The Smell of Accomplishment

Thanks again to all of you who are reading and following my blog. I'm really honored. I'm writing this blog with rubbery, shaky arms today. If you remember from the last time I wrote, my goal was to run three days this week and swim two days. Well, I did it! (training log here if you care) But boy am I tired today. I just finished swimming and I struggled. Big time. The struggle possibly came from working out five days this week and/or too many glasses of wine last night (and possibly the dirty martini). I also think I struggled because I did my laps in the deep end for the first time. I always swim in the lanes where I can touch and somehow that's easier, even though I really never touch down while doing the laps. Knowing I can though is a mental thing, I guess.  Swimming in the deep end adds another layer of not only exertion (I firmly believe it is physically harder to swim in the deep end) but also a layer of stress. When you're already struggling to swim well and you look down and the bottom is so far, far away a type of panic sets in and makes it much harder to swim. I did it though, and in style - I finally bought a swim cap! A hot pink one, in fact. As if I weren't already a spectacle. My dear, sweet husband told me that the swim cap will help my speed because it cuts down on the resistance. Yeah, that's my problem. My hair is slowing me way, way down. He's so cute.

One of my favorite things about swimming is the smell of chlorine. I know a lot of people don't like it, but I love that smell. I love driving home after a swim and the whole car smells like chlorine and when I get in the next time, I can still smell it faintly. I have this crazy theory...I have really bad eyesight and have since I was a little kid. So my theory is that all of my other senses are really acute because they are making up for my bad eyesight. Even though I wear contacts and glasses, I'm still always aware that if something happened to them, I would be seriously screwed because I can't see. So, because of that, I have extremely keen senses of smell and hearing. Crazy theory but I believe it. We all associate smells with feelings and memories. I smell onions cooking in butter and I'm right back in my childhood kitchen with my mom cooking. I can smell Spring coming on the first warm day. I can smell rain before it pours. And the smell of chlorine is equated in my mind as the sweet smell of accomplishment. The first thing I did to train for this triathlon was to start swimming again and that smell of chlorine is a reminder that you just have to start with one toe in the water and the next thing you know, you're swimming 700 meters. Maybe not a huge accomplishment to some people, but the Rocky theme is playing in my head.

It's hard not to worry about people judging you, though. I had a bad experience at a super-mega-sports store over the weekend. I went in looking for body glide and to see if there were any workout clothes on clearance because people are going to start handing me change pretty soon if I keep going out in the "workout" clothes I wear right now. The sales associate wouldn't ask me if I needed anything, even though she looked me dead in the eye as I was clearly looking around for the body glide that I couldn't manage to locate. In case you don't know, Body Glide is a magic potion that looks like deodorant that you put on places that chafe easily while working out to stop that from happening. I won't describe those places as I'm sure you can imagine. Anyway, once I finally asked her where the body glide was, she walked me over to the men's section and showed me the body glide for men. She then looked at me skeptically and told me in a doubtful tone that they also had body glide for woman if I was looking for me, which she surely believed wasn't the case. I wanted to snarkily tell her that I really needed that body glide this morning when I ran 3.13 miles but instead, I nodded and said, yes, it's for me and was feeling really shitty that I let this super-mega-sports store sales associate make me feel like I was in the wrong place. I'll mentally flip her off when I finish the triathlon on June 12.

So, on a positive note, my goal is to do the same workout this week: 3 days running, 2 days swimming and if it gets nice out and I can fit in a bike ride, I'll do that too, and I won't forget the body glide.

Have a great week!

Is That a Regulation Flotation Device?

Thanks to everyone who is reading my blog! I've received some really positive feedback so far and I appreciate it a lot. This whole thing (training, blogging, putting myself out there) is still pretty scary, but it's also fun to think about what I am going to write about while I am training; takes my mind off of the pain and wheezing. When I was swimming today, for example, I was thinking that one plus side of being a plus-sized triathlete is that the extra flab on my ass helps keep my back end up so I don't have to use my legs quite as much and I can focus on working my arms instead. That will be helpful the day of the race so I don't have rubber legs starting the bike leg (that will come after the bike leg when I try to run 4 miles after a 14.5 mile bike ride). Is that positive thinking, or what?

The Batavia Triathlon is a "Sprint" distance triathlon, but is a little longer than a traditional sprint distance. In a traditional sprint distance triathlon, it's a 400 meter swim, a 12.5 mile bike and 5K run. The Batavia Triathlon is the same swim but a 14.5 mile bike and a 4 mile run; thanks a lot, Batavia. Now, you may be saying to yourself, "That's not that much difference", but you try it and then we'll talk. Anyone who has made any attempt at running knows that there is a big difference between 3.1 and 4 miles...even more so after swimming and biking. I'm sure it will be just fine though, right? Right?

I thought I would share with you some of the resources I've been using to help train. The first and most important one is the book, "Slow Fat Triathlete" by Jayne Williams. She really could have written that book just for me and was a huge inspiration for me to start this blog. She also wrote me back when I posted on her Facebook wall, which I thought was super cool of her. She really made me feel okay for wanting to do this again and being horribly out of shape. Jayne if you ever read this blog, I owe you a beer next time you are in Chicago. Thank you.

Another great resource is runkeeper.com. One of my dearest friends, Meg, who is a super runner, uses it and turned me on to it. It's a great way to keep track of your training and you can create a Street Team of other people who are doing the same race as you to keep each other motivated. I love it. You can follow my training (if you care at all, and truly, it's not that impressive thus far) here. It uses GPS on your smartphone for tracking your running and biking and you can manually input things like swimming or treadmill running. I just started using it and it has been a great way to keep track of my training and admire my Street Team's efforts, which are impressive.

Throughout this blog I will post other stuff I find useful which will hopefully become useful to you.

We're coming in to the beginning of Spring and this past week the weather was really beautiful. I did a "run" (in my world that is walking/slow jogging) outside in shorts and a t-shirt. It was heaven and it almost felt like I had the mythical "runner's high". Yes, all of you elite runners, I know it exists for you with your long gazelle like strides but I've never experienced it. Once. Ever. You all lie! No, seriously though, I've never experienced runner's high but it was so beautiful out Thursday night and I was so happy to have more than just my eyes exposed while outside that I could have gone twice the distance I did. I didn't though because I didn't want to injure myself, but I was a happy, happy girl.

My goal for this week is to run three times and swim twice. I may try to get a bike ride in there too but that is my strongest leg so I am focusing more on the swim and run for now to get some fitness back. I'll share one last thing with you today and then wish you farewell for now. This is a smoothie I drink after a work out and it is a total energy booster for me:

Post workout smoothie

1 cup vanilla almond milk (can sub soy or regular milk)

1 cup frozen fruit (I'm totally in to strawberries right now)

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tbsp honey or agave nectar (can sub any sweetener but may need to use more or less depending on your taste)

2 tbsp ground flax seed

Put everything into a blender and whiz until smooth. It won't be completely smooth because of the flax seed but I love the texture of it. Also, I make mine dairy-free because dairy makes me phlegm-y and while that is unpleasant enough on it's own, it's even worse after a workout for some reason. Isn't phlegm a funny word? Anyway, sorry for that ADD moment. Have a good week!

Swim, bike, blog?

I'm Jen. I'm 36 years old. I'm 75 pounds overweight. I'm a Triathlete. Wait, whaaaaa? Yep, I'm a Triathlete. Or a soon-to-be-Triathlete. A Triathlete-in-waiting. No, a Triathlete-in-training. Yes, that's it...a Triathlete-in-training. A Big Girl Triathlete-in-training. Whew, there's a dubious title if I ever heard one. To be honest though, this isn't my first Triathlon. It was almost 9 years ago that I did my first (and only) Triathlon. It was the Danskin Womens Triathlon Series in Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin on July 14, 2002. I barely trained except for the run (I was actually a relatively good runner back then) and rode a bike I bought at Wal-Mart for $50 that had a large, clanking lock stuck to it because I lost the key to it. It was one of those bikes that had tires that sounded like a car's and weighed about 10,000 pounds. At least that's what it felt like trying to hoist that thing around in the transition area (the same transition area where my arm got stuck in my sports bra because guess what, it's impossible to put one on when you're soaking wet). When I say I barely trained, I mean I was totally clueless. I had absolutely no idea what I was doing, or what I had gotten myself into back then when I was a mid-twenties, single girl in the city. This picture is me in the last leg of the Triathlon. Don't I look happy? I was dying. Hot, jelly-legged, out of breath, dying. But I was happy. It was the biggest athletic feat I have ever accomplished in my life, still to this day; 400 meter swim, 12.5 mile bike and a 5K run. All in a row! I know, nuts, right? I was still a big-ish girl back then, but I was in pretty great shape.

Fast forward to March 2011. I'm pushing 40, married, and a suburbanite who is happier than I've ever been. Oh, yeah, and fatter than I've ever been. The old saying, "fat and happy" didn't come from nowhere, you know. I have the best husband, best family, best friends. I love my job, love where I live. Everything is great, except for that whole fat part. Oh, and did I tell you I hate to exercise? Well, maybe hate is a strong word. I don't love to exercise. I am inherently a slacker. I am very successful...published author, have a dream job, make good money, happy marriage, family and social life, nice home...so I wouldn't call myself lazy, per se. But I do love a good long veg-out in jammie pants and a t-shirt, sitting on my big fluffy chair watching a marathon of Real Housewives of Insert City Name. So no, I don't jump out of bed every morning and spring into my running shoes and sing to the birds as I pound out mile after mile. I squeeze my tonnage into two, yes count them, two sports bras, ill-fitting workout pants and a XXL t-shirt to hide as much jiggling as I can and haul my carcass out to wheeze my way through a couple of miles. I hide in the bathroom stall at the pool to change and get in the pool as quickly as I can so the Michael Phelps look-a-like high-school swim team who is practicing two lanes over doesn't have much to gawk at. Like they're looking anyway, but in my mind the place is dark and there is a huge spotlight on me and the WWF announcer is booming over the loud speaker, LET'S GET READY TO GIIIIIIIIIIIIGLE! That's just all in my head. Right?

Anyway, this is my first blog (EVER) and I thought it would help me work out my issues as I trained and possibly give you a laugh or two as I work my way up to the June 12, 2011 Batavia Triathlon (www.bataviatriathlon.org) in Batavia, Illinois where I live. Yep, I'm doing it again and telling all of you about it. I've always been scared to blog because I don't like to put myself out there too much but thought I needed something else to help me along the way. So, this is it. My blog. Big Girls Don't Tri...or do they? I hope you enjoy it.