Total creeping up

I'm up to $886.50 so far in donations! THANK YOU.

If you've been thinking of donating, want to help bump over that $900 mark?

I do more than running!

Wow, just glanced at my previous posts and realized that if you didn't read the heading, it would seem I'm training for a marathon and not a triathlon. I have indeed been bicycling...took a great 2 hour jaunt out pulling my son in the trailer and then a relaxed family outing with all three of us on bikes.





My training buddy

Next week I have signed up for a LunaChix swim/bike combined workout (called a 'brick' workout in triathlon-lingo), and THEN I went ahead and signed up for Islander Aquathon, an evening swim/run race. These all help in building my confidence and endurance for 'going long' for my Olympic Distance triathlon.

Swimming has been a bit more challenging to get training in for, since I need to both get someone to watch my son and someone to watch me (or swim with me!) and get access to a lake. Happily, some fellow local triathletes have stepped forward to help, so expect to see some more reports on my swimming training moving forward.

My first 10k!

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On Saturday I ran in my first 10k. That's the distance I'll need to finish with my Olympic Distance triathlon. It was a great confidence-builder, namely, because I finished! And I felt pretty good after I was done too. With my first Spring Triathlon, even though it was a challenge, I knew that at some point I had done each of those things individually, so I 'just' needed to put the three together. With an Olympic Distance, I'd never done ANY of those legs individually! So each leg is its own challenge PLUS putting them all together.

I started out really slowly for the first half, then once I saw I had run a full five K, and still felt great, began to pick up the pace. Now I want to do one again and see if I can improve my speed! Aaah, this is the logic that drives you once you start racing. There's just always something to improve. It's definitely motivating.

The race was the Railroad Days at Snoqualmie. I saw the clock showed 1:05 as I ran past it, which I'm perfectly satisfied with. My fast 5k in my first triathlon was about 25 minutes, my slow one at Chelan took about 32 minutes. So I'd say double the distance that time is perfectly reasonable.

Racing to the finish line pleased as punch!
At this point I'm thinking it'll take me approximately an hour to complete the swim, 2 hours to complete the bike portion, then 1 hour to run. Gulp. That's four hours. Gulp.

Trail Running

"When 'trail run' becomes 'trail walk'."

On my vacation I got in two great hour-long trail runs, and last night got another one in with Luna Chix (more about them in another post).

Trail running is a fairly new thing to me. Okay, it's completely new: the concept of RUNNING on trails where I used to think myself athletic for hiking them is still kind of insane to me, at least when I come at it intellectually. However, when I find myself on the trail, feet padding quietly on leaf duff beneath me, sunlight coming through trees, hopping carefully over tree roots and boulders, it feels like bliss and I wonder why it took me so long to do it! "Pretty dang excited about my new shoes...trail running shoes."

On my trail runs so far (okay, all 4 of them) I seem to be able to run endlessly and end still feeling refreshed. Not sure whether the scenery occupies my mind and senses, the trail is easier on the body, or the amount of oxygen is higher running amongst trees! But I'm trying to capture a little of that feeling of expansiveness that I feel on trail runs over to regular flat runs.
"Yup, I ran from down there to up here."

There are in fact triathlons that are completely off-road. They are called 'XTerra' triathlons and involve trail running and mountain biking rather than road running and bicycling. Intrigued? Me too. But a little intimidated by the mountain-biking part of it. I've never done anything like that...but then again, before this summer I had never done anything like a triathlon!

Missing Blogger

Hi folks - sorry for the dearth of posts this week. I am enjoying a terrific vacation with my extended family, from my 93 year old grandfather to my cousin's youngest 15 month old. It's been great, and I've wedged in some trail runs and lake swims as well. There's not a whole lot of computer access here but I promise to be more diligent about posting on my return. Hope you come visit again if this is your first visit here!

It's never too early to start tri-ing

Thought you all would get a kick out of seeing my son's pictures of his first triathlon. Enjoy!

HOLY MACAROLY!

I am just overwhelmed at the generosity, interest, and support that you all have shown over the past few days. The donations have been popping up in my inbox and my mailbox and each time I see one I give a squeal of glee!

My total as of right now is ....$715!!! I'm feeling like a rock star already and I haven't even started the race yet!!

I will be away from much computer access for the next while, so won't be blogging as much...and if you send me a contribution my apologies in advance, but you'll likely not hear a thank you right away - not due to lack of gratitude only lack of web access. However, I will hopefully get some good training in and some good posts when I return to the online world.

thanks again everybody.

Banner Day!!

Well, HUH-llo, today kicked off my fundraising efforts with a BANG!
You folks donated $325 today toward this effort!! I found out about it while I was out on my run, and lemme tell you, it made me kick my heels up with glee (and pick up my pace too)! That brings my total so far to $410. Already!!

AND today I got new running shoes!! (don't worry, no funds donated were harmed in this purchase). This may not seeeeem like all that big of a deal. But. Take a look at them there treads.
Yeah, I know - there are no treads. These puppies are OOOOLD.

Shoot, I was going to upload pics of the new shoes - but apparently 2 is all this post can handle. I'll show 'em off later.

Thanks again for the donations!!

Let the fundraising begin!

I got my first donation!! Anne, who's a regular bridge player at my senior center, gave me a check today. Thanks Anne! I'll try to get a thermometer up on this site so you can see how I'm doing on my goal, which is a lofty $3500.

$3500 seems like a great number as a goal, since this year the Senior Center is celebrating 35 years of serving seniors and their families in this community AND I'm celebrating 35 years of being alive.

I realize it's an ambitious goal but the reality is that
a) the senior center needs some serious funds this year due to major budget cuts and
b) this challenge is incredibly hard and I want to make it worth it!

The online donation site is also live now, so if you've been waiting to make the donation, now would be a great time! Thanks.

Ladies and Gents, it's time to rev your engine.

Oooph. Went for a run tonight, the first activity since my sluggish 'rest week...er, or two...and a half' after the ChelanMan race. Wow. I went slow. It was hard. And, even though I was just going for a quick, get the feet back in the game type run, I cut it even shorter. And then slowed down for a walk. And then stayed walking the rest of the way home.
It is truly amazing to me how quickly you can lose that lightness of feet feeling after not much activity. And encouraging each time how, with starting up again, it comes back.
Time to start up again!

Turning 35

I turn 35 tomorrow. I am glad. It feels 'just right' to me at this time in my life. And, my summer of training and doing triathlons are probably a significant part of that excitement to be this age.

I didn't grow up as an athletic person. I never did sports as a kid, got picked last for all the games in PE, couldn't fathom running for fun. I've been 'curvy' or 'heavy' most of my adult life, and that has shaped a lot of how I viewed my body. I did dance. I danced a lot. But that to me felt different then being 'athletic'.

What a delight to surprise myself with who I am the summer I turn 35!

My commitment to maintain a healthy weight and a fit body only grow stronger each year that goes by. The seniors I work with certainly inspire me. Many of them keep at it, coming to exercise class, lifting weights...One woman, who has significant balance issues and chronic pain, everyday walks around our mezzanine. She has found something that works for her and her health issues, and she sticks with it.

When I go to triathlons, I am also inspired. I see many (most!) competitors who are older than me. It is so inspiring to be around all that fitness, all those people who have decided to make their health a priority in their lives. Whole families turn out. Heck, the husband of one of my seniors competed in the same Issaquah Triathlon I did - he's in his 70s!

My desire for myself is that I keep finding fresh enthusiasm and excitement around having an active life. The picture above is me and my family finding a way to exercise on a multi-day train ride by running up and down the tiny stairs. This winter, I was super-jazzed about lifting heavy free weights. This summer it is triathlons. Who knows what next year will bring, but I'm determined it will be something!

What do you do to keep inspired about fitness and health?

Training Matters

Just got back from my 2nd triathlon, this one in Chelan. It was very different then my first, which was really all about the new experience. This one I had something to compare it to, wanted to increase my speed, improve my record, generally do better. Too bad I hadn't put in the time to do so! It ended up being an experience of not having trained enough. I'll post a race report later, and hopefully figure out how to post some pics, but suffice to say it was a real wake-up call for the kind of training I'll need to do to successfully complete the Olympic-distance triathlon in September!

Ahhh, nice long training run...

Last year I never would have imagined that I would be training for a triathlon. Five years ago I never would have imagined that I was capable of running one mile, let alone a five k. (thanks to Paige D for proving me wrong there!).

But tonight, I couldn't wait to pull on my shoes, tuck my son into his jog stroller, and take off on a nice leisurely hour-long loop around my town and its trails. Something about the steady pace of my feet, the rhythmic squeezing of my heart, and moving through the world with some speed makes me feel so alive.

An hour! It's taken me many months to build up to this, but man, does it feel great to be here.

What is a triathlon anyways?

A triathlon is simply three sports done one after the next, with no break in between. In most triathlons, first you swim, most often in open water; then bicycle; then run. You are timed for the whole thing, so learning how to move quickly from one sport to the next is part of the challenge. Not so easy, I discovered in my first triathlon, as my head spun and ears rang after emerging from the FRIGID Lake Sammamish swim. Pulling off my sticky wetsuit and gathering my wits and balance to hop on my bike took some focus.

There are several distances of triathlons, kinda like with running you've got your 5k, your 10k, your half marathon, and then the full marathon...and then for the crazies, the ultramarathon.

In triathlon, it usually goes:
Sprint Distance: .5 mile swim, 13 mile bike, 3 mile run
Olympic Distance: 1 mile swim, 26 mile bike, 6 mile run
Long Distance or Half Iron: 1.5 mile swim, 56 mile bike, 13 mile run
IronMan: 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, 26 mile run (yes, you read that right: you polish off a day of racing with a marathon.

You can see the distances essentially double each time you get to the longer races.

They take a while to complete. My first triathlon, which was the Issaquah Triathlon in June 2010, I completed in 1: 32. And I was smack in the middle of the pack. Other women my age completed the race in anywhere from an hour to 2:30 hours. The Ironman closes the course after 17 hours, but the elite pros finish in amazing times of 8-9 hours. Simply amazing.

What does a triathlon have to do with seniors?

Okay, I admit it. It's not a completely logical jump from racing in a triathlon to honoring seniors. It's not like, say, climbing Mt. Rainier to support lung health. But, racing in my first tri , I got to thinking about the seniors I work with (an hour and a half gives you a long time to think). How day after day they get up, and, staring down the face of their various aches and ailments, they get on with their days. They mow their grass. They take notes at our board meeting. They bake pies for us. They get the job done. And it moved me to move a little faster! If they can do that, I thought, I can do this.

And, in the crazy race-afterglow of my first sprint triathlon, I thought...if I could do THAT...I can do an OLYMPIC DISTANCE! And raise money for my seniors! In their honor! Yes, in the afterglow you do actually talk to yourself in all caps and all exclamation points.

So, I told a few people I was considering it...and then I told a few more...and then I wrote it down in a newsletter that 500 people read...so now I guess I'd better get to training!

Because if they can do that...I can do this.