First Triathlon of the Season

Last night was the Father and Sons camping overnighter. So Dwain took Andrew, Charlie and Samuel. I had Sarah, who wanted to be camping with Daddy.

Sarah and I went out to get dinner and to WalMart, the same time Daddy left so it wouldn't be so hard on her. We had a good time. By the time we got home and ate it was time for Sarah to go to bed, but I let her stay up and play with me as we watched TV, and I put stuff together for the triathlon. I had to be up early to have breakfast and get mentally ready for the "race".

Sarah woke up in time to be ready to go to Jill's house. She is my Best Friend and agreed to watch Sarah even though it was so early in the morning, and that she would not be able to get her usual saturday sleep-in! She is dear to me! I love her for making that sacrifice so that I can pursue health. everyone should have a Jill-Friend in their life.

I dropped Sarah off and took off to the American Fork Fitness Center.

I rocked out to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. (is that possible?) It was a song from their new CD called Saints Bound for Heaven. It has a great uplifting message that moves me, so I listened to it about 5 times in a row.

I arrived, parked and unpacked my bike. I have done this race course 4 times, once just for practice, so I felt prepared. I headed to the registration tent, found my number, and then...

they asked for my USAT card. CRAP! I knew I had it, but I traded bags and the card was in the other bag. The lady told me I would have to go bum the $10 to be legal (coz I didn't have the cash or check). I left, a bit miffed at myself for not having that card, and found some triathlon friends that i swim with on Saturday mornings at the pool. My friend Scott willingly gave me the $3 I needed and wished me luck on my 'race' as I headed back to the registration to get my packet with my number and shirt (which, although labeled XL, would NEVER fit). I found my place for transition, set up my stuff, and was met by my Coach, Keena. She asked if I was ok, told me I looked ready and like a woman who had done this before, then headed off to find other triathletes she coaches, with the shirt that would never fit me.

I finished setting up my transition area at which time they were calling the athletes to the side of the pool for the pre-race meeting. I hadn't gotten any time for a warm up. I thought that would be ok, I would use the swim as the warm up.

I made a quick trip to the port-a-potty, and then to the pool. I found some women who swim a 300 about as fast as i should and then jumped in the shallow end for a few short laps as I waited for my position to reach the front of the line to start my 'race'.

Reaching the front of the line didn't take long and i jumped (feet first) into the pool, for a wonderful strong swim. By the end of the first lap, I caught up to the woman in front of me. There were 2 other women on my toes by the end of the next length, and I let the one go in front of me. As I pushed off the wall I was already reaching to her calf as i swam, but as I think it is better to be in a drag position then in a lead position, I slowed up just a little and let her pull me along. At the end of the next length i had to hold up just a little to let her get more in front of me so as to not get kicked in the face. She picked up her pace and pulled me along once again.
Out of the pool and heading to my bike, I tried to slow my breathing, but I really wanted a quick transition. So I did jog, then walk. To speed transition, I didn't put socks on for the bike ride. i was quick and headed out to the course. It is 2 loops and longer than last year by 4 blocks. I was determined to make it a fast ride. I also knew there was a hill, the dreaded hill, but I talked myself through by saying it wasn't anything harder than what I had practiced for weeks before. I was passed by some on the hill, but managed to catch most of them on the DOWNHILL. It was a long not as steep downhill during which I can hit speeds up to 30 MPH. i think I only got up to 27 today, but still flew past the other women who are a bit more careful than I am. But then, once I get my mass going downhill, it is hard to slow it down. ;-)

I did the second loop with women passing me uphill and me passing them downhill. but finally I get to head into transition for the run. Keena was there cheering on her athletes as we had to dismount the bikes. (it is funny how I can forget how to do that during races, I just about fall over every race. I have to chuckle about that now.)

I took off the helmet, put on the hat, off with the bike shoes, on with the socks and shoes for running (I use that term loosely) and grab my water and head out for the last time to "run" 3.1 miles. Checking my watch, I hope to get through this in 45 minutes. I followed the bike course doing my jogging/walking shuffle and made it to the hill, where I allowed myself to walk (not that I wasn't walking before then, but this was the one place where i knew I could). One and a half miles into the run I was wondering why I was doing triathlons. I really like to swim and bike, but I am not a long distance runner. I like to run the distance around bases, not miles. I kept telling myself I should find something I like to do and get back to what i am good at. Right about then, I turned the corner to head downhill to the finish line. that is when i met up with a fellow triathlete and friend who convinced me to keep jogging to the finish line. Sherry was great in keeping me going, no matter how slow it is, in my jogging type forward motion. Then Erica came and found me and ran with Sherry and me. It was a much more enjoyable jog from the point of having people with me. They encouraged me as I got closer to the finish to sprint hard to the end. And I did. I finished on a sprint, and stood at the finish line trying to breathe and cool-off for 5 minutes before I remembered to stop my watch. I was pleasantly surprised at the time I saw on my watch, but knew it wasn't official. I guessed it was a good time, but didn't know for sure until I checked the official times posted at the race finish.

No, I was not in the top 3, or even 13. I think I placed 22 in my division (if only I could run, I would be competitive with my division.) But I was 26 minutes behind the winner.

And the best news is that I finished with a personal Best 1:40:29.

Good times are had by all or, at least, most.

No, I am not sore.

Next week i will be doing an Olympic Distance Triathlon. That is twice the distance of today's tri.

I will let you know how it goes. Until then, enjoy life, work hard and smile.

tulip on Thanksgiving point by Allen Macbean

This is such a beautiful photo. He does great work. Check out all his work.

training sick

Being sick really messes with training.!

It takes its toll physically and mentally.

I know I have a limited amount of time to get my workouts in. So weighing that against the knowledge that if I take it easy now, i won't drag the illness out and i will have better quality workouts when I return. But just laying around only feels good for about 36 hours.

Push through, or rest? That is the question-forget "To be or not to be."

OUCH, I hurt my.....

Ouch, I hurt my nuts!! said my 4 year old son Andrew.

WHAT did you say? responded his mommy.

I hurt my nuts! he said again.

Where are your nuts? I gently asked, wondering the whole time if I wanted to know.

On the bottom of my feet. I hurt my nuts on my foot when i was jumping. he replied.

Mommy smiled and let out a sigh of relief.

Charlie's boo-boo!

This is Charlie 3 days later. When you asked about his arm, he would start to cry. I think that is funny. He would be bouncing around the house playing with Andrew. In the space of the question, he would whine and cry, "My arm hurted!"


Oh, you want to know what happened?

Yeah, well, um....mommy did it.



I hear you. How did that happen?

I wanted to teach him a lesson. He has been told not to jump on the bed. Charlie loves Jumping on the furniture. When Andrew was little he would jump on the bed and we would reach out and swipe his feet out from under him. He loved it. He would land on his back and get up laughing, most of the time.

Well, I did the same thing to Charlie while we were at Jill's house. He started jumping on HER bed, and she doesn't like it. So I swiped his feet out from under him.
He twisted and tried to land on his hands. He was moderately successful, except that his left arm got stuck under him awkwardly and he landed weird and started crying immediately, a cry no mom wants to hear. He got pale and sweaty and eyes dilated.

He started pulling at his arm/wrist and was crying. Well 10 minutes of that and I called the doctor.




(And the doctor said...
No more Charlie's jumping on the bed.)

The doctor was able to get us in in 20 minutes, so i hurried and put his coat on him, ouch, and ran him there.

He has a compression fracture of the distal ulna. It is one of the best breaks to have and only requires casting for 3 weeks, no surgery, no pinning.

So, if you are going to break a bone in your child with the least amount of physical damage, you now know how to do it.


He has a pretty new blue cast on now.

Daddy had nothing to do with this and didn't find out until i called hours later to break the news.

Happy Wedding Day

Quinn and Anjuli
So many people have chosen wrong.
Quinn has not! Anjuli Welcome to the family.
You are a sweet and strong woman, which is what Quinn needs.
Quinn, treat her right. Care for her. Love her!
I am excited for you and the years you have ahead.
Love to you this day.

Oh, the joys...

Of getting back on the bike after an extended 'vacation'. Not that I didn't ride, it just has been sporadic at best and most of the rides were on a spin bike. Now I have my bike up on my trainer downstairs. It is MUCH more comfortable than a spin bike. My back doesn't hurt like it did.

So I did a 1 hour bike ride and a 15 min 'run'. It feels so good to sweat. And our basement is cold right around 4pm (yeah, and I opened a window) so that is the best time to ride, the heat won't come on because the sun is shining in the living room right near the thermostat.
I like riding my bike, outside is better, but I will take what i can get at this point. I lifted weights the other night and I am just a touch sore. It isn't bad, just enough to remind me I need to be stronger. Since I like to be strong, that shouldn't be a problem.

Tomorrow is a swim.

Anita and M.E. in Bear Lake.
(this is the best swimming photo I have)

Mentally challenging times

register now for the woman of steel in American Fork. Go to trifind.com search in utah to find and register for this race, you won't want to miss it.
I have done it for 2 years and loved it both times.
As for training, I swam today for 40is minutes and have a 50 min bike ride to do tonight.
I did upper body weights last night and my chest is getting sore. i love that feeling.

Now, lets get the eating part under control.

I am doing boot camp with Coach Keena tomorrow morning at 5:30 am. Yep, that is NOT a typo.

Workout

Day 2 of the commitment
I committed to myself yesterday that i would get in all the exercise given to me by my trainer.
I didn't get up this morning to exercise, so now I have to arrange schedules and look for babysitters.

50 min run/jog

upper body weights

So that is about 2 hours of exercise and driving/dressing time.

I will get it done.
5.5 months to Boise

Family Foto

I DID IT!

Wow, oh, wow!

I cannot tell you how the emotions were running through me, or even what I felt, if anything. Maybe I was in denial which is why I didn't feel. I don't know.

What I do know is that I SANG a SOLO in front of my ward for the Christmas program this morning. It was short. I had a microphone (never have liked my voice amplified like that) and it was still ok. When it was over, when I was done singing by myself, I got very HOT! It was noticeable to me. I bet I turned the same color as my shirt (red). I was amazed that I had done it. I was totally pleasantly surprised. I can't tell you how I did, because I don't remember hearing myself sing. Funny,that!

Would I do it again?


Yes, yes I would. I don't know if you know this about me, but i love to sing. I had forgotten that for a few years, and now with the voice and piano lessons, I have put in the time to learn to sound good and so yes. Yes, I would do it.

The sad part about this singing thing, is that now both my choirs are done until May and January. I don't have any voice or piano lessons until then either, so there is no purpose, nothing pushing me to sing. I will just have to do it because I love it.

RUNNING

I ran the Nutcracker 5K race yesterday. I know it isn't far 3.1 miles. And I am working on getting faster. My runs are just so SLOW. I guess mom is right, I am not a runner, not for distance anyway. It is depressing to have to work hard for 2 years and not get any faster. I can go forever at a snails pace.
43.08
that was my time for 3.1 miles. Anyone know how fast that is per mile?
Well, my first mile was 15 minutes on the dot. The second mile was 12:30ish. First mile was uphill, and the second mile was downhill. The third mile was flat and uphill. What ever time is left is how long it took to do the third mile. What is that 15+ min/mile. Terrible.
I know my trainer will say I did a good job and way to go.
So now you know you too can do a race. Do the triathlon with me. I may swim and bike better, but for sure you will pass me on the run.

I have done something

Something scary, something fun.



I sang a solo.

It is scary just admitting that out loud, so to speak.


It is a very small solo for our ward Christmas program. Honestly, I love singing and I know I do it all the time, even in front of people, but NEVER when it mattered. This time was only a practice, and it was scary. I have a post nasal drip cough that is messing with my voice, but I did ok. Choir members and the conductor were surprised, pleasantly.

I guess the voice lessons are paying off.

Musings of THANKSGIVING 2008

Happy Thanksgiving!
I know it is a little late, but not too much.
I had such a great time with my in-laws. They are a fun group of people to be with. Quinn and Anjuli are cute. (I have a picture, I can prove it-later) I have missed Quinn. He is so good with kids, I will wait patiently for him to be a daddy.


Chad rode the horse. I have proof-another picture to be added later. I didn't know he did that. He was gentle with it, patient, and guided it out the gate.
He is a good young man, with a good heart.
Eugene and Brooke are so energetic, which is a good thing considering all they have to do. 3 handsome and busy boys plus school plus work, plus church. I get tired just hearing all they do. It is a good thing they are young.



David and Lucia are very calming to me. They have a good life and a sweet love. It is fun to watch them come together when one has been dealing with one child and the other has the other problem, they get it settled and meet together with a gentle touch, and a look in their eyes that shows how much they appreciate each other. They are good parents, and good examples to me of patience.


Joe and Angela lived with us, so this family visit with them, while great and wonderful and full of love, was not one that opened my eyes to their relationship. I miss them. I don't tell them that though. that would show a soft spot on me.



I am sad there were 2 families missing. Charlene and Jake, we thought of them in Australia. Did they have Thanksgiving? We need them to come back as soon as possible. We need to know our cousins. Shanon and Teresa were also missing. They are expecting their 5th in May? That is a long travel when pregnant. Many thought were with them throughout the day.

Mom and Dad Norris have a wonderful posterity. A family full of love and respect for each other. They have done a good job showing their children how to love and care for those around them. I am blessed to have been offered a place in their home, family and life. I am a better person because i get to see their interactions with their kids and learn from it. I also get to Feel their love of God and their faith in Jesus Christ. It permeates all they do.

Feel Free to join me!

Any of you who read this blog obviously know i do triathlons.

I invite you to be a triathlete with me.

I am preparing for the BOISE 70.3 Half Ironman. YEP, that is my big race for the 2009 season.
It is June 13th
in Boise
starting at 2pm

Come join me, won't you? You, too, could feel like this!Finisher!!!

Family Pictures

Here we are. All 5 of us. Casually playing in the park. I 'met' a woman, by reading her blog and looking at her pictures. I love them, so I asked if she did photos. She didn't agree to right away, but aparently enough people had asked her the same thing, so she decided to get a new camera, a more professional camera, and then did these photos free of charge, for the experience. I think she does a great job capturing the personality of the kids and our family.

Reflections now that Soccer is Over

Shae


We had the final banquet on Tuesday.
I miss soccer, but am glad to have that time back with my family.
I love my goalkeepers. They worked so hard to improve their skills and learn the game.
I am proud of all the girls. This was our last season in 5A and we play other teams that have college recruits, and compete at the state tournament every year. That is not the level of play we have in Spanish Fork and the surrounding area. We still are teaching basic skills to varsity players. Well that translates into lots of goals scored against us and our only wins are in pre-season, when we get to choose teams that may be competitive. They are usually pretty good games and we start the season feeling good about our chances.
I am grateful to our team members for not quitting. They came to practice and worked hard everyday. They kept their spirits up when every game was a beating. They worked even harder and NEVER gave up.
We did have a good time one practice. The sprinklers came on. That won't deter any goalkeeper. That makes it that much more fun.

Running up the score/padding stats

When I was in soccer in High school, we were top three in the state. Those were good times.
I was looking over my yearbook at some of the scores we had against the weaker teams. I am sad to say they were within one or two goals of double digits, and a few were over that mark. I don't know why we did it, other than we could, and passing around the other team does get a bit boring after a while. Yes, we did move people around and get the subs a lot more experience.
Looking back to those days from my more mature age and greater experiences in life gives me moment to reflect.
Why do i feel the need to do this? Well, I coach the local high school girls soccer team now. We are the bottom. The "Clover Park" of my high school days. We practice hard and work to improve the skills of the players, but they are no match for girls who play competitive soccer year round. So I am now on the other side of the 10-nil score. It is HARD. It is hard to keep going when you know EVERY game the victories are to keep them from scoring for longer than 25 min. or to string 4 passes together, or to just be first to the ball. We have to look at the game differently than the other coaches. We can't look at the scoreboard for our victories. We pass that along to the girls, they need to know what they are doing is still an improvement.
Here's to looking to next year in 4A.

The Utah Half Ironman report

Sunday, August 17, 2008

half Ironman report

Ok, folks, here it is, and I know why it took so long to start writing about it. I believe myself to be an exceptional athlete. Strong, powerful, graceful? (no) quick, fast. And triathlon really has nothing to do with those gifts. I am slow in triathlon.
So, Yes, I did finish the Utah half Ironman. It was hard. I wanted to quit many times, and probably would have if it weren't for friends along the way. For some reason, in my mind, it is really no big deal that i did it. It didn't give me any sense of accomplishment, or grand 'ah ha' moment, and i couldn't understand why (cuz i really was expecting one or both of those moments). So I have been pondering. I figured it out on Friday, and ran it past Dwain. He disagrees with me, so I will run it past you.
See, I have been training really long and hard for this 'race'. I would wake up early and get in time on a run or bike, then have a workout scheduled for the evening, usually a swim. There were lots of "2-a days". about 4 hours a day working out. and I did the workouts, almost all of them. I missed quite a few swim workouts, because they are the hardest to schedule and that is my best event of the 3.
Now here is where you will want to pay attention. I know that even though I did what I did, y'all could do it too, and do so much better than me. Yes, you could. I know most of you don't want to, and that is fine. But IF you decided, "Hey, Anita did it. I want to do one, too." then you could, and you would be great. I am certain if you spent the time training and working with a group of fun people to prepare for your race, you would do better than I did.
Do you know I haven't even checked my times, yet?
OK, I am back. I just checked my times.
Here they are.

Place

Number

Name

Home Town

Class

Swim

min/100yd

T1

Bike

mph

T2

Run

min/mi

Total Time

Back

Penalties

224

Anita NORRIS

Athena

00:57:41.100

00:05:27.8

00:04:58.100

03:27:43.100

16.2

00:07:36.900

03:30:29.400

00:16:04.1

08:00:51.7

+00:00:00.000

They said the swim was long. GPS isn't what it used to be. so we swam 200 yds longer than the 1.2 miles. and that is an exceedingly slow time for me /100 yds. I did stand up a couple times to adjust equipment. (yes the lake was that low in the harbor.) I was so anxious/nervous/terrified of this race distance that I had to just enjoy the morning, and think about the swim only during the swim, and the bike only during the bike. that helped, but still i knew there was a run. See, even now i can't just look at one aspect of the race. I enjoyed the swim. It was a beautiful morning. I watched the sun come up over the mountains and it was really stunning. We had 2 laps to do, and I was enjoying it. I even had enough gas in the tank at the end of the swim to push hard to the buoy to get out passing some men in the process. (they started 5 minutes ahead of the women)
Transition. I took my time. i don't know why. I wanted to make sure I had enough fuel for the bike ride. I loaded up my shirt pocket, and away I went. But I left my odwalla bar there. that was my actual food for the bike, and I put it down to pick something else up and left it there. The bad part of that was I need food in my stomach to take the gel packs, otherwise I get crampy in the tummy, and need to find a bathroom. I did the gel pack anyway, and it turned out to be ok. I don't know why, I don't care why, it was good to not have to find a bathroom on the course. My goal for the bike was to ride the 56 miles in less than 3:30. I did it. It is a nice ride. Flat and fast, not for me of course, I am not fast for 56 miles, but I am consistent and I do finish. The ride took us out to West Mountain, past pastures and hayfields and cows. It is a nice morning ride. I had to think about that, and not the run. With about 15 miles to go, I started to feel my leg cramp. It wasn't bad, just the beginning stages telling me I needed more electrolytes. With 8 miles to go my coach rode up to me. I told her my dilemma and she promptly handed me electrolytes. She is great. She was being bike support for her athletes who were doing this event. She rode with me for about 5 of the 8 miles and kept me going, not allowing me to slow down. I told her I was hungry, and NEEDED food, she said she would take care of it at transition. She is just a little bit sneaky about motivation.
Let me elaborate. About 3 weeks before this race I had a 3.5 hour bike ride for a workout. It nearly wiped the floor with me. i was exhausted. I couldn't imagine trying to run after being on a bike that long. I called Keena and talked with her. I was so emotional and tense until we agreed that I would just do the swim and bike and work on the run for next year. Or since the run had parts to it, I could just do one part, and then hand them my timing chip and be done.
So I am chowing down in transition on any fruit I can get, and I see my friend Sherry come in and go. I commented to Keena that we were supposed to walk together and eat skittles. I guess that got her attention that I was still standing there eating and drinking, and she kicked me in the butt and told me to get out of transition and onto the course. So I did. I took my cold water and some pretzels, and WALKED. It took 3 miles of walking before I could sustain a jog.
Then I didn't want to go any farther, but there was Keena as i was coming back past transition and she got more food and water and electrolytes for me and persuaded me to keep going. that motivation lasted to the next aid station when i heard my Jill-friend call my name. She was willing to walk with me. so I kept going.
Then we saw Sherry. She was jogging toward us, coming back from the mile out and mile back. I was only a quarter mile out, but turned around and walked with her. So I missed about a mile and a half of the 13.1 miles. (yes I told the race director)
Jill headed to the finish line when i still had 6 miles to go. Erica joined sherry and I and we walked on. Erica is training for a marathon and she was great company as that 6 miles didn't seem like too long, until I started on the path. 3 miles out and 3 miles back. We walked, we talked and we even jogged every now and then. Sherry took off about a mile and a half into the 3 miles out. So it was Erica and me. She cheered on those who were coming back, telling them they were awesome and to keep going. She is amazing. After the turnaround at the 3 miles out point, Keena came up on her bike and challenged us to get my butt moving to finish before the time ran out. Run 3 and walk 1 I think is what she said. But we jogged 6 then I sat in the river. Then we did it again. Jogged 6 and sat in the river for 30 seconds. It felt sooooo good.
we jogged and walked, with more jogging than I thought was possible. Erica and Jill and Keena get all the credit for getting me to the finish line. Thank you.
I made it there almost a full minute after the 8 hour cutoff time.
Sad, but true. they still gave me the medal for finishing, and I will PROUDLY display it somewhere knowing that you can do it, too.