Have REAL PEACE at Christmas

To all my friends:

I wish you PEACE in this season and through the coming year.

As I connect with each of you I have come to realize many of you don't have peace right now:

*You have a house full of people driving you crazy
*You don't have money in this economy to even THINK about having a good holiday
*You are missing loved ones that have passed away
*Your heart is breaking over a loss
*You've lost your job or fear you will soon
*People don't treat you as an equal because you are "different"
*You're being bullied or abused
*You or someone you care about has been diagnosed with a sickness
*You have an addiction that you just can't break
*You look in the mirror and you don't like what you see

...the list goes on and on...

What is REAL PEACE? I don't think it's found by having/not having these things. I've gone through most of these things in my life but I continue to have PEACE - REAL PEACE in my life even at my worst times. Why? Because I have a faith in Jesus - the "PRINCE OF PEACE" (Isaiah 9:6). The peace of God "passes all understanding" (Philippians 4:7). Jesus said "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid." (John 14: 27).

Peace is internal (not depending on external circumstances) and it requires our participation. We receive true peace when we know that our sin is forgiven and that all is well with our soul (Acts 2: 38, 1 John 1: 7). So, even though these external circumstances will happen, we can have inward peace by "following after the things which make for peace." (Romans 14:19). Peace is available through Jesus Christ alone. Don't be sold a bill of goods by "false peace" (1 Thessalonians 5:3).

REAL PEACE can be yours!

MERRY PEACEFUL CHRISTMAS TO YOU ALL!

Patriots 70.3 Race Report

Race: Patriots 70.3
Date: Saturday, September 10, 2011
Location: Williamsburg, VA
Race Type: Triathlon - Half Ironman Distance
Division: 45-49 yo
Place: 10th in AG/124 OA
Time: 7:09:39

Before the Race:


The day before the race, Molly and I drove to Williamsburg to prepare for the event. My friend Jan's parents invited us to stay at their house only 4 miles from the race venue so it was a perfect little "B&B" for us!  After a quick packet pickup we walked around the race venue to check out the course. We spent a little time down by the water trying to understand the very unusual setup of the swim course and a weird 0.4 mile transition into T1 so we knew we needed to come up with a plan. There would be no barefoot running to T1 and thankfully I had brought a second pair of running shoes with me. 

 Dipping my toes in the James River the day before the race...nice...and warm...

probably not wetsuit legal (I was right!)

  Part of the James River - our swim course. It was a very nice body of water for a swim.

Our trip to Williamsburg had been delayed and our timing for dinner wasn't that great so we ended up not getting the opportunity to drive the bike course. That's okay because I had decided this was going to be a race to "just finish" after having some cramping in my legs the whole week before the race and some pretty stiff tightness in my back.

Race Morning:

Race morning went pretty well and I had a good amount of sleep the night before. We drove to the race and started our journey to the finish line. Once we got there we unloaded our bikes, in the dark, from the car. We had a decent amount of time to set up transition, say hello to our teammates and fellow training partners Sandy, Renee, and Mayra and then we all headed down to the swim start. As a photographer I am ashamed of myself for not getting a quick picture of all of us. SHAME.ON.ME!!!

Unfortunately, our plans to have our shoes at the swim finish hadn't transpired so we all (minus Sandy) quickly walked over to the finish to leave our shoes there. We came back, got in the water for a minute and then we heard "green swim caps will be next!" Um...we were all green swim caps (except Sandy who started in the wave before us and was already out in the water) so we took off running and almost missed our entrance into the James River! Whew! Not the best way to start a race!


Swim: 1:00:27 (14th in AG)



This was NOT the time I had hoped for in this race. Yes, I'm a slow swimmer but I am not this slow. Here's what happened...the day before the race we went to the race meeting and the guy told us that if we weren't strong swimmers we should go to the left of the buoy because the current would take us to the right. If we swam straight out to the buoy and ended up on the right side we would have to swim against the current in order to get back on course. When I heard "strong" swimmer I was thinking "good" swimmer. Fact of the matter is, I'm a strong swimmer - just not a fast one. So, when I headed out, I went to the left (away from the buoy) rather than directly to the buoy. This was the biggest mistake of my day because I ended up swimming much farther than I needed. When I compared this swim to previous swims here is what I found:

Eagleman: 1:01:16 (my first 70.3 but this course was also said to be 1.5 miles instead of 1.2)
OBX: 51:09 (my second 70.3 and in my OBX race report I noted I wasn't thrilled with this result)
Patriots: 1:00:27



Another issue I had during the swim was that I felt I was going to throw up twice. I've never had that feeling before but it made me have to stop swimming for a moment. This throwing up feeling would come back to haunt me later on. The good news about this swim is that when I got out of the water I didn't have the light-headed feeling I've had in past races. I felt pretty good about that but wasn't sure why it wasn't there (or why it WAS there in previous races).


T1: 5:21 (3rd in AG):


When people talk about which portion of the race they are fastest in some will say "Oh, I'm a better runner" or "I'm a better biker." Well, I have to say that my strength is probably in transitions. I'm almost always in the top 5 finishers in transition. Typically my T1 will be closer to 2:00 - 2:30 but because of the run (approx 0.4 miles) up the hill my transition time was a little longer than normal. 


Bike: 3:11:09 (18.3 pace; 9th in AG):


The first 5-10 miles of the bike were slower than I expected. There were times I was literally saying out loud "COME ON LEGS, LET'S GO!" I felt like I was standing still. But, after a few miles into the bike I finally got moving. I didn't let one single girl pass me on the bike...until mile 57...yes, I said 57...this was a 58 mile bike course. 


Around mile 55 there was a dude drafting off me. But, not only was he drafting but he was chatting with me as well. I tried to ignore him but he was asking me leading questions and I didn't want to ignore him. However, when I saw two girls pass me I was DONE talking to that dude. I was mad at myself for allowing him to take my mind off the race. So, I sped up and caught back up with one of the girls but I could never find the other to pass her again. 


My nutrition on the bike might have thrown me off for my run (more about that later) but I really wanted to focus on my water intake because I've been having a lot of leg cramps on the run lately and wanted to make sure hydration didn't play a role in that. Good news: I didn't get leg cramps. Bad news: read my run report. 

My new bike, Shadow, was with me on my trip. I had only purchased her the week before the race and had only been on her three times. But, because I was going to "just finish" I figured it wouldn't hurt to bring Shadow along for the ride even though she wasn't really broken in yet.


Shadow did her job right. I felt pretty good coming off the bike and was moderately pleased with my bike results.


Eagleman: 3:13 (17.4 mph) for 56 miles - super flat course
OBX: 3:20:01 (16.8 mph) for 56 miles (some of it VERY windy)
Patriots: 3:11:09 (18.3 mph) for 58 miles - some rolling hills

T2: 2:19 (5th in AG):

Uneventful with the exception that I almost fell over putting my socks on...twice!


Run: 2:50:25 (13th in AG):

The run....oh...the run... 


I've been pretty excited about the improvement of my pace since my weight loss. I've gone from an average of about a 10:30/mile pace to an 8:30/mile pace.But, on this day I wouldn't see anywhere close to that. The first few miles made me realize I hadn't done enough BRICK training this year. I knew I'd get my mojo after the first few miles but, unfortunately that never happened. I was having GI issues. 


I haven't been able to figure out exactly what happened - was it the food I ate the night before, the morning of, did I take in too much nutrition on the bike, too much water? I am still not quite sure. But, all I knew was that if I could just throw up I will feel a lot better and hopefully be able to get back up to an acceptable pace. So, when I saw a port-a-potty I knew what I had to do. Unfortunately, I couldn't even MAKE myself throw up. So, I suffered through more of the run. Then around mile 7, I miraculously felt better. I picked up my pace and started really running...only to have the GI issues come back around mile 10. Ugh!

As a side note - this is the first time ever in any race that I've had to stop at a port-a-potty. That in and of itself wasted about 4 minutes of my time! Grrrr.....


In my mind I wanted to finish this race in under 7 hours. So, I quickly calculated that I had a one-hour swim, 3 (and some change) bike, so if I finished the run in under 3 hours I'd be good. Unfortunately I didn't take into account the transition times until I was only 2 miles from the finish line so my calculations were off a little. Oh well, it was too late to be concerned about that at this point. I just kept running until I saw the finish line and, when I crossed I knew it was a PR!


My previous run times look like this:


Eagleman: 3:11:06 - SUPER STINKIN HOT (did a LOT of walking)
OBX: 2:56:07 - Didn't walk at all but wasn't super fast and didn't have a lot of energy
Patriots: 2:50:25 - GI issues. Whatever!


Post Race:


I felt really yucky and wanted to leave. I was barely able to say goodbye to my friends before heading out. I was probably out of transition and in the car within 30 minutes of my finish. 

I am very thankful that God has allowed me to stay healthy and injury-free during my training season this year - that's huge!

Comparing the previous races:
Eagleman: 2nd place Athena: 7:31:18 (it was Athena...)
OBX: 1st place AG: 7:11 (the race only had 33 people...)
Patriots: 10th place AG: 7:09:39 with two additional bike miles.


So, my PR wasn't as big a gap as I had originally thought it was but it is still a PR nonetheless....and on a 2-mile longer bike course. Next goal...BELOW 7:00...try to shoot below 6:30.

Lessons Learned:


1. More open water swims (I say this in every OWS race report!)
2. Really focus on getting faster on my swim over the winter
3. More BRICKS
4. More track workouts
5. Have a nutrition plan. I plan for everything else but I really need to write down exactly what I'm going to have with me - no more, no less.

I will survive!

It's been a while since I've written about my weight loss journey. Some of it is because my life has been really busy with out-of-town weekend trips, Memorial Day parties, races, etc. But, more than anything I think it's been because I've had "writers block!" I'm not big on "to do" lists so when all my activities and responsibilities are floating around in my head it's hard to think about anything else!

As far as my diet goes, I've been up, down and all around for the past three weeks. One week I was up 3 lbs but I was also up 3 lbs in lean muscle and down in my body fat percentage. The next week I lost 1/2 lbs and minimal 1/2 inch here and there. I know the problem...ME. The diet is fine. But, going out of town and celebrating with old friends is always an issue for me. See, I'm a social eater. Put me in front of a potluck meal and I'm in my biggest nightmare! Throw in a few glasses of wine and it makes things even harder.

Memorial Day weekend was really hard from a dieting perspective. On Sunday I had my first triathlon of the season (I got third place in my age group! Yeah!!!) but it was quickly followed by a post-race party at a friends house, a pool party with my triathlon team, and a neighborhood party my friend had invited me to attend. That day was one big temptation for me...and I failed!

However, when I weighed in today I was pleasantly surprised. I was down a 1/2 inch here or there but I had lost 3.5 lbs. So, today I am ALMOST 25 lbs down!!! I have 14.5 lbs to go to reach my goal and if everything goes as planned I should reach that goal before the end of June. I had hoped to reach my goal by the end of May but I can't allow myself to fret over the mistakes I've made and have to continue to move forward.



Here are the stats:

This week:
3.5 lb weight loss
0.25 inch in chest
0.5 inch in waist
0.03% body fat loss

Total since March 31st

24.5 lbs weight loss
0.5 inch from my chest
7.5 inches from my waist
4 inches from my hips
1.5 inch from my arm
1.5 inches from my thigh
3.7% of my total body fat
No significant lean body mass loss

Moving forward without regret...

BRATS Salute to the Military Sprint Triathlon

Race: BRATS Salute to the Military Triathlon
Date: May 29, 2011
Location: Vint Hill, VA
Race Type: Sprint: 300 meter pool swim, 11.75 mi bike, 3.1 mi run
Division: Age Group 45-49
Time: 1:20:58
Place: 3rd in Age Group

------------ --
Race Report:




Swim (300 Meters): 7:08 - 2nd in age group
 
When I picked up my race packet the lady told me "Wow, you must be a fast swimmer" (because my race number was 32). I looked at her and said "um...no...I must have lied when I registered!" I had estimated my time at 6 minutes and was pretty sure I would swim a little faster than that. But, I was seeded in front of people who were obviously faster than me and I had to stop at the wall four times to allow swimmers to pass.I lost a little bit of time in the pool but I'm never too speedy there anyway and knew I could make up the time on the bike.
 
T1: 1:33 - 1st in age group
I'm always pretty quick in transition and T1 was no exception. I felt pretty good coming out of the water (guess waiting at the wall for people to pass helped me slow down a little) and we had a nice little jog of about 25 yards over to the transition area to our bikes. A quick little change and I was outta there!

Bike (11.75 mi): 41:51 @ 16.8 mph - 1st in age group

I was a little disappointed in this result. I felt I was doing the best I could on the bike although there were points where I felt I was losing ground going up the hills. When I raced my last 70.3 I kept a pace of over 18 mph on the course. Of course, it was a pancake flat course but, it was also 56 miles. So, I was hoping to have a pace of around 19-20 mph on this course. The hills were rolling but my pace was anywhere from 11 mph to 30 mph so I was hoping for a better average! What I think happened is that every time I had a good pace going I had to slow to turn. There were 3 U-turns and several other turns throughout this course so I'm blaming it on that!

T2: 0:49:05 - 2nd place in age group
As typical, T2 transition didn't go as smoothly as T1. But, I was in and out in less than a minute so I was satisfied with my time.
 
Run (3.1 miles): 29:37:65 (9:33 min/mile pace) - 4th place in age group

Although I was VERY pleased with my personal result, this is what stopped me from winning first place in my age group. Today's race was the first time ever I have posted under a 10:00 min/mile pace in ANY triathlon. Typically I kill myself so much in the bike that I'm totally wiped by the time I get to the run and my pace is way off from what I can typically race if I was just doing a run. In other words, my current 5K pace is right around 9:00 min/mile but to run that pace in the run portion of a triathlon never happens for me. So, I was very proud of my time today but it just wasn't enough to cut it for a higher ranking. 

Summary and lessons learned 


This is the second time I have raced this course. The first time I raced was in 2009 and I ended up coming in 3rd place in my age group. So, I had something to prove. I wanted to show myself that I could give it all I had and win that first place award. I knew I had improved over the last two years and this would be a nice way to start out the tri season. I was pretty pleased with my time since it was a 17 minute personal record on a sprint course but I walked away with another 3rd place award. What I came to find out later is that I was only 19 seconds...19 seconds...away from grabbing that first place trophy! Oh the things that go through my mind...I shouldn't have let that swimmer pass me...I shouldn't have unclipped on that last U-turn...I should have kept my head up and stayed focused during the run...I shouldn't have grabbed water from the Boy Scouts...EVERY LITTLE SECOND COUNTS! That was my biggest lesson learned today. You can do all you can to prepare for race day but unless you leave it ALL out there (which I don't really think I did today...) then you have nobody to blame but yourself. Lesson learned!

Can a mom eat a Mother's Day buffet and still lose weight?

I haven't been a fan of buffets most of my life and even less so when I'm trying to watch what I eat. So, when it was suggested we go to a Korean buffet for Mother's Day I decided to give it a try. Obviously, if you're going to pick a buffet to go to you want it to be a relatively healthy one. I mean, have you ever been to Captain George's Seafood Buffet in Virginia Beach? Well, don't let the word "seafood" confuse you. Every imaginable fried fish, tons of yummy fat-loaded desserts (heck, I could make a whole meal off the dessert bar!), lots of buttery and cheesy veggies...you get the point. So, going to a mostly healthy Korean food buffet wasn't near as bad.

When I arrived, I immediately headed to the salad bar section first. They had much more than yucky iceberg lettuce and your typical salad bar condiments. I filled about three fourths of my plate with salad. Then I got some additional veggies on the side. Of course, when you are at a Korean BBQ buffet you MUST eat some bulgogi (ie meat). So, I got my required 5-8 oz of meat, had a yummy salad, some extra veggies and a small dessert. Now, if you have ever eaten at a Korean restaurant you know their desserts aren't the same as American desserts. So, this two bite-sized piece of "cake" was a way for me to celebrate being a mother and still not go far off my weight loss journey.

Although I wasn't totally unhappy with my choices at the buffet there is always the thought in the back of my head wondering exactly how the food was prepared. There might be hidden calories in the food that could sabotage my weight loss. Thankfully that didn't seem to be the case this week but it's something I must continually try to observe as I go along this process. I don't eat out often but when I do I want to make the most healthy choices possible.


Here are the stats:
This week:
4.5 lb weight loss
0.5 inch in waist
0.01% body fat loss

Total since March 31st
21.5 lbs weight loss
0.5 inch from my chest
7 inches from my waist
4 inches from my hips
1.5 inch from my arm
1.5 inches from my thigh
3% of my total body fat
No significant lean body mass loss

Learning who are my dieting "friends"

This week I have come to learn who it is that really cares about me - who are my dieting friends. I can tell you for sure that my friends have been broccoli, lettuce, bell peppers, protein, etc. I have also come to learn who are NOT my dieting friends: tortilla chips, jellybean and emotional sabotage.

This past week I found myself cheating, once again. I know I told you in this blog I wouldn't but, to be honest...I'm weak! That's right...weak! There is good news and bad news to my weakness. The bad news: a 2 lb weight gain. The good news: another lesson learned.

Let me break it down for you...

Throughout the week I ended up having little bites of food here and there (that cheater in me!). I would see tortilla chips sitting on the counter and, knowing my husband's homemade salsa was in the fridge it was just too much of a temptation for me. His homemade salsa only comes around once in a while so when it's here I feel I need to grab it. I started out eating the salsa with chips but, over a few days, I ended up just eating it by the spoonful instead. What I found out is I didn't really need the chips. Tomatoes are on the restricted list of foods I can only eat twice a week so I was careful not to eat too much salsa, though.

Jellybeans. HA! I've not even been a fan of jellybeans most of my life (except the black ones!). I don't know what convinced me to even buy the bag (yes I do...it was on sale!). So, I bought a bag and left it in my car so when I was on the road I would reach for a handful...or two. I told my doctor I felt the jellybeans were a better option for me than chocolate. Not from a nutritional standpoint (because dark chocolate isn't as bad as you might think) but I didn't eat as many jellybeans as I would have eaten chocolate had chocolate been my craving at the time. I wouldn't have stopped at just one "handful" and might have blown my diet all together. The good news is - they were in my car...so Dr. Wichin suggested I bring them into his office and throw them away. It was the start of a new day for me and I'm ready to move again in a forward motion.


As I mentioned before, I have a tendency to sabotage myself when I get to a certain weight/size. Well, I currently weigh less than I have at those times in the past and I'm currently in a smaller size than before. But, I wonder if subconsciously I'm trying to sabotage myself again. I need to keep a focused effort on that during the next week.

My workouts have increased both in time and effort so I'm feeling more hunger than I have before. I had a pretty good run this week which is the first one in a while. I had energy during the run but I had also had a handful of jelly beans just before I stepped out the door. So, I'm interested to see how I do this week without the jellybeans. I just need to remain focused on the goal rather than the immediate pleasure.

So, what role did this play during my weigh-in this week? Well, I'm still a little unsure. Obviously, the cheating wasn't healthy for me. This journey isn't just about weight loss to me but also about being healthier. I gained two pounds this week but it's also "that" time of the month so the gain (and the cravings) might also be associated with that. The good thing is I didn't gain any body fat this week. As a matter of fact, my body fat percentage dropped by 0.7%. So, all the weight I did gain is water weight.

Here are the stats:
This week:
2 lb weight gain
0.5 inches in chest
0.5 inch in hips
0.5 inches in arm
0.70% body fat lost

Total since March 31st
17 lbs weight loss
0.5 inch from my chest
6.5 inches from my waist
4 inches from my hips
1.5 inch from my arm
1.5 inches from my thigh
2.99% of my total body fat
No significant lean body mass loss

Now a question for you: At any point during a weight loss journey (or a new workout plan) do you find yourself or others sabotaging your efforts? If so, what do you do about it to gain control again?

Amazing things can happen if you "just believe"

I just finished writing an article about a first-time Boston Marathon finisher and my mind is contemplating what I learned from the interview I had with him. I asked him what advice he would give to someone who might think they could never accomplish running a race like Boston. His response was "you just have to believe you can do it." Of course, there is more to completing the Boston Marathon than just "believing" you can. Obviously it takes talent and a lot of hard training. But, the general idea is that if you believe that you CAN'T do it, you won't!

This past week I did a lot of "believing." After my 1 lb weight loss last week (um...5 days...), I was all about the forward motion of getting the job done the following week. I knew this diet plan worked but I doubted how my body would react once I started adding my normal workout routines back into my life.

This week my workouts consisted of two 1-hour swims, one 2-hour bike, one 1-hour run, one 1.5 hour run, and one 1-hour yoga class. Now, as far as my "normal" triathlon workouts go, this one is a little on the lite side. But, it's probably the most I've done in one week since triathlon season "ended" (it never really ends...) last year. So, making sure my body was both energized enough for the workout AND I didn't UNDEReat would be key!

My bike, swim & yoga workouts were great. I didn't push myself into my anaerobic heart rate (as suggested by my doctor) except for a few moments on my ride. I mean, have you ever seen Hunter Station Road in Reston, VA before? Yeah, I did a little huffing and puffing but I'm hoping my doctor will let that one slide. I say blame it on my ride leader!

My runs are a totally different story. I mean, seriously...I just ran a marathon a month ago so my aerobic conditioning is fine. But, I'm still totally dragging on my runs. Two miles into the run I feel I have no energy to continue moving. I'll stop and walk and the energy levels will come back up but then a little while later I crash again. So, during my last long run I decided to go back to my old way of fueling my body. Well, I didn't totally go back but I did bring my own electrolyte solution (with carbs) and one Gu gel (total carbs) for my run. Guess what? It didn't help! So, I'm still trying to find the right combination for my long runs. Maybe I won't have to worry much about it, though, because I'll hopefully reach my goal weight before I have to do any really long runs for upcoming races. 

This week I'm going to focus on "believing" this can be done. I've seen the stats, I've gotten rid of my clothes, I feel the energy (except on my runs), and now I'm ready to continue on with this process. I'm about half way there so now is no time to stop!

So...ready for the stats? Here they are:
This week:
6.5 lb weight loss
1 inch in waist
0.5 inch in hips
0.79% body fat lost

Total since March 31st
19 lbs weight loss

6.5 inches from my waist
3.5 inches from my hips
1 inch from my arm
1.5 inches from my thigh
2.29% of my total body fat
No significant lean body mass loss