I'm baaaaaack!

I've always been into health, fitness, food, makeup, skin care and basically anything else to make me a better me. I have to say, it's true what people say - things start changing after 30. I guess I didn't realize it at the time because I was so happy with my perfect family, but things were starting to go downhill for me! I only realize this now after looking back at photos. Wow, I never noticed these wrinkles before - where did they come from? Must have been from me losing weight. Nope, not true. I looked back at some photos and bam, they were there all along. They just weren't a priority at the time. Anyway, where am I going with this? I do a lot of research on how to care for my body, both inside and out. What I've noticed is that I often forget all of the research and end up having to do it all again. I've decided to *try to be more active on this blog to document some of the things I've researched, exercise theories, remedies, products etc that I am testing. If nothing else, I can look back at my own research instead of reinventing that wheel :-) If anybody out there actually reads this and has any tips and tricks to share...by all means, comment away! PS, I'll eventually start adding some photos so this will be more usable for people like me with severe ADD. I like pictures!

I haven't been blogging much lately.  I was doing nothing other than working for awhile until I finally decided to take some time for myself.  Running seemed like a good option.  I could go out, alone, and run for as long as I could stand to run without any disturbances.  I became addicted.

I decided to sign up for my first triathlon coming up on May 20th, the Ramblin Rose Sprint Triathlon.  A friend of mine convinced me that I could do it.  She assured me that some people even walk the swim portion (it's in a pool).  I guess that was all I needed to hear, because I have committed myself to this race.  I may not be the fastest or strongest swimmer, but I will not be walking either.  As a matter of fact, I have a swim coach - Mickey.  I've spent enough money on year round swimming for him and it turns out, he's a pretty good coach.  I haven't decided yet wether he is just tough or if he is abusing his power over me.  Either way, I'm going to assume it's just going to make me stronger.

Biking - the third piece of the puzzle.  I just bought my first road bike...a vintage Colnago.  My friend, Geof, convinces me that this is an awesome bike and that I got a great deal on it.  I think he is right and he's pretty much a bike expert, so I think I'm in good hands!  I haven't really ridden the bike yet.  I took it out once, by myself, just to get comfortable on it.  My real training begins in 2 days, when I ride the 9 mile tri-course with a few girls.  I'm just glad I finally got padded shorts :)

Overall, I haven't really figured out how to train for a triathlon.  I felt like I was getting pretty strong with the running portion so I started to focus more on the swimming.  About a week ago, I started to feel like my running was suffering which wasn't a great feeling.  I'm awful at swimming, slacking on my runs and hadn't biked yet.  Felt like a recipe for disaster or at least failure.

I decided to sign up for a 5k last week.  I was slightly terrified since my runs had been so bad lately.  I have no idea how, but I actually placed and hit a PR (personal record).  It was a fun race, called the Foxhunt.  The girls, or foxes, started first and the guys started 3 minutes later.  There were a couple of familiar faces in the crowd and my only goal was to not let them catch me since I had a 3 minute head start!

I ended up getting 1st place in my age group (30-39) with a time of 23:19 (7:31 pace).  That puts me in 7th overall out of the girls.  I was and am still shocked.  Thankfully, I met my goal...those familiar faces didn't catch me.

Foxhunt 5k

Position 32 out of 96
Bib 222
Name Amanda Olson
Age 33
Gun Time  00:23:19
Gun Pace 7:31

*1st place overall female ran this race in 18:04 (5:49 pace)
*1st place female (ME!) in my age bracket ran this race in 23:19 (7:31 pace)

Overall Results
Category Results

So...this must have been a fluke.  I was just worried about being caught, right?  I also signed up for another 5k 2 days later, the St. Timothy's Spring Sprint.  Turns out, even though it was pretty hilly and I argued with myself for at least a mile about ducking out, I placed again...this time, 3rd in my age bracket (30-34) with a time of 24:56 (8:04 pace).

St. Timothy's Spring Sprint 5k

Position 62 out of 223
Bib 105
Name Amanda Olson
Age 33
Chip Time 24:56
Gun Time 25:03
Pace 8:04

Race Results

*1st place overall female ran this race in 18:31 (5:58 pace)
*1st place female in my age bracket ran this race in 22:56 (7:23 pace)

I guess I'm feeling a little better about the running portion of the tri...now I need to step up the training for the bike and swim portion!

I often struggle with keeping a consistent training schedule.  I know how to eat healthily, but could be better with training-specific nutrition.  I decided that keeping a blog may help me analyze and organize my routines and habits allowing me to fine tune things a bit.  We'll see how this goes...