Triathlon Training & My Play List

 When I was in my late teens and even in my [very] early twenties, I considered myself to be an active and healthy person who was in great physical shape.  I life guarded for several years and competed in lifeguard competitions.  I swam every day and spent a lot of time at the gym.  Aside from looking good, I felt good.  My muscles and bones were strong and my lung capacity was impressive.

And then babies started coming at age 23 and my physical health got put on the back burner a lot of the time.  For ten years I have tried to exercise and stay on top of my game, but with five kids and a very busy household, it's nearly impossible a lot of the time.

Or at least that was the excuse I used for years.

The Bountiful Triathlon has been a goal of mine for years.  I think Lauren was a baby when I first saw it advertised and every August I have wanted to attempt it.  But pregnancy and breastfeeding and taking care of babies has interfered with a lot over the years, especially anything in the category of training for a triathlon.  But early in the spring of this year, I thought to myself that my youngest baby was about to turn two years old.  My body was finally my own again.  For the first time in many years I was getting adequate sleep and life in general seemed a little less demanding in certain ways.  At least my childbearing days were behind me!

In April I set out to start training for this goal.  It was a goal that terrified be beyond belief, but it was a goal that I'd had for a long time.  I started small by going to the gym three days a week to run and weight train.  Running has always been an obstacle for me, but I began with one mile at a time.  And then I added time and distance and over the course of several weeks my mileage and stamina increased dramatically.  Four months later it's hard to believe that I was such a poor runner in the beginning.  I have grown to CRAVE running.  I think I"m addicted to it.  It's no longer scary to me, but something that I really look forward to every day.

In the beginning cycling was a bit of a challenge because I just wasn't used to it.  But like running, a few weeks and several LONG rides went by and before I knew it, cycling was really exhilarating!!  I have been training on my mountain bike because it's all I have.  For the race, however, I need a road bike so I am renting a really good one from a local bike shop.  I have a huge advantage because I have been training for months on a mountain bike, which is more difficult to pedal and accelerate on pavement.  So when I cross over to the road bike this weekend, I'm told I should be able to ride really fast and really well.  I hope that plays out!

The swimming portion is just fun for me.  I have been in water my whole life and swimming feels as natural as breathing to me (let's just hope I don't ever breathe under water...it's not THAT natural.)  I have spent many many swimming sessions at the gym and I feel very confidant in that area.  The swim isn't long at all- only 350 meters, which equates to 14 laps.  To some tht may seem like a lot, but I'm excited about it.

So the day of the bug race is this Saturday.  The gun goes off at 7:30 in the morning and I"m so grateful to my good friend Erin who has done this exact triathlon a couple of years ago.  She won't be racing, but she is picking me up very early that morning, loading my bike into her truck, and we're going up to teh race together.  She will walk me through everything and even warm up with me for a bit on the treadmill.  Cody and the kids will follow a couple of hours later, in time to get there for the swimming (and final) portion of the race.  I'm so thankful to Cody for being such a support in these months.  Training has taken up a lot of my time, but he has never complained or resented me for it.  Accomplishing this race is something that means a great deal to me.  When I finish, I am considering getting inked like this-

What'd ya think?  Yeah, it may not look as great across my stretch marked belly.  One thing that is kind of frustrating about my training is that I have seen no evidence that my body has changed.  I haven't lost weight and my pant size hasn't really gone down.  People around me say I look different, but I don't see it.  But the evidence that I DO see and feel is what's happened to my body from within.  I don't know that I have ever been in this great of shape, even at my peak at 19 or 20 years old.  I feel amazing and strong.  My body is super healthy and that's what matters!  Hopefully the rest will start to melt away as time goes on, as long as I keep up with it. 

I am sooooo excited about this race.  I've had to take sleeping pills this week because I am so excited and nervous and can't get my tired brain to shut off at night.  Music is possibly my biggest training motivator, and in the last four months I have changed my running/cycling playlist numerous times.  This week I have tweaked it to the exact songs I need and want to stay motivated and strong during the race.  I thought I'd share these songs with you.  Keep in mind that every song motivates the bajeezus out of me and all of them have very personal meaning.  So, even if a song seems silly to you...well.  I don't see YOU getting off your but to go run miles at a time, now do I.  But you SHOULD get off you butt and train like I have.  If I can do this, absolutely anyone can!!  Here is my playlist in no particular order-

We Will Rock You- Queen (my pace setter song)

I'm Gonna Be- The Proclaimers

Raise Your Glass- Pink

Starlight- Muse

Respect- Erasure

Babel- Mumford and Sons

Paparazzi- Lady Gaga
Bend and Break- Keane

Magic Dance- David Bowie

Princes of the Universe- Queen

Supermassive Black Hole- Muse

I'm Too Sexy- Right Said Fred

The Cave- Mumford and Sons

Danger Zone- Kenny Loggins

Rolling in the Deep- Adele

Love Story- Taylor Swift
Somewhere Only We Know- Keane

Poker Face- Lady Gaga

Human Touch- Springsteen

Gliserine- Bush

Always- Erasure

Poker Face- Lady Gaga

Move Along- All American Rejects

Set Fire to the Rain- Adele
Everybody's Changing- Keane

Uprising- Muse

Just Give Me a Reason- Pink

Freedom- George Michael

Hey Ho- The Lumineers

Demon- Imagine Dragons

Under Pressure- Queen and Bowie

Eye of the Tiger- Survivor

Little Lion Man- Mumford and Sons

God Blessed Texas- Little Texas

Beautiful Day- U2

Love is a Battlefield- Pat Benatar

Surrender- Cheap Trick

Edge of Glory- Lady Gaga

Stupid Girl- Garbage

I Will Wait- Mumford and Sons

Paradise- Coldplay

Born in the USA- Sprinsteen

Madness- Muse

Someone Like You- Adele

This I Promise You- Nsync

Smells Like Teen Spirit- Nirvana

Saturday will be here before I know it!!! This may premature to say this, but if this race tomorrow doesn't kill me and if I enjoy it in the slightest, I plan on doing on next May (of the same caliber) and then on to the Spudman in Idaho at the end of July 2014.  The Spudman is an Olympic distance triathlon and it's a difficult one.  It's the goal and Cody said he'll buy me my OWN road bike if I get through this race and train for the ones next year.  Wish me luck!!

Swimming With the Kleckners

Brevin's really mad because they made him get out of the pool for the picture!

We've been so sad since the Kleckners moved from across the street.  Our kids have become such great friends over the last couple of years, and Devin and Brevin became best friends.  They moved just a few miles away into Bountiful, but sometimes it may as well be to another state because we are all so busy and making time to get together is a challenge.  I miss the days of hanging out on the front lawn talking while the kids played and rode bikes around.  I miss my Megan!  But yesterday was Brevin's birthday and they had a little party at his Grandma's neighborhood pool.  It was a lot of fun getting together with them and Devin got to swim all over the pool with no life jacket.  We have been working on this skill a LOT this summer since the boy is completely fearless and wants to jump into any body of water at any time.  You can see for yourself that he is doing great!!

 

 

Goodbye, Crib!

Our kids have outgrown the crib at a younger and younger age, and now Garrett's time has come.  Back in June I would put him in his crib for a nap and he would protest and put on leg up on the rails as if to climb out, but I would chastise him and say "NO!!" and he would fuss and pout but lie back down and go to sleep.  But toward the end of the month, he discovered that he actually could climb out and that dumb old Mom had no say in it after that door closed.

Because Devin has always been an evil genius who loves to play Houdini, we have duct taped doorknob covers on several doors in the house, including the inside and outside of their bedroom door.  But of course, he figured those out as well.  One afternoon during nap time I heard funny noises coming from their room and opened the door to find Devin INSIDE the crib with Garrett showing him exactly how to climb out of it.  The stinker!!

For some reason I didn't think Garrett would follow in his footsteps, but the next day I put him down door a nap, closed the door and heard a loud "thud" a minute later, then the door would open, and his little legs would carry him out of the room at lightening speed.  He had figured out how to pop the doorknob cover right off!  So, needless to say the crib came down that afternoon.  It's more of a hazard to keep it up because it serves as a death trap for the little boys as they do their stunts out of it. 

I won't lie-  I totally cried as I took the crib down.  I cried because it was the end of an era and as I unscrewed each piece of hardware, I remembered being 20 weeks pregnant with Ethan and shopping for that very crib with my mom when she came into town.  I remembered picking out the cute bedding and putting it all together as we anxiously awaited the arrival of our first baby.  And with the exception of taking it apart to move it from apartment to house and then room to room, it has never been apart for an extended period of time. 

But I also cried because Garrett and Devin drive me to my wits end most days and the crib was my only course of sanity during nap time because it kept Garrett contained.  I cried because I wasn't ready to let go of that!!  The first week of Garrett being in his big boy bed was rough.  Devin moved to the top bunk and Garrett was down below and of course it was play time whenever the boys were supposed to be sleeping.  And then we went to Texas and when we came back, it seemed to be a lot easier.  Now all I have to do is lock Garrett in there with a sippy cup of milk during nap time and he yells at me for half a minute but then climbs into bed and falls right to sleep.  The same is true for bedtime, and now that Devin is a lot better at staying awake all day (and not falling asleep in the evening and catching a second wind and staying up til midnight) he is so tired come bedtime that he goes right to sleep and Garrett gets bored and follows suit. 

I just can't believe that we are a cribless family.  That crib has served as a permanent fixture of this house for a decade.  The last year has pushed us further and further into the babyless stage of life and it seems surreal at times.  Part of me LOVES the new found freedom of not being pregnant, nursing, and carrying for a totally dependent baby.  But at the same time, a huge part of me grieves for that time that is now in the past. 

Park City Staycation

My parents always have a difficult time coming up with a good Christmas present for our family, because we have more toys than we know what to do with and the kids are clothed from closets that are over flowing.  In a family of seven people, clutter is the last thing we need.  This year they came up with the perfect gift- a certificate (in the form of a check and a cute gift card that my dad made) for us to spend a weekend somewhere doing something fun.  We LOVE staycations so this was the ideal gift!!

Last year for our anniversary Cody and I got away for two nights and stayed at Hotel Park City.  That place is unbelievable and they don't skimp at all when it comes to luxury.  They pull out all of the stops!!  When I started hunting around for a fun place for our family to stay in June, I looked into Hotel Park City but for all of us, it was going to be out of our budget.  I called the reservation office and talked to them to see what kind of deal they could cut us.  I guess I called at the perfect time when they were trying to get rooms filled, because they gave us an incredible deal on one of the cottage units.

On the kids' last day of school on June 28th, they came home at 1:30 and we immediately loaded up and drove the 45 minutes up to Park City.  As much as I miss Texas and will never claim to be a Utahn, I can't deny that there are beautiful parts of this state and many of them are only an hour drive from us.  Park City is definitely one of those places! 

After we got checked in an moved into our "cottage", the first thing the kids wanted to do was jump in the huge hot tub sitting on our private deck.  Our view and all the amenities were absolutely amazing!!  After the kids played and played, I ran to the market to load up on groceries for the weekend.  Our unit had a full kitchen so we took total advantage of that.  We didn't have to eat a single meal out.

The next morning we all slept in until about 9:00, which was possible thanks to the black out curtains covering all of the GIANT windows.  We love that our kids are late sleepers.  Luckily we have never had a kid that is up at the crack of dawn if they are not sick or being awakened by someone else.

After yummy breakfast burritos, we headed out to the pool.  This was the first time I'd swam in a salt water pool and it was interesting.  It took some getting used to, that's for sure.  Devin worked on his swimming sans life jacket and did pretty well for a while, but then got tired and wanted to wear it again. 

 

We played and played until it was time to head back to our cottage for lunch at about 2:00.  Then we came back out to the pool and swam the rest of the afternoon.  I taught the kids how to play "categories" which was one of our favorite games to play at our neighborhood pool growing up.  I realized that day that one of the best ways to get a kid to be a strong swimmer is through swimming games.  Marco Polo, Sharks and Minos...etc.  It really is a good way to get them independent in the water.  Lots of other families were at the pool and before the end of the day, we had about 20 other kids playing games with us.  Most of them had never played pool games before and they thought it was a novelty!

When the kids were finally water logged from the pool, we headed back to the cottage.....so they could do MORE swimming in the hot tub.  Geeze, you' think these kids had gills!!  They had fun exploring the beautiful duck ponds around the hotel while I made spaghetti inside. 

Everyone was finally tired and we turned on the TV to find "Apollo 13" showing.  We watched it while I finished up dinner and like always, I cried my eyes out during the movie.  It's one of my all time favorites. 

A vacation wouldn't be complete without a dunk in the jetted tub!!

Uh oh, a bad Mommy forgot to reapply sunscreen after lunch!!

Sunday morning we had donuts for breakfast.  The last day of vacation is always a bummer, but everyone was really sun beaten from the day before.  After breakfast we got all packed up and cleaned the place a little and headed out to explore the hotel property.  The grounds and scenery are pretty breath taking.  Cody and I love it so much that we decided we want to have some sort of 20th wedding anniversary celebration there with our family in a few years.