm… sleep. I’m going to need to do something about our dogs – they like to wake up at 4 am to pee and then again at 5:30  to eat everyday. Maybe I should tranquilize them? (Just kidding.) But seriously, I will have no qualms about locking them in the laundry room so that I can sleep more next week. It’s just for a week. And they’re really annoying.

But oh, so adorable.

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Biking Observations

12 Aug

Since I completed my fourth attempt and second successful bike to and from work yesterday afternoon and this morning, I’ve been thinking about biking, specifically in regards to how I’ve improved and what I still need to work on.

Travis and I biking from Frisco to Breckenridge

How I’ve Improved:

1. I can get my foot into my pedal clips a lot faster than I used to. (I still haven’t made the transition to clipless. Maybe next year?)

2. I remember to downshift before getting to a stoplight, successfully preventing the “I.can.barely.move.” phenomena when the light turns green.

3. I know how to put my chain back on when it slips off and I can probably figure out how to change a tire if I get a flat. (I’ve seen Travis do it once – doesn’t seem incredibly hard.)

4. Hills that once kicked my entire butt now only kick part of it. (Simms is still my nemesis.)

5. I’m not terrified of going fast, like Ricky Bobby. Yesterday, I got up to 40 mph coasting down a hill (which happened to be on my nemesis, Simms) – I know other bikers go faster but this was the fastest I’ve ever gone. I felt pretty bada$$.

6. I pedal faster by downshifting instead of keeping my bike in a higher gear and grinding up hills slowly. I read an article that said pedaling faster (higher RPM) made for more efficient pedaling. And I’m all for that.

What I Still Need to Work On:

1. Hydrating on the bike. I am pretty good about eating my Shotbloks (because they’re so delicious!) but am bad about drinking water. In a sprint tri, it doesn’t really matter because it’s only a 5K run. But 6.2 miles is a little more serious so I need to be better about drinking water.

2. Pacing myself. I tend to blow up hills like they’re nothing and then slow to a crawl because I’m about ready to fall over from lack of oxygen. Especially in this Olympic tri, not overexerting my legs on the bike is Strategy #1 for a good run.

3. Getting a new seat. I tried moving my seat forward a bit, hoping that might help. But it didn’t work. Lady parts still hurting after about 5 miles = no fun.

4. Not getting pulled over by the bike police.

Keeping the bike trails safe

Just kidding.

But seriously, as I was biking home last night, I was on one of the bike trails and came up behind a man on a bicycle. He was going slower than me so I was going to pass him, until I realized that he was dressed head to toe in navy blue and had a huge belt on with things hanging from it – one of which was a gun. The bike police. I thought about still passing him but then remembered that usually the speed limit on bike trails is 15 mph. I was going 16 mph. Would I get pulled over for biking too fast? I biked behind him for about 100 feet, debating what I should do. Luckily, just then the path split and he took the opposite way as me. Crisis diverted!

Something you readers probably don’t know about me is that I have been pulled over more times than I can count, given several speeding tickets, and even been arrested (that’s a story I’ll have to tell sometime!), so it’s probably no surprise, then, that whenever I see a cop, I panic and immediately think, Am I doing something wrong? It doesn’t matter the context, the time of day, what I’m done, where I see the cop, if he’s in a car or on a bike. Cops scare the bajeesus out of me. (Kind of like Simms.)

So there you go.

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Birthday Presents!

11 Aug

One side effect of having oodles of downtime at work has been a growing list of things I find that I want to buy. And it has grown faster than my paycheck. So I made a list of things I was looking at and casually sent it to Travis, saying if anyone *happened to* ask him what I wanted for my birthday, he could tell them those things.

So while my birthday presents this year weren’t really a surprise, they were exactly what I wanted. And I am very thankful to those who gave them to me!

Here’s what I got:

New running shorts and tanktop from my mom and dad. They are the Run Lux II Short shorts and tank from Saucony and they are awesome. The fabric is really soft and the shorts don’t ride up at all. I even wore them for my 7-miler last week and still love them! Both the tank and shorts also have small zipper pockets for stowing keys and chapstick. (I wear a medium in both.)

Sugoi Women’s Blast Tri Tank from Travis’ family and New Balance Women 2 Go capris from my parents. Love and love!

I’m a huge fan of the big pocket and reflector details on the back of the tank. The capris also have a pocket on the outside back and inside front. (I also wear a medium in both of these.)

I am planning on wearing my new tri top for the Olympic Tri (coming up in about 2 weeks!) and can’t wait until the weather cools off a bit so I can wear the capris for running (they’re cute enough that I can just wear them around too).

And they have magic powers to make your butt look good.

And last but not least, my present from Travis: 2XU compression tights (I don’t have a picture of me wearing them but they are just as tight as the capris, only the legs are longer).

I have worn these to bed about 4 times and I really believe that they help my legs recover from hard workouts. I wore them last week after my 7-miler when my legs were really sore. When I woke up the next morning, my legs felt almost brand-new. Other times, I’ve noticed that while my legs are still a little sore from hard workouts, they’re not as tired. These will also be great to wear for running in the fall/winter! The only thing I’m not wild about with these tights is that they only come down to a couple of inches above my ankles, so they’re not as long as I would like. Otherwise, I think they’re definitely worth the pretty penny they cost.

I had decided I wanted the Vensah compression tights because they don’t have the goofy X’s all over them but I didn’t like the waistband on them (too much muffin top action). The waistband on the 2XU tights fit me much better.

I love getting new workout clothes! With the exception of a new tri outfit at the beginning of this season, I haven’t bought any since last spring! Thanks Mom and Dad, and Al and Beth, and my hubby Travis! I’m so fortunate to have such generous parents, in-laws and spouse!

{These are my honest opinions and I am not being compensated in any way – my family spent their hard-earned money on these presents!}

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Minnesota: Pine City and Minneapolis

10 Aug

If you missed the first few days of my glorious vacation in Minnesota, go back and read it.

After we left the cabin in Voyageur’s, Travis and I drove down to my parents’ cabin in Pine City (about an hour north of the Cities).

We did some tubing.

I was very nervous about falling off (since taking a nasty waterskiing spill a few years ago) so asked my dad to treat me like a 5-year-old. It ended up being a nice ride, though I did almost fall off a couple of times.

Then we took a long boat ride around Lake Pokegama (the lake my parents are on), down Snake River to Cross Lake.

The most exciting thing we saw was a heron.

It was pretty late by the time we got back from our boat ride so we ate dinner and went to bed, after watching this video several times:

The next day, we ate breakfast and went to Walmart. Later, I amused myself by taking pictures of my mom’s flowers:

Aren’t they just gorgeous? I’d love to look at that garden everyday. I took pictures of some other things too…

That’s the view of the cabin from the lake.

While I was taking pictures, Travis tried to go fishing on our neighbor’s canoe before my brother and sister-in-law arrived from Indiana but didn’t get to. He did catch a few fish off the dock, though.

Once Jeremy and Jen got there, we ate lunch and went out on the boat for some waterskiing. I was water-sported out but Jeremy and Travis went.

Charlie made another friend.

My brother, Jeremy and sis-in-law, Jen (who’s due in January!).

Katy made a friend too.

When we got back to the dock after a little swimming, we decided to try to get Charlie to swim (both her and Katy don’t like water). I sat on the tube, called her to get on it, and pushed away from the shore. Then I got off and started walking back (it was about 3.5 feet deep) and called Charlie to follow. After much hesitating, and putting one paw in the water, she jumped off the tube and swam to shore. She can swim!

Soon after that, Chris (my younger brother) and sis-in-law Meg arrived. After some hors d-oeuvres, we played an intense game of croquet.

Chris and Meg

There was much debate over the official rules of extra turns and knocking other balls out of the way.

After dinner, we had a campfire and made s’mores (though I was so stuffed from Meg’s famous carrot cupcakes that I didn’t have one). My other brother, Brian and girlfriend, Lauren arrived then and we all played Two Truths and a Lie. Good way to get to know one another a little better!

Saturday, we were all heading down to the Cities for our cousin’s wedding (Ben and Nikki). Travis and I left early to take our dogs to Brian’s house (we left them in his yard) and to have lunch with some friends. I met up with 3 of my really good girlfriends from college – it was so great catching up! I only wish I could have stayed longer and had time with each of them one on one. Travis met up with his best friend from high school too.

Then we headed to the wedding. I unfortunately didn’t take any pictures of my lunch or the wedding but the wedding was so awesome. I really enjoyed it. Their ceremony was very traditional at St. Olaf Catholic Church in Minneapolis but their reception at the W Hotel was anything but traditional. The wedding party danced for their entrance, they made people sing songs instead of clink glasses to get them to kiss, their tables were assigned by various engagement pictures they took while wearing banana costumes, and instead of signing a guest book, you were supposed to write a message on a little chalkboard and get your picture taken. (Travis and I drew a rollercoaster with the message Hold On Tight! and put our arms up like we were on a rollercoaster.) The father of the groom (my uncle) wrote a very funny, cute poem for his toast and my cousins, Josh and Tim, made a really funny slideshow for their toast. And to top it all off, they had a candy bar at the end!

We left a little earlier than we would have liked, because we were worried about our pooches. Good thing we did, too, because on the way over to Brian’s house, it started pouring. Like can’t-even-see-where-you’re-going pouring. Poor pooches! Luckily we had left the kennel there for them so they had some shelter but I was sure they were getting wet anyway with how hard it was coming down. Travis braved the pouring rain to load the kennel and the dogs up while I sat in the cab, trying to see what was going on. Katy’s harness had gotten snagged on a bush and when it started raining, she had evidently wrestled out of it to get to shelter. Shows you how hard it was raining (or how much she hates water!).

That night, we stayed at our friends Holly and Eric’s house. The next morning, bright and early, we all met up for breakfast at Keys Cafe and then Travis and I hit the road stopped at Cabela’s again. Travis had a return to make for his dad so while he did that, I filled up the truck with gas, bought some cheese curds (!), and took the dogs for a walk. Then we were really off to Colorado! Oh so far away… We arrived home at 11:30 pm, mountain time. Long, long trip that I am still recovering from.

Minnesota vacations never disappoint! (Maybe I can work for MN Tourism if I move back, huh?)

Next up: My awesome birthday presents!

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