Ameliaman Sprint Triathlon

Not only did I finish, but I raced. Most of the time. The bike is my downfall, so it looks like more training on the bike is in order for the winter. 

With so many family obligations, I decided to just get up and drive to the race Sunday morning. Well, I hadn't really planned how far and how long, so I ended up leaving my house at 3:30am. Ouch. It was a nice relaxing drive both ways, and Quiet. 

One thing I had thought recently, was "hey, I should try to race the Athena group." The weight is 165 lbs for that, and I have consistantly been two pounds lighter. I had thought a few weeks ago that I should just gain up a bit so I could get that in before I lost any more weight. Kinda thought it might be a bad idea, so I didn't and just went with age group, where I was sure to not win anything. I ended up 7th in my age group. I could not help it when I signed in to step on the scale they had for the Athena/Clydesdale groups. 160. BAM! I have been working and working to try to get there and just decided to train and eat right and not weigh, but then the scale was right there. Pretty sure I also had some extra water weight that morning, too. So, if nothing else was great, my weight was!

This was my first Atlantic swim and I had been a bit nervous about, well, you know, SHARKS. I was so excited and pumped up about seeing my Tri Buddies and getting ready for the race, I didn't even think about that before the race. This was my first swim where I did not panic at the start of the race. So happy about that. It could be that I was a bit bummed about seeing how short my swim was going to be as that is my easy leg. It was a bit bumpy getting out to the first marker, but then it was awesome. I did drag my hand along some type of living thing under the water, let out a muffled scream underwater, and promptly swam quickly away. Ick. Don't know, don't tell me. Official swim time: 10:13 Pretty excited about that because my goal time was in the 10 min range for this race. 

A super cool chick let me borrow her Scott bike for the race. It is a really nice bike and rides really smooth. The first third of the race, I was loving it. That was probably because the wind was with me and I was going pretty fast, had lots of energy. The usual suspects passed me right away, those slow swimmers with super bike powers. Fine, fine, I passed a few this race, too. The middle was not fun at all. The wind was soooo against me. I was working hard and going nowhere. Yuck, yuck, yuck. I pressed on, thinking the run will be so much better. My lower back hurt the entire ride, personal problem, I know. I should have been more prepared and popped Advil before the race. Live and learn. Every race, I learn something great either by trial and error, or from other racers. Official bike time: 1:06:41

Starting the run, I felt slow and sluggish. After the bike, where those two ladies in my age group passed me the last leg, I was tired. I was just thinking about getting this thing done so I could relax and get a snack. I ran on, at what I felt was a slow pace. This is the first time I decided to not take any Runkeeper or clock on my run. I passed a few friends, you know, they were way ahead of me and on their way back, was starting to feel happy. On the way back, I started thinking about those I was passing and tried to give them all encouragement, things like - your almost there, doing great, keep it up, good job. Then, I saw I was almost done and tried to pick up the pace a little bit. Official run time: 30:45 So excited, my goal time was 30 something. I had no idea I was even close.

T1 was 3:20 whoa, what was I doing? T2 was 1:24.  Total time 1:52:23. When I saw my finish time, I was pretty sad. I had been thinking I wanted to go about 1:45 just based on my first race and training times. Also, a friend that is a steady racer finished way in front of me. I knew I had to be pretty slow. I was told not to compare courses by an expert. I'm going to listen to that advice. My swim was faster and my run was faster, so I'm good. 

On Monday, I took Triathlete Jr. to school and then came home and slept till noon. Pretty much, I stayed on the couch all day, did some eating. And, some more eating. Then, went to bed early.
I am going to do my best to take a rest week. For me, that is going to take some serious concentration. I have made it two days. Napping, housework, eating and more napping seems to do a body good. 
I am making a race plan for next year and putting some goals in place. I'll share those with you next time. 

Hammerhead Olympic Swim

Team Dark Shadows...

ONE YEAR UPDATE

before and after...

My First Sprint Triathlon

Crystal River coming soon...

The Big Reveal

comming soon...

The End is Near

So, this is my last post before the final results. We have five days until our final weigh in. I'm pretty sure I'm going to be in last place, but I'm feeling good. I'm healthy, I'm strong, I've learned how to run, train, take care of myself and my family, and also how to encourage others to get started.
I started last summer at a size 22 and now I wear size 10. There was a time before that I wore a 24. My journey from January to May has been a hard one. It was easier for me to lose weight to start with in September, October and November. I am imagining that finishing to get to my goal weight is going to be an even harder challenge. But, I have been blessed with being part of this big weight loss challenge and now I have the tools and all the information to make that happen.
I've had so many first things during the last few months.
I competed in not only my first 5k but two 5k's and I dropped my time from the first race to the 2nd race. I've come out of my comfort zone as far as walking, running, riding my bike and swimming. Before the challenge, I would have never ridden my bike so far from home and in the bike lane on the road. I'm walking far away from my house. I can go to the stadium and I know what exercises to do and I can make it to the top of the Gator mountain.
I competed in my first triathlon which was a lot of fun. I still can't believe that I actually did it. I'm training for an Iron Girl triathlon that is Sept 29th. I'm going to compete in an obstacle course in November with a four mile run.
Members of my family are eating healthy and making good choices on their own, because they want to, not because I'm making them. I would have never been able to get to this point without Dan and Nicole, Sweat Life Fitness and all of the girls from the weight loss challenge. They really have kept me going and giving me a lot of support.
I have learned that I need to

surround myself with people who have similar goals and will push me to keep being my best, and keep working towards all of my fitness and health goals. I'm especially grateful that I feel so much better that now I can take better care of my family. There are a lot of people at my house that I can take care of and cook healthy for. At this point, I've lost about 60 pounds total. I've had several people already tell me to stop losing weight, I've lost enough. In order to not look like a delusional maniac, I have just smiled and said okay, I just need to work on building muscle. I honestly have between 30 and 40 pounds still to lose. When I started my weight loss journey I had exactly 102 pounds to lose to get to my goal weight. At this point, my goal is to reduce the amount of body fat I have and make more lean muscle. This whole experience has been a lot of fun, a lot of stress and a lot of challenges for all kinds of different reasons. I am extremely thankful to Sweat Life and Giggle Magazine and all of the people who are sponsoring and supporting this contest. It has been awesome having the photo shoots with Shannon and getting to meet all the trainers at Sweat Life. I'm looking forward to the hair and makeup makeover on Wednesday, that is going to be fun! All the boot camps we've gotten to go to were killer. My favorite part. The biggest thing I am thankful for has been everything that the girls have taught me about weight loss, myself, nutrition, exercise and teamwork. I would not be where I am today if not for them and I appreciate all of them and their hard work. I'm a little bit proud of myself too, I just dictated my whole blog while I walked my 8 miles,  a slow kina chillin' out day. Have a healthy day. Peace.

4 Week Physio-Graphs and Gratitude

Attitude of Gratitude. Today, I am feeling really grateful for being in this challenge. In a little while, we will be having our four week Physio-Graphs. It is very exciting to see how my body has been changing and to get a chance to look at it on paper.
Better than anything, is the way I feel. I have so much energy - too much for some (Spencer). I can stand up. I used to take the kids to the playground and just standing or taking slow steps was so hard, I just wanted to sit down, or better yet, go home.
This week, I was swinging and pumping my legs, like for 20 minutes and nothing hurt. My butt fit on the swing, I could pump, I could cross my legs and pump. So easy. For fun, I did superman flys with my stomach on the swing.

I stood on a skateboard while it moved. Note, I didn't say ride a skateboard, don't think it counted as riding. I had some balance and had the wheels moving on some flat surfaces at the skate park. It's been like at least 20 years since I have been on a skateboard. 

All of the training I have done in and out of the gym have made a huge difference in my health. I am so thankful to Sweat Life Fitness and Giggle Magazine for choosing me to be part of this awesome trip. I am even more thankful for all the trainers, GroupFit class members, and everyone that has encourage me to keep going, or even to start. Dan and Kyle have been so great and really kept me going with everything, workouts, reps, running, nutrition, making me want to push myself much further than I would have imagined. 

I definitely want to help others feel this healthy. If you are one of those people that have asked, how do you do it, I want your plan, I wish I could..... ask me, I am happy to share with you. Email me, call me, ask me to meet you for a workout. I know how hard it is with kids, windows of time are short, everyone is so busy. I am not at my personal goal, but I know how to start. I can help you start too, ask me. I will encourage you, I will meet you to workout. 

Peace,
Denise