Better late than never!

A tad bit late on the blog delivery, but here's last week's report!

To start with, a little pat on my own back.  Swim team pictures came out last week, and I was ecstatic to see how good I looked. I emailed my parents a copy of the swim team picture, and they forwarded it on to my siblings who all told me how great I look!  Meanwhile, I cropped the picture and placed it next to last year's team picture.  I still have a hard time seeing the progress I've made (I mean I KNOW it's a huge improvement, but my eyes deceive me)...Sorry about the smears, I didn't get permission from my swimmers to post them on my blog, so I blobbed them out!

 

Last year........................this year!

I slept in on Monday morning, after my practice triathlon on Sunday.  I don't do so well with waking up in the dark.  My body is telling me I should still be abed...it's a good thing I have a walking partner to make me get up twice a week!  Monday after work I swam at the club - a mile swim at a relaxed pace.  Tuesday I got up early to meet Berta for our 4.75 mile walk up the Lincoln Grade.  I think it's more difficult in the dark...you can't see where you're going or how far you've come, just feel the burn in the calves and see the stars above your head.  With the addition of 1/2 a mile, our walk has extended to about an hour and 35 to 40 minutes instead of an hour and 22 minutes.  We also start out with the steepest part of the grade right at the get go.  Ever since we were almost run over by a truck racing up the steep part of the hill I think we race up as fast as we can go, so the old heart is pounding away and doesn't get much rest.

What I see when it finally lightens up...

I decided to ride my bike to practice Tuesday afternoon.  Not sure of the mileage, but it took about 20-25 minutes to get there, then after practice I had to ride up hill.  I was proud of myself for my hard work and had just topped the last hill before I turned and had a flat finish when the back end of my bike felt squishy.  My first flat : (  I guess I should have tried out the new bike pump to learn how it worked...I couldn't make it happen!  So I called Kaylin, thinking he was sitting at home, and learned that he was on his way home and almost to my location.  He said he'd pick me up...While waiting I finally got the pump to work, but the tire wouldn't hold enough air.  We loaded my Strada into the back seat of Kay's Honda and drove the half mile home with the rear passenger door open.  Have I mentioned how much I LOVE my bike?!

My Strada...

Wednesday I decided to skip the pool as the swim team was planning to hike the grade for practice, so I speed walked the grade with the girls, jogging in a few places.  I was jogging back down at a good slow clip when I realized the other coaches had turned around, so I went back up almost to the top to wait for the last group to get to me, then had to walk to stay with them all the way back to the pool.  I probably did 4.75 miles.

Another view from the Lincoln Grade...

Thursday I didn't get an opportunity to exercise what with packing to head to Oregon, feeding the animals, etc.  So I got a day of rest-ish...After practice we hopped in the car and headed to Portland, arriving at about 10:00 pm.  Just in time to visit for a few minutes, then trundle off to sleep.

Hungry goats...

We left Portland Friday morning at about 7:00 am to head to Corvallis for Kassidy's band preview at Oregon State University.  It was a full day listening to financial aid and application information, watching Kassidy get to play with a couple of ensemble bands, getting a campus tour (though my kids got annoyed at Kaylin and I giving our own asides from our years at OSU - go Beavs!!), meeting up with Lex so she could go birthday shopping with Rylie, and finally watching the OSU Marching Band practice.  I think Kassidy has decided she definitely wants to go to OSU!

After the band preview we headed over to Lon's house where we got to hang out with the family for a couple of hours and were fed an excellent dinner of hamburgers and yummy green beans and salad, then got pumpkin spice cupcakes for dessert!  Before the sugar could make us sleepy we headed over to the coast, and fell face first into bed!

                     Rylie as a mermaid...                                     
                                                                                                       Kassidy's impish grin...


Saturday morning we ate an excellent, calorie dense breakfast at the Drift Inn in Yachats, perused the aquarium and shark exhibit in Newport, then chowed through clam chowder, fried clams, and fried shrimp at Rogue Ale.  Then we purchased plenty of salt water taffy from a shop on the bayfront and headed back to the beach house.  At this point I was feeling sufficiently guilty to jog on the beach.  I ended up going about 4 miles, most of which I jogged, though I must admit to walking a bit at the 2 mile mark and the 3.25 mile mark, and the 3.5 mile mark.  But that was all!  At that point I wanted to lie on the couch and not move, but we went into town to get a few groceries for dinner (yummm, pizza) and movie 300 so Rylie could write a report for school.  All in all it was a great day!

Me during my beach run...

Sunday was spent cleaning and driving, so obviously I didn't get any exercise in.  This made me extremely nervous for weigh-in today...especially since last week I gained a pound.  The scale this morning has me at the same weight as last week (phew!)...so I've got some self-motivating to do!

Hope you keep yourself motivated and hopping!

The (lazing) Marsupial Maven!

Sunny Fall Sprint Triathlon Day!

Looks like I'm on a roll - a post on schedule!  After a long day Saturday for the high school swim meet (which we won!), I decided I needed to complete another sprint distance tri practice on Sunday morning.  I woke up a bit late - to a beautiful sunny fall day.  I was able to convince Rylie and Kaylin to do some of the workout with me. 

The plan was for all of us to leave the house together, then about half way through the ride Kaylin would split off and head home to await our call to meet us down at the club with my swim stuff.

The bike ride progressed as planned, though Rylie and I stopped a few times to let Kaylin catch up.  We thouroughly enjoyed the scenery and the smell of ripe grapes in the air.  At the track I managed to jog 3.25 miles in 37 minutes.  That calculates out to 11:22 minute miles.  I kept the pace steady throughout.  Apparently Rylie thought my jog was photo worthy...

At the club I managed to swim 500 yards in 8 and a half minutes.  All in all it was a great day!


Last week I swam 1.25 miles on Monday, 1 mile on Wednesday, hiked the grade on Tuesday and Thursday (4.75 miles), and biked 8 and a half miles on Friday (with Rylie), in addition to the sprint distance triathlon practice today (12.5 mile bike ride, 3.25 mile jog, 500 yard swim).

Despite my hard efforts exercising, I was a bit of a slacker in the nutrition department.  I didn't journal every day and I snacked a lot.  My goal for next week is to journal everything and to eat better!  If the weather is gorgeous, I'm going to try to convince Kaylin to join me in a short bike ride...

Until next week, keep bounding away at something that makes you happy!

The Marsupial Maven!

Me, the Triathlete!

Ok, so daily posts are probably too ambitious for me at this time.  It's much more realistic to shoot for weekly posts and see if that goes any better.

So I left off with a teaser - telling you I had planned a half-sprint triathlon for myself, then didn't tell you how it went.  Such a bad storyteller!  Or a major cliffhanger?!

Here I am, updating you!

Sunday, September 15th, 2013 I set off on my bike, via a roundabout route, into town and the high school track.  With me were my two daughters (Kassidy and Rylie), and my DH (Kaylin).  My goal at the track was to jog as much of the mile and a half as I could manage.  Guess what?  I did the whole thing!  At first it felt horrible, so I had to talk to myself and convince myself that my legs felt better than when doing the Lincoln grade.  Then a funny thing happened...I settled into a groove.  At the finish I knew I could have kept jogging, so on the brief bike ride from the track to the fitness club I decided that next Sunday I would do 2/3 of a Sprint Triathlon.  I completed a 300 yard swim, and feeling just fine, definitely decided to increase my distance next week. 

I was very proud of my family for following along, despite the fact that they didn't complete as many miles as I did!  Kaylin even walked 3/4 of a mile at the track!

Art Fiker Stadium

I felt so great about the morning, that I decided to travel to REI to look at triathlon equipment, including road bikes.  I hadn't reached my 50 pound weight loss, but knew that this was the time of year that bikes would be on clearance.

At the Richland REI I found an awesome Novara Strada.  This is a men's bike, in red and white.  I'm a tall girl and after trying out the women's and men's version, decided that the men's bikes definitely fit me best.  The bike,  normally $1150.00 was on sale for $659.00.  I convinced Kaylin that I wasn't likely to find a better bargain, and left the store the proud owner of a new road bike!  Incidentally, Rylie decided that she wanted to buy the women's version, same price!  On the way home I vowed not to ride my bike until I lost the last 7 pounds to reach 50 pounds lost.  Rylie informed me that this was ridiculous!  She said "That's the same as saying you're not going to walk on a new treadmill until you lose 50 pounds.  If you walk on the treadmill you'll lose the weight faster!"  What a smart cookie!

 

My new Novara Strada!  And my Nutcase helmet (isn't it cute)!

The following Sunday, September 22nd, we set out to complete 2/3 of a Sprint Triathlon.  Rylie and I took off on our new bikes, leaving Kaylin and Kassidy in the dust on their mountain bikes.  I had just finished 3/4 of a mile at the track when they got there.  I kept chugging away until I completed 2 miles, this time with a positive attitude and a grateful sense of accomplishment.  We rode our bikes to the pool to swim 400 yards, then went to FroYo for a celebratory yogurt for lunch.  I decided during my 4th scoop of yogurt that next week I would try for a complete Sprint distance triathlon training.

Sunday, September 29th:
No one else wanted to join me, in fact, I felt like I was battling the world in getting to go.  Rylie had spent the night at a friend's house, so she wasn't home, Kassidy's hip hurt, and Kaylin was whining about needing to clean the garage.  I told him to send Kassidy to pick me up at the fitness center...

So I set out on my bike on the route I mapped out on google earth (awesome tool).  Only once did a dog jump out at me - during the downhill portion into town.  I cried a little during my 3.1 mile jog, but out of happiness that this body that I have a hard time loving could do so much for me.  I finished my 500 yard swim and noted that my polar watch clocked the entire trip at 2 hours, 2 minutes from when I left the house, until I hit the wall in the pool.

It was a bit of a grouchy day as Kaylin was complaining about not getting much accomplished due to the fact that he decided to pick me up instead of sending Kassidy, then didn't tell me he was waiting on me to finish to pick Rylie up from the friend's house...

Not sure which grump he reminds me of more...

So that brings us to this last Sunday, October 6th:
I managed to convince Kaylin to join me for some of the bike portion of my training.  He started out on Rylie's bike, but after a few miles I traded him bikes.  A few miles later he decided to head back home, so we traded back.  I hope he enjoyed himself a bit - I'm trying to get him into riding his bicycle again!

Kaylin is way too small to see in the distance...but he's there!

I rode into town by myself and completed my 5K jog and 500 yard swim.  I hit the wall in the same 2 hours and 2 minutes, but subtracting the time I spent stopped waiting for Kaylin to catch up means that I probably did it about 5 minutes faster than last week!  Yay me!

Me and my Strada!

So that's my triathlon training in summation...hope you're all caught up!

Keep bounding away at something you love!

The Marsupial Maven!