Weekend Happenings

This past weekend was perfect. Exercise, time with friends, and a day at the lake! 

Saturday morning, I rode my longest bike ride ever with 3 friends-- 41 miles at a 16.7mph average. We rode through so much Amish country. Corn and tobacco fields, old crops burning in barns. Ahhhhh. It was beautiful and HOT. The Sunrise Century ride was happening in Clarksville. So we started a little bit later, about 9am, to be out of the way of the racers. My hands are still cramping a little from gripping my handlebars for 2 1/2 hours. I think it's time I invest in some aero bars! 

Saturday night, I had a girls night with 4 friends from work. All of our husbands are deployed, and a couple of those girls have kids. So we hung out at a friends house and chatted all night. 

On Sunday morning, I woke up before 5:30 to get ready for my run. I walked in my bathroom and saw this....

Uh huh-- that's a frog. What does one do in this situation?!? I carefully reached forward. My shaking hands shut the toilet lid as fast as possible. And then I called Kaitlyn, my friend and running buddy, to ask what the heck to do! I figured I had two options: flush him or put something in the toilet that would be toxic to him and send him to his afterlife. Kaitlyn cheerfully suggested to scoop him up and take him outside. Um.... Not happening. Next she offered to come over after our run to do the dirty work for me. SOLD! 

In the meantime, I shut the door to the toilet area, the bathroom door, and my bedroom door, to ensure that that frog was not getting out. And then I left for my run. Ha 

After I run, Kaitlyn and I came home to handle the situation. Can you believe that frog had gotten out of the toilet? He was sitting on the floor beside the toilet. Kaitlyn gently scooped him into a cup and walked him to the woods behind my house. Good citizen she is. 

After my run and recovery from the frog situation, I drove up to Lake Barkely to spend the day with the Jenkins family. We rode around in the boat, skied, and enjoy the beautiful weather until a downpour at 3 PM. 

It was like heaven out there. I'm so incredibly thankful for friends, quality time, and heart conversations. I see it all as God's provision for me. 

Red Bicycle Crepes

Kaitlyn and I drove down to Nashville early this morning. I wanted to run the 10k course that will be the end of my race next weekend (the Music City Triathlon.) 

I was so glad she came with me-- she's a stud runner and helped me to keep up my pace on the steep parts! 

After our run, we drove a few minutes down the street to Red Bicycle Coffee & Crepes in Germantown. And wow-- I fell in love with this place. Cutest neighborhood... Nestled in with adorable houses. Plus they open at 7:30 on Sunday, which is earlier than most places! 

Kaitlyn and I both ordered the banana peanut crepe: honey, peanut butter, banana, and granola. You know-- for fast glycogen store replenishment. ;) 

AND Red Bicycle has fancy coffee drinks. Including almond milk for lattes and cappucinos. 

Perfect and quaint. No wait at 8am. 

Can't wait to take Billie here. Check their menu online for a full list of their sweet and savory crepes. Then go there! 

New Addition to the Family

No, not a baby. :)

And not a dog either (still allergic.) 

A road bike.

Ladies and gents, please welcome Lexa to the Webb family. (Lexa S to be exact.) 

I had been thinking about trading in my trusty hybrid and upgrading to a road bike for a while. I asked around for a reputable bike shop in town, and all signs pointed to Bikes and Moore in Hopkinsville. 

I spent a couple hours there on Saturday discussing a possible trade in, testing out a few road bikes, and asking all my questions. The owner, Tim was one of the nicest and down to earth guys. Talk about knowledgeable. And so patient. 

I left with a price quote including everything from the bike down to the water bottle holders. I left so excited to fill Billie in on everything! 

Billie gave me his blessing, and I dreamed about the bike twice in 3 nights. Not kidding. Needless to say, I jumped on the first chance I could to go back! I got off work uncharacteristicly early today and sped home to load up my hybrid (to trade in.) 

I opened the garage door, attached my bike rack to my trailer hitch, and loaded up my hybrid before walking into the house... To hear a women from our alarm system company saying, "ma'am, is everything ok? Are you ok?" 

I ran to the alarm panel and disarmed it, quickly yelling, "yes ma'am! I'm ok!! I forgot to disarm before opening the garage door!" That was a first. But I'm so glad I went inside and disarmed before police were dispatched. That woulda been a whole 'nother blog post. 

Back to the bike. I spent almost 3 hours at the shop. Got fitted for bike shoes and clipless pedals (don't be fooled by the name... They're the ones you "clip" into) learned to change a tire, and got my bike computer (cat eye brand) up and running.

Got my sights set on what will be my first Olympic distance triathlon in August. But for now, I'm just trying to learn to clip in and out of my new pedals without falling over. Ha! 

 

Indoor Rock Climbing

I've been telling Billie I want to try it. So as we were leaving the gym on post Sunday, I decided it was time! I completed the quick training and harnessed up.

And ya'll. It was tough!! Talk about feeling the burn. 

Apparently there's a cool rock climbing place in Nashville. But I think my forearms will need some time to recover. Like a couple years, at least. 

Embracing the Mess

We left for Christmas with our house looking like this...

Why? Well, we had a little roof problem, which resulted in a leak down the wall (drywall damage) and into the wood floor. That resulted in a little mildew, requiring new wood floor and complete sanding and re-staining to match the rest of the house. When we got home from our Christmas in Louisiana, I began to feel a little panicky with this view. I told myself, "Take deep breaths, Kat. This is no big deal! Ok, don't take deep breaths because the stain is probably toxic. Ok, so go outside and take deep breaths. Oh wait, it's 20 degrees... Don't go outside."

In case you can't see the layer of grime covering our den and kitchen, here's a close-up.

Two days of sanding and three days of staining down. Most everything has been scrubbed clean. But we can't walk on the floor quite yet. So furniture is still stacked into our guest bedrooms. Oh well, just living the life. Embracing the mess. (At least, that's my mantra.)


On a more exciting note, our garage gym was delivered on Wednesday! By an 18 wheeler. Over 1,400 lbs of equipment and weights. Serious business.

I'm already dreaming of some pallet craft projects. Know of any good ones?? 

The finished product! It's game time.

Hot yoga

Just tried it for the first time last week. And... Loved it!

A local yoga studio has a $5 community class or a $25 unlimited yoga pass for 2 weeks.

If you ever try hot yoga, here's a free tip: bring a full sized towel to lay over your yoga mat. In the 90 degree room with 60% humidity, my hands and feet were so sweaty, I was close to face-planting during downward dog. It wasn't pretty. Lesson learned. 

I went a second time this morning and ran into a friend from high school who was on my dance team. Ends up-- she's now an Army wife too! Stationed at Fort Bliss in El Paso. They are in Monroe just visiting family for the holidays. :) How cool? 

This is not me. I stole this picture from Google. I was at least twice this sweaty. 

Namaste. Whatever that means. 

My 2nd Sprint Triathlon!

Well, the race went well! Overall, I beat my last time by over 1 minute. I was hoping to beat my last time by 3 minutes, but I did my best, so I can't be unhappy about that!

Billie and I were up at 4:15 for a 5am registration and 6am start time on Saturday. Side note: I feel so blessed to have a husband that supports whatever I love and is there to keep my time, take pictures, and cheer me on! And on our drive to the race, I got the most PRECIOUS video from my nieces and nephew saying they were cheering me on. I watched it about 10 times yesterday!

pre-race sunrise

post-race pic with my hubby

 So, here are the details. Plus the good, the bad, and the ugly! :)

1st leg: The 800 meter swim. I wasn't worried about the swim at all. (Which I thought I would never say!!!) For the past two months, I have just done 1 swim workout a week, but it's true that you can improve your swim so quickly. I just recently noticed that I could swim longer distances without switching strokes to catch my breath (meaning I can freestyle the whole distance and keep my breathing steady.)

Goggles and swim caps are just so darn flattering!

And it's true that slow and steady wins the race (or swim, at least.) :) Everyone around me took off fast, but I was 3rd out of the water in my heat. I felt great about it! I ended up beating my previous swim time by 2-3 minutes! (My total swim time was about 15 minutes.)

Running to my bike.

 2nd leg: The 13 mile bike. As you know, I was riding my friend's road bike. And I still can't decide what I thought about it. My bike time for 13 miles was about the same as my last race, which I did on my hyrbid bike. But also, it's not comparing apples to apples since the courses were entirely different. I don't necessarily feel like I rode faster. I may have gotten less fatigued though. Still can't decide!

Quick transition

Off I go.

 I got off the bike feeling good but dreading the last leg... the run.

3rd leg: The 5k run is just tough. I did a lot more "brick" workouts these last two months of training, which means swimming or biking then running immediately after. Running rested and running after another workout are completely different! But I'll confess that I don't think this run was ANY easier than my last race! In all honestly, I think I still haven't gotten used to running here. The elevation and the air are so different in Arizona. I don't know what the trick is! But I have a  lot of work to do on my running form and speed. Some runners were striding it out as they passed me and leaving me in the dust! :)  AND I almost stepped on a live snake. He slithered away into the grass with his neck and head turned backwards looking at me. EEEKKKK.

About to cross the finish line

Two of my good friends from work. They did AWESOME. 

Billie drove me to Bisbee for a "Mexican Mocha" from Bisbee Coffee Company as my "treat." Not so paleo, but I decided ahead of time that THAT was what I wanted. :) Oh man, and it was OH-SO-GOOD!!! The rest of the day was back to normal eating, but surprisingly, I just wasn't that hungry! But we had a great, restful rest of the Saturday.

How was your weekend??

At-home Crossfit Workout

Billie and I did this workout several days ago:

You do the workout as quickly as you can for time.
Billie did kettle bell swings and jump-rope double unders instead of air squats and sit-ups. 

Double-under action shot

Here's my action shot. ha

I haven't done Crossfit workouts consistently, but I've done a few since my triathlon in June (in addition to tri training.) So I am excited to see if it makes a difference in my tri performance tomorrow. Wish we luck!

Also, I've been wanting a kettle bell my size... and Billie surprised me with one this weekend! After the triathlon is over, I am planning to hit the kettle bell workouts hard. I can't wait! I've been finding lots of kettle bell workouts online. Apparently, you can do a lot more than kettle bell swings with these babies.

Sunday Morning Bike Ride

Charity and I bike together about once a week, early in the morning.

This week, she let me borrow her road bike to try it out! I was so excited. I have a hybrid, which is a mix between a road bike and a mountain bike. And I love it, but I've been curious to see if a road bike feels different.

So we rode 20 miles towards Hereford early Sunday morning. Isn't this view awesome?

And in case you're interested, here are the differences I noticed between the hybrid and road bike:

- The obvious: Road bikes have curved, downward facing handle bars, instead of straight.
- The hybrid sits a little more upright. You're leaning forward a little more on the road bike.
- Hybrid tires are a bit bigger and stouter than a road bike. But not as big as a mountain bike.
- Road bikes are sensitive with steering (A little movement gets ya a long way!)
- Hills are still hills... meaning they're hard no matter which bike you're on. But I didn't feel as fatigued/out of breath climbing on a road bike.
- Hybrids can handle jolting and uneven road a bit more easily.
- Road bikes don't have a kick stand. 
- The seat is slimmer on a road bike... I'm still feeling this one! :/

My hybrid is fine for sprint distance triathlons (13 mile bike.) But if I set my sights on longer distances, I may want to look into a road bike! I'm checking the local bike stores for used road bikes. Maybe one day! :) 

The best news is... Charity offered to let me use her road bike this Saturday, when I will be competing in my second sprint triathlon. A couple other good friends are joining in too. So I'm excited!

Crossfit

First week of Crossfit=complete. I am so incredibly sore. Everywhere. I can't move in my sleep without waking up. Feel sorry for me.

My first class was one-on-one training of the 9 fundamental crossfit movements: air squat, front squat, overhead squat, sumo deadlift high pull, medicine ball cleans, shoulder press, push press, push jerk, and deadlift. (If that means anything to you?!?) The coach had me complete 10-15 of each perfectly. I was so sweaty and out of breath by the time I left. And I haven't been able to walk normally for the past 4 days. You should see me try to sit down.

Second class was one-on-one intro to the gymnastics aspects: burpees, box jumps, ring dips, hand stand pushups, pull ups, double unders (jump rope.) So now, not only can I not walk normally, I can barely lift my arms. You should see my try to brush my hair.

Third class was a 2-hour group "fundamentals" class. The instructor decided to focus on those 3 fundamental squat moves. After we practiced good form for a while, then we did a timed WOD ("workout of the day"). The WOD was:

25 air squats
20 front squats (with a 25lb bar)
10 overhead squats (25lb bar)
*three rounds of this as fast as you can, for time.

I finished last. Haha

I typically am not motivated by the competitive, yelling, high intensity stuff. And it hurts my pride to be so bad at all these new moves. I thought "maybe this Crossfit thing is not for me" about 10 times this week. But I'm hoping that crossfit will improve my cardio ability. It's high intensity workouts with constantly varied, functional movements. And crossfitters are known for excellent endurance. So I'm gonna stick with it for a bit.

Case in point: Billie's resting heart rate is 42. He is so strong, but on top of that, he can handle the cardio piece like a champ. He consistently has the highest scores at this crossfit gym.

I think my only redeeming quality at this point (as far as crossfit goes) is that I'm Billie's wife!
 

My First Triathlon

Well, I did it!!!

Or as my 3 year old niece would say, "me did it!!!" :) (Every time I finished a hard training workout, I could hear her sweet voice in my head.)

I am officially a triathlete.

When I woke up this past Monday morning, I had butterflies in my stomach because I knew it was race week! I've looked forward to this week and simultaneously been dreading it for a long time! :)

I also started feeling sick mid-week.... I think I caught Billie's sinus crud. But I loaded up on pseudophedrine and Benadryl and I got through!

On race day, we woke up at 4:30 am and got on post at 5:30 am. I checked in and set up my transition spot. Then we waited. And I felt surprisingly calm. I was in the 3rd heat/group. So although the race started at 6:30, I didn't get into the water until about 7:15. 

My transition spot

 The swim (800 yard or 1/2 mile): I felt like the swim was the calm before the storm. The water was COLD, but I had practiced swimming in this exact pool. It was familiar. So I mentally convinced myself that this was just another practice swim. Each lane was shared by two swimmers, and a lap counter was sitting at the head of the lane. The lap counter would wave a marker in the water when you had just one lap left. Before each turn, I loved seeing Billie standing right behind the rope, cheering me on. I beat my estimated time by a few minutes, which was awesome. Billie said I was the third female out of the water in my heat.

The lap counters

The bike (13 miles): I'm so thankful I had already ridden this bike course. It helped me be prepared. There were a few small hills and then one looong stretch that was steady uphill. And the wind was brutal... Going right against us on this climb uphill. To given you an idea, my average bike pace is about 15-18 mph. On this climb, I could barley go 9 mph. BUT, when I made the half-way turn and went back down this same stretch, my bike got to 31 mph!!!! I have never even seen that number on my bike computer. I couldn't pedal fast enough for my pedals to "catch." The wind and the decline were doing the work. That was a great feeling :) It made me want to yell across the road to all the bikers still on the incline, slowly slogging it up... "it gets better! You're almost there!"

 

Towards the end of the bike ride, a lady rode up beside me on a road bike and said, "for someone on a hybrid, you're darn hard to catch!!!" haha I laughed and thanked her. (A hybrid bike is a mix between a road bike and mountain bike... Tires are medium size.) I'd say me and my Trek did just fine. :)

The run (3.1 miles): I had practiced the bike-to-run transition 5 times. And I had run 3-5 miles many times before. But this run. Was. Miserable. I came in fast from the bike and when I transitioned to the run, I felt like I just couldn't get my heart rate and breathing to slow down and steady out! I definitely have to work more on this transition next time.

Highlight of my run: I have become friends with the guys who own and work at M and M Cycling. I took my bike to them a couple times during my training. They were so helpful! Mike and Martin (owners) used to be big-time competitors in the cycling and triathlon world. Well, Martin is from Scotland and always comments on my Louisiana accent. During the run, I all-of-a-sudden heard a bike behind me and a voice say "hey there Miss Louisiana. You having fun yet?" in his Scottish accent. Martin wasn't competing, but he was there to support some friends. It was so fun to see someone I knew!

If you ever consider a triathlon, I SO recommend it. It's so fun and encouraging. Other athletes cheer you on as you pass them. And training just takes you a little past what you think you can do... each time. If you have any questions, please ask me! I've learned so much, and been given lots of great tips along the way. For me, this has been a goal for so long. That made it even sweeter.

Here are a few of the quotes that have encouraged me during these last 10 weeks of training. :)

This one was helpful every time I put on my swim suit, swim cap, or tri suit! :)