Rockstar Trimommy!!

So Halloween is a weird day for me.  I am a Christian and grew up in a home where we did not celebrate Halloween.  We always gave out candy (not the good stuff either), but we were not allowed to go trick-or-treating because my parents felt it glorified a day that was about evil.  (They actually called it "Satan's Holiday".)  I always felt left out, and, man, did I want the candy.  The few times I did go out, it was without my parents knowing.  I always thought that when I was a grown-up, I would let my kids participate because, let's face it, the night is really just about the candy, right?

So since my kids have been old enough to wear a costume, they have gone out to collect bucketfulls of sugary treats which, under normal circumstances, would never cross our threshold.  And it's still a mixed bag for me.  On the one hand, I love to see them get dressed up and head out for fun with the neighborhood kids.  On the other hand, I can't stop thinking that I am glorifying a very secular day by letting them head out.

This year, I decided to embrace it despite my conflicted feelings, and even kind of dressed up myself...as a rockstar.

(note the spiky hair and dark eye makeup...hey, I haven't had very much practice

with the costume thing!)

My boys looked cute as ever, but Ryan can't seem to make it to very many houses without a bit of a meltdown.  It's happened the last three years. Tonight after he got home, he said to me, "Maybe I just shouldn't go trick-or-treating anymore."  My heart just broke for him.  He tries so hard to be good, but some things are just hard for him.  Despite the early end to trick-or-treating, they still got tons of candy!!

Ryan the Robot

The cutest bee ever!!

Seriously...how could he be any cuter?

Even the jack-o-lanterns look cute, despite the fact that the squirrels gave

both of them a little face lift.

I managed to stay away from all the candy treats, by eating practically everything else in my house.  This was a night when I definitely would have been off having a little bit of sugar rather than substituting things that just didn't cut it!  Oh well, tomorrow is a new day, and hopefully the buckets of candy will cease their siren call to me!

Team Trakkers 2010!!

It's official...I am going to be on Team Trakkers again in 2010!  Trakkers was an amazing sponsor this year, and next year looks to be even better.  My Trakkers go-to woman, triathlete extraordinaire, Carole Sharpless, is pulling out all the stops and working on getting a great line-up of sponsors to support Team Trakkers in our endeavors, and first on the list is First Endurance, a sports nutrition company.

I am totally excited about First Endurance becuase since I have really been working on my day-to-day nutrition, I think the kind of innovative supplements and racing nutrition that First Endurance has to offer will really enhance my overall fitness and health.  Here is a little blurb from their website describing their mission:

First Endurance was started by two racing fanatics (a cyclist and a triathlete) with a healthy obsession for sports nutrition. The idea was simple. We wanted to give endurance athletes access to formulas that are developed for one specific reason-to maximize endurance performance. At First Endurance, our approach is different. Because of our core values and uncompromising standards, we develop the best products available. We are committed to using only the highest-quality ingredients. We employ the latest technological advancements and demand the finest packaging materials to protect the product from the elements (moisture, oxygen and UV degradation). Only when we are 100% satisfied that these standards are met, do we offer the products to you.

Fanatic--check.

Maximal endurance performance--check.

Uncompromising standards--check.

Highest quality ingredients--check.

It sounds like First Endurance will be a great match for me.  I'm looking forward to trying their products and passing on what I learn to you.  Stay tuned!!!

Beautifully Human

Every Sunday morning, after I have read the paper, while I am enjoying my cup of coffee (or tea, as it was this morning), I like to look at the Sunday Post Secrets.  I think they are so intriguing, and, while I don't always feel comfortable with what some of the secrets say, every now and then there is a secret that just speaks to me.  This week this was the secret that did it.

It reminds my of my good friend, S., who owned a bead and candy shop for a while.  She had a couple of big wooden bowls that contained beads that were considered "imperfect."  She decided, instead of "imperfect", with their little bubbles or cracks that made them unique, that they were "beautifully human."

None of us are perfect, and when I bare my soul on this blog for all to see, I wonder what people might think.  Than things like this remind me, that it is not in perfection that we are beautiful, but in imperfection.  Thank you, Lord, for making me beautifully human.

The Sunday Report

Swim: 4200.00 Yd 1h 32m
Bike: 9.86 Mi 1h 39m 45s
Run: 4.10 Mi 41m 58s
Str: 20m

Total:  4h 13m 43s

It was a beautiful day here, and we celebrated fall with our annual trip to the pumpkin patch.

Kings of the Patch

I think he looks so grown-up here...where did my baby go?

Pumpkin picking is hard work.

My nutrition was good this week.  I earned 19 points.  How are all of you doing?

Have a great week and happy training?

26 Percent

I was just flipping through a magazine called Clean Eating that I picked up at the grocery store.  (Feel free to comment on the fact that just the other day I spoke of my issues with magazines...I definitely have a problem.)  At the top of page 18 there is a little blurb that says a mere 26% of the US adult population eats the recommended 5 or more servings of fruits and vegetables daily.

26 PERCENT?

Can I just say that that number is shocking to me.  Granted, I have been a fruit and veggie fiend since the start of my personal nutrition challenge, but still!  What is going on in our country?

Just to compare, I looked up some other random facts.

• Only 26% of Americans eat enough fruits and veggies, but of married couples, 70% of men and 60% of women have cheated on their spouse.  Really?  Too much cheating on the partner to eat right, I guess.
• On average, 749 pounds of paper products is used by an American individual annually.  Are we eating paper because we sure do go through a lot of it.
• Americans eat 45 million turkeys at Thanksgiving each year.  You'd think that with all the turkey eating we'd get some veggies in too.
• One third of Americans get 47 percent of their calories from junk foods.  Now we are getting to the good stuff. So here is 33% of the population eating junk almost half the time, plus 26% eating good stuff every day, that still leaves 41%.  What are those people doing?
• In real dollars, the price of fresh fruits and vegetables has risen nearly 40 percent since 1985. This is very sad to me.  I heard a piece on the radio the other day about the propsed soda tax in California, and one of the things brought up was the fact that nutritious food is so much more expensive than junk food.  And we wonder why our health care system is in trouble.
• 25 percent of the bones in your body are in your feet.  I was just surprised by this fact...it seems like a lot of bones, yet 26% doesn't seem like very many people eating fruits and veggies...maybe this whole post doesn't make any sense at all...yeah, that's pretty much true for all of my ramblings!!

Eat your fruits and veggies, people.  We've got work to do!

thoughts

Just some random thoughts from the day.

• You know the words that you have to type out when you leave a comment on a blog.  They always seem so close to real words.  For some reason I find them hysterical, and think I need to post about this funny almost word...then I can never remember what the almost word was.
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• I find myself to be such a paradox.  How can I expect anyone else to get me if I don't even get me?
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• Why do I think about myself so much?  Does everyone do this?  Note to self...think about other people more.
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• You know those posts that are 100 things about me (here we go with me again!).  I don't even know if I know 100 things about me.  I had trouble with the list of 25 I did for Facebook.
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• Why is Facebook so addictive?  After a while you sort of get to know what certain people will write, so you don't even really need to read their posts, but, yet, I still do.  Every day.
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• I have issues.  No, literally.  I have about 10 issues of my favorite magazines that I need to read.  I am way behind.  Probably because of Facebook.
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• Speaking of issues with magazines...I love recipes.  Whenever I read a magazine that has a recipe I  like I will rip it out.  Then after a while I have a stack of ripped out magazine pages.  I would say that I usually make about 10% of the recipes.  Why do I do this to myself?  Like I really need one more thing to organize?
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• I ran with Noah in the jogger to drop him off at the babysitter's.  I loved the fact that I was doing two things at once.  Who says multi-tasking isn't efficient?  I've done this a few times, since the babysitter lives about 1/2 mile away.  Since I'm just getting back into running these days, this is the perfect distance for now.  The problem is that I have to push the empty stroller back home.  Without fail, someone always asks me where the baby is.  For some reason, I don't think that is funny at all.
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• I always wait way too long to go to the bathroom.  Why is that?  It's kind of an important thing, and when I wait it certainly isn't comfortable.  It really doesn't take that long to do, and I always feel better after.  It really just doesn't make sense to wait, yet I do almost every single time.
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• I love to see people making healthy choices when it comes to food.  I also judge people that don't make healthy choices.  Why do I care so much about what other people do?
• I am definitely a morning exerciser.  The problem is on the mornings I have to work I can't get up early enough to get my workouts in, so I put them off until the evening and then they are terrible.  I even skipped Masters Swim on Monday night because I was so tired.  Tonight I slogged through 45 minutes on the trainer, but it wasn't pretty.  I've got to come up with a better plan.
• I just spent about an hour putting in the number of minutes read by each child in the 2nd and 3rd grade at my son's school last week.  I saved after every class, and now, for the life of me, I can't find the completed spreadsheet, so I will have to do it again!  I'm a smart person.  Why are some things so hard for me?
• I'm hungry.

Happy training!!

And the winner is...

The winner of the Whoohagear giveaway is Anne!!  Anne has a great blog, Iron Dreams, that chronicles her training and progress toward her first Ironman.  It is less than three weeks away, so go check out her blog and send her a happy taper message!

Thanks to everyone who entered!  I have to say that you guys have great taste in cute clothes.  Don't be so sad if you didn't win, though, you can still head over to Whoohagear.com and get 10% off when you use the code  10WHOOHA09.

Happy training!!

The Sunday Report

This was a crazy stressful week for me, that really just ended a few hours ago with a performance that my flute quartet has been working towards since August.  It went really well, and Kel was even able to come to the concert which was great.  We celebrated by bringing home our favorite white pizza from Avicolli's, and between the two of us and a glass of wine, we ate the whole thing...and it was good (God was definitely up to something when he created that line!).  In our defense, it was a medium, so it could have been worse.  Needless to say, I missed my nutrition goal by one point this week, but, hey, you didn't really think I was perfect, did you???

Anyway, here are the numbers (so happy to see some run minutes this week!!):

Swim: 5300.00 Yd 2h 02m 53s
Bike: 22.41 Mi 3h 27m 05s
Run: 2.28 Mi 26m
Strength/Stretching: 20m

Total:  6h 15m 58s

Nutrition:  17 points (all my points lost were from overeating, btw...and still no sugar!!)

I will be drawing the winner of the Whoohagear giveaway tomorrow, so if you haven't gotten your entry in, you can still enter by posting on a comment on the giveaway post.  Last chance!!!

Happy training!

Look...No Shoes!

I ran today with no shoes.  My plan today was to run/walk 5min./2min twice at the gym after my spin class.  I hopped on the treadmill, and just decided that today would be the day I would try to run without my shoes.

My doctor is actually the person who advised me to do this.  There is a growing group of runners who are running barefoot or with a very minimalist shoe.  The theory behind this movement is that modern running shoes coddle our feet too much, and really keep them from performing the way God made them to perform.  The cushioning in a typical running shoe allows us to run in ways that are really bad for our bodies by "protecting" our feet from the pain they would feel if we didn't have the cushioning.  If you are running barefoot, you will strike with the forefront of your foot and not your heel.  Forefoot striking sets the body up for a smoother stride without decceleration every strike.  I found some great articles and explanations at http://www.barefootrunner.com/.

The first five minutes of my run felt great.  I had very thin socks on since I was running on a treadmill.  My stride was definitely different and much lighter than my stride with shoes.  Even during my two minute walk I noticed that my strike was lighter.  If I tried to walk the way I normally do, I was pounding right on my heel every foot strike.  During the second five minutes I started to feel a hotspot on my right big toe.  I ran through it, but I knew I would have a blister there when I was done.  After the second round, my feet were a little tingly like they feel after a long walk on the beach, and I did have a blister on my toe.  BUT, my foot didn't hurt at all!  I do think my calves will be pretty sore tomorrow, since it almost seemed like I was running on the balls of my feet. I'm really hoping that not only will easing into running barefoot keep me injury-free, but it will also change up my running so I can have a bit of a breakthrough.  I'm definitely due.

There are quite a few shoes made specifically for barefoot-type running.  They protect your feet, without over-cushioning.  I'm going to check these out, and see if any of them are going to be right for me.  Barefoot running is something I will have to ease into.  From my research online, it seems like it takes a good month to be able to feel completely comfortable. Since I am just easing back into running anyway, this will be a great time to give it a try. 

I'll keep you posted!!  Happy training!

Last Chance!!

Tonight is your last chance to enter the Trimommy Giveway for a $30 gift certificate to Whoohagear.com.  To enter go to this post, and leave a comment.

I'll pick a winner tomorrow night, so don't wait!!

Back in Action

This week has been a great week for training for me.  The most important bit of news is that I ran on Monday (ran 4 minutes, walked 2, repeat) and my foot felt fine.  I felt great while I was running.  I think I was a little worried that my cardio fitness wouldn't be where I am used to, but I didn't have any problems and definitely felt like I could have done more. 

Yesterday I went to see Chuck, physical therapist and owner of Multisports Physical Therapy. My doctor prescribed some PT for me, and I wasn't going to go see anyone, but my friend, Maggie, highly recommended Chuck, and I had heard of him through some tri friends, so I made an appointment.  Chuck is a 4-time Ironman, and a huge supporter of the local triathlon community. 

Chuck really gave my feet a great once-over, and then did some deep tissue massage on my right leg and foot.  He did a great job explaining to me how athletes get soft tissue damage, which is basically what an overuse injury is.  He said that when we work out and stress our muscles they tear.  The muscles begin to repair and "dump" muscle fibers in the location with the tear.  Then the muscles align the muscle fibers so the muscle looks like it did before it was torn.  The problem comes from athletes who stress the muscle, let the muscle begin the repair process, but get out and stress the muscle again before it is done aligning the fibers.  The muscle gets torn again, the repair begins again, and a knot begins to form that can affect the surrounding areas.  The only way to work out these knots is to manually work them out.  Now that I know this, I see the benefit of a regular sports massage.  It just makes sense, and is definitely something I'm considering incorporating into my training.

The good news is, Chuck said everything felt good to go!! I'm headed to the gym now to teach spin and then I'm going to hop on the treadmill for a 5m/2m walk/run times 2!!

In other training news, I have had some great swimming this week!  I think I might even be on the verge of a breakthrough.  I was consistently swimming 100s around 1:42ish on Sunday.  Yesterday I did my fastest 1000 yd. time trial at 18:53 which is 1:53/100 yd.  I did this about 20 seconds faster than my last TT.  I am reluctant to say it is definite, but things are feeling really good!!

Have a great week, and happy training!!

Reniger Falls (a.k.a. Niagara Falls)

This past weekend we took a little trip to Niagara Falls.  Ryan has been all about Niagara Falls (or Reniger Falls, as he says) for the past month, so we decided to surprise him and do a little overnight trip there.  Niagara is about 3 hours or so from our house, so it was an easy and fun trip.

The first time I went to Niagara Falls was when my parents drove me to New York to begin grad school in the fall of 1996, so that means I was 22.  Even then I had visions of myself coming to the falls with my children, and that vision put absolute fear in my heart.  I mean, really, there are parts of the park where you can literally step into the river above the falls if you wanted to.  It is absolutely terrifying to me.  When Ryan started talking about how he wanted to go, I was not at all sure if I was ready to bring my children, my wild and crazy and sometimes disobedient children, to a place where, in one fail swoop, they could be going over the falls and gone forever.

To some this may seem like the crazy ravings of a delusional mother, but all you mothers out there know exactly what I'm talking about.  It might not be Niagara Falls for you, but there is something. Right?

Anyway, I decided to tackle my fear head on, and we had a lovely time.  We took a trip on the Maid of the Mist (my first).  It was quite chilly, and Ryan was literally beaming ear to ear the entire time.  Noah, on the other hand, was not so crazy about the boat ride.  I think he shared my fears about the waterfall.  Needless to say, one of us held him the whole time while he looked around in complete, wide-eyed silence.

It was a gorgeous, sunny day and the rainbows were out in full force.  My camera was acting up, and I was worried I wouldn't get any pictures, but, fortunately, I was able to get a few.

The boys had a lot of fun, and I only had one freak-out the whole day.  We were standing on the little island in between the American Falls and the Horseshoe Falls, and we were right up at the edge of the falls (terrifying).  There are only 3 metal rails that separates you from the edge of the falls, and Kel was standing right up against the rail.  I had turned around to wrangle Noah, and out of the corner of my eye I saw Ryan duck under Kel's legs by the rails.  I swear it looked like he was trying to duck under the rail, and I gasped, and I really think my heart might have stopped for a second.  My heart actually hurt for a minute after.  Kel was like, "What is wrong with you??"  And Ryan ran over to climb a nearby tree, which at the time, was totally fine with me because that meant he was not near the waterfall.

This was my 4th time visiting Niagara Falls, and it will never cease to amaze me.  The power and glory of God's creation speaks to my soul, even if it scares the crap out of me at the same time!

The Sunday Report

Here are the numbers:

Swim: 4000.00 Yd  1h 28m 52s
Bike: 25.88 Mi 2h 56m 47s
Stretching/Foam Roller:  15 m

Total:   4h 40m 39s

Nutrition Challenge:  18 points (no overachieving for me!)

I had a great swim today.  I hesitate to call it a swim breakthrough, but I will say that I was swimming consistently faster than I have been in the past.  I am going to Masters Swim again tomorrow night, so that will really be the true test.

This week is a busy week ending with a concert on Sunday.  I do have Thursday off, so I'm looking forward to a very long swim and a long bike, possibly outside if it's nice (the bike, not the swim!).  I am thinking of trying to run for a few minutes this week.  I haven't run in ten weeks, and I'm feeling like it's time.  I was nervous four weeks ago, but I feel like my foot is healed.  My doctor really wants me to do some barefoot running and also look into a less cushioned shoe, so I am going to go over to Fleet Feet this week to see what they suggest in the way of shoes.  I have two pair of Mizunos that each have at least another 150 miles in them.  I'm not sure what I'm going to do.

If you haven't left comments to get entered into the Trimommy Fave Giveaway, head over to this post and get on it!!

Have a great week and, as always, happy training!!

A Trimommy Fave Giveaway!!

As I posted earlier, I just finished the first four weeks of my personal nutrition challenge. I ordered my awesome sweatshirt from Whoohagear.com yesterday, and to celebrate the start of the next four weeks of really clean eating, I have a giveaway for you!!

You can win a $30 gift certificate to Whoohagear.com. To enter, go to Whoohagear.com and check out their cool clothing for sporty women. Leave a comment here on what you would get if you won the gift certificate.

You can also earn three more entries by choosing to follow this blog (let me know in your comment that you follow me), by posting a link on your blog to this giveaway, and by choosing to participate for one week in my nutrition challenge. Just let me know in your comment all of the ways you are entering!

Whoohagear is a women's clothing company started by two female athletes. I had the privilege of racing with one of them, Julie, at Irongirl Syracuse in July. I totally fell in love with their line of sporty, inspirational workout and casual clothes, and I'm sure you will too!!

Get your entries in by Friday, October 16. I will announce the winner on Saturday, October 17. If you don't have a blog, be sure to check back to see if you won!!

A Rare Moment

It's 5:32 p.m. My children are playing together quietly in the basement. I have wheat rolls rising on the counter, and a hearty vegetable soup simmering on the stove. The fireplace is keeping us warm on this cold, wet, windy day. All of the homework is done, and most of the dishes are done.

I'm impressed with myself. I will sit back now, and enjoy this rare moment when all is well in my house. Who knows how long it might last??

The Sunday Report

Here are the numbers:

Bike: 2h 23m 51s 30 miles
Swim: 1h 40m 4350 yds.
Strength/Stretching: 45m

Total: 4h 48m 51s

Hmm...it felt like more...that is just a little too sad for words.

Nutrition: 18 points!!! I'm ordering the sweatshirt tomorrow!

Ben and Molly are joining me in my nutrition challenge. Aren't there more takers out there? Seriously, 4 veggies, 3 fruits, no overeating or splurging??? You can do it, you know you want to!!!

On another note, I had another appointment with my doctor about my foot. Since my vitamin D levels were so low, he wants me to wait another 3-4 weeks before I get back to running. To be honest, I'm totally fine with that. I am very nervous that when I run again, the pain will return. The good news is that my bone scan came back fine, so the official diagnosis is metatarsalgia, which is just a fancy way of saying inflammation in the bones that connect to your toe bones. He wants me to work on strenghening and stretching all of the back muscles of the leg down through the achilles and the heel. He said that a lot of conditions (like plantar fasciitis and achilles tendonitis) are related and stem from weakness and tightness in the hamstrings and calves. Hence, my 45 minutes of strength and stretching this week. I also threw a little bit of core work in there, because I would really like to see my abs by Christmas.

A concert that was totally stressing me out was just cancelled today. I was a little miffed because I spent quite a bit of time practicing this week for the rehearsals that were supposed to begin tonight, but, now that I am off the hook I should be able to get a bit more training in. Of course that was the plan before I found out my babysitter was going to be out all week!! I guess I'll just take it day by day, and hope for some good time in there to train.

Have a great week!

Nutrition Challenge Recap and Update

I have been rocking out my personal nutrition challenge. I feel great, and despite the fact that my training is way down in volume, I have actually lost 3 pounds!!

Anyway, I keep trying to get people to jump on my bandwagon, and just in case you are new to my blog, or maybe you have been putting off getting healthy and eating right, or maybe you forgot what the challenge is, I am giving the details again. (I'm also working on some sort of giveaway for those who participate, but don't join because of that because nothing is definite yet!)

Kelly's Nutrition Challenge

• Earn up to three points a day.
• Earn one point for eating 4 veggies.
• Earn one point for eating 3 fruits.
• Earn one point for not overeating or splurging (this includes desserts, junk, and healthy food!)
• The weekly goal is 18 points, which means you can splurge or not eat fruits and veggies 3 times during the week!!

I am just finishing up my 4th week tomorrow, and I am rewarding myself with a great sweatshirt from Whoohagear.com. I will begin another four weeks on Monday.

Are you with me??

September in Numbers

Bike: 9h 1m 19s 96.34 miles
Swim: 5h 46m 15800 yds
Strength: 25m
Yoga: 1h

Total: 16h 12m 19s

30 days with no sugar

4 weeks meeting my nutrition goal of 18 or more points (I'm not going to count, but that's a lot of fruits and veggies!)

9 rehearsals

1 recording session

4 concerts

62 women who signed up for our new women's endurance group at the Y

2 members of my household registered for Ironman Syracuse 70.3...yes, 2!

1 first grader in my home, with all the homework that comes with it

3 more weeks of no running

31 days in the month ahead to be a good mommy, swim-bike-run(by the end of the month), practice, teach, laugh, sleep, eat right, and love on my family (plus whatever else comes to mind!)

Happy training!