I was reading over some friends' blogs and posts and have been enjoying some Christmas songs that they've shared, and I thought I'd share my favorite! Martina McBride's version of "O Holy Night" is so soulful and has me in tears and covered in goosey bumps every time I hear it.
What's your favorite song of the holidays?
Monday, December 20, 2010
Saturday, December 11, 2010
I've Come A Long Way, Baby!
Since I finally have a Saturday where I'm not being pulled in a 1,000 different directions, I decided to take this opportunity to be completely selfish and work on some "me" things that I've really been putting off for lack of time. Planning my 2011 race schedule, printing out some pictures and actually getting them in the frames, working on Christmas gifts, etc.... all stuff that makes me feel good and like I have accomplished something! And as I'm sitting here in the total quiet except for the snoring sounds from the dog curled up next to me on the couch, and Kurt curled up in the bed in the next room (yes folks - he can be heard through layers of drywall), I had some interesting revelations that made me realize how far I've come since I've started this whole journey into the multisport arena.
For example, although I did not have a goal of weight loss in mind when I started almost a year and a half ago, I was hoping that my fluffiness would be an incidental casualty. A long time ago I learned that the number on the scale is not as important as the overall health and fitness, but still.... a girl loves to see that number go down, ya know! Anyway, I have not lost any weight... as a matter of fact, I gained about 10 pounds. Lots of speculation about why - maybe some of it's muscle, maybe going from eating absolutely no sugar and no white flour to incorporating some of those things back into my diet (gels, fuels, recovery foods, etc), maybe all the stinkin' pills for this-that-and-the-other... any one of those things (or all of them) can do a number on a person's weight. Feeling a little discouraged, I decided to break out the tape measure and compare to the measurements from 10 months ago just to see if anything had changed. As of this morning:
Bust - unchanged (Kurt's thrilled! .... what a pig!)
Waist - 38" @ belly button... that's 3" down! WOOO HOOOOO!!!!!!
Hips - unchanged
Thighs - 25 1/2... 1/4" down! I'll take it!
Biceps - 12"... 1/4" up
Calves - 14 1/2"... 1/8" up... I'll take those too!
All of that means muscle baby! WOOT WOOT! Although those changes are not Biggest Loser huge, it is definitely clear that my body is getting healthier and is responding to all the hours and miles I'm putting into training.
Speaking of training, I was reading back through some of my old blog posts this morning, and I was amazed at the difference in my training. As Coach Andy keeps telling me, it's never going to get easier, you just get faster! Of course, I had my doubts about that, as I keep waiting for the day when it's not so hard... cause let me tell you, training has not gotten one bit easier! It's always hard! But some things I realized are:
I'm anxious to see how that translates on the clock come race day - I want to do some of the same races as last year to see if I've gotten any faster. Personal records are soemthing I desperately want to say I have... I mean the proof is in the numbers! Not to mention, there's dudes I want to chick and a couple of chicks I want to catch. Nothing like spite and competition to get one motivated, LOL!!! But races will be selected much more carefully and deliberately this coming year to keep in line with training for my big race of the 1/2 IM in Augusta. And I think, after taking this little trip down memory lane, I think I might maybe just maybe actually come in before the cutoff time in Augusta! 2012 is going to be BRUTAL, as that's the year of the full Ironman distance race.... I try not to think of that too much right now, as it makes my insides start quivering with fear at the thought of 17 straight hours of cardio and sheer exhaustion. But it's all something that must be done if I want to earn my IM tattoo!
For example, although I did not have a goal of weight loss in mind when I started almost a year and a half ago, I was hoping that my fluffiness would be an incidental casualty. A long time ago I learned that the number on the scale is not as important as the overall health and fitness, but still.... a girl loves to see that number go down, ya know! Anyway, I have not lost any weight... as a matter of fact, I gained about 10 pounds. Lots of speculation about why - maybe some of it's muscle, maybe going from eating absolutely no sugar and no white flour to incorporating some of those things back into my diet (gels, fuels, recovery foods, etc), maybe all the stinkin' pills for this-that-and-the-other... any one of those things (or all of them) can do a number on a person's weight. Feeling a little discouraged, I decided to break out the tape measure and compare to the measurements from 10 months ago just to see if anything had changed. As of this morning:
Bust - unchanged (Kurt's thrilled! .... what a pig!)
Waist - 38" @ belly button... that's 3" down! WOOO HOOOOO!!!!!!
Hips - unchanged
Thighs - 25 1/2... 1/4" down! I'll take it!
Biceps - 12"... 1/4" up
Calves - 14 1/2"... 1/8" up... I'll take those too!
All of that means muscle baby! WOOT WOOT! Although those changes are not Biggest Loser huge, it is definitely clear that my body is getting healthier and is responding to all the hours and miles I'm putting into training.
Speaking of training, I was reading back through some of my old blog posts this morning, and I was amazed at the difference in my training. As Coach Andy keeps telling me, it's never going to get easier, you just get faster! Of course, I had my doubts about that, as I keep waiting for the day when it's not so hard... cause let me tell you, training has not gotten one bit easier! It's always hard! But some things I realized are:
- I swim more now in 2/3 of one training session that I used to in a whole week.
- I can ride more in one training session that I used to in a whole week
- I run more before walking in one training session than I used to in a whole week.
I'm anxious to see how that translates on the clock come race day - I want to do some of the same races as last year to see if I've gotten any faster. Personal records are soemthing I desperately want to say I have... I mean the proof is in the numbers! Not to mention, there's dudes I want to chick and a couple of chicks I want to catch. Nothing like spite and competition to get one motivated, LOL!!! But races will be selected much more carefully and deliberately this coming year to keep in line with training for my big race of the 1/2 IM in Augusta. And I think, after taking this little trip down memory lane, I think I might maybe just maybe actually come in before the cutoff time in Augusta! 2012 is going to be BRUTAL, as that's the year of the full Ironman distance race.... I try not to think of that too much right now, as it makes my insides start quivering with fear at the thought of 17 straight hours of cardio and sheer exhaustion. But it's all something that must be done if I want to earn my IM tattoo!
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Overhaulin' My Bloggin'
Well hello there, everyone! No, contrary to what some of you might think, I have not fallen off the face of the earth, but life has been sorta pedal-to-the-metal since the end of summer. I can't believe we're in December already - just seems like last week I was doing my first Olympic distance tri (which was back in August, LOL)! Since then, I've done another sprint tri and a whole crap ton of off-season training to get ready for the main event of next season... my first Half Ironman. Crazy huh? Well, if that's crazy, then 2012 will be COMPLETE insanity since that's the year of "I'm Freaking Fabulous at 40 and I'm NUTS Enough to Tri a Full Distance Ironman"! But that's another story for another blog post, LOL!
Between writing checks for Andria's college applications, getting my heartrate back to normal after seeing the Sheriff's radar that clocked Bailey going 67 in a 45, and trying to understand how Tyler can still breathe in a bedroom that reeks of butts and feet, I haven't had much brainpower left to devote to proper blogging. But, as you can probably tell by sloppy looks of my little plot of cyber-realty, I'm trying to overhaul my blog! My graphics are so outdated, and it is just time to give the old page a facelift. However, I've run into a snag! There are no really cool blog graphics out there for triathlon, so I thought... Hey, I'm a Crafty Mama... (I know this because my blog header says so, LOL) I can create my own! Only one problem... I have changed laptops since I bought my Photoshop Elements, and I cannot find my disk to save my life! I can't remember if I actually bought a hardcopy or purchased it online, but either way, I can't find it. Really hacks me off, too... GRRRR!!! I hate to think I'm going to have to buy the stupid software again.... that'd hack me off even more. It sure wasn't cheap! I'm hoping that it miraculously appears out of nowhere and just falls into my lap, cause I really want to get some graphics for a new blog header. And since I'm going to a Scrapgrlz retreat in February and will actually have some time to SCRAP (egads - I know it's shocking!), I think I might want to design some triathlon/multisport graphics, papers, and other scrapbooking doo-dads to play with.
Anyhooooooooo.... I better get back to wrapping up the day! Tomorrow's going to be jammed packed: full day of work, kickoff weigh in at Hub Endurance for the Littlest Winner, deep-cleaning chores, and an epic "I-BROUGHT-YOU-INTO-THIS-WORLD-I'LL-TAKE-YOUR-BUTT-RIGHT-BACK-OUT" meeting with all the kids... Anyone wanna trade me? LOL!
Between writing checks for Andria's college applications, getting my heartrate back to normal after seeing the Sheriff's radar that clocked Bailey going 67 in a 45, and trying to understand how Tyler can still breathe in a bedroom that reeks of butts and feet, I haven't had much brainpower left to devote to proper blogging. But, as you can probably tell by sloppy looks of my little plot of cyber-realty, I'm trying to overhaul my blog! My graphics are so outdated, and it is just time to give the old page a facelift. However, I've run into a snag! There are no really cool blog graphics out there for triathlon, so I thought... Hey, I'm a Crafty Mama... (I know this because my blog header says so, LOL) I can create my own! Only one problem... I have changed laptops since I bought my Photoshop Elements, and I cannot find my disk to save my life! I can't remember if I actually bought a hardcopy or purchased it online, but either way, I can't find it. Really hacks me off, too... GRRRR!!! I hate to think I'm going to have to buy the stupid software again.... that'd hack me off even more. It sure wasn't cheap! I'm hoping that it miraculously appears out of nowhere and just falls into my lap, cause I really want to get some graphics for a new blog header. And since I'm going to a Scrapgrlz retreat in February and will actually have some time to SCRAP (egads - I know it's shocking!), I think I might want to design some triathlon/multisport graphics, papers, and other scrapbooking doo-dads to play with.
Anyhooooooooo.... I better get back to wrapping up the day! Tomorrow's going to be jammed packed: full day of work, kickoff weigh in at Hub Endurance for the Littlest Winner, deep-cleaning chores, and an epic "I-BROUGHT-YOU-INTO-THIS-WORLD-I'LL-TAKE-YOUR-BUTT-RIGHT-BACK-OUT" meeting with all the kids... Anyone wanna trade me? LOL!
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