Up and at them!

I was up early this morning.  No, the dogs didn’t get out again (that would have sucked!).  Nope, I was up ON PURPOSE.  Can you believe it?  I realized that I really needed to start swimming again, and to do so, I need to find some time to do it. My swim team practices at 5:30 AM Tuesdays & Thursdays about a mile from my house.  I really don’t have an excuse, except, “The bed is warm, the car is cold, and the air on my bum when I take off those sweatpants on the pool deck is colder”.  That’s all.

This morning wasn’t much different.  I set the alarm for 5 AM, and when it went off I immediately changed it to sound at 6 AM instead.  Then I was thinking, “Well, 6:30 would work, or even 6:50”.  I laid there long enough to realize that I was already awake, and the pool was not that far off.  So I went for it.

And I’m glad I did.

Oh, and I also hope that I win Young House Love’s giveaway for a print of swimmers.  ‘Cause that’d be awesome.

I also hope that I win the Mega Millions Jackpot.  ‘Cause that’d be awesome-er.

2011 Nautica Malibu Triathlon

This morning’s Facebook post:

There is no can or cannot.  There is only TRI.  It’s go-time. 

Of course, I posted that as I was getting up at 3:30 AM.  Yes.  3:30 AM.  Crazy!

This was the 2nd year that I participated in the Nautica Malibu Triathlon.  I was bound & determined to beat my time from last year.  And last year, I was only 2 minutes (2 minutes!) away from making it onto the podium in 5th place.  So I pushed myself to beat last year’s time by at least 2 minutes, and I’d have a spot on that podium.

Sadly, I did not make the podium this year.  On the bright side, I cut 8 minutes (8 minutes!) from my race time last year.  The person in 5th place was still 5 minutes (5 minutes! – are you sensing a theme?!?) ahead of me.  This whole time I thought I was racing against the woman in 5th place, when really I was racing against myself.

2011 – Nautica Malibu Triathlon Results:

• 0.5 mile Swim Time (Pacific ocean):  0:16:08
• Swim Rank:  295
• Transition 1:  0:04:03
• 18 mile Cycle Time:  1:03:43
• Cycle Rank:  783
• Cycle MPH:  16.9
• Transition 2:  0:01:49
• 4 mile Run Time:  0:42:21
• Run Rank:  978
• Run MPH:  10:35
• Total Time:  2:08:09
• Overall Rank:  748
• Rank in Division:  6

As compared to last year, 2010 Nautica Malibu Triathlon Results:

• 0.5 mile Swim Time (Pacific ocean):  0:18:29
• Swim Rank:  388
• Transition 1:  0:04:53
• 18 mile Cycle Time:  1:06:31
• Cycle Rank:  947
• Cycle MPH:  16.9
• Transition 2:  0:3:10
• 4 mile Run Time:  0:43.42
• Run Rank:  1130
• Run MPH:  10:55
• Total Time:  2:16:47
• Overall Rank:  933
• Rank in Division:  6

So, the difference – 2011 to 2010:

• 0.5 mile Swim Time (Pacific ocean):  Decreased time by 0:02:21
• Swim Rank: Increase in overall rank by 93
• Transition 1: Decreased time by 0:00:50
• 18 mile Cycle Time:  Decreased time by 0:02:48
• Cycle Rank:  Increase in overall rank by 164
• Cycle MPH:  Increase in MPH by 0.7
• Transition 2:  Decrease in time by 0:01:21
• 4 mile Run Time:  Decrease in time by 0:01:21
• Run Rank:  Increase in overall rank by 152
• Run MPH:  Increase in MPH by 00:20
• Total Time:  Decrease in time by 0:08:38
• Overall Rank:  Increase in rank by 185
• Rank in Division:  6

Looking at it, I decreased my time in each and every event!  Woot!  My biggest issue this year and last was the run; my best was the swim, both years.  This year’s bike felt really good, although my right hip started with pressure around mile 13, and then it started radiating towards my lower back.  I highly recommend the Yankz shoe laces!  I credit that with my decrease in my Transition 2 time!

Comparing myself to celebrities, I did not beat any of the celebrity relays.  I did beat Ali Vincent, Winner of The Biggest Loser, Season 5!  Only by a minute and 12 seconds, but still!  She is so amazing, I’m so psyched that I was able to power it up to beat her!  The only guy celebrity that I beat was David Denman (i.e., Roy from The Office or Tony from Drop Dead Diva) – who I saw last year.  This year, I refrained from yelling “Woohoo!” at him as I was running out and he was on his way back in…

I have a number of pics (just call me psycho paparazzi) of the various actors from The Office:  Including Rainn Wilson (Dwight Schrute), Ellie Kemper (Erin Hannon), Andy Buckley (David Wallace), Ed Helms (Andy Bernard), and Paul Lieberstein (Toby Flenderson).

David Denman & Rainn Wilson

Ed Helms

The triathlon was run really, really well!  I was very impressed with the whole thing.  The t-shirts are great, and I love the baseball cap.  For raising more than $750, I also received a donation prize of a Nautica jacket.  It’s really nice, and completely unexpected.  To me, it’s unnecessary, and I’d really rather that the money for the jacket go towards Children’s Hospital of LA.  But, I know that some people raise money in order to get the fundraising prizes, so I know that it’s really a good thing that Nautica is doing for the group.

Finishing the swim. I was in the LAST wave of racers, in the light pink cap. I passed all those yellow caps!

Sheena Easton was the singer for the National Anthem.  She really did do a good job with it.  Sometimes, people do a poor job with their “rendition” of the National Anthem.  I find that type of thing annoying — I’d much rather someone took the song seriously and sang it with feeling – and didn’t sing it to put their own stamp of approval on it.  Anyway, she did a great job.  Wondering if she’s trying for a “come back”?

I’m psyched about how well I did.  I’m so happy that my hubby and my parents were here to watch, and were willing to get up at 3:30 AM to watch!  We had a great time down in Malibu today!

The rest of the day was a bit of a lost cause.  I’d burnt 1500+ calories (per my HRM), so I wasn’t too worried about what I ate for the rest of the day.  But, instead of going out, I decided that I’d rather go home and get comfy there.  After showering, I made some leftovers, then took a nice nap!  After getting up, my parents showed me all the things they brought me from home (old-timey wooden skis that we’ll use as decor in the living room, an embroidered chair that my great grandmother sewed from 1880, and a bunch of other items).  We had pizza (more Trader Joe’s pizza crust!) and wine.

Such a good day!  Time for bed!

Off to Bed!

It’s 8:30 PM – time for this triathlete to head to bed.  A quick post documenting what I’ve packed (this doesn’t include any of the stuff on my bike, like 2 tubes, tire levers, CO2, etc.).

Starting with the Amgen Triathlon Team Tri Uniform.  It’s made by K-Swiss, and seems really nice.  This will be the first time I’ve worn it though (poor planning, I know!)  I love the DNA on it!  🙂

Front of my Tri Uniform

Back of Tri Uniform

However, I’ve identified a few issues with it:

• It’s white.  And will get wet.  Therefore, I’ll be wearing a bathing suit underneath, (with a sports bra under that for support).
• It’s tight.  Not as tight as maybe it’s supposed to be, but tight enough to make me look like sausage casing.  Best plan to beat sausage casing:  wear a bathing suit underneath.  Kind of like Spanx for Triathletes.

Here’s what I’ll be wearing in the morning when I leave the house:

• Bathing suit
• Sports bra
• Amgen Tri Team Tech tee-shirt
• Amgen Tri Team hooded sweatshirt
• Polar Heart Rate Monitor
• Flip flops
• Workout pants

All the rest of this has made its way into my Triathlon bag:

Swimming stuff

• Wetsuit
• Body glide & Tri Slide
• Speedo Baja Goggles
• Amgen Tri Team swim cap (will go on first, then goggles, then 2nd swim cap)
• Colored swim cap from the race
• 2 beach towels in a bright color
• Head lamp to walk from the car to the racking area

Bike Stuff

• Helmet with my number already on it
• 2 water bottles to wash sand from my feet after coming from the water
• Baby power to help dry feel after washing them, before putting on socks
• Socks
• Cycling Shoes – Shimano WR40
• Cycling gloves
• Shot blocks (will go in bento box on bike)
• Sporty Spice sunglasses
• Neutrogena Wet Skin sunscreen

Running stuff

• Puma shoes with quick laces
• Racing belt, with number already attached
• Visor for run (because after coming out of the water, going into a helmet, my hair’s gonna be BAD!)

Off to sleep, my loves!  Have a great night!  And if you read this some time between 8 and 11 AM (Pacific), say a bit of a prayer for me, and toast with your mimosa or Bloody Mary!

What I Ate Wednesday – Take 2

Today has been a bit of a whirlwind…  I feel like a crazy person running around with my head cut off (or, err, is that a chicken?).  See crazy person, right here…

Early morning meetings, a big project sent in at the end of the day, swimming at noon, jogging after work, pup walks, dinner, AND we have to pick up the house, because tomorrow is the best day of the month!  The cleaners are coming, the cleaners are coming!  (Sung in the form of The Jerk‘s phone book, of course…)  <– Big dork.

Anyway, the house needs a good tidying, and I need to finish up a bunch of laundry before they come.  Nothing better than a house completely pulled together (and cleaned by someone else!).

But, let’s get down to business…  It’s What I Ate Wednesday!

I started my day with a cup of iced coffee on my way to work.

Breakfast was a bowl of oatmeal with strawberries, pineapple, peanut butter, and granola.  The strawbs were hidden under the oatmeal, so they got all nice and warm!

On my way to swimming, I had a Luna Protein Bar with some agua.

Lunch was leftover tilapia from last night, served with some tabouli, with a sprinkle of non-fat feta cheese.

Lunch dessert = watermelon!  Love me some lunch dessert!

The pups were interested in saying “Hi!” today!  Please disregard my hubby’s make-shift brewing area on the fire pit!

Afternoon snack was a chunk of Irish soda bread, Apple cinnamon flavor.  Do you see Mason’s tongue there?!?  He’s such a goof!

Dinner was another winner!  I am on a roll this week, friends!  Tonight I made:

Crab Cakes with Red Pepper-Basil Tartar Sauce
Adapted from Coastal Living – September 2010
Serves 4

• 8 oz Fresh lump crabmeat, drained & picked (I used some that I found in my fish section of the grocery)
• 1 Green onion, sliced
•  1/2 c Crushed saltine crackers (this is 10 crackers)
• 2 T Mayonnaise (I used vegan)
• 1/4 tsp Fresh ground pepper
• Dash Salt
• 1/2 c Whole wheat Panko breadcrumbs
• Sprinkles of Garlic Gold
• 2 Tbsp Canola oil
• 2 Tbsp Prepared tartar sauce
• 5 leaves of Basil
• 1 tsp Red pepper

1. Stir together crabmeat, onion, crackers, mayo, pepper & salt.
2. Shape into 4 patties.  Place breadcrumbs & Garlic gold in shallow dish & dredge both sides of patties.  Fry in hot oil (I did 2 patties at a time, using 1 Tbsp oil for each “batch”) 2 minutes each side or until golden.
3. Drain on paper towels.
4. To make fancy-schmancy tartar sauce, slice basil into prepared tartar sauce, and add enough red pepper to give it a kick.  (Benefit of this is you don’t need to use a lot of it!)

All that, served with some Soda Stream Diet Cola and steamed green beans (microwaved!) on the side.

I’m being summonsed to help pick up…  Cheers!

A Triathlon Haiku

Rain falls like daggers;
Slowly stabs my arms. Where is  
the Malibu sun? 

I know that this is going to sound ridiculous, given all the tragedy that’s happened elsewhere in the country, but the weather today sucked!

I met my training team for a last-ditch effort for an ocean swim the week before the triathlon.

Getting ready to brave the waves.

Last week’s swim was cancelled, because the waves were too big.  Scary, considering I’m supposed to be racing in that in 8 short days!  This morning was much better – the water temperature was a fantastic 70* (which, somehow, is significantly warmer than 67*; I don’t understand it either).

Yes, another no make-up picture... Get used to 'em.

I took this picture before heading into the water, and the waves hadn’t yet picked up.  But they did.  And boy, was I tired!  All last year, I felt like it was easy to get out past the break & just start swimming.  This week, when I felt like I was supposed to be done, and ready to turn, a huge wave would come and put me through the washing machine!  Yikes!  I’m never going to make the podium with waves like this!

The hour of ocean swimming was followed by a cycle, of the race route.  We only did 15 miles today – but the race will be 18.  No biggie.  Except, this is the first time that I have been on the bike since my last race at the end of July.  During that race, the Vineman Half Ironman AquaBike, at mile 22 my back started killing me, and I wasn’t even 1/2 way through (total ride: 56 miles).  I was really afraid that my back would give me problems, but so far so good!

Lots happening this week:

• Big meetings at work
• My parents are coming to visit
• Nautica Malibu Triathlon!

How do you prepare for a big race?

I can’t believe I’m watching The Bachelor!

It’s so ridiculous! How do people get wrapped up in this?!? How can he possibly have a connection with all these women. And he’s such a dolt – who would want him? I do not understand… Although I would love to be in a Cirque du Soleil show…

I didn’t feel like working out at all tonight, but knew that I would once I got to the pool, all would be right in the world. Which it was, as always. Love it. And, I was schooling the guys in my lane, which was awesome. At one point the coach told my lane to go a bit slower than the other lanes because he didn’t think that we could handle it. Ummm, is that a challenge? I took that challenge… and won!

Great dinner tonight – posted on a thread because I loved it so much: 

• Roasted butternut squash (in garlic-infused olive oil, rosemary, black pepper and sea salt)
• Sauteed chicken breast strips (free range, organic) in garlic & rosemary
• All of this over spinach, pine nuts, and goat cheese. 

SUPER yum.

Bought our travel insurance today — which is a good thing, since there’s some political unrest in Zimbabwe right now. We’re not going to the area where this is an issue, but I am very weary. Not weary enough to cancel though.

Hitting the hay now. Matt’s on 2nd shift this week, so I’m trying hard to stay away from the TV (not working) and read before bed… Nighty-night!

Dinner tonight…

Heading out for dinner tonight with a co-worker. This was not necessarily on the plan, but since she’s in from out of town, and this is the only night we can do it this week — it’s the best we can do. Heading to either: an Indian restaurant, a Thai restaurant, or a burger joint that does really good (and low cal) veggie burgers. I could do any of those since I worked out this morning, and am going to swim practice tonight at 6.

Water heater seems to be holding. Hubby noticed that it was leaking on Friday night, we had a plumber in on Saturday, who replaced it, then about 20 minutes after he left, we heard a loud pop. It basically exploded on itself. So, we got another one installed today. Running a load of laundry, and it seems to be OK (although, I am doing a load of “colds” — I tried to run it when the hot water was off, and it didn’t go).

I’m having a bit of a crisis…

There’s a happy hour. That I want to go to. It starts in 10 minutes. I have:

• Already worked out for 30 minutes / 380 calories this morning
• Eaten well for breakfast, lunch, and afternoon snack
• I’m well on my way with water today (although I did by 2 cups of coffee today, including a latte [which I just remembered that I haven’t logged])

I scheduled that I would go swimming at lunch today as a 2-a-day workout. But, my breakfast was fairly close to swim time, and that makes “Fast Fridays” and flip turns difficult. So I planned to go at 6 PM. But now it’s 4:20, and I want to go to happy hour. I *could* go to happy hour, then leave and go swimming. I don’t need to drink, and will not likely want to eat. But there’s more to this story…

Last night we had a team meeting for the triathlon/swimming club. Afterwards, we were all supposed to order our new tri kits (outfits to wear during our triathlons). They’re not flattering. At all. On anyone. But they didn’t even have a women’s XL to try on. So I looked at the men’s L. Honestly – it looked like a child’s. I then tried on the men’s XL. OMGoodness. Hideous. Scary. Gross.

As I was trying to talk to the coach about what to do (ie, can’t I just wear last year’s, cause even if it doesn’t look good on my big belly, at least I’m not spending another $70 to $90 on something that I want to cry when I put it on), and this girl mentioned that the women’s L was way too small on her. I turned to look at her — and seriously, she was a size 6 or less. SERIOUSLY. Guys were also saying that they’d normally get a M, but they were ordering XLs. So I really shouldn’t have felt as badly as I did / do. Because I know that the sizing on these things is wrong, and everyone’s struggling. Except – the issue is that they’re not super self-conscious. And I am. And I can’t even fit into the biggest men’s size available.

Basically was holding back tears as I finally told the coach, “No, don’t ask about ordering me a men’s XXL — I’m just going to wear last year’s kit” and left. I realize that in the past this would either make me do one of 2 things:

1. Go eat. A lot. Of WHATEVER I wanted.
2. Go sulk. And starve. And try to make it better by withholding.

I haven’t done either, but I’m seriously planning on skipping swim because I don’t want to deal with the coach. So, I’m going to go to the happy hour, and I’ll judge there what I want to do. If I want to head to swim, I will. If I don’t, I won’t, and I won’t beat myself up over it. So there.

My Non-scale Victory

Cross-posted from a thread on NSVs in the Forums:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Most of you know that I swim & train for my triathlons with a Masters swim group. Every time I walk into the pool area I get a bit nervous, since I’m significantly bigger than ANY OTHER PERSON there. Last night was no different. (And, yes, I know I need to get over this… working on that.)

I arrived about 2 minutes late, and was getting into the pool via the steps (it’s a shallow pool, so I didn’t just jump right in). I could FEEL the people looking at me. I passed by the 1st (slowest) lane & went into the 2nd (the 3rd already had 5 people in it, 2nd only had 2 people). And then I started the warm up.

Once I was finished with my warm up, a guy in my lane was just looking at me. I thought I might have a snot rocket hanging out or something, when he said, “HOLY COW, you’re so fast! And you glide so gracefully!”. I ended up passing him a number of times throughout the workout — and at the end of each set, he was like, “Woah, you’re a good kicker!” or “Woah — you’re pulling is great!” depending on what drills we were doing.

Goes to show you, that even with 12% body fat (like him) you can still get schooled by a fat chick.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After I wrote this, I realized that I wasn’t really dealing with my insecurities, I was just hoping that they’d go away “when I lose the weight”. It’s funny — I would typically describe myself a pretty awesome. Yep – I’m a pretty egotistical chick. Seriously. I think my sh!t doesn’t smell. True story. But I have all these weird hang ups — which leads me to believe that I’m not all that egotistical. I’m just insecure, then try to figure out a way to cover it up. I can seem really flip at times, or when I’m being quiet because I don’t want to say something that will make people not like me, it can seem like I’m judging or am not a nice person. I also have a tendency to tell it like it is — which when combined with my other traits, is not usually a good thing.

The first time this guy said anything to me last night was, “Huh, that warm up didn’t even faze you, did it?” And I was kind of pissed — almost as if he said to me, “You should be completely out of breath, given your physical state”. Of course, that’s not what he said, but that’s what I heard. Thinking back on this comment made me realize, he said it to both me, and the super cute, buff guy in the lane. And that the guy who had said it WAS huffing & puffing. He was giving me a compliment, and I’d twisted it all in my head. It took 2 or 3 more compliments for me to realize that he really was being sincere (again, one of my hangups).

Interesting how you start a plan to get rid of the belly, and you end up bringing up & hopefully purging all these crazy thoughts about yourself and start realizing how people really see you and how you should be seeing yourself. Fat chick & all.