9 & over State Swim Meet 2014

 

Helen swimming on the 400 Medley relay team at 9&over state

there she goes!

swimming fast! 

on her way back!

boy's 400 Medley relay team

Graham in the pink cap

Jayden in the purple cap

Graham 200 Free - pink cap

400 Medley relay on the podium - 2nd place

Graham's 3rd in the State for the 200 Free

Getting his medal :)

 

Jayden in the zone :)

Jayden - purple cap

Graham - pink cap

Graham 5th place in the backstroke

Relay team getting ready for the 400 Free Relay

400 free relay time on the podium - 2nd place

 

Championship Swim Meet Bling

I'm way behind on my blog posts - in 3 weeks time, I travelled to 3 away meets by myself with the kids and put 1300 miles on the car!  we've been busy!  I took pictures of the Conference Meet, 8 & under State, and 9 & over State meets. 

Graham - highlights include 3rd place in the 200 Free and 2nd place for his 400 Medley and 400 Free relay

Jayden - highlights include State Champ in 25 Fly and State Runner up in 100IM and 25 Back

Jillian - highlights include the ONLY 3 year old to swim @ 8 & under state!!!

Helen - highlights include 5th in the 25 Fly and 25 Back

Achievement Certificates for the season including some pool and team records.  Jayden had the highest number of personal best times on the team!

one of Jayden's ribbons that I found after taking the pictures above

Each year, the kids earn badges for participating in the meets - these badges are displayed on their backpacks!    Event Jillian (upper right corner) earned some tags for her bag!

Swim Awards Night 2014

Helen getting her swim award

Jayden added to the crowd of swimmers for the year

 

Graham down on the end :)

 

Jillian's turn!

The 8 and under state participants

just missed Graham getting his State Team award

Jayden getting his State Team award

 

The coach reading the list of events for Regionals in April - love his smile!

Jayden ready to hear his list of events for Regionals

 

Zone Team Award (zones will take place the last weekend in March @ Ohio State University)

Graham on the Zone Team too!

 

3/5 of the state team = my kids :)

9 & over state team - Jayden also qualified for several events in the 9 & over state

Mind Games

During January, my gym hosted a kettle bell swing challenge.  I decided to give it a try - it was 10,000 swings in 4 weeks - I broke it down into 500 swings for 5 days a week.  I'll be honest, physically this was not a difficult challenge for me but mentally this was a tough for me!  I never expected that!  I started my Ironman training about the same time that this challenge began and the kids had several snow days during February (I had to go to the gym to do the swings because I do not have a kettle bell at home - so when the kids were home for the day, it was difficult to get to the gym!)..... and completing 500 swings after running for 1 hour or biking for 1.5 hours was tough - mentally!  But I did it!  10,000 swings in 4 weeks.  After that we did a calisthenics challenge program that consisted of 75 jumping jacks, 50 sit ups, 40 mountain climbers, 30 lunges, 25 jump squats, 20 pushups, and 10 burpees.  week 1 = 1 set, week 2 = 2 sets, week 3 = 3 sets, week 4 = 4 sets.  I've really enjoyed this challenge because I can complete this one in the basement at home :)  And I feel like it's giving me a good core base for my triathlon season.

 

Winter is really dragging on and on and on here in the Midwest --- but I really feel like I've had some breakthrough moments in my training - I've learned that your workout will be what you want it to be - if you have a negative attitude going into it (specifically a run for me) - you will probably run slow and feel sluggish, but if you start out the run with a positive attitude and a specific pace in mind - good things will happen! 

 

Last weekend, I was able to get outside for TWO ten mile runs!  I was so happy to be running outside and NOT on the treadmill.  The first day, I was able to maintain a 7:29 pace and the second day ran a 7:39 pace.  I'm blaming Ross for slowing me down the 2nd day --- since we ran the 10 miles together :)  Not really, he didn't slow me down.  Both days were the same "hilly" course and I was really pleased with my times. 

I'm so excited to be helping with a 5k program at my gym this spring.  I designed the tshirt and wrote the training programs.  I'm also teaching some information sessions on hydration, nutrition, dynamic exercises, pace, etc.  So excited to share my love of running with the ladies at my gym.  The girl that babysits for me during my training activities asked me if she could participate in the training program - my heart melted! 

My sweet girl and her hot chocolate one day last week when it was snowing AGAIN!!!!

Daddy's Home!

Daddy's been traveling over the last 3 weeks - during one of his weeks away, he spent some time in the Netherlands.... and brought back a few gifts for the kids:

 jayden was so excited to get a new Holland football jersey!  replacing the one that's at least 2 sizes too small but he wears it at least once a week.

 close your eyes.....

 no peeking!

 surprise!

 .... enjoying the last few days of February - I bought these sprinkles but now that I look at them from a distance, it looks like little ants on a cake :)

 sassy Jilly got her hair cut and some (temporary) red spray ... she picked the red because she said the color matched her dress

 my little MJ model

 now, we're just playing with the camera

 silly sisters

 jillian came up with this pose all by herself and Helen's photo bomb

9 & over State Champs  -- all their medals and the trophy!

cheifs or chiefs?

 Graham participated in a Spelling Bee at school today - he made it through 3 rounds but on the 4th round he misspelled CHIEFS.  he started out CH....... then paused - I knew he was contemplating IE or EI.... then he finished the word CH......EIFS. 

So many of the kids were nervous when the got up to spell their word - I would have been nervous too!  We are so proud of him.  I felt like I knew every word as they went through the list this morning - Graham has been working very hard on the list of words over the last 2 weeks.... and so have mom and dad :)  84/500 kids were chosen from the 4th and 5th grade classes to compete in the spelling bee.