Done & Done!

I did it!  I finished!  I'm officially an Iron Nut!  WooHooo!!  And it wasn't as horrible as I expected.  I mean, it was rough, don't get me wrong.  But there was no throwing up, no passing out, no crying and even very little walking on the run!

The swim went pretty well although between the traffic in the water, the cramps in my feet, and the different pool, I was one minute longer than I expected.  I started swimming and thought that I was probably pushing it a little too hard too early in the water.  But then I decided that the swim was the only part that I was going to be good at so by golly I was gonna push it!  I placed 3rd in the swim overall, out of 29.  That helped my total time a lot because my bike and run were pretty slow.  I think the bike took me an hour and 40 minutes and the run about 33 minutes.  My total time was 2 hours and 10 minutes.

I finished first in my age group, though Shar and I were the only two in our age group.  And I would have gladly taken either spot!  Shar had to stop twice on the bike and put her chain back on.  Thank goodness that didn't happen to me..... 'cause I don't know how to put a chain back on.  True story.  I thought the bike route Would.NEVER.End!  It was pretty darn tough and I was getting passed left and right by folks on nice road bikes while I poked along on my mountain bike.  Most of them gave me nice words of encouragement while passing me.  :)  I loved it.  I needed it!

Super-duper athlete Kevin of course finished way ahead of any of us and he ran the last half of my run with me.  Which was a HUGE help!  I ran faster and harder when he ran with me.  I had to stop at the beginning of my run and stretch my calves.  They were cramping up really bad.  But luckily once I stretched them, I was O.K. again.  I finished the race, and much to my surprise, I was alive!

Dr. Ann came in on the bike and Kevin ran with her (as he did with Shar and I).  On Ann's last lap we all ran with her and she was BOOKING it!  Shar and I could hardly keep up!  But the best part was that we all had a really good time I think!  I really enjoyed it! I'm so glad I did this.  Dr. Ann, Shar and I have already been talking about what's next.  Though I think we'll leave the Iron Man distances to our super-duper athlete.  This distance was just right for me I think.

Here's some fuzzy pictures my dear coach, cheerleader, and Greatest.Daddy.Ever took.

That's the transition area where you rack your bike and transition from swim to bike and from bike to run.

Here we are!  About to begin our quest to become Iron Nuts!

I think that blurb in the third lane is supposed to be me.

And that's me in the water.

That's me transitioning from the swim to the bike!

And me riding off, starting the bike route.

That's Kevin heading off on the bike route.

And Dr. Ann beginning the bike route.

That's me transitioning from the bike to the run.  Bike racked, helmet off, visor on, Run!

My first lap of the run.  That was tough.

And here I am coming to the finish!  (Kevin is on the left where he had been running with me.  AFTER he finished his whole race already.)

I finished!!

Thanks loves for your support, kind thoughts and prayers!  You're awesome.  We did it!!

Punt

It was hours before I was to take an exam in a notoriously hard class in college. My brother was in the same class and we studied together for that exam. My brother shut his notebook, stood up and said, "Well sister. What do you do when it's 4th and long?" I starred at him trying to relate the chemistry of animal nutrition to football. "You drop back and punt the hell out of it," he said. Point taken.

It's time to punt folks! Time for studying, training and planning is over. Tomorrow we punt! Ohhhh, I hope it's a long, beautiful, high punt that lands just inside the 1 yard line. That would be lovely. But at this point, I'll be happy with a 20-yard punt. Just enough to keep me in the game.

I could have trained longer, harder, and faster for this Tri. But for my first one, it's jusssst satisfying enough that I trained at all. Plus I'm getting less and less competitive as I get older. I long more to enjoy the process and the high from a sense of accomplishment than I do to set PRs. But even tomorrow I'm gonna set a PR! Even if only cause its my first Tri. ;) Super-duper-athlete Kevin keeps reminding me that the slower I am in this Tri, the more I'll improve on my time next time.

Tomorrow is scary, especially after driving the bike course today, but I'm as ready as I can be. And I found out today when I picked up my packet that it's a small crowd participating. Just 29 individuals and 2 teams. That made it seem less daunting. But that also means the fewer people that I have a chance to pass. But thats ok! Im just tickled to be competing in my first triathlon and to have some great friends to do it with.

There looked like some Serious Iron Nuts picking up their packets today. Like, bad mamajamas. Legs of steel. 0% body fat. Bulging biceps. All serious iron nuts. I consider myself more of a PeaNut. Just crazy enough to try it. :)

Thanks for reading, praying and supporting loves! I'll let you know how it goes!

Hugs!

Chitter-Chatter

Chitter-Chatter Chitter-Chatter.  Hear that?  That's my teeth.  Chattering because I'm STINK'N Nervous!!  The scary dreams have started!  The other night I dreamed that I was late to the Iron Nut, didn't know where to go, didn't have my stuff together and didn't know what to do.

Yesterday, I took a quick swim in the 50-meter pool that I'll start in at Iron Nut.  It just opened Saturday.  I knew.knew.knew that the 50-meter pool was going to be tougher than the 25-yard pool I've been working out in.  BUT GOLLY!  I forgot just how much more difficult it is.  Not to mention that I was dodging a gazillion kids that.aren't.supposed.to.be.in.the.lap.lane.anyhow.ahem and had burning eyes from all the chemicals dumped into the pool, no doubt in preparation for the grand opening just days before.  Long strokes will be key for surviving the swim.  It really stinks that the 50-meter pool was only open one week before Iron Nut.  That doesn't allow us to train in that distance pool.  At least most people in the tri should be on equal footing there because I don't know of another 50-meter pool within a two hours drive.

I still haven't driven over the bike course.  I hope to do that tomorrow just so I'll know where I'm going and hopefully won't get lost on the bike route.  I started packing my bag tonight so hopefully my dream from the other night Won't come true.  At least the part about not having my stuff together.  I washed my race suit, picked out my shorts and shirt to wear during the bike and run, dug out my ultra-glide to help prevent chaffing, packed my sunglasses, just-remembered-to-pack-my-sunscreen, and packed a change of clothes for after.  And my tennis shoes!  Which reminds me to go pack some socks.....

Tomorrow, I will pick up my race packet.  I have no idea what will be in it.  For running races, the race packets usually include your race number (bib number), some coupons from sponsors, a race chip if they use those, and a t-shirt.  I don't know what comes in a triathlon packet!  Have I mentioned I'm nervous?  As if the physical aspect of this challenge isn't daunting enough, I feel like there is all this technical stuff that I don't know and am not prepared for (such as transitioning from event to event, etc).

Shew.  DEEP BREATHS!  Super-Athlete Kevin recommended we get a good night's sleep tonight since tomorrow night our nerves may keep us from getting really good sleep.

DEEP BREATHS!!

I'm Alive!

I was just resting for several days.  As you know, Friday I about died.  Saturday I went hiking and hiked 9.5 miles through the lovely Jefferson National Forest.  

See, told ya it was LoVely.  :)

And I saw some beautiful black angus cows grazing in the national forest.

This is my friend Megan contemplating how to best go about walking upstream.

We had a really great time.  But my legs burned most of the day from Friday's bashing.

On Sunday, I rested.  My legs were spent.  I talked to Dr. Ann at church on Sunday and she and her ultra-athlete hubby were going to do a brick workout Monday morning, biking the actual course.  They invited me along but after thinking about it for a bit, I had to decline because my legs were just so pooped.  It's time to taper down anyhow, so on Monday I rested as well.  And ate.  A lot.  Cause it was a holiday of course!

Today, I planned to swim in the 50-meter pool that the triathlon will start in.  However, my luck would have it, just as I pulled into the parking lot, it started thundering.  Sigh.  Two of the last three times I've tried to swim it's been storming.  I plan to try again either tomorrow afternoon or Thursday.  Neither will be opportune times but I'm going to try my hardest.

Dr. Ann's hubby sent us an email today of what to expect at the triathlon.  Shew.  I'm getting nervous!  I don't know what to expect other than that email.  I'm afraid I'll get lost on the bike route.  Or wreck my bike.  Or do something wrong while transitioning from one event to the next and get disqualified.  Or, or, or.  Yikes!  So much to know!  So little time left.  I'm feeling ill-prepared!  Which I HATE.  I'm so glad I have two other girlfriends doing this with me.  Hopefully, if I get freaked out or lost, I can spot one of them for a boost of assurance.  If I can catch them that is.

Just THREE days 'til showtime!

Just Crazy Enough

Oh.my.heavens.  If I thought I was overdone yesterday, today I might as well be turkey jerky.  You may know that I'm near crazy enough to try anything.  Except bungy jumping.  I'm cautiously adventuresome.  I enjoy a challenge.  Competitive, not so much.  But I do just like to see if I can DO it.  Whatever that may be.  Sometimes it's climbing a mountain, one time it was running a marathon, now it's doing a triathlon.... You get it.

Yesterday I said to Brian, "I might take a half day off tomorrow.  Though I don't know what I'd do."  He replied, "go do something crazy like bike the entire Creeper Trail."  ........... I could end this post here 'cause y'all know what happened next.

But I'll keep goin'.  ;)  I got on my bike in Abingdon and got on the trail.  I kept thinking to myself that I had two options:  I could ride all the way to Damascus and back (17 miles one-way); or I could ride to Alvarado (9.3 miles one-way) and back to Abingdon and then run 2 or 3 miles.  So ya know what I did?  I rode to Alvarado, ran about 1.5 miles, rode on to Damascus and ran another mile once I got there.  And then I rode 17 miles back to Abingdon.

Hell.Fire.Burning doesn't even begin to describe the sensation in my legs.  Not really even close.  When I got to Damascus, I did rest a few minutes before I ran.  It helped.  I have been getting a bit nervous about the Iron Nut and my ill-prepared abilities.  But on the ride back down to Abingdon I got to thinking.  So what if I have to take a 2 minute break between my bike and my run at the Iron Nut.  Sure, it's not ideal but I'll still accomplish what I wanted to.  I'll still finish.  It's not the end of the world.

I'm not out to win this monster.  I'm just crazy enough to try it.  I'm gonna have fun with it.  If I can.  :)  I did see Dr. Ann on the trail today!  I should have warned her that biking to Damascus and back with or without running was a bad idea.  34 miles of a bad idea.  At least now I won't feel bad about wimping out on my last chance work out.  Done and Done!

The hike I have planned for tomorrow may be a little tricky however.... especially if my legs are blocks of hell.fire.burning concrete in the morning.  We'll see!

Overdone

I think I might have overdone it on the weights yesterday, y'all.  I'm sore.  My legs and arms are sore but legs super sore.  Like, don't take a full step kind of sore.  Use your hands to sit down kind of sore.  The soreness will dissipate in a few days but until then, owie owie owie.

Today I went swimming.  I hadn't been in the pool for 3 weeks friends.  And I felt like a sinking battle ship.  Big, heavy, and sinking.  I swam the half mile I'll have to swim in the Iron Nut and even though I felt like a sinking battle ship, it took me the same 13 minutes to swim it that it did the last time I timed myself on a half mile swim.  Then I did more interval swims until my arms felt like jelly moving through the water.  I like there was just no muscle left to pull anymore water.  I talked myself into finishing with another 500 yard freestyle, but 100 yards in, my left shoulder started hurting so I pushed on until I finished 250 yards and let myself stop.  Shoulder pain is not something I want to mess around with this close to race day.

I'm not sure what I'll get into tomorrow.  Not many opportunities left for a strong workout left.  I'll start tapering  down on Sunday or Monday.  Shar is out of town so I'm responsible for kicking my own butt this weekend.  Wish me luck!

Rain and Nice People

It's been quite rainy the past few days.  But I don't mind the rain.  Rain makes the grass grow so our cows can eat.  It makes the crops grow that make the feed that feeds our cows that help feed the world.  And it makes the flowers pretty.  :)

It does, however, make for tough workout scheduling.  I don't really even mind to bike or run in the rain.  So long as its that biking and running appropriate rain.  That is, more like a steady drizzle or light rainfall.  Downpours, thunderstorms and other sorts of events that bring water from the sky, I'll pass on running or biking in the rain.  There's really just no sense it.  That's why they say, "she don't have sense enough to come in from the rain," silly.

Yesterday we had lots of thunderstorms.  Dark skies, loud thunder, heavy rain, etc.  The sky cleared up right above my office for a bit and I decided to risk it, even though the sky in both directions looked ugly.  I ran 3.2 miles (maybe a little more) and tried to run fairly hard.  And it was hard.  Because of the storms there was pretty much no one else on the trail.  When I was about at the finish, two men came barreling down the trail from behind me and passed me like I was moon walking backwards.  They, however, looked as if they were just out for a Sunday stroll.  Their 6-foot-something frames, slender build and feet as steady as a horse told me that they did this running thing quite a bit.

I planned to go swim after I ran but the pool was still closed due to the storms.  And as soon as I got back in my car at the pool, it came another rat-drowning downpour.  Close call.

Today the rain continued.  I had to plan ahead because I was hosting small group at my house tonight and still had to get dinner ready for the group.  I left the office a little early and it was pouring the rain.  The rain drops were gigantic.  I was drenched from head to toe before I got myself, my purse, and my laptop safely in my car - which was parked about 10 feet from my office door.  I was leaving the office later than I had hoped, barrels of water were falling from the sky and I still had to get dinner ready for small group.  And make my bed before company arrived.  Ssshh!  But after seriously considering skipping a workout today, I puffed my chest out and said, "No my dear. You're Going to workout!"

I went to the gym.  Uugh.  That place with so many machines I can't count them all.  The place with super-fit people doing things that look like they're in a lot of pain.  That place where there are trainers walking around with clients from machine to mats to pully-things.  That place where obnoxious people wear their curled, flowing hair down and touch up their makeup while they "workout."  That place where guys pumping iron take pictures of themselves in the mirror.  (Seriously guys?)  And Worst of all..... that place where the trainers, the super-fit people, the girls with their hair down, the guys pumping iron ..... are Friendly!  WHhhaaat?!  Don't speak to me!  It scares me!  Don't tell me to let you know if I need help with anything you nice gym-owner man!  Gosh!!!!  Don't smile at me cute girl with your hair curled when you're getting off the treadmill!  Don't move your gym equipment out of my way trainer man!  Don't Do It!

Why am I petrified of these people?!  I have no idea.  I always dread the gym.  I have to see People!  That are nice to me.  It's horrifying.  I know, I know.  I'm working on it.

Regardless, I got it a pretty good workout.  I lifted weights for a bit with the good ole' fashioned hand weights.  'Cause I'm scared of everything else.  And then I did a hill-interval workout on the elliptical for half an hour.  None of that left me time to shower before small group but that's okay. 'Cause that's how we Christians are.  Come hungry, come thirsty, come dirty, come poor.  Receive love.  And sloppy joe's (tonight anyhow).

Another hump day down!  And a long weekend coming!  Enjoy loves!