Have you ever...

X next to ones that you've done

Fired a gun. X

Been married. X
Been Divorced X
Fell in love. X
Gone on a blind date.
Skipped school. X
Watched someone give birth X
Watched someone die
Been in the same house when they passed away. X
Been to Canada. X
Been to Hawaii.
Been to Europe. X
Been to Las Vegas. X
Been to Washington DC. X
Been to Nashville. X
Been to Florida. X
Been to Disney. X
Been to Mexico. X
Been to Sacramento.
Been to Nebraska. X
Been to Scotland.
Been to England.
Seen the Grand Canyon in person.
Flown in a helicopter.
Flown in a airplane. X
Been on a cruise. X
Served on a jury X
Been in a movie.
Been to Los Angeles.
Been to New York City. X
Been to the Caribbean. X
Played in a band.
Sang karaoke. X
Made prank phone calls. X
Laughed so hard you peed yourself. X
Caught a snowflake on your tongue. X
Had children. X
Had grandchildren.
Had a pet. X
Went sledding down a big hill. X
Been downhill skiing.
Been water skiing. X
Rode on a motorcycle.
Jumped out of an airplane.
Been to a drive in movie.
Rode an elephant. X
Been on tv. X
Been in the newspaper X
Stayed in the hospital. X
Donated blood. X
Had a transfusion.
Gotten a piercing. X
Gotten a tattoo.
Driven a stick shift.
Driven over 100 mph. X
Been scuba diving
Rode in the back of a police car. X
Gotten a speeding (or traffic) ticket. X

40 for 40

My 40th birthday is in a few years and many of my friends are in a similar situation and have created lists of 40 things that they wish to do before they turn 41. This seems like fun to me so I figured I might as well start working on my list now as it isn't really something you can put together at the drop of a hat!

So in no particular order:

1. Go to a Michelin star restaurant
2. Run a naked 5k
3. Help build a Habitat for Humanity House
4. Complete a half marathon in a state other than Michigan
5. Go to a NHL, NFL, NBA or MLB playoff game

I am bad at blogging.

Follow me on twitter @Tri_kate_tri and on instragram @trikatetri instead.

Brrrrr

It is cold out! Like freeze the inside of your nostrils cold out!

Believe it or not, I actually kind of like running when it is cold out. You want to feel like a total badass? Go run when it is 4 degrees out with a windchill of -11. You will  feel like a badass and use this fact to justify being a slugabug* for the rest of the day. Maybe the slugabug part is just me, but really you will feel like a badass!

Monday starts the beginning of my official training for the Hawk Island Olympic Distance Tri which is on 5/31. I have used the last couple of weeks to test out my plan for what days are for what. This is what I have come up with:

Monday - Long bike workout
Tuesday - Rest or Yoga
Wednesday - Swim
Thursday - Run
Friday - Short bike workout and Yoga
Saturday - Brick workout with the Oak Park YMCA Tri Team (more on them later!)
Every other Sunday - Run with BAWGs, rest on off Sundays

Seems pretty doable right? So far the Thursday run is my biggest stumbling block but other than that this is working with my schedule.

I am super excited to have joined the Oak Park Tri team. The coaches and my teammates all seem fantastic and I know that it can only help my training to have scheduled bricks every week. I am especially hopefully about the swim and that maybe I will not look quite so much like I am drowning all the time!


* a person who lays around holding the couch down so that it does not run away. Couches can move quickly so this is very important.

Still kicking!

I’m still here! Life has been a little crazier than usual and quite frankly in the competition for my time snuggles are always going to win out over updating a blog. However, since I am stuck at an airport for the next couple of hours without anyone to snuggle (I feel like the random stranger who sanitized their seat before sitting down next to me is NOT a snuggler) here I am updating!

I recently found a list of my goals for 2014. They included losing weight, doing yoga or meditating once a week, doing a sprint tri, getting rid of credit card debt and completing John Bingham’s 100 days of movement challenge. I did a tri, we paid off our debt but other than that I kind of sucked at my goals. I weigh more now than I did at the beginning of the year. I cannot remember the last time that I did yoga, although I did meditate last week if you call breathing deeply, counting to ten and not cussing at certain people that it would be better that I did not cuss at.  I think that I made it about 70 days out of 100 with 30 minutes of purposeful movement.

However, since I am ever an optimist I am once again making goals. In the interest of accountability I am posting them here.

1. Successfully complete the 6 main races that I am doing this year.  So far I am planning on the following races:

• ·         OPC indoor marathon 1/17/15 (20 minute swim, bike and run)
• ·         St Charles Western Trail Half Marathon 5/3/15
• ·         Hawk Island Olympic Triathlon 5/31/15 (1000m swim, 40k Bike and 10k run)
• ·         Tri Goddess Tri  6/14/14 (1/2 mile swim, 11 mile bike and 3 mile run)
• ·         The Playmaker Autumn Classic (600M swim, 18 mile bike, 5 mile run)
• ·         Capital City River Run Team Marathon Relay  9/21/15 (6 mile run)

I am sure that I will add in some local 5k races here and there but that is the plan for the year.

2. I would like to finish in the top 25% of my AG at two of these races. I think that with a strong off season this can happen.

3. I would like to be happier with my body. I am not going to put a target weight out there but I would like to not dislike what I see in the mirror. I know that everyone has part of their body that they are not super pleased with but I would like the good parts to outweigh (ha!) the not so good parts.

4. Yoga or meditation (actual meditation not just counting to 10 slowly) once a week. I know that I am much happier if I take them time to do this, I just need to make it a priority.

I think that those are the main goals that I have right now, I am excited to work towards them. 

Not so bad at all

So I was brave and went to my exercise class this morning! It's funny, I would rather give a presentation to 250 people than walk into a class of 15-20 people. It went fine though. I hung out in back and followed along. My two left feet were out  in full force but there was not that much step aerobic stuff after the warm up so it was fine. Did stuff with a stability ball, weights and body weight exercises. I felt like I got a good workout and started the day off on a good foot. I am excited to go to my spin class on Wednesday.

Now my only concern is not letting myself eat ALL OF THE FOOD since I worked out this morning.

Have a great week!

First day of school

Tomorrow I start my first day of my new exercise class at my gym. Group fitness classes totally hit all of my social anxiety buttons. I feel completely uncoordinated and klutzy. I feel like everyone else will know each other and I will be the awkward kid in the corner that can't do anything. 

I know that everything will be fine once I get there and I am sure that everyone will be friendly and welcoming. The class is a mix of step, kick boxing, strength training and cardio so I am sure that it will be fun and interesting. The hardest part is getting up and going, once I am there it'll be ok.