How Do They Afford It?

I read one blog of a gal up in Oregon that does triathlons. She is SUPER enspiring. So far this year she's don IMCdL, she did Augusta 70.3 and she's getting ready to do IMAZ.

It's not just her that does alot of Ironman's. My personal trainer did IMSG this year (he always does) and he qualified for KONA, so he went over to KONA too. Plus he did a bunch of Olympic distance triathlon's.

I've looked to see how much registration fees are for an Ironman and they are EXPENSIVE!!! If I remember correctly, they are close to $600...for one race!!! HOLY CRAP!!! Granted, it's worth it. It's definitely worth it when you cross that finish line and hear that YOU are an Ironman.

But good grief, how do people afford to do multiple Ironman's in a year? I wish I had the money to do a couple of Ironman's a year AND have the money for the traveling expenses too.

Next year, all I'm going to do are Olympic distance triathlons (with the exception of a full marathon and the Wasatch Back Ragnar Relay) and Olympic distance triathlons are expensive. They're usually around $70-80 a race. I'm definitely having to scale back how many races I do.

The year that I do my Ironman, unless I strike it rich between now and then and win the lottery, that will be THE ONLY race I do that year.

I just don't get how people have the $$$ to do all these races. I guess they all have better jobs than I do and make more money. :)

Race 2 of 4 - Bountiful Triathlon

I did 4 races in 4 weeks. My second race was the Bountiful Triathlon on August 6th. I will ALWAYS make room for this race in my schedule. Why? It was the first race I ever did. It just holds a very tender spot in my heart.

This race is organized by a girl I went to high school with and her husband, Tawni & Brice Williams. They do a FANTASTIC job at organizing the race.

This race is a little different because it is a run/bike/swim order. The run has always been the same route, but this year the bike was a different route. It was a nice route because the older route, you had to go over some train tracks and sometimes people got stopped by the train, etc., and this year, they changed the route so we didn't have to go over train tracks. The only thing that sucked about the bike route was we rode our bikes through Bountiful, Centerville & Farmington. We had to ride our bikes through one major intersection in Centerville and the Centerville Police didn't feel the need to have any presence there to make sure we were safe.

The swim went really well. I passed a TON of people in the run, bike AND the swim. I wish I could have hung around for the after party of the race, but I had a wedding I had to get to, so as soon as I finished swimming, I had to book it to the transition area, grab my stuff and go home.

One thing that happened at this race that really pisses me off (Has nothing to do with the race organizers) is the general public. They just don't care. As I was riding my bike home, I saw a fire truck and ambulance out on the street by where you turn in to the parking lot on your bike to go in to transition. One of the cyclists & one of the volunteers got hit by a truck!!! There was a police officer there directing traffic and apparently the driver of the truck still didn't feel the need to stop. They ended up transporting the cyclist to the hospital on a backboard.

Also, on the bike, we were on a frontage road and there wasn't much of a shoulder for us to ride on so we were having to ride our bikes with the traffic. Everyone was obeying the traffic laws, but then I saw a Suburban pull up behind a bunch of cyclists and honk his horn because they weren't going fast enough.

Seriously people? Why can't the general public have courtesty for us cyclists. Cyclists get a bad rap because there are some out there that don't obey the regular traffic laws, but car drivers have to take in to consideration as well that we might have to not obey some of the traffic laws for our own safety because they are too inconsiderate to let us ride with them, but for the most part, all cyclists that I see are obeying the traffic laws. I just don't get it.

So...here are some pictures from the race:

Here I am heading out on the run:


Heading out on the bike. I love this picture:


Swimming fast:

My Apologies

I just want to put my apologies out there that I haven't updated my blog lately. August has been a CRAZY busy month as far as life is concerned. I've had weddings & lots & lots of races that I've been in.

This next Saturday is my last race for 2 weeks (I think), so hopefully I'll be able to update my blog soon.

Carbing Up

Before every race I carb up the night before with either spaghetti or a baked potato and then the morning of my race I have a couple of pieces of toast with peanut butter and my energy beans.

Well, I think my family is getting tired of having spaghetti or a baked potato. Well, for my race tomorrow, my dad had a genius idea for a meal for me to carb up with and I can't tell you how excited I am!



My dad is going to be making homemade mac & cheese for dinner!!!! I'm so freakin' excited!!! I LOVE mac & cheese. I always have, I always will. I could eat it every day. I can't remember the last time I had homemade mac & cheese.

I'll get the carbs from the pasta and I'll even get protein from the milk and cheese. I'm so excited!!! Yay!!!

Tsunami Triathlon

This latest triathlon that I did yesterday, it was a spur of the moment triathlon. I haven't done a triathlon since the end of May and my next triathlon isn't until July 9th, so I decided to sign up for the Tsunami Triathlon at the SDRC that I competed in yesterday.

I was really nervous about this triathlon because I hardly trained at all this week because I just got done doing the Wasatch Back Ragnar Relay and I was EXHAUSTED from that, so I didn't train hardly at all.

Considering I trained maybe twice this last week, my triathlon wasn't too bad. My final time was 1:29:04. I came in 6th in my age division, so it wasn't too bad.

The swim was pretty good. I swam 350 yards in 8:30. Granted, I need to be able to knock that time down by about 1:30, but with no training this week, I'm pleased with 8:30. I killed 5 people in the swim, so that made me feel pretty good.

It was kind of cool. As I was walking in to the pool area before the swim started, I saw one of the swim coaches and he recognized me. We both said hi to each other & then he proceeded to tell people that I was going to kill it because he sees me at the pool every day and I'm doing really well.

Then during the swim about lap # 4, he got right down by the edge of the pool and was cheering me on "You're doing great! Hussle, hussle! Keep it up!". I don't know if he did that for anybody else, but it made me feel special. He did the same as I was getting out of the pool too.

While I was swimming I swallowed a lot of air, because as I was running to T1 I let out this HUGE belch! Then I was like "excuse me". It was kind of funny because then off to the side I heard someone say "Awesome! That's a true swimmer right there!". Every time I belched yesterday it made me think of that & I laughed.

The bike wasn't too bad. It took me about 43 minutes to ride 12 miles. It was a different route than what I'm used to, so that threw me off a little bit, but I did pretty good. It wasn't windy at all, so I was able to keep my speed up. I really need to get clips as pedals so I can just clip in & shave a little time off my T1 and go faster too.

The run was rough. I was just slow. It took me 35 minutes to run 3.1 miles. I'm not too happy with that, but I know it gives me room to improve. My legs were just tired because I really pushed myself on the bike, so I was just slow, but hey, I finished!

So, overall, this was a good race. I'm not disappointed with my time. It gives me room to improve.

What I really liked about this race is it shows me that after a race like the Ragnar, I can bounce back just fine and do a race the next week. I've been concerned about this because I'm doing the Epic Relay in August and the very next week I have my Olympic distance triathlon. This race yesterday proved to me that I know I'll be able to do that race and be ok.

Winners Podium Here I Come

I met with B.J. (my personal trainer) on Thursday this last week and we did our training on my running. As we were training he asked if I wanted to make it up to the podium this year. I told him yes I did, but I wasn't sure if I'd be capable of doing it this year. However, B.J. told me that he thinks I've got what it takes to make it up to the winners podium this year!

I'm SO excited!!! I think it would be absolutely AWESOME if I made it up to the winners podium! I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

2nd Job Needed

I tell ya, being healthy isn't cheap. Sometimes I say to myself "It sure was easier being fat", and yes, it was easier, but it's not worth it. I would so much rather have this hard life of finding time to workout and everything like that because I love it so much more.

Because being healthy isn't cheap, I am now in need of a second job. This season of my triathlons and 1/2 marathons is the most expensive season I've had so far. I'm afraid next season is going to be more.

I'm eventually going to need to upgrade to a better bike, and right now, the bike I'm looking at is at least $1,500. The helmet that I want, because it is aerodynamic, and will help me go faster, is $165, and that's not the cheapest helmet out there.

Unfortunately, I'm not good enough to get sponsors yet, so all of this has to come out of pocket.

So far this season, just in registration fees, I've paid over $600, and I still have to get a hotel for 1 of my races. I eventually would LOVE to do a race out of state, and that will cost even more because then you have to figure in transportation, hotel, plus, most out of state races are USAT sanctioned, therefore they cost more.

I need to become a member of USAT and NUTs. It's just crazy how expensive it is to be healthy. But you know what? I wouldn't trade it for the world.

What if I Can't Wait...

My next race isn't for 4 more months!!! That seems like an eternity away! What if I can't wait four months?

However, I do have some pretty cool races planned for next year. I plan on doing a 1/2 marathon up in Seattle (I can't wait!) and I plan on volunteering at the St. George Ironman!!!

4 months just seems like an eternity. Gah! I hope I make it that long without going through race withdrawls. Lol.