Finally: My First Triathlon!

Two days ago I finished my first triathlon! It is the one I have been training for about a year now and the one that I have been posting about in this blog. I almost can’t believe that the race is already over, and at the same time, it is only now starting to sink in that I really did it. I finished my first triathlon!

Sunday was the big race day. My brother, my husband and I were all signed up to participate in the Olympic distance (swim: 1.5km; bike: 40km; run: 10km) triathlon in our city and we were supposed to start at 4:10pm (husband) and 4:30pm (brother and I) respectively. The late starts and the fact that we didn’t have to travel to get to the venue gave us enough time to prepare and experience some pre-race jitters. We ate enough, checked and double-checked our equipment, and finally got ready to go at about 2:00 pm. It had been pouring rain on and off throughout the whole day and we were happy when the rain stopped just in time for us to leave. As it turned out we were really lucky because after another short downpour, which we endured amongst many other triathletes under a makeshift tent in the transition area, it held off for the rest of the day. I even sport a nice triathlon-suit shaped tan-line now!

We were assigned our spots in the transition area according to our race numbers and we set up our stuff. I had read about this in various books and magazines but was tremendously happy that my tri-experienced brother was there to give me advice on where to put the helmet and how to hook up the bike.  I was so nervous; I seriously doubted that I was the right person for this. Everybody around me just looked so experienced and fit and I had to visit the facilities more than once because it seems that’s how my body reacts to stress. I did not envy my husband who had to leave for the earlier start by himself but I kissed him goodbye and wished him good luck before I finally put on my wet suit. Just a few minutes after him, it was time for us to go and I felt as if I wanted to throw up. The swim took place in the city’s harbor with the start being located off one of the marina’s docks. We were about 200 swimmers in the group and everybody seemed to be putting on their cool faces. Among the 400 finishers of the race were only 40 women which obviously made me one of the few women in that wave. Everything was pretty intimidating and I had another short “bathroom” break right when I went into the water (sorry everyone!). I had my anti-water earplugs in and really didn’t hear the signal but all of the sudden I was in the middle of a swimming mob. That’s how I knew it was time to go and I started swimming myself. There were arms and legs and bodies everywhere. The water was so cloudy, that I didn’t even see my own hands going in in front of me! I got pushed around and pushed others a lot for the first few minutes. Throughout the whole swim, I never ended up swimming totally by myself but it got less crowded after a few minutes and I fell into my rhythm. Obviously I didn’t check my watch to see how I was doing but I could tell that I had a decent swim, because there were always many people around me. I knew that I could not be way back at the end of the field because of that. I seriously started to enjoy what I was doing and kept telling myself that everything was going great. It was great being able to get that positive feeling right at the start of the triathlon. When I was helped out of the water by the volunteers I checked my watch and was thrilled to see a 31:33 minute split. This was really a best case scenario.

Triathlons are crazy in a way because there’s not much time to dwell on anything. Once out of the water I had to focus on my first transition. I had to struggle a little to get my wet suit off and then had to make sure not to forget what I needed for the bike part: helmet, glasses, shoes, race-number, energy-gels, and then off I went. I pushed the bike to the exit where I was allowed to mount it and to my amazement managed to clip in my shoes right away. Once I sat on the bike I was cheered on by my parents and friends who were already waiting by the first turn. That was a great feeling and gave me just the energy that I needed to start the ride. Since this was the longest stretch of the whole race, I finally had a little bit of time to settle in. Everything up until that point just happened so fast, but on the bike I took some inventory. Heart rate, fluid-intake… What do the other racers look like? It was pretty windy and I managed to pass some people, was passed by many others, but continued to feel great. After about 30km I got a little cold and started to look forward to being done with this leg of the race. Before I knew it I was entering transition #2 and this was kind of a milestone for me. Before the triathlon I always thought that I would definitely finish if I only made it to the run. If necessary, I was going to walk.  And here I was. Since there were so many little positive experiences for me, I never really started thinking about how hard I was working at the time. Of course I was exhausted, but I seriously had the time of my life. I pushed the bike through the seemingly never ending transition zone, put on my running shoes and cap and ate parts of an energy bar while heading onto the run course. Only 10 km more to go!

The run is really the part of a tri where the athletes can actually take in the spectators along the course.  On Sunday we had to do four 2.5 km loops and that way we kept on passing our fans a couple of times, which was great. Right at the exit of the transition zone I was greeted by my boss who came to see me. Just when I started to focus on my tight calves, my brother passed me who was already about to finish his race. He yelled out and we both were happy to see that we had safely made it to this point. The first two rounds were pretty rough, I must admit. I was going slowly and my legs were tired. This fact did not deter me, however, because I knew I was going to finish the tri running. I also saw my parents and friends along the course and waved and smiled at them whenever I passed them. Some even ran along with me for little parts of the run to cheer me on. When I finally entered the fourth lap, my brother joined me on the course to guide me to the finish line. We talked (I ran slow enough for that) and he told me about his great results. I was a little confused to hear that my husband had only finished shortly before me although he started 20 minutes earlier but I figured I would find out what had happened in no time. I enjoyed the last minutes of my race that went so smooth. I was really aware of running down the final stretch of the course where everybody was already waiting for me. The announcer called out my name and I high-fived all the friends and family who had come out to support us and finally crossed the finish line. It was really one of the best feelings ever!

I finished in 3:04:43 (Swim: 00:32:04; Bike: 1:20:53; Run: 1:02:08). I came in place 361 out of 399 and to me it feels like I have won the whole triathlon. Writing about this, I can still recall the way it felt to cross the finish line and it was worth every minute I spent training during this previous year.

When I finally met up with everyone after the race I learned that my husband got kicked in the head right at the swim start and was not able to gain back his composure throughout the whole swim. He could not do the freestyle stroke, which we have spent so many hours training with our coach. He ended up doing the breaststroke throughout the whole 1.5km swim to be able to finish. Of course he continued to go and he still finished the whole race. I am so impressed by this and am tremendously sorry because of the way his race went. The good thing is that we are already signed up for our next tri where he will hopefully have an incident-free race as well.

On a last note: My little brother came in 16^th overall and 4^th in his age group in 2:11:59 hrs. Unbelievable!

Half-Marathon Recap

The most sporty looking runners before and after the race

Not too long ago I would have never thought that I’d ever run that far. But here I am writing a recap on my first half-marathon last Saturday. You might have noticed that I refer to the event as my first one and I do surely think that this wasn’t my last attempt to cover this particular distance. Anyways, let me take you through the day.

The race took place in a forest by where I live and was scheduled for 3.30 pm, which I thought was a pretty late start. However, since I am always concerned about taking in enough nutrition and fitting in all the necessary bathroom stops before exercising, this was rather convenient. My brother and husband had signed up for the same half-marathon and it was very nice to have company on this big day. My husband and I were going to run together although he usually runs much faster than me. But unfortunately he couldn’t stick to his training schedule and decided to run at a slow pace to be able to cover the whole distance. My brother, on the other hand, had already participated in the race twice and set out to break his PR in this attempt. His goal was to finish in under 1:35 h. I had calculated a finishing time of 2:21 h if everything went according to my plan.

We eventually got to the race venue 1.5 hours before the start and proceeded to get our race numbers and figure out the area. It was a really cold day (we were lucky it didn’t rain) and we stayed dressed in our regular clothes as long as possible before changing into our running gear. All of us lined up twice to use the facilities and then it was 20 minutes to go when we headed to the start. The run course was an out and back loop. It zig-zagged through the forest and circled a lake.

By the time we were standing at the start with the other runners I wasn’t really nervous. I was just ready to get going after the months of preparation. Eventually the cannon went off and my husband and I let the crowd pass by because I was determined to run my own pace and not get distracted by the faster runners. Somehow I hadn’t anticipated every single other runner to be that much faster because after about 5km we didn’t even see the crowd running in front of us anymore. It was as if we were doing a training run all by ourselves. The only signs of this being an actual race were the race volunteers along the way (not many spectators in the woods) and the arrows on the path.

At first I had problems with my heart rate monitor because it picked up my husband’s signal. Although the stupid things are supposed to be blocking the wrong signal, for some reason it displayed the wrong heart rate and for the first couple of miles I was fumbling with my watch and the pick up around my chest. So here we go, me checking the watch, my husband talking to me about him monitoring his heart rate and me watching the split times when all of the sudden we hear a group of people yelling at us from behind. We didn’t pay attention to the course and missed a turn. Because we were literally running by ourselves at that point, it took the race volunteers a little while to realize that we were part of the race when they called us back and steered us back on the course. Yup, we actually ran a half-marathon plus a little bit!

We reached the 7km mark according to our plan and high-fived because we had completed one third of the run. We also started seeing another runner in front of us and it was nice to get the feeling of being part of a race somehow. I felt really strong and good the whole time and was excited to see that we were just a little bit faster than the splits I had calculated beforehand. We were going between 6:30 and 6:45 minutes per km. I was surprised to see that pretty much everybody else was going so much faster than that. But I didn’t feel bad about being so far behind the crowd. I knew I was giving my best and was just happy to be there. We plodded along and by km14, after two thirds, we had passed two more runners. This is also where I started to think that it would be nice to finish this thing sooner or later. I still felt strong, but was looking forward to reaching that finish rather than just focusing on the present moment of the race.

I had two small water bottles and one energy gel with me on my belt and started thinking that I should have taken in more energy before the race around that point as well. The kilometres came and went and around 17km I really could tell that things weren’t going so smooth anymore. By now I was just longing for that finishing line but it wasn’t because of poor preparation or because I wasn’t able to run that long. I had miscalculated my intake of calories that day. I had two bread rolls for breakfast and one banana-oatmeal shake around 1 o’clock. And to be honest, I was kind of hungry right before the race when I saw the spectators eat cake and barbecued stuff at the venue. It was as if a switch had turned and from one kilometre to the next, I simply wanted this to be over. My heart rate went sky high and my breathing didn’t stay within its usual pattern. Talking to my husband after the race, I know he was also ready to be done and I could tell because he was breathing harder. But we only had a little bit left to go and didn’t slow down so much. In fact, we overtook some more runners who probably started off too fast when we decided to stay back. We finished in 2:22:09 h and I think we could have reached my predicted 2:21 if we hadn’t run that little extra stretch in the beginning. We averaged 6:50 minutes per km. Although I didn’t really feel elated and strong at the finish line, I now am proudly looking back at what we did that day. My brother even broke his PR and finished in 1:33:00 h!

This was so much fun over all, in my mind, I am ready to do another race this second! We’ll see what the future has in store but I am sure this wasn’t the last time I did a race and I would want to say that this isn’t going to be the longest distance I will ever cover.

Tri Plans

After focussing on running and the upcoming half marathon for the longest time, I am setting myself up to commence my triathlon training next week. In my case that involves creating excel sheets and mapping one or two things out. First, I created my training plan based on two tri-books I have and some advice I found online. It's a 12 week plan with 5 days of training each week. It does not include specific strength training units but I figured I will fit them in as I see fit (haha). Probably in the evenings after work during the week. Some pre-set training plans don't give you distances you need to complete in training but they tell you how long each session should be, i.e. 70 minutes of biking. I must say that I prefer the style where you get a target distance and an intensity level to go by. This way I make sure that I'll get in 10 km for sure, whereas I might not, if the training plan asked for a 60 minute run.

The other thing I took care of is writing down the gear I would like to purchase for my first triathlon and possibly after. There's some things I know I'll definitely need, like a tri-suit. Others would be extremely nice to have but are not a must (like aero-bars). That's why I came up with list of a few things, figured out what I would be willing to pay for them and prioritized my need for each item. 

Things like this make this whole triathlon endeavor more accessible for me. I know what lies ahead and I can literally cross things off my list when they're done or purchased. Another plus is that I can hang up a sheet of paper on my fridge and don't have to remember everything I will need to do, to get me to that starting line. 

Pre-Race Relaxation

As of today it’s three more days until my first half marathon and I am looking forward to the race with great anticipation. I am not really nervous but excited about what’s to come on Saturday. I realized how cool I am about the big event when I received a message from my brother this morning, telling me to stay calm. All I could think was that there’s no need to worry since I am more excited about the half marathon than anything else. Obviously I have no clue how it’s going to go. I don’t know how I’ll react to the added pressure of the race situation. I could worry about whether I’ll be able to take care of all necessary bathroom stops before or during the run and I could be concerned about not making the cut off- but I don’t. I am curious and confident. And I think that I’ll be able to reach the finish line in a rather decent time. Then again, even if I won’t, I am not going to beat myself up. I have been strictly following the training schedule and I have seen a lot of improvement in my running. That alone is reason enough for me to be satisfied. It also gives me confidence in my triathlon pursuit. I believe that I will be able to finish the olympic distance race come July if I stick with the training plan (which I have printed out today). All is good in Readytotri-land. And I’ll let you know how it went on Saturday. Until then I’ll be hydrating and eating lots of carbs!

First Race of the Season

In four weeks I am going to run my first half marathon. I am entering the last third of my training schedule and will have my last long run this weekend. It's going to be a 20 km (12.4 mile) run and the longest distance I will be covering during my training. I am pretty confident that I'll be able to finish that run without any major problems since I have been steadily building my endurance since January. I have been running 3 - 4 times a week. Throughout the week I usually do shorter but faster runs and on the weekends I have been steadily increasing the distance. My long runs so far were a 16 km (10 mile) and a 18 km (11 mile) run and I felt pretty good about my performance. I did go slow as my schedule asked for the runs to be at 70% of my HF max. I am hoping that I can increase the speed during the actual race and I would like to be running at about 80%. But since this is my first half marathon I am also going to play it safe and am thinking about going for a negative split. That would have me starting the race off pretty slow (maybe 75%) until the halfway point. I will then see how I feel that day and try to pick up the pace for the second half of the run to finish that one faster than the first. But all in all this is not about results. I will be truly happy and excited if I can cross that finish line with a smile on my face! I'll let you know how it goes!

Bike Trainer

After I posted about my plan to purchase an indoor bike trainer yesterday I did some research on the different models. I would like to have a basic model that is not too loud since we live in an apartment building. My three cats will also greatly approve of a trainer that doesn't sound like a vacuum. I checked out the different online shops and forums and basically found two models that I liked. One was a little bit more elaborate with a computer included that tracks your sessions, the other one is similarly built but doesn't include the computer. After going back and forth between the two and watching several video-reviews on them, I settled on the version sans computer. I already have a computer hooked up to my bike and figured that the information I'd get through the trainer's computer would merely double the ones I am already getting.

Finally the thing is ordered and I hope to receive it early next week. I am eager to try it out and will let you know how I like it!

2012

Well, well... I am realizing that I am not a daily blogger. But whenever I get around to posting here, I enjoy sharing my thoughts and training efforts with you. 

So, here's what's been going/what will be going on:

First of all I turned 30. This makes me have to change the "about" section of this blog. This is hopefully going to be the year of my first (and second) completed triathlon, completed half-marathon, and relay-marathon. The first event is actually going to be the half-marathon in early April and my twelve week training plan for that will start in 1.5 weeks. Although I have been steadily running, I am excited to officially start my half-marathon training soon. If you ask me now, I find it quite hard to imagine that I will be ready to run a half marathon in about 4 months from now. Crazy! But I am a training-plan person and know that I will stick to it once I start. I guess it kind of has a placebo effect on me because I am positive that I will feel ready to go the distance when I have stuck with and completed the training plan.

For christmas I got myself the new and improved p90x program which is fittingly called p90x2! I have finished the first week of the 90 day program and am hooked. I like the challenge this routine poses for me after I have gotten used to the moves in the previous sequel. I am going to have to see how often I will be able to fit in one of the workouts since I will be running about 4 times a week and I will also be cycling and swimming. In any case, it's a great supplemental workout and since I like it so much, I am sure that I will make time to fit it in here and there.

I asked people to give me money for my birthday because I still need a lot of equipment for the triathlon. There's so much stuff I need and I just couldn't decide what to do with the extra cash I got. I am definitely going to need a triathlon suit and wet suit for the races, but I will have rare use for them during training. My road bike definitely needs to be a little pimped and I would like to get aero-bars and proper bike shoes. Right now it's just so cold outside and I am mostly using my stationary bike. Having said that I have come to the conclusion that I will use the b-day money for a indoor bike trainer that holds my actual bike. That way I will be able to use my bikey and I can work on my my position and set up. I have also found a series of indoor-bike-training-videos that I would like to purchase. That way I should be able to get through the second half of the winter with some nice cycling-sessions.

As you can see or read, I am totally pumped and ready to go! 2012 here I come!

Lightning Speed

In my last post I was talking about how I was having a hard time getting faster. After my workout yesterday I can tell you a different story. Here's my recipe to a new personal speed record:

Ingredients:

• A week full of dealing with the most ridiculous stupidities at work
• Wanting to leave on time on Friday to go exercise but having to work overtime because of ingredient no. 1
• Coming home on Friday just to realize that there's no time left for a workout before little brother comes for a visit
• Watching the husband getting serious on the indoor exercise bike
• A dark park
• A 7 km long distance to cover 
• Being hungry

Directions:

Mix all the ingredients together and lace up your running shoes. Get going thinking about how much easier your job could be if everybody else was properly doing theirs. Entering the park with really dim lighting and wondering about what some of the creepy looking people are doing there who are not walking their dogs or jogging. 

My Results:

• A 5:30 min/km pace as opposed to a 6:50/km pace
• Me panting like a dog
• Me wondering if I have been secretly slacking during all my prior workouts
• Me putting aside the worries about the job until next week

Competition

It's been well over two weeks since I resumed my training. I have worked out according to my schedule, have completed the hardest and longest work outs of the three month plan last week and I feel good about that. I haven't really talked about it a lot in this blog but my husband and I have picked up our triathlon training at the same time. In many ways this is a great constellation. We can train together, each of us understands that we have to make time everyday to exercise- in short: we share a hobby and goal. While I theoretically understand that women and men have different physical capabilities, it drives me nuts that my husband seems to be getting better at the sports much faster than I am. It is one thing that he is faster and stronger than me anyways, but what is frustrating to me is that he is shaving off time of his workouts all the time and I am not. We went swimming on Sunday and although we started learning the freestyle stroke together, he finishes his 1.5 km swim 7 minutes before me. Since I am somewhat competitive, you can imagine how much fun I have swimming my lanes while he's hanging out by the pool... I know we have completely different backgrounds as far as our athleticism goes, but come on! It's the same with the running and biking as well. Because he's getting faster so effortlessly, we don't do many runs together but every once in a while I'll get a "pity-run" where he goes my pace with me. He doesn't mind that but in my mind I am just obsessing about why I can't just go a little faster. I guess that the one good thing is that I try really hard to get better because I see his results. Sometimes I just wish my training partner would be another 29 year old women who just started exercising and is looking back on many years of childhood Ballett-lessons.

Finally :-)

Today was the day! I went out and did my first workout in 17 days. Yesterday I was already not feeling sick anymore and I decided that I would pick up my routine again today. This morning I got up and although it is a cold day, it is beautiful blue-skies fall day and I just had to go for a run. Since I didn't know how I would feel and how it would go, I just laced up my shoes with no real intentions for this run. I just wanted to get going and see what it feels like. I went down to the river, started to jog and thoroughly enjoyed being out and about. My breathing was good, no chest pain, no coughing and lots of sun and colored leaves. I decided to run a loop, crossing the river over one bridge and returning on another. That course is between 6 and 7 km long and I wasn't really going to check on my pace or anything. I felt so good that I was really surprised to see my heartrate when I checked it after I ran up the ramp to the bridge. The watch displayed a shockingly high 188 bpm! I don't think I have ever seen my heartrate go that high. And because I felt so good about my run I would have never guessed that it would be that high. I continued to go slower to reach an acceptable heartrate-level but it only went down to about 170 bpm which is still higher than normal for me. It took me 45 minutes to finish the run and I am happy that I went. I know that being sick can affect your heartrate and I will have to monitor it as I go on with my workouts. I wonder how long it will be until it really goes back to an acceptable range. The plan is to return to my usual 6 days of running, swimming and biking this week and I feel confident that I can pick up pretty much where I left two weeks ago. I might have to go a little slower and I am not going to push really hard but I am definitely ready to get going!

Day 9

Nine consecutive days of not exercising... And no end of this in sight. In fact I just had to cancel our swim training for Sunday morning. This is getting old! On the up side: The scale told me this morning that I have lost weight. The pounds must have found an exit strategy through my nose, I suppose. And it's official: The "Mixed Double" or "Gemischtes Doppel" is signed up for the relay marathon in Duesseldorf, Germany in 2012. The bill just got here this morning, so at least that is taken care of. Can't wait to get my shoes on and going again. The weather is pretty nice and warm for this time of the year as well. It's probably going to be raining and freezing when I am ready to tri ;-) again... Any good tips on fighting a head cold anybody??

My company these days

What I Like about Working Out

I still don't feel better since posting this- in fact I am not at work but sitting on the sofa waiting for my doctor's appointment. Needless to say I haven't been working out and am not sure when I will be able to pick up my routine again. In light of my last post where I said that I get annoyed when I can't exercise, I did some thinking and tried to figure out what exactly it is that gets me so upset. When I am fit it's not always with pure pleasure that I am looking forward to my daily workouts. I usually exercise in the afternoon or the early evening and some days I really struggle to convince myself that it is necessary for me to get up and going. When I come home from work I am hungry and sometimes tired, I see piles of laundry laying around and there's 10.000 reasons why I should not be working out. Still, that never stops me from picking up my bike or lacing on my shoes and I always do my workouts as planned. My mood and attitude towards my designated workout of the day shifts completely the second that I start it. There's no more sofa to sit on and the laundry has long been forgotten. I focus on myself, my body, my thoughts and my goals and I actually can let go and relax. When exercising I am truly with myself and all the other worries and struggles of the day are pushed aside for a little while. Especially when running I am able to let my thoughts wander and I have oftentimes been able to come up with solutions to problems or answers to questions that concerned me. In a way, my workouts are very luxurious "me times" that I have been fitting into every single day lately and I have been benefitting from them in all aspects of my life outside of fitness as well. I am definitely overall less stressed and don't let problems at work or in other relationships get at me so much. It is almost as if I am not only physically strengthening my body but my mind as well. On top of that, at the end of every workout there's a feeling of achievement that is very enjoyable. There's so many things all of us have to do every day that they don't stand out anymore. We all have to work, we all have to pay our bills, we all have to take care of a million things but at the end of the day we don't say to ourselves: "Well done! Great job taking out the trash!" At the end of my exercises I usually do that, though. I feel that I have achieved something. Even though it's not measurable, it is special to me that I have gone through the effort of doing this particular workout. That's why I miss working out and I hope that this doctor will fix my cold so that I can continue my program very soon.

Workout Schedule vs. Reality

Since my first triathlon is not going to be until next July I am currently not under any pressure to get my workouts in as planned. However, I am somewhat ambitious and tend to get annoyed if I don't manage to check off all the routines I have sketched out. Right now I follow a 3-month program designed to get the athlete to cover a sprint distance triathlon when finished. But when I started into the second month of this plan I got sick and had to pause for a couple of days. Things like this happen and I wasn't too worried about it. Today is the last day of a long holiday weekend and once again, I haven't worked out in 4 days because I am feeling sick. It is really hard to make the decision to stay at home for me right now, although I know it's much better to give the body a break and be completely fit before resuming the workouts. I feel so lazy and when I see people jogging, it drives me nuts. I guess it's a good thing that I want to be active and exercising but it's stupid that I can't let go and just relax while sipping at my tea. A year ago I would have never thought that I would feel this way about a few days of not working out but obviously this has changed. Originally I was going to start doing stuff again tomorrow but I think I am going to have to see how I feel and maybe still have to put it off. I just need to wrap my head around the fact that I am not losing out but that I am giving myself enough time to recover fully to be able to put all my energy back into the training. 

Marathon Plans

Hello! I am back… although, I haven’t really been gone anywhere. As much as I like my blog and talking about triathlons here, it somehow was not possible for me to sit down and take a couple of minutes to let you all know how the training has been going lately. But there are some exciting news: Some of my friends, my mom, my husband, my brother and I have signed up to run a relay marathon next spring. What started out as a (somewhat drunk) conversation about exercising at a friend’s birthday party turned into the eight of us participating in the marathon. The race is one of the biggest marathons in Germany and each team consisting of four members splits up the total of 42,195 km (26.2 miles) in four legs. Everybody will be running right around 10km (6 miles) and we decided that the slower team has to provide the beer for the after marathon-party. I guess that my run-training next spring is coming together. I will start the official training for my half marathon in early April in January 2012. After the half marathon I am going to do the relay race in late April and the first Olympic distance triathlon will be in early July. The focus on the running earlier in the year still gives me plenty of time to turn to the swim and bike training later although I am going to continue to incorporate the two throughout. It’s going to be interesting how I will manage to run and bike in the winter though. Time and weather will tell and I will continue to let you know about it here!

Back on Track

I got sick last week and couldn't follow my workout schedule as planned. My rest day last week was on Tuesday and Wednesday was really busy so I ended up not exercising on both days. As it turned out I woke up sick on Thursday and haven't been able to pick up my routine until Sunday. Finally my husband and I decided to go for a swim yesterday. It felt good to be doing something again and I am eager to continue my training today. Right now I am just sitting around the house waiting for some delivery guys who are going to drop off our new dining room table. The shipping company will be here anytime between 7 am and 1 pm according to their notification. My plan is to go for a run as soon as they have left and I am going to see how it goes. I am shooting for anywhere between 0:40 minutes and one hour depending how I feel. According to my training schedule, this week should be my recovery week which means that training length and intensity are being reduced by approximately 40%. But since I really didn't do anything this past week, I sort of already had a recovery week. If I am still feeling good after the run I will do some weight training (hyye33333333333333  dfffffffffffffffffc my cat says "Hello!") focusing on the chest and back. One of the other things on my to-do list for the day is looking up vegan Thanksgiving recipes. In Germany we don't celebrate Thanksgiving but with my husband being American we like to invite people over for both countries' holidays. We'll do a big Thanksgiving dinner this year and I want to start trying out some dishes before we'll actually serve them to our guests. The "Old Fashioned Lentil Loaf" we had yesterday wasn't bad but a little too mushy for my taste. Knowing there's going to be a lot of big dinners coming up always serves as an extra motivation for me to workout even more. Ok, off to getting my Monday chores done. Have a good week everyone!  

Inspiration II

There's no way I would be exercising so much if it wasn't for my mother in law who really got me started with all this. My husband and I live in Germany but he is originally from San Diego in Southern California where my in laws live. That means I don't get to see my mother in law a whole lot but somehow we connect through our shared interests. My mom in law is one fit lady as she has always been working out and you can tell by the way she looks. It must have been around two years ago now that she got into the p90x workout routines and when we talked on the phone she would always give me updates on her progress. She would let me know that she was doing 50 push ups in one workout but that this number was supposed to increase as she went on with the program. "That's incredibly impressive!" I thought and that I would not be able to do that. As the months passed by, my husband's mom continuously let us know how she was improving and I finally went online to look up the dvds she was talking about. The next thing I knew is that I had ordered the program and was out to buy the dumbbells and other gear needed for the routines. I still vividly remember calling my mother in law after I finished my first p90x-week, telling her that I couldn't even do many of the exercises. She was very encouraging and told me that it was fine to do less repetitions or to do a slightly different and therefore lighter version of the move. It was fun to have somebody to talk to about the workout. And it turned out to be a big encouragement for me to know that she had done the program as well. I didn't want to quit and have to tell her so. After I finished the 90 day program we visited my in laws this summer and my mother in law and I jokingly compared our results while our husbands were just rolling their eyes. While it's not easy to  live extremely far away from family I am grateful for having such a good relationship with my in laws. Despite our different cultural backgrounds we just connected and our shared passions don't end with exercising. My mother in law and I have found that it's much easier to stay slim, if we feed the calories we're not supposed to eat to our beloved pets!

My super fit mother in law and her Corgi

 My belly cat

Finishing in Hawaii

As we gathered in front of the computer at 7 pm on Saturday to watch the Ironman World Championships in Hawaii, the athletes started off their long day at 7 am local time in Kona with the swim in the clear Pacific Ocean. We had some friends over who are not into triathlons and it was fun talking about the sport in a larger group and telling them what the Ironman was all about. The pro race was going to take around 8 hours for the men and closer to 9 hours for the women. Our friends still had other plans for the night and left long before the winners of the contest would be revealed but my brother, husband and I were set on following the whole pro race. To say the least, it was more than impressive to see how fast those guys are going! Man, they barely slow down at the aid stations to grab some water or other nutrition. Seeing the athletes either excel or fall apart during the marathon was really intense. But at 3 am and after 8 consecutive hours of staring at the screen, any sporting event can be only so fascinating. The Pina Coladas definitely didn't help me staying awake and I went to bed after the male winner of the race was established. My brother stayed over that night and during breakfast on Sunday morning we turned on the computer once again and watched the age groupers finish. 14:30 hours after we had initially started to watch the Ironman, we picked up again and followed the athletes crossing the finish line. Those people, as little as I know about them, will stay in my memory for much longer than anything I had seen the night before. There were the two 45 and 50 year old friends dancing together as they crossed the finish line. Many people could barely walk as they came in. One lady was crying in pain and couldn't stop but she had refused to give up before she completed the whole race. There was the guy who held a "Will You Marry Me?" sign and the man who tripped and fell inches before the line. The oldest competitor came in at 84 years old and an 81 year old men won his age group minutes before his 80 year old competitor. The crowd went insane for every single finisher and the female pro athlete and winner of this year's race, Chrissie Wellington, was right there at the finish line to hug and congratulate most of the finishers. Finishing the race also means that the famous announcer Mike Reilly  calls out the finisher's name and oftentimes a short story about that person, but what everyone wants to hear is him screaming out "You Are An Ironman!". The most heart-breaking story of the night was the lady who came in just 4 seconds after the cut-off time at 17:00 hours. Mike Reilly was running next to her to get her over the line and the crowd was pushing her down the final stretch with their chants but the poor lady couldn't make it in time. I don't think she was so happy but the audience and the announcer called her an "Ironman in our hearts". That's what I like about triathlon: it's not about winning, but about getting out and being part of it. After watching the Ironman my husband and I went out for a run and talked about how we felt inspired by what we had just seen. These people and their finishes were by far the best part of the whole broadcast and maybe I will change my Ironman-watching-approach for 2012 and turn it into a Hawaiian brunch.

Clothes / Girls' Stuff

As many of you might know I have been losing quite some weight lately. And don't get me wrong, I am more than happy about that fact. Then again, I have serious problems when I am standing in my closet trying to find stuff that fits me anymore. And I am not fishing for  compliments here, it has really become hard for me to assemble my daily outfits. I know there's a solution to this problem: go shopping! Buy new clothes! "Yeah! Fun!" You might think, but not, if you have actually been doing this for quite some time and you constantly need more new clothes. Let me clarify by telling you this little anectdote: On April 29, 2011 (I precisely remember this because that's the day that Prince William and Catherine got married and my mom and I met up to watch it on TV) I showed my mom bags full of pants and shirts I had just bought for the summer. All was exciting and fun because I had already lost weight at that point and after the long winter I was getting my wardrobe ready for the warmer time of the year. I had found shorts and cute tank tops and they were all a size or so smaller than the clothes I was wearing before. My mom liked the stuff I picked, I was happy and we poured another glass of champagne and went about our wedding celebration brunch. Then we went to visit my in-laws in the US a month later and I did some clothes shopping there because everything was so much cheaper. Again, I could go down one size and I was thrilled. After we returned from our trip I continued losing weight and the clothes I bought in April started getting somewhat too lose on me. Slowly but surely this slimming waist of mine was becoming a serious financial burden. It's nice to buy clothes that you can actually wear for a season or two, but if their obsolete after a couple of months? I told myself that I would buy one nicer item each month and get a few cheaper basics so that I would have enough outfits for work at least. That's what I have been doing since. I am writing this post today because I am sitting here in my newest "nice item of the month": a pair of Levi's jeans that I have purchased today. The thing is that these pants are actually too tight, I think. Because all the apparel was too big so soon after I initially got it, I thought today that I should just buy the next smaller size for once. Of course they fit and they look good but when I sit down they're just a little too tight to be comfortable. I hope this will serve as an extra motivation to lose another pound or so. That should be enough for me to be able to breathe in deeply in October's "nice" purchase!

Getting Ready for Hawaii

I am really excited because I will be watching the Ironman World Championships in Hawaii Saturday night. It's the first time that I really pay attention to this event and I am looking forward to a night of Hawaiian snacks and great sports on TV. Because of the ridiculous time-difference the broadcast here in Germany starts at 12:50 am. My preparation plan definitely calls for a Saturday afternoon nap! Shouldn't be  too hard because I will also do a swim early in the morning  and that should tire me out enough. My race plan also calls for some coconutty and pineapply refreshments in solid and fluid form. I am not quite sure yet what exactly I am going to make, but we'll probably have some cocktails and fruit platters. Pineapple cupcakes and a coconut-mousse might be whipped up. Isn't that a relaxing preparation plan for the Hawaii Ironman?

Nutrition

This bell pepper-sweet potato-tomato soup is what I just had for lunch. I made it from scratch for last night's dinner and topped off the leftovers with some arugula today. In my day to day life I pay relative close attention to what I eat because I am vegan and eat no animal products. I adopted the vegan diet over three years ago, so I know pretty much exactly what I can eat as far as that goes. When it comes to the nutritional requirements of my new more active lifestyle, I find that I am somewhat clueless oftentimes. In every magazine and workout-book you find the same information: the body generates energy from carbohydrates during an endurance workout. During the exercise muscle tissue breaks down and the body needs protein to be able to rebuild the tissue and become stronger during that process. On top of that one needs to ingest "good" fats. That's basically a very short wrap up of the things I've learned about nutrients and their role in fueling the body. And then I am left with a million questions: How much energy do I burn during a one hour exercise? (I rarely exercise longer than 1:15h/day.) Do I burn the same amount of calories during a swim and a run? How big is the difference in calories burnt? How long before an exercise should I be eating? What source of carbs is the best one? The list goes on and on and while I am wondering about all this, I still want to lose weight before I start in the triathlons next year. Because I am the type of person that likes to plan everything out (you should see my workout plans and journals...) this confusion regarding my diet gets a little frustrating. I feel that I could be doing better if I just knew exactly what to take in at which point.  Based on the books, the right nutrition for a specific athlete is usually figured out by trying different things based on the scientific knowledge that's out. Not everybody reacts the same way after eating or drinking the same foods during training.  For me that means that it's basically going to take some time to learn what works and what doesn't. My quest must be to pay close attention to the signs I receive from my body and somehow connect those to my specific nutritional needs at the time. This notion is new to me since I have usually only paid attention to whether I was hungry or not. And all this writing about nutrition and food has made me kind of hungry now- I guess it's dinner time!