I'm Jillian,this is my journey from a morbidly obese woman to endurance athlete
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Monday, June 13, 2011
Race Report-Savannah Sprint Triathlon #3
Joel had charge of quarters duty, which is a 24 hour duty, so he wasn't able to spectate at this one. Loraine came and brought my girls. The was my last fun little sprint race before my big races coming up.
500M/13.1/3
The water temperature was 80 degrees, so no wetsuit. The women were the second wave, deep water start. We had to tread water for almost 3 minutes before our horn went off. Our horn went off, and I started the self talk: telling myself no to start frantically stroking. I started chanting in my head "slow is smooth, smooth is fast" and even though it seems like everyone was swimming so much faster than me, I kept chanting it, and fought the temptation to become frantic. The swim felt good, and it didn't feel gassed coming out of the water. I finally reached the shore and ran into transition: Swim time was 9:42
T1 No wetsuit to wrestle with, so just had to slap the bike shoes on, throw off the helmet, grab bike and go. My first time breaking 1 minute in T1. T1 time was :53
Bike was a flat course in some questionable neighborhoods. I was a little frightened by this so I just wanted to ride fast to get out of there! I quickly passed 30 people or so, then I caught up with the leading ladies. I was averaging about 22 MPH. I was keeping up with the 3 leading ladies, who ended up taking 1st, 2nd and 3rd female overall. I would passed one of them and they would pass me back, they did the same thing with each other. We did this the rest of the bike. About .3 from the finish line some ladies had her mean-looking dogs in the middle on the road and they were barking and chasing the racers. I managed to pass unharmed and then one of the police officers was heading out to take care of the situation. I got to the mount line close behind the leading ladies. Bike time was 36:08
T2 racked bike, took helmet off, flicked off bike shoes, put on my Zoot racers and left. T2 time was :47
Run was 2 laps in the park where to transition area was. I had no idea what place I was in at this time, but I got passed by 2 of the leading ladies who passed me as if I was standing still. Turns out one of them was the first place female overall and she's 51 years old, kick ass! It takes me about a mile for my legs to realize I'm running now, so I was able to negative split after the first mile. I saw the finish line and felt the spark, so I was able to sprint to the finish line which got me a shout out from the announcer. Run time was 22:58
Total time was 1:10:30
After they posted the preliminary results, I saw I was 1st place in my age group, so we stayed for the awards. I missed 3rd female overall by 43 seconds. Got a medal and plaque. On the way home we stopped at McDonald's for frozen strawberry lemonades for the girls, and a sugar free latte for me.
official results
500M/13.1/3
The water temperature was 80 degrees, so no wetsuit. The women were the second wave, deep water start. We had to tread water for almost 3 minutes before our horn went off. Our horn went off, and I started the self talk: telling myself no to start frantically stroking. I started chanting in my head "slow is smooth, smooth is fast" and even though it seems like everyone was swimming so much faster than me, I kept chanting it, and fought the temptation to become frantic. The swim felt good, and it didn't feel gassed coming out of the water. I finally reached the shore and ran into transition: Swim time was 9:42
T1 No wetsuit to wrestle with, so just had to slap the bike shoes on, throw off the helmet, grab bike and go. My first time breaking 1 minute in T1. T1 time was :53
Bike was a flat course in some questionable neighborhoods. I was a little frightened by this so I just wanted to ride fast to get out of there! I quickly passed 30 people or so, then I caught up with the leading ladies. I was averaging about 22 MPH. I was keeping up with the 3 leading ladies, who ended up taking 1st, 2nd and 3rd female overall. I would passed one of them and they would pass me back, they did the same thing with each other. We did this the rest of the bike. About .3 from the finish line some ladies had her mean-looking dogs in the middle on the road and they were barking and chasing the racers. I managed to pass unharmed and then one of the police officers was heading out to take care of the situation. I got to the mount line close behind the leading ladies. Bike time was 36:08
T2 racked bike, took helmet off, flicked off bike shoes, put on my Zoot racers and left. T2 time was :47
Run was 2 laps in the park where to transition area was. I had no idea what place I was in at this time, but I got passed by 2 of the leading ladies who passed me as if I was standing still. Turns out one of them was the first place female overall and she's 51 years old, kick ass! It takes me about a mile for my legs to realize I'm running now, so I was able to negative split after the first mile. I saw the finish line and felt the spark, so I was able to sprint to the finish line which got me a shout out from the announcer. Run time was 22:58
Total time was 1:10:30
After they posted the preliminary results, I saw I was 1st place in my age group, so we stayed for the awards. I missed 3rd female overall by 43 seconds. Got a medal and plaque. On the way home we stopped at McDonald's for frozen strawberry lemonades for the girls, and a sugar free latte for me.
official results
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Life and Training, Fitting it All In
Its been almost a month since my last blog post, which was actually a race report, so I know its time for an update. I am in week 8 of my ironman plan, and some days I have a hard time getting it all in,but I manage. Yes, I don't have a 9-5, but I have a 2 and 4 year old, and I go to school full time, which I should have done before marriage and kids, but I never regret my decision to serve my country instead of going to college right out of high school. I have math this semester, which I am terrible at, but wanted to get it over with this semester. The semesters here are 8 weeks long, so it will end on July 30th, and the point of doing it this semester was so I wouldn't have to deal with math during the ironman. My other class is public speaking, not exactly a hobby of mine but it is a core class requirement for this school.
Speaking of which, for Monday's class in public speaking, we have to tell a true story about ourselves that our classmates may find interesting or motivational. I am still debating on if I want to cover the weight loss thing for mine. I am very proud of myself for what I have done, and for keeping the weight off for a year now, but I'm afraid my story might give off the "look at me, I'm special" vibe, and that is not me at all. Since I have been at my goal weight for so long now, I feel like a regular person, even though I'm not. I fit in with society, so I am not sure I want total strangers to know about that part of my life. I have until Monday to write it, so I will have to decide soon.
Training has been going ok. I was hoping by now I would be doing better training in extreme heat but no such luck. The temps here hit between 95 and 103 in the hottest part of the day, and that's when I have been doing my runs in hopes of getting acclimated to running in the heat in preparation for the Louisville ironman. I was doing well until yesterday. I went for a run in the afternoon between my two classes. It was 102 outside and very sunny. I had intended on doing a 6 mile run, but things went wrong for me fast. I didn't get much sleep the night before because I was stressed out about school, I had sat in a boring math class all morning, I was dehydrated, and stressed out about my evening class, all factors were working against me and I couldn't shake it. I ended up cutting my run short at the 3 mile point feeling exhausted, angry, and defeated. I was so mad I was hitting trees in anger. I know it wasn't the trees fault, but I was mad at myself. So far I have had a much better day today, I did a 1500 meter swim well this morning, and then came home and did an hour of intervals on the bike trainer. I am going to go for a short run this evening because in a few hours the man in brown (UPS) will be bringing my brand new Zoot trainers. Lately the only shoes that has not been giving me IT band pain are my Zoot racers, so I have been running in them a lot and since they are racers, they are getting worn out quick. Since I love the way Zoots feel and they don't give me any pain, I ordered a pair of Zoot trainers and I am anxious to try them out in a short run this afternoon.
Something else I am realizing in my attempts to acclimate to running in extreme heat. In the case of the general public I am average size, maybe even, dare I say it, thin. But as a female endurance athlete, at 5'6 145 pounds I am on the heavier side. I have been having some trouble keeping cool on my hot runs. Sunday I did an 11 mile run in the heat, I had brought a cooler filled with ice and cold drinks, and at the halfway point I put ice all over me and under my hat and in my sports bra, I was so hot all the ice melted seconds after contact. After I started running after that I felt great, and finished the rest of the run at a pace I was happy with. I always run with a running hat on, tomorrow I am going to go out to Savannah and buy a running visor and see if that helps at all. I have also switched to using regular Gatorade instead of G2 and that seems to be helping some.
Joel ended up getting bumped for NCO academy in Virgina so he is home again, which we are all happy with. Saturday me and Joel are doing a 5k together. It will be his first one, and my seventh. We are bringing our bikes and going for a ride in Savannah after that. I am anxious to see what my standalone 5k time is. Next weekend is my last sprint triathlon until after ironman, I am not registered for any more races after ironman since I want to see how I feel recover wise before committing to any more, but I do have my eye on the Tri Red Triathlon on Jekyll Island on October 9th, I did this race last year as my second triathlon ever, and it is such a fun race, and Jekyll Island is so beautiful, I don't want to miss it.
Speaking of which, for Monday's class in public speaking, we have to tell a true story about ourselves that our classmates may find interesting or motivational. I am still debating on if I want to cover the weight loss thing for mine. I am very proud of myself for what I have done, and for keeping the weight off for a year now, but I'm afraid my story might give off the "look at me, I'm special" vibe, and that is not me at all. Since I have been at my goal weight for so long now, I feel like a regular person, even though I'm not. I fit in with society, so I am not sure I want total strangers to know about that part of my life. I have until Monday to write it, so I will have to decide soon.
Training has been going ok. I was hoping by now I would be doing better training in extreme heat but no such luck. The temps here hit between 95 and 103 in the hottest part of the day, and that's when I have been doing my runs in hopes of getting acclimated to running in the heat in preparation for the Louisville ironman. I was doing well until yesterday. I went for a run in the afternoon between my two classes. It was 102 outside and very sunny. I had intended on doing a 6 mile run, but things went wrong for me fast. I didn't get much sleep the night before because I was stressed out about school, I had sat in a boring math class all morning, I was dehydrated, and stressed out about my evening class, all factors were working against me and I couldn't shake it. I ended up cutting my run short at the 3 mile point feeling exhausted, angry, and defeated. I was so mad I was hitting trees in anger. I know it wasn't the trees fault, but I was mad at myself. So far I have had a much better day today, I did a 1500 meter swim well this morning, and then came home and did an hour of intervals on the bike trainer. I am going to go for a short run this evening because in a few hours the man in brown (UPS) will be bringing my brand new Zoot trainers. Lately the only shoes that has not been giving me IT band pain are my Zoot racers, so I have been running in them a lot and since they are racers, they are getting worn out quick. Since I love the way Zoots feel and they don't give me any pain, I ordered a pair of Zoot trainers and I am anxious to try them out in a short run this afternoon.
Something else I am realizing in my attempts to acclimate to running in extreme heat. In the case of the general public I am average size, maybe even, dare I say it, thin. But as a female endurance athlete, at 5'6 145 pounds I am on the heavier side. I have been having some trouble keeping cool on my hot runs. Sunday I did an 11 mile run in the heat, I had brought a cooler filled with ice and cold drinks, and at the halfway point I put ice all over me and under my hat and in my sports bra, I was so hot all the ice melted seconds after contact. After I started running after that I felt great, and finished the rest of the run at a pace I was happy with. I always run with a running hat on, tomorrow I am going to go out to Savannah and buy a running visor and see if that helps at all. I have also switched to using regular Gatorade instead of G2 and that seems to be helping some.
Joel ended up getting bumped for NCO academy in Virgina so he is home again, which we are all happy with. Saturday me and Joel are doing a 5k together. It will be his first one, and my seventh. We are bringing our bikes and going for a ride in Savannah after that. I am anxious to see what my standalone 5k time is. Next weekend is my last sprint triathlon until after ironman, I am not registered for any more races after ironman since I want to see how I feel recover wise before committing to any more, but I do have my eye on the Tri Red Triathlon on Jekyll Island on October 9th, I did this race last year as my second triathlon ever, and it is such a fun race, and Jekyll Island is so beautiful, I don't want to miss it.
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