Friday, May 9, 2008

And the GOLD medal goes to....

ME!!!! Yep, I did it. I met all three challenges in a 24 hour period! (thanks, Steve, for the medal graphic!). It was pretty tough, and tiring, but it felt so good to do it. Especially the 3 mile swim. I had to break that into two separate sessions because I actually had to work yesterday too, but it felt awesome to be able to get that many miles in. A year ago there was no way I could have done that. So, needless to say, I'm pretty proud of myself.

In keeping with the tradition of the B-Fit Bday Challenge, I attempted to document my progress with pictures. The only thing I missed was a picture from the bike ride on Wednesday evening. But, I do have a witness, and Greyt has already attested to my completion of the bike leg of the challenge. ;)

So here is the picture from the start of the first part of my swim. The only other person in the pool at 6:30am was the lifeguard...who gave me a really weird look when I asked her to take my picture before getting into the pool. But she did it for me. I had to do a little editing of the picture before posting it...she got more of a full body shot than I had hoped, so I had to crop my butt off. Trust me, no one wants to see that. And, yes, that is my heart rate monitor, not some funky weird swimsuit strap. Some of the others who have completed the challenge have shared their times for each leg of the challenge, but I'm not going to do that. Primarily because I honestly didn't keep track. I knew how far I had to go, and my goal was to just get it done in the 24 hour period so I could claim the gold. And that's what I did. The Bike started at 4:30pm on Wednesday, Swim Part One began at 6:30am Thursday, Swim Part Deux commenced at 11:45am Thursday, and I wrapped the whole thing up with the quick little 1 mile run. And here's what I looked like when it was all said and done:

Nice hair, huh? I know, I know...I cropped my butt out of the swim picture, but I posted this horrendous thing? And yes, I had to take the picture myself because there wasn't anyone around to take the picture, and no I do not know how to set the self-timer on my camera. I take that back, there was one other woman in the locker room, but she was stark naked when I was trying to take the picture so I opted not to ask her.

As for the aftermath of the challenge...I was pretty tired last night. Especially after my birthday dinner, which included some fabulous portobello fries, a tasty steak and potatoes, two martinis and free birthday creme brulee! I think I more than earned that meal. ;) Today I feel pretty good. My triceps are a tad sore and my neck is just a little stiff, but otherwise I feel awesome.

Thanks to everyone who supported me in my crazy challenge and who sent me birthday wishes. It was a great birthday...one I will remember for a long time!

Wednesday, May 7, 2008

I think I just might be crazy...

Tomorrow is my birthday. I turn 31. And what do I decide to give myself? A shot at the gold medal in the B-Fit Bday Challenge! (Thanks, Steve in a Speedo for putting this crazy idea into my head). What is this challenge you say? Here are the "rules":

Take your age and in any order:
1) Swim the number of miles in the first number
2) Run the number of miles in the second number,and
3) Bike the number of miles in the combined number.

So, for me, turning 31 would mean:
1) Swim 3 miles (HOLY CRAP!)
2) Run 1 mile (cake)
3) Bike 31 miles (somewhere between cake and holy crap)

Of course you know there has to be some kind of award for doing this. So, by accepting this challenge I must:

Bronze: Do all three (swim/bike/run) during the week of your Birthday.
Silver: Do all three (swim/bike/run) in the three days before, after, or on your B-Day. OR
Gold: Do all three (swim/bike/run) in 24-hours to celebrate your B-Day!

At first this seemed pretty daunting...but then I did a 36 mile bike ride tonight and that knocked out over half of the challenge already. Greyt can attest that I did this ride. And pretty hard at that! The swim scares the hell out of me, I will admit it. But I can do it. It might take me forever, and I will most certainly have to break it up into a couple different sessions in the pool, but I can do it. And the run...well, I can do that in my sleep practically. So....I've made my decision...I'm going for the gold!! I have less than 24 hours to get this mammoth swim and itty bitty run done. Check in tomorrow for the update!! Wish me luck! (I need it)

Spring in Iowa

So I complain all winter long about the snow and the cold, just wishing it'd warm up enough to ride and run outside. Then spring comes along and it warms up, and now I complain about the wind and the rain. I spend more time looking at the weather channel than anything else it seems. Take tonight for example. There's a 20ish mile group ride tonight that I am probably going to do. I've looked at the weather channel twice already this morning (and it's only 9am) to see if there's going to be any threat of rain/storms and if the wind will die down or not. Well the good news is it doesn't look like it'll storm, but the wind will be atrocious. AGAIN. And the second half of this route is hilly too. UGH. I'll suck it up and do the ride, but I'm putting Greyt on notice that I will complain about it. ;)

Training is going ok right now...I'm a little bit in the twilight zone with work being so busy right now. I'm spending a lot of time out of town and it just takes a toll on my training. I'm working hard to get things back on track, though. Sunday I joined my TRI cronies for a duathlon-type workout. My goal for this was to treat it as an endurance workout and not really push too hard (this is not a race, this is not a race). The first 6 mile run was ok...it felt like the entire route was uphill and into the wind both ways, but not terrible. Then we got on the bike. Smooth sailing out of the park. I could tell we were riding a tailwind, but wasn't sure how much until we turned the corner. HOLY BUCKETS! The force of the tail/cross wind turning full on head wind about knocked me into oncoming traffic. I should have slowed down more for that turn. Mental note for next time. Going into this headwind was brutal. I was on a road bike, so I was trying to lower myself down into a bit more of an aerodynamic position to try and take some of the bite out of the wind. I don't think it accomplished much, except making me look like a total goofball, which is nothing new. I was very happy to turn around and ride that tailwind again, even if it wasn't for very long. We had to ride the head/cross wind back into the park. I was pretty happy to have that over with.

We were supposed to finish the workout with a 3 mile run...but I didn't do it. I should have...I'm kind of kicking myself for not doing it. But I wimped out. I was a little leery of pushing too much in one day, seeing as I haven't been able to train for several days. I just didn't want to flare up my IT band or anything like that. I know, these are great excuses aren't they? I gotta stop with the excuses...Dam to Dam is like 3 weeks away. Good times.

So I can't end this post without sharing updated photos of my favorite little man, my nephew Gabe. He just had his little 3 month pictures taken, and he's just so darned cute don't you think??