I realized earlier today that I post alot about my workouts and stuff like that, but I don't post very much about healthy eating. Healthy eating has just as much to do about weight loss as does the exercising.
So, I thought I'd start with one of the basics that has helped me. Turkey burger!
I've gotten to the point where I would much rather have turkey burger than have ground beef. It's alot healthier for you and I personally can't tell the difference between the two. :)
Granted turkey burger can get expensive, but I think it's worth it and some times I find that Wal-Mart has a pretty good deal on turky burger and sometimes it's less expensive than ground beef.
So, I've decided, I am going to try really hard to post something about healthy eating on this blog, along with all the other stuff I post. :)
Monday, June 28, 2010
Sunday, June 27, 2010
The Lunatic Tri
I completed my third triathlon of the season this last Friday night. It was called the Lunatic Triathlon because it was held the night of a full moon. There were 166 single participants and then 21 teams. So there were always 187 people either running, biking or swimming. I know that one person travelled all the way from Illinois and Arizona just to compete in this race.
It's not very common to have a triathlon at night, and that is why I signed up to do this triathlon. I'm always up for a challenge, so a couple of months ago I signed up for this triathlon.
The triathlon was held in Price, which is about 2 hours away from where I live, so I got a motel room for the night so I didn't have to drive home after the race.
I had to work the morning of the race, so like any other week day, I got up at 4:30 a.m. and went swimming and was up for the rest of the day. I worked 1/2 day and then came home and got my mom and loaded up the car and headed down to Price.
We got down there, checked in to our motel, relaxed for a few minutes and then we headed out to drive the route so I could see where I'd be running, biking, and swimming. Even though we had drove the route before going and picking up my packet and stuff, we got to the park early and went on a van tour that the race officials had coordinated for us. That was super helpful. The driver of the van was telling us everywhere there would be police and where there would be volunteers and stuff directing traffic. He was very helpful.
I always get nervous before a race. No matter how many races I've done, I still get nervous. After we had figured out the routes that I'd be running and biking, my nerves just got even worse. Alot of the run was uphill. It wasn't a giant steep hill, it was a gradual hill and that actually makes it a little harder. I can run up a hill, but it's hard. I'm better at running on a flat surface, but honestly, who isn't, ya know? Lol. Plus, I think I started the race out too fast. There were many a times during the run that I wanted to stop and walk, but I didn't. I knew if I stopped and walked, I would be disappointed in myself. There was one point during the run that they had a water stand for us, but it was up on the sidewalk and we were all running on the street, so not very many people took advantage of the water. We didn't want to jog out of our way and up on to the sidewalk to get the water. It was really cute though, when we turned the corner, you could see the cups of water that people had thrown on the ground after they had drank the water, and there was a little girl, oh she probably couldn't have been more than 5 years old shouting at all the runners "watch for water, watch for water". It was really cute.
I successfully ran the whole 3.2 miles and got back to my transition area and picked up my bike and headed out. This part was the scariest part of the whole race. When we picked up our packets, they gave us 4 glow sticks to attach to our bikes, 2 for our wrists and 2 for our shoes. They told us prior to the race starting that we were encouraged to wear light clothing and to get a headlamp or a headlight for our bikes. I got a headlamp, but it SUCKED!!! I seriously might as well have not had a headlamp at all. If I do this triathlon next year (which I want to), I will invest in a MUCH better headlamp. There was part of the race where there were no street lights and I was the only person on the road and it was darker than a stack of black cats. It was scary. So I kind of just rode down the middle of the road so I didn't go off in to the brush or anything like that. There were a couple of nice sized hills on the bike too, but overall not too bad.
I got back from the bike and stripped down to my swim suit and ran across the street to the pool. They had warned us that since the swim was last, if the pool was becoming bottle necked, they would slow the swimmers down as they were getting in the pool. The girl that was in front of me, she sat on the edge of the pool for probably a full minute before jumping in. That made me think that I had to wait a minute before getting in the pool, but the volunteer at the pool quickly told me that I didn't have to and so I jumped right in the pool and took off. I passed a couple of people in the first and second lanes and I got done with the swim fairly quick.
One thing that I found was odd about this triathlon was they didn't have timing chips like they did with all of my other races. I'm still not exactly sure how they recorded our time. As we hit the wall on our final lap of the swim, a volunteer leaned down and handed us a laminated card that gave us our overall placing in the race. I placed 129th. Then we took that laminated card and walked up the "beach" of the wave pool we swam in and walked through a balloon arch and gave the laminated card to another volunteer who wrote down our bib # and then we were presented with a metal. I always wear a watch when I compete, so as soon as I finished the race, I looked at my watch and it said 11:25 p.m. So I knew I finished the race in about 1 hr and 25 minutes. Alot better than I had anticipated, because I remember thinking during the run and the bike that this race was harder than I thought and I just wanted to finish the race. I didn't care if I didn't improve my time from my previous races. I just wanted to finish the race and I didn't want to finish last.
Saturday after I got home, I got on their website and found out that my official final time was 1:26:31. I was SO happy.
One other thing that I found kind of odd about this triathlon was their transition area. Normally a transition area of a triathlon has actual bike racks where you basically hang your bike by it's seat. But, in this triathlon, their transition area was weird. What it was, was on the campus of the College of Eastern Utah, they painted squares (probably 2 yds x 2 yds) on the grass with your bib # and that was your transition area. You laid your bike down in the transition area and everything. Kind of odd.
One thing that I did think was WAY cool though was, a week or so before the race, the officials of the race sent out a letter to the residents who lived on the routes saying that there would be a triathlon and that some of the streets may be blocked off or whatnot and to remind them of their leash law and that their dogs, etc., needed to be on a leash. Well, alot of these residents set up chairs on their driveway or front lawns and were cheering everybody on. They didn't know who we were, but they were cheering us on! I loved it! That's what keeps me going during the races.
It's not very common to have a triathlon at night, and that is why I signed up to do this triathlon. I'm always up for a challenge, so a couple of months ago I signed up for this triathlon.
The triathlon was held in Price, which is about 2 hours away from where I live, so I got a motel room for the night so I didn't have to drive home after the race.
I had to work the morning of the race, so like any other week day, I got up at 4:30 a.m. and went swimming and was up for the rest of the day. I worked 1/2 day and then came home and got my mom and loaded up the car and headed down to Price.
We got down there, checked in to our motel, relaxed for a few minutes and then we headed out to drive the route so I could see where I'd be running, biking, and swimming. Even though we had drove the route before going and picking up my packet and stuff, we got to the park early and went on a van tour that the race officials had coordinated for us. That was super helpful. The driver of the van was telling us everywhere there would be police and where there would be volunteers and stuff directing traffic. He was very helpful.
I always get nervous before a race. No matter how many races I've done, I still get nervous. After we had figured out the routes that I'd be running and biking, my nerves just got even worse. Alot of the run was uphill. It wasn't a giant steep hill, it was a gradual hill and that actually makes it a little harder. I can run up a hill, but it's hard. I'm better at running on a flat surface, but honestly, who isn't, ya know? Lol. Plus, I think I started the race out too fast. There were many a times during the run that I wanted to stop and walk, but I didn't. I knew if I stopped and walked, I would be disappointed in myself. There was one point during the run that they had a water stand for us, but it was up on the sidewalk and we were all running on the street, so not very many people took advantage of the water. We didn't want to jog out of our way and up on to the sidewalk to get the water. It was really cute though, when we turned the corner, you could see the cups of water that people had thrown on the ground after they had drank the water, and there was a little girl, oh she probably couldn't have been more than 5 years old shouting at all the runners "watch for water, watch for water". It was really cute.
I successfully ran the whole 3.2 miles and got back to my transition area and picked up my bike and headed out. This part was the scariest part of the whole race. When we picked up our packets, they gave us 4 glow sticks to attach to our bikes, 2 for our wrists and 2 for our shoes. They told us prior to the race starting that we were encouraged to wear light clothing and to get a headlamp or a headlight for our bikes. I got a headlamp, but it SUCKED!!! I seriously might as well have not had a headlamp at all. If I do this triathlon next year (which I want to), I will invest in a MUCH better headlamp. There was part of the race where there were no street lights and I was the only person on the road and it was darker than a stack of black cats. It was scary. So I kind of just rode down the middle of the road so I didn't go off in to the brush or anything like that. There were a couple of nice sized hills on the bike too, but overall not too bad.
I got back from the bike and stripped down to my swim suit and ran across the street to the pool. They had warned us that since the swim was last, if the pool was becoming bottle necked, they would slow the swimmers down as they were getting in the pool. The girl that was in front of me, she sat on the edge of the pool for probably a full minute before jumping in. That made me think that I had to wait a minute before getting in the pool, but the volunteer at the pool quickly told me that I didn't have to and so I jumped right in the pool and took off. I passed a couple of people in the first and second lanes and I got done with the swim fairly quick.
One thing that I found was odd about this triathlon was they didn't have timing chips like they did with all of my other races. I'm still not exactly sure how they recorded our time. As we hit the wall on our final lap of the swim, a volunteer leaned down and handed us a laminated card that gave us our overall placing in the race. I placed 129th. Then we took that laminated card and walked up the "beach" of the wave pool we swam in and walked through a balloon arch and gave the laminated card to another volunteer who wrote down our bib # and then we were presented with a metal. I always wear a watch when I compete, so as soon as I finished the race, I looked at my watch and it said 11:25 p.m. So I knew I finished the race in about 1 hr and 25 minutes. Alot better than I had anticipated, because I remember thinking during the run and the bike that this race was harder than I thought and I just wanted to finish the race. I didn't care if I didn't improve my time from my previous races. I just wanted to finish the race and I didn't want to finish last.
Saturday after I got home, I got on their website and found out that my official final time was 1:26:31. I was SO happy.
One other thing that I found kind of odd about this triathlon was their transition area. Normally a transition area of a triathlon has actual bike racks where you basically hang your bike by it's seat. But, in this triathlon, their transition area was weird. What it was, was on the campus of the College of Eastern Utah, they painted squares (probably 2 yds x 2 yds) on the grass with your bib # and that was your transition area. You laid your bike down in the transition area and everything. Kind of odd.
One thing that I did think was WAY cool though was, a week or so before the race, the officials of the race sent out a letter to the residents who lived on the routes saying that there would be a triathlon and that some of the streets may be blocked off or whatnot and to remind them of their leash law and that their dogs, etc., needed to be on a leash. Well, alot of these residents set up chairs on their driveway or front lawns and were cheering everybody on. They didn't know who we were, but they were cheering us on! I loved it! That's what keeps me going during the races.
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Who Would've Thought?
This last weekend was the Wasatch Back Ragnar Relay. If you're not familiar with it, you get a team of 12 together, and it's a relay run from Logan, UT to Park City, UT. I believe it is a total of 188 miles.
There was a group from my work that was doing it. On Monday, the lead guy of the group came to me and told me that one of the ladies has been sick for 2 weeks and hasn't been able to train or anything, and if she can't, he was wondering if I would like to take her place in the run. I jumped at the chance and said YES!!! If she didn't do it, I would be runner # 5.
I was really starting to get excited about it, and I thought most likely she would end up not doing it, because from personal experience, when you haven't trained for 2 weeks, it makes it really hard to bounce back, at least for me.
Well, she ended up bouncing back really well and doing the race. I have to admit, I was really quite bummed. I was SO looking forward to doing it.
Who would've thought that I would want to RUN the Ragnar relay? A year ago, I would've said HELL NO!!! Up until probably earlier this year, I have not been a fan of running. I've done it because you have to do it as part of a triathlon, but this year, now that I've started to get better at it, I've really started to enjoy it.
Since I didn't get to run in the race this year, I decided to get up bright and early Saturday morning (after only 3 hours of sleep) and I headed up to Heber, UT to root them on. Let me just tell you how inspiring it is to look off to the side of the road and see all of these people running. You can tell they are exhausted (everybody has to run 3 legs of the race), but they are still having a good time. I was just in total awe.
So, next year, I am definitely going to do the Ragnar Relay. I'm going to try and put a team together and we're going to do it! I can't wait! A year seems SO LONG AWAY!!!
There was a group from my work that was doing it. On Monday, the lead guy of the group came to me and told me that one of the ladies has been sick for 2 weeks and hasn't been able to train or anything, and if she can't, he was wondering if I would like to take her place in the run. I jumped at the chance and said YES!!! If she didn't do it, I would be runner # 5.
I was really starting to get excited about it, and I thought most likely she would end up not doing it, because from personal experience, when you haven't trained for 2 weeks, it makes it really hard to bounce back, at least for me.
Well, she ended up bouncing back really well and doing the race. I have to admit, I was really quite bummed. I was SO looking forward to doing it.
Who would've thought that I would want to RUN the Ragnar relay? A year ago, I would've said HELL NO!!! Up until probably earlier this year, I have not been a fan of running. I've done it because you have to do it as part of a triathlon, but this year, now that I've started to get better at it, I've really started to enjoy it.
Since I didn't get to run in the race this year, I decided to get up bright and early Saturday morning (after only 3 hours of sleep) and I headed up to Heber, UT to root them on. Let me just tell you how inspiring it is to look off to the side of the road and see all of these people running. You can tell they are exhausted (everybody has to run 3 legs of the race), but they are still having a good time. I was just in total awe.
So, next year, I am definitely going to do the Ragnar Relay. I'm going to try and put a team together and we're going to do it! I can't wait! A year seems SO LONG AWAY!!!
Crazy miles!
This last Saturday we had a family reunion out in Taylorsville, UT. I hadn't had my workout yet for the day, so I thought I'd ride my bike out to the family reunion and back. I had figured earlier in the week that it was only 20 miles out and 20 miles back. It ended up being 22 miles out, and 22 miles back, but an extra 2 miles each way, no biggie.
But, it ended up being a very difficult ride out there. I was VERY tempted at times to just call it quits and turn back around and go home. I had a head-wind the whole way out there! It was crazy!!! My maximum speed going out to the family reunion was 12 mph. I just had to keep telling myself that it was good strength training.
I got out to the family reunion and my cousin couldn't believe that I rode my bike all the way out there. It was SO fun. The family reunion ended up being moved from the park to someone's house that was further away, so I just decided to head back home.
Luckily, on my way home, the wind was on my side. My speed on the way home was about 20 mph. Where it took me 2 hours to get out to the family reunion, it only took me 1 hour to get home.
The closer I got to home, the more I wanted to push myself and try and ride a total of 50 miles. The picture above is how many miles I ended up riding. If I were to have rode 50 miles, I would've hit a head-wind again, and the wind seemed to be getting stronger and stronger.
Now that I know I can ride this many miles, I think this calls for me to sign up for a couple of century rides. I won't do 100 miles quite yet, but in a century you can ride 65 (or it might be 68) miles. There's a century in August up in Logan, UT and there's one down in St. George, UT that I think I might sign up for!
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