Summer 2016

We have been having the best summer this year! I feel like we have done so much and it's not even August yet! Here is a quickish rundown of our activities in no specific order. 

• Going to a Salt Lake Monarchs game- They are the minor league soccer team. It was a lot of fun and it wasn't crowded at all. We learned how soccer actually works :)

• We have been tubing down the Provo river twice and once on the Weber River.  We even bought our own tubes, tube covers and life jackets. 

• Ben turned 30 this year and we had a really fun party for him in our backyard. 

• We have 2 teachers from Japan staying with us for 2 weeks while they volunteer at a local elementary school

• Lindsey has been helping out with The Celebration Project. It is an organization that throws birthday parties for kids at homeless shelters each month.

• We went down to Torrey in Southern Utah with some of Ben's siblings and had fun playing at a Lake and eating S'mores cinnamon rolls. 

• In May most of Lindsey's family was able to meet up in Orlando for a few days. We played at the pool, Disney World, and Sea World. 

• We went and saw Florida Georgia Line in concert with some friends at USANA amphitheater. 

 

• Ben and Lindsey celebrated 7 years of marriage at Lake Las Vegas. 

• We went to the Pride parade and festival. It was a blast. The parade was my favorite! 

• We have had some yummy BBQ's, fireworks, and swimming as well. 

Daybreak Triathlon Race Report

I just want to start off by saying in 2016 I have now completed 6 triathlons! WOW! I am pretty ecstatic about that! And you know what is really crazy about it?! I'm loving it! 

The Daybreak sprint triathlon was on Saturday June 4, 2016. It was going to be Kim and I's 6th triathlon of 2016 and the first somewhat open water swim of the season. It was going to be in Daybreak lake which is a manmade lake/river. They don't allow swimming in Daybreak lake besides for the triathlon. Kim and I wanted to practice or at least get a feel for how the water would be so on the Friday before the race we went out to a little lake/pond called Blackridge reservoir in Herriman at about 8am.  

Not my pic just one I found on the internet so you can see what it looked like.

I wore just my tri suit and Kim wore shorts, a top and a wetsuit.

A tri suit is bascially a suit you can wear throughout all areas of a triathlon. It dries quickly, has a little bit of padding for the bike ride, etc. That way you don't have to change in between events.  I got mine for a really great deal up at the outlets in Park City. I love it! 

The water was freezing cold when we got in. We probably stood knee deep in the water for about 10 minutes just talking before we started swimming. It took us a minute to feel comfortable putting our head under water but after a few times it felt just fine. It started to warm up a bit as we began moving. We didn't want to completely exhaust ourselves *wink wink* since we had the race the next day so we just swam a little and then just floated and soaked in some sun. It was such a nice experience and I am so glad we took the time to do this before the race. 

RACE DAY:

Kim and I met at the transition area at about 645am.  We started getting our stuff set up and she said she had a flat tire on her bike and needed to pump it up. I helped her and then we took some pics, put on some sunscreen and I checked her tire again and it was completely flat again. She immediately called her husband to see if he could bring her his bike (but their garage was closed and she had the opener) or bring stuff to fix it. Everyone at the race was super helpful and tried to help. Her husband showed up just in time for us to head over to the swim start and he started working on the tire. 

SWIM: They did it by age groups and gender. We went out to a dock and hung onto the side until it was time to start.

I'm not in this picture FYI

We started one at time. The current is always tricky with open water swimming. You have to try and watch where you are going but not waste too much energy and try and swim with the current but also not let it drag you off course which it can very easily do. 

Daybreak Lake before the race. Absolutely gorgeous day!

I don't think I am in this picture but it's hard to tell. I was wearing a yellow swim cap which was for my age group.

Also, I (because I'm a genius) read online that if you put baby shampoo in your goggles it helps them not to fog up. I would highly recommend trying this before race day as with most everything. But noooooo I decided to trust the internet. Both Kim and I slathered our goggles with baby shampoo and as soon as we put our heads in the water our eyes felt like they were on FIRE! Other than that little hiccup the swim was awesome! It felt amazing. I can definitely notice a change in my swimming for the good. My stroke is way more powerful and I don't run out of breath nearly as quick. The swim was pretty much a straight course with a little turn towards the end. The swim was 750 meters just under a half of a mile, water temp was about 67°, time was 28 minutes and 15 seconds. I am really happy with that time! 

Transition 1: Kim and I got to our transition area and geared up for our bike ride including sunscreen because it was already getting hot.Good thing too there was ZERO shade on the bike ride. Kim's husband Chase had fixed Kim's tire or so we thought. 

What my transition area looks like. A few things I love to have are sunscreen, body glide (helps prevent chaffing), my race belt, face wipes (for post race it feels so nice) and for Open Water Swims a bucket of water to rinse feet off with before getting ready for the bike ride. I also always bring a second pair of goggles and nutrition i.e. water, Powerade, energy blocks. 

Bike: We weren't even a mile into the ride and one of the police officers on the route stated we should stop and check her tire. We did and it was completely flat again. GRRRR! Kim wanted me to keep going and not wait because she didn't know if she would be able to do the bike ride at all at this point. I went on ahead. A few minutes later I had just passed a smaller intersection where cops were directing traffic and I hear a CRASH! SCREECH! and then yelling right behind me. I looked back and a bike was on the ground. I thought about turning around but I could hear people yelling and there was a cop right there so I just kept going. It rattled my nerves a bit. I was using Ben's race bike rather than my hybrid bike which I have ridden a handful of times. I began peddling and my legs were on FIRE! Holy Moly! I just kept pushing and it was getting so hot. The route went West along a highway that of course wasn't closed for the race and there was no bike lane. It was also a steady but hellish uphill for the first half. It was hell. Trucks were driving past  at 60 MPH with long trailers it was not good. Then I was shifting and my gear came off. So I began walking. Someone stopped and helped me. I got on and rode again until the last huge chunk of  a hill and walked a bit until the turn around and then it was literally down hill from there. The whole way back I kept thinking "I bet everyone has left. I've been out here forever." I didn't have my phone or anything so I kind of panicked but then I was like no I'm fine just go. As I was walking up the transition area I noticed that people were walking away with their medals and such and I was like oh great. But then I saw Kim waving at me from the transition area and I was thought Ok we got this. The bike was 14.6 miles and my time was 1 hour 43 minutes. Not my best but I made it. It was definitely a struggle and not my favorite bike route. 

Run/Walk: Everyone hadn't left in case you were wondering. Kim and I decided to just walk/power walk the 5K. I'm glad we did. It actually wasn't too much of a difference in time from our previous triathlon 5Ks. Run/Walk was a 5K which is 3.1 miles and our time was 57 minutes. 

Finish Time: 3 hours 17 minutes. 

Not bad for the first open water swim of the season although I'm pretty sure it was the bike that really hurt my time. Ah well. I would do this triathlon again only if they completely changed the bike route. 

We finished! It was a gorgeous but scorching hot day!

Kim and I are planning on doing about 2 more triathlons this year. Hopefully one in July or August and then Bear Lake in September.

Women of Steel Triathlon

On May 14th my friend Kim and I (also known as Team Wonder Woman) participated in the Women of Steel triathlon in Syracuse, Utah. 

It consisted of a 300 meter pool swim, 15 mile bike ride, and 3.1 mile run. 

We decided to pick up our packets the morning of which actually worked out great. The packet pick up line was super short and we were able to set up our transition area and get all situated before the start. They were having 2 triathlons at the same time a half hour apart. I wasn't sure how that was going to work but I didn't notice or have any issues with this set up. 

SWIM: As you may or may not remember at the Icebreaker triathlon in March I regretted selling myself short on the swim and going to the end of the line. This time I got in line at my approximate swim time which I guesstimated to be about 8 minutes. The swim was indoors. 6 lengths of 25 meters. However, still had to share the lane which I do not like. Some people just drive me nuts. I got hit in the head once...grrr. But overall I am super happy with my time! I shaved 2 minutes off my time from March! Swim time was 7min:25sec.  

It was much warmer this time than it was for the triathlon in March. 

BIKE: The bike ride was pretty nice for the most part. There was one road that was pot hole city which kind of sucked. It was overall pretty flat. The weather was fantastic and Kim and I had decided to stay together during the bike ride. I ended up still riding my hybrid bike instead of Ben's road bike because I hadn't had time to practice on it and didn't want to go for my first ride the day of the race. I love my hybrid bike but I know having a road bike will make a huge difference mostly because of weight difference. Bike time was 1hour:21min:41sec. MPH was 12.8 That is 2mph faster than I was in March! Wahoo!

RUN: The run portion went really well I thought. It went through a neighborhood for not even a mile and then went onto a nice trail with ducks along the way :) Kim and I came up with a plan where one of us would choose a point to start running i.e. a post and the other person would choose when to stop. I really liked this plan and it was nice to have someone to push me when I wasn't wanting to as much. We ended up picking up a few more ladies along the run who enjoyed our little red light/green light method. I'm actually surprised that my time ended up being even longer than before. Run time was 47min:12sec. I'm not sure why honestly. 

My overall race time was 2hours:12min:51sec which I am pretty happy with. I was hoping for under 2 hours but I am excited to see improvement. I really need to start training more, get used to Ben's road bike, and do more brick (run & bike) workouts. I love the variety of triathlons and it has been so much fun for Kim and I to have our little team. 

Before photo matching Warrior tops. Can you see sneaky Ben? We have been friends since Kindergarten. Love this girl!

After photo with medals! There just happened to be a Swig just down the street from where the race was so we stopped for a post race treat! YUM!

Icebreaker Sprint Triathlon-American Fork, Utah- Race Report

The Icebreaker sprint triathlon was yesterday. It went ok. Definitely the first race of the season for most ;) Friday my friend Kim and I drove to American Fork and picked up our packets...wish we would have remembered to ask them to do our body marking as well that day instead of waiting in line the next morning for it. Oh well. 

Saturday morning Ben and I left home about 8ish. We got there about 845ish. The race was supposed to start about 10am. Definitely a later starting race but because its so early in the year it would be way to cold to do it earlier. Parking wasn't bad at all. Met up with Kim and got our transition area set up. I keep forgetting to take a pick of my transition area. It seems to work really well. I put my helmet and sunglasses on my bike handlebars, I lay a towel or a mat down to put all my stuff on i.e. running shoes, nutrition, a towel etc. 

Kim and I chilling in the transition area before the race.

At about 915 there was a "pre-race" meeting. Probably the longest pre-race meeting I've ever been too. They told us on the bike course there was an area with a ton of pot holes and gravel (that they had tried to clean up earlier) Joy! Then they just kept talking I kid you not. I guess when you registered for the race you could have them say your name with a little something you wanted them to say so we had to wait for them to go through all of those. Don't get me wrong its great but I think there is a time and place for that and I don't feel like its at the pre-race meeting. 

Kim, Ben (who was an amazing support and spectator and photographer) and I headed to the pool. It was an indoor pool with a revolving door. Yup you read that right a revolving door that was the only way in and the only way out. It turned out to be quite an issue unfortunately. To help space out the swim so it wasn't a madhouse they had us line up according to swim time. (Don't worry they keep track of when you start so its not the same for everyone.) I'm so mad at myself for this part. I pretty much went to the end of the line and I really wish I hadn't. I'm not an amazing swimmer but I'm a good swimmer. It got crazy in the pool. You were supposed to do 6 lengths each in a different lane. People were walking, they were swimming on top of each other, running in to each other and just stopping at the wall. Thats all fine and dandy but have some courtesy for the other racers and try to get out of the way. Whatever. Its fine. I wish I would have gone closer to the front of the line because I swam the 6 lengths (300 meters) with no problem and the athletes more towards the front of the line it went so much smoother. All well. I learned. 

I just realized that this may be coming across as a really negative race report and I don't mean to do that at all. My hope is to maybe help others prepare for a triathlon and knowing what to expect os they don't run in to the same challenges. As well as to help me remember for future races my thoughts and feelings on the race. 

Can you see me.?I'm swimming towards the bottom right corner of the pic, green cap on, right arm out, head up. 

Ok so hopped out of the pool, went through the revolving door (disaster!) and ran across the parking lot and some grass to the transition area for transition 1. It was still pretty chilly and I was just wearing my tri suit so I put on capris and a jacket, ate a few chews put the rest in my pocket, helmet on and ran out of the transition area. It was going really well. Little hill and then what?! Oh no! Oh no no no. Huge humongous ridiculous why is it on the route hill! It was a hell hill. I kid you not. I wish it was a joke and we turned before the hill but no it wasn't a joke. They wanted us to go up the hill. I made it up about half way and my gears were being weird so I hopped off and ran my bike up the rest of the way. I was not the only way who made this decision. The asphalt pot hole road wasn't too bad but then there was this crazy downhill portion which was great to make up time lost on the hell hill but it was in the middle/alongside a pretty busy road and I kept panicking because of my crash last year and I kept braking every once in a while. The bike consisted of 2 loops. Yup you guessed it had to do the hell hill AGAIN! Son of a *&$%@ ! Also I was freezing on the bike! There was wind and luckily I had brought gloves but my tri suit was still a little wet and there were areas of my body that hurt because it was so cold. Ok finished the bike, portion, dropped my bike off and started the run. 

I'm the one in the front on the bike in pink!

I started running/walking/jogging. Heres a little something something for y'all to tri... bike 12 miles and then immediately hop off and start running. Do your legs feel like bricks? Weird feeling huh? I defiantly need to practice my transition from bike to run more often and hopefully get my legs used to it. Remember hell hill? Oh yes they made sure it was included on the run portion as well. Just one loop though. They are such sweethearts. I walked/jogged the majority of the run. I would say definitely my weakest area. It doesn't help that its the last portion of the triathlon either. I started warming up pretty much immediately on the run though which was nice. Oh and somehow between my tri suit and capris they weren't working well together and my capris came down around my knees! Wish I wouldn't have worn them but then I don't know if I would have been too cold?! I finished this baby strong though and sprinted through the finish line with Ben and Kim cheering me on. Ben handed me an orange slice immediately which was fantastic. Cleaned up all our stuff, took a pic and headed home to relax and decide which tri I'm signning up for next! :) I love triathlons. I think I'm going to stick to sprints for now though while I still have a ways to progress. I'm really hoping to see some progression in my overall time this season. I think the next one Kim and I will be doing is in May. Its the Women of Steel triathlon and its in Syracuse, Utah this year. 

Me sprinting to the finish.

Our medals with Vanilla Ice

Kim and I! 

My little certificate you can download online. I registered in the Athena category which means I weigh over 165 pounds. I looked at the overall times though of everyone and I was about average. There are so many factors that go into triathlon time though. How far away the transition area is away from the swim, if you are required to wear a wetsuit or not etc. Kim's time was 1:59! She was just a tad faster than me.

A few goals I'm going to work on this season. Running! Transitioning from biking to running. I am going to learn how to use Ben's serious road bike which I think will help improve my time. I love my bike and its a hybrid bike but I think for races I should probably use a road bike. And continuing to improve on my swimming technique. 

I would love to get my indoor swim tri time to 1:30 and my open water swim triathlon time to about 2 hours. You swim longer when its an open water swim and obviously its a bit more of a challenge. 

"Tri"ing in 2016

I have the triathlon bug thats for damn sure! I signed up for the indoor triathlon series at KOPFC. My long time friend Kim also signed up with me. If you sign up for all 3 you get some fun swag and you can also see your progression. Its a little bit of a different type of triathlon. One: Its all inside. Two: Its based on how far you go in a certain amount of time versus you have "x" distance to go and see how long it takes you. You swim for 15, Bike for 25 and run for 20. I've also been working on actually training. I've done a couple of wogs (walk/jogs) around the neighborhood as well as a couple of bike rides. I purchased a bike trainer but have not quite set it up yet...I have also been trying to go to a Masters Swim class at least once a week. It is super helpful. There is a swim coach there who helps you with your form and gives you drills. You are swimming for an hour! Its a great workout! 

Triathlon #1 in January results: 

Swam 22 25 meter lengths = 550 meters

Biked 8 miles

Wogged  1 1/4 miles

My dad was in town and came and watched/supported! Also check out my sweet headband!

Triathlon # 2 February results:

Swam 22 25 meter lengths = 550 meters

Biked 9.9 miles! 

Wogged  1 1/4 miles

We got matching shirts and everyone called us team Wonder Woman

Triathlon #3 March results:

Swam 23 25 meter lengths= 575 meters

Biked 9.4 miles

Wogged Just over 1 1/4 miles.

These mini triathlons are such a great way to start out the season. I love the way it is set up and it is very low key as well. Kim and I signed up for the Icebreaker on Saturday in American Fork. I'm hoping to do as many sprint triathlons this year as my bank account and body will allow. I am really hoping to continue training and hope to see improvement in my races overall.

Progress not Perfection

Getting fit in 2016!

I know I know. Every year I'm like "I'm going to lose weight blah blah blah". So anyways I finally feel like I'm in a good position to really get there this year. With the holidays over with I feel like things are calming down and I can really focus. With that being said I don't know how often I am going to do an update whether it be weekly, monthly or just randomly. I had a really awesome first week. I lost 2.8 lbs! I only worked out maybe like twice?! (I'm hoping to start fitting working out to my schedule because not only do I want to lose weight but I want to be fit ya know?) My goal is really to lose 10lbs a month which is reasonable. That should put me at my goal weight in about August. Yes i have about 70lbs to lose. I'm using myfitnesspal because I know how it works, they pretty much have every food in their database and I'm just use to it. It works for me. I follow a fitness trainer on Facebook and she said that she usually sets her settings to be about 40% carbs, 40% protein, and 20% fat so thats what I have mine at right now. Man do I NOT get enough protein. That is a huge goal for me! More protein for sure!  I love that I can manipulate myfitnesspal to these settings. So this is what my goals look like for now. 

Calories

1330

Carbohydrates 133 g

40 %

Fat 30 g

20 %

Protein 133 g

40 %

A few things about myfitnesspal that I've learned is that I have my Fitbit synced to it so depending on how many steps I take it may adjust my calorie intake because of the calories burned from walking. I love that I can see how many calories it did adjust so I know if I want to use those or not. I don't always. Same with when I enter my workouts it gives me "X" amount of calories I can add to my diet. I don't usually use those calories maybe once or twice a week and even then I don't use all of them. Also, I am going to take off my Fitbit when exercising because I think it would be sort of double tracking to where it. Plus if my arms move a lot the Fitbit thinks I'm getting steps when I'm not. It's funny like that. 

Another big thing for me this week is I got my hair cut and my nails done. It felt really good. I just needed a minute to really take care of myself. Once I felt good about myself it motivated me to want to continue to be fit. I know a lot of people use those things as rewards for losing a certain amount of weight or what not but I needed to feel good about myself now so that I wanted to continue to feel better.

When we lived in North Dakota I would go to classes at the gym they were part of LesMills. I loved them!!! They had weightlifting, cycling, kickboxing etc. Loved Loved Loved them. I was pretty bummed when I tried to find some in Salt Lake and none were to be found. I started doing research online and found out you can stream them on demand. I started my free trial today and I LOVED IT! I may end up paying the $10 a month so I can have access to them. 

The photos from the week below:

Left photo: Me super sweaty after 30 minutes of bodycombat! (There was punching and kcicking and I loved it!) I think I have an inner boxer in me. No joke!

Middle photo: A new found favorite breakfast food. Kodiak cakes whole grain flap jack with raspberry jam and banana and 2 slices of thick cut bacon. If you haven't tried Kodiak cakes I would highly recommend them. They have a good amount of protein and taste delicous. They have 3 different options to make them to depending on how much protein you want in them. 

Right photo: me taking a before pic to look at and compare with. 

Halloween,Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years...

Yup I'm just going to bundle them all into one. With us having our own place we got super excited about being able to have people over and such. First, we decided to throw a Halloween party. My little sis Morgan helped with this one. Unfortunately not a ton of pics were taken or at least that I have access too. We basically just had music playing, a photo backdrop, food, games and just sat around and hung out. The night before we had gone to a friends Halloween party until about 3am so I don't know if I would recommend doing that and then hosting your own party but we did and it ended up being a lot of fun! 

Ben was a hunter and I'm a deer. 

Next up Thanksgiving...yup we hosted. It was my first time cooking the turkey. I had my dad on facetime and texted him throughout the day for his help. I think everyone really enjoyed it. I had a lot of fun cooking and preparing. Most of Ben's family was able to make it. His mom had to work though. We had tons of food and it was a really good time. Totally did not get a pic of the finished turkey. Everyone said it was delicious though. 

Top Left: The table setting (Ben's dad said it was the nicest setup he's ever seen.
Top Right: Cheyenne, Aaron (her bf) and Clint (Ben's dad)
Bottom Left: Some of the glorious food!
Bottom Middle: Me and my nephew Lincoln. He loved watching himself in the camera.
Bottom Right: Bentley and Alexis (Our nephew and niece) passed out after all the food and fun.

Morgan, my little sis. Had a fun get together at her and her husband Spencer's house. It was an ugly sweater/cookie exchange/white elephant. We had a blast dancing to Just Dance, doing a 10pm taco run, and trying to pop the bottom off of bottles. Good times! 

Top Photo: Mitch (Ben's brother) Alex (Mitch's Fiance) Me, Ben, Morgan (My lil sis) Spencer (Morgan's husband)
Bottom Left: Morgan and I
Bottom Middle: Ben and I
Bottom Right: Alex and I

Our stockings. I thought what Yuto wrote on hers was hilarious.

Ben and I decided to invite all the siblings on both sides over on Christmas Eve just to hang out. It was a lot of fun having everyone over. We played games including Monopoly which we did not finish LOL We called it our trial run. Oh yeah and Ben and I got an exchange student on December 19th. Her name is Yuto. We are excited to have her. She is very sweet but also has a great sense of humor. She hung out with all of us on Christmas Eve as well.

Playing Monopoly

From the left: Me, Morgan, Spencer, Yuto, Alex, Mitch, Ben, Cheyenne, Jesse and his friend Sean. Not shown:
Mr. Duke

Christmas we kept pretty chill. We mostly hung out at home. In the afternoon we went to Ben's parents house and then in the evening had dinner with Morgan and Spencer.

New Years we also kept pretty chill. Ben and I ate breakfast burritos and watched movies and went to bed before midnight. 

I love that this year and especially these last few months over the holidays we were able to spend with some of our siblings. It's a lot of fun to hang out with everyone. I don't think we will be hosting anything for a while now though. Our house needs a minute to recover and so do we :) Duke gets an honorable mention for being a good sport with having everyone over so much. Everyone loves him and he would just chill and hang out with all of us.