Let me preface everything by saying almost one month ago, we had a family reunion out in Taylorsville, Utah. It was about 22 miles away from home. I decided to ride my bike out there and back. That day, I rode a total of 48 miles on my bike, and for at least 1/2 of the ride, I had a HORRIBLE head wind, but I was proud of myself for being able to ride 48 miles.
With that said, I'm a member of the Bonneville Cycling Club (BCC). I've been a member for probably a little over a month and because of my schedule I haven't been able to go on any of the group rides.
I had today off, so I decided to see if BCC had any group rides today, and they did. They were meeting at 9:00 a.m. up in Coalville, UT and were going to go on a 50 mile ride. The description of the ride is: 50 miles / O OPEN Pace / 3-4 Mild - Hilly / f Summit/Wasatch Counties area
We did this ride last month, but it's so wonderful let's do it again: Quiet rural roads from Coalville, thru Echo and Croydon, with minor rolling hills and a gentle climbing. There's one last 1/4 mile climb to the beautiful reservoir, but then it's downhill back to Croydon again. Since this is an 'out and back' ride, you can choose to ride 20, 30, or 50 miles. Backside Friday rides are social: ride at your own pace, but we will regroup several times along the way. Please check your email or call before coming up if the weather looks iffy.
I thought since I was able to do almost 50 miles a little less than a month ago I'd be able to do this. And rolling hills...how bad could it be?
OMG!!! This was a bike ride nightmare! The rolling hills ended up being more like mountains! I was doing pretty good on the ride until the further we got in to the ride, the harder the "rolling hills" got.
15 miles in to the ride we got to a town called Croydon, Utah. This is a SUPER small town. It has a population of like 146. But, we stopped there for a minute so people could get more water, etc. A couple of people from the group decided that they needed to start heading back. We only had 10 more miles to go before we were going to head back, so I thought I'd do the last 10 miles. It just got harder and harder.
You ride as a group, so, I could tell I was starting to get tired, hot, hungry, everything and I was slowing down. So, I told the other lady that was riding with me to go ahead.
Needless to say, I didn't make it to the 25 mile mark. I think I made it about 24 miles. I had to turn around and start walking back. I was just exhausted. I had NO energy and I was starting to feel weak.
As I was walking back, some guy pulled up next to me and made sure I had enough water left, which I didn't. I had water, but I knew I wouldn't have enough. So, he so kindly gave me more water and then he went on his merry way.
At this point I just kept thinking, I have NO clue how I'm going to make it back to my car. I knew I was physically not able to ride my bike back 24 miles. I had NO clue what I was going to do. I had my cell phone with me, but we were out in the middle of no where, so I didn't have any coverage. At this point, my only goal was to get back to Croydon where I knew I could get cell phone service.
God must have shone down on me or something, because then this old guy pulls up next to me and he has his granddaughter in his truck and he asks me if I'm having trouble. I told him I was EXHAUSTED, and to make a long story short, he gave me a ride in to Croydon.
As soon as I got back in to Croydon, I sat down at the park and I called my friend Georgina. She was going to do the ride with me, but she ended up having to back out at the last minute. But Georgina is a godsend. She ended up dropping everything she was doing to come up to Croydon to pick me up to take me back to my car.
Needless to say, I'm tired. I'm disappointed in myself that I couldn't finish the ride. But...it's not going to stop me from biking still. I'm just not as good a biker as I thought I was. Lol. Georgina and I are going to still go biking, we'll just have to be real careful as to what rides we go on.
Friday, July 9, 2010
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Biking Uphill
This might sound stupid, but I'm kind of proud of myself...
Yes, I've been cycling and working out for over 1 year now, but I've always had a hard time with riding my bike up a hill. It just tires me out. Well, tonight I feel like I made great strides!
When I ride my bike, I always ride a certain route and on the route there are 2 hills. They don't look like big hills, but when you're riding your bike up them, they're pretty rough. I'm not too good at riding my bike while standing up because I don't feel like I have that much control over the bike, but tonight, I was able to climb 1 1/2 of the hills standing up on the bike the whole time!
Now, I realize this sounds stupid, but my arms and legs have always gotten tired about 1/2 way up the hill before tonight.
Plus, I rode my bike 21 miles tonight and that has usually taken me close to around 2 hours to do, but tonight, it only took me about 1 1/2 hours. Yay!
Yes, I've been cycling and working out for over 1 year now, but I've always had a hard time with riding my bike up a hill. It just tires me out. Well, tonight I feel like I made great strides!
When I ride my bike, I always ride a certain route and on the route there are 2 hills. They don't look like big hills, but when you're riding your bike up them, they're pretty rough. I'm not too good at riding my bike while standing up because I don't feel like I have that much control over the bike, but tonight, I was able to climb 1 1/2 of the hills standing up on the bike the whole time!
Now, I realize this sounds stupid, but my arms and legs have always gotten tired about 1/2 way up the hill before tonight.
Plus, I rode my bike 21 miles tonight and that has usually taken me close to around 2 hours to do, but tonight, it only took me about 1 1/2 hours. Yay!
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Low Cal Olive Garden
I was treated to Olive Garden for lunch on Monday. I was excited, yet super nervous at the same time, because the first thing I think of when I hear Olive Garden is pasta/calories/delicious! Lol.
I pulled up their menu in hopes to find something low cal, and lo and behold, they had something besides pasta and it was DIVINE!!! It was Apricot Chicken. It was a chicken breast in an apricot sauce with broccoli, asparagus and tomato's. It was only 380 calories!!!
I'm sure Olive Garden has other low calorie stuff...I know their chicken caesar salad minus the croutons is 580 calories.
Some time, on one of my cheat days, I'm so gonna go to Olive Garden though and thoroughly enjoy their Chicken Fettucini Alfredo (my favorite)!
I pulled up their menu in hopes to find something low cal, and lo and behold, they had something besides pasta and it was DIVINE!!! It was Apricot Chicken. It was a chicken breast in an apricot sauce with broccoli, asparagus and tomato's. It was only 380 calories!!!
I'm sure Olive Garden has other low calorie stuff...I know their chicken caesar salad minus the croutons is 580 calories.
Some time, on one of my cheat days, I'm so gonna go to Olive Garden though and thoroughly enjoy their Chicken Fettucini Alfredo (my favorite)!
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Expensive Hobby
Before I started doing triathlons and eating healthier, I never would've guessed how expensive of a hobby it is, but OH MY, it can get pricey. But, let me say, it is worth every penny of it.
For an example, I have listed below things I need/want to continue with this hobby:
Head light for my bike - $100.00
Bike mount - $139.00
For an example, I have listed below things I need/want to continue with this hobby:
Head light for my bike - $100.00Bike mount - $139.00
Garmin 405 Watch/Calorie Counter/mileage thingy - $360.00
Bike shoes - $100.00
Bike pedals - $100.00
Gel seat cover - $22.00
Bike trainer so I can still ride my bike in the winter - $140.00
Triathlon shorts - $48.00
Monday, June 28, 2010
Gobble Gobble
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. :)
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. :)
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!!!
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