Fit & Fun: Tri Training

Sprint Tris are not something I excel at. I come in around the 75% or maybe even lower. I mean in High School I definitely would have dropped out of the club that had me beating only like 25% of people. Cause I mean that is a failure right? That is one way to look at it. Another way to look at it. Is that two times now I have trained for something a lot of bodies can't do or choose not to do.  Then I finish that. I don't finish last even. I don't even finish in the last 100. To be exact I beat 144 women across the finish line. :P That really isn't the point. But whatever way you view it, I see as a win. Here are my 2017 results and then my 2015 results---SO CLOSE TO EACHOTHER! Check out how much faster my transition times were! No I will never be the fastest in my age group. And truthfully I don't want to train hard enough to not be that person. But for two years, I have trained and bettered myself. I said I wanted to go faster. But I went 13 seconds slo...

Here we are! Almost there. I don't have a lot of time cause I need to go get my clothes all set and ready. My sister and her family are leaving the country tomorrow. So I need to get everything ready so I can run around saying goodbye and go pick up my Tri packet. This week, I have been on my bike and in the pool. And working hard. And on Sunday the Tri happens. Wednesday I got a massage. Which did help my body loosen up. I had this very young massage therapist will my muscles to release. Which was very different from my regular massage therapist (who is out of town) who is in her 50s and is firm but gentle. Alas, I needed a massage so I went to a local spot and I am glad I did. I am still a bit sore but by Sunday I will be all good. SO my game plan for SUNDAY. On Saturday I will be doing a bit of carb loading and eating a good amount of protein. I may eat a Five Guys :P though spaghetti is always a great carb loading meal....though i stay away from THAT much gluten. I will...

It isn't easy to blog about training. It isn't easy to tell people when you fail to do something 100% "right." But for a person training for a triathlon. I think it is better to realize you can do something imperfectly and succeed. Then just tell you that unless you hit every work out you will fail. That unless you have been an athlete trained by the best coaches and have the most expensive shoes you are not worth anyone's time. Worth...is it something earned? Is it something from within? Who gives it to you? I spent Saturday with my extended family. And I thought about some of that. As I watched the kids scramble over each other for attention and yell in facsination at each other. As I had to explain to the aunts who I see a couple times of year I don't have THAT job anymore now I am just a retail worker. And no I don't have a boyfriend anymore...as my sister runs after her two gorgeous children. I try to to remember my worth and my choice to live the l...

Well here we are. TWO WEEKS OUT! Can you believe it!?!?!? I wouldn't win any medals for doing all the workouts. But...and memory can be fickle. I am pretty sure I feel calmer and more prepared than last time. This week was, in essence, terrible. I had a migraine for the whole first of the week. I think it is PMS related...And that is a fun topic! Being a woman training when you can have SUPER intense PMS. Sometimes for me the emotional effects of my period start A WHOLE WEEK BEFORE my period. I am VERY glad I will not have my period DURING the race cause that is a whole other awful mess. Can you imagine doing three physical activities when you are super TIRED and menstruating? Ugh. What a mess that would be. So far I have dodged that bullet with Tris. But I have run 5ks with my period. NOT FUN. the other thing is...my body is TIRED at this point. I am working it harder than I have since the last Tri. I did the indoor Tri and survived. So I feel good. But this week I had to say ...

Lake Nokomis after my Sunday Training This week went very well. Monday: I did 45 minutes on the stationary bike. I did "rolling hills" which was pretty strenuous. It was tougher than I thought but after the weekend of not doing much I wanted to do more. So there was more and it was good and my butt hurt afterwards. Tuesday: Awesome pool day. Just rolling along there. Thursday: I FINALLY did a run walk workout on the treadmill. It was so so so so humid and hot but before work I got to the gym. I walked and ran for 20 minutes and 8 minutes or more was running which is a quick start for walk and run training. I hope to get to it again this Thursday. As per usual Friday was a 10 hour work day and then Saturday instead of working out I cleaned up my apartment. My dear friend offered me her cleaning lady for a session and I needed to at least clean off surfaces so she could maybe clean things. I spent half the day cleaning up and it was exhausting but now today after she...

Right now, I am drinking grainy almond milk with rice protein powder in it. Not nearly as good as those GNC protein shakes I used to drink while I trained with my ex. But hopefully it is doing the trick of getting my body protein to build up the muscles I just abused on the stationary bike. And I am thinking about the effort it takes to fight off depression.Throughout my life I have used a few things as anti-depressants. Dance. Art. And Exercise. This Sprint Tri is one of those efforts. The mental task of getting out of the house to get to the gym isn't just about training it is about telling depression to take a hike. I am so hard on myself. Telling myself I am failure cause I am not an arts professor. Or that I don't make enough money (I don't). Every day I can find a way to tell myself I am a failure and ugly. So I get out there and I get on my bike. Last week I got on my bike and did HILLS and then the next day I went swimming. As per usual I did not get to walking ...

Part of me feels like because I did this two years ago. I should be doing MORE. Like I shouldn't be shooting for a time like the one I got two years ago. But something BETTER. Thing is that year in between training. I didn't exercise like I needed to to make that a reality. I am a pretty active person. I walk all the time. I love to swim. And training for the last tri made me a bike person. I am also thirteen pounds heavier than the last time I raced. And I wasn't small to begin with. This week I had a person call me crazy for doing this tri. She is a friend and said it in a joking way but she was serious. It seems crazy to her. I find this a lot in my life. I have friends that enjoy a part of what I do but not the whole. I have art friends. Who don't get the exercise part of me. Or I have friends that don't get my love of all things spiritual. People are hard to encompass into one small thing. And we are taught to fit into these teeny tiny boxes. And as women we ...

Sorry for the delay in writing. It is 2pm in the afternoon on Sunday and I am feeling rather accomplished already. Sitting down to write this blog after an active morning. But first let's talk about my training lapse this past week. I started out week 5 just fine. Biking and swimming and as per usual on Monday and Wednesday. Alas, the rest of the week I didn't do much of anything with Thursday and Friday being my long work days. That weekend was my nephew's bday and I went out to my parents and didn't have time for exercise. I ate some really RICH foods and ended up having my gallbladder get inflamed. Waking me up and keeping me up for about an hour. I almost went to the doctor but the pain subsided. I really noticed when I don't exercise I eat much richer food and more of it! And that summer is a time that Minnesotans get more social so we eat out more! Then Week 6, I was working 12 hour days with a art workshop for work and closing the store. SO a week we...

The gorgeeeeous sky on my way to my massage this week. The build weeks are most definitely the hardest for me. This is where I break through and push past where my body really wants to be. Going longer for the first time in training. Some Tri Tips that came to me during my bike ride today: 1) When on your bike. Once you are warmed up. Try riding a gear above what you think is comfortable. I find I am AMAZED at how much faster I go and how much easier it is. And then I don't feel bad about dropping a gear when going up a hill. 2) DON'T FORGET THE SUNSCREEN. It is A LOT of training in the sunny summer sun. SUNSCREEN. SUNSCREEN. SUNSCREEN. 3) Even if you think you can't do what the training says. Get out there and do SOMETHING . Monday: Got my bike ride in. Note last blog entry. Great thing about summer training is the sun doesn't go down till after 9pm at points! Woooooo. Get that training in. Tuesday: I rested and did the pool day on Wednesday. Wednesd...

As I type a dear dear friend is in labor having her first child! What an exciting night. I had thought the storms we had yesterday might have her having the baby, so I called her. A day later here she is! Why am I talking about my friend being in labor? Why write this blog a few days early? I had a rough training weekend. And I wanted to talk about it. I am super excited for my friend. But I also feel that in breaking up with my boyfriend this past week. That most likely was the last chance for me to have kids of my own. I am 36 and I really don't see myself having a child in my 40s. And well. So that is that. I mean there is still a small chance but to cultivate a relationship and feel like having a child...the time is disappearing. Still why talk about this in my training blog? Well, one I over share. And two, I don't train in a bubble. I don't train in an ideal world where other things don't get in the way. I train in a world of emotions and responsibilities. I h...

Well, I found the 2017 Training Guide :P https://www.ywcampls.org/_asset/hzx4ng/2017-Tri-Training-Plan.pdf So I am following that now and there are differences. Showy Ladyslippers So let's get to the training! Friday was a REST DAY! Saturday: I went to the Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden AGAIN to sketch. And this time I took another hike through the woods to get to my 25 minutes of run/walk. Most definitely I am WALKING but the inclines in the walk make me feel good about it. And SHEESH it was HOT out in the high 80s. i had no idea it was going to be that hot that day so I felt good about adapting. Reminds me of adapting to the weather the day of the event. Sunday: I did ABSOLUTELY nothing. I missed my 45 minute bike and did nothing about it. I brunched with my mother and sister. And I read a book. Terrible? No. Good for training. NOPE. My philosophy is. If I punish myself for missing a day I will quit. I acknowledge that I needed that bike to build up muscle. So I ...

Getting started can be hard! My mind wants to find reasons not to train when it isn't my favorite part of training. I LOVE going to the Y to swim but I don't want to step out my door to walk/run. So the mental part of training is the biggest hurdle to this week. I will start with Saturday cause that wasn't discussed in my last blog. Saturday: No training for me. I was supposed to bike 30 minutes. I woke up around 5am and couldn't sleep for quite awhile and I almost got up and biked but I really needed my sleep as my family was doing a two and half hour car ride twice in one day to visit my Grandpa. That doesn't even count the trips from my apartment to my parent's house in the burbs to be all together. I did chase after my nephews but mostly was not an active day. Sunday: Was walk/run 20 minutes. I went to the Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden and instead of dong my training separately from this trip. It was part of it. After hiking around the garden. I t...

Great news! I didn't miss a week. Well I missed the PREP week. So I am ordering some new running shoes late. Thanks to a dear friend, I have some money on a gift card to Zappos. I will be ordering my fav running shoes from Brooks. I have been wearing Brooks for years and they fit my terribly FLAT feet well. Go to your local running store and have a sales person sell you a great pair of shoes that fit your feet correctly. When I don't have a gift card, I always buy from local running store. So here is the run down of my first week:  Monday: We started with a rest day! Tuesday: SWIM DAY! I went a little overboard and did about 20 laps in the pool with out stopping. I didn't follow the training exactly. They wanted me to do some faster laps with rests. But since I hadn't been in the pool for awhile I just wanted to get myself in gear again.  Wednesday: Today I had a migraine so I didn't do the workout instead I walked to and from the food coop. I am adjusti...

This August, I hopefully will be participating in my second sprint triathlon. Many a person has told me to record the journey to the sprint tri to promote my wellness coaching business and as an inspiring story. Cause I am not a skinny woman. Cause I am not your traditional athlete. I am an artist with a day job. I weigh about 198 pounds. And though I hope to lose some weight while training, My main point of doing the tri and why I coach folks, is that I am a beautiful woman who can enjoy working towards attaining goals. Imperfectly and in my own way. There is so much pressure to have more and be more. I want to talk about how exercising is a time for me to be present and enjoy where I live. SO...here is a photo after my first Tri two years ago: I plan to share my training plan with you all. Talk about food. And share ways I make exercise fun. And how I mentally push forward through aches, pains, and having NOT ENOUGH TIME to train. Also, the tough stuff, like wanting to stop an...