I’m a triathlete!

Yesterday, I finished a triathlon. Those are my official results over to the right there! (You may have to click to enlarge it… it was a screen grab from my phone so it’s a little smaller than my usual images).

I’m really proud of myself and how far I’ve come in the past year. A little over a year ago, I would never have been able to do this, and that small fact is absolutely amazing to me.

I trained hard, though I wish I’d spent more time on the bike (obvious if you look at the time to the right, yikes). Overall, I’m really pleased with my effort and I’m still sitting here with that finisher’s high. I have a smile on my face, much like the big ol’ smile I had crossing the finish line– before I burst into tears because I’m ridiculous.

What I’m not pleased with is the race organization and management, which was probably the worst I’ve ever experienced. Nearly all of the information we received was incorrect or backwards or inadequate, and the mentor program, one of the main reasons I’d picked this race in the first place, was nonexistent. I’m struggling to let go of all the negative feelings I have for the race organization and embrace my accomplishment, but it’s difficult.

I don’t deal well with anxiety before high-adrenaline activities (just ask Dan or my dad or my brother, since they’re the ones to witness it most often) and tend to sort of shut down and withdraw into my own world of panicked emotions, and the lack of organization and support sent that tendency into overdrive. After all my training and hard work, I felt totally unprepared to tackle the triathlon.

BUT! I’m still smiling because I swam a 1/2-ish mile, biked 10 miles, and ran 3 miles and lived to tell the tale. Dan was awesome and took a bunch of pictures, which I’ll put up sometime this week, but for now I’m basking in my post-race glow. I’m looking forward to focusing on running for the rest of the season (somehow, I’m excited about hill repeats and track workouts), getting back to yoga, and kicking my strength training into high gear. Things are good on the other side!

Once you finish a race, do you find yourself analyzing what you could have done better? Or are you already planning the next adventure?

Olympic doppelgangers by height and weight

I just saw a story on NPR about a fun feature BBC is running. Basically, you enter your height and weight and you’re matched up with at least one Olympic athlete who’s built like you. I guess there’s no differentiation between men and women, so that could be sort of interesting, but there you go.

Of course I gave it a go, and my 5’8″, 133.5-lb self was matched with Sofya Konukh (female Russian water polo player) and Suyeon Back (female South Korean swimmer, 200m backstroke).

Who’s your Olympic body match?

Olympic infographics

Reblogged from Fit for a year:

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The Olympic games starts on Friday so I thought I'd post some really good infographics by the Guardian newspaper.

Even thinking about a Triathlon makes me tired!

Marathon milestones.

The Olympic marathon route.

All the infographics can be found at, http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/gallery/2012/jun/25/olympics-infographics-track-field

Enjoy!

John over at Fit for a Year (fitfor365.wordpress.com) just posted some sweet infographics about the upcoming Olympics, focusing on the triathlon and marathon. The Olympic-distance tri is no joke! I'll be sticking with sprints for now, thanks.

Best day of work ever?

I got a project this morning to design custom sneakers for our sales and trade show teams. Seriously. My boss ordered a sample pair of Nikes yesterday, but he and the COO told me to poke around and see what I could come up with.

I spent the morning on the Nike, adidas, Reebok, and Converse websites coming up with company-colored and branded sneakers. Best. PowerPoint. Ever.

As I was wrapping up, the CEO came into my office and asked if Dan and I wanted to go to the Red Sox game tonight, complete with free parking.

Where are the hidden cameras?? This is way too good to be true. If I didn’t know better, I’d think they were buttering me up before firing me, but I can’t imagine that happening right now– we have too much going on!

Anyone else have an awesome day of work at some point? This might just be my best day of work ever.

Running with knee issues

Ow.

During a 5-miler in March, I felt a sensation similar to what I imagine it would fee like if someone tried to forcibly remove your kneecap with a crowbar. I was a measly mile in, but I’d already collected my shirt and dag-nabbit, I was going to earn it and the beer I’d already paid for. Plus, there was a medal involved, and combined with the medals from the two other races in the series, it made a wicked cool shamrock shape. Sold.

Coolest medal ever? Yes.
Worth a 2-month injury? Yes.

I tried taking it easy for a few weeks and letting it heal itself, but after about 2 months, I could still only run a mile or so before the pain was back. I was so frustrated! I had just started to like this running thing and I’d made a big deal about registering for a half marathon and running a race every month, and here I was… sidelined.

To the Google machine!

I did what anyone my age would do… I Googled until I was blue in the face to figure out what was wrong with my knee. After some serious search sessions (woooo, alliteration!), I self-diagnosed myself (I feel like Austin Powers) with IT Band Syndrome. Without getting into the detail– Google it yourself, for crying out loud!– the IT band is a strip of tissue that connects your hip bone to your knee bone/joint/whatever/I’m not a doctor. With overtraining, it can become irritated and feel like someone’s taking your kneecap off with a crowbar. Ding, ding, ding!

I searched around some more and talked to friends and learned that serious stretching and foam rolling helps a lot, as can new running shoes. I picked up some new kicks, tortured myself a bit with the foam roller, and still nothing.

Mum’s (and Dan’s) always right

They were both on my case for not seeing someone, so when I had 2 months of self-treatment under my belt with no relief, I relented. I caved and finally went to the doctor. Thank God Mum works for an orthopedic group. I’m not ashamed to admit I name-dropped to get an appointment sooner– girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do.

After some awkward stretching, an X-ray, and an MRI, my suspicions were confirmed: IT Band Syndrome.

The prescription was basically the same: foam roller, stretching a whole bunch. The new addition is 600 mg of ibuprofen twice a day for two weeks to help with the inflammation and potential physical therapy. I’m hesitant to jump straight into therapy because of the cost and time factor, so I’m going to ask a couple of my aunts (who are physical therapists, btw… not just randomly asking any of my aunts though they all have many and varied talents and I love them all very much) for a few specific stretches and exercises that would help. I’m trying to keep up with the stretching and roller-torture on my own, and the ibuprofen does seem to help a lot.

How about you?

Have you dealt with training injuries? Have your own spate of knee problems? Feel my pain, literally or figuratively? I’d love to hear all about it.

Who am I and what have I done with me?

In a good way, though it still sounds faintly schizoid.

We’re still living at the House  (yes, it deserves capitalization because it’s named and is on the National Register of Historic Places) and it’s still a lot of fun and I still haven’t posted pictures for you, but I promisepromisepromise I’ll do it soon. I put a lamp on the corner of my desk in the office so it’s not so dark in there. So I’ll show you soon, but that’s not why I’m here today.

I think I’m a runner. For you, that might not be major news, but it totally is for me. I’d always prided myself on my stance of “I only run if someone’s chasing me,” but that’s changed in a major way. Now that we live right on a perfect 5k loop of a lake– literally, the sidewalk is pretty much a parade of runners and walkers and otherwise every single day– I’d officially run out of excuses to not run. Combined with the fact that for years I’d always said “this summer, I’m going to run the Lake,” it was time to make good on a goal.

So I started small. Couch to 5k (look for the Robert Ullrey podcasts in iTunes… they’re free and really great). Using the MapMyRun app on my iPhone and checking in on the computer to track my progress. I ran with friends for a change– Dan mostly, but also a friend from high school who’s recently become addicted to running. They’ve both done marathons and could probably have run circles around me, but they stuck with me and chatted so I could take my mind off the effort I was expending.

A few weeks ago, I did it! I ran the whole thing! And I didn’t feel like dying afterwards! Once I hit that goal, I felt fantastic. I’ve never been much of an athlete and dreaded the Mile Run in middle school, so for me to complete 3.1 miles in one go was a huge feat.

Now I’m signed up for a 5k with Dan on 9/11 (he’s running in his bunker pants and full air tank setup, whereas I’ll don my standard shorts and t-shirt) and I just signed up for a 10k on 10/16, which Kristin’s running with me. Add to that the fact that I got Dan (and me) the Insanity workout series for his birthday on Monday, and I might actually be on track to become physically fit. Like I said, who am I and what have I done with me?

My motivation for doing all this isn’t 100% clear, even to me. I guess the biggest part is that I’ve heard that the better shape you’re in when you’re pregnant and just before, the easier labor can be and the faster you can bounce back. This is obviously a few years off for us, but still a consideration. We want our family to be active and outdoorsy, and the more we work that into our daily lives, the better. I also feel that running (and hiking, but I’m still working on that) is something Dan loves to do, and I’d like to share that with him. Plus, I feel better about myself, think I look better, and think my overall health is improving as a direct result.

Have you taken a fitness 180*? Have you done something you never imagined you’d do? I’d love to know!

Mike Vrabel

I have tears in my eyes as I write this, and I’m not ashamed to admit it. I’ve never been a girl who fawned over Tom Brady. I thought there were other players on the New England Patriots who were more worthy of my attention than he was.

The player who comes to mind most readily is linebacker Mike Vrabel. He was a genuinely nice guy off the field, and a fantastic player on the field. He seemed like one of those guys who is always happy and somewhat surprised in his lot in life.

And now he’ll be playing for the effing Kansas City Chiefs. Not the Patriots anymore. And my sadness in the trading of Mike Vrabel is stronger than any other sporting-related emotion I’ve had in a looooooooong time. It ranks up there with the 2008 Super Bowl. That kind of sad. I don’t know when I’ll recover.