Trenda's Blog

I did it!

Posted 1 year ago at 5:39 am.

Well, I did it!  I finished and I didn’t come in last place:)  I was definitely at the bottom but someone pointed out that while I may be at the bottom of the people who did it, I’m still ahead of the millions in the US who didn’t try-that put it into perspective for me.

Our trip was full of bumps (forgot my license so had to drive 60 miles out of the way to go back and get it, left the wetsuit in the hotel closet, and then left the wetsuit at the race to name a few).  But, we got to have a great lunch the day before, we saw Julie & Julia the night before and got some delicious donuts on the way home after the race. Thank you to Kelly’s parents for watching the kids overnight so we didn’t have to drag them out at 4am to get to our location!

Here’s a play-by-play for those interested:

There were 4 waves, my group was the last in the water. The swimming was as expected-BAD. I immediately swallowed a bunch of water and , I was so winded from trying to recover that I could never get going. When I actually did the crawl, I started to pass people but I was gasping for air after only a few strokes and couldn’t maintain it. At one point, I was on the outside with no one in front of me and I did the back stroke for a bit. I also did the breast stroke which is slow but I was just trying to get it over with at that point.  I did it in only 13 minutes which is WAY faster than I thought I would do, thank goodness for that wetsuit so I could semi-rest and still make forward progress.  I came out of the water ahead of about 8 people maybe.

I got to the transition area with my heart beating faster than I wanted so I really tried to relax as I put my socks, shoes, helmet and number on. The bike was fairly uneventful, I passed 5 women and several of the “long” participants flew passed me on their fast bikes doing their second lap (they started the long event about 1/2 hour before we did).  I finished in 55 minutes, again faster than I had trained but I never felt like I was in a groove.  I’m defintely getting my fast bike out now!

And, here’s the best part-I got back to the transition area and went to “rack” my bike and out went my back!  It was bad, really painful, I couldn’t bend over, it was horrible to walk. I thought, let me just start walking and see if I can walk it out, that didn’t work, I squatted to see if I could stretch it out-that made it even worse! So, I started walking and praying (or pleading) “Please God don’t make it end this way, let me finish this and it’s going to take forever walking at this pace”.  Those who know me well know that I would have probably crawled it if I had to:)  I decided after about 8 minutes of walking that running might actually not hurt as much so I started jogging and it did hurt less. So off I went, still in pain but moving. I finished in 33 minutes, which is the the pace I’ve been training at. 

The training plan I was using perfectly prepared me to finish the race (which is what it was designed to do) http://www.trinewbies.com/tno_trainingprograms/10wtp.pdf.  I finished it in 1:49:25 which was 24th out of 29 participants in my age group, I was pleased to be under 2 hours.  The overall winner did it in just over an hour.

I took 4 advil at noon and we stopped 3 times on our 2 hour drive home, I could barely get in and out of the car.  It’s now Monday morning and thankfully the back seems to be getting better and I’m hopeful after a visit to the chiropracter today that this won’t be a long-term problem.

So, the answer is “yes”, God willing I’ll do another. I felt like I left so much there and could do so much better. I had heard horror stories of people not being able to do the run after having their heart rate too high in the water and then pushing themselves too much on the bike. The plus side of this is that, I really enjoyed the bike ride-saw someone picking brocolli in a field, looked at the flowers, the farms, etc.  When I got out of the water in nearly last place, it was just about enjoying it and finishing it which was just fine and just what I set out to do:)

And, one last thing-can I just say how amazing my husband is!  He has been such an encouragement and so supportive.  Even when I had to run out the door as soon as he got home to do a workout, sometimes even rearranging his own schedule so I could fit one in.  He made sure my bike always had air in the tires and put it on the van bike rack every Sunday after church (which in hindsight perhaps I should have done-hmm) and has generally been just an overall fabulous guy!  Thanks Honey:)

Last workout

Posted 1 year ago at 3:02 pm.

I completed my last workout at 8:00 am this morning, the much anticipated triathlon is in 16 hours. The weather forecast for the day has dropped to a high of 62 degrees and a starting temp of 49 degrees-yikes! The water temp is 70 degrees-if you’re like me and don’t really know what that means-it’s very cold. I was pretty much willing to suck it up and just deal with it when I heard 74 degrees but 70 has me re-thinking that strategy. Kelly talked me into just trying his wetsuit this morning for my last swim. And, you know what-it makes me bouyant! I could actually put my goggles on without holding the wall, which means I can rest and just slowly tread water when I get tired.
The cold weather has me at least mostly pre-occupied with what else I should bring rather than the actual race, so I guess that’s good.
I’m not really sure how it will be-I pretty much think, entering the lake and swimming will be horrible but then I’m fairly confident with the bike. My workout this morning called for a 9 minute walk and an easy 6 minute jog, it was very easy for me and 2 months ago jogging 6 minutes straight would have really taxed me. So, the run will be hard but not impossible I think. God willing, I will finish this! Please pray for me not to drown, for my equipment not to fail and for my knees to hold out:)
Will I ever do another? It’s hard to say, I’m not really in love with running or swimming but it’s been a long time since I’ve been involved in anything athletically competitive (and I’m pretty competitive) so I may just get an addictive adrenalin rush that will make me want to come back again. Check back with me tomorrow and I’ll let you know:)

A nap . . . finally

Posted 1 year ago at 1:37 pm.

Now I know that Ezra is 4 1/2 and that many kids that age don’t take naps and really, despite my selfish desire for the quiet afternoons when Mari goes back to school, I’m really ok with him not taking a nap.  The problem is that he is not getting enough sleep now, he is fighting his nap so badly, still going to bed at the same time, still waking up at 6:30am and is crying and falling apart over every little thing-yes, overtired.  He came back from my parents, was whiny in the car, was whiny when we got home, whined about quiet time, came out a couple times whining that ”I just can’t sleep anymore”, and then nothing, sweet quiet nothing. He had fallen asleep reading books.  He hadn’t had a nap in about 2 weeks.

So, I have a new strategy-we’re not going to talk about it again. There will be no more “nap” and “Ezra” mentioned in the same sentence. He will; however, have to have quiet time every day and perhaps when we’re released from this power struggle, he will catch a nap a couple times a week when he needs one:) 

He does look really sweet when he’s sleeping, doesn’t he.

Tobin as an only child?

Posted 1 year ago at 9:54 am.

Tobin is just thrilled that Mari & Ez went away, he gets Mommy & Daddy to himself and seems to be completely enjoying it.  He almost seems happier and more jovial (or maybe I am just noticing him more??). 

However, on Friday night he wanted Ezra to come to bed and I had to remind him that Ez was at G & G’s.  Then on Saturday morning he said “I want Ezra to wake up now”:) 

Here he is spending some quality snuggle time with me all to himself!

By Monday he was starting to get a little obnoxious and demanding, so it’s clear this child needs siblings.  And, when I put him to bed Monday night, he got up 3 times over an hour time span and it seriously was like he was trying to go sleep and just couldn’t.  After the third time, I asked him if missed Ezra and he just broke down sobbing-I told him we were going to get Mari & Ez in the morning and layed with him until he was just about asleep.

Grandma & Grandpa visit

Posted 1 year ago at 9:45 am.

My parents came to visit last week and then they took Mari & Ez for 4 nights!  It was very strange having only one child. Mari said she missed me but it was just so fun. Ezra had a little meltdown wanting his Mommy on the 2nd day but then announced to me the next day that he wanted to stay for about 3 weeks!  They went deer hunting (that means driving in the truck looking) and spotted 7 deer, they went on a couple tractor rides, to the park, played games, stayed up too late and probably ate too much junk food, but they had a blast.

These are pictures from our house before they left.

Ezra & Grandpa built a car, this was quite a creative project for Ez. You can see the steering wheel, he also made a blinker and the “lever that makes the car go”.

He then decided it was too small and needed it “wider”