Damn Cake!!!

So it's been a bit of a rough week!

Last week was my daughter's 9th Birthday - can't believe she's 9!!!
I geared myself for the cake - had a pep talk about it, "just have a piece and walk away".

I did just that - had a piece and walked away.... then came back, snuck another small piece,
again and again till it was finally gone! I had some help from the family - what I'm most mad about it
how I slipped back into my old ways. How I threw the pep talk right out the window. I was like a crazed woman on the hunt for that damn thing. Ugh!!!

I was all hopped up on sugar for like 3 days - couldn't shake my feeling for wanting more and more.
It's a sickness!!! People laugh at me when I say I'm addicted to sugar... but it's true!!! I really believe I am!
I calls me all hours of the day and night - my head can't think of anything else when I know there is sugar in the house. I seek it out, I find it, I down it. I feel good at the moment - then horrible when I snap out of it. "What is wrong with you?? Why are you doing this? Seriously, get a grip!!"

The weekend was finally over - the sugar out of the house but I'm still feeling like I'm coming off of my sugar binge. Mad at myself for falling into those old traps. But this time I know more than ever how it affected me. It's just best for me at this stage of the game to stay away from all things with that amount of sweetness. I'm not one of those people that can just have a little chocolate to satisfy my craving... It only makes me want more. So That's It! I'm done with cake!!! Damn CAKE!!!

COACH!!!

I have a COACH!!!

She's great - she's full of knowledge and experience.
I met her last year when I joined her Triathlon class - I didn't do so well in the class.
The time of day was difficult for me with home life and the business. But I liked her and
thought maybe I'd try the class again some time.

So after my last race I contacted her - and let her know what my future goals were.
I was hoping she wouldn't laugh at me. Guess what? She didn't!! She was more than
happy to meet with me and form a plan.

I'm so scared to get stuck back in the same rut I was in before. Slipping into the winter - not much exercise, eating bad, bad sleep. I needed a plan to get me through - so my friend talked me into a 1/2 Marathon!

Yeah - never thought about it before, but why not?? I'm doing ok with my running, gotten over my IT injury, it's local and I've got 10 weeks to get ready.

So I'm signed up and working my way towards this new goal. I think this will be a great way to keep me motivated thru October.

Laurie (my Coach) wanted to run with me last Friday to see how I would do and maybe give me some pointers. I was so nervous. I'm a pretty slow runner - 12min  miles or so. But she's great - she stuck right with me the entire time and gave me some great things to think about and work on when I'm training alone.

We went for 6.5 miles!!! Her plan for me is to be on the conservative side for my first race. So far the plan is to run 8mins, walk 2mins.  - I felt great after the run. We practiced drinking Gatorade and water.
I didn't even get sore the next day. What is up with me?? This isn't the old Holly for sure!
On top of that - I've got CALF MUSCLES!!! Yeah, you can see them when I flex. Now that's improvement!!!

Next weeks training schedule:
Monday- run 5 with 7-8 pickups
Tues - bike or swim 40-60mins
Weds - Track Class + 2miles
Thurs - swim
Friday - 7.5 mile run

Been awhile...

So I haven't written for awhile. It's been a busy summer.

A quick update on the last two races of the year that I competed in:

Oshkosh - My sister and I woke up to a loud thunderous morning - rain, lightning, wind!!!

We were camping in the Green Bay/Oshkosh area - everything sounds worse in the camper, but when we got out of bed... it really was horrible outside. We waivered back and forth as to if we should go or not - or if they'd even continue with the race.

We did get out of bed - got dressed and headed out. We both knew we'd be disappointed with ourselves if we didn't go. So we headed out in the storm, got to the event, worked our way to the registration tables. It was fairly unorganized due in part to the rain. Everything went as scheduled in hopes of the skys clearing up. But at that point... the weather wasn't looking good. They tried to body mark us - but the ink could barely stick to our wet arms and legs.

We racked our bikes and really started to second guess if we should just pack it up and go home. The rain stopped but the wind kicked in! The transition area was about to close so we needed to make a decision. ....the weirdest thing happened. The dark skies over the lake suddenly cleared up and the sun started to peak out from the clouds. We couldn't believe it and took it as a sign to stay.

We got ready for the swim - We were in one of the last waves, witch left us plenty of time to get our nerves worked up. Those bouys always look so far out in the water.

The swim went ok - I swallowed water probably 3 times, cough, hack... lifeguard thought I was going down, I'm ok.... repeat. Finally got out of the water and ran to transition. Got on my bike and took off. The roads were still slick from the rain so I took it a little slower in spots.

It was the most windy ride I've ever been on. It felt like no matter what direction you were going, it was into the wind! Finally got done with the bike and transitioned into my running shoes. For the first time in 9 races... I really had to go to the bathroom!!! I didn't really know what to do! Headed to the nearest porto and plugged my nose. Grosss!!!!

Felt like it took forever to get out of there. Ugh - still grosses me out!

Onto the run it was - right off the bat I felt good! My legs felt good, my heart/lungs wern't in over drive for once. Maybe that porto did me some good after all. ;)

Just about to round the first turn with I hear... "go Holli"... our Mom drove all the way up to Oshkosh to see Shell and I race. That was really cool and such a surprise!!! The run was GREAT! I've never felt so ok with running in my life. I had been working on running the most over the summer and the two races before Oshkosh were disasterous runs for me.

The corse was really nice - couple of rolling hills but nothing major.

Someone even said to me... "I'm trying to keep up to you - your keeping me going". She looked like me a year ago. It was her first race... hopefully not her last.

Who would have thought someone would be ever trying to keep up to me???

Passed Shell on the way - her goal was to not cry... she had been dealing with a hairline fracture on her foot all summer. She pushed through anyways and looked AWESOME!!! And no tears!!

I finished feeling the best I've ever felt on a race. My times weren't great, but I was happy with the way I felt. 2:03 was my time.

Swim: 00:14:05.1, T1: 8 00:03:38.2 Bike: 01:05:40.2 T2 00:04:00.9 Run: 00:36:27.9

LAST RACE of the YEAR:

The last race was the Silver Lake race in Portage, WI.

It was a race that Shell & I had done the year before and I wanted another shot at it.

The weather was GREAT! A little on the cool side and fairly cloudy. Perfect in my book!

I was on my own for this one. Shell wasn't there - my Mom was on vacation. Jer & the Kids were sleeping.

Got in the water and tried my hardest to go as fast as I could. Finished fine. Got on the bike and tried to push it as much as I could - until I got stuck behind a chic on a mountain bike going 2 miles per hour thru a construciton zone that we were not allowed to pass through. Uggggh!!! The bike was great - a bit more hilly than I remember it, but it was fine. There is always one hill at the turn around that is crazy huge! Huge for me anyways... but I made it without too much of a fight. :) Finished the bike - tried to rack my bike when the whole rack fell apart! Yeah, nice. Some nice guy that had already finished the race helped put it back together as I was rushing to get out of transition. Got on the run and immediately hit the first uphill.

That always sucks when you have an uphill right at the start, but it was fine - what goes up must come down right? Part of the run was on an airport landing strip - but we had to run in the grass next to it ... un-mowed grass that is. Little harder than I thought. At the last .5 or so... my hip and knee started aching. I injured my IT band (ligiment that goes from the hip to knee) the Monday before the race. Finished strong though and was suprized to see my 3 beautiful girls and awesome Hubby at the finish line!!! I was happy to be done with the race - it was hilly and hard. I had been training for so long and I was ready to give it a break for a little while. BUT more than that I really wanted to beat last years time. Last year my sister Shell and I came in second to last out of everyone there with a time of 2:18! Ouch!!! I was hoping to cut off a good 15 mins or so this year.

Drum Rollllllll........ 1:51:03!!!! I cried! I'm still so much behind the middle of the pack... but what an increadible way to end the year!!! It was really tough and I felt like I had made major improvements!!

That's 27 mins off of last years time!!! Wahooooooo!!!!

Here's the breakdown:

SWIM: 10:28, T1 1:51, BIKE: 58:38, T2 1:58, RUN: 38:10

1:51:03