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It's NOT like riding a bike...

It is very interesting... My friend and I were talking yesterday about my recent illness, and my training regimen for the Cap City Half Marathon. I was telling her that I didn't run while I was sick because I had a cough and learned that you should never run while you have a cough. Now, if that were the case I would not have run today because I STILL have a cough. The interesting thing that transpired during this conversation is that when my friend asked me how I felt about not running while I was sick, I told her I was very anxious. It made me nervous to not run for a little over a week. Her response to me was something along the lines of; You know what that means, you are turning into a runner. Another interesting conversation we had that I am still thinking about is the fact that you can lose running so quickly. It isn't like riding a bicycle where you can just pick it up. You never forget how to ride a bike. The same is true for running, however with running you can't j

To Run or Not to Run...

That is the question! I had three good runs Thanksgiving week. I did a Turkey Trot, and then went out with my sister and ran on Sunday. Both were good but unfortunately the Downers race was not chip timed. I was surprised because it was my understanding historically they timed that race. So I ask the dramatic question because I have spent much of this week under the weather. I’ve had a bit of a cough and wonder if running will make me better or worse. I’d hate to go out for a run just to make myself sick again as I’ve spent this entire week on antibiotics and sleeping. On the other hand I've been diligently training for my half marathon and am concerned I am halting some very good progress if I don't run at all this week. Part of the reason I am bummed about the Turkey Trot (although I had great company) I was hoping to get an actual time so I could identify what progress I have made so far on my training. So back to the question to run or not to run??? Tomorrow the race will

Wheaties Athlete!

I made it to the Wheaties Box! After a years of striving to be the best I won the top spot by baking over 150 cupcakes for a great Halloween party. It was a marathon of standing in the kitchen mixing up batches of chocolate, white cake, and pumpkin cupcakes. Then I got some weightlifting points while frosting cupcakes for hours! I then refueled and re-hydrated while sipping on a barley beverage and eating vegetarian chili!!! In a little more seriousness, I found this Halloween costume horribly fitting for my overall goals this past year. Who knows, I might even decide to wear the box while running my half marathon in May. Only spectators will find out, so come my way May 1, 2010 and you may witness it for yourself!!!

Team In Training, Here I Come!!!

When I was in High School I REALLY wanted to play softball but didn’t go out for the team. I still haven’t figured out why I chose not to try out and I refuse to live with regret, I do however think had I played softball I wouldn’t have the same desires as I do now. So as you all know I am embarking on training for a half marathon, and I am going to do this with the support AND in support of Team in Training. Team in Training is a charity sports training program. They train participants in endurance sports; in turn the participants raise funds for the Leukemia Lymphoma Society. At first I was skeptical about having the ability to raise the funds but after last night… I went to the kick off event for Team in Training thinking that there was no way I could raise $1,500 AND successfully train for a half marathon. What I found was the greatest inspiration. This gentleman got up and spoke about his young inspiration whom he was introduced to when he initially decided to participate in Team

Cap City Half Marathon

I will be posting a blog shortly with a great picture of my Halloween costume. It is so fitting for this blog! While you all patiently wait for my silly display of "creativity" I thought I'd give you a snapshot of what is to come during my 31st year on this earth. That is right, I will soon be 30 and since I have accomplished some of my most sought after goals I figured I would begin to make a list that I can check off in my 30s. In 2009 I will be participating in the following events: Jingle Bell Run Cap City Half Marathon The Chicago Triathlon (Olympic Distance) A century ride (not yet scheduled) Deer Creek Triathlon (Sprint Distance) Possibly an Aquabike with Janell And I'm sure a smattering of 5 and 10ks. I put this in writing as a promise to myself to follow through with all of the goals I set for myself this year. While I train for the half marathon I will spend my cross training days riding and swimming as to continue toward my goal of finishing the triathlon.

Whoa, What’s Next???

You may be wondering the story of the 10k, and all I can say is it was AMAZING!!! My great friends came to town to run with me, we got lined up with all the OSU students who looked like they grew up on the cross country team. We were so far back in the crowd of over 3,500 that we didn't hear the announcers or the start of the race. In all of the excitement we began our slow trot and all of a sudden we hear a large WHOA and the crowd halted. The best way to explain this experience is by equating it to when you are driving too close to the car in front of you and they slam on their breaks. Everyone in the crowd had a nervous laugh and began jogging again. My good friends stuck with me for the first mile of the race. I did exactly what my sister told me to do during the race; start off slow and steady. I passed mile marker 1 and my friends took off to run to their fullest potential. I don't remember much after that except that all of a sudden I was at mile marker 5 and I said to t

When Times Become Important

I discovered something yesterday and I’m still trying to figure out how I feel about it. I was doing the Toyota Women Only Triathlon in Ohio with my friend Erin and realized my times are more and more important to me. You see, I transitioned from being concerned only about finishing an event to wanting to improve my times. Technically this is a good thing; it means I have enough confidence to know I can finish what I got myself into. On another note, it means something has to change in how I prepare for these events. For the last few months I have been hanging onto the words by Scott Tinley: “Everyone has the desire to win but only champions have the desire to prepare.” I have taken these words seriously in both mind and practice; however I know I can train more, harder, and smarter. In the words of Ironman Dave Scott “If you set a goal for yourself and are able to achieve it, you have won your race. Your goal can be to come in first, to improve your performance, to just finish the rac

Best Times to Tacos

A couple of weeks ago my friend called me to ask me to participate in a 5k race for Multiple Myeloma. I of course jumped on the opportunity since it was one week after the triathlon and I am committed to staying active. It was the first time I started a 5k very comfortable knowing that I would finish it without much of a problem. What I didn’t know when I started was that it was going to be my best run time ever. I finished in 37:07; which translates to 11m 57s miles. A few weeks ago I told my sister and her husband that my goal is to be able to run 11m 30s miles; my goal is in sight… I was already searching for the next event, I could not have even guessed what was going to come next… Earlier this week my friend facebooked me to tell me she was doing this 20 mile ride called Night of 1000 tacos, and asked me if I was interested in participating. I quickly learned that it was basically a tour of Taco trucks on the north side of Columbus. I quickly responded with a Heck Yeah!!! Last nig

Power to the Pregnant Lady!

First of all I have to say this; Three miles??? Piece of Cake!!! That is at least how I felt Wednesday when I ran three and a half miles, and today when I ran three and three quarter miles. The first three miles have been easy, anything beyond that and my posture crumbles and I have to pull something out of my core to get myself to keep going. Today I was running (or what most people would call jogging) and into my last three quarters of a mile when a speed walking pregnant lady passed me. It made me remember something that happened when I lived in Colorado. My sister had a friend who was training for the Hawaii Marathon. She joined a training club to assist her with motivation, form, and endurance. On her first outing with the training club they started running and about five minutes into the run she was all alone with the training club long gone. I remember feeling insecure for her. I also remember talking to my sister and her friend about how I wanted to be able to run a few miles.

Success!!!

You know you had success when you wake up the morning after your triathlon and your not sore at all. Sure my shoulders are a little tight, and my calves needed to be stretched but for the most part I am not sore at all! I even went out for a run today if you can believe that. Yesterday was the big triathlon. At first glance I was disappointed with my time, but the more I thought about it and looked at previous times, I'm pretty darn happy with my performance. I got to run for about 2 minutes with my sister (which was fun) but then she blew past me. I had a great time cheering on all my friends, and dreaming up what is next. I have events lined up once a month through October, am looking for a Turkey Trot for November, and a Jingle Bell run in December, then I will feel accomplished for the year.

Where to Buy a Wetsuit!

I was mentally preparing for the upcoming Chicago Triathlon on Sunday over the weekend, and this morning my sister called me to tell me how cold Lake Michigan is right now; a frigid 55 degrees. She also told me that one of our friends who will be participating in the race tried to rent a wetsuit, and while standing in line learned the store was out of rentals. This sent us into a fury to find wetsuits so we don’t all freeze our butts off while swimming. I made phone calls, googled wet suit rentals, rent wetsuits, where to rent wetsuits in Columbus, cheap wetsuits, Columbus Ohio wetsuit rental. And every other combination of words you can think of to come up with nothing. I then remembered years ago walking through a Sam’s Club store and running into wet suits. I went to Sam’s Club on line and learned most of the stores in Columbus sell wetsuits. If you know anything about wetsuits you know that they can be VERY expensive, but I hopped in my car and went searching anyway. I got to Sam’s

Dig Deep

Think about a time when you were in little league or some organized sport (or band) in high school and your coach is shouting at you in a gruff low voice: “Dig a little deeper.” You think “dude I’m doing the best I can;” however you start running harder, squatting lower, playing louder or simply focusing more intensely on your competition. Do you remember those days??? I do… I was getting ready to run yesterday with my best buddy Robert Ullrey, when he told me through my iPod I was going to run twenty eight minutes. If you have been keeping up with my blog you would know I have already participated in plenty of events so 28 minutes should be nothing. My response to all you very appreciated supporters would be thank you but you are so wrong. Every time I face a ten minute run I am stretching myself. I started my run and was feeling very good but at some point I lost my concentration and did the most painful thing you can do as a non enthusiastic runner; I looked at my watch… I learned t

The Highest High

Let me start by saying I had the best workout today. So good in fact I think I will never have to work out again in my life!!! No I'm just kidding; at least about the second statement. I found inspiration in the weirdest place. I am going to admit something right now, that all of you readers must forget the moment you read it; I still watch MTV. Believe it or not I got my inspiration from the very channel that has made me lose all hope in the wealthy youth in the world; the youth who cry because their Mercedes Benz is off black NOT grey. So to the real story... I was watching MADE: I wanna be a rapper and there was this young lady who was over weight and had a revelation about life while rapping. She realized that she was a deep person who had confidence. She discovered this while she was rapping about her feelings. I have been learning more and more that I need to take care of myself and express my feeling when I have them. What made all of this even more powerful is that in the p

"Everyone has the desire to win...

but only champions have the desire to prepare." I found this quote when I googled Scott Tinley for quotes comparing triathlons to pizza (this is what I end up doing when I am banished to the backroom in a professional office because I walked in wearing cut off shorts and a tie dye t-shirt). The quote made me think of something that has been very difficult struggle time and time again. Every year I am determined to do my sprint triathlon at the end of the summer. In early spring I spend two weeks getting prepared to get prepared for the race. You may be saying Huh??? All this means; I make sure the bike works, find my bike shorts, see if my swimming suit fits, and create a training schedule that I SWEAR I am going to stick with "this summer." And this summer always turns into next summer. You see, I frequently find myself saying "Oh, I still have (insert number of weeks until the race) weeks so I can start training next week." This would be OK if the calendar co

"Tri-ing" in Chicago

Wow, it has been quite some time since I have posted. I'M BACK!!! One of my favorite things about my sister is that she is always asking me if I want to participate in some random race with her while I am in town. As you know, this summer I've done a 62 mile bike ride with my cousin, a duathlon relay with my mom, and have been training for the Chicago Triathlon and a Century ride in October. Janell called me up about two weeks ago (knowing I was going to be in Chicago for a week) to ask if I would like to do a triathlon with her and Julia. I figured it would be a good training opportunity for the race in late August. I jumped on it. I was horribly unprepared, but woke up at 4:30 am to head down to Chicago and do my exercise thing. To my surprise 51 minutes later I was crossing the finish line. If nothing else I just got a practice run for the next race, and a bit of a confidence booster. Now I need to find a 5k in Cbus the weekend of August 15, 2009 and some type of swim event

Exercise! WHAT?!?!?!?!

I have not worked out since Tuesday of last week. I would say it was something like an exercise sabbatical (thanks Janell for that term)! I had to get ready and go to Rothbury. I have been feeling bad about my lack of working out for the last week especially since I brought my work out clothes for the weekend. This morning I started reflecting on all the walking (from camp to main stage is over a mile), all the dancing to the Dead, Martin Sexton and Kellar Williams, and realized I may not have done conventional exercise but I sure participated in other types of movement. How Fun!!! Tomorrow back to the regular grind!!!

Good Job Mom!!!

I just returned to Columbus from a very busy weekend in Chicago. I was able to hang out with a lot of great people, go to a wedding, attend the cross town classic (although my Cubbies lost) AND participate in the MetLife Duathlon on a relay team with my mom. The race included a 2 mile run, 11 mile bike, and another 2 mile run. My mom did the bike and I have to say she did AWESOME!!! It was her first event ever and I was very proud to be on her team when she crossed the finish of the bike portion. I gave her a hug, grabbed the chip and ran. I have this mental problem with running. Whenever I do an event it is very "easy" to convince myself to complete the entire event, however when I'm running on the treadmill at the Y I can barely finish two miles. About four months ago I could jog 4 miles and then I fell off the band wagon. What I learned from this weekend is that I can in fact run 4 miles, I have not excuses anymore. I just have to do it. I'll take after my mom on

Why I use the Ellipses

Let me start by saying I swear this has a point somewhere in the text... Last weekend I watched the movie Garden State again. I watched it because I couldn't figure out why I enjoyed it so much the first time around. I now remember… So, On this quest to become an athlete I recall times when I've felt so insecure taking a jog down the street because I was too busy wondering what people are thinking rather than patting myself on the back because I’m doing something. Let's face it; there have been times I have been passed up by that lone walker while I am sweating my butt off jogging about four miles an hour. Because I have done a triathlon every year for the past seven years I can tell you there have been years where I trained so hard I have shocked my sister at how well I have done; I've also trained to little that I've shocked myself and how much time I've lost from the previous year. Recently while riding with my cousin David (who is one of my favorite riding b

Demoralizing Ride Home

If you recall from my last post I was totally pumped up and ready to work towards my triathlon and Century Ride! Well I rode to work like most days on Monday and Tuesday this past week. The first time I hung my head in defeat during this quest to improve myself was Tuesday. I was riding, hit a red light, and stopped. I should mention I was the first person to pull up to the light. I always stay to the right a bit so as to not slow traffic when it begins to flow again. This guy behind me started laying on his horn, rolled down his window and started screaming at me. I couldn't figure out what the problem was. He finally pulled up on the right side of me and started screaming that I was blocking him from turning right. So picture this, he pulled up to my right side before he told me I was blocking traffic. If you think about it, I obviously wasn't blocking him if he was able to pull up on my right. Anyway, he was screaming about bikes, and calling me many names. I flicked him off

The Emotions of Cycling

First of all I have to say congratulations to myself for finishing the 62 mile ride yesterday!!! It was one of those experiences where if someone asked me to sum up my experience with just one word, all I would be able to say is IMPOSSIBLE; not the ride but summing it up in one word. I had every emotion and feeling you could possibly have in a 5 1/2 hour period of time. Those emotions included frustrated, angry, happy, sad, ticked off, exhilarated, and on and on and on. The following are a variety of stories based on the feeling I was having at the moment... Nervous When David and I arrived at the high school I looked around and noticed there were not as many people participating in the ride as I would have imagined. Not only were there less people then I thought but the guy who was announcing the race gave this speech and said if you are not feeling very comfortable with a 62 mile ride I want you to let you know this is going to be pretty hard. There are some significant hills. I look

Think Of Me

Tomorrow is the day!!! Saturday June 6, 2009 I will do what my sister calls a metric century. All for a good cause of course. Think of me while you are lounging by the pool, watching TV, doing a triathlon, eating ice cream, or swimming at the water park!!! Stories about the ride coming to a blog near you!!!

Century Club

This morning I woke up motivated and ready to ride. I was happy because yesterday I could barely function. I took a short ride on Saturday and knew I needed to take a long ride this weekend to boost my confidence for the 60 mile ride next week. I decided to head down to Yellow Springs, Ohio to check out the Little Miami Scenic Trail. I heard it was a long trail that basically goes from Springfield Ohio to Cincinnati Ohio. I have to say this is going to be my favorite place to take visitors when they come to visit me, not only can you take an awesome bike ride but you can get AWESOME ice cream at Young's when done. While riding this morning I was thinking about my plan to ride 100 miles in a day by the end of the summer. I imagine I will need an entire day to do that ride so I can stop and snack/lunch a few times along the way. This then made me reflect back upon my college days. While in college one of the very famous drinking games we would play was Century Club. The idea was to s

I finally went clipless!!!

I got to Chicago on Friday at which time my Uncle Pete and Dad put the clips on my shoes and then installed my new peddles. My mom and Auntie Evie sat across the table watching the process asking 20 questions. Some examples: what are those, why would you use those, how do you get your feet out, do you wear a helmet, you are going to fall, what if you can't get your feet out? During this conversation Aunt Evie and Mom told me I shouldn't use the shoes. They told me it isn't necessary, and I was going to get hurt. I got my big bro involved and called him to verify the fact that I would be much more efficient with these shoes and peddles, and he also made sure I knew I would have a massive wipe out at some point (I'm proud to say it hasn't happened yet). After completing the installation and the very serious talk about my safety I went out to the street to test the new equipment. I had a very large audience. Auntie Evie, Uncle Pete, Dad and my Mom all stood there a

Helmets are Sexy (but cute on kids)!!! (and other random thoughts)

Helmets are Sexy (but cute on kids) There are a few things that bother me: 1) Seeing adults ride their bikes without helmets 2) Seeing parents riding their bikes with no helmets but their children have helmets 3) Seeing kids riding around on their bikes with their parents and none of them have on helmets. I'm going to start a helmets are sexy campaign here in Columbus. I'm going to start by having a cycling jersey made with this saying on the back. After that I'm going to try and figure out how to get bike helmets donated so I can stand on the bike path and hand the helmets out to all the people who have their heads openly exposed to the concrete. Distracted Drivers I almost got run over yesterday. It seems to be the story of my life these days, but yesterday was the closest call. I was riding to work and while turning a corner in a double turn lane, the guy in the inside lane decided to go straight. I bet he/she was texting while driving. I am going to try and pay a litt

Bike Shorts: Luxury or Necessity?

The question of the day is are bike shorts a luxury or necessity? I have a very STRONG opinion on the answer to this question. Now that I can say I've logged over 60 miles this week (and it is only Wednesday) on my bike and about one hundred last week I have decided to explore this very important question. My sister commented on my last post saying something about how my butt must hurt. Let me start by mentioning that I am still using a pair of bike shorts that were gifted to me about seven years ago from the exact sister who questioned the comfort of my behind. I now know exactly what is on her mind when she thinks of cycling. I believe she gave them to me in her exercise bully days to make sure I had few excuses to go out for those long rides with her. Of course my sister was always riding with her burly and Brady in tow and I could barely keep up. One of my favorite memories was when we got on our bikes and while we were riding up a hill that when you looked to the top kind of l

Bike Shop Drama

It's been exactly a week since I signed up to do the 60 mile Tourdecure here in Ohio. Although I still stand by my decision to sign up for the ride I'm still freaking out. I think I have logged about 100 miles of riding this week, but I'm sure I should be logging much more. The struggle is finding a good route here in cBus where there is little traffic and NO college students (sorry little cousins who are reading this, but seriously you all text on your cell phones while driving WAY too much). The other struggle is finding riding time when I'm working too much. My strategy for this week is to take an extended ride every morning, and take the super long way home from work. So, my big excitement for the week was also my big disappointment. I took my bike to the bike shop in town and asked them to fix my "masking" taped together brake cables and give me an overall tune up. They told me they would complete my bike quickly (which they did) but when I went to pic

Freaking Out

I have been wanting to get into real shape and decided to make it happen by signing up for more events this summer. Example, 60 mile bike ride five weeks from now. For those of you who know me, you may say, Uh Oh Sarah got in over her head. Hell I am saying Uh Oh I got in over my head, but I paid the money, I'm going to do it. I created this blog for a number of reasons. 1) Two years ago I was participating in the Chicago Triathlon and a couple of things happened that day. I was cheering people on while "jogging" and at the end of the race a gentleman came up to me and gave me a hug, thanking me for providing him the motivation to finish the race. All I thought I was doing was distracting myself so I could finish the race. 2) The other thing; At the end of the Chicago Triathlon two years ago I talked with one of the folks who participated with our group and we both talked about how we wanted to do better the next year. Neither of us trained like we would have liked to, an