38 is great!

i'm about 1.5 weeks late on this post  - on april 3, i turned 38.  i started my day with a nice 1.5 hour bike ride and 2 mile run ----- then the kids had our traditional birthday breakfast bar ready for me at 7am.  Ross and Jillian took me out for lunch and then after the kid's swim practice they made me homemade pizza.  We celebrated with some yummy cake and ice cream and then I started packing for our trip to Minnesota for the boy's regional swim meet!  38 is going to be great!!! :)

Graham captured my birthday celebration on video with his ipod - he's growing up too fast :)

Enduropacks Ambassador

I'm super excited to announce that I've been chosen as an Ambassador for Enduropacks!  I've been using their products since August and I've had some great training and racing results. 

http://www.enduropacks.com/

Enduropacks is a great product for endurance athletes - they have a great electrolyte spray that I use on my longer runs and I've been so good about taking these vitamins.  The vitamins are in liquid form, which I prefer.  The amino acid patch and glutamine recovery keep my legs feeling great especially after a hard workout. 

Signs are spring are slowly arriving here in Michigan - FINALLY!

I've had a great week of training and I'm ready to head into my birthday week --- here's to turning 38!

This afternoon, I had a GREAT training run.  Ross and I got a babysitter for the kids and ran together for most of the run.... Today, I set out to do 13 miles @ a 7:15 pace (I have a half marathon coming up on April 13th and 7:15 is my goal pace).  We had 16 miles total to run today as part of our May marathon training (we're following Hansons Marathon Method).  We warmed up for the first mile, then started right into the 13 mile Tempo.  I'm not going to lie, there were a few points where I didn't know if I could maintain the 7:15 pace both mentally and physically --- but I did it!  And I'm really so proud of myself, I was able to refocus mentally a couple times when I started to doubt.  There were a few hills on our route too , so those were a little tough.  I stopped briefly @ mile 14 - to catch my breath after completing the tempo portion of the run.  I ran an 8:30ish mile and then finished super strong with a 7:25 last mile (my marathon pace is 7:26).  At the half marathon mark of our run, I looked down at my watch to find that I had just beat my half-marathon PR (1:35) from last spring!  I'm so excited to see what I can do on April 13th!!!  Overall pace for 16 miles was 7:21 --- a little ahead of my marathon pace and I felt really strong at the end of 16 miles.  I felt like I could continue for a few more miles ..... 10 more miles?  maybe :)   I quickly came into the house, changed clothes and grabbed a peanut butter sandwich as was off to the pool for a 1 hour swim.  (part of my Ironman training)

Here's a few training highlights from this week:

 loving the Nutri Bullet that I bought at the LA Marathon!

 Tuesday's workout was in the basement - ugh!  1.5 hour ride and a track workout on the treadmill.

 On Thursday, Ross surprised me with tickets to the Jillian Michaels show!  I had no idea that he was sending me there --- he put an address in his TomTom and told me to drive to the destination -- it was dinner and the show.  I loved it! 

7 miles @ 7:17 overall pace on Friday ---- so happy to be outside and needed a visor instead of a winter hat!!!   note - visor was needed due to rain :(

 

Saturday morning, I did a brick workout - one of the first ones of my Ironman Boulder training (I haven't been able to do a few of the brick workouts due to travelling for the kid's swim meets and my May marathon training).  I biked for 1.5 hours and then ran a mile on the treadmill @ 7:50ish pace (my half-ironman goal training pace).  My legs felt great coming off the bike ---- I only did a mile because I had an 8 mile marathon training run later that day.  Felt so good to get that brick workout done before 7:30am on Saturday!

Zones 2014 - Ohio State University

 daddy and his little girl in front of the Ohio State University Football stadium

 Helen to the left - upset that daddy is not giving her a piggy back ride :)

 in line to check in!

 Zones is a meet between West Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio, Michigan, and Indiana.  The times to qualify for Zones are pretty difficult.  The next meet up from Zones is Nationals - where many Olympic and Collegiate hopefuls swim.  So proud of the boys for qualifying for this meet - they will swim their 200 Free and 200 IM relay and Graham qualified for one individual event - 200 Free.

 registering for the meet

 warm up

 practicing starts

 jayden in the purple cap

 Graham in the pink cap

 ready for the team cheer

 200 Free relay - boys are wearing purple and pink caps ---- never thought these crazy caps would actually come in handy to identify them :)

 Graham ready on the block

 seeded 3rd and they pull out a 2nd place WIN!!!  They were so excited!  AND they broke 2 minutes, something they've been trying to do all season.  AND set another team record!

 Jayden talking to his coach and a coach from another team --- the coach from the other team is also the mom to Jayden's friend, Sammy (see photos below)

 so sweet - Jayden gives his brother, Graham a pep talk before his 200 Free event (lane 8)

 Graham - pink cap - lane 8

 Graham finishes 5th in his heat - drops 3+ seconds off his best time....

 and finishes 32nd overall.  Super proud of him!

 Day 2 of the Zones Swim Meet - 200 IM Relay

 Getting ready .... they are seeded 6th in this event

 pink and purple caps again :)

 Jayden ready to swim the 50 FLY for the relay

 there goes Jayden - maintaining the lead that the first 2 boys established --- but will it be enough?

 Graham ready to go - super focused - ready to anchor the relay --- MOM is SUPER nervous!!!!

 Could he do it?  Could Graham HOLD the lead for the relay team?  Now I'm SUPER SUPER nervous!!!

 ......... and the boys get FIRST PLACE in the 200 IM ------ broke another team record and swam a 2:13!!!   ...... but here is where my heart completely aches for them ---- after they finish the race, the coach is called over to the officials table.  She walks away from the official's table and makes a motion to the parents in the stands with her hand horizontally across her neck.   I've only seen her make this motion one other time and that was when Jayden was swimming at Regionals last year - he thought that he had broken the 50 Fly team record - but did not.  It was at that time, after seeing the coach make this motion - that my heart totally sank - the boys relay team had been disqualified!  my heart was totally broken for them - they did not know they were disqualified.  Later, we found out that it was the transition between breast-stroke and butterfly.  Remember?  Jayden swam the butterfly portion of the relay.  :(

I'm trying to find humor in this sad event.... Jayden immediately turned to Graham and said "Graham - what did you do?"  Graham didn't think that he had done anything wrong, but being the big brother - he took the blame.  The coach met the boys upstairs outside the locker room after they got dressed, we were standing there with the coach as she waited for them.  Time seemed to stand still.  She wanted to personally tell them the news about their relay team (the 2 other boys on the relay team had a few other events that day and she wanted to tell them the news after their other events).  As she put her hands on both boys shoulders, my heart ached for her and the boys.  She told them that their relay team was disqualified and both boys were surprised.  And as they were leaving, the coach turned to Graham with tears in her eyes and whispered "Graham, it was not you that disqualified the team".  You could see the relief in Graham's eyes.  She said this because Jayden was quick to blame Graham (not in a bad way, Jayden just honestly had no idea that he was actually part of the disqualification).    I had tears in my eyes - our family has been living at the pool pretty much since October and at that moment, I realized that we were like family to the coach.  She cares for each and every team member as if they were her own children.  I've felt like this from the day we met her moving to Sturgis - she is such a nice person and so welcoming.  This just proved to me how much she really cares about the swim team members and pours her heart and soul into everything she does.   

Last Sunday night, I didn't sleep much at all - it's as if I participated in the relay and was disqualified myself - my heart ached and I had dreams about the race that night.  The other dilemma I was faced with was how to tell Jayden that he was part of the disqualification ---- do I have a talk with him?  do I let it go?  will the other team members say something to him?  will Graham, someday when he is upset with Jayden - tell him the truth?  all these questions contributed to my restless night.  I wondered how Jayden would feel because he is super sensitive to other's feelings and doesn't want to let anyone down - if I told him - would he be really worried at the Regional Meet in Minnesota in a couple weeks?  In the end, after talking with the coach - we decided to just let it go.  It's been a week and no one seems to be bringing up the subject.

 now, here's were I feel like the true reason my kids are participating in swim team --- Jayden met this boy, Sammy, from a Muskegon swim team at State last year and talked with him again this year.  Sammy beat Jayden in the 25 backstroke at 8 and under State in February to take 1st place.  But Jayden has become great friends with Sammy, despite the loss.  I LOVE it!  They hung out at 9 & 10 state together because Sammy also swims on the 200 Free and 200 IM Relay.  They hung out together at Zones too and wanted to get together in the evening on Saturday night.  That didn't work out, but we agreed to meet for a treat after the meet on Sunday.  Jayden and Sammy are the same age and similar swimming abilities.  Jayden was so excited to meet with his friend that I honestly think he forgot all about the disqualification --- maybe this happened for a reason? 

 Jayden and Sammy are going to try to meet up at swim camp in July and possibly in Traverse City later this summer.  So glad they have this friendship! 

A substitute for hot chocolate??  hmmmm....

video of the 200 IM relay
http://youtu.be/i2FQSshybHE

Graham 200 Free
http://youtu.be/TIuoIUInjVk

200 Free Relay
http://youtu.be/GtzCrwW4ytc