Relay Adventures

Small Texan relay was just a few days ago, and Kris, Orissa, and I did so well!

Race morning was totally strange. Most race mornings, I'm super nervous and have a hard time eating anything. When I woke up Sunday, I was fine. I had been a little nervous on Friday but nothing like usual. I gathered my little bag of swim gear (another weird thing - no bike or run stuff!) and met Kris at Whataburger to carpool to the lake. We chitchatted our way out there (that's when I found out about Kidd Kraddick). 

We got to the lake and, once again, it was weird to only have one little bag of stuff to carry. After body marking, we went in transition to set up Kris's bike and scope out where the chip exchange would take place. We even took a minute to have our friend Roland snap a pic.

I hurried to the water to do a quick (like 3 min) warm-up swim. I hadn't been in open water since IMAZ in November, so I just wanted to make sure I remembered what to do. Plus, I knew the boat dock would be slippery so I wanted to check for a good entry and exit point. 

After the pre-race meeting (strangely, I could tune out most of it), the men got in the water. Women and relays were set to go off 5 min after the men, so I had a few min. All up to this point, I hadn't been nervous. As soon as the men got in the water, my heart started pounding and the nerves hit me! I told the girls, who both said just have fun. If I wasn't feeling fast or good, just treat it as an easy swim and have fun. I gave the girls a hug, said "Good luck and have fun!" and went down to the water.

When I got in the water, I stood to the left of the group (only about 15 or so ladies and relay swimmers). I thought "Good...it won't be packed so I shouldn't get my belly kicked." And standing off to the left, I thought I'd have clear water (which I prefer over following feet anyway). Turns out, it was great. I didn't have any problems once the swim started! 

My goal for the swim was to push hard. I wanted 28 minutes but really I would've been happy with anything if I felt that I had pushed myself hard. I hadn't realized that Roland was racing until we saw him in transition. We are always so close in the swim, so I came up with a new goal...try to catch Roland. I knew with him having a 5 min head start, it'd be pretty impossible, but I wanted to try. 

When the gun went off, I let the group go and took a few seconds to get myself situated. I set out to the first buoy and settled into a rhythm. I noticed a yellow cap (relays wore yellow, ladies green) and thought "Just keep that cap in sight." I really wanted to look at my watch but resisted. It was just a regular watch without GPS so I would've just been seeing an elapsed time. It really wouldn't have helped and maybe it would've made it mentally harder.

Buoy after buoy, I just kept that yellow swim cap in sight. The cap got a little further away as the race got longer, but it was never TOO far away. I kept pushing hard and I knew that whatever my time, I would be happy. I still hadn't looked at my watch so I had no clue how I was doing.

The boat doc came into sight and I thought "Woo hoo, I'm doing this right!" I found my way to the right of the dock and used the little bit of gravel next to it to make my way out of the water. Up the ugly, green carpet to transition. I made my way to Kris and saw Orissa standing there too. Orissa grabbed the chip off my ankle and passed it to Kris. (I'm so glad she did because I would've been hard pressed to bend over at that point!) As Kris swapped the chip, I stopped my watch. 31:15!! Kris took off, and I yelled at her to smash the bike. I couldn't believe that my part was over already!

At this point, we were 31 min into what would probably be about a 3 hour race. Now I could recover and chill with Linda, Orissa, and Brian. While Kris was out on the road, we all just chatted and talked about random stuff. We were keeping track of the time and when it got close to an hour 30 (Kris's estimated time), we really started getting ready for Kris. She came in at 1:32 and we were so excited! Way to go Kris!! You totally crushed yourself and the bike course!

Kris and Orissa quickly swapped the chip and race number, and Orissa took off on the run. Now it was time to chill with Kris, Linda, and Brian. We did more chatting, and before long, it was time to go up to the dam to watch Orissa come in. Kris, Linda, and Brian ran a little way down the dam to help run Orissa in. I stayed at the finish line and was able to yell at Orissa as she crossed. It was so awesome to be there at the end to see how hard she pushed herself!

After getting some food and water and waiting about an hour, it was finally time for the awards. Brian had gone over to see if he could see where we had come in (if we didn't place, we didn't have to wait anymore), but only swim times were posted. We thought we had gotten 3rd, so we stuck around just in case. Turns out, we did get 3rd! We were less than 2 min away from 2nd place. The 1st place team was made up of 3 male Marines, so they were 20+ min ahead of us.

I am so happy and grateful that my fabulous friends Orissa and Kris were willing to join me in our very first relay adventure! I had a great time and would totally do it again. Thanks ladies!!

Amazing weekend!

This weekend was a big one and I loved it!

Day 1 - Saturday
We started the drive to Buda early. Our big gender-reveal party was set to start at 3, so we needed to get up ASAP to get ready. After visiting with my mom, we got down to business. Karl had been manning the BBQ since 3 am, so we just had the side dishes and last minute cleaning to do. Everyone started arriving and we got our first surprise of the day. My cousin Samantha was in town from Tennessee. I haven't seen her since she moved away almost 2 years ago. It was such a wonderful surprise that she was in town on just the right weekend!!

Everyone was super antsy and ready to cut the cake, but cake is dessert. We had to eat dinner first. I made them all suffer a little longer. All day, Patrick had been threatening that he was going to stick his finger in the cake to find out the icing color. I knew he'd be good and wouldn't peek.

After enjoying some snacks (fruit, cheese dip, ranch dip, and cookies), the BBQ came off the pit. Karl's hard work paid off and we had some very tasty brisket and sausage.

When everyone arrived earlier in the day, I had asked them to choose either a pink or blue ribbon to show their guess. There was a heavy pink majority (10.5 to 4 - even my 18-month old nephew picked girl).

As you can tell by the above pictures, the majority was wrong. We are having a little boy! Lots of excitement in the house. We just needed Mom to make the day perfect.

Day 2 - Sunday

Yesterday was Patrick and my 1-year anniversary. After such a great year, I was ready to celebrate with our parents and test out our wedding cake - would it be as good as it was on our wedding day??

After visiting with my mom, we headed back to the house for a while before she came home and Patrick's parents came over. After Dad brought Mom home, we ate some fabulous leftover BBQ (mom had cheese dip only, but that was the most she'd eaten in a while so that's cool) and then Gretchen and Arlen came over.

After some more visiting, Patrick and I cut the cake.

After pouring some champagne (sparkling apple cider for me), we toasted to a wonderful first year and tested out the cake...and it was fabulous! It tasted  just as good as on our wedding day and we were stoked! 

As a bonus, we even got a little rain. Last year, we got rain (luckily not during the ceremony but before and after). Maybe we'll get rain every year on our anniversary...

Day 3 - Monday

When I planned this post, I was planning to only have 2 days. But my completely awesome husband made me add a third day. 

Patrick took a vacation day today, saying he wanted to relax and he had some errands to run. I figured he wanted to get his oil changed and his car washed, stuff like that. Turns out, I was wrong.

I opened the door to the apartment and immediately realized Patrick had made dinner. I could smell one of our favorite dishes that we haven't had in forever (it takes a really long time to make). Patrick took the day off to surprise me! 

My other surprises were this beautiful orchid and Blue Bell Gingerbread House ice cream (weirdly, he found this Christmas flavor in July??). 

My husband is so wonderful to me! I'm so very lucky and I know it. I love you Patrick!! 

Swimming and Kicking

I had a great swim yesterday afternoon! I wasn't as fast as I have been in pre-pregnancy days, but I was able to go much faster than I have since I've had a baby on board. I did an 800 in a pretty good time and 8 fast 100s. And the fast 100s were pretty stinking good! I am so proud of myself for pushing hard. I'm doing the swim portion of an olympic-distance tri in just about a month, so I wanted to see what I could do yesterday. I know now that I shouldn't embarrass the rest of my team. Unless I get totally huge and slow in the next month....but I can't control that. Just going to keep going until I can't. :)

Last night about 3:30 am, I felt Peanut kick for the first time! It was sooooooo cool!! I've been waiting and waiting, and it finally happened. In the middle of the night! Peanut woke me up to say "HI!" I couldn't feel the kicks from the outside yet, so I didn't wake Patrick. But I now can't wait for him to be able to feel Peanut too. Going to be awesome the first time he can feel the kicking. I just hope that Peanut doesn't get in the habit of waking me at 3:30 every morning until he or she gets here. I need as much sleep as I can get before I don't get any.

Yesterday was a pretty awesome day. :) Loving life!!

16 weeks

Now that I'm firmly in the 2nd trimester, I am hopeful that I'll have more energy to do more things. I've started swimming again and I'll be going to my second yoga class tonight. I'm really hoping that I can keep this up. I've really missed it! It's been hard to adjust to just doing what my body says I can do on any given day.

Our team at work signed up for a team building 5k at the end of June. When I signed up, I thought for sure I'd still be running and, while I knew I'd be slower than usual, I still thought I'd run the whole thing. Now, I'm not planning on running any of it. I'm just going to go out there and walk. It's going to be my slowest 5k ever, but I don't care a bit. I'll be almost 20 weeks then. It will be fun to hang out with a bunch of friends and co-workers.

Kris, Orissa, and I are going to be doing a relay triathlon this summer too! I'll swim, Kris will bike, and Orissa will run. There is a sprint and an oly there, and we've yet to decide which one we're going to do. It's actually up to me to decide if I think I'll be able to swim the oly distance. I'm pretty sure I will be able to, but that's a long time without walls. I'll need to get out to the lake soon to see what I can do. We need to sign up soon. So excited to participate with my belly hanging out! Yes, I'll be rocking a 2 piece swim suit. :) Kris even joked about writing my race number on my belly. Thinking that sounds like fun! Maybe a smilie face?

13 weeks!

Being 13 weeks pregnant is totally crazy! All my triathlon friends are still hard at work training (and many are racing on Saturday), but I'm at home not joining in the fun. I've been walking and doing a few swims, but I still miss the feeling of working out. 

12 weeks 6 days, Mother's Day at Canyon Lake

Luckily I got to talk with my friend Damie last night for a while. She's also pregnant and a triathlete. She's quite a bit further along than I am, but she went through a lot of the same things I've been going through. Talking with Damie helped me see that it's OK to just be walking and swimming, and it's OK to miss the pre-pregnancy training and time with friends. We can take that break that everyone always says they want, but when it's time for it no one actually takes it.

So, following Damie's lead, I'm going to be OK with being a pregnant mommy and not a pregnant triathlete. On those days that I feel great, I'll do something. On days that I don't feel great, I'll just do whatever I feel like I can do (if anything). I'll be sitting at home "cooking a baby" and enjoying my time on the sidelines. When I come back, I'll have a bunch of motivation and drive. I'll support my friends at their races and know that I'll be back out there soon enough. Now is the time to focus on the baby and enjoy the time away. Triathlon and running training will be back before I know it.

Thank you Damie!

Camp

I wish I were in Tuscon with the Iron Whiners! They look like they are having a great time and learning lots. I remember (and miss!) that feeling of being utterly smashed but still looking forward to that next workout.

I have other priorities this year, which meant no camp. I was ok with that until I saw all the giant smiles and blogs and Facebook posts. I still am ok with it, but I am also a bit bummed. Kris is totally killing it this year and I'm so curious about how I would've stacked up this year too. And, Linda and Aixa are also doing totally great! How much fun would it have been to go tackle Tuscon with that wonderful group of people?! The stories they'll tell....can't wait!

I know there will be other great opportunities out there for me, so I'm not too worried. So for now, I'll sit back at home and just live through social media. :)

Motivation

I have found that I actually need a race on tap for me to be truly motivated to want to work out. Right now, I've got Buffalo Springs 70.3 in June "on the plan" but that's only if I'm not pregnant. I don't have an actual plan from Coachie yet, so I'm pretty much just doing what Kris is doing during the week. I've been skipping the Saturday long bike (knee issues, family stuff, etc) but still doing the Sunday long run.

I am generally excited about doing whatever the workout is, but I HATE getting up early to do it. I know that once I get started, I'll be fine. But it is really hard to roll out of my nice, comfy bed. I think if Kris weren't going to be meeting me, I probably wouldn't get up at all.

Maybe I need to sign up for the CapTexTri on Memorial Day...a little motivation a month before Buffalo Springs. :) I'll wait on that for now, but it's an option. And as an option, that means I need to keep my butt moving.

Ahhh, motivation how I miss you!