As Luck Would Have It...

I was going to start running this week. As many might now from previous posts, or from my posts on Twitter, I've had a hip injury. I tore a muscle in my hip and I haven't been running in 4 weeks.

I was talking with my personal trainer on Saturday and he asked me how I was feeling. My hip has been feeling pretty good lately. I can go days without it hurting. So, B.J. and I decided that he would slowly start easing me in to running again. He would only put running on my workout schedule for like 1 to 2 miles at a time and it would be after a bike ride or something.

I was SO excited to start running again. But...as luck would have it...I came down with a cold yesterday. The picture below is EXACTLY how I feel. :(



I've started taking cold medicine and I'm taking it every 4 - 6 hours around the clock, so hopefully I'll be able to kick this cold as soon as possible.

I can't wait to get out & start running again. I want to start training for my full marathon in May!

I'm SO Over This

I'm SO over being injured. It's really getting boring. Right now all I can really do is swim. I've found when my hip hurts, the last thing I can imagine doing is sitting on an itty bitty bike seat for 1 - 2 hours and pedal away. Plus, I'm afraid if I sit on a bike, that motion still works the hip and I'm afraid it will do more injury.

But most of all, I just want to get out and run!!! I miss bundling up and going outside for a run. I miss pounding out miles on the dreadmill up at the gym. I miss getting bored running around the track up at the gym. I'm ready to get out and start training for my first 26.2 in May 2012. I want to challenge my body & I'm looking forward to those long runs on Sundays.

I've only got 2 more days on the steroids and then I guess I need to call the doctor and see what to do next. I can definitely tell there is some improvement in my hip, but it's VERY slow improvement. I hope I don't have to do more steroids. Weird as it sounds, alot of people have told me that these steroids are going to make me HYPER and I'm not going to sleep at all, but they actually make me tired. They do nothing as far as energy is concerned. I wonder if it's just the combo of all the other meds I'm on for my depression, anxiety and thyroid that the combo doesn't make me hyper.

Well, here's to hopefully being able to get out and run again soon!

I Could Cry

I never thought I'd say this, but I miss running. I honestly miss it so much I could cry.



Running is something I now have a passion for, along with swimming and biking. When I have a bad day at work, the first thing I want to do is come home and head up to the gym and just run on the treadmill and sweat my guts out.

So I'm sure you're thinking, well then, get your butt out there and go running, what is stopping you?!?!

You know what's stopping me? Stupid shin splints are stopping me!!!



This is the second time I've had shin splints. The first time they got SO bad I could barely walk. This time, they're not too bad.

I haven't gone running since Wednesday and I was hoping to go running tonight, but I couldn't. While I was swimming I could tell my shins weren't ready for it yet.

So, I will continue to wear my compression socks & use KT Tape and ice down my shins after every workout and hopefully I'll be able to run again soon.

My Hip

Lately my hip has been hurting REALLY bad. Whenever I run more than 4 miles, my left hip hurts really bad. Also, when I walk, there is a clicking in my hip.

I found out last night too, whenever I sit on a hard surface for too long, that doesn't do well for my hip either.

Up until now, I've just kind of dealt with the pain. It seems to be getting a little worse, so I've made an appointment with my orthopedic surgeon and on November 9th I'll see him. Let's hope it's nothing too bad.

Winter Running

I went to a clinic the other night at Salt Lake Running Company about winter running. I thought I'd do a recap of the clinic on here because I learned quite a bit. I hope I can do it justice.

One of the first things they tell you is if you wear underwear while running DO NOT wear cotton. I've never had a problem wearing cotton, but the longer the run, I can definitely see. Cotton absorbs the moisture and doesn't wick it away, therefore it can cause a rash, infection, etc. :( That's no bueno in my book. They highly recommend either wool or synthetic underwear. I don't know about you, but when I think of wool underwear, I think of itchy scratchy heavy duty wool socks, but they had a fashion show at SLRC and the underwear looks REALLY nice.

SLRC has a layering system that they call S-VIP.
S = Support - Elminiate chaffing and aid in moister transfer {non-cotton underwear}.
V = Ventilation - Keep the skin dry. Wear wool or fabric that will wick the moisture away.
I = Insulation - Manage your body temperature (read further down).
P = Protection - Shield the skin from the wind and elements. Usually people wear shorts over tights.

Manage your body temperature: If you get hot, take off your gloves. Your hands cool down the fastest on your body and if you take your gloves off, it will help cool your body down quickly. Also, try & get tops that have zippers, but only have a 1/2 zipper so that when you get hot, you can unzip and then when you get cold again, zip right back up.

I found it interesting that they said that neon yellow & green are best with if you aren't wearing a reflective vest. Your eye will gravitate to that color fastest. But ALWAYS wear a reflective vest if your running in the early morning or evening. If you have a headlamp, wear that as well. They said that if you have freshly fallen snow, black is a good color to wear because it stands out against the white.

Last but not least, they said to run with a HOT water bottle. By the time you get out and running and need a drink, because it's cold, the hot water will have cooled down and you'll have a cold beverage.

Ready or Not

Ready or not, here I come 1/2 marathon. In 2 days I'm running the Layton 1/2 Marathon.

This is my second year running this 1/2 marathon and I'm pretty excited. They've changed the course a little bit and I'm super excited. Last year it was an out and back course. This year, they're bussing us out to the causeway to Antelope Island and then we'll run back 13.1 miles. I'm excited to be running on the causeway. This is a nice run. Last year I saw parts of Layton that I've never seen before and I've lived in Utah my entire life. Lol. It's actually a pretty flat course too.

I wanted to do the full marathon. I emailed the race directors a couple of months ago to see if I could upgrade and do the full marathon, but they never emailed me back, so I'm just sticking with the 1/2 marathon. My first full marathon will be next May.

Earlier this week I wasn't feeling to hot. I'd been sick for about 2 weeks and this last Monday was the first day I felt REALLY good. So, I've been working out every day this week. I've been pretty worried lately about my running this 1/2. Especially since I haven't been able to workout as much lately.

Today while I was at work, I just got this overwhelming feeling that I'm SO ready for this race. I might not set a PR, but mentally I am ready for this race.

Ideally I'd love to finish this race in less than 2 hours, but I don't think that's too practical considering I've been sick and this is the first full week I've been able to workout. Last year I finished in 2:10:00, so I ran a 10 minute mile, but I just don't think it's practical to hope I finish in less than 2 hours. I'll be happy just finishing.


Me before the race last year

Running Shoe Giveaway

I am on Twitter (singlentri_ing) and one of my friends on there posted about this free shoe giveaway. Who doesn't want a free pair of running shoes? Seriously!

So, I went to this blog, and I'm actually gonna start following it because she sounds like a really cool gal. But, you should go there & enter for this free shoe giveaway too!

http://www.hungryrunnergirl.com/2011/10/running-shoes-giveaway.html#comment-101646

My Bum Hurts

My bum hurts and here is why:




My workout tonight was to do a 90 minute ride and then run 3 miles after the ride. It was terrible weather today, so I didn't want to take my bike out, so up to the gym I went.

I got up to the gym and the only spinning bike available had the seat picture above. The cycling still had to be done so I hopped on. Oh dear Lord it was painful. I'm sure it was quite humorous to see. I felt like I was on a unicycle because you were constantly trying to balance your weight in hopes of keeping the seat in a flat position. It never happened. I stayed on the bike for one hour and then switched to the other bike, but it wasn't any better because you can't adjust how far back the seat is, so it was uncomfortable too. BUT...it was less uncomfortable than the other bike.

I have now emailed the SDRC to let them know they need to get that fixed pronto.

Best Time

I had my best time ever running up City Creek Canyon on Friday. It was an out and back 5 mile run. So I ran 2 1/2 miles up, and 2 1/2 miles back. There are parts of the canyon that are pretty steep. The farther up you go, the steeper it gets.

But, I only did 5 miles 'cause that's the amount of time I had available to me. I did it in 50 minutes. So, I stuck to a 10 minute mile the entire time. I'm pretty satisfied with that considering I hadn't been running for a while.

I was so excited to be back out & running. I had gone swimming Friday morning as well. I was feeling pretty good.

Unfortunately, about midnight on Friday, I felt like I hit a brick wall. My cold came back. :( It's more a chest cold than it is a head cold. It really sucks. So, I'm back to taking Mucinex every 12 hours and I hope that it clears up asap.

No matter what, I've got to get up and go swimming tomorrow morning and running tomorrow night. Come hell or high water, I'm going to do my 1/2 marathon next Saturday.

What Do You Do?

I used to over train. I used to over train ALOT. Then...I got shin splints and I learned my lesson.

My question/predicament is even after I've done my daily workout I get the craving to just go running or biking. It's like I wanna go out & hit the pavement and not come home until I'm tired.

I don't do it though because I don't want to overtrain. Last time I overtrained my pace slowed down and I got shin splints. This is all kind of counter productive.

Do you ever feel like this? How do you deal with it? What do you do? Do you just take your chances & go out any ways or do you stay home?

Paint Fumes

The two weeks following Labor Day, my gym does their annual cleaning. They close & drain the pool, the locker rooms and the raquetball rooms and deep clean them.

I went up to the gym tonight to do my workout on a spinning bike and as soon as I walked in the door, I knew I wouldn't be there long. I walked in the door & paint fumes hit me like a TON of bricks!

I still went and got on the bike upstairs and I was able to do 20 minutes of cycling, but the paint fumes were just too much to handle. The only circulation they had was fans sitting on the floor going full blast, but other than that, it didn't seem like they had any circulation.

So, I cut my workout short tonight and instead of only having to run 6 miles tomorrow, I now need to incorporate 90 minutes of cycling in to my workout as well. And NO I won't be going to the gym. I won't be going to the gym until they open the pool back up in 1 1/2 weeks.

I just think that if they can't properly circulate air in the gym so that the paint fumes are so strong, they should close the entire gym down for 2 weeks. I'm thinking it's kind of dangerous to be working out in those conditions.

Awesome Workout Today

Today I had an AWESOME workout! I'm just so happy from it! First off, I have to say, I absolutely love when a workout can change my attitude or grumpiness from negative to positive.

I had a super rough day today. I got to work at 8:44 a.m. this morning and was ready to throw the towel in at 9:00 a.m. But, as soon as I got in the pool tonight, all my grumpiness disappeared along with the stresses of the day. :)

My scheduled workout from BJ today was:

Swim:
200 swim, 200 kick, 200 pull
10 x 100 with 30 sec rest
cool down

Run:
warm up 1 mile
5 x 1,000 meters with 90 sec rest
cool down 1 mile

I normally get up at 4:45 a.m. and go swimming so that when I get home from work I don't have to deal with all of the kids at the pool and all I have to do is run, but this morning I woke up with a killer headache and I was just tired, so I just went back to bed, so I had to do both swimming & running tonight.

My swim tonight was one of the best swims I've had in a loooooooooooong time! Every 100 I did, with the exception of the last 3 100's I did, were all done in 2 minutes or less!!! One of the 100's I did I was able to do in 1:56!!! I haven't swam that fast in a long time. It was nice to know that I'm finally back on the training band wagon and I'm making improvements...thanks to my awesome trainer BJ.

My run, it was hard, but I did it. the 1,000 meters I did, I did at an 8:30 mile and then slowed down to a 10:00 mile for the 90 second rest. Oooopppss...I just realized I was supposed to do 5 x 1000 meters and I only did 4. Oooooopppss...there's always tomorrow. :)

Jordanelle Course Review

I was asked by a reader to go in to a little more depth about the course on my Jordanelle Olympic Distance Triathlon, so here goes. :)



The swim wonderful! They had the Olympic distance men start at 9:00 a.m. and the Olympic women & Olympic relay start at 9:05 and lastly the sprint at 9:30 a.m. They had all the boueys set up and everything. For the Olympic distance, you had to do 2 laps around all 3 boueys, for the Sprint distance you only had to do 1 lap. They had plenty of boats and canoes out on the water in case somebody needed help, etc. The only downer about the swim was after you rounded the first bouey, as you were sighting heading towards the second bouey, the sun was SO bright and right in your eyes, I had a hard time sighting the second bouey. However, thankfully, there was a HUGE boat sitting out by the second bouey that I was able to sight with instead.

The bike was harder than I expected. I drove the route the day before, so I knew what I was getting in to. Normally, the route wouldn't be that hard for me. We had to bike a total of 25 miles. The first 12 miles of the bike were on what they call a "false flat". It looked flat, but it wasn't. It was between a 1 - 2% uphill grade. It was an open course, however, there wasn't alot of traffic. One of the downers of the bike course was the turn around wasn't well marked. Thankfully someone who had already reached the turn around point hollered out to me that I was coming close to the turn around point. All the turn around point was, was spray paint on the road saying 13 miles, turn around. I personally would have liked it if they had a barricade with a sign or a volunteer there saying ok, turn around here. Once you reached the turn around point, it was all downhill except for 2 hills you had to climb. The first hill I would say was maybe 4 - 5% incline and the second hill was maybe a 3% incline. Those second hill wasn't hard to climb at all and the first hill was easier to climb than I thought it would be. Especially with how fatigued I was already feeling. We only had to go through 2 major intersections on the bike and police officers and volunteers were present at both intersections to give us a right of way. That was very nice. The only other hill on the course was a 10% decend and that was towards the end of the course. Going down this hill you can practically almost coast the rest of the way in to transition. If you can't coast, you can pedal easy. :) I wish my speedometer was working when I went down this hill so I knew how fast I was going. They said alot of people go upwards of 40 mph down that hill. I know my personal trainer, who was also competing in the race, was going 55 mph down that hill.

The run was ALOT harder than I expected. I don't think the run would have been hard if I would have eaten on the bike (see my previous post about the Jordanelle Triathlon). I didn't know what the run route was until I started it. The majority of the run was a trail run. If you did the sprint distance triathlon, you only had to do 1 lap on the run, if you did the Olympic distance, you had to do 2 laps. About the first 1 1/2 miles of the run, it was on pavement and then you were on a trail until about the last 1/2 mile of the run. They did have water aid stations at every mile on the run, so that was really nice. We were basically running through campsites at Jordanelle. I don't really know how else to describe it. There was only 2 hills on the run and one was on pavement and one was on a trail. I've never been good at trail running, so the second hill was harder than the first. There was also part of the run that was a really narrow trail. If you're good at trail running, you'll do fine on this course. I was very impressed with how well marked the run course was. They did a great job.

TriUtah put this race on and they've got to be the best race organizers. I was very impressed with how well organized this race was. I will definitely continue to support TriUtah and do their races.

Fellowshipping

I'm not sure how to start this particular post, so I'm just going to start typing. If I ramble, I'm sorry, but this particular topic this post is about, I'm not sure how to compile it in to a grammatically correct post, etc.

Also, I would love to hear people's opinion on this subject.

Also, I can't decide whether to post this particular subject on this blog or on my personal blog, so I'm going to post it both places, so if you read both blogs, I'm sorry for the repetitiveness of it.

I know I've got a few new readers to my blog, so let me backtrack a little. I was raised a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormon). A few years ago, I ventured away from the church and haven't looked back. I don't practice their beliefs, etc., however, I still live at home with my parents who are VERY active in the church, etc.

My dad came home from church a couple of weeks ago and said that the young men & young women of the church were going to be doing a memorial type walk from the Draper, UT temple to the Salt Lake City temple, which is a total of 22.7 miles, and my dad being an EMT, volunteered to be a medic in case anyone got injured.

My dad invited me to do the walk/run. I told him I would think about it, but I wasn't sure.

Now, my issue with all of this is, the people who are organizing this, EVERYONE in the neighborhood knows how big I am in to fitness, etc. If the church is SO much in to fellowshipping and they really want people to come to church, etc., then why hasn't anybody approached me about helping with this walk? My dad even told me last night, they're looking for someone to ride a bicycle in between the 2 medic vehicles (there will be 1 in the front of the group, and 1 behind the group). I would almost be willing to bet you that I'm one of the only people in the neighborhood/ward that has a decent road bike that could do this. I can't imagine riding this 22.7 miles on a mountain bike. It would be dreadful.

But like I said earlier, if the church is SO big in to getting the inactive folks active and fellowshipping, why hasn't anybody approached me about this? I kind of feel like the church is contradicting themselves by saying that they are in to fellowshipping, etc., but then they don't do it.

Race 3 of 4 - Epic Cache-Teton Relay

I was excited yet very nervous for this race. I was excited because it was free. A group of people at work put this team together and then someone had to back out at the last minute, so they said if I'd do it, I wouldn't have to pay for it. Score! A race that costs $100 to register, completely free? Yeah, I'll do it!

Then about a month before the race, someone else injured his knees. He was told not to do the race at all, but he wanted to because he'd already paid the registration fee's, so he was supposed to be in van # 1 (my van), but he was transferred to van # 2 to run one guy's easy leg and van # 1 would have to make up his 3 legs.

Then, literally 2 days before the race, someone else had to drop out because he was on a backpacking trip with his dad up in the high Uintas in Utah and his dad had a heart attack and had to be life flighted down off the mountain. That's an understandable reason to back out. I don't blame him. I would've backed out too. So, my boss, Sylvia, ended up joining the team at the very last minute. The thing that sucked, is the team captaion pulled a VERY dirty trick on her. The person she replaced was supposed to be runner # 11, which was 3 legs that were all downhill. Some of them were pretty steep downhill. Well, they didn't tell her until they were on their way to the first major exchange that nope, she wasn't running that leg, she was going to be runner # 7, which had some of the hardest legs to run, which was supposed to be the team captain's legs.

So, I ended up picking up one of the extra legs in my van, so instead of running 3 legs, I ran a total of 4 legs, but in kind of only seemed like 3 legs. The extra legs that had to be picked up were runner # 2's legs, so I picked up his 3rd leg, so my last leg was just a VERY long leg.

Our start time on the race was 5:15 a.m. on August 12th. God that was super early! So, my van decided we'd head up to Logan Thursday night and camp up there so we didn't have to wake up super early to be up there Friday morning. We got up there and got a campsite, but the tent we had could only sleep 3 people and we had 5 people in our van. So, I slept in the van and so did Jonathan. I slept absolutely HORRIBLE that night.

In the manual for this race at one point it said you needed to be to the starting line 1 hour before you were to start running, at another part in the instructions it said you only had to be to the start 30 minutes before you had to start running. Since there were only 90 teams in this relay, we opted for only being there 30 minutes before I had to start running. BAD mistake. That's one downer about this race. This is only their 2nd year doing this race and they still aren't too organized. We still didn't have all of our t-shirts, etc., before I had to start running.

So, at 5:15 a.m. I started running and had to run a 7.39 miles. It started out kind of rough. I had a hard time getting my breathing right and stuff like that. I thought it was going to be a VERY long 7.39 miles. But...it went by pretty fast and I did it with a 9:39 pace!!! Woot woot!!! I was SO happy! I had 2 roadkills (people I passed) as well. I was SO happy! Then I passed off to Terry. It would be a while before I'd have to run again.

That's one thing I don't like about relay's. It just seems like it is FOREVER until you get to run again. :( Boo.

So one weird thing happened at exchange # 2. This lady came up to me, called me by name (pronounced my name correctly) and everything and was talking to me. I have NO CLUE who she is!!! Here's a picture of her. She's wearing yellow.



So, I didn't run again until about 4:00 p.m. that day. This was my hardest leg. It was only 4.67 miles, but it was in the heat of the day and there were 2 pretty big hills I had to climb; therefore I only had a pace of 10:23, but I had 1 roadkill on this leg! Still, I'm impressed with my pace.

This is Alex, runner 12 from van 2 passing off to me to run my 2nd leg:


1 mile left to go on my hardest leg:


We finished our 2nd legs about 10:00 p.m. at night and headed to some small town in Idaho to sleep. We actually got some pretty decent sleep that night and then I had to run again at 5:00 a.m.! It was SO early and OH SO COLD!!! I was freezing. This was my last leg I had to run and it was my longest because it was my leg 3 and 4. It was a total of 8.58 miles. I was able to run it with a 9:59 mile and I had 1 roadkill. By the time I got done, I was numb from the waist down because it was SO cold. We were so close to finishing. We only had 4 more legs to go and we could drive in to Jackson Hole.

I've never wanted a shower SO bad in my life. We weren't able to check in to our hotel early, so we went and got a bite to eat and had a beer. :) Yum! We went to the Million Dollar Cowboy Bar too and got a shot of tequila too!




After we ate & had a beverage we went back to the Teton Village to wait for van # 2 to finish running so we could run in to the finish together.

Once we saw van # 2, I found out some interesting information. The team captain had given up one of his legs to the guy that had injured his knee caps because thatw as one of the easiest legs, plus he supposedly got injured the week before, but was able to run all of his legs. So, since he gave up one of his legs, he decided to run with one of the other runners to make up his other 3 legs and then proceeded to brag about it that he didn't have to run at all on the 2nd day. So, since he didn't have to run at all on the 2nd day, he stayed in the very back of their suburban the whole time and slept, refused to drive and wouldn't get out to help support the runners.

So, finally our last runner comes running in. He looks absolutely LIVID but nobody knows why. We all shortly found out why. He only had a total of 3 miles to run. There was no where for anybody to stop and support him, he didn't take any water on his one and only run, so he was mad that nobody stopped and supported him. Plus, he was following another runner and this girl that he was following took a wrong turn. Well, her van stopped them and said no, you turned the wrong way, go back, and so he got pissed and called this girl from a different team an f'ing cunt!!! HOLY CRAP!!! It's not her fault that you were stupid and decided to follow her. Maybe you should've looked at the map to see where you were supposed to run. So, after he came in to the finish, he started getting in to an arguement with this other team. Can we say unsportsmanlike conduct? There was alot of other drama regarding this particular teammate as well. Needless to say, I will NEVER being doing an event with this team captain or other person on this team again. Period.

I would LOVE to do this race again though. I think it'd be fun to do an Ultra team, where you have 6 people instead of 12.

So, here we all are at the finish! Yay! We did it!

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 Longest Run

Tonight I ran the farthest I've ever run before. I ran 14.1 miles. I want to do a full marathon next year so I'm trying to train for it now so that next year it won't be a shock to my body when I start cramming for a full marathon. Plus, I'm running the Epic Relay in 2 weeks and I have to run a total of 16.5 miles, so I'm trying to get long distances in. So far, the longest I've ever run is 13.1 miles (1/2 marathon).

Tonight I was kind of excited because it was raining outside and so I thought the run would be a pretty cool (weather wise) run. I made sure I was fully hydrated for this run, unlike last week.

This was a VERY humid run. The rain was not a cool rain, it was very humid. But I did it.

I ran 8 miles and then stopped off at home to refill my water bottle and then I ran 6 more miles. I ran about an 11:00/min pace, so at least I'm consistent with my running speed.

I'm in SO much pain though. My left hip and both of my knees hurt SO bad. When I finally got home from running the 14 miles, it hurt to step up in to the house. I've taken Excedrin for the pain, but it still hasn't touched it. I've got a headache too. You would think running 1 extra mile than you've ever run before wouldn't be too much, but it has caused me great pain. Don't think this will stop me from running longer distances though, 'cause it won't. Next week...15 miles!

Race # 1 of 4

I'm doing 4 races in 4 weeks. I'm doing 3 triathlons (one being my Olympic distance triathlon) and 1 relay race (Epic Cache to Teton).

This last Saturday I did race # 1. It was the Layton Triathlon. This is the second time I've done this race. This is a very unique race. It is a sprint distance triathlon, but because the pool is so small, you have to do everything twice. So, we swam 12 laps, biked 6.5 miles, and ran 1.55 miles, then did everything again.

Doing everything twice presents its challenges. It really plays with my mind. You get done with the bike and are heading out on the run for the first time and you're thinking you're almost done with the run and then you remember you have to do everything again. Oh God help me! But then you jump in the pool for the second time and forget all of that and you're happy to be out there!

My final time on this triathlon was 1:38:57.2. That's not my best time, but it's not my worst time. I did improve from my previous triathlon and I didn't come in last, so I'm ok with my results. I still haven't got my splits to see how fast I was in the pool, etc. I think I could've done a little better if the transition area wasn't so dang far away! Transition is probably a good 150-200 yards (if not farther) away from the pool. I don't understand why they don't have the transition area in the parking lot next to the pool instead of on the grass in the park that's that far away.

I got to the race early so I could get my ideal transition spot. Lately I've been getting to the race a little late and have been getting crappy transition spots. Here's a picture of my ideal transition area. I'm the blue bike on the very end with the Spongebob Squarepants towel and JCPenney bag. :)




Here I am before the race standing on the pool deck. I like this picture 'cause it makes me look thin. With my arms crossed, it kinda hides my belly of extra skin, etc.




Both times on the swim I felt I did pretty good. My mom said the first time in the water I passed 10 people! Nice! I didn't use a swim cap just because I had to swim twice, I wasn't going to put a swim cap on the second time as I was running from transition to the pool so why wear one the first time, you know? I just wish I knew how to do a flip turn. I think if I could do a flip turn, I'd be a little bit faster on the swim.



Both times on the bike were really good. I felt like I did really good on the bike. The first time on the bike I passed quite a few people (I can't remember how many), but I was pleased with that. The second time on the bike I was a little slower because my legs were starting to get tired, but I still did ok.






Oh the run! I forgot about how hilly the run is. I remembered there was 1 hill on the run when I was riding past it on my bike the first time. I forgot about the other hills until I came upon them! There are lots of uphills and downhills on this run. It presents it's challenges, but I ran them! I have Yankz stretchy shoe laces for my shoes so I don't have to waste valuable time in transition tying my shoes, but sometimes Yankz make it hard to get your shoes on in a hurry. I heard that if you spray TriGlide in your shoes or use Body Glide on your feet, it helps prevent blisters (if you run without socks) and it helps you get your feet in your shoes faster. It's true! Right before the race started, I sprayed TriGlide in my shoes and it worked fabulously! I will be doing that with all of my races now.

The only 2 downers about this race is how far away the transition area is and you can't use your headphones on the bike OR the run. I can understand not having headphones on the bike, but on the run I like to have music to help me pace myself, etc.

Time/Pace Issues

I'm having serious timing issues. It's quite frustrating.



I used to be able to run between a 9:30 - 9:40 mile and now it's all the way down to an 11:00 mile. I don't understand why I've slowed down so much. I can understand not running as fast as soon as I get done with a 25 - 30 mile bike ride. My legs are tired. I can understand that, but this last Wednesday I went for a 4 mile run and it took me 44 minutes. :(

I haven't been working with my personal trainer lately, but we're going to start working together again. He says that I might have plateau'd. I trust what he says. I really do. He is like a super athlete. I dream of being as good as he is. One day I will be as good as he is, so I know he knows what he's talking about, but I just don't understand it.

When I think of plateau'ing, I think of staying the same time and not improving, not decreasing my time. Does that make sense?

My personal trainer also says that I may be over training. That is a slight possibility. I told my trainer that at one time, I will admit it, yes I was overtraining. But, I've learned my lesson from that. My body was rebelling against me. BAD! So, I've cut back quite drastically on my overtraining and have stuck with the last workout that he sent me. The only thing I do differently is I always run 4 miles a day, even though he says on a couple of days to run 3 miles (I'm going to try that next week) and I swim every day (I'm going to try cutting down on that next week too).

I'm suffering with my swimming too. I swam 1000 yards this morning and it took me 24 minutes. It should only take me 20 - 21 minutes. :( I'm very frustrated because I don't know what I'm doing wrong. I'm doing everything that my personal trainer has taught me to do.



I have started doing weights again, so that should help with my timing, but I haven't seen the difference quite yet. I've definitely seen the difference in my biking, but not my running and swimming yet. Maybe this next week I will.

I just can't wait to start training with my personal trainer again.

Legacy 1/2 Marathon & Tour de Donut

Last weekend was an AWESOME weekend. Last Friday night I got to do my first race with my friend Christy G. We were actually supposed to do the Canyonlands 1/2 Marathon in March together, but I got shin splints really bad and wasn't able to run it, so this was our first race together.



It started out Friday night at 10:00 p.m. when we did the Legacy Midnight 1/2 Marathon together. It was a fun race. My final time was 2:20:54. I wish I could've been faster, but considering I hadn't trained at all the week before because I had been sick, I figure that's a pretty good time.

It was actually a pretty easy run for me. I was surprised. I kept a good pace while running it. I actually felt kind of cool because at around mile 7, this couple used me as their pacer for a little bit. :D

Around mile 6 I had to go to the bathroom REALLY bad. But there was NO way I was going to stop at one of the aid stations to use the porta potty (for a couple of reasons). It's dark in the porta potties AND, I didn't want to waste time. Also, for some reason, around mile 3, my hip started to hurt. That's never happened before. I found it kind of odd. But, because of that, I found a new mantra to run to that helps keep pace. It is "No pain, no gain" and you take a step for each "no pain" and a step for each "no gain".

My dad was at mile 7 to cheer me on and then he was at the finish line ringing the cowbell to keep pushing me.

One of the down sides of the race...they only had HOT water at the aid stations. Seriously. My boss who ran the race as well overheard one of the volunteers say that the water jugs had been sitting at the aid stations since about Noon that day!!! WTF?

Then at the finish line, they had run out or misplaced the finishers medals. The race seemed pretty disorganized. I wasn't too pleased.

Oh well, the race is over. I still had fun.

Now, after 4 hours of sleep, I got up and drove out to Sandy and met my boss and we met up with Christy & her uncle James in American Fork and did the Tour de Donut!





OMG...the Tour de Donut is SO much fun!!! I am going to make it a yearly tradition. It's a charity ride. You ride a 7 mile loop on your bike. Stop, eat as many donuts as you can, repeat the 7 mile loop, eat as many donuts as you can and then ride the 7 mile loop to the finish line. For each donut you eat, 3 minutes is taken off of your final time.

It was awesome because at first, they did a silent ride for any bike riders hurt or killed while on their bike. Then the race started. It was super easy. It was a flat course.

Christy & James took off and me & Sylvia were just taking it easy. We finished the first 7 miles and Christy ate 4 donuts and James at 5 donuts. Sylvia and I ate 1 donut. Lol. On the first 7 miles I almots wiped out on a gravel gutter. That was no fun.






On the second loop, I decided to eat 2 donuts. I had to literally choke down the 2nd donut. It was just SO sweet and riding after eating donuts...no bueno. Sylvia only ate 1 donut, James could only eat 1 donut and Christy ate 2 donuts.

There was one guy there who ate 18 donuts!!! OMG, I would've barfed!!! It was SO fun though. If I hadn't done a 1/2 marathon the night before, I would have totally gone "balls to the walls" and rode as hard and fast as I could and I easily could've eaten probably a dozen donuts (you're talking to a former fat girl here).

After the race was over, then some of the race officials were walking around handing out chocolate caked donuts. I thought I'd barf at the site of another donut, but James, he was awesome! He grabbed one and ate it!



It was such a fun race! I so can't wait to do it again next year.