My First Flat Tire.... and again.. and again...

Sooo... I finally got my first flat tire last Wednesday. ( yup, I'm slow to get my blogs up these days)

I was riding along nicely. It was a great weather day to ride.. a little overcast a tad windy..but not too hot. On the return trip I started noticing how bumpy my ride seemed kind of like you were rolling over rumble strips or a crack in the pavement. I tried to look back and see if I could tell if my tire was low and sure enough.. it was. CRAP! I had never really gotten a flat tire on a ride before. I had seen people change them, and even offered my hand to help.. but ME MYSELF.. had never changed my own.

Well, no time like the present. Fortunately I was not alone on my ride so I had someone experienced with me who could tell me how badly I was doing things. He kindly offered to do it for me or let me try to figure it out on my own. I bravely opted for the latter.

Of course, it was the rear wheel so I was just GOING to get greasy. But geeeesh... who didn't clean my chain before I rode? I should fire them. Isn't someone supposed to do that for you?
So I got the wheel off and started to pry off the tire, got my tube, CO2(which I had bought this lil hand held co2 thingy and never used it either). Got my tire sort of aligned on my wheel.. tube inside it.. and yay.. Ok.. I think I was ready to inflate. I have to admit, I was pretty excited to use my CO2 for the first time. I guess I was over excited tho because when I started to squeeze and feel how cold everything got I all of a sudden had to 'hit the deck' because somewhere in the trees there was a gunshot! Can you beliecve it? Oh wait.. just kidding. It was my tube EXPLODING! whoops!

I looked at my friend in disbelief, and shock, ....ok.. and a little bit like.. WOW that was pretty cool! So... again, took off tube, tire, put tube back on, tire, inflate.. NOT TOO MUCH.. and then the hard part of getting my wheel back on my bike. MAN OH MAN.. why is it really such a pain?
(Well, because I didn't know what I was doing and was kinda doing it wrong. Thank goodness I had 'guidance.' Finally after about a half hour (literally) I was ready to roll again.. haa haa.. (literally..man I crack myself up today).

Oh yah I forgot to mention that there was glass in my tire. I pulled it out and thought I had it all. But the next day when I went to ride, my tire was flat again. This time I had my pit crew with me and they took care of it MUCH.. MUCH MUCH.. faster thatn I had done. And THENNNNN.. the next day my tire was flat again!!!! Apparently I still must have glass in my tire or this is God's way of telling me I need to get faster at changing flats so he is giving me lots of opportunities to change them?

I will have to admit tho, changing my own flat for the first time.. was a bit empowering! I had always wondered what I would do if I was ever on the road by myself and had a flat.. if I would be able to figure it out. I feel so much better and more confident.

Even if you don't have a real flat... it's probably a good idea to let the air out of your tubes and try it. So many people have told me to do that before and to practice.. of course I never did.

Ah well.. now I'm in the club right? Is there a club for this? There should be! I ride with some women sometimes that have stated that if they get a flat they will just call their husbands, or someone to come pick them up. They don't even carry tubes or air. Silly girls!

It's even fun to get a little greasy......

:-)

Oh my GOD- You are going to do an IRONMAN?????

It always makes me giggle when people who are unfamiliar with the sport of Triathlon let alone an Ironman, find out that you are going to do one. I went to a Daughters of God luncheon with my mother on Saturday (day before Mother's Day) and while we were sitting at the table people were introducing themselves and making small talk my proud momma has to interject about my triathlon 'stuff.' One of the sweet lil old women asked what that was so I told her. She had seen something like that on TV during the Olympics, she thought.

Then my mother announces my plans to finsh a full Ironman this year in August. OOOOh lordy you would have thought I became Oprah or the first woman ever to take on anything athletic in a man's world of sports. It was hilarious! But I was touched. After I explained them the distances and the training process it was funny to watch their eating habits change a bit during lunch. When I passed around the cookie platter only two of them took one and they were under the age of 15. When I took TWO some of them relented and said, "Well OK.. I guess this is a special occasion." People are so funny!

When the lunch was over some of the women had been asked to showcase their talents. There were a few booths set up of different crafts and skills and art forms. I got to be equally proud of Mom's talent with glass work as the women of the church came over and "Ooooh'd and Ahhh'd" over her pieces.

As I was leaving the luncheon and walking back to my car, one of the women stopped me who was extremely over weight and asked if I was the girl who was going to do a 'marathon thingy.' I politely said yes and let it be that. She said I was such an inspiration to youth these days because she had apparently lost a son to drugs and another family member had a heart attack at a young age from obesity. She said she wished more young people would be more active so that when they grew up they would have developed healthy habits. ( I was gathering by the way she kept saying "young people" that she thought I was barely of college age.) I was so touched by her effort to come talk to me and share some of her heart with me.

In my world, and to some others who have embraced the multisport lifestyle, something like doing an Ironman kind of seems like the next thing to check off the list. To some of the average population, it seems like something so unattainable and unimaginable. Those reactions catch me off guard but then reel me in. I am grateful that my body is healthy enough to attempt this and that my mind is crazy enough to think it is possible.

Sometimes as multisport athletes, we lose sight of the daily gifts from God while we are busy scheduling, planning, organizing, calculating, and working out or training. When we get sucked into automatic pilot, going through the motions of training, do we realize who would give their 'right' arm to be in our situation? Do we realize how many people we may influence by our decision to be a multisport athlete? Do we realize how lucky we are to be able to put our bodies through this? Each day we rise and put on those shoes, or spandex outfits.. do we thank God for that opportunity? Probably not. Probably some days we groan at the fact that we 'have' to go to the pool at 5am, or do a 2 hour tempo run.

It IS amazing that I am going to do an Ironman. And it IS amazing that I have the support of my family and friends to allow me to do this with out compromising my relationship with them. It IS amazing that God has given me TODAY, to be the best that I can be!

COMPARTMENT WHAT???

"WELL... I THINK WHAT WE HAVE HERE IS COMPARTMENT SYNDROME..."

Oh lordy! I have heard that before. Only my calves do not feel like they are going to split apart.. ITS MY FEET!! THEY FEEL LIKE THERE IS A HUGE STEAK DRIVING THRU MY INTERMEDIATE CUNEIFORM BONE..(like that anatomy) AND CUTTING OFF CIRCULATION TO MY TOES!!

But Ok.. I'll play along since you actually DO know what you are talking about. So bring on the ART! (WHAT THE HECK WAS I THINKING?) Have you ever had ART???? I kind of live on it, but geeeeeeesh! I fortunately had my face down when my Dr. was working on my calves or he would have thought I was a wussy for tearing up! Why does everything good for you have to either taste bad, or feel bad?

Ok so I was supposed to 'try that' and see if it felt any better. Which it didn't. My run yesterday was 5 miles. 10 min warm up, then 1 min hard, 2 min easy, 1 min hard 2 min easy. Well after 30 minutes I couldnt feel my toes anymore, but the pain under my midfoot was excruciating! So I stopped and walked a minute. Got feeling back in my foot and went at it again. I changed it to 1 min hard, 3 min easy, and after 8minutes I couldnt feel my toes again. I walked up this huge hill that took 3 min, got feeling back in my feet, and then ran the rest of the way home. Took off my shoe, and sure enough.. toes were a bit whiteish. WHAT THE HECK IS HAPPENING HERE???? ANYONE, ANYONE????? BUELLER? BUELLER???

URRRRGH. This is so frustrating! I'm more than half tempted to just cut off my foot at my midfoot and just run with out toes. I may have a SLIGHT balance problem.. so maybe I'll just keep my big toe around. Big toes are like thumbs. Kinda need them but only realize that after you break one and can't use it for a while.

On a positive note, our pool is open again and I had a great work out this am. I called my class WET SUIT WEDNESDAY.... It was great. People brought their wet suits in to practice if they had never worn them. I love it when people get in the water for the first time with a wetsuit on and realize.. HOLY MOLEY.. I FLOAT!!! Seriously.. if you have never swam with a wetsuit, and you plan on doing an open water swim, GO PRACTICE first! Especially putting it on, zipping it, and taking it off. That is probably the most difficult part.

So here is my swim work out for the day. I liked it. (I made it so of course I liked it.. )But that's not always true. Sometimes I don't like them.

2x200 swim
100 kick
----
4x 75 Drill Swim Swim
2x200 pull
6 x 50 80% up 100% back
2x200 pull
8 x 25 odd-free sprint even -kick on back sprint
2x200 pull
10 x 25 1/2 lap prone scull with freestyle kick 1/2 lap ALL OUT SPRINT :10 sec rest inbetween

200 EASY CHOICE.

Only a few people got to the sculling part during class and I loooved watching them realize how hard that was. Sooo... I had to do it with them. YAAY. I looove feeling the burn in my shoulders and chest when I swim. Feels SOOOO GOOD! Seriously.. I really do love it. And it had been over a month since I have been in the water so it just felt even better!



Have to say, after a wake up of 330am, great class, great swim work out, frustrating run, and prob one of the most challenging yoga classes yet, I feel like I am nowhere near where I need to be for my IM training. I have GOT to get in some seirously long rides this weekend and figure out these darn toes!

The question is... TOES.. OR NO TOES..?????

Do they make prosthetic toes???

AFAA CERTIFICATION......

OK, Well some of you know that I'm not necessarily the BEST dancer in the world...unless there is on occasion, liquid help. (then of course, I rock)

I had my AFAA certification class on Saturday and wowsers was it challenging. I feel pretty confident in my knowledge as a fitness professional and was welcoming any new information they were presenting. Land based aerobics is a bit out of my element, but I wanted to take on a new challenge however foolish I looked. I was positive the information and class format would help me as I teach other classes, instruct boot camps, and help coach my athletes.

It was definitely humbling and I had to check my ego at the door.

I'll get my results back in about 6 weeks... hopefully passing.

As comfortable as I am teaching in front of a group of people, it was very UNcomfortable to be up performing aerobic exercise moves in front of a pannel of judges with a big number on my belly.

HOWEVER... I went through with it, challenged myself and realized I don't know it all. THAT SHOCKED ME ;-). It's so good for you to step out of your element, your comfortable box, in order to become a better.... whatever. In my case, person, athlete, coach, instructor were all included.

YOU REALLY never know until you give it a try.

When was the last time you tried something different, or uncomfortable??? I bet if you did, you would learn something about yourself that you wouldn't if you hadn't.

Go ahead... I dare ya.....

KILLER QUINOA

OK FOLKS.. BEWARE OF KILLER QUINOA.. (PRONOUNCED KEEN WA)

So yesterday I got back on my 'clean eating' schedule and for lunch decided on a healthy bowl of Quinoa. It's health benefits are wonderful as it is a complete protein grain. It supplies all the essential amino acids in a balanced pattern. However my amino acids are now somewhere floating down the Mississippi River.

ew gross I know.

So I sat down for lunch and put a little cajun seasoning in it for some flavor, and some red wine vinegar. It really IS good. I didn't make it through the bowl when my stomach started to cramp up and have some major abdominal pains. I started to figure it was this STUFF. For the past month, I have gotten these random stomach aches that felt the same, but I never put it together. I had one a few weeks ago before a race after I had eaten my oatmeal. (I mixed in Quinoa Flakes with my oatmeal.) I just chalked it up to pre race jitters or the oncomings of the stomach flu. Once before I had mixed some with Activia Yogurt and I thought, 'well.. probably too much fiber.' This time, I KNEW. So I immediately ran to my computer and googled "Quinoa stomach ache?" and HOLEY MOLEY. I found all sorts of similar reactions. Who Knew? AND WHY THE HECK DON'T THEY PUT SOME SORT OF WARNING ON THE PACKAGING!!!!

I know you are supposed to rinse it thoroughly before/during cooking, but this stuff was pre-rinsed and claimed to be ready to cook and eat. Yes it was also organic so I was hoping that was another good method of preparation.

I laid there doubled over in front of the computer for a while until I just couldnt take it anymore. I had to try to make myself throw up. It didn't happen. Then about an hour later.. I didn't have to try. And I didn't have to 'try' anymore for the next 4 hours. I thought at some point I was going to have to have someone take me to the ER. The pain and cramping in my stomach was just about unbearable! I was sweating, shaking, vomiting and moaning.

Wanna date? :-)

After I saw the last of it, my stomach finally settled down and I was able to get down two pedialyte popsicles and some partial chicken and pita.

Just a warning to you.. if you are cooking Quinoa.. even if it says pre-rinsed, rinse it again to get rid of any left over saponins. If you see that frothy, soapy film.. GET RID OF IT.. wash it off! That is TOXIC to your body.

Apparently people can eat Quinoa for months with no reaction, then suddenly.. BOOM! Your intestines revolt against you, your stomach joins in and commits hate crimes inside you until you rid yourself of the demons created from KILLER QUINOA.

BEWARE CLEAN EATERS....BEWARE!!!!