And the Holidays have arrived.
And so have the 5lbs I had lost last week. But the turkey, the mashed potatoes, the sweet potato yams and the pumpkin pie were all worth it. Yum!
Back on it, must lose the poundage!
Last night I went to the Team Z Swim practice at the Lab School. It was great. I had not swam with the team before. I really love swimming, and had been practicing by myself at the UMB pool, but it was good to have some sort of direction as far as drills to do and advice on what to work on.
PJ went too, it was good to see her swimming again. She had not been in the water since her participation at the Vineman 70.3 in July. What I was amazed at is that, she never really took formal swimming lessons, she learned to swim by watching DVD's, and videos on youtube. Now, when you've never been formally trained to swim, and can complete endurance events on your own, like Ironman, or a half, that shows you have heart. She'll get amazing benefits from the team's coaching! As her "Team KlutZ" partner, I'm so excited for her!
I'm a bit sore from the practice, but will be there again on Thursday, gotta keep it up! I'm excited. Thrilled!
I'm going to keep at it, every week. Practice makes perfect!
Ironman 2011!!!
So yesterday, I decided to be bold and crazy and join the team to participate in the time trials. Let me first say that I had not ridden a bike in about 20 years, except for a short ride with the team a few months ago at Hains Point on a completely FLAT course.
I got my bike stuff ready, got some long riding pants, gloves and covers for my bike shoes and got ready to go. Once I got there, I realized that I'm probably the least experienced biker in the group, and I had never clipped on before, so I was a bit scared.
As soon as Coach Ed arrived, I went over to him and told him about my lack of experience. He was very supportive and encouraged me to get on the bike and ride around the parking lot to try it out. He taught me how to clip on, then I went once around the lot, and he called another team member over to watch out for me and be ready to catch me if I fell. It was so funny, I felt like a little girl riding without her training wheels for the first time. :)
Once everyone had arrived, we gathered in a group and the Coach and Damon started calling out names and numbers for everyone. I was number 28, so I was relieved to not have to go first! We had to bike 23 miles on a somewhat hilly course, but first, we would have to bike 2 miles out to the start line. At least it would be a warm up.
Everyone started riding over to the start line, and I was at the very back, trying to clip on. Coad Ed stayed behind to help me get started. Thank God for that, otherwise, I would've fallen! I clipped on and biked out, I was thrilled to be doing it, but when I saw the hills I freaked out a little bit. I had never, ever rode uphill. EVER. NEVER. EVER. Did I say I hadn't done this before?
Slowly, but safely (important!), I got to the start line. Once I got there, I had to figure out how to unclip without falling over. I saw the grass and went straight to it! I was able to unclip my right foot, and lean over, but couldn't unclip my left, so I gracefully leaned over to my right side and fell on the grass, then unclipped. It was a soft landing. Matt came over to see if I was ok, I told him I was and then he looked at me and said, "Your helmet is all wrong, let me help you". He adjusted my helmet and showed me how to put it on my head so that it actually protects the nuggin' if I was to fall. Thanks Matt! :)
The time trials got started, I walked my bike over to the start line and thought: "Wow, I got to clip on again!....AAAAHHHH!!!".
Damon started the countdown, said "Go" and I did it!!! I clipped on with no problem! Wahoo!
Right off the bat, there were a few hills. OUCH. I got all the way up, and then came the best part: The downhill!!! Talk about feeling free! The wind on my face felt amazing!
The area where we were riding was absolutely gorgeous. When riding on flats I took time to enjoy the view. For entertainment, I sang to myself. There was a bit of jazz scat, The Supremes, and then, I just had to sing "The hills are aliiiiiveeee, with the souuuund of muuuusiiiiic!", when I got to the hills, it all changed into "I can do it, yes I can, if I can't do it, no one can!". I tried to look at the front tire on my bike on the hills instead of looking ahead at the hill, otherwise, I would've probably chickened out and turned around.
All in all, it was good and fun. The day was gorgeous, and my teammates were awesome. I got passed by pretty much everyone (I finished 38 out of 40!), but as they passed me they all said "Looking good! Keep it up!", others asked "How are you doing?", of course all that after yelling "On the left!". Safety first people! :)
When I was near the 11.2 mile turn around point, I got to the steepest hills on the ride. Problem was, I didn't know the hills were coming, and they were right after a very fast downhill, so I didn't prepare to change gears and, alas, lost my momentum. Thankfully, I was able to unclip and move the bike far to the right towards the pile of wet leaves alongside the road, in case I fell off (I still have to figure out how to unclip the left foot before getting off of the bike). So I went towards the right, put my right foot on the ground and leaned towards the ground, but somehow didn't fall. I unclipped my left foot, straightened the bike and decided there was no way to get on it and try to ride uphill at that point, so I walked the bike. The problem: bike shoes don't really have a lot of grip to the ground, so I kept trying to walk up, but my shoes made me slide back down. I just started laughing at myself. I felt like I was walking my bike on a treadmill, going nowhere. Then I decided that the smarter thing to do would be to walk on the pile of wet leaves along the side of the road. It worked! I got to the top of the hill, only to realize that after a tiny small decline, another hill awaited me.
I had to get back on the bike, this time without anything or anyone to hold on to...would I be able to get on without falling? I was!!! Got on again, started pedaling and then...I lost momentum. I just started laughing again, and reminded myself to NOT sing "Stop! In the name of love!" as I was trying to go up hard, steep hills. The law of attraction was in full effect! ;-) I repeated the same steps as before, got on the bike again, and thankfully, it was a full on flat after this.
I got to the turnaround point, saw Coach Ed, Kevin, Damon, and started my turn around. Coach Ed said, "How are you doing? Are you having fun?", I was like "I love it! I had to stop on the last two hills, but this is fun!", then, although it was pretty clear that this was the turn around point, I asked, "Is this where I turn around?", he's like "Yes!". Then I just thought..."how am I supposed to do that?", I started my turn around, and as I was turning, Kevin and Matt where moving away from me to make room for me to pass behind them, I couldn't figure out how to go on a small circle to turn around. DUH!, however, I did it without any problems. Yay!
The ride back was great. Not easy, (let's not get crazy now, it was pretty hard), but I didn't have to stop at all, and was able to work my way through some hard uphills (that's what happens to the fun and fast downhills that you ride on the way in, they turn into hard uphills on the way back!) I had to hammer hard on the pedals to make it through, but I made it! I could feel my quads burning, my hands hurting, my crotch...well, let's just say I need to do some saddle adjustment.
All in all, it's was a very fun experience, I loved every minute of it, and I hope that with lots of practice I can develop strength, endurance, and speed.
A few things I'm proud of, besides, of course, completing the 23 miles in about 2 hours:
1. My average speed was 12.35 mph. Faster than I thought!
2. I didn't fall!
3. I was able to drink while riding whenever I needed to! (If you are not a cyclist, you may think this sounds simple, but it's not! It requires a lot of coordination, and I'm very un-coordinated).
Now I just have to get back on the saddle regularly and keep up my training! There's another ride next Sunday in the same location, this time is not a time trial, just for training. There's a 2 and 3 hour option. I'm going to go for the 2 hours. I gotta fix my saddle before then, and hopefully prepare better nutrition wise and see if it makes a difference in my performance.
Looking forward to this week's training! Yay Team Z!!!
Tonight, I spoke with my teammate online. She is someone I truly admire for her amazing endurance, zest for life and "stick-to-it-iveness". We're going to start training together in December, and I'm looking forward to having someone push me and help me achieve my true potential.
I know that I can be a better, more disciplined, and more dedicated endurance athlete than I have been in the past 6 months. I know that inside me, there is a fast marathoner that will qualify for Boston, a triathlete with the strength of body and mind to complete an Ironman (or two, or three, or more!).
I have to keep focused on the long term goal, and manage to keep a balanced life at the same time.
This is a two year journey to my first Ironman. It will be a long process, and I know there will be days when I don't feel like training, and days when I can't stop running, in the end, this is a journey to myself, a journey to find out what I'm made of.
In the end, that's all life is, a constant search for self discovery, challenging yourself, and discovering something new about you every day. Live, learn, love, grow.
Just registered for my Spring 2010 semester. I was so lucky to get the classes and schedule I wanted. I have no morning classes and no classes on Fridays. Sooooo, I will be able to attend Team Z bootcamp on Monday mornings, swim on Tue-Thurs evenings, and travel to and from races without having to rush to get home so that I can be on time for school. I have time to train! I worked out the schedule with only my training and racing schedule in mind...does that mean that I'm totally addicted to this? Who cares? I'm on my way to becoming a more complete and strong athlete. That's what matters.
So happy right now! Jumping for joy!
Today, my girl and I went to Conte's and bought me a trainer. With the Team Z discount, we saved $163 from the trainer, mat and riser block combined. I'm so excited and can't wait to pick it up this Wednesday! There's no excuses to train now! I got all I needed to get started full on with my training, so now, I'm in it all the way!
Rock & Roll Kinetic Road Trainer, aka "Kermit"Had a great swim last night. I did 731 meters. I'm sore, sore, sore, but so glad I did it! I know I should be swimming with the team, but after doing counseling and crisis intervention with the kids at school during the day, I really needed the silence at the UMB pool.
Right now I'm focusing on losing the 20lbs that are slowing me down, on toning up and working on form. In December I'll start working on speed and on really getting the fitness and endurance part back on track.
Time for strenght training!
