Monday, July 18, 2011
Swim a 'lil, Bike a 'lil, Run Run Run!
I have officially signed up for the Bear Lake Brawl!! :) I am going to do the Olympic distance; 1500 meter(one mile) swim, 24.8 mile bike and 6.2 mile run. My first Triathlon ever was the Honolulu Tri, also an Olympic distance, I was on a cheap Wal-Mart Schwinn mountain bike with slick tires, it was super tough! I have since done about a dozen tri's, but I have not done one in about 5 years! I am very excited! Since I am training for the marathon and that is the number one goal for the summer, I am just trying to get in at least one swim and one ride a week. Last week was the first week of trying this and I got it in! YAY! This week I am going to do an open water swim with a friend at Herriman Reservoir and hopefully get in a rode ride with another friend on Thursday. I feel like I would be able to complete an Olympic distance tri tomorrow, but I am happy that I have a little over a month to get better prepared so I will be able to function after I complete it. Since it is at Bear Lake, I am sure a motivating factor will be enjoying a yummy raspberry shake after completion! Sure it doesn't fit in with my healthy eating, but when in Bear Lake....you must enjoy a raspberry shake! ;)
Friday, July 8, 2011
Not So Easy
I am a Personal Trainer...I should have the perfect, cut. lean, fit, crazy low body fat percentage body right? Well let me tell you, it is not so easy! I should be eating perfect, healthy, no sweets, no soda, no nothing foods right? Not so easy. I am a Personal Trainer...but...I am a human. I have periods, which as every women will admit makes you desire chocolate like no other!! (those of you who say not so much...I want a lie detector test done!) I have hypothyroidism. Sweet foods taste good, fatty foods taste good. They don't hand out a new set of taste buds with your Personal Training Certificate. I wish they did. THAT would make it a lot easier! Let me start at the beginning, which is really the middle...
When I graduated from High School I was a lean mean swimming machine, I had NO idea what it was like to be overweight, I really couldn't empathize with the emotional and physical issues that come along with being overweight...my thighs never touched and I could eat what I wanted..in fact I couldn't get enough food in my mouth to maintain weight! Not long after HS graduation I was diagnosed with mono, boy was that a treat. I was told I needed to take a break from swimming, they were concerned with my spleen bursting at the seams...I was also diagnosed with a stomach infection, which made me unable to eat..what a weird thing for me! Not being able to swim was heart breaking as I had dreams of walking on to the University of Utah Swim Team. That summer I managed to maintain my weight because I couldn't eat very much, my stomach just wouldn't tolerate it. As soon as I starting feeling better, right around the start of classes at the U, I started getting my swimmer appetite back. I am sure I knew better, or least I wish I knew better, you can't eat like a swimmer while not swimming!! I decided to go ahead and talk to the swim coach to see if it was too late to walk on the team, he took a look at my times and liked what he saw. If you swam with me in HS, then you know that I was never a great workout swimmer, but I was not to shabby off the blocks. After three weeks of the hardest swimming sets, dry land workouts and weights I was cut from the team. I never got a chance to show what I was capable of in a race. I was so out of swimming shape from taking the summer off! DEVASTATING! Welcome to emotional eating! As I started gaining weight my Dad suggested I get my Thyroid tested, he has hypothyroidism, it is a hereditary disease, I am grateful for getting tested and treated when I did, because I am sure things could have gotten far worse. Where I think I was lucky that freshman year by dodging the 15, it was more like 10, I slowly gained about 50 pounds by the time I graduated from college(it took me 6 years), all while completing a Exercise & Sport Science degree. Mind baffling right? Two weeks after graduation I decided to take the American College of Sports Medicine Health Fitness Specialist test (Personal Training) by far the hardest test I have ever taken in my life. I passed the practical and missed the written by 2 points. I later passed the written. I moved to Hawaii to pursue my dreams of being a SCUBA Instructor outside a land locked state, I may be an extremist as I chose to live on an island! :) It was in Hawaii that I finally really saw what had happened to my body...WOW...I was FAT!! And so extremely out of shape. I was embarrassed to tell people what my degree was in, I was ashamed to admit that I was a Personal Trainer. I didn't think I would EVER actually train because really, who would take me seriously? The first year I was there I joined 24hour fitness and tried to eat better. The second year I joined Weight Watchers and a Triathlon Training group. I started doing Tri's, 5k's & 10k's. I saw amazing results. I lost 47 pounds! After living there for 3 years I decided to join Dan in Bozeman, Montana. The long distance thing was just not working for us anymore, and lets face it I was playing on an island, he was enrolled in school. While in Bozeman I maintained my weight loss within about 10 pounds, I fluctuated depending on how freezing it was outside! I had an active lifestyle, I skied, swam and biked a lot. We moved back to Utah after living in Bozeman for 3 years. We got married, we got a house, Dan got a big kid job, I got a job as a Personal Trainer! WOOHOOO Finally I was using my degree! I mean teaching SCUBA & skiing are sport's so technically I was using it all along! I was so happy in my life and so busy that I just didn't really pay attention to what I was putting in my mouth like I should. I'm telling ya, I even look at chocolate and it goes straight to my Ass! I gained about 10 pounds in a year, I was starting to fell uncomfortable at the gym. I started working out more and watching food again and low and behold...I started to gain control of my weight again. Then we got great news, pregnant! Pregnant! I continued to workout and have an active lifestyle, but wasn't not watching the food as much...I was pregnant, when else was I going to be able to eat what I want right? Wrong! I gained 40 pounds! Which wasn't to far off of what is an ideal weight gain, but as I have found, baby weight loss is a different ball game. And let's be honest I haven't given it 100% all the time. I dropped 20 pounds rather quickly, breastfeeding is great! Then we found out Zoey was allergic to breastmilk, that weight loss train stopped in a hurry. So here we are, for the better part of a year I have been hovering around a very unideal weight. I have had wonderful changes in girth measurements and Body Fat %. but my scale weight just isn't budging. I am not going to lie, it is my diet. I workout like a champ! 4-6 serious cardio bouts a week and at least 2 resistance workouts a week. My current struggle is getting my nutrition under control. I need to walk the walk, so I can talk the talk! It is time! I am ready! I recently decided to join weight watchers again, it worked before, it will work again, it was hard, I had to let go of a lot pride to walk in there and tell them I needed help, I am a trainer, serious! Yes, I am serious, having to weigh in front of someone helps out so much, it is all about accountability, and until I break down some walls and be accountable to myself, I will be accountable to someone else. So there you have it in a nutshell, my heart on my sleeve for everyone to read. I struggle daily when I go train others. I have hopes that I will get things under control and I won't worry about people wondering why I am training people when clearly I can't do it for myself.
When I graduated from High School I was a lean mean swimming machine, I had NO idea what it was like to be overweight, I really couldn't empathize with the emotional and physical issues that come along with being overweight...my thighs never touched and I could eat what I wanted..in fact I couldn't get enough food in my mouth to maintain weight! Not long after HS graduation I was diagnosed with mono, boy was that a treat. I was told I needed to take a break from swimming, they were concerned with my spleen bursting at the seams...I was also diagnosed with a stomach infection, which made me unable to eat..what a weird thing for me! Not being able to swim was heart breaking as I had dreams of walking on to the University of Utah Swim Team. That summer I managed to maintain my weight because I couldn't eat very much, my stomach just wouldn't tolerate it. As soon as I starting feeling better, right around the start of classes at the U, I started getting my swimmer appetite back. I am sure I knew better, or least I wish I knew better, you can't eat like a swimmer while not swimming!! I decided to go ahead and talk to the swim coach to see if it was too late to walk on the team, he took a look at my times and liked what he saw. If you swam with me in HS, then you know that I was never a great workout swimmer, but I was not to shabby off the blocks. After three weeks of the hardest swimming sets, dry land workouts and weights I was cut from the team. I never got a chance to show what I was capable of in a race. I was so out of swimming shape from taking the summer off! DEVASTATING! Welcome to emotional eating! As I started gaining weight my Dad suggested I get my Thyroid tested, he has hypothyroidism, it is a hereditary disease, I am grateful for getting tested and treated when I did, because I am sure things could have gotten far worse. Where I think I was lucky that freshman year by dodging the 15, it was more like 10, I slowly gained about 50 pounds by the time I graduated from college(it took me 6 years), all while completing a Exercise & Sport Science degree. Mind baffling right? Two weeks after graduation I decided to take the American College of Sports Medicine Health Fitness Specialist test (Personal Training) by far the hardest test I have ever taken in my life. I passed the practical and missed the written by 2 points. I later passed the written. I moved to Hawaii to pursue my dreams of being a SCUBA Instructor outside a land locked state, I may be an extremist as I chose to live on an island! :) It was in Hawaii that I finally really saw what had happened to my body...WOW...I was FAT!! And so extremely out of shape. I was embarrassed to tell people what my degree was in, I was ashamed to admit that I was a Personal Trainer. I didn't think I would EVER actually train because really, who would take me seriously? The first year I was there I joined 24hour fitness and tried to eat better. The second year I joined Weight Watchers and a Triathlon Training group. I started doing Tri's, 5k's & 10k's. I saw amazing results. I lost 47 pounds! After living there for 3 years I decided to join Dan in Bozeman, Montana. The long distance thing was just not working for us anymore, and lets face it I was playing on an island, he was enrolled in school. While in Bozeman I maintained my weight loss within about 10 pounds, I fluctuated depending on how freezing it was outside! I had an active lifestyle, I skied, swam and biked a lot. We moved back to Utah after living in Bozeman for 3 years. We got married, we got a house, Dan got a big kid job, I got a job as a Personal Trainer! WOOHOOO Finally I was using my degree! I mean teaching SCUBA & skiing are sport's so technically I was using it all along! I was so happy in my life and so busy that I just didn't really pay attention to what I was putting in my mouth like I should. I'm telling ya, I even look at chocolate and it goes straight to my Ass! I gained about 10 pounds in a year, I was starting to fell uncomfortable at the gym. I started working out more and watching food again and low and behold...I started to gain control of my weight again. Then we got great news, pregnant! Pregnant! I continued to workout and have an active lifestyle, but wasn't not watching the food as much...I was pregnant, when else was I going to be able to eat what I want right? Wrong! I gained 40 pounds! Which wasn't to far off of what is an ideal weight gain, but as I have found, baby weight loss is a different ball game. And let's be honest I haven't given it 100% all the time. I dropped 20 pounds rather quickly, breastfeeding is great! Then we found out Zoey was allergic to breastmilk, that weight loss train stopped in a hurry. So here we are, for the better part of a year I have been hovering around a very unideal weight. I have had wonderful changes in girth measurements and Body Fat %. but my scale weight just isn't budging. I am not going to lie, it is my diet. I workout like a champ! 4-6 serious cardio bouts a week and at least 2 resistance workouts a week. My current struggle is getting my nutrition under control. I need to walk the walk, so I can talk the talk! It is time! I am ready! I recently decided to join weight watchers again, it worked before, it will work again, it was hard, I had to let go of a lot pride to walk in there and tell them I needed help, I am a trainer, serious! Yes, I am serious, having to weigh in front of someone helps out so much, it is all about accountability, and until I break down some walls and be accountable to myself, I will be accountable to someone else. So there you have it in a nutshell, my heart on my sleeve for everyone to read. I struggle daily when I go train others. I have hopes that I will get things under control and I won't worry about people wondering why I am training people when clearly I can't do it for myself.
I'm no natural runner
I am convinced that there is a running gene, and this gene has absolutely dodged me. I hate running! Running hates me! (as long as the feeling is mutual right!) To convince my body that it does indeed like running I have decided to run a marathon...not the smartest thing I have ever thought of doing! To train for a marathon you need to run on average 500 miles! WHAT?!? That is JUST to train for it...isn't running 26.2 miles enough!? I have paid for the marathon already so I guess I must truck along. I don't really think what I do can be called running...more of a wounded animal trying to escape it's untimely death walk/run. I am working on changing my mind about running and I try to enjoy each training run I go on. It is starting to work, I'm sickly looking forward to the 7 mile "long run" I have this Sunday. To further punish myself I have committed to run the 2011 Vegas RAGNAR, which seems a lot more do-able for this wounded animal. I am in fact currently wounded, I have a strange mass that has decided to take up residence on my shin. I am not ignoring it though, I am a good girl seeking therapy for the new alien in my body. Hopefully it will be resolved soon and I will continue to smile through the training runs instead of wincing in pain. St. George here I come!!
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