Triathlon countdown - 5 days!

It occurred to me today that I am only 5 days away from completing (or trying to complete) my first triathlon.  The duathlon last month was a challenge but there was no swimming involved which I am guessing will be quite difficult this coming Sunday. In a funny turn of events, my daughter and I saw the complete JAWS I, II, III and IV movies (IV technically never happened or I like to pretend it didn't) this past month. I am now afraid of being attacked by a massive great white shark that roars like a lion... Lovely... 

On a much more positive note, I've trained and prepared as best as possible and am looking forward to this new experience (minus the swimming and shark panic). Perhaps the fear of JAWS hunting me down will help me get through the swim much faster. I can only hope!

Cycling Group Ride - Awesome!

I was up at 5:15am this morning and out the door by 6am to head on over to an established cycling group ride. I've ridden in groups a few years ago and felt confident that I could hold on to this group. I tried to go on a group ride a few weeks back and was basically stood up - no such ride existed! This group was riding 40+ miles at an average of 18mph. This means you are riding between 17mph to 22mph at any given point.  

I love cycling. It's my strength. Running is my weakness which I have turned into a strength with a lot of hard work and dedication. I love the cycling so putting an effort is easy. That being said, I've been hard at work for weeks now and thought I should go for a challenging group ride. Group rides will make you better at handling your bike and it will help you get faster. That being said, you have to be pretty comfortable riding on someone's wheel (basically riding a few inches from the back wheel of the rider in front of you) and you must know the basics of group riding (hand signals, safety measures, etc.). We began at 7am and it started raining, UGHHHHH. I can't stand riding in the rain because I have fears of sliding off the road to my doom. Luckily, peer pressure to keep up with my fellow riders kicked in and I was handling that bike like a pro and cutting turns on wet roads and feeling strong and capable. A little rain was not going to stop me today.  

We rode forward and on the way back, Mother Nature heard my pleas and she lit up the streets with some sun, dried the wet roads and gave us 20 miles of great weather. When I reached my car, I thought of how several weeks ago, I couldn't have gone anywhere near 40 miles. Then I realized, yesterday was behind me. It wasn't a few weeks ago, it was today, and today, 40 miles were behind my bike wheels and I was looking forward to my next big challenge, the triathlon next Sunday. Wish me luck!

And the winner is...

I'd like to dedicate this to the man that tried to walk away with my jogger stroller this morning as my son and I walked around a bit. After completing my run, I decided to park my jogger on the side of the sidewalk and let my son stretch his legs and run around a bit before going home. We wandered a away a bit as he ran around happily and I followed him. We fed some ducks, laughed, ran some more. As I am walking back towards the jogger, I see a man casually strolling away with it walking towards a car parked on the side of the road. I said "Excuse me!" and he turns around and says "Yes?". I guess he saw my disbelief or perhaps it was the one and a half year old holding my hand that gave it away but he asked "Oh, is this yours?". I felt like screaming "Yes, jackass!" but I chose to say "Um YEAH!". So he says "Oh, here you go, I was hoping someone hadn't forgotten it here". He let go of the jogger and walked quickly back to his car and took off. Real smooth huh? Well, this award goes to you buddy! Congrats!

Running in the early morning - first 6 mile run.

I woke up at 6am for my early run. My wake up times seem to get earlier and earlier as it gets hotter and hotter! I had a motto for today. My purpose was to complete 6 miles. It would be a first. I repeated to myself, 6 at 6. Let's go! My second purpose was to not get eaten alive by mosquitoes which had me for breakfast last week. 17 bites. YES, you read correctly and it's not a typo - 17!!  

I was out the door by 6:05 covered in "OFF Deep Woods" which I highly recommend now! It will be my new perfume for early runs. I returned without any bites and as I rounded the corner to my house, I looked at my watch showing I ran 6.18 miles. I did it! I started my day with a decision to try 6 miles and I accomplished it. You can do so much if you set your mind on a goal and remove all boundaries around it...

8 weeks - KEEP GOING!

8 weeks and counting! I've been hard at work for 8 weeks now and some friends have mentioned I look thinner. I have been weighing myself every 4 weeks to not add pressure and another 2 lbs are gone. As nice as it is to see that post baby weight saying bye bye, I have not been starving myself in any way. You need to nourish your body if you expect it to perform. I've continued eating very healthy but that scale that used to be so important is now an afterthought. My main thoughts encompass getting healthier, stronger and pushing myself farther. On the agenda, a triathlon in July and a half marathon early winter.  

8 weeks ago, jogging 1 mile was a pretty great accomplishment. This morning I jogged 5 at a steady pace. A half marathon has gone from an unattainable goal to something I'm probably going to do by the end of the year. I like this new me, a lot!

Running in the rain - my first time and tips for the future.

I set out on my morning run at 6am this morning. I've started a habit of going this early to avoid the overpowering heat and humidity that sets in after 7am. Anyone in Miami understands what I'm talking about. Midway through my 5 mile goal, it began to sprinkle. I cursed. I kept going. A few more minutes and there was a full downpour on me. I cursed hoping it would stop but I kept going. Then a few minutes after that, instead of cursing, I thought of how many times I saw runners in such downpours and thought they were absolutely crazy. It made me smile and chuckle as I kept seeing cars go by me and people giving me that look. I know what they were thinking - "Look at this crazy woman running in the rain!". I smiled at all of them.  

Then it happened, for the very first time, I felt like a runner. I welcomed the rain because it cooled me off. I welcomed it because I remembered loving to play in the rain and running around with my friends under similar downpours. I felt like a little girl that has been caught in a severe rain storm far away from her house selling raffle tickets for her school (this happened with my best friend when we were in 7th grade). I finished my run, soaked, dripping like I had just jumped out of a pool. It wasn't so bad after all. Uncomfortable, yeah. Clothes were sticking to me and I was worried about my GPS watch but it wasn't bad at all. It was, dare I say it, kind of FUN...  

I found several tips online for next time that I will share with you.

• Wear a hat!  I didn't happen to have one and it would have been very useful to keep the rain out of my eyes.
• When you get home, take the insoles out of your shoes and stuff them with newspaper.  This helps maintain the shape of your running shoe and helps it to dry out faster.  
• If you are somewhere colder, you should layer up.  We're lucky in South Florida and can skip this step.
• BE CAREFUL WHERE YOU ARE GOING!!  I am super clumsy and instinctively kept looking where I was going because I didn't want to hit a puddle and find it was a pothole.  
• My personal tip to you - think of being a young kid again.  It makes you run faster and freely!  Oh, one more, try to have two pairs of good running shoes so a rainy day doesn't keep you from going out the next day! 

Challenges welcomed - next stop, TRIATHLON!

One week after my first duathlon, and another year older (yesterday was my birthday), I just signed up for my first triathlon to be held on July 22, 2012. Next week it will be 8 weeks from the day I decided to begin my journey back to health and my goal to take on new challenges. If someone told me 8 weeks ago that I would be doing this, I would have laughed and thought to myself "I wish". It's not a wish anymore. After weeks of hard work, it's a challenge that I am taking on. 

I am happy to report that I am feeling strong and empowered. There are women that are emailing me on how to get started and just like many women inspired me to get on this track, I am inspiring others to start as well. That makes me incredibly happy. I hope others join in with their journeys so they too can inspire all of us. I was once feeling tired, heavy and slow.  That has been replaced with energetic, swifter and ready. Ready for new experiences. Ready to try harder. Ready for a triathlon. Bring it!