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September 16, 2008

I can’t believe I’m sharing these pictures

I look so funny in these pictures, I can’t even stand it. But I haven’t shared pictures in a while and this is the proof that I did the race. Here I am in my chubby-ass glory.

So first, there was the swim. My swim cap was so tight it was pushing down my eye in a weird way and I look so goofy. It really is distorting my face.

Notice though, the fit woman behind me, I beat her out of the water. Also those women in the yellow and green hats behind us were sent out in the wave before us, so we kicked a few asses.

Then there was the bike where I thought I would recover for the run.

Not so much. The first two pictures of me running I’m trying to open those nutra-beans or whatever they’re called. I’m hoping they’ll give me a little boost, not so much, I just look like I can’t even take a break from stuffing my face to run a race.

There I am crossing the finish line. At least I managed to jog that part.

As it turns out I did well on my swim. I have serious racer friends who didn’t do as well as me in a half mile swim. I did average to pretty good on the bike and so crappy on the run. Had I focused on walking I probably could have walked faster than my half walk half run.

Oh well. I’m hooked. My friend and I are already picking new races and planning our training strategy for next year. One aspect includes doing weight watchers together. I know how much it helps to have a workout partner, so I hope the same will apply to WW.

I’ll continue to write how much and in the different ways I think training for this race has helped me.

Posted by hopeful @ 9:43 PM • Comments (19)

September 15, 2008

I Tri -ed!!!

It was GREAT! My friend and I went down the day before to register and get prepared, practice our transitions, and to check out the course, etc. Anticipation was building because we didn't sleep a wink, not one. For me though, my anxiety began to subside because I couldn't really think about it as I was setting everything up and we ran into a bunch of people we knew (great distraction). There was so much positive energy and everyone was great to be around.

We got to the race at 5 am and our wave was going to start at 7:40 am but it felt more like 10 minutes to me before we were in the water waiting for the buzzer to go off. I felt surprisingly confident, partly because I had no expectations of great times or anything, and didn't have much anxiety (which is so unlike me or maybe I just suppressed it).

I beyond exceeded my expectations in the swim. I had no problems doing freestyle and feeling great, although some woman for a bit kept trying to grab my ankle. Once I broke out of the pack and stopped getting bumped into, it was nothing. I noticed I caught up to and was swimming in the wave that had gone out ahead of me and that gave me a boost.

Then we actually had to run a quarter of a mile from the beach to the transition area and I could tell I was pretty serious about my transition, I didn't want to fool around (which was funny, the little competitor in me came out). Of course I didn't do great on the first transition and got knocked over by another biker before I could even get on my bike. The bike was nice and I tried to use it to recover for the run, my toughest part. I thought I paced myself well and took the bike easy but I couldn't imagine how I was going to run after all that. My run was half run half walk, I didn't feel too tired, but my body didn't feel like it had much strength left. That was my worst run time, but I don't care. I did better overall than I thought I would.

Each leg of the race I kept thinking I'm a third done, I'm two thirds done, it's in the bag, I'm done. It was so funny. I loved hearing people call out my number and encouraging me. It felt like everybody wanted everybody to do well, and it was really wonderful. I didn't get as emotional as I thought, no big waterfall of tears or breakdown. But every time I think about the fact that I did it and when I think of myself as a triathlete (athlete, even) my eyes well up.

I'm so happy I did this and I want to keep going. I'm still in some disbelief and now it seemed to happen so fast, I want to do another one right away.

Sally Edwards who is the director in charge of the Danskin Triathlons (she's 65 and Master's world record holder in the Ironman) said that, as long as she's been doing races and staying fit, every year of her life has gotten better and she wants to break the paradigm that it wouldn't be so.

I want that to be my mantra.

YAY, I did it!

Overall Rank - 908 of 1513
Class Rank - 147 of 214
Swim - 00:17:01
Swim Rank - 542
Trans1 - 00:05:43
Bike - 00:36:17
Bike Rank - 872
Trans2 - 00:01:18
Run - 00:38:17
Run rank - 1221
Pace - 00:12:21
Final - 01:38:39

Posted by hopeful @ 11:37 AM • Comments (10)

September 11, 2008

I think I’m a doctor

I can’t belabor my posts otherwise I’m just not going to write. I’ve been in such a mental state that my mind is either working too fast or not at all. It’s hard for me to hold onto a thought and when I try to construct coherent posts so that I sound like a sane and normal human being, it’s not happening.

Since I’ve been trying unsuccessfully to get pregnant for a real long time and I can’t afford alternative options or testing etc. I thought I would come up with my own theories for why it’s not happening. That’s healthy, huh? Ever since I saw the movie Lorenzo’s Oil I think I can diagnose myself and discover cures. Seriously.

Anyway, I take a tablespoon of Flaxseed oil once a day because I could swear by it helping with my anxiety and depression. Then I read about how you shouldn’t take it if you’re pregnant because it can cause bleeding. But then I also read it does something to your estrogen levels (not unlike soy). I eat flax and a lot of soy, so I thought maybe that was preventing me from getting prego.

I decided to take a break from the flax despite worrying about the effect on my mental state. I didn’t feel a profound difference in my mood but I gained a few pounds. Initially I didn’t think anything of it but this month I decided to go back on the flax because maybe I started to feel a dip in my mood, I’m not sure. But since I did, I lost three of the 6 pounds I gained. We’ll see if it sticks (and goes further).

My appetite has felt better. I think I’ve been doing less emotional eating. See, maybe that’s where the flax helps, I don’t know but I’m sticking with the Flax. I haven’t been able to find anywhere that says it might prevent or hinder getting pregnant.

See what I consume myself with?!

Not that I’m going to be in a TRIATHLON this weekend!! AAAHHHHH.

Posted by hopeful @ 10:05 AM • Comments (3)