c25k and other updates...

A few things have happened since the September triathlon that warrant an update.

1. My Aunt Catherine in Florida completed her first triathlon! She is much more hardcore than me, as evidenced by the fact that she swam in a lake and completed the tri in under an hour and a half!! You go, girl!!

2. A friend in Tucson has started training for her first triathlon! Yaaayyy!! I'm seriously so glad I can inspire people to do this. I promise... if I can do this, anyone can!!!

3. Although it has taken awhile, I am finally back to making progress on the c25k program. I have officially decided that I much prefer running outside to running on a treadmill. Too bad I have discovered this as winter is right around the corner. Thankfully, the weather in Cheyenne has been surprisingly nice so I have been taking advantage of that while I can.

A funny think happened a couple weeks ago on my c25k journey. I was all excited to finally start week 7, then saw that the directions were to "run 25 minutes." !!??!?!?!?!? From week 6, I had been running 5 minutes, walking 3, running 8, walking 3, running 5. That seemed like a pretty big jump to me!!!

Then I re-looked at the program and discovered that during weeks 5 and 6, the workouts are different for the different days. Up until this point, all 3 workouts in one week were the same. So anyway, I decided to back track and attempt some of the in between workouts before trying the 25 minute run.

This evening I completed my third try of the w6d2 workout - run 10 minutes, walk 3, run 10. On my first attempt I ran 10, walked 3, ran 7, walked 1, ran 3. Anyway, I am so stinking proud of myself!!!

On Friday I did the week 4 workout with a friend and I could tell a huge difference in my stamina now vs my stamina when I was going through week 4 for the first time. It feels so good to be able to tell that I am making progress!!!

So I think the next time I run, on Wednesday, I will attempt a 20 minute run.

My mom's whole family is gathering for Thanksgiving, and some of us are going to participate in a 5k Turkey Trot the morning of Thanksgiving. My goal is to be able to run the whole 5k. I have 3 weeks to get there! I think I can do it!!!

I did it!! .... again!!!!

 This past Sunday was the Fort Collins Club triathlon! I participated and had a blast... again!! I think I'm officially hooked. :)

Here is the story, through pictures.

Saturday afternoon was the "first-timers" meeting and I went because this race was more official than the FE Warren one. We had to wear time chips around our ankles and everything. The man who was leading the meeting was hysterical. He handed out a "how-to" sheet that he wrote. It reminded us to go to the bathroom before the race at least 5 times and included tips like "don't pee in anyone's yard."

He also went through all of the different stages of the race in detail... to include all the wardrobe changes. As in, he literally changed clothes while going through the presentation. He was fully clothed at the beginning of the meeting, then after he went through how to get your transition area set up he said, "ok, now you're ready for the swim!" and proceeded to strip down to his speedo. After the tips for swimming, he went back to his transition area and demonstrated putting his clothes back on for the bike. So so so funny.

Sunday morning was an early one!! The transition area opened at 6am and I got there with my entourage at about 6:20am. The race was to begin at 7. It was dark, cold, and foggy when we got there!! Here I am getting all set up!!

The craziness that was the transition area!!

Getting ready for the swim!!

Me and the hubby before the race!

One of my top 2 cutest cheerleaders!!

More cheerleaders, waiting for the swim to start!

Swimming! I'm the one in the dark blue swim cap. For this race we did a "snake swim." So everyone started at the same end of the pool. You swim one length, duck under the lane and swim down the next lane and continue this process until you get to the other end of the pool where you exit and head to the transition area.

When you registered, you estimated your swim time (I estimated wrong because I thought the swim was 500 yards but it was only 450... oops). So then theoretically they start with the fastest swimmer first and the next fastest swimmer leaves 10 seconds later, etc etc.

This would have worked out great, except not everyone estimated their swim time correctly. So traffic jams happened. I'm the one on the right in this picture, trying to figure out how to pass all these peope.

There I am on the left, after successfully passing them. From here it was smooth sailing!!



I completed the 450 yards swimming in 8:27.

Here I am transitioning from the swim to the bike!

My transition time was 2:51.

The bike route was 3 laps around a pretty busy block in Fort Collins. This bike was much easier than the bike for the FE Warren triathlon. There were a few hills, but they weren't as steep as in the other race. Also the wind wasn't blowing as hard.

I completed the 13 miles biking in 43:11.

Here I am transitioning to the run!!

My transition time was 1:01.

And I'm off for the run!!

 I love that my friend Melanie caught this shot. This triathlon was more fun that the FE Warren one because there were so many more competitors! At the FE Warren triathlon, I hardly saw or passed or was passed by anyone, but at this race I was constantly surrounded by people. At the finish line, they had music playing and as you were running towards the finish there was an announcer who looked up your bib number and announced your name!! That was pretty cool. So this is me, being excited that I'm almost done and that my name was called. :)

 Running across the finish!!!

I completed the 2.5 miles running in 33:43 and my total time was 1:29:17!!

I was pretty excited about that!!

Funny story.... I ranked in the top 100 for my swim time, the top 150 for my bike time, and the.... bottom 20 for my run time. I guess I can keep working on my run!!! Ha. Like in the previous race, I ran for a few minutes, then walked for a few minutes. I think I actually did run for more time in this race than the previous one which I am pretty happy about. But yeah, I want to get better still.

I had a ton of cheerleaders!!! My hubby was there, along with my mom from Colorado Springs, my cousin who is a freshman at CSU, Louie and Luke from Fort Collins (at whose house the 4 of us stayed), and Matt, Melanie and Julia from Cheyenne!!! I felt so loved!!! Here's some shots of me with all my cheerleaders.

Yay, I did it again!!! The first time wasn't a fluke!!!! :)

After the race, Louie and Luke headed to church and the rest of us headed to a super cute, super yummy breakfast place.

Thanks so much to all my cheerleaders out there!! I appreciate it!!! And I think I've found a new hobby!!! :)

If you have ever had the slightest inclination to do a triathlon, you should definitely do it!! It was seriously so much fun. And with a little bit of training, you will do just fine. Let me know if you have any questions!!

Triathlon #2

I officially signed up for the Fort Collins Triathlon (the one I was originally training for) and it is this coming Sunday!!

I haven't been able to train as faithfully as I would have liked - due to school (and thus work) starting and having to get stitches.

We'll see how it goes!!

I did it!!!!!!!!!!

Yesterday was the FEWarren Aquatic Center's 20th annual mini-triathlon and I participated!! I completed 500 yards swimming, 13 miles biking, and 3 miles running (running/walking) in 1:43:07!! I tied for first in my age group!! I was so proud of myself and I had an absolute blast! I think I'm hooked!!

Here I am with my transition area all set up. It was a chilly morning and the locker room was on the way to the transition area so I actually ended up throwing on my clothes and shoes inside then coming outside to bike.

Matt (my dear friend Melanie's hubby) and I all jazzed for the event!!

Here we go!!!

And we're off!!! My lane buddy didn't show, so I had a lane all to myself which was pretty nice!!

Done with the swim, now on to the bike!!!

Almost ready!!

This was me completing my first lap (of 2) on the bike course. Heading north on the bike was no fun because the wind was heading directly south, plus there hills!! I am so glad I ended up renting a road bike vs using my mountain bike. I could tell it made a huge difference!!

Done with biking, on to the run!!

Hoping the Gatorade gives me energy and motivation for the run!

And I'm off on the run!!

Mel, Julia, and I after the race!!

My wonderful hubby was the photographer and cheerleader extraordinaire!!!

As previously mentioned, I had so much fun!! Seriously, everybody should do it!!! I wasn't sure if I would still do the Fort Collins triathlon, but now I definitely want to do it!!

This triathlon was not a sanctioned event and was pretty low key. It was really the perfect one for me to do first, I think. I was not worried about my transition times at all - I kind of took my sweet time in between each event.

Ok, so here are some things I am really proud of myself for:
~ I did it!! I actually did it!! Wahoo!!!
~ I swam my 500 yards in under 9 minutes!! When I had been training the fastest I did it was 10:30.
~ The run. I did do a mixture of running and walking, but I ended up running more than I thought I would!! I was especially proud of myself for the ending: I ran over a half a mile to the end, and even sprinted the last 15 yards or so!!

Here are a couple things I will work on for the Fort Collins triathlon next month:
~ I will keep working on my running. I would love to be able to run the whole thing!!
~ I will work on adding flip turns to my swim. Not sure if I can get the lung capacity for that in a month, but I'll try!!

Overall, I had a great experience and am so glad I did it!!

4 days!!

So the triathlon at FE Warren is this coming Saturday, which means I have 4 days to finish preparing!!

My past few swim workouts have been really good. Two different days I did 3 sets of 500 yards in under 12 minutes each!!! Then today I did 2 sets of 500 yards in about 10:30 each!!! Wahoo!! Today I even got brave and added 3 sets of 100 with flipturns!! I did it, but I hated it. What a difference those few extra seconds under water makes.

Last week I went to spin class once, swam twice, and ran twice. Yesterday J and I were in Colorado Springs and we hiked halfway up the Manitou Incline with my parents. I just got done swimming. Tomorrow my plan is to go to spin class then run... a brick workout!! On Thursday I think I will swim again, then take a break Friday, then race on Saturday!!

Are there any triathletes who read this??? What suggestions do you have for me this week?? And what about food??

12.... days!!!

So I'm probably going to participate in a triathlon in 12 days. This is not the one in Fort Collins; it is in Cheyenne on the Air Force base.

My friend M has been trying to convince me to do it for awhile. Then today at spin class my instructor mentioned that she is doing it. I was chatting with her about it for a few minutes and another lady said, "Well if you guys are going to do it, then I will too!!" So at least there will be 3 people I know participating (M plus the 2 from spin class).

Another upside: the run is a little bit shorter... 2.5 miles instead of 3.1. I am so down with that.

M competed in the official sprint triathlon that was held in Cheyenne last month and he says I should see about renting a road bike for the race - he was amazed at his difference in speed with the road bike vs. the mountain bike.

I have found a place that will rent me a road bike for $25/ day so I think I will try it out either this week or next then again for the triathlon.

I have been pretty good about spinning and running, but haven't done any swimming since returning from the cruise. I need to get on that. And apparently I need to do a couple "brick" workouts!!

12 days!!! Eeeek!!!

July craziness is over!!!

We got back from our cruise on Friday which means our July craziness is over and it's time to get back to serious triathlon training. :) Seriously, between our 4th of July activities and friends visiting from Virginia and the cruise, we have had company or been traveling for 19 days this month!!

By no means did I train hard while on the cruise, but I was proud of myself for working out as much as I did. It helped that J has his PT test this coming week so he wanted to work on getting in shape for that. Out of the 7 days we were on the cruise, we went to the gym 4 times for 30 minutes each. Then one day for our excursion we hiked about 2 and a half miles in the Tongass National Forest, and while in Victoria we walked at least a mile through town. Not too shabby, I don't think.

Saturday J and I went on a quick evening run, yesterday we did some more hiking at Vedauwoo, and I just got back from spin class. I'm on a roll!!! :)