My First Triathlon

Posted on September 10, 2012 by thefasteryoupedal

So I finally sucked it up and tried my first triathlon. It just happened. Every month I get an email from White Sands Missile Range letting me know about half marathons, triathlons, or other events going on in town. The Yucca Triathlon popped up a few weeks ago and I talked Mike into doing it considering on our vision board Mike had put “to do a triathlon or duathlon”. When it comes to that board, we can not let anything pass. 🙂

First of all, we only trained a week. The bike has been an ongoing training, but I have to admit the running and the swimming made me a little nervous. I love running in races, just not every day (unless I had a running buddy or something to train for). I knew I was in trouble when we did the Color Run 5k in Albuquerque and I felt like crap. And well, let’s see, the last time I went swimming was…..I can’t even remember. 🙂

The Yucca Triathlon starts out with a 8k run, a 45k bike, and ends with a 400m swim. Mike and I had googled 8k and found out it was around 4 miles, so the whole time we kept thinking it was only a little more than a 5k on the run. Piece of cake. We didn’t look at the decimal until the night before and realized it was 4.9…5 miles! Mike was bummed because of all the rain, they had to shorten the ride to 14 miles. There was a terrible headwind, so it ended up working out that way.

Judging by the picture of me coming in on the bike, you can probably guess what the weather was like! It was cold, rainy, and windy, which made it a memorable experience for the both of us. Mike took off on the 8k with no trouble and stayed with the group. His buddy Jason and I ran together in the back of the group (which was my plan all along). The transition to bike was pretty easy…grab a helmet, and put my bike shoes on and I was off! I’m guessing that part felt awesome to me because of all the biking I have done, but really, it felt awesome. The headwind decreased my speed in half on the way back. I was hitting almost 30 mph on the way out, but on the way back, it was 13-15 mph. The rain also decided to act up at that point too and the other riders looked so mad when I came up on them.

When I came back in, I was SO NERVOUS about the swim. It’s not that I didn’t think my muscles can’t do it. It’s my breathing. I can’t control it enough to go under water and I panic!

I am so glad it was NOT open water. I like having the mental image of eight lanes to go up and down. Since I had a pretty good gap on the people behind me on the bike, I was glad to not have people behind me in the pool. I know this is normally first in a normal triathlon, and I wonder how people do it. But hey, I made it, even after stopping a few times for a few seconds to get my breath.

I did it in 1:52 minutes while Mike finished in 1:28. The cool thing is that they print out all your times so you can compare them to all of the other racers. If I wasn’t so slow on the swim, I actually could have gotten first in my category (30-34)! I ended up in second place and I will take it!

I love the no makeup and crazy swimming hair picture. Mike was making fun of my curly hair trying to escape. It was way crazy!

Mike was in the category called Clydesdale, for guys above 200 pounds. He actually had one of the fastest bike times, so I think he would have done great in his normal category. He rocked it!

We are very addicted and I had a lot of fun! Mike is sitting here right now asking me when is there another one we can do and I am wanting to do it again. Don’t get me wrong, we look like a bunch of 80 year olds walking around today, but it feels so good.

P.S. I am taking a huge liking to swimming too! Mike and I are getting memberships to the local aquatic center. I am so excited!

Goodbye Summer of Fitness

Posted on August 12, 2012 by thefasteryoupedal

Alas, I have to say goodbye to summer (even though technically we still have a month and a half AND I still have a vacation planned in a few weeks to prolong it!). To celebrate my last day of summer, I went and got a pedicure and my first manicure.

I was a little nervous about putting color on them because I didn’t want to look like some crazy teacher with hot pink nails (which I chose for my toes), so the lady next to me talked me into using her nail polish. It looks brown, but its actually a peachish-pink color. Not sure how I feel about it. People at nail salons are always so friendly and chatty. I think it’s because we use the place as a reward center.

When I get up in the morning, I’ve been getting up an hour earlier and working out. I REALLY need to get into shape for the Color Run, a road race coming up, and for the half I want to do next month. And if I want to maintain my first place status in the local Horny Toad Hustle mountain bike race…I need to get riding. Part of my workout is a weight training session along with cardio.

I have learned to new words in the exercise world this week, due to the Insanity workout and elite fitness workout.

Word 1: BURPEE

Word 2: SUPERSET

I seriously thought a burpee was a blanket for babies to spew their milk on. I found out they are the jump up in the air and then hurry and do a push up type of exercise. Insanity workouts are the king of these!

According to www.wikipedia.com, it means this:

Begin in a standing position.
Drop into a squat position with your hands on the ground. (count 1)
Extend your feet back in one quick motion to assume the front plank position. (count 2)
Return to the squat position in one quick motion. (count 3)
Jump straight into the air as high as possible. (count 4) ^[1]

Second, a superset is a set of workouts with no rest in between.

And now you are enlightened.

So goodbye, Summer of Fitness. Back to School Fitness is now in session.

Lazy Saturday.

Posted on August 5, 2012 by thefasteryoupedal

Today felt like the laziest day on record this summer. This last week I have felt like I have done nothing but sit online all day. I don’t feel guilty at all because starting Tuesday my life will be nonstop busy until the end of May. I will be wishing for moments like these!

I bought a couple of necklaces for back to school and I was thinking how glad I was that I made a holder. I never wore jewelry before because all of my necklaces would get stuck together.

Easiest holder ever. I used a bulletin board, black fabric, and a stapler.

I bought this fabric at the IKEA in Tempe for the same room I have this holder. I want to make curtains out of it, but need to bust out with my sewing machine.

Thankfully, this is a check I can put on my “vision board”. I think Mike has more done on his side of the board than I do.

This next little goal is scary considering I only have five months left. Thankfully, the Tour De Safford is coming up in October and then I can choose a local one to finish off the year. Better get running!!

Today my plan was to go ride, then it was going to the gym, and then it ended up with a home cardio session. Way to make a decision Liz! To make it an hour-long, I improvised and used a few workouts together.

I started with this bad boy.

And then did my Workout #4, which was awesome (I will post soon!)….and then finished off with some of this!

I seriously could not stop laughing while I was doing this, at the fact that I look like a total dork when I dance. It reminded me of the days my friend Felicia and I took a hip hop class with a guy named “Al Money”. He would get a little impatient with me because I couldn’t get the steps. It was awesome!

P.S. A group of friends of mine played mud volleyball today. I’m a little sad I wasn’t part of things, but remind me to get a team together next year!! It sounds like so much fun.

Nostalgic

Posted on July 3, 2012 by thefasteryoupedal

Considering the whole country is under a heat wave right now, it probably isn’t a shock that its hotter than Hades here. Therefore, I have to sacrifice my sleep and start getting up early to work out. Yesterday, I woke up at 6 to go to the gym and felt like I had a ton of bricks strapped to my body. I have a deep respect for anyone who gets up early every day for the gym. Now that I am out of “school mode”, it’s hard!!

Today Mike and I accidentally slept in til 9 and wanted to make it out on a morning ride.

We take three-mile laps through a local neighborhood. I made a goal of five laps today and felt pretty good. One note though, make sure you get “fitted” to your bike. I haven’t done it yet and I can tell I am learning some bad habits and the position on my seat is definitely not right. I could have ridden longer, but because of that problem I had to stop. Not to mention the sweltering temperatures.

O.K. so I am majorly nostalgic and you can blame it on my family. 🙂 I am always trying to bring back stories and memories from the past. Mike says our Disney World nostalgia is a little much in our family, but I am perfectly content with it. We HAVE to go to Disney at least once a year, even if we have to go to Disneyland. I love it.

Well, I swindled Mike into being nostalgic too. Warped Tour came to Las Cruces and one of our favorite bands, New Found Glory, was going to be in it. Mike used to go back in the olden days with his friends to the Tour and I used to go to NFG concerts with my friends back in Vegas when they would be at the House of Blues. The memories are so awesome.

Seeing that we are in our thirties now, we felt a little sheepish for going, since the median age for the Tour is about fifteen.

It was so fun! I was made fun of for going, but it was really cool to hear them again and the best part was being in the crowd and experiencing the chaos of concerts. I’m not gonna lie I got a little scared when the crowd surfing started, but thankfully my tall husband took care of that. Mike’s brother Jared was there too and was brave to surf the crowds.

We got to meet the band and had them sign a poster for our loft too! It seriously was a lot of fun…even if I was too old! 🙂

Question: Have you ever done something you thought you were too old to do? What do you think are things thirty somethings should NOT be doing?

Drop Dead Healthy

Posted on June 29, 2012 by thefasteryoupedal

So I am finishing up this book tonight and wanted to give my two cents on it, in case anyone was wondering about it. I saw it in Barnes & Noble when I was looking for “how to” books, that I am somehow addicted to right now. I also kept seeing it pop up in my Fitness and Shape magazines too. Advertising does work! Then a blogger that I follow used it as her June Book Club book, so I figured I may as well see what it’s all about.

Like I said, I am really into “how to” books, so this book actually intrigued me. The author spends two years of his life using techniques that people use to be healthier in ALL aspects of life. Some of the techniques to be healthier were a little strange, like running barefoot or wearing “sound proof” headphones around the house, but I recognized a lot of the things he tried out that I have been reading in fitness magazines and health books. Being a science teacher, I like how each chapter focuses on a “body system”, like the chapter on the immune system and the amount of time to hand wash or the whole chapter on the stomach where he focused on being aware of his own chewing for digestive purposes. My kids always ask me ideas on how to take care of themselves, so this book gave me some ideas.

I admit is was a little overwhelming. I don’t know how he spent two years and was able to keep everything straight and organized. He was “real” in the sense that he slacked on things and I liked all the humor he used to tell stories. All in all, he pretty much tried every diet, fad, exercise class, doctor’s advice, or whatever people suggested. When I got about mid-way through the book, I started jotting down things I liked and then pretty much skimmed through the things I thought were ridiculous. I could see some people getting bored with it, but since I’m really into trying new ideas, I was excited to make a list of things I could work on.

Things I liked: using tiny amounts of salad dressing or no dressing on salads; 60 minutes of exercise a day; setting out gym clothes the night before a workout to motivate; drink a gallon of water a day; get 7 hours of sleep a night; stand and walk around the house more often than sitting (I often type on my laptop from the counter.); more than 30 grams of fiber intake a day; drinking water with lemon; have one girls day a week (social health); learn a new language; floss daily; get a dermatologist appointment…pronto!; be aware of my chewing; etc..

Honestly, I don’t know how to review this book. I would recommend it to anyone who is trying to think of ideas of how to be healthier. I don’t think you would want to do EVERYTHING, but it explains concepts that people believe in and then you can take it from there. Pretty much it got me to be more aware of certain parts of my body I never thought needed exercise, like my brain.

I could also see people not liking it very much, because it doesn’t have a “story” in it (even though he used his grandfather’s life as a storyline a lot). If you were to read it and lose attention, I would again recommend scanning the book. It definitely reminds us how big the health industry is and all the people out there (including myself) that are desperate to find healthy things to do to improve our bodies. It’s funny how we all are fighting every day to start good habits and break the bad habits we have.

That is my life in a nutshell.

Question: Did anyone read the book? What did you think of it?

My Heroes

Posted on June 25, 2012 by thefasteryoupedal

I picked up my latest copy of Fitness Magazine over the weekend and noticed it was an Olympic Games issue. I love the Olympics! Four years ago, Mike and I were dating long distance and it was a fun way for us to get on the phone and cheer on people we were going for.

These two awesome athletes are in their 30’s and still going strong. Kerri Walsh (on the left) has two little girls and plays for the Olympic Women’s volleyball team. Hope Solo (on the right) plays for the United States Women’s Soccer Team. I love how they don’t let age stop them and they both are in such great shape. It makes me so pumped to go out and be more healthy in my thirties than I was in my twenties.

Question: Which Olympic events are you looking forward to this summer?

I just got done running the dog in the heat and now off to hopefully get my sink done today!

The Start Of The Summer Of Fitness

Posted on May 24, 2012 by thefasteryoupedal

So I have said goodbye to my classroom for another summer. It was a really hard year and it feels like a breath of fresh air ending a chapter of my tenth year of teaching. I have now dedicated this summer to My Summer of Fitness. I am so excited to get my fitness on and lose that ten pounds I gained this school year. Hello summer!

May 2012 Issue of Glamour

Posted on May 10, 2012 by thefasteryoupedal

Lauren Conrad is my absolute favorite fashionista. I rarely have in mind someone who I admire. People always ask “Who is your favorite actress?” and I never have an answer. I would say that I absolutely love Lauren’s style. So of course, any time she is on a magazine I buy it, so I picked up copy of Glamour for May when I saw she had an article!

I also have her on facebook and she puts great ideas on her blog. Today she had this idea:

Bikini Boot Camp Fitness Plan

I put the plan on my wipeboard in my room and I am going to see if I can do it!

You Know You Are A Biker When…

Posted on April 28, 2012 by thefasteryoupedal

When your garage wall looks like this..

You have so many wheel sets you have to do this..

You have a workbench like this…

And your upstairs looks like this…

Race Critique of High Altitude Race 2012

Posted on April 26, 2012 by thefasteryoupedal

So I want to critique myself after my last race in Cloudcroft. I really want to write down what I was thinking during a race, but I always forget. I really suggest to anyone that you keep a notebook of any kind of racing you do. I really regret not doing that the past three years.

The HUGE thing I regret is not practicing for the race. One week of training is not enough. This winter I was really behind on riding. I felt lke I lost a whole year of riding and I know in any situation its quicker to lose your abilities faster than you gaining an athletic ability.

It started out great. I pushed really hard, but the race had a lot of uphill. I am glad I stayed at the front of the pack, but I really think I should have backed off a little just to make sure my legs didn’t burn out. Believe it or not (if anyone knew how I rode), I was better on the downhill than the uphill. I am known for my hill climbs, but I think I was having a hard time because I pushed too hard.