Iron Man - Stomach bug and bike rides

Being to true to my commitment about blogging more about my training, I decided to do it in weekly increments, so 1- I don't bore you to death and 2- there isn't enough to say that won't cause boredom.

Iron Man Training 5 weeks left of training...

Monday - Swam 40 laps. This was not "hard" it's just very time consuming. It takes me about 50min - to 1 hour to swim this distance. 50 min if I do not stop and chat with my friend Angie, which always happens, unless she shows up late which happened this day and then I had 15 laps in by the time she came, so then after 10 min of chatting I started again. I realized that swimming is not physically hard for me it's just really long. I am nervous for the day of the race because it's going to be very cold. It's in a lake and we had snow this week, so I don't think that lake is going to warm up much in 4 weeks. I will wear a wetsuit which will help some but regardless, being in the cold water and no way of getting out or warming up is going to be the biggest obstacle of the swim, at least that's what I am thinking. Who knows? Maybe I will encounter some lake alligator that will try and take me down, that would prove to be a much bigger obstacle for sure, but may end the agony faster, by drowning me!

Tuesday - Nothing. I normally run with my friend on Tuesday but she switched it and it's throwing me off. I did plan on going biking and then for a short run after, but the weather got really cold, and I am a big baby when it comes to cold weather. Again, another reason I am nervous about the swim.

Wednesday - Stomach Flu. Oh how lovely, I started feeling sick Tuesday night while visiting with our friends, by the time we left to drive home I was so sick! I moaned and groaned all night, texted my friends that I couldn't work out the next day, and stayed in bed all day.

Thursday - Nothing. Still didn't really care, I am still recovering right? Although I felt great I just didn't want to work out.

Friday - Panic. Okay now I am starting to panic. I should work out but I just don't want too, yet I can't really use the sick excuse still. Really I wasn't sure what to do even if I did work out. I didn't want to run, I had an 8 miler planned for tomorrow. I didn't really want to bike, I had a 50 miler planned for tomorrow. So I just went to my kids track meet, cheered them on and enjoyed "Cherry Berry" afterward, not happily though the guilt was really starting to come on.

Saturday - 8 mile run, 4 hour break for soccer games, 46 mile bike ride. The run was great, it felt good to get out, to visit with my new/old friend Stephanie that has joined our running group. Darrin and I then decided to go for a 50 mile bike ride. The wind was blowing against us, too the point that it felt like the downhill wasn't even relief. We got to our turn around point and I was tired. I decided to try a book on tape, and started biking home, the route flew by. We now had the wind on our side and my mind was entertained. We got home at a pretty good time. It took us 3 hours and 15 min to bike 46 miles (Darrin got 50 miles!). I figure the race day it will take me 4 hours to complete the bike ride.

OH! update on my shoulder. Right before the ride I had a strong feeling to try riding without my camelback, to see if it would relieve some of the pressure I was feeling on my arm and shoulder. I had been doing stretches all week and guess what?! My shoulder felt great! It was awesome, so I am not going to be riding with a camelback anymore and hope that problem is over.

Kindergarten love

This was found on Darrin's pillow around Valentine's day.

a 10 year olds self-education

 

We checked out the book The Daring Book for Girls by Andrea J Buchanan and Miriam Peskowitz from the library and Jaya's life has not been the same. She carried it everywhere she went, she read late into the night and she constantly shared her new found knowledge with the rest of us. Little bits of the this and that started disappearing, from string, newspaper and plastic bags, as she started creating the projects she read about in her book. One of the more "daring" adventures was - learning to walk in heels. She slowly clicked around the house, starting on the carpet and rugs and graduating herself to the hardwood (which I was not happy about.) She is now insisting that she would like some heels of her own.

I don't know if I have mentioned but Jaya is 7 inches shorter then me right now, when she puts heels on we are so close to the the same height it's scary. I am not ready for her to be as tall/short as me, and certainly not at 10 years old. After a recent shoe shopping outing together we compromised and she came home with a pair of black shoes with a "low" heel.

This girl is growing up...I guess if heels are the least of my worries I am grateful.

 

I knew this day would come

I knew it was just a matter of time, before his sisters rubbed off on him, including their fashion!

The early bird gets the nap

We have changed to an earlier church time. At first I was resistant, it requires more planning earlier in the week for any lessons I may be in charge of. It requires earlier bedtimes on Saturday evening, well in theory, AND it took away my only day to sleep in for the week.

Like all things I at first resist, but must get accustomed to, I decided to look on the bright side of the situation and look at what I have gained. First and foremost is NAP TIME!!!! There is no question that this has become a new favorite Sunday activity. We can also get in pjs right after church and stay in them. We can have 3 normal meals a day at the normal times. Everyone stays awake in church. We have the entire day to be a family.

Maybe earlier is okay.

Let's jog my memory

Melanie, Carla, Darcy (me) Amy

The one regret I have with my 1/2 Iron Man training is my lack of documentation. I had fully expected and wanted to write about this journey. I have never done anything as physically demanding as this has been and I wanted to write about it the whole way so that I could look back and say "see how far you've come?" There is just something unfortunate with memory, which is, once you have accomplished some great physical feat you somehow forget all the blood, sweat, and tears it took to get there.

I remember the day when my mom arrived in Sacramento, California to visit her daughter (me) because I had just gave birth to her first grandchild. I was exhausted, nervous with the responsibility ahead of me, and quite frankly wasn't sure if I had it in me to be a good mom. My biggest challenge was nursing, up until I had the baby everyone told me oh it's so natural to breastfeed, while it's natural that milk did come out and the baby liked it, everything else seemed very unnatural. If it's so natural why does it hurt so bad it curls your toes? Is it natural to have bleeding nipples? Is it natural to cry every time the baby latches on? These were all the things I was feeling and when my mom arrived I was ready to be rescued. In her wisdom and I am sure hoping to take the suffering from me she came up with a great plan. She said "Darcy, I want you to keep track of how long this hurts, and then write it down when it stops hurting." not quite picking up the point of the exercise she continued. "Then when you have another child, and are nursing again, you will have a written record that it only hurts for 3 weeks (for example), or however long it will be, that way you will know that someday the pain will end and you can look forward to feeling better."

I have found applying that principle in my life in other occasions has really helped. So that was my main goal when I started my Iron Man training, I wanted to see how far I have come and how hard I can push myself. Unfortunately I didn't do that, now I have 5 weeks left and I can only rely on my limited memory to show the progress, but I do know it's there.

So picking up from where I am this is what I have done (and how it felt)
Yesterday (5 weeks till race day)
Swam: 20 laps = 1/2 a mile
Biked: 40 miles
Ran: 5 miles

The swim was hard, we had about 7-8 people in one lane and we swam in a circle. While it pushes me to keep swimming it's out of my comfort zone to not have any breaks, which I did because I was sweating in my wetsuit and had to get out and take it off.

The bike was also hard, my legs felt pretty good, but it's just the amount of time it takes, I had people to talk to for about 1/2 of it (20 miles), but the other 1/2 we were single file and conversation was limited. The last 5 miles were the hardest, I was getting antsy and ready to get off the bike. My shoulder/arm was really hurting (this has been a problem that last 3 rides I have had), when I got off the bike and finally relaxed my arm I was in tears from the pain of my arm (I gotta get that checked out this week!)

The run, the only word to describe that run was AWFUL!! It was the hardest run I have had in a long time. I felt like I was in a slow fog, I actually tried to shake my body, do a few leaps, just to get out of the trance I felt I was in. They say going from the bike to run is a very difficult transition, ummmm...that's an understatement it was awful! But I did get 5 miles in and I was very happy about that. Funny thing though, I get emotional when I do hard physical things and I started telling my running friend (Amy) how much I love Darrin, I just really needed her to know that I really do love him, little embarrassing now, but I think she understands we all get a little emotional. =)

Eden's party

I was glad when Eden said she didn't want a cake. I get tired of making cakes, so when I suggested a fruit pizza she jumped right on that, and boy was I glad because they are my favorite.

I have taken some friends rituals and decided to do a "friends" party, every other year, and so this year is a family only year.

 

So over came family to share in the fun.

It's funny how my kids don't seem to feel let down that they don't get the friends thing; that makes me so happy that they are just as content to be with family.

 

Here's our new little 6 year old, it's been 2 months and I still think she's five, relishing in the opening of presents!