Howling Coyote Triathlon 2013

Posted on June 3, 2013 by thefasteryoupedal

On Memorial Day Weekend, White Sands Missile Range held another triathlon for the Southwest Tri Series called the Howling Coyote Triathlon. In New Mexico, most triathlons are running, biking, and then swimming. In other states, it begins with the swim, then bike, then running.

This triathlon had a 5k run, 18k bike, and then a 400m swim.

These pictures are a little out-of-order so bare with me! Mike came in pretty quick on the bike portion with three other people. I love this picture of him coming into the transition area. He said it wasn’t his strongest bike portion, but I still think he looked pretty good!

Mike was using this as part of his training for his upcoming Half Iron Man in Durango, Colorado (which is in August) and the XTerra Triathlon the following week. I love the WSMR triathlons because the people are so friendly and it is such a good way to introduce yourself to becoming a triathlete. There are people of all ages and abilities that come to this so you don’t feel very intimidated (unless you are super competitive!).

I was loving the patriotic uniform at the starting line. Mike was ready to go! He did awesome on the run!

I am amazed at how people can remember where there stuff is during transitions. Mike was saying transitions are key. They can make or break your time. When he participated in the Fort Bliss Armed Forces Triathlon the week before, they actually timed his transitions and he found that he needed to fine tune it a little more. Some people can win by seconds and a lot of time it was the transition that you could make up time on. I love the idea of having a milk crate available to sit and put your shoes on and take them off during transition.

Most swims are open water, but this one takes place in a lap pool. On this race, you have to go up and down a lane and then switch lanes when you return. Some lap pools are long enough where you only need to swim down it and then transition to the next lane at the end.

Congratulations to Mike on winning his category and getting fifth overall! He said his run was the strongest portion of this race. He told me that each race he feels like there is one strong portion and that its nice to see what you are excelling at and what you need to work on when it comes to practicing and preparing yourself for other races.

Great job Mike!

Post Pregnancy BEFORE Picture

Posted on June 3, 2013 by thefasteryoupedal

Well….l am now five weeks postpartum and feel like I have given my body time to rest. While I was pregnant, I didn’t believe a word anyone said when they suggested to wait a while after your pregnant to get a big workout in. I’ve heard so many stories of people who went to the doctor and the doctor told them that, because they were too hard on their body, that they had to wait three more weeks to work out. I hope that is not the case for me. Judgment day is tomorrow when I meet with my doctor for the last time!

Here is my BEFORE picture. I am currently at 170 pounds. Yes, I am going to be completely honest on here to make me work harder and be honest with myself. Considering I was 197 pounds when I had Olivia, I will take this weight now. Not being able to breastfeed has hurt me pretty bad on the weight loss, but I have accepted it and plan to work even harder.

Here is my goal weight picture. I weighed 135 pounds at this point and thought I was fat. There is NO WAY I would feel like that again and I won’t.

Really, I am not aiming for 135 pounds. I am actually looking into hitting the 140’s. When I won the jersey for the mountain bike series I was at that range and I felt pretty healthy. I think when it comes down to the 120’s, I look too sick. I want to just look and feel healthy.

Each week I will document my goals and what I did to lose the weight. Here’s to a healthy summer!

PREGNANCY WEIGHT: 197 lbs.

BEFORE WEIGHT: 170 lbs.

AFTER WEIGHT: 140 lbs.

One Month Old

Posted on June 1, 2013 by thefasteryoupedal

Stats: 9.6 pounds, 22 inches, 75th percentile for Head Size

Favorites: swaddle blankets and Soothie pacifiers

Lifesavers for Mom and Dad: Fisher Price Rock and Play, Soothie pacifiers, and her Fisher Price swing…

Things She Hates: baths, lotion on her skin, sneezing while you are holding her…

Facts: Can see 12-18 inches away, making eye contact, sleeping a lot

Sleep Habits: Every 3 hours she wakes up to feed…it is like clockwork!

Doctors Visits: Her normal 1 month check up. Also we found out she has acid reflux and needed drops. She also has a birthmark on her eye that I thought was allergies. Weird huh?

Eating Habits: She’s an eater. We switched from Enfamil Newborn to Gerber Soothe and then back to Enfamil. We thought it was constipating her, but its just formula in general. Personally, I didn’t like the Gerber Soothe because it clumps up. When she is 3 months, I will switch her to the Target brand of Enfamil.

Milestones: Just beginning to smile and coo. She just woke up one day and did it. She is really good at holding her head up too!

Looking Forward To: Tummy time, reading to her, taking her out on the BOB stroller, taking her to the mall, and sleeping through the night!

Olivia’s NICU Story

Posted on June 1, 2013 by thefasteryoupedal

Olivia didn’t just have a small birth story. Her story extends a week into her life. The day after Olivia was born, we received some pretty bad news. About five hours after I had Olivia, two doctors came into the room and told us that Olivia had a fracture on the back of her head. They asked us for permission to do a cat scan. We agreed to it and then went to check on her.

It was the first time I had seen her since the birth and she looked totally different! She was a little pale and she seemed really irritable. The nurse told us that she had stopped breathing a couple of times and that she possibly had anemia and needed a blood transfusion.

I went back to my room to meet my sister, when we had a bigger group of doctors come in. They explained that our hospital was a very small hospital and that when they got the results from the cat scan, that it looked like there was blood on the brain. They wanted us to transfer her to El Paso where they could send her to Las Palmas, which had a NICU that specialized in brain trauma.

We were a mess. The worst part was seeing her in a box being wheeled out to the ambulance. Mike rode with the ambulance while my sister and I rode in the car behind them. Yes, that’s right…not even 12 hours later I was leaving the hospital in stitches. It hurt soooo bad!

Olivia stayed at Las Palmas for a week. When she first showed up she was given two blood transfusions and put in the back of the NICU where the critical babies stayed. The nurses said she was pretty irritable and were wondering if it had to do with the fracture. Personally, I think she was irritable after being poked and prodded so much. Mike and I were so worried that she wouldn’t know who we were.

We were lucky enough to have the Ronald McDonald House offer us a place to stay so that we wouldn’t have to go back and forth so much from El Paso to Las Cruces. I have heard of the charity before, but I am amazed at how wonderful the people were and how wonderful a place it was!

The first day was spent with two blood transfusions. They wouldn’t let us hold her because of how irritable she was. It was so hard! She was so pale and looked so tired. Poor girl. We were able to slip in and take some pictures while Jen was visiting and got some pictures taken.

During the visit, I was still having some complications and had to stop by the ER to get things checked out. Mike and I were starting to get a collection of bracelets.

By day two, she was already looking better. She started to get color back and we were able to hold her, feed her, and change her diaper. They took her down for a MRI and we patiently waited the results. They said that there was blood, but that it was in a spot between her skull and the brain. The blood was not touching the brain, but we still needed to watch her.

Our niece Carolyn gave Olivia this doll at her baby shower, so we brought her along to keep her company. When we met with the doctor about the MRI, he was pretty positive about her recovery. He still had to tell us that there was a 1 percent chance of some issues later on in life, but wasn’t too worried about it.

Every day we went when visiting hours were available. It was nice to have the Ronald McDonald House to go to when the NICU closed. Mike and I took turns feeding her, changing her, and burping her. It was good practice for when we had to take her home. She had to stay at least for a week because of the antibiotics she was on. The doctor told us if he sent her home, he didn’t want a sick baby coming back right away. She was getting better and better each day.

By day 5, they moved her to the back room where the healthier babies were. It was a lot quieter considering all the noise from the monitors in the NICU. On day 6, she had to get tested for hearing and then take the car seat test. She had to sit in the car seat for an hour and half hooked up to monitors. Normally, a baby will fall asleep during the test, not this one!

She started to cry a little bit so we were really nervous! I sat on the ground and rocked her for an hour while we held our breath. We wanted her to pass so we could take her home! She made it! (She did end up falling asleep the last five minutes.)

By the end of the week, her monitoring looked good. Her breathing was back to normal and she had great eating habits. In fact, the bump on the back of her head was completely gone.

She is such a trooper!