The Afterglow

I'm not sure if you noticed, dear reader, but my race day recap was lacking in the revelation department. I decided to give myself a few days to really let the fact that I was a triathlete sink in. Like really get all up in my brain and my soul and hope that it would shake me to the core.

As I write this I am in the library in Moraine and I promise you no one is looking to find me shaking with a religious fervor. I really thought becoming a triathlete would be a life changing thing. That I would wake up Monday morning and just feel different. Don't get me wrong, I loved every minute of the race. I felt an amazing sense of accomplishment unlike anything I've ever experienced before crossing that finish line. I guess I just hoped for that feeling to hang around for a while.

I don't know. I really loved the race. It was a lot of fun. I am definitely going to do it again. Next year, I'm going to do the regular sprint and damn it, I'm gonna run the shit out of those 3 miles. Maybe I'll even do more than one? Who knows. I know that the experience, no matter how sleep depriving and stress inducing, was a great one. But am I running out to buy a new tri bike, a complete new lycra wardrobe, and trying to convert others to the life of tri? Not exactly.

Maybe because I took the journey alone? Maybe because I expected my bike time to be so much better than it was? Maybe because I walked 98% of the 2 miles? Maybe because the thing I did best at was the thing I trained the least for? Maybe because I didn't train as much as I should have? Maybe I just had unrealistic expectations? There are so many questions that overwhelm my post race happiness and I curse my stupid over thinking brain. (Pretend I'm shaking my fist at the sky in rage.)

Perhaps I don't give myself enough credit. I know finishing was a big deal. I know I trained for 25 weeks to prepare and that's a hell of a lot more then most people can say. I know that no matter how unchanged I feel, I have actually changed. I guess I just expected to love it so much that the next day I would be planning my training for the next race and just breathing in my new tri lifestyle. While, I would like to, and certainly will, do more triathlons I guess I just won't throw myself into becoming Carrie - super triathlete. I'll just be Carrie - she who is trying to find a healthier life style who enjoys doing triathlons for fun. I would like to find someone to maybe do next year's tri with me. I know I wasn't "alone" because I had an amazingly loving support team in my friends and family, but it was just hard to see so many women in groups or pairs in the race and not feel a little lonely. It would have been nice to share the experience with someone.

I guess I have a motivation problem. I also have a lot of negativity towards myself I really need to let go of, but I guess people just don't change overnight, or even in 25 weeks. I wasn't sure if I was gonna keep blogging after the tri, I mean the next one's a whole year away and no one wants to hear me bitch about how running is hard for a whole year. So I'm thinking that I would like to keep blogging, but instead of a strictly Tri blog, it'll turn into more of a general journey to a healthier me type thing. I really like writing and even if no one reads it, it'll be nice motivation to hold myself accountable, keep me honest, and track my progress.

I didn't include my official results from the race in the last post, so here they are. My "division" was Athena. It is for women who are over 150lbs. I thought it would be less intimidating then going up against my age group. I definitely wasn't last and if you'll notice my swim rank, I swam faster then 138 other gals so that's pretty awesome. Also, comparing my bike time to Bike the Drive (even though I wasn't technically "racing") it took me 35 minutes to ride 7 miles then, and it took me 31 minutes to do 10 miles for the race so that's an improvement. My goal to not be last was first and foremost, but I also wanted to finish before the last swim wave started (check) and be under 1 hour and 30 minutes (check).

I know I haven't been exactly soaringly positive in my post race evaluation, but the feeling of finishing will stick with me forever, even when my enthusiasm might fall away. I'm really proud of myself. I also really loved doing something I never thought I could do. I hope that later in life when I meet someone new and you do that whole "tell me about you" thing I can say, "Oh, and I do a couple triathlons a year... ya know for fun." I think it's time to start figuring out who this post triathlon Carrie is. I hope she's as awesome as I picture her being. I guess we can find out together. Stay tuned folks, the best is yet to come.

Distance	Short
Clock Time	01:26:53
Overall Place	174 / 224
Division Place	13 / 16
Swim	00:14:59
Swimrank	86
Trans1	00:04:11
Bike	00:31:11
Bikerank	173
Mph	12.6
Trans2	00:02:17
Runrank	209
Run	00:34:12
Pace	00:17:06

 

RACE DAY!

Sunday, August 26th: Race Day

So as I said before, I was up around four waiting for my alarm to go off. Finally, it went off and I got up. I took a shower, careful to avoid washing off my sweet body marking. Gathering all my junk, I left the room while sucking down my protein shake. I stopped at the hotel breakfast room and took a banana on my way out also.

I got to the race site and parked way farther away then I needed to. The volunteers weren't down far enough to direct incoming athletes and my spectators got better parking then me.

Entering transition, I was glad that I preplanned my gear/area. Some women had so much stuff I couldn't imagine hauling all that junk back to my car.


My Transition Area

I set up my transition. While juggling my gear I stepped on my banana (still in the peel) and did all sorts of other clumsy things. One of the girls next to me put a balloon on the rack, to help her find her stuff. It's a smart idea and it helped (me) a lot.

I also met a really sweet girl named Kim whose bike was right by mine, and she suggested that I actually improved my banana by stepping on it (it would be easier to digest pre mashed) and since it was her first time racing as well, we kind of stuck together. All too soon it was time to exit transition and wait for the race to start. I was really nervous and apologized in advance to anyone starting near me, just in case I threw up on them.



Flexing for my cheering squad prerace
 

The asphalt of the parking lot was pretty tough on my feet. Walking barefoot seemed to aggravate my heels but I could barely feel anything but my heart pounding at this point. As we were corralled into the start bay, I spotted my own personal cheering crew and I'm not too proud to admit I started to cry. Not an all out snot nosed crazy cry, but a few nervously excited tears certainly escaped.



HIGH FIVE!

                                                                 

Sally Edwards was there as we waded into the water, encouraging us right up to the countdown of our wave. 5...4...3...2...1... and we were off. The swim distance seems much longer laid out in an out and back swim. At the gym, 10 laps in a 25 meter pool isn't that scary. I avoided being pulled under by a fellow racer and managed not to bump into too many people. The wave before us was wearing pink caps and I am happy to report I noticed that I passed a few of them. Before I even had time to think, I was past the turnaround and hitting the beach again. A wonderful angel of a volunteer took my hand as I dragged myself up the beach and she steadied me as I regained my footing. I gingerly trudged toward my bike, getting a high five from my dad.

Leaving for the Bike

I took my time in transition, not that I had much choice. It was hard to keep my balance while standing. I was sprayed the sand off my feet and then put my socks and shoes on. I threw on my race belt (If you ever decide to race, these are awesome. Instead of safety pinning your number to your clothes you attach the number to the belt, clip it on and go), my sunglasses, and my ever important helmet and got my ass in gear. I left the transition area to start the bike and besides the faster cyclists passing me, I found it to be really peaceful. It was a really nice morning and I enjoyed the ride.

Running to the Finish Line

Of course, there was a terrible hill right before the turnaround and I felt like I could have jogged my bike up faster, but I made it in pretty decent time. I got back to the transition, re racked my bike, took off my helmet, and grabbed some water on my way out to the run course. I spent a lot of time walking sorta fast, but I made my tired legs jog a few times using trees as distance gauges. Like, "Okay I'm gonna run from this tree to the next big tree". Once I got to the turn around on the run, I was feeling pretty good. You can see the end of the course from the turn around and it made the distance easier to handle. Kait and Danny were waiting right before the finish and as soon as I saw them I sprinted to the finish line. I yelled at Kait while I passed because she started to cry and I was trying not to. Before you pass over the final mat, you hit a small one that brings your name up on a computer and as you finish, the announcer says your name. As I passed the finish line the announcer said, "Carrie Rader, Evergreen Park's Finest". I was handed a medal and an ice cold bottle of water. I felt amazing, exhausted, and proud all at the same time. I WAS A TRIATHLETE! I FINISHED! All my hard work paid off and I was done.

HELL YEAH!

After the race, there were hugs all around and I just kinda wandered around waiting for my heart to stop racing. Luckily, my wonderful support crew lead me to the "goodie bag" area, the fruit/bagel tent, and then to the Danskin Apparel tent where they bought me a really nice tri t-shirt. We made our way back to the transition area and I gathered up my gear and waited for the volunteers to let us take our bikes out.

Then I realized just how far away I parked and I'm sure between walking back to the transition then my car I added another mile to my day. Back at the hotel, I was given a beautiful bouquet of flowers from my family and I was able to shower before we checked out. The shower was almost as good as the flowers and our post race brunch was really nice too.

All this happened between 4:40am and 11:30am on Sunday morning. Who knew so much awesomeness could happen in such a short time.



My Victory Flowers

.

 

Expo day!

To avoid one crazy long post, I'm going to break up my Tri experience.
1. Expo day
2. RACE DAY!

Saturday August 25th: Expo/Packet Pickup day

The whole week leading up to the tri I had been getting terrible sleep. My gut was all fluttery and unpleasant and honestly, even though it was the first week of classes, I don't remember much of it. I do remember finishing the first to units for my online class so that was a plus.

Got up Saturday morning, freaking out. I rechecked my bags about a billion times to make sure I had everything. We loaded up the car and drove to Pleasant Prairie. We arrived at the Recplex and it was pretty packed. I learned that 2,300 women were competing so it makes sense that there was a lot of activity. The Recplex basketball area was sectioned off and there were stations set up all over.

The first thing I did was check the wall for my race number > #4452, my wave number > #2 starting at 7:03am, and my swim cap color > purple.

I wandered over to pick up my timing chip and then settled in to listen to the Race Day pep talk and the Course Overview. It was fun listening to the amazing stories of all the women who overcame severe accidents, cancer, and all sorts of other things just to make it to the tri. I felt a little intimidated by the number of women competing but almost everyone I talked to was sweet and supportive. After the talk, Sally Edwards was signing posters and offering one on one encouragement. This is gonna sound super nerdy, but when I got up to the table she hugged me (remember I met/trained with her for tri camp) and signed a poster with a runner on it for me and I was really excited that she remembered me. It says, "Carrie- You are an AWESOME runner!" It's funny because I am not, but its really inspiring and I'm going to hang it up in my room. I'll be a runner one day.

On the way out of the Recplex, we had our timing chips checked (gotta make sure its registered to you) and got body marked. Basically, these nice ladies with giant sharpies write your race number on your arm. Not gonna lie, I felt pretty badass.

Last stop on the expo train = rack your bike.

I brought my bike into transition, got my tire pressure checked and found a spot to hang my bike and tried not to imagine all the horrible things that could potentially happen. Like imagine a burglar all ninja  and sneaky like, clad in all black complete with the black mask that only shows your eyes coming in the night to steal my bike.

My family came up to support me (along with Don and Danny) and we all had Famous Daves for dinner. I know I said I was going to carbo load, but the Olive Garden was insane - I guess everyone else had the same idea - so we decided that we wanted to eat sometime that night and went to Famous Daves instead.

I settled into bed at 9pm, setting my alarm for 4:40am and, guess what? I had a really hard time falling asleep. I woke up like 5 times and sometime after four just laid in bed waiting for the alarm to go off.

Almost There!

As I sit down to write my pre race blog post I find it hard to not type "HOLY SHIT" and "AHHHH" over and over again. I am a glass case of emotion! I know I've been planning for this for so long and it's time to just put on my big girl tri shorts and get to it, but I'm just so nervous.

Tomorrow morning we're driving up to Pleasant Prairie and I'll get my race number and be able to rack my bike in the transition area. They are also going to have a Q and A session about the course and afterward Sally Edwards is going to give a Race Day Overview. I'm excited to listen to Sally explain race day, she is knowledgeable and made TriCamp so much fun, I'm sure she'll be full of nerve soothing advice.

I'm all packed up and looking forward to my pre race "carb fest". We are going to go to Olive Garden for dinner tomorrow and I know fest implies I will stuff my face, but rest assured dear readers I will eat within reason. No one wants to watch me throw up all over the course.

My only worry is that the weather will be crummy Sunday. Weather Channel is calling for scattered thunderstorms and I would hate for the race to be cancelled. I can tough out some rain if they'll let me. I'm also kind of worried I'll forget something but as long as I have my goggles, my bike, and my shoes I'll be fine.

I want to thank everyone who has supported me thus far. I wouldn't be freaking out at all without you. I'd be sitting around doing nothing with myself, totally unfit. So thank you for helping me change my life for the better.

I know this isn't a substance rich post but it's truly difficult to keep my terrified happiness in check. I promise an epic post race recap complete with pictures on Monday!

Wish me Luck! Next time I post, I'll be a triathlete! :)

One More Week

7 days...

Just one week left.

I kind of don't even know what to say. It's here. Well, almost. I know that if I'm being honest I didn't do everything I possibly could to prepare for this. I have done quite a bit more then I usually do, but I know that if I could do it all over again I would be better. Train harder. Eat smarter. Of course I'm sure these are pre race jitters, but they don't make them any less true. Again I find myself wondering if starting with other things would have made more sense, instead of just jumping into the sport of triathlon, but I guess we'll never know. Besides, there's always next year. It's do or die time. Death before DNF! I saw that on a bumper sticker and it made me laugh. DNF means 'did not finish', which you get if you...wait for it...don't finish. I find it unlikely that I will DNF. Actually, just drown me in the lake and leave me in Wisconsin if that's the case. I mean it's a super sprint for Pete's sake.

Honestly, there's one thing I'm worried about. They take a picture when you cross the finish line and, of all things, I'm worried about how crappy I'm going to look. I mean really I'm going to be sweaty as hell and my hair is just gonna be a mess! Haha... Isn't that the silliest thing to worry about?

Alright, negative time is over.

So! I guess there is a cycling club in Oak Lawn. I'm kind of excited. They are called Bike Psychos (love it) and they meet the first Monday of every month from March - October. They are having a Century Ride on the same day as my tri. You can ride anywhere between 30 and 124 miles. I would like to maybe participate next year. That is a hell of a lot of miles on a bike seat though. You'd have to train your ass just as much as your legs. It's only $25 for membership for the year and even though I'd love to join now, it seems silly with only 2 meetings left for the season. It's definitely something to keep in mind for next year though.

I'm a little bit scared of what is going to happen to me after the Tri. I'm going to need a new goal. I'm afraid without one, I'll go back to my old ways and gain all that weight back again. I know ultimately my new goal will be completing a SPRINT triathlon. All the way. Swimming the total 1/2 mile and no walking during the run. So I guess the next logical step is really concentrating on my swim and my run. The freaking run. Ugh.

I suppose I'll just have to create myself a plan and stick to it. I think my next goal is just to focus on my weight. Yes, I will be working on my swim and run, but between September and the end of the year I'd like to be at 20% of my weight lost (that would be -56lbs. but if I'm being honest I'd like to just round it up to -60lbs.)  This will require me to focus more on what I'm eating then how I'm working out. When I was training, the workout was always more important then the eating, so it'll be interesting to see the results of giving them equal importance. Yeah, I know I should have been doing that the whole time. You live and you learn.

I'm so close to 10% right now I can taste it. I'm not sure if I'll make it before Saturday but if not I should most definitely hit it the week after. I think I've given enough numbers for you to figure out my starting weight at this point, but call me a coward, I just can't actually type it out.

So, one week left. This is me. Trying not to panic.

Practice Run

14 days left...

Friday, as planned I had a little run through of the Tri sports. I knew it was gonna be a good workout when I heard 101.1 play "As Long as You Love Me" by the Backstreet Boys while driving to the gym. Not gonna lie, I laughed and then very discreetly blasted the song and sang along like it was 1997. I remembered all the words, just in case you were wondering. I also really want to find all my old CDs...


Thanks Guys!

So anyway, I needed to be sure I could do it before the event, for me, just in case. I'd have to say it went pretty well. I successfully completed all three sports, or at least the gym equivalent.

Swam 16 lengths of a 25M pool (or 8 laps) = about 10 minutes
Biked 10 miles at 9/10 of 20 resistance on the UPRIGHT stationary bike = not quite 50 minutes
Ran(walked) 2 miles between 3.0-4.5 on the treadmill = 36 minutes

Total time = 1hr 35min 15sec

Now I know that time isn't the greatest but I hope it'll be a bit better on event day. I anticipate my swim to be either much better due to terror, or much worse due to being dragged under by equally terrified ladies. I hope my bike will be much better because I was keeping a 5 minute mile pace for Bike the Drive and it was quite leisurely. As for the "run" I hope to just throw a little jogging in there and hope to maybe use my race day adrenaline to hit a 15min mile. Which I know is not an awesome time and most people can walk at that pace but I'm factoring in my horridness and tiredness and trying to be realistic.

Again, it really doesn't matter because I just want to finish. So now it will be nice to have something to compare my results to.

Sidebar - Weighed in today. This week -3.8. Overall total = -21 lbs

Today at work, a very nice co worker mentioned that I was looking like I lost some weight and that I was looking good. I smiled and thanked her and told her it was actually 21 pounds today. As I was thanking her she started to apologize and I was confused. She said that some people get offended and are like "Uh so what? I was super fat before then?"

I'm sorry. What? I can't imagine ever saying that. I know I'm overweight and unhealthy, but I am proud of every inch and every pound I lose. I am taking the steps to become a better me. So even though I may shrug it off, like it's no big deal because really I have so much more to lose, I appreciate that people are noticing.

I'm still not really noticing myself yet, but I have a serious issue with anything under 24 pounds, which I have expressed already, so I guess we'll see what happens when I start losing again, instead of "re"losing and when I hit my 10%. Sadly, the only thing I've noticed is that my bras aren't as full but hopefully soon I'll notice it in my other clothes as well.

Two very short weeks left. AHHHHHHH!!! :)

Olympic Inspiration

17 days left...

So since I am doing my own little triathlon, I was really looking forward to watching the Olympic women's tri. Sadly, the women's triathlon was on Saturday at 3a.m. so I set my Tivo to record the event and went to sleep. Much to my SEVERE ANGER I woke up and discovered that instead of changing the channel to 68, for NBC Sports, Tivo forgot that all important 8 and recorded SIX WHOLE HOURS of Telemundo. Tivo should have known that no one records that much Telemundo, ever.

So I missed the women's triathlon. It really sucked because Sara Groff (USA) took 4th place with a time of 2hrs. I know she didn't get a medal but from the articles I read, she kicked some butt. The Gold medal finish time was 1:59:48.00 and Groff's finish was 2:00:00.00. It's crazy to think so little time can make the difference between Gold and no medal at all. Either way, the articles I read didn't do the race the justice I'm sure it deserved and I'm sad to have missed it.

I was hoping to pull inspiration from watching the race, but I did catch quite a bit of swimming and cycling. The track events terrify instead of inspire but I watched a couple of them too.

So a while back I mentioned that I don't use the treadmill in my room because I hate the noise it makes under my weight. I cleaned it off and actually got on it today. You know what helps with the loudness? Increasing the volume of the tv.

I did a brick workout today, which means practicing doing 2 sports in one workout so (pause for this shocker) that you can simulate the race and practice transitions. I biked this afternoon and it started to drizzle so I only did 8 miles instead of the 10, but I had planned on walk/running right after so instead of ditching the walk/run portion of my workout I fired up the old treadmill and gots to jogging. It wasn't the worst thing ever.

Friday, I plan to do a run through at the gym. I know the stationary bike and treadmill aren't ideal, but it's just so I can convince myself I can actually make it through the whole thing. Plus, you know, the pool is there so it makes it much easier. I'll let you know how it goes.

Twistin' the Night Away

22 days left...

Have you ever used the twisty thing in the gym that is supposed to work your obliques?

I think it's called the torso twist. You kneel on this spinny thing and you grip these handles that are about chest height, while resting your chest against this padded thing, so your upper body is facing forward and your knees are pointed to the left or right. You choose your weight and twist your torso to realign with your body, effectively using your oblique muscles.

I apologize for this terribly technical description of a very complicated exercise... but bare with me, I do have a point. THIS THING FREAKING WORKS. Now, when I say it works, I don't mean I've developed a six pack overnight. If only. I mean, holy crap do my sides hurt. They hurt so good.

Because of the heat I've been in the gym a bit more frequently these past two weeks. I could get up super early when it's still in the 70's but let's face it, I hate getting up early. I do, stupidly I might add, bike right in the middle of the day. I'm going to suck it up and start getting up though because as we all know, running is my nemesis and I need to be practicing doing it outside.

So being back in the gym brings be back to when I started training. I forgot how many stupid people are out there. Here's a nice little update to the list of things I would put on the hand out flier I'd like to make.

1. If you are going to hang out with a bunch of people at the gym, don't sit on a bunch of machines with no intention of using them. Take your manly coffee clutch to the locker room where you can gossip about your triceps all you want.
2. Walking about with a can of energy drink does not impress me. Oh, you need all that energy to support your super strenuous workout? Well, energy drinks are sticky and you have no way of closing those cans. I'm looking at you bandanna guy... the seat of the chest press machine was suspiciously sticky.
3. THE GYM POOL IS NOT A PLACE FOR YOU TO BRING YOUR FREAKING FAMILY SO THEY CAN COOL OFF!
4. Really, I still don't understand how you workout in jeans. It's too hot out to even be wearing them outside. Enjoy that heat rash I'm sure you're getting.

There are so many more, but I'll just let this guy tell you...

This is Gym Etiquette by LifeAccordingToJimmy on YouTube. I love this video.

Until next time, I'll keep wearing all that neon shit and training hard.