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:

1. I swim more now in 2/3 of one training session that I used to in a whole week.
2. I can ride more in one training session that I used to in a whole week
3. 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!