Addicted

Wow!

It's been a while.

Let's catch up to speed in 0.60 seconds.

I've been working hard.

Really hard.

Like 6 days a week-losing 26 lbs of fat-gaining 9 lbs of muscle hard!

The funnest part is that since December I have been working out with my husband. 

aka. HOT Biker Dude!

remember him?

He is a landscaper by spring/summer/fall and a snowmobiler by winter.

BUT... this winter was pretty bad in the snow department, so to keep himself busy, he decided to take swimming lessons.

I know, random.

Anyway, we found this really cool place with really cool people that work there.

 and Wala!

We both learned how to swim.
We decided not to sop there.
We were inspired by the amazing Ironmen and women that surrounded us at Elevate and decided to try our luck at Triathlons.
We were put through some pretty grueling workouts by Greg (the very best coach in the sport...seriously!) that pushed us harder then we have ever been pushed before.
We saw ourselves improving on so many different levels that we craved those tough workouts.
We also found out some cool information about HOT Biker Dude.

We both took a VO2 max test.
It was VERY hard.
Basically you ride your bike while they keep increasing the intensity and you go as far as you can before you physically can't go anymore.
The point of complete and total exhaustion.
You are seriously giving it everything you possibly have.
With this nice looking mask on.
It's crazy.
But it gives you really cool information about your endurance.
I scored a "good".
Not bad, just average.
I'm okay with that because there is room for improvement and I want to do just that!
But not HOT Biker Dude.
Oh no!
He showed a side of him that blew us all out of the water!
The highest you can get is "superior."
He exceeded that.
He was off the chart!!
He has a crazy endurance level that he didn't even know about.
This knowledge is power and now he knows that he can push himself crazy hard and do super awesome at the endurance thing!!
Pretty cool!

So after training together all winter, we did our very first Triathlon.
It was at Elevate.
They have indoor events during the winter to keep people in training mode.
It was SO much fun!

Just to let you know what kind of improvements I've been making...
I ran my fastest 5k ever!
And that was after a 10 minute swim and a 13 mile crazy hill climbing bike ride.
It felt AWESOME!!
I even took 2nd place out of the women!
Sweet!!

All it took was one time and now we are addicted!!
HOT Biker Dude did his first outdoor triathlon today in the Icebreaker.

He rocked it and got an amazing time of 1:09:53.
He loved every minute of it.

Our kids have even caught on to our excitement and want to join in on the fun.
We are all doing one next weekend together as a family.

Maybe???????

WE JUST HAVE ONE LITTLE PROBLEM!

A dang church basketball game got in the way.
As soon as it happened I cried more because of how it was going to affect my triathlon next weekend then the pain itself.
And it hurt.
BAD!
The pics are on day 5 of the injury.
I couldn't walk on it for 2 days and I shed many tears.
I've been going to physical therapy every day to try and speed up recovery.
BUT, only time will tell if I will be able to participate in next week's race.
We shall see.

To be continued....

I just ran

I just ran this morning.

For the first time in several months.

Outside.

I put my beanie and gloves on and just took off.

I don't know how far or how fast I went.

I left all my worries and stresses at home.

I didn't care if my foot would hurt when I was finished.

I just wanted to know what it felt like to run again.

So I ran.

The fresh, cold air on my face,

Every muscle in my body warming up,

The panting of my breath with every step,

The friendly wave to fellow runners and cars passing by,

Motivating music blarring in my ears,

The smell of car exhaust.

eh-hem...

Okay, maybe not that one.

Awwwwwe...

It was all so familiar.

And perfect!

I fell in love all over again!

I even ran a few times with my eyes closed and my face toward the warm sun.

Mmmmmm...That was nice!

A run very much needed for my soul.

I am going to tri

I finally went to the Physical Therapist a few weeks ago regarding the pain in my foot.

Result:

Plantars Fasciitis

I wasn't too surprised because I figured that's what it was.

I just never had that extreme pain in my heel like everyone explained it to be like,

So I wasn't too sure.

I am very lucky and grateful it never got to that excruciating pain level.

I am doing things at home to help take care of it.

I have also been instructed not to run on it for 3 weeks.

That is actually been harder than I thought.

For someone to tell me that I can't run 

makes me want to do it.

But I'm not.

I want to get this better first.

I've been busy staying active this fall.

Playing a little Flag Football.

That's right, 

a bunch of grown women running around pushing each other and pulling flags.

There may or may not have been any trash talking??

Grrr.....

The name of our team is the 

Tight Ends.

Yeah....because that's pretty much what we have!!

We took 2nd place in the standing for the season and was the only team that beat the undefeated team.

So we basically made them NOT undefeated!

Uh-huh...Oh yeah!

It was good times.

Last year we played too.

I walked away with a fractured hip.

My friend broke her finger.

One girl sprained her ankle pretty bad.

Another messed up her knee.

So needless to say,

It can get pretty brutal.

I'm happy to report there were no major injuries this year.

Success!!

I am now playing volleyball and having a blast!

I actually feel a lot stronger than I have before,

I feel like I can either jump a little higher or hit a little harder.

I attribute that to the strength training I've been doing.

It feels good to feel that way.

In fact, 

I am feeling so good that with a little coaxing from my good friend Tamara,

I did something that inspired me this summer.

I signed up for a Triathlon.

 300 meter swim.

12 mile bike ride.

3 mile run.

A good one for my first time. 

It's something I have never done before and want to give it a try.

So that's exactly what I am going to do...

"TRI"

I'm super excited!!

A sugary breakthrough

I had a breakthrough the other day.

I did something that I have never done before.

Recently the man over at Energy Explosion that makes me drop and give him 200 pushups

 (No, I'm not kidding)

has been making us set food and exercise goals every week.

This week I knew it would be a bit of a food challenge for me because 

1. We were going out of town to a cabin with friends and knew there would be hideous amounts of junk food there.

Yes, I contributed to that.

I'm a bad girl, I know.

What is it about camping and junk food?

and 

2. It would be a weekend of celebrating a birthday in my family.

Complete with 2 days of cupcakes and 1 yummy birthday cake.

Knowing what kind of week I would be having, Zac (the man) made sure I set a reasonable goal.

And reminded me not to set goals that would set me up for failure.

So this was my goal:

To only eat ONE piece of birthday cake.

That may seem little, but knowing me, 

I am the queen of second helpings.

Even thirds.

So this is how it panned out.

I did pretty good at the cabin.

Okay, maybe not so much.

There was oreo balls, peanut butter bars, smores, licorice, chips and the first day of cupcakes.

I probably ate more than I should.

I know I did.

But I lived by this quote and moved on.

I did drink more water than pop.

That was a good thing.

 Then came the day for the birthday cake.

The LITTLE goal I had set for myself.

That goal played over and over in my mind.

"I am only going to have one piece."

Well, I cut myself one nice "normal" slice of cake.

Not too big, not too small.

And enjoyed every last bite.

Frosting and all.

After everyone got their piece

There was about 1/3 of the cake left.

This is where it gets hard.

The problem with me and food is that I hate to see such goodness go to waste.

I usually have another piece later that night, 

or the next day until the whole cake is gone.

Well, that cake sat on my counter all night.

Calling out to me.

It still would have called out to me if it was in the fridge.

So it doesn't really matter where it sits.

HA!

I literally had to replay my goal over and over in my head.

ONLY ONE PIECE 

and I already had it.

I'm done.

Oh, I wanted another piece of that cake.

I was more than tempted to just go serve another slice up for myself.

But I DIDN'T.

I stuck to my one piece.

That felt oh so good!

You know what else felt good.

The choice I made by throwing the 1/3 of that delicious white cake with whipped cream frosting in the trash.

Just like that!

BAM!

No more cake calling out to me.

I was so proud of myself!

It must have had a big impact on me because the next day

I did something shocking again!

It was day #2 of cupcakes. 

So I decided that I was only going to make EXACTLY the amount that I needed. 

I was NOT going to cook up the whole box and leave half of them on the counter again to go through another day of torture.

So I did just that.

Baked exactly what I needed and threw the rest out.

BOOM, BAM,

SHA-BANG!

I am on to something here!

Now I am off to go ride 30 miles on my bike!

And the winner is...

First off,

I just have to say that the comments you all left on my blog touched my heart!

They really did.

I shed a few tears over them.

I am sappy that way,

and have no shame whatsoever admitting that.

I am completely overjoyed at your kindness.

It really does mean so much to me to know that you have enjoyed reading the crazy things that I have to say.

You are all so sweet.

Thank you!

Thank you!

Thank you!

You are the greatest peeps EVER!

Now getting to the good stuff.

The winner is:
Susette

 Congratulations Friend!

Send me an email at theworthofmysole (at) gmail (dot) com with all your info

and I will send you all the goods asap!

The Tour De St. George

HOT Biker Dude and I had a Hot Date Night Weekend down south riding in

It was a quick trip down Friday night.

We rode Saturday morning and drove home immediately afterwards.

We each rode different mileage.

I am just not good enough or cool enough to hang with HOT Biker Dude yet!

Plus, we wanted to personally push ourselves to see what we could get done.

I rode 36 miles.
Longest ride to date.

There was some pretty crazy hillage.

Long hillage.

Is this hill ever going to end hillage.

I am not too good on hills yet.

I get passed on them all the time.

Then my self esteem gets boosted when I fly past those same people going downhill.

That didn't quite make sense to me.

Why are people passing me on the uphill and then me passing them on the downhill?

Shouldn't they be flying downhill too?

That's when HOT Biker Dude broke it to me.

People crank it hard on the uphill and then use the downhill to rest.

Ohhhhh! Makes sense.

I guess I need to work on cranking it!

I felt pretty good the entire race.
So good in fact that I rode right past every aid station.
I had plenty of food and water with me so I didn't need to worry about that.
I'm not sure if it was a crazy idea or not,
but I actually felt a sense of pride and accomplishment knowing that I rode 36 miles non stop.

There was a point in the race.
At about mile 25.
I was in the lead of about 6 bikers.
I was talking gibberish to myself saying that I wanted to be a leader and not a follower.
I wanted to push it hard to stay in the lead.
There was also another biker way ahead of me that I could see.
My goal was to eventually catch up and pass her.
I stayed the leader for about 5 more miles.
Then it happened.
I became a follower.
4 of them (2 couples) passed me.
Aaahh...come on!
So the last 5 miles was a fight.
I'd pass them.
They'd pass me.
Back and forth.
Then we got to the very last stretch in the city.
The one with a street light at every block for about 6 blocks.
Guess who got stopped at every red light and had to watch the other bikers go through the green lights?
Yup!
Just my luck!
But hey, I did catch up to that girl and pass her!
I finished in 2:43:11
42 overall out of 80.
 9th in my age group out of 29.
I was really happy with that!

Now I just had to wait for HOT Biker Dude.
I grabbed a blanket and took a nap in the shade and
ate a delicious BBQ lunch they provided for us.

2 hours later HOT Biker Dude rolled in.

He rode 77 miles all by his HOT self.
That was his first ride alone without his biking buddies.
He did awesome!
Finishing in 4:51:22.
14th overall out of 93.
8th in his age group out of 24.

It was a very challenging and great ride.
The route was marked extremely well.
The aid stations were awesome.
Lots of supporters.
The finish line party was so much better than any race we've done so far.
The food at the end was good.
Overall this was one of the best and well organized races that we've done.

Definitely doing it again.

Don't Forget to enter my Giveaway.
Go HERE to do it!

Confessions of a Blogaholic and a GIVEAWAY!

I started my blog a few months ago for a few reasons.

I was inspired by others in the blog world.

I found a new love for running that I wanted to journal about,

and 

I wanted to hold myself accountable for my personal fitness goals.

I jumped in with 2 feet and it was great.

I felt like I was motivating myself and I met some incredibly awesome bloggy friends in the process. 

It was something fun for me to do.

BUT...

 Over time, became very time consuming. 

For ME.

I was reading blogs ALL. THE. TIME.

 I wanted to support my awesome followers who have showed an interest in my blog. 

I learned very shortly that this was something I just could not keep up on. 

For 3 very important, beautiful reasons.

ONE.

TWO.

THREE.

The fact is,

I was spending WAY too much time on the computer.

I was constantly telling my kids,

"Just a minute."

"I'll be there when I'm done with this."

They would make comments like.

"Are you blogging AGAIN?"

I overheard them telling someone else one time.

"My Mom's addicted to the computer."

And you know what?

They were right.

I was spending more time on the computer blogging than I was with them.

I am ashamed of that. 

Blogging is NOT a bad thing.

It CAN be a good thing.

Blogs are a place to get inspired, to learn new things and to journal about your life.

IF done in Moderation.

Which I was not doing. 

SO I cut back.

A lot.

My kids are now the ones that I need to hold myself accountable to.

I want to make sure they know that their lives are more important to me than what other people are doing. 

I want them to come home from school and walk into a hug.

Walk into a clean house.

Maybe some warm chocolate chip cookies.

Be a Mom who is more present wondering how their day went.

Not a mom who is cracking the whip from the computer chair telling them to start their homework.

I want to cook for them more.

Play with them more.

Talk to them more.

Be with them more.

I get that there are a lot of Moms who blog AND can still do all those things.
 I am just not one of them.

I need to be more careful about how I spend my time.

This does not mean that I will completely stop blogging.

I will just be doing it a lot less.

There will not be as many post on my blog as there have been in the past.

Maybe just the races that I do.

I will not give up on my fitness goals.

I am still working hard to make those happen.

I am still committed as ever and stand by this post here.

That only contributes to helping me be a better Mom. 

So having said all that,

I have been wanting to do a giveaway on my blog for quite some time.

Mostly just to Thank my amazing followers who have shown an interest in my blog.

Your comments and the fact that you follow my blog really makes me happy!

So THANK YOU!

This giveaway is for you!

 HOT Biker Dude and I decided that we wanted to share with you our very most favorite fuel choices for our running and biking passion.

 Here is what we have for you:

Gatorade Prime

3 Flavors of Zip Fizz

Perpetuem

Stinger Waffle

Stinger Energy Chews

PowerBar Energy Blasts

Sports Beans

Chocolate Outrage Gu

Vanilla Orange Roctane Gu

There you have it!

Our very favorite stuff.

Flavors and All!

The only requirement to enter this giveaway is to 

leave me a comment and tell me what you have enjoyed about reading my blog.

That will just simply make my day!

I will pick a random winner on Monday the 24th!

Good Luck!