Do you realize that there are less than three months left until the holiday season?  Once we reach that time of year, I find it is more difficult to stay on track with my exercise and healthy eating habits.  Even if it were easy to be good, who wants to deprive themselves during Thanksgiving and Christmas?  I know I won't be going crazy, but I want some of my mother-in-law's stuffing and homemade gravy, and Christmas is never the same without a few cookies to sweeten the holiday. 
          This is why I want to challenge you to take the next few months to make some changes in your life, so that you do not have to feel guilty if you have a few planned indulgence days.  I wanted to share with you what I am doing, and invite you to join me in a challenge that I have going with one of my friends.
          Now while I am perfectly comfortable at my new fitness level and sitting at the high end of my goal weight range (155-145), I really want to maintain my current fitness level and not lose the progress I have made in each leg of my triathlon sports.  I also want to lose those last few pounds, so I have about a five pound cushion in case an injury keeps me sidelined, or if while I am in Hawaii next summer I want to indulge a little more than usual. 
          In order to have some measure of accountability, my Ironman buddy Karrie and I have started a challenge that runs from the last week of August through mid-October.  We wanted to include both fitness and nutrition, and because I know how important accountability is, we will be tracking our progress in MyFitnessPal.  For our competition, we decided that every week we would get a point for each of the following: tracking our food and exercise all seven days, staying within our calorie limits six out of the seven days, and exercising at least five days in a week. In addition, since we are both shooting for 145 pounds, the person who gets closest to this goal weight will get two extra points added to the final tally of all the weeks combined.  The prize for the winner will be a girl's night out at Cheesecake Factory (so we both win), and the overall winner gets a free dinner.  Karrie and I figure it is a win-win for both of us.  We each stay on track with out fitness, and we also both get a fun night out together.
          So my challenge to you is to set a goal for the next 2-3 months, so that you will be ready to tackle the holiday season with a fitter, healthier mindset and body.  Maybe your goal will be to consistently eat a healthy breakfast and pack a reasonable lunch and snacks for your workday.  Maybe you want to up your exercise routine by adding one or two extra days each week to what you are already doing, or maybe you want to add more time to your daily exercise routine.  Maybe you need the accountability of tracking the food that goes into your body each day--then make that your goal.  Whatever it is that you think will move you in a forward direction, do it now!  Don't wait...you are too important not to make this commitment to yourself.  And find a buddy to do it with you, it keeps you more accountable and makes it more fun as well.
          Need more encouragement that this challenge is a good idea?  Check out this article: 30-Day Challenge: Move a Mile a Day

I am looking forward to hearing how you are doing with your challenge, and I can't wait to see how much progress we can make together!

          Occasionally life presents us with obstacles.  Sometimes  those obstacles are small ones that require just a few changes to overcome them, and at other times those roadblocks seem like mountains.  Do we roll over and let the challenges get the best of us, or do we find creative ways to deal with what life has presented us with?
         This last week I was gifted with yet another obstacle.  After a year of working out consistently six days a week, I was faced with the possibility of being out of commission for several weeks.  I was experiencing this intense pain in my kidneys that made it difficult for me to even sleep at night let alone feel well enough to run or bike.  My first diagnosis at urgent care was shingles.  This meant not only were running and biking out, but I couldn't even swim because I wouldn't be allowed in a public pool until the shingles were gone.  The funny thing is, swimming is the one sport that I felt I could do even if I was injured. Luckily, my personal physician ruled out shingles, so at least the swimming option was still available to me. 
          While I am still not exactly sure what caused my pain and lost me a week of training, that is not really the focus of my blog this week.  The only reason I am sharing this story is because I know that we all have challenges that pop up when we least expect it, and it is important that we move forward using the tools that are still within our control.
          First, I have shared before that as long as I am exercising or eating sensibly, I do not gain weight.  I won't lose weight, but as long as I am in control of one of these two, my weight stays stable.  So last week I had to watch the food I chose for my meals and keep my snacks to a minimum.  While I could not control the fact that I could not exercise, I could control what I put in my mouth. 
          Even though I could not train, that didn't mean I couldn't move at all.  I took every opportunity to get a few extra steps in while I was working.  I parked my car on the other end of parking lots at the schools I visited, and at our district office I took the stairs instead of riding in the elevator.  None of this would prepare me for Ironman, but it did afford me a few extra calories for the day.
          And once I was feeling a little better I once again relied on my go-to strategy, which is depending on friends to keep me on my road to flabulous.  As soon as my body allowed me to, I planned a run with my Tuesday/Thursday running group, and I even got in a swim and a bike ride with Karrie today.  I cannot say enough about the power of surrounding yourself with people that keep you motivated.  I was a little depressed with my body letting me down last week, and sometimes that can be enough to throw someone into a tailspin in the wrong direction.  However, the lure of spending time with my amazing friends keeps that from happening to me.  If you need more reasons to get yourself someone to train with, I found this article on Active Triathlete this week--3 Ways a Training Partner Gives You an Edge.
          Luckily, my illness only kept me out for a week, but we are all presented with obstacles on a regular basis.  The trick is that you need to focus on what you can control, and then get right back at it as soon as that obstacle is no longer in the way.  My challenge for the rest of my life is to maintain all the progress I have made in my weight loss and my fitness, and not let the obstacles give me an excuse to slide back into old habits.  I have worked hard to get where I am, and I plan to never look back!

          The other day I was flipping through my photos when I came across the first photo on the left.  This was taken just one year ago at the end of my very first triathlon at Camp Pendleton. While it was only a sprint distance, it still tasked me with swimming 500m in the ocean, biking 18 miles with a mountain bike since I had not yet purchased my racing one, and then running a 5K.  When I think about that race now, I can hardly believe how far I have come.  That race nearly killed me, and I am not exaggerating.  The lifeguards tried to rescue me throughout my swim, and by the time I crawled out on the sand, I had used every ounce of my energy I had reserved for the entire race.  The look you see on my face shows how truly exhausted I was at the end of the race---I was more spent after that race than I was at the end of my Ironman.
          Another thing I started thinking about while looking at that same photo was how different my body shape is now.  If you look at the photo on the right taken at Ironman three weeks ago, I have honestly only lost 12 pounds since that first picture, but my body looks like I have lost much more than that.  It reminded me once again how the scale is not the best measure of how far I have come in the last year.  The way my clothes fit, the inches I have taken off, and even the higher level of endurance I have achieved are all more accurate indicators of my progress.
          I had two experiences with friends this week that illustrate exactly what I am trying to share with you.  Last weekend I was running with a couple of girlfriends through the Temecula vineyards.  I was sharing how I was concerned now that I was not training at the same levels I had been for the last year, that I was going to gain weight and get fluffy.  I shared what my weight was that morning, and commented that it was still the same, but I was hoping to keep it that way.  One of my friends shared that she didn't think her scale was accurately representing where she truly was at that point.  Her problem was that the scale had not changed, but her clothes were much tighter.  She was recognizing that the scale was not telling the whole story.
          The second experience was with a friend of mine who is just starting her journey to a healthier self.  She is beginning to run and trying to make better food choices.  She has the opposite problem from my other friend. This friend was sharing that despite all her hard work, her scale had not budged at all.  When I asked her if her clothes were fitting better, she admitted that they were a little looser. Not only that, but she couldn't run at all a few weeks ago, and now she is able to run for longer periods before needing to walk.  Now that is progress, and the scale is not telling the whole story.
          So remember that while the scale is good just to keep you honest and not let yourself go too far off the wagon, it is not the best indicator of true progress.  If you want to see how far you have progressed, look at how your clothes are fitting, look at your endurance in your given form of exercise, or take measurements to calculate the number of inches you have lost.  All these are better indicators than your scale, because your scale will not tell you the whole stroy

          Two weeks after Vineman, and I can still hardly believe that I really finished an Ironman distance triathlon.  Deep down I still sometimes see myself as that overweight, unhappy person I used to be.  How could that person ever do something so challenging? I think one of the biggest lessons I learned through this process is that ANYONE can so ANYTHING their heart desires if they only put enough effort into achieving that goal.  The whole reason I take the time each week to write this blog is with the hope that maybe one person will realize that they can make the changes necessary to live a healthier lifestyle no matter what their previous record has been with making these changes.
          Now I am not saying that everyone should do an Ironman, that was my personal, crazy challenge.  But is there something that you have wanted to tackle but never had the courage to try? How about running a 5K? 10K? A half or full marathon?  What about a bike race? 25 mile?  50 mile? A century? Is swimming more your thing?  There are tons of events out there for you as well.
        The reason why I ask you all of these questions is because I am finding it more difficult to train now that I do not have some sort of event planned to look forward to.  I am wondering if, you too, would be more successful if you planned some sort of event so you would be more motivated to get out there and do your workouts?  And if you go this route, I would like to share a few things I learned (or re-learned) from doing the Vineman triathlon.
          First, and this is one that I learned from Team in Training, never try anything new on the actual day of your race/event.  What was I thinking breaking this rule when I was doing such an important race, and I actually tried two new things.  On the morning before the race, I ate a breakfast I had never tried during my training.  I ate some scrambled eggs with avocado and blueberries with Greek yogurt.  I can't be sure that this is what made my stomach hurt throughout the bike and run portion of the race, but it might not have helped.  I also purchased a new bike shirt a couple days before the race, and never tried biking with it before race day.  I ended up with chaffing under both armpits, and I had to do my entire marathon with this irritation.  Again, anything you plan to race with should be tried several times before the day of your actual event, or you might end up regretting it.
          This race also reaffirmed my belief that training is the key to achieving anything challenging. It took me more than a year to prepare, but all that training really paid off.  Not only was I able to complete 140.2 miles in one day, but as you can see by some of my finish line photos, I don't look quite as bad as I thought I would.  After all, I even thought crawling across the finish line might be a possibility for me.  The other reason I truly believe in training is that I was not nearly as sore as I thought I was going to be.  I kind of anticipated that I might be hobbled for a week or two, but two days later I was hiking, doing short rides on my mountain bike, and even sleeping on an air mattress while camping in the redwoods.  If you plan to do something new, find a training plan to make sure you are prepared.  This will ensure that you not only enjoy your race experience, but can also avoid being so sore over the following days that you decide to throw in the towel.  Here are a few of my favorite sites with training plans:
For Triathlon Training Plans
For Biking Training Plans
For Running Training Plans
For Swimming Training Plans
          I also learned that no matter how much you love your support team, and no matter how much they love you, you are better off planning to be self-sufficient during a race for anything essential. I was very lucky to have my husband Sean and my buddy Kay there to help me.  However, on the last lap of my run, I could not find either of them for my long sleeve shirt or my headlamp.  Because of this, I ended up doing my last eight miles in a sweaty t-shirt with no light source.  Once the sun went down, the temperatures dropped drastically, and I was quite cold anytime I had to walk.  And because I had no light source, there were many times I had to walk, because I couldn't even see my hand in front of my face let alone see the road to avoid any hazards.  If I had been smart, I would have left the shirt and headlamp in my special needs bag, which was conveniently located where I had to get my bracelet after each loop on the run.  I had extra food and water in that bag, but nothing I really needed.  So if you need something at any point in your race, make sure you carry it with you, or leave it someplace that you can get it yourself, otherwise you might not have it when you need it.
          I trained physically for my Ironman by doing all my workouts.  I trained mentally by doing my last month of training without music. I even trained by myself on some of my long swim, bikes, and runs so I would be accustomed to the loneliness I might face during the race.  I did not, however train enough for transitions, changing a flat tire, or for the nutrition necessary for this kind of race. I got lucky with the flat tire, but my race would have been over had I gotten a flat.  I could not change it fast enough, and during my entire 112-mile race, I only passed the mechanics three times.  That means the likelihood of anyone helping me was slim to none. My transitions were terrible at over 9 and 16 minutes, and I think some practice doing these would have cut a few minutes off of these times.  I was so busy being physically and mentally ready that I only practiced transitions at actual races.  I did try to prepare for the nutrition I needed, but I don't think I researched enough the different options I had available.  I think that what I hope you can learn from this is that while doing your workouts is important, there are other aspects you need to take into consideration when planning for a race or event.  If you plan for these things as well as the physical, you will have a stronger race day performance.
          Finally, I learned that helping another racer on the course can feel better than just cutting a few minutes off your race time.  I shared in my last blog that I came across Raffi in my final run loop of Ironman. He had seriously injured his IT-band and was going to quit at the point where I ran across him.  I really wanted to catch up to my friend Emily, but I realized it was more important for me to convince Raffi to continue on with his race.  I pointed out to him that he had three hours to cover eight miles and that if he kept up his quick walking pace, there was no way he wouldn't finish.  Once I felt like he wasn't going to give up, I then felt it was okay for me to continue trying to catch Emily.  In the end I probably lost 5-10 minutes on my final time, but the feeling I had watching Raffi cross that finish line as an Ironman was amazing.  He came up to me afterward and gave me a big hug and told me that I was the reason he hadn't quit.  So if you are running a race and not in danger of getting a DNF (Did Not Finish), if you see someone with a flat tire or that might need a small pep talk, you might want to at least offer your help...it feels great!
          So get out there and try something new that you never thought you could do.  And when you commit to that new thing, don't forget to find a great training plan, don't try anything new on race day, remember to practice every part of your race, and start earning some race karma by helping a fellow racer finish their race.  I would love for you to feel the way I do right now...confident, accomplished, and looking forward to my next challenge!

          The number one question people have been asking me, even before I actually completed Ironman, was, "So what's next?" After completing Ironman what else is there to do? And my number one answer was that I finally get my life back.
          Now while I am completely kidding when I say that, there is some truth to that answer. I don't think anyone would fully understand the time commitment or sacrifice it took to prepare for this race, unless they did it themselves.  I am sure you have some idea based on my daily posts about my workouts, but in case you didn't notice, training took over my life.
          When I say I will get my life back, I mean little things like I can actually get more than six hours of sleep each night. I can stay up past 9pm, which means that when you ask me to do something with you in the evening, I might be able to say, "Yes." And most of all, to my friends that have barely seen me in the last six months, you will finally get to see in person that I have shorter hair and I have lost a few pounds instead of just seeing pictures of me on Facebook.
          I must share that I feel completely ungrateful for being so excited that the training is over. When I say I will finally get my life back, I am not forgetting that this process literally gave me my life back and gifted me with some things I could not have anticipated.
          First, I have finally, after decades of failure, I have finally reached my goal weight and am fitter than I have ever been. How can I not be thankful for that? For the first time in years I am actually proud of my body and all it's little bumps and wrinkles. I may not be perfect, but I am just right for my eyes. I am not hiding behind baggy clothes, I am not shying away from being in photos, and I no longer spends hours in the morning looking in my closet for something that will make me look less hideous than I feel. Those good feelings alone make all the early morning workouts worth every minute!
          I also can't put a price on my confidence level in my athletic ability these days when I put my mind to something. Despite my crazy workout schedule, I am not an athlete. I was never the big sports star in high school.  I was that kid that always got picked last for teams in elementary school, and three years ago I couldn't run five minutes straight let alone complete a full marathon. It took my friends and family believing in me first to get me to this point, but I no longer doubt that if I decide to tackle some new challenge that I can do it.
          I have also made some great friends along the way.  I have an amazing group of buddies that run with me every Tuesday and Thursday morning before the sun rises.  The support this team provided me was invaluable to the marathon leg of Vineman.  And while Karrie, Emily, Leslie, and I were friends before this race, doing all the miles in the pool, on the bike, and on the road has brought us closer than I ever imagined.  I know that we will continue to challenge and hold each other accountable to staying fit, and as Karrie phrases it, keeping each other from getting too fluffy (translation:fat).     

          Finally, back to the initial question, what's next for me? Surprisingly, even the next day after the race, I was already anticipating the next time I could get out there to run, bike, or swim. We took a trip to the river at Jedediah State Park, three days after Ironman, and all I could think about was how I wished I had brought my wetsuit so I could swim in the clear water.  Sick, right?  I swam some yards in the pool with Kay on Friday, today Sean and I did a 28-mile ride around Lake Elsinore and it felt great to be back in the saddle.           So...what's next for me?  More triathlons for sure!  I think Olympic distance triathlons are going to be my favorite distances, but I also plan to add a Half-Ironman in the mix.  That will be a piece of cake compared to the full.  I also still love running half marathon distance races, and I am already planning to do the Dumbo Challenge (10K Saturday and half-marathon Sunday) at Disneyland with my college friend Kim in September.  I will still train 5-6 days a week, so I can keep up my endurance in all three sports, but I see less crazy early morning workouts in my future. I want to maintain my weight loss and fitness level, but I want more balance in my life...and that is what I see is next for me.