TriTalk Tuesday - Conquering the Swim

Welcome to my first post in our new Tri Talk Tuesday link-up with Courtney at The Trigirl Chronicles and Cynthia at You Signed Up for What.  We started this link-up as a place for triathlete bloggers to get together and chat about all things tri.  As relatively new triathletes, we all felt like there was a general dearth of free information and support out there for aspiring triathletes.  Further, as bloggers, there's not a ton of places in the cyber-world to connect and share experiences.  So please, leave your own TriTalk Tuesday link at the bottom of this page!!!

We decided to kick off our link-up with a topic that is on the mind of almost every beginner triathlete (and many seasoned ones, too).

The Swim

This is the leg of the triathlon that seems to generate the most anxiety among new racers.  After all, there's a lot to feel apprehensive about.  You've got to squeeze your jiggly bits into a speedo or worse, a wetsuit... you've heard stories about being punched and kicked in the start of the race.  Furthermore, these swims don't always take place in nice, civilized pools.  You have to go out "open water swimming", a phrase that is both baffling and frightening to the uninitiated.  Plus, we as land mammals breath air!! Not water!!  We're not the Little Mermaid after all!  So what to do?  Let's take this one step at a time....

1.  Getting dressed.

Congrats!  You've plucked up the courage, found a pool, and made time to swim.  Time to take all you've got and squeeze it into a garment that you've likely not worn voluntarily (or at least, non-grudgingly) since your twenties.  Athletic suits are fitted.  Meaning no skirts, ruffles, padding or other funny business designed to hide or accentuate whatever part of yourself you think needs it.  Deep breath - repeat this phrase: 

No one cares what you look like in a swimsuit but you.

Say it once more for good measure.  No one cares what I look like in a swimsuit but me.  Get a suit that fits, is comfortable, and has no extra what-not to create drag.  The old mommy onesie you have in the back of your closet will do.  The string bikini that falls off at the slightest turbulence will not.  Continue to repeat your mantra as you head to the pool deck.  Mind your manners - don't stare at the other swimmers and they won't stare at you.  We're all here to do our own thing.  It's all good.

2.  The actual swimming part.

This is the part I am lest qualified to talk about because frankly, I'm a beginner myself.  I took a Total Immersion class that vastly improved my stroke.  You can read about it here.  Instead I'm going to talk about water anxiety.  You may feel like everyone is watching you (they are not).  You may feel like the pool is endlessly long and getting to the end of it takes more time and gasping breathes than you can manage, much less for the distance of any triathlon race.  My best tips are:

•  Breathe.  It's amazing how often this gets overlooked.  The sensation of anxiety and panic is hard-wired in your brain.  When you panic, you feel like you can't breathe.  If you are pushing yourself so hard that you can't catch your breath, or you're so focused on the task of maintaining whatever swim mojo you have that you forget to take regular breaths, your brain might start to interpret it as anxiety.  Your breath should be steady and natural.  Breathe out continuously underwater, then in when you turn to breathe.  Even if you have to stop, roll on your back, stand up, what have you - breathe.  Breathe more often. 
• Breathe on both sides.  This doesn't mean breathe every stroke, or even alternating all the time.  It means become more or less equally comfortable turning your head to either side to take a breath. In addition to creating troublesome imbalances in your body, always breathing to the same side can leave you choking in a race when waves are coming from your strong side or another swimmer's feet are kicking up water at you.  It's just a good habit to get into.

• Relax your head and your neck.  Swimming uses almost all the muscle groups in your body.  It does NOT use your neck and head.  Let those muscles relax and turn to jelly.  Shoulders down your back.  Head bobbing.  The water will support your head, I promise.  Check yourself as you move through your training set, as we have a tendency to tense up as we go along.  Maintaining a relaxed head and neck will greatly reduce your overall tension, increase your calm, and improve your overall experience in the water.  

3.  The Open Water Swim

Now you've put in some good laps at the pool.  You are confident you can swim continuously (or mostly, pausing for the occasional breather), for a good chunk of time.  If you are lucky you live in a climate where ice does not cover your open water training areas for 9 months of the year (grouchy New Englander here).  Time to head to the beach or the lake for open water swimming practice.

I really cannot stress enough how important it is to get in as much open water practice as you can before your first race.  Especially if you have any qualms about swimming in general, or swimming in the great wide open specifically.  It's a totally different experience.  It's darker.  There are no lines on the bottom of the pool to guide you.  You have to "sight" to stay on track.  You now share the water with various plants, fish and other critters.

• Let's explore this one a little further.  You will share your swimming space with lake plants, which can feel ticklish or grabby.  There might be minnows that nibble your toes.  A frog might jump.  I have been swimming along and startled because a bass nearly hit my goggles.  It happens.  None of these creatures are going to harm you in any way.  Nor is the mud/sand/rocks/pebbles/slime on the bottom harmful either.  It just is.  Make your peace with it.  You have enough to worry about come race day without irrational fears that something is going to eat you.

This guy does NOT share your swimming space

• Safety tips.  the biggest one is.... Never, EVER swim alone!!!!  "Not alone" means having someone swimming in the water with you, or in a kayak next to you, at close enough range that they would notice if you went under.  Having your buddy drink sodas on the beach while you swim does not count as being with someone.  Most areas have open water groups that will go out together - some investigation and putting yourself forward will hook you up with some new friends to swim with.   Plus, as swimming outside designated areas is restricted in many areas, folks that have been doing this a while will help you sort out where and when are the safest places to go.  Don't worry that you might be slower or less proficient than your new friends.  Triathletes are by nature a gregarious bunch and most understand the importance of OWS, and that folks can't do it alone.

• Grab a buoy.  ISHOF SaferSwimmer makes these neat little blow-up bouys that clip around your waist and trail behind you.  They make you more visible in the water, and are there if you need to grab onto them and catch your breath.  Not just for beginners - anyone can have a cramp!  Plus they hold your car keys and your GPS watch.

http://www.ishof.org/safety/ssd.htm

4.  The wetsuit

Do I need one?  Do I not need one?  What's the difference between a wetsuit and a trisuit??  How do I put the darn thing on and whaddaya mean they cost at least $200????  

Black is slimming

Here's the deal: wetsuits have two [potential] benefits.  They make you more buoyant in the water, which if you are a poor swimmer who tends to drop their legs, will help you swim more quickly.  If you have good swimming form already, you won't notice the benefit of this as much.  They also keep you warm.  They are going to be a necessity in some conditions - cooler climates and early/late races where the water temperature is too cold to do without.

On the flip side, wetsuits can feel confining, are hard to get on and hard to get off in transition.  If you wore a wetsuit for a sprint triathlon in 90 degree heat you would like give yourself hyperthermia trying to get the blessed thing on you, and quite possibly spend more time trying to get it off in transition than you spent actually in the water.  For warm weather, warm water races they are not necessary.  If it's your first season and you are on the fence, there are many places that rent them for a day.  Try before you buy.  Or simply restrict yourself to races that don't need them as you get started.

Oh, and a trisuit is what you wear under your wetsuit and throughout the whole race.  You wear the wetsuit over it and only for the swim.  

5.  The "mass-start"

The craziness of hundreds of swimmers packed together, pushing, kicking and grabbing at each other to reach the front.  Swimming in a washing machine.  Sounds pretty scary to me!

This was on Survivor, right?

Except that this has yet to happen to me.  True, I've only done a couple of races.  But I've employed a very simple strategy at both to avoid it.

Here it is:  1.....2....3.....4....5....6....7....8....9....10...

There you go.  Now most swimmers are ahead of me and I have the water to myself.  That ten-count just greatly reduced my anxiety at the start of a race and gave me my own "bubble" in which to swim.  I'll make those seconds up later.  You can also stand to the side a bit at the start.  Don't cluster in at the middle.  Don't hug the turn buoys as everyone cuts in there.  As you become a more confident swimmer you can go use your elbows.  I plan on positioning myself closer to the front and center of my wave in this years races than I did when I was a total newbie.  But you have time to get there.  Don't let a scary bad swim leg ruin your race.  

Another great tool is attending an open-water swim clinic prior to your race.  Many tri clubs put them on.  I went to one last year sponsored by VMPS.  Their coaches walked us all through many aspects of the open water swim, including a drill where we all bunched together and dove in on top of each other to simulate the mass-start.  It was tremendously helpful.  

My swim wave at a race last year.  Isn't it pretty?

I hope this has been helpful.  Was the swim your biggest hurdle getting started?  Any heebie-jeebies I didn't address?

An InLinkz Link-up

Next week's theme - The Bike!!!

Her Name is Rio.... Before the Raleigh R&R Half

Me and Rio in Central Park

It's my last day at home before I fly down to Raleigh for three nights and one half marathon with one of my best friends from college, Rio.  Amidst the craziness of packing, finishing up work, and bracing for travel, I wanted to take some time to share and reflect on why this trip and this race is important.

I met Rio just before college.  I had just moved to Massachusetts literally the day after I graduate high school.  Rio had met my roommate-to-be at a college orientation that spring, heard I was relocating to somewhere I knew no one, and called me out of the clear blue sky, introducing herself and taking me out.  She was my only friend that summer.

Rio was on my dorm floor freshman year.  She earned her nickname here by opening the door to her room, yelling "STUDY BREAK!!!" and blasting whatever song she felt like - often Duran Duran.  Her name is Rio and she dances on the sand.....

My 21st birthday.  

Rio and I stayed very close over the years.  Through the tough years of graduate school.  Through a string of boyfriends.  She moved to Scotland for graduate school and I came over to see her, spending a week in a car where I made her pull over and take a picture of every sheep we saw.  It's Scotland.  That's a lot of sheep.....

Rainbow at a castle on Loch Ness in Scotland.
We didn't see the Nessy...

She got my my first job in my industry.  You know - that career that feeds my children?  She was one of only two bridesmaids in my wedding.  I had my baby girl.  Then, when I was pregnant with my second, she decided to relocate to San Francisco.

Rio took this photo of very pregnant me (hard to tell)
hugging my baby girl

It was the right move for her.  While she was out there, she started running.  As two girls who had eschewed fitness as only pretty girls in their twenties can (we even got kicked out of a campus yoga class for being rowdy), this was both amazing to me and felt a little bit like a betrayal.  Wait, that's too strong a word.  But there she was, sailing, skiing, meeting all sorts of athletic fit people in sunny California and knocking of half marathons while I was still 20 lbs overweight, covered in spit-up, and exhausted.  I was both proud of her and in awe of her.

Fast forward a few more years to last fall.  Rio met her dreamy husband in California, married him, and they moved to Raleigh.  Back on the correct coast, still far away.  In October of last year, their first child was born.  Before baby girl Rio even made her entrance, big Rio and I decided to do this race together:

It was to be my first half marathon, and her first half after becoming a mother.  Can we take a moment to give her some bad ass mother runner points for running a half six months after having a baby?  It would be perfect - I've finally joined the ranks of runners, and she's joined the ranks of parenthood.

Well as it turns out Rio and I are both impulsive, so we both ran a half last month.  Which kind of spoils the "first" part of that plan.  But it's still going to be awesome to run with her!!

Our original plan was to just enjoy the experience.  Run when we wanted, walk when we wanted, and dance to the bands at every mile mark when we wanted.  After a somewhat disappointing experience at the New Bedford HM, I had two choices.  I could double down on training, leave Rio behind for this race, and push to break the 2:15:00 goal I didn't achieve last month.  Or I could stick to the original plan.

A flurry of texts and phone calls to Rio and my coach over the last few weeks have 100% confirmed my race goal - the original plan.  I will not run this for speed.  I will run this for fun.  I will enjoy every sunshine-y, gorgeous second of this race.

The course itself is a little hillier than New Bedford, but not too bad.  In the center of Raleigh.  Rio even bought us VIP parking and portapotty access, so... clearly fun will be had.  Secretly, I'd love to finish in under 2:30:00, but I have to accept that that may not happen.

One big reason that this might not happen, aside from dancing in the streets, is my hips.  This morning while waiting for the bus, my little girl spread out her legs and bent down, resting her head on the ground.  She says, "Mommy this doesn't stretch me at all".  Oh, to have the flexibility of a six-year-old.  

Ever since New Bedford, I've have a deep, aching pain in my hip sockets.  Mostly when I walk or run - the impact jars stabbing pain into the joint.  I finally elucidated this enough to my coach that he has taken me off impact sports for my taper week, but the pain remains.  I've stretched endlessly.  I've tortured self with a tennis ball and foam roller.  I'm taking enough NSAIDs to dope a horse.  I'm only doing swimming, biking, and strength.  But it's still there.  I am hopeful that it's just bursitis or some kind of bruising that will heal with time, but in the meantime I'm not setting any PRs.

This trip down to NC will also be my PR for number of days I've been gone from my family.  I was feeling pretty apprehensive about this and guilty, until last night, when this conversation occurred:

Me:  I'll be gone for 3 nights and home by dinner on Monday.  I'll call every day and we can Facetime.  Dad is signed up to get emails the day of the race so you can track how I'm doing.
Kids:  Ok.  That's fine!  You'll have fun.  We'll just pretend it's like a work day that you were busy in the evenings for.  But longer.  [totally unphased]
Jedi [to me]: Honey did you want to bring the IPad with you for entertainment?
Kids:  Noo!!!! I don't want to not have the IPad for four days!!  You can't Mommy!!  wailing and tears......

Mommy leaving?  No problem.  IPad leaving?  Hysterical sobs.  The jig is up kids.  I'm going to enjoy my weekend away!!!!

Fingers Crossed! Another Mother Runner Ragnar Napa Contest Entry!

So I took a deep breath and decided to enter Another Mother Runner's contest for their Ragnar Napa Valley Relay team in September.  Yes, I'm throwing my hat in the ring to be selected to fly to California and hang in a van with 11 strangers, two of which I've had in my ear (literally) for the majority of my long runs, training rides (on the trainer), and whose books I've devoured like a hungry animal looking for tips and support.  I love Sarah and Dimity - for the community they've built, for their humor, for being so wonderfully human in their lives and athletic endeavors.  This enterprise scared me on many levels.  Fear of rejection immediately followed by fear of acceptance!  Having to fly across the country and away from my family for three days!  And then there's the pesky running involved.  But hey, I hear there is wine.

Cheers!  Sporting my new Boston Strong t-shirt and Sweaty Band from AMR

When considering what creativity I could come up with to make Dimity and SBS pick me, I naturally fell upon my strong suit.  Say it in cake.  Plus, a wine bottle cake has been on my bucket list to try for quite a while (yes, I have a "cake bucket list").  So no harm no foul if I'm not selected.  The entry went in today, and I'm putting the cake pops in the mail tomorrow.  Here you go, for you enjoyment!

The wine bottle, box sides, leaves, and packing "fluff are all made
out of homemade fondant (a flexible sugar dough that can dry hard).

Another Mother Runner logo piped in chocolate

HUmmingbird let me borrow her printer for the edible label -
with my logo and the Ragnar logo.
Napa Valley Ragnar Red!

Slicing it up

Cake pops in the mail to Dimity & SBS - AMR and Ragnar logo

Label close-up

Red velvet for red wine!

Friday Five - Things I'm Happy About

Another Friday, another week.  No major races, themes, or specific rants to write, so I'm jumping on the "Friday Five" blogging bandwagon and writing up my week in the form of five things I'm feeling really positive about this week.  (Yes, I'm still on my "against negativity" kick.  Get used to it).  Besides, who doesn't love a bullet-ed list?  Admit it - we are all list-makers.....

1.  Spring!!!

First ride outside on my husband's hybrid

It's finally been consistently in the 50s up here in New England.  We had a ton of rain earlier, but the last few days have been clear and dry.  We put up our birdhouses and are watching our bluebirds move in.  Our sprouts for the garden are coming up in their seed pots in our kitchen, crocus and daffodils are poking out in the yard.  My kids are able to play outside for hours, running and biking endless repeats up and down our driveway.

Mini birders in training

Most importantly for me, this marks the end of a tough season in terms of feeling down and anxious.  Winter is always the hardest part of the year for me, and this extended polar vortex did my mental health no favors this year.  Equally important is that with the weather clear and the roads dry (if a little sandy), I can ride my bike outside!  Which I did on Wednesday, for a glorious hour and 16 miles.  Biking is by far and away the sport I enjoy most - there's just nothing like a nice bike ride to fix anything that is wrong anywhere in life.  

2.  My new toy

Garmin Forerunner 310xt

I went to the TriMania Expo in Boston last weekend with a secret hope of getting a new training watch at a good price.  I've been harboring some serious hostility towards my previous GPS watch (a Timex) for utterly refusing to work properly in any race that I used it, and quitting or misrecording most of my training runs.  I've been using apps on my phone for most of my training, which is great except that when I also try to play music I invariably turn something off I didn't mean to.  Anyway, I have had my eye on the Garmin Forerunner 310xt for weeks.  Come to learn at the expo that it is being discontinued, so I ordered on Amazon and two days later it was at my door.  Not only does it beep and vibrate reassuringly when I turn it on (yes I am working!!) it also is easy to use for the watch-button-impaired, and also spits out tons of marvelous data for me and my coach to pour over.  Hello - my day job is a data analyst.  I like data.... even data I don't fully understand...

Fellow nerds can see all the pretty data at
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/472465642

3.  My support crew

I have really, truly great friends and family.  Needless to say (but should be said anyway), the Jedi is always a total rock of encouragement.  He never bats an eye about me skipping off for workouts and leaving him with the kids.  My kids are huge cheering crowd, telling me every. single. workout I do that I did great.  A big part of Siri's Lindley's talk at the expo was about how much her mom supports her.  My mom asks a lot of questions and I feel like she is behind me, which is huge since she's my best friend.  Gypsy and I have been training together a lot - her constant support and practical advice is awesome.  Hummingbird and I have done a few runs and swims together, but are practically joined at the IPhone with how often we text each other with training and cake questions for each other (she owns a cake business too).  

I can't go to the gym anymore without running into someone I know.  Ran into tons of friends at the expo.  I finally am starting to feel like part of the triathlon community.  I even have gotten a little recognition for this little blog, as last night Laura from A Fat Girl's Ironman Journey pulled me over in the pool to introduce me as "The Cupcake Blogger" to her friend that reads this.  Squee!

As always, my biggest cheerleader is my coach Sheriff.  He's starting to really get into his training for IM Lake Placid, so I get to see his workouts and push self accordingly.  He also is tireless in his encouragement to not skip workouts (unless I need to for health reasons, then he's the first to tell me to bag it.)  I had a tough day yesterday and wanted to punk off my evening workout in favor of drowning sorrows with some Pinot Noir.  Not only did he tell me not to, but followed it up with a pic of himself actually in the pool at the time doing his own workout.  Walking the walk.  Hard to argue with that.  

4.  VIP Portapotty status for my next half marathon.

This could be filed under "support crew", but really deserves its own bullet.  I swear this is a real thing.  For the Rock'n'Roll Half I'm doing next weekend in Raleigh, Rio and I got an email for VIP portapotty status if we bought something (Brooks maybe?) or shelled out some additional money.  Basically, they rented fancy clean portapotties in a designated area that only The Chosen can relieve themselves in.  As I already shelled out a race fee and plane ticket for this, it was a no for me.  I quipped something wistful to Rio via email, and a few hours later she signed up!!!  This also comes with some other things that she and her husband (who is also running) are psyched about like closer parking, some extra food or beer or similar, but for me, it's all about the pre-race poop.  I'm in heaven.  Thank you Rio this is true friendship!!!

5.  Working hard

Yes, confession.  I like Britney's music.  This song has been on repeat a lot this week - it's great for hill repeats and for speed intervals, both of which I've done this week.  (Side note, I'm pretty sure that the Jedi likes Britney too because "Oops I Did It Again" came on three times in a 30 minute car ride in his car.  He protests.  I think he's lying.....)

Dominatrix theme aside, I like the lyrics of the song.  "You want hot body, drive a mazaradi... you'd better work b**ch".  Stick with me Mom - I have a point.  Nothing in life comes free.  I've had to double down in the work (career) department lately for a number of reasons.  That's ok.  Ditto for athletics.  I'm working hard to get the results I want.  Working hard to carve out time to train and ditching the associated guilt.  Working physically hard (remember when I said hill repeats and speed work?  Ouch.  I was so tired after last night's run/swim brick I could barely move).  Working hard is good.  I'm grateful to have a job to work hard at, and a body that is capable of pushing through some of my recent workouts.  It's a good thing.

So there you have it.  My Friday Five Happy Things!  For good measure, here's my workout stats for the week:

• Tuesday: Hill repeats (5).  3.47 miles in 41:38.  That hill was hard!
• Wednesday: First outdoor bike ride of the spring!  15.3 blissful miles in 1:05:43
• Thursday: 25 min strength training hips/core in the morning.  Evening brick: 1 hour kid swim, 40 min speed intervals on treadmill, then 2000m swim
• Tomorrow (Saturday): 10 mile outdoor run with Gypsy
• Sunday: Spin class and another hour in the pool!

What are you feeling good about this Friday?

Of Hotels and Expos

Hotel elevator selfie

Triathletes are a little weird.  It's just true.  We get up at horrifically dark hours of the morning to jump in cold pools.  We spend weekends on bikes and doing something called "bricks" that has nothing to do with landscaping.  We are way too used to wearing spandex in public.  Moreover, we do something that, in my opinion, kinda freaks most people out.  The idea of doing a race is hard enough.  You're out there.  You're alone.  There's no team - just yourself and your body and your mind for one hour, two hours.... 140.6 miles.  Then we go do that in three different sports.  Ha!  The possibilities of messing up just got three times more complicated.  Why embarrass and torture yourself one way when three is so much better?

Triathletes "get" this

My weirdness was reinforced this week at my conference for work.  Every year, all of my division is shipped to Boston to a conference center for two days of fist-bumping and team building.  Many grumble about this, but I was just psyched to be put up in a fancy schmancy hotel at no cost and sleep in a bed alone for once.  Plus - this particular hotel had both a lap pool AND a first class gym in it.  Skip sessions anyone??  Anyway, my coworkers [good-naturedly] ridiculed me for leaving the open bar reception early to go swim laps.  I also ended up running around the hotel in my sweat-soaked spandex after my morning workout, because my room lost power and I had to find a coworker's room to shower off in (awkward!!).  So yeah.  I'm a little weird.  But it's all good.

Pretty hotel flowers....

Tuesday:  25 minute continuous swim in the itty bitty but very nice hotel lap pool

Wednesday: 3.3 mile speed workout on the treadmill while watching storm waves in Boston Harbor

Thursday: 1 hour swim with kids (yes I count this as training), then 2 mile easy run after bedtime followed by 40 minutes of yoga to loosen tight hips

Friday ended up being a rest day due to that pesky day job, and this little number:

Monster's Inc. birthday cake.
Piping that much fur frosting
totally counts as forearm strength training.
Do you use your forearms ever in triathlon?

Then Saturday was......

Yay!!!  The Trimania Expo in Boston!  Heading back to the city with several hundred (thousand?) of my fellow weirdos to spend a day of seminars, clinics, races, and vendor expos....

My coach's advice

I was super excited to have my best girl Gypsy with me.  We started this sport together after all, so it's always extra awesome to have her by my side for anything athletic related.  Actually - for anything not athletic related too (though come to think of it I'm not sure we've ever done that.... hmm.  A social occasion with no running.....)

Anyway, my first task of the day was a gait analysis I'd signed up for.  When I first got my running shoes back more than a year ago, the seventeen year old kid working at the store said, 

"Wow, I've never seen anyone run like you do...."

Hmm. A suite of injuries has followed, so I thought this would be a great opportunity to be checked out by someone who knows what the "right way" to run is. It was very helpful.  And a little humbling.  As the videos the coaches took and sent to me crashed when I tried to download them, I had my kiddos reshoot that evening so I could share (make sure you have the sound on.  They are hysterical).

I have a lot of "pathological" gait characteristics.  The biggest one is that I literally put one foot in front of the other.  Like running on a tightrope.  This twists my hips around a lot (hello, hip pain??).  I also twist a lot on top.  And I bounce up and down at a super low 152 cadence.  The physical therapist filming me said "you have kids, right?"  Not "a kid" - kids plural.  Clearly she wasn't taken in by my youthful good looks.  She went on to say that I have tremendous weakness in my core due to childbearing, and possibly even diastasis recti.  Which is the separation of your abs in front to make room for baby.  This doesn't always heal.  In my case, having two kids right on top of each other could have done some damage.  This came as a decent surprise to me.  I've done yoga and pilates on a regular basis since well before I became a mom.  I can plank with the best of them.  But my bouncing, rotating rear end tells the story.  I need more hip strength, glute strength, and core strength.  

So this morning I snapped a chalk line down the center of my 'mill, set a metronome to 170 bpm and set out on my new quest to correct my running form.  Guess what, I feel really good doing so.  Way less hip pain that usual.  Who knew running didn't have to hurt so much?

Saturday (today): 5 mile hill run on the treadmill at 50:45, followed by 20 minutes of hip/glute/core strength

Back to the expo.  Another highlight was helping Gypsy try on and purchase a wetsuit.  I already have a sleeveless wetsuit, so I couldn't justify buying myself another (sigh).  Gypsy had never worn a wetsuit, so out of solidarity I put on my swim suit and tried them on with her.  Let's be real - the grunting, sticky, awkward horror that is trying on your first wetsuit ranks right up there with other loss-of-virginity activities.  Friends don't let friends do it alone.  Plus it's just the sort of embarrassing goofball activity that I enjoy.  I'll skip the details and just say that while Gypsy's first fitting experience was a little rocky, we both had fun in the pool and she left the expo with a pretty purple and black new full sleeve suit.  Jedi would later ask how I could call any wetsuit pretty.  Hers is pretty.  We make them look pretty, Jedi.....

I bumped into so many friends and training partners that day.  It was just so amazing to be around so many other triathletes.  It sounds cliche, but it was so very inspiring.  I love that there were ages from teenagers to folks in their 80s still racing.  Men and women.  Little skinny folks and not-so-skinny folks.  Fast people and slow people and everyone in between.  But every single person there was a triathlete because something in the sport speaks to them.  About getting out of their comfort zone.  Of doing things that are scary.  Of learning how to translate the lessons of triathlon into their regular life.  Mental toughness.  Physical discomfort.  How to improve.  How to win.  How to lose.  How to be somehow better than you were before you started....

The keynote speaker was world champion Siri Lindley.  She was not at all what I expected a world champion triathlete to be like.  She was funny.  She was self deprecating.  She told the story of her first race, where she didn't know that she was supposed to swim with her head in the water, road a mountain bike, and did 100 m sprints on the run until she puked.  

I don't aspire to Kona, but knowing that Siri started the same place as the rest of us.... that is powerful.

Tomorrow starts a new week of work, a new week of training.  Spring is creeping closer - I have the photos to prove it! 

Even better than hotel flowers.
Crocus emerging from the snow.

What have you learned (or do you hope to learn) from triathlon?

100 Happy Days

Because I'm HAPPY!!!!

Whew that was fun!  I think this was playing at the finish line (or somewhere) of the New Bedford Half Marathon last weekend.  I thought it was ironic at the time, but it's been stuck in my head ever since (which makes a nice change from Frozen music).  I'm going with it.

Buoyed by my resolution against negativity, I also took the advice of my wonderfully wise PT and friend Laura and signed up for the 100 Days of Happiness Challenge.  It's simple - for 100 days you take just five minutes to appreciate and enjoy something that makes you happy.  Then ideally you take a picture of it and share it via whatever social media floats your boat.  100 days of being annoying cheerful to your friends....

But in all seriousness, it is a great idea.  When I was a kid, I also had a tendency to be pretty negative.  Not remember the good stuff.  Which, as a parent is deeply annoying when you spend all day playing with your kid and doing nice things for them only to have them throw a temper tantrum at bedtime.  So my mother started a tradition of making me tell her three nice things that happened to me during the day.  (We have also employed this parenting strategy with my daughter, who is a copy of me in all things).

When you have to deliberately find something to be happy about each day, it makes you appreciate your life more.  Because, let's face it - most of life is craziness sandwiched between responsibilities and more responsibilities.  If you don't look for them, it's easy to miss the small things that are most important.  Also by tagging all your photos, you are able to look back over the days and months and get a picture of just how nice a life you really have.  Even on days that aren't so great.  Even on Mondays <<cough>>.

This weekend kicked off my 100 Days.  It was a pretty amazing weekend.

Saturday morning the kids and I packed up early and headed to the gym.  Although my Total Immersion class is now over, I am fond of our Saturday schedule.  Plus Hummingbird is starting TI at the same time, so I wanted to be in the pool to make faces at her (which she appreciated).  I had a really nice, comfortable swim set of about 1300 meters.  It was slightly abbreviated due to child watch difficulties, but that's ok.  I got to take my class picture with Gil, and received a TI swim cap as my finishing prize.  Also bumped into (almost literally) Laura from A Fat Girl's Ironman Journey, which is the first time we've met in the real world versus online.  Yay!

Me and Gil.

Hummingbird also hopped out of the pool long enough to give me another present out of the blue - Shwings!!

All Shwinged out!

I'm not sure what possessed her, but it was really sweet.  I've wanted these for a while, just because I think they are cute.  She told me that they would help me run faster.  I guess she knew I needed a confidence boost.  I felt so very lucky to have good friends.  It takes a village to raise a triathlete.

I followed the swim set up with a spin class - something I have not done in literally months.  I had forgotten how much fun they could be!

Total mileage for Saturday: BRICK Swim 1300 meters, Spin 22.1 miles in 53:46

In the afternoon we took our kids to a local historical museum and enjoyed the temps in the 50s and the warm(ish) sunshine.  It was a perfect day.

On our run.  There's a instrument business
the next town over.
Love me some French horn!

 Sunday was cold again, and I did NOT feel like running.  Happily (there's that word!) Sheriff has told me that I can keep my long runs close to the Oly distance (6 miles) from now on.  No need for epic shenanigans in the cold for hours at a time.  I was still in bed when Hummingbird texted that she was on her way.  Shoot!  Quick breakfast and throwing on my not-yet-clean running tights and we were off!  We did a nice, slow 6ish mile loop from my house.  My hips were still just a little tight, but overall I felt really great.  So relieved to be feeling strong and well again after my tough run a few days prior.  We even ran negative splits with the last 2 miles in the 9:00s for pacing!

Total mileage for Sunday: 6.2 in 1:04:03 plus some good yoga

After lunch it was back to the Y with the kids for their swim session.  Humongous mommy brag alert:

Both kids now swim with no floaties or bubbles.

I was thrilled.  Getting my girl into the water has been a pretty big deal - she has a lot of fear to work through.  It's just a great milestone for them both.  I rewarded them with pizza and hitting the Lowe's to pick out seeds for their garden this year.

Helpers.

We rounded out the weekend with some new recipes - broccoli rabe from our organic vegetable share, and maple white chocolate brownies in honor of our visit to Maple Days at the historical museum.  One upside to scaling back the cake business is that I have the energy and inclination to bake for the family.  The kids were so happy when I answered Yes! to their question of "is that for us?" instead of telling them the treats were for customers....

Maple brownies

So now it's Monday.  I have the kids cold, so perhaps I should be grateful for modern medicine:

Or perhaps I will be grateful when I get to go home and curl up again with this one:

Cuddle me!

There is a lot to be happy and grateful for.  Even on Mondays.  Let's hear it for the next 97 days and me keeping this streak alive!!

What are you happy about today?