A Rough Week

It's been a rough week for me. I've really been lacking in the motivation department. I gave in to temptation nearly every time I was faced with it, specifically this weekend. (I really struggle at Nell's house! I love her and her family, but I give myself free reign pretty much every time!)

I know I need a break. I just need to finish out the last bit of the Arrowhead Challenge, then I'm really (truly, I promise), going to take a step back. I've been pushing myself really hard for quite a while now. I think I need a week of down time. I'm sure at least some of you reading this are rolling your eyes, but I really do plan on taking a week and relaxing. I think it'll help me get back in to the swing of things.

Part of my struggle has been the "bounceback" from the end of the Thunderbird Challenge. It's hard to lose all that weight (even though I know the stuff at the end was water weight), and then almost immediately gain a large chunk back. I managed to work most of it off again, but it's still really frustrating.

Speaking of the Thunderbird Challenge (aka Westside Fitness Challenge), I found out that I got 2nd place overall! Not too shabby. I'm not going to lie, I was a bit disappointed. Not really that I got second place, but that I didn't win the money! :c) Second place won 3 free personal training sessions. I wish I could just cash that out! Blah. Oh well, second is nothing to sneeze at!

On Monday, Brian helped me run my mile in 7 minutes and 45 seconds! It was great! I am glad that he is willing to help me do stuff like that. He's been a good supporter of my desire to run. He has a weakness for brownies, so his help is easily bought. :c) I'm going to be coaching him on his swimming coming up here soon. He's going to be in a triathlon in three weeks, and needs a bit of direction in that department. I'm just the girl for the job!

Someone I really don't ever talk about is my main trainer, Caleb. He has trained me since I started at Pure Fitness. He started up his own training business, and left Pure Fitness back in February. He is much, much more affordable. Part of the reason I've not talked about him is that I don't want people to think I'm crazy with all the different people I work with. Anyway, he has been so patient with me lately! Drunk Zombie and Overly Emotional Sarah take a lot out on him. Especially last week! I need to find a way to give him some love. I would really like to find a new client for him, so if anyone out there knows someone who might be interested, let me know!

Not a very organized post this week, I know, but you'll get more coherent posts in the future, I promise! 10 more days to go...

Fitness Challenge-o-rama

Things are getting ugly people. I am spending inordinate amounts of time drooling over cookbooks on Amazon and making baked goods for my loved ones! I suppose I'm feeling a bit deprived! Let's just pretend that the cookie dough incident from last night never happened. :c)

I had my final weigh in for the Thunderbird fitness challenge on Thursday. I know that I'm in the top two for that club. We find out the results on Tuesday night. I'll keep you posted! The final weigh in for the Arrowhead challenge is on the 15th of September. I'm so looking forward to that!

Things have been a bit hairy. I'm not really remembering things the way that I used to. I've become heavily dependent on my phone's calendar feature. I was deep in drunk zombie mode most of the week. There were also several appearances of Short-tempered Overly-emotional Sarah. *cringe* I am definitely retiring from the competitive weight-loss circuit after this. Only two and a half more weeks! I can do it!

This past week, they've started calling me two new nicknames at the gym. Taylor (one of the trainers) calls me Buffasauras. He's been really funny lately. He walks by my treadmill and ups the speed or incline every time! He has a client named Debbie that I really like and try to encourage. I think he appreciates that. Anyhow, the other nickname is "The Beast". Multiple people have called me that, seriously just in the past week. One of them is Jose. He was showing some people around the gym and I overheard him calling me that as I ran by during Saturday Seminar.

I'm not sure how I feel about being called The Beast. I mean, I like the way my body is changing and developing and becoming leaner, but do I really want to be something that equates to an animal? Not sure.

Sad news... Cameron, the trainer who brought you the Bootcamp Challenge as well as the teacher of the morning classes I take, has quit and found another job. :c( SAD DAY! I really enjoy his classes, and am concerned about who his potential replacement will be. If it is who I think it is, I'm going to need to rethink my morning workouts. Blah.

Triathlete, Check!

So, I did it! I completed my very first, mostly awesome triathlon! Sorry for the delay in race report. The first week of school with kids messed with my head a bit. My calorie-deprived brain can only handle so much! Let's begin the saga, shall we?

Our road trip to Oceanside had an ill-fated beginning, as they always seem to have. As we approached Buckeye, I realized that I left my wetsuit and my bike helmet in my car back at the house. That put us WAY behind schedule. We turned around, had dinner at home, and headed back out. The end of that story is that we didn't get in to Jimmy's (Whitney's brother) house until nearly 2am. Yay! Triathlon on three hours of sleep. Has a nice kind of ring to it, don't you think? :c)

Up we got at 5, ordered a bland but carb-packed breakfast from Denny's, and headed to Camp Pendleton, which was not far away at all. It was easy to find, we just followed all the fancy bikes that I could pay off my student loans with. :c) I went through the lines and picked up my swim cap and race packet, and transponder, got my age, military status (civilian), and division written on my calves, hugged Whit goodbye, and went to set up in the transition area.

We were assigned areas by which wave we were in. My group was 13, the last wave. I racked my bike, spied out how others set up their spots, copied what I thought would be most useful, and chatted a bit with my fellow competitors. On the rack next to me was a woman named Carol. She asked me how many tri's I'd done, and I of course told her none. She gave me great tips on how to swim in the ocean, seeing as I'd never done that before either. She was a life saver!

I eased myself into my wetsuit with surprising grace, made my way down to the beach, and watched the other waves go off. I practiced swimming out and diving under the waves while I waited for my wave. Thank heavens for Carol! It was the best advice she could have given me. My wave's time finally approached. We all had lime green swim caps. I'll admit to being disappointed they weren't orange. :c) We all cheered on the two waves before us, then when it was our turn to go, cheered ourselves as we took off!

I decided the best approach was to NOT get hit in the face by my jostling co-competitors, so I hung back a bit before entering the water. By the time we were going, the waves were ginormous! So thankful I practiced. Everyone commented afterward how difficult it was going out. There was also a current pulling us to the right, which made tracking the buoy difficult. The guards out in the water kept shouting, "To the left!!" I ended up a bit off course, but was able to correct myself. Once I rounded the first buoy, the swimming was easy and rhythmic. After rounding the second buoy, things got interesting. The waves as I approached the shore were something else! I ended up being spun head-over-heels by one, but stayed calm and swam to the surface. I made it to shore in one piece, ran with jelly-legs across the beach, and moved to my first transition.

In the transition area, I was relieved to see most of the bikes from my wave still on the rack. I peeled off my wetsuit, dithered a bit about what to do next, downed a sports drink, threw on some shorts, my shoes and socks, grabbed my bike, forgot to take off my cap and goggles, threw them back to my spot, and jogged with my bike out of the transition area. Yay! Bike time! This I knew would be one of my strongest areas, but also what I feared the most. My greatest fear, getting a flat tire. I prayed literally that my tires would hold, that they wouldn't be damaged. If I had gotten a flat, there would be no way to fix it. I would have to run with my bike the rest of the course. Eek! Thank the heavens that I didn't get a flat. I was so grateful!

I really enjoyed the bike portion. I was a bit saddle sore during the race, but didn't have any lasting soreness afterward. I made sure I cheered on every person that passed me, as well as encouraged those who I passed. It made the whole experience that much more fun. There were Marines posted every half-mile or so. Some held signs that said "Slow" when we approached sharp turns. I told them, "Oh, don't worry, I'm plenty slow." They just laughed. :c)
The hills weren't too bad. There were a few that I needed to stand up from my seat to climb, but otherwise, it was pretty great! I downed a bag of Jelly Belly sport beans, which are basically Gatorade in jelly bean form. They worked great! I approached the end of the bike, was raucously cheered on by Whitney, hopped off, and quickly discovered that I no longer knew how to walk properly. So I limp, limp, limped into the transition area and asked the volunteers where the leg transplants were. :c)

My second transition was much quicker than my first. I just racked my bike, forgot to take off my helmet, ran back to put it where it belonged, and was off for the run. I was still trying to get my land legs working at the beginning, but after the first half mile or so I was able to pull myself together. The run was mostly flat, as it was just on the roads and parking lots around the base. I walked maybe a total of a quarter mile, which I'm pretty darn proud of.

The Marines along the way encouraged us, and sometimes told us to attempt to pass one another. It was fun! I approached the finish line, put on the afterburners, and finished! Yay! I had my transponder removed, and headed out of the chute to see Whit. She cheered and took pictures. She did a great job!

We wandered around the venue for a bit, picking up free things and getting a banana and some water. On a whim, we decided to check the race results. When I went over there, there were no results in for my division (Athena) yet. I started to get excited at that point. There was a small inkling of hope that I placed high in my division. I said, "I'm going to pack up my stuff, then let's come back and check them again." So off I went down to the transition area, packed up my disorderly mess, and schlepped it back up the hill to the car.

We put it all away, then went back to check the results again. I approached the tent, checked the spot for my division, and saw my name in third place! I jumped and shouted and cheered! I was so excited! Whit and I went to pick up my medal, which was so exciting! The girl who handed out the medals, not so much excited, but that's ok! It was awesome! More pics and other nonsense after that.

We went back to car, and I called and texted people who I thought would be interested, and probably several people who really weren't. It was great to talk to my family a feel their support.

It was a pretty awesome experience overall. The only difficulty I had was my gimpy shoulder, which didn't trouble me at all during the race, but hurt pretty bad when I was done. The ibuprofen took the edge off, and it was all ok.

My boss at school made a point of telling big chunks of the school about my tri awesomeness, so the kids have been cheering me and asking to see my medal. It's been a great start to school!

I Apparantly Look Like the Daughter of Myself, and Other Revelations

I've been a lazy blogger. Sorry people! I shall repent and do better!

Things are getting crazy people! :c) This week, we mourn the loss of my long-time friend, my Wonder Woman t-shirt. It was a very hard worker, putting in two, sometimes three shifts a week. It was a mercy retirement. Just couldn't get it smelling normal again. The ladies in the class I go to in the morning are pretty disappointed though. We need to find a suitable replacement! I think I need to get crafty.

I rented a wetsuit this week. That was a fun, strange experience. If you've never wrestled your way into a wetsuit, and you've not done your cardio for the day, I'd highly recommend you go try one on. For extra credit, try on one with sleeves. :c) Anywho, I went to Triple Sports in Scottsdale to rent and try on the thing. The woman in the store who helped me was awesome, and very encouraging. It's a great little store, but so very far away! I wish there was one like it on my side of the Valley. Ah well.

I also went out and bought a new pair of running shoes. I went to a store called Road Runner Sports while I was clear in the heck over in Scottsdale (for the 2nd time in a week). They had this cool high-speed camera thingy that films how you run, then they use a computer to measure the pressure you put on your feet, and they match you up with the right shoes. I'm now the proud owner of a pair of Nike Triax. I've been running in Asics for a while, so it'll be cool to try something different. The people who work at that store are great fun too. One of them recommended a race in October called the Cactus Chacha, which is held in the White Tanks. I really think I'll do that race, since I've been working on my trail running skills. Yesterday, I ran the trail at Pinnacle Peak (again, in Scottsdale). The weather was AMAZING yesterday. It was the perfect day to run that trail. So much awesomeness! The pics above are from that run (my head looks so tiny in them. Weird! Isaac is on the left, Jose is on the right).

Over the past week, I replaced my id's as well. I spent a very unproductive hour and a half at the DMV to replace my driver's license. Then, I went to the District offices to get a new work id. The woman there was so funny! She pulled up my profile on the computer, gave me a strange look, and said, "Is this picture of you?" I just started laughing. She said, "You've lost weight! You look like the daughter of this person!" It was so funny!

I was talking to someone about how people treat me differently now that I'm smaller. I couldn't really describe what the difference was, but I figured out at least part of it yesterday. I went to the mall and there were sales in several of the stores. I went in to Aeropostale, where they were having a sale on t-shirts. The salesperson there came up to me and said, "How are you today? Can I help you find your size?" And then it hit me. I've not been asked that in one of those stores before. Usually, they would say something like, "Can I help you find something?" Never before have they asked me to help me find my size. I only put that together because the same thing happened in American Eagle. It's really a small thing, I know, but it is one of those things that makes a difference! Something most people wouldn't notice or think about. It was an interesting day yesterday!

So, this is going to be a pretty big week for me. We are reporting back to work this week. I get to set my classroom up and all that stuff. I'm glad to be going back, somewhere deep inside. When I find that place, I'll let you know. :c) At least I like the people I work with! Especially the short ones. :c)

The triathlon is this lovely Saturday. So excited! I should be getting my packet this week with my swim cap and timing chip. Don't worry, I'll have lots of pictures for everyone. Keep me in your thoughts! I can use all the extra help I can get!

The Fitness Challenge stuff is all going according to plan. I've been busy juggling all my supplements, workouts, and meal plan stuff, but I am doing pretty good. Drunk Zombie Sarah briefly made an appearance earlier this week on Wednesday during Bootcamp, but I was able to combat that with a protein shake. Whew! Be wary that she's out there, consider her dumb and not very dangerous to anyone but herself. :c)