simpler days.

So, I think the news has made it around...

We are moving to Boulder, CO the first of August.

Last night we were going through our basement...our stuff. We got rid of 4-5 trash bags of trash. Have a pile to sell. A pile to give away. A pile to take with us. And a pile to store for now.

It was freeing to start getting a bit more simple.

One thing I'm looking forward to in the Colorado lifestyle are simpler days.

Steelhead news: I swam 2,000 m (about 1.2 miles) straight at the Y on Sunday in a little under 50 minutes. The swim won't be easy, but that's why I'm doing the half ironman, right?

I'll be ready....for steelhead...and the clean air of Colorado.

The Big Shark Newtown Triathlon

At first I was delaying this post on purpose. Right after the race on Sunday I was feeling bummed about my race...I had this feeling of defeat after I finished.

Summary of my race: I pannicked within like 100 m of the swim. Honestly, it was like an out-of-body experience. I don't know why I pannicked. I guess because there were people all around me and I just could not get my stroke pattern down. Finally, I got it together (although, I really wanted to tell the lifeguard to pull me out...I reeally wanted to bail!) and I finished the swim. What a relief!!

The bike was fine. I pushed it pretty hard from the beginning. I passed some of the girls in my age group, so that was hopeful. It was a bit windy on the way back, so that slowed me down a bit, but I kept like a 17-18 mph average.

My legs then were pretty fried. I wouldn't say that my legs blew up, but at this point my heart rate had not been in the 150s at all...I had just stopped looking at my heart rate and tried to just go as hard as I could :)

It took about a mile to get my legs underneath me and get a good breathing and step rhythm going. Ended up running 9:30 miles...not the fastest, but heck--it'd be a long morning! :)

Looking back, it was a good experience. Sunday night I finally realized that it was fun and it's okay to not be fast. Not to mention, we still had long workouts the week and even the day before the race--I was not fresh for that race.

Steelhead. I'm gonna finish it. It's an endurance challenge.

Going to swim in the lake this weekend.
I can do this.

It will be hard. It will be fun.

swimming

this will be me tomorrow...except no wetsuits :(

this is actually the newtown triathalon last year--found this random photo via google image--thanks to this fellow triathlete who posted this.

we went up to newtown today...got our packets...got some ART treatment by Dr. Lytle...and then swam the course. 1000 meters.

the first 2/3s of the swim I would describe as survival.

i finally warmed up and felt okay on the last 1/3 of it.

my heart rate usually runs mid-130s while swimming in the pool.

today average heart rate=164. today's max heart rate=170.

i did finish the full route in about 25 minutes and 30 seconds.

hoping to beat that time in the morning.

i'm trying to not doubt/freak out that i won't be able to make the 1/2 ironman swim in a few weeks.

1.2 miles doesn't sound that bad...it is. :)

jesse just told me that he hope i have a great race tomorrow.

i think it's because he doesn't want me to back out on steelhead.

and he loves me.

gluten free

Gluten free. At first it just seemed like some fade in the health world...another one of those marketing tactics to get people to buy their product. I was ignorant. I didn't really know what gluten was, honestly.

gluten=a protein found in wheat, rye, and barley

Why I am tend towards a gluten free diet...especially a few days before big workouts:

1. gluten has been shown to increase the body's inflammatory response...which causes increased time for muscle and body system recovery

2. gluten has a higher glycemic load than gluten-free foods

3. gluten is found in many processed foods...we already rarely eat anything processed.

Many athletes have made the switch (and sacrifice at times) to the gluten free diet...some because they have been diagnosed with Celiac diease. Which, Celiac is one of the most undiagnosed autoimmune diseases in the US. One in every 133 American's suffer from Celiac's disease, which means they are unable to process and tolerate the protein commonly found in most breads, cereal, pizza, pastas...the list goes on.

Check out "Team Gluten Free": http://www.teamglutenfree.org/experts.html

Desiree Ficker is a professional triathlete that has gone gluten free and she has a blog that is interesting to read: http://www.desireeficker.com/

Here is our gluten free dinner we had tonight...pesto brown rice pasta with kale:

It's hard for me to think about going totally gluten-free, but maybe the benefits will outweigh the yumminess of pizza, breads, pancakes...the list goes on...:)

28 days til Steelhead

I can't believe that it's been over a month since I've blogged. I need to get better at this. I always think of what I could write on here, but then just don't sit down at the computer.

In the last month...

-rode our bike out in hilly Hermann...it kicked my butt. Our water bottles were also soapy from soaking them that week, which we didn't realize til we were on the bike. So 3 1/2 hour ride with two soapy water bottles.

-I've seen a lot of patients respond positively and quickly with ART.

-swam in the Newtown lake for my first open water swim. Demo'd a 2XU wetsuit. Only slightly panicked once.

-rode from our house in St. Charles to Forest Park in University City last Saturday and today--about a 4 hour ride...again a hilly route, but last Saturday Jesse taught me how to shift correctly up hills...fabulously helpful (would have made the Hermann ride much better :)). Also had my very first flat last Saturday and Jesse was thankfully there because I would have missed a few steps--need to practice that one :)

*In this ride, I realized that I've really only been riding on the road for 4 1/2 months or so...I really can't believe that I've come this far.

The Newtown race will be my first...July 10th...a week from Sunday. Open water swim about 1000m, 20 mile bike ride, and 4 mile run. I'm excited.

Saturday we did our long ride. Rode out around Creve Coeur lake area for about 2 1/2 hours. Felt okay. My right knee had been bothering me since mid-week ride. I think I just strained my quadricep/patellar tendon when I was pedaling against the wind. It was really bugging me towards the end the ride. That's also when I took my first road "wreck". I was turning around to head back towards home...turned right into the wind. Between the gust of wind, my right knee not as strong on the pedal stroke, and my questionable balance at times on the bike...I wrecked in the middle of the road. No cars were around. I was fine. I did hit my head (helmet on!), which bounced off the ground. I rode home...just scrapped up on my knee and side. I had a bad headache and stiff neck for about 2 days. Jesse was great to rub my neck/shoulders Sunday and Monday night...really helped me!! Right away I wasn't scared to get back on the road...now I am a bit. Back to overcoming fears and set backs. I feel like this right here is the theme to my Steelhead training. I want to be healthy. Hopefully upon race day I have reached good fitness and health, so I can go strong.

Today I'm going to try and get a "long" ride in. It's been stormy/rainy, so I'm hoping it clears up by early afternoon. I fly out to Dallas today and will be gone til late Sunday night, so I hope that my knee and the weather holds up so I can get time in on the bike. I'll be swimming, running, and lifting/core workouts the rest of the week/weekend at the hotel. :)

I'm excited for the Active Release Technique course in Dallas this weekend. I've been studying pretty hard...I'm starting to feel ready. I really want to do well at the course...learn a lot from other practitioners...and become competent at ART, so that my patients will experience great outcomes. I'm praying for good partners through the lab sections and that it will be restful amidst the all day lectures/intimidation of the practical test on Sunday.

Check out ART here: www.activerelease.com

long ride.

Today we did our long ride. The weather was beautiful, but seemed windy throughout the entire ride. We went down highway 94, pass New Town, and through all these country farmland roads. It was beautiful. I felt better today overall, but still some "issues". My right hand was going tingly the first half of the ride--I just shifted my weight and changed my grip around--seemed to help. My seat is still a bit uncomfortable after about 45 minutes. Again, I rotated my hips forward (anterior pelivc tilted)...not sure if I'm suppose to, but it gets the pressure off my "sit bones", which the seat seems to have zero give. I need to do some research on how I should be sitting on my saddle. I really wish that I had a girl to ride with. Jesse is kind enough to ride the first 10 minutes or so with me to get me to the route and through traffic, but he's just so much faster than I...we can't ride together.
I rode right at 40 miles in 2 hours and 30 minutes. Very minimal hills, but I was pretty happy with that.

I'm sure glad that the two german shepherds that were chasing me on Silveres Road didn't bite me.

Lifting and core workout tomorrow. I want to start a Pilates class...not sure where to go and don't want to spend a ton of money, but I think it'd be awesome for me.

Back to studying for my ART (Active Release Technique) course...I want to be so good at this technique...I really believe in it! There's so much to do in the next 11 days until I go to Dallas for the course.