I've been slacking...

I'll admit it, I've been slacking. I haven't done a workout in a week. I need to get off my butt! That being said, I've gotten a lot done around the house. LOL!

Ok, ok... I have to get moving or this 70.3 in June is going to be PAINFUL! We have been tracking things with our new FitBit One's, so that's a good thing! We've also both been keeping portion sizes in check, so I'm happy about that too.

Now, to get moving!

Thyroid update

Since September 2012, I've been on a roller coaster with respect to my thyroid. In November 2012, my endocrinologist had my TSH, Free T3, and Free T4 (as well as Hashimoto indicators since it runs in my family) tested. Technically, all numbers are normal. With my symptoms, he has diagnosed me with hypothyroid primary.

I went in for a 3 month retest yesterday and got my blood work back today. It hasn't changed much from 3 months ago, so once again, whether or not to medicate. For now, my dr and I have decided NOT to medicate, even though my symptoms are pretty much constant. He said something to me that made a lot of sense.

"It's much easier to make a decision to medicate rather than to come off medication to determine whether or not it seems to be working later."

With my thyroid symptoms being both hyper and hypo, he's concerned that I'll have mixed to no relief of my symptoms and want to come off the meds to see if it was really helping.

Basically, there's no easy decision for me. I'm just glad to have found a dr who listens to me and gives me his straight opinion instead of blowing me off.

Hiking Cadillac Mountain in Acadia NP

And to finish up the posts that were supposed to have been written in August 2012...

The day after we went biking through Acadia, we went hiking in Acadia. This was our first ever hike, so we tackled something "easy" - Cadillac Mountain. Mind you, I was four days out from a half-ironman distance race! This was turning out to be a super active vacation.

We parked our car at the welcome station and rode the bus to the foot of the Cadillac Mountain trail.

Today, we brought our Camelbacks and nutrition (Honey Stingers and a couple of bars). We REALLY should've brought lunch. Oops... More on that later.

Still in a good mood

There were some pretty steep sections of this, but I think we handled it well. Jon whined a little about how it hurt and I just reminded him that I had raced Sunday, so if I could do it, he could too. Guess he got tired of hearing that because he stopped complaining. Every time we thought we were getting close to the top, we'd realize we weren't. It took us just about 2 hrs to do 2.1 miles (or so). Crazy! We did stop several times to take pictures and just admire the view.

Are we there yet?!

A little steep!

Headed up the rock stairs

Once at the top, we went to the bathroom and looked for the actual summit. We also explored the Summit Loop. It was about this time that we realized 1) we needed to figure out our path back down - we could go the way we came or go down the other trail that leads to the summit and 2) that we really should've brought lunch with us. We ended up going down the same way we came since we didn't know if the bus would pick us up from the trail head on the south side. Turns out, it would've. Oh well!

The North Ridge map (the way we came & went)

View from the Summit Loop

On the Summit Loop

Overall, we had a great hike and I can't wait to get back to Acadia to do another!

Biking through Acadia NP

Wow, this post is WAY overdue.

While we were in Maine back in August, we headed to Bar Harbor 2 days after my 70.3. The day after the race, we explored a local state park that houses Portland Head Lighthouse in order to keep me moving around and get rid of that lactic acid. Absolutely beautiful.

Me with the lighthouse in the distance

The next day, we headed to Freeport (LLBean shopping!) and Bar Harbor. It was a pretty uneventful drive, which is always good. Maine's road signs about moose crack me up. We have a ton of them about deer, but all of theirs were about moose. Now... just to see one!

Wednesday, we rented mountain bikes from Acadia Bike and took off into Acadia National Park. It was about two miles or so into the park, which wasn't too bad. I knew we'd be taking it super easy since I'd just done the 70.3 three days before. We had our Camelbacks, some nutrition (Honey Stingers), and a map of the carriage roads with us.

Let me just say... if we lived near Acadia, Jon would NEVER see me. I'd always be on the carriage roads. They'd be so wonderful for training runs & easy bikes. The crushed gravel/rock roads were originally built for horse carriages and take you through some breathtaking places. It took us about 4 hrs to do about 20 miles - way slow for us, but we were taking our time, stopping & taking pictures, and just enjoying it. I'd do this again in a heartbeat. On our next trip, we plan to bring our hybrid bikes and ride as much (or as little) as we want to.

Checking out the map

Chillin on a rock

Having a great time

Definitely not something we get to see on our normal rides!

Loved how much room we had

Beautiful

Can we stay?

Proof that we were there

Really the only part that was paved

GW Birthday Marathon Relay Race Report - February 17, 2013

This was hands down the weirdest race I've EVER done.

A couple of months ago, a bunch of Team Z people formed a lot of relays for this marathon. It's the first marathon I've heard of that does relays, so I figured I'd be game for it. Fast forward to this weekend, and we were all thinking one thing... the weather could've cooperated a bit more!

Packet pickup was in a small youth center in Greenbelt, MD. We got there at 8:30am for a 10:30am start. Given that it was about 25 degrees outside, we all huddled inside until they told us it was time to walk to the start. Everyone was shedding layers to not overheat before the race.

Waiting around

More waiting

Around 10:10, the race director asked us to start moving towards the start. This is where things get REALLY weird... The race start was literally a timing mat and a chalk line. They've been running this race for 52 years now. It's still a pretty small race!

The race was three loops around farm country in PG County, MD. It was super hilly... rolling hills... and not Eastern Loudoun County rolling hills. I was doing the first loop - 9.7 miles. The start wasn't too bad, and then we had a nice long downhill, and then we got hit with the wind. By mile two, I was FROZEN. The wind was so crazy. Sometimes, it'd just stop you (or slow you to a walk). If I didn't have teammates waiting for me, I would've thrown in the towel.

Along the course, I met some great people. I love chatting with people while I'm running. I knew this wouldn't be a super fast run based on the conditions, so I chatted for a bit, walked when I needed to, and ran when I could.

Once we got to Powder Mill Road, the car traffic got a little crazy, as did the wind. I really just wanted to be done. I've never wanted to stop in the middle of a race more. It was COLD, and HILLY, and WINDY. Right around mile 9, there was another freakin hill. I was so close to being done and was feeling so defeated.

Then, right when I needed it the most, I could hear the "cry of the Z" (horns). I still couldn't see them, but I could hear them. I got to the top of the hill and turned the corner and could see Jon. Oh thank goodness. That meant I was almost DONE. FINALLY!!!! I handed the wrist band off to my #2 relay person and wished her good luck. Poor thing... right after she left, it started to snow... sideways... twice. I felt so bad.

Team Z rockin the grill

I love my Zers

So. Cold.

Hi honey!

Gettin this done!

Jen welcoming me into transition

Making sure the wrist band read across the timing mats

As I walked back to the Team Z transition area, all I could think about was trying to get warm. I've never asked for hot chocolate right after a race. That's all I could think about though.

Oh hot chocolate and warm food!

Z camping out

Just chillin... literally!

One of the MD Zers dropped and did some pushups during his run!

I got warmed up and changed as much as I could in the back of the car and then headed back to the Z area to cheer for my teammates. Thank goodness for handwarmers, warm food, music, and the crazies that make up my tri team. Seriously. My relay team turned in a 4:55 marathon. Not too shabby given the circumstances.

I can't even describe why this was such a weird race. It just is. Probably because it's a 3 loop course and it was miserable conditions, and yet I had a good time (well, overall, not running!).

Getting back on track

My big race is 19 weeks from yesterday. YIKES! You know what that means? I HAVE to get back on the wagon. Thankfully, this week is a gentle reminder about what the workouts for triathlon are like.

I did a 30 minute "run" today. I use the word run VERY lightly here. I walked more than I ran. I did TNT before the run and probably should've done the run first. Ah well. My body needs to remember moving when it's already tired again.

Tomorrow's going to be a swim and a bike. The tires on my bike are pumped up and ready to go! All I have to do is get my butt to the pool tomorrow during the day for the swim. Gotta do it! Maybe I'll even get moving early tomorrow morning. We'll see!

Been a while...

There's been so much going on lately, I've forgotten to post in here! I'll wait until this weekend so that I have pictures to do a full post, but we now have a mobile triathlon staging unit (aka: travel trailer).

There are 19 weeks until Rev3 Williamsburg Half distance. AH! Ok, that was the kick in the pants I needed.

Also, I have FINALLY settled on a name for my tri bike - Dart. (I also decided Dart is a "he".) He likes to go speedy and dart around, so... Dart.

Not the most compelling post, but it's something. :)

Accomplishments

Today was weigh-in/body fat day. I'm up another 4 lbs from 6 weeks ago to 148. UGH. The good news is that my body fat is about the same at 18.4%. My training for tri season starts up again VERY soon, so hopefully that'll help with the weight some.

I get my blood tested again towards the end of February, so we'll see what my TSH levels are doing. I'm worried that this whole thyroid thing is messing with my weight.

On to the accomplishments...

Today's workout was HARD. After the ab workout, the first thing we did was a body hanging hold. What this entailed was hanging from a chin-up bar with bent arms for as long as I could. I had 4 sets. I have no idea how long the first hold was, but I do know my second was about 12 seconds and the first was longer. This is HUGE for me. These things are super hard and I wasn't expecting much at all. My trainer let me know that my first one was definitely longer than my husband's. (He does class right before me.)

Later in the workout, we did negative pushups. Feet higher than the rest of the body. These are also super hard. My trainer wanted us to do a slow descent and "collapse" at the bottom if we couldn't do the pushups. Well, me being me had to try the actual pushups. I did 7 before I had to "collapse" on the 8th. I got in 2 more on the first set. For perspective, the guy in my class with me couldn't do a single pushup. He barely could do the collapse thing. To the point where it was almost funny.

It was a tough workout, and I am so proud of the accomplishments I had today.

Now, to get my cardio back in gear!

Holy Shoulder!

Today, I had a massage. This is not an abnormal thing for me... but this one was. My right shoulder has been bothering me for years now. Seriously... years. Anyhow, it's been getting worse the past couple of weeks, and nothing I do makes it better. So, during today's massage, I mentioned that it's getting worse.

K (masseuse): How's the pressure?
Me: It's good, but you know, just do whatever you need to to get that knot out. I'm tired of it.
K: Ok...
K: (stands on tiptoes with thumb in my knot): Tell me if it's too much... actually don't, you asked for this!
Me: Just do whatever you have to. Seriously.
K: Why isn't this thing breaking up? (beats my shoulder into oblivion)
K: Finally... I mean, I usually do deep work on your shoulders, but never this deep. That was not budging!
Me: Heat or ice tonight?
K: Definitely ice with Biofreeze.
Me: This is crazy, I can feel that there's actually blood flow to the area.
K: Is there normally not?
Me: Apparently not.

Yea... sooooooo, my shoulder hurts like crazy now. It'll be good for it, but man did he manage to do some work to it.  So, ice and biofreeze it is for the night.

No wonder it hurt so badly to lift & swim...

Almost a week later

So, it's been almost a week since the half marathon. I feel surprisingly good for coming off the couch to bust out 13.1 miles. I really need to get my training back in line and start paying a bit more attention to food intake. Jon decided that we start over the weekend. I pulled out all of my "healthy" cookbooks and will be going through them to figure out lunches & dinners. I've lost about 2 lbs since we've been home from Disney... probably just from the sheer amount of food we were eating there.

I've been slowly making my way through the book The Thyroid Diet Revolution. There are so many interesting tid bits. I feel like a lot of it should be stuff your dr tells you. It kind of saddens me that they don't!

This makes me happy :)

WDW Half Marathon Race Report - January 12, 2013

Pre-race
Months before the race, Jon decided that it'd be a great idea to run the WDW half marathon as his first half marathon. Our triathlon team made it an "A" race, so it'd be a big trip.

Note: I gave him a bunch of outs!

Fast forward to December. My longest training run was a 5.75 mile trail run. Jon's longest training run was 4 miles on a treadmill. Yea... not great training for either one of us! At least I had done this before so I knew what I was getting myself into.

So, we headed to Disney and got going. We arrived Thursday and had dinner at Ohana. Friday morning, we headed to the race expo to get our race bibs and packets. It was CRAZY!

Our race bibs

Craziest race expo ever

Me, Jon, & Nadia at the race expo

We headed to Animal Kingdom to tool around for a little bit. After we were done there, we headed to Downtown Disney to have dinner at Earl of Sandwich and do some shopping. (YAY!) We had a 2am wake up call on race morning, so we headed back at a decent time and got settled in for some sleep... or trying to sleep at least.

Race day
The alarm started going off at 2:00AM. The "bad" thing about Disney races is that they start insanely early... at least this one does. Jon had a small fit because I was putting off getting ready, but I know how long it takes me to get ready, so I wasn't worried. We decided the night before that we needed to be out of the room by 2:50am to be to the bus stop by 2:55. The busses were supposed to start at 3am. Apparently, several people had the same idea, because we were pretty far back in line. We chatted with 2 guys in line around us and waited and waited and waited. Around 3:15, the bus finally showed up. Disney's normally on time with everything, so I was a bit surprised (and having a Type-A personality breakdown) that the bus was running late.

We got to the EPCOT parking lot and were dropped off about a 5 -10 minute walk from the family meet up area. We walked over to where Team Z was supposed to be, but couldn't find any of them. We finally found one of our teammates and chatted with her for a bit. I ran to the port-a-potty and then came back to hang out. A couple more of our teammates found us after a while.

A few of the Z'ers who made the trip to Disney. 3 of these guys were doing the Goofy Challenge!

Around 4:15 or so, we were all told to go to the other side of the bag check tents to head down to the corrals. At 4:30, we went through the tents and were greeted by a mass of people. Basically, a corral before the corrals. It was nuts. No one really knew what was going on and what exactly we were all doing standing around. Apparently, Disney has decided that it's efficient to make everyone walk to the corrals all at once. (I don't really think it was.)

Around 4:40/4:45, they opened the gates and we were allowed down the road towards the corrals. We said goodbye and good luck to Nadia, as she headed to her corral. Then, when we got closer to the corrals, I gave Jon a quick kiss, wished him luck, and hoped he'd make it through the run. It was 5:15 by the time I reached corral B. I sat and stretched out a little bit. Mostly, I just sat. I knew I needed to give my legs a few minutes of a break. I should note that at this point, I needed to use the bathroom again and there were no port-a-potties. What I'd give to be a guy sometimes!

The National Anthem was sung, and then the wheelchair race was started. Not too long after, the Elite race started. You could feel the energy rising with each start. Corral A was sent off and our corral started making it's way to the start line. Before I knew it, we were sent off. The temperature at start was in the mid-to-high 60s, with a crazy high humidity of 94% or so.

The first couple of miles went by pretty quickly. I found the 2:15 pace group and decided I was going to hang with them. 2:15:00 comes out to a 10:18 pace per mile, which I'm totally capable of. Anyhow... around mile 3, I decided that I really REALLY needed to use the bathroom, so I stopped at the port-a-potties that didn't have a line. Funny thing, I glanced at my watch for mile 3 and I did an 11:08... even with the stop! I lost the pace group by making the pit stop, so I just ran on and did my thing.

The water stops were CRAZY! There was no real way to run through them. I ran past the Powerade part of the stops as best as I could since I was carrying my Infinit and just wanted to get to the water.

Around mile 5, just before we entered the Magic Kingdom, I decided to walk just a minute. The humidity was getting to me, as was my lack of real training. This started my mental break down. Whenever I've told myself it's ok to walk, I let myself off the hook easier and more often than I should. I ran through the Magic Kingdom. It was so great to see the castle all lit up and glittery. I thought to myself that when I ran this race in 2008, I didn't get to see the MK and castle this way because I was so slow that the sun had already come up by the time I got to the MK. The crowds were so much bigger than I remembered them from 2008. After getting out of the MK, we headed behind the Grand Floridian and it was packed with people! That was definitely a nice change.

Around mile 8, one of the Team Zers ran up behind me and we chatted for a few minutes. Around this time, we also heard the "call of the Z" so, we looked for them and smiled and waved for the camera.

Maureen and I answering the "call of the Z"

Miles 8 - 10 were pretty uneventful. Just before mile 11, my left Achilles (the one I pulled in 2009) started to bother me, so I stopped to stretch it out a little bit. Then, my right knee started to twitch, so I stopped to massage that out a little. Needless to say miles 10-11 weren't my best. Ah well. I got it done. Miles 11.5 to the end were great. There was so much crowd support heading into EPCOT. Once in EPCOT, the cast members were awesome.

Around this time, I realized that not only was I going to finish (I've learned that it's never a given in any race!), but I was going to set a PR. My previous best for this distance was 2:42:xx. I was really hoping to go 2:15:xx, but knew with the warmer temps and the humidity that it may not happen. I kept running the calculations based on my current pacing and knew I'd beat 2:42 if I just kept moving at the current pace.

There was a REALLY cranky guy who was just behind me around mile 12.8. He said some not so nice things, and you could just tell he was having a bad day. I knew we were getting close and refused to let his bad mood have any affect on me.

Around mile 13, Disney has a gospel choir set up. They're literally just before you can see the finish line. I had wondered if they'd be there like they were in 2008. I almost started crying when I saw them. I knew the finish line was close and I was just happy to be there. It seems silly that I still get emotional over finishing distance races, but I do. To throw down a 5k is nothing these days... but there's still something a little crazy about going out and putting down a half marathon.

As I crossed the finish line, I fist bumped Minnie Mouse and smiled for the camera. It was awesome to be done! I got my medal, missed the mylar blankets, grabbed a couple of waters and some food, and made my way to the family meet up area to see the other Zers... and started my wait for Jon and Nadia.

Side note: My watch said I went 13.31 miles. That extra .2 miles? Weaving in and out of "traffic"... and the pit stop for the potty. My 13.1 time was more like 2:31:xx, but that's unofficial, so I'll leave it at that.

I was so nervous for both of them. I KNEW Jon could do it if he got his head in a good place. Nadia's been recovering from an injury, so I wasn't sure about her. I was so excited when I got the email that Jon had crossed the finish line.

Jon & I post race

I was happy when I got the email that Nadia had finished too! The one bad part about finishing the race was that there really wasn't a way for me to get back to the finish line to see them both cross. I wish I had been able to.

Nadia & I post race

Then we waited in the crazy line to get on the bus to our hotel. It actually didn't take nearly as long as I thought it might.

Post race
After getting back to the hotel, we all showered and then went over to the food court for lunch. We all decided to have "make your own pasta", which took forever, but was good. It was a ton of food!

Nadia was having problems with her foot, so she decided to head back to the room and stay off of it for the day. Jon & I headed to EPCOT and met up a couple of our Team Z friends. We thought about Test Track until we saw that the wait was 100 minutes for standby and 40 minutes for single rider. No thanks! We then decided to head to Mexico and grab some margaritas. Yum!

Mmmm, margaritas!

After a while, we met up with a few other Zers and headed to the Italy pavilion for some wine... right after waiting for the Friendship boat to be let into the lake.

Bridge opening

Wine!

After the wine, it was time to meet the team for dinner at Downtown Disney. So, we headed down and it was good to see everyone. We headed back to the hotel after dinner to catch up with Nadia and get some sleep. I kept reminding Jon & Nadia that the next day would be hard, but as long as they moved around, it'd get better.

The next morning, we woke up and were kind of sore. I knew it was best to massage out what I could and just keep moving. I woke Jon up by massaging his shoulders, legs, and feet. Basically, everything that hurt. We had decided to head to the Magic Kingdom in order to avoid the marathon (since it had already gone through the MK by the time we were up & moving). As the day progressed, both of them were fading pretty fast, so we decided to head out before Wishes! (darn!). I think they were both happy to not be walking around any more.

Tuesday, everyone felt a good bit better. We headed to MGM/DHS before we had to leave. It was a good ending to the trip.

Official Results
5k split - 33:38
10k split - 1:07:49
15k split - 1:46:20
Overall time - 2:33:32
Pace per mile - 11:43

Overall place - 9614 out of 23126
Division place - 730 out of 2090
Gender place - 4193 out of 13138

Things Learned
It really is better to actually train for a half marathon!
It's hard to run in 30-40 degrees more than you are used to.
Humidity still kicks my butt.
Disney puts on a great race. Yes, it's expensive, but man do they keep you entertained on the run.
Sticking to my nutrition plan was a good idea, especially in the heat/humidity.

Wednesday's thought

Today, I'm feeling VERY much like this. I'm getting discouraged about a couple of things, but know what I need to do to turn them around... so I'm going to. Right after we get home from Disney.

The two major things I'm discouraged about:
1) My weight keeps doing whatever it wants... that being said, I haven't been good about making it a priority like I should be.
2) As soon as I regained focus for my tri training, I got a cold that's knocked me out for 2 weeks. UGH. I'm on the mend, so hopefully that'll change VERY soon.

Just need to keep trying. And that I will.

Week 11 challenge

So, this week, I'm not quite sure how this one will go. We're traveling this week, so it may be harder than it seems.

I still haven't kicked this cold. It's getting a bit old quite frankly. ARGH!

Week 11: Eat local foods – Eat at least 1 locally grown or raised food at each meal. This includes, but is not limited to: fruits, vegetables, eggs, grains, nuts, meats, and sweeteners like honey.

First week of the year

This first week of 2013 hasn't been exactly what I was hoping for. I've had this cold since pretty much the end of 2012 and into 2013. Instead of being able to do my workouts as planned. I went Friday morning to lift like normal and was sorry I did about 15 minutes from the end of the workout. So, I'm taking it easy for the next couple of days. Letting myself recovery. After all, Disney is just DAYS away.

Week 10 - way late

Week 9, with no refined sugars, didn't really happen. It was over Christmas... which I know is a cop out. Week 10 already hasn't been much better.

Week 10: No refined oils – No refined or hydrogenated oils including (but not limited to): vegetable oil, organic vegetable oil, soybean oil, corn oil, canola oil, organic canola oil, margarine, and grape seed oil.

I'm pretty sure I've broken this one already this week. I'll try to keep it mind for the rest of the week.

In other news, my triathlon team coach sent out a "State of the Team" address (think "State of the Union") today. It was just the kick in the butt that I needed. I'm planning to keep a personal workout log this year. I've never done that before. I have a LOT of time goals (and just a lot of goals in general). It'll be good to be able to see what I've done if I'm able (or not able) to meet the goals.