Sprint Triathlon!

So you've been working out hard these last couple months to get ready for bikini season right?
If you're doing cardio for at least 30 minutes 3 times a week or more you're ready for a sprint triathlon! Yep I'm talking to YOU!! If you've met goals with your weight, getting bored with your workout, or just looking for something new, it's time to set new goals. You can swim, bike, and run your way to a healthier body. I thouroughly enjoyed running the 5k event in May, but a little variety would be fun too. While I really love to run now, running every day can get tedious and boring.  Training for a specific day and event was fun as well as motivating because the goal was a circled date on my calendar. I knew that if I didn't do what I needed to do, the race was going to come anyway. Ready or not! All the more motivation to train hard for the big day.

Here's a couple things to keep in mind if you're a tri newbie:

Train Right!
To get ready for the tri is going to take 5-6 workouts/week for 12 weeks. (So find the race you'll be competing in now & stick to your schedule!)

A sprint triathlon is:
0.25 mi swim


12 mile bike


2 mile run

So obviously these are the areas of concentration for your training!

                                                      Swim!

Hit the pool twice a week and swim your race distance. If you're new to swimming (like me!) get some instruction on correct form and breathing & break the distance into smaller pieces to start with. Make sure to cover the distance continuously before the race!

                                      Bike!

Go for an hour long ride 1-2 times a week, being sure to practice your pedaling technique (keeping constant force throughout the cycle) as well as how to smoothly change gears through hilly and flat terrain.

                                     Run!

Lace up & work up to running 3 milers 1-2 times a week.

Also once a week do a bike-to-run "brick" - cycle for 20-30 minutes and follow immediately with a 1-2 mile run. These bricks will improve your endurance and get you used to running on tired legs!
 
 
So google a race near you and sign up today! :) Grab a friend who's motivated as well and sign up together. You can help each other through the workouts and help keep you going. Tell your friends and family about your plans to race, so you're less likely to back out.
Good luck! You're well on your way to becoming healthy & hot ;)

One year in Recovery - a Bowling Green University sophomore's story of struggle and success

Eating disorders are something covered in high school health classes, or seen on posters during a prevention week... It's whispered and gossiped about, usually behind backs and closed doors. Growing up, I didn't think about it too often. I didn't have one, no one I knew had one... I thought.
During my sophomore year of college, just last year, I was messing around on facebook between classes. Clicking around on my friend's pages, just seeing what everyone's been up to. I always love to look at my underclassmen friends from high school's prom pictures. It was May, the season of tans, dresses, updos, makeup, uncomfortable shoes, and hundreds of pictures. So when I came across my friend Kelli's page, I was concerned to see all the comments with well wishes and prayers for her. I was afraid she'd been in some sort of accident, so I texted another girl I knew that was still in school there. She told me Kelli had been diagnosed with an eating disorder and was in the hospital. I was shocked. Kelli?? But she's ALWAYS been so skinny! She's just a naturally small girl. She was always happy and laughing and everyone loved to be around her. She wasn't sad or depressed or a loner that I ever saw, the way I figured someone with an eating disorder would be. Kelli was friends with everyone and had a great relationship with her family. She was a varsity cheerleader, homecoming queen, miss popular, her life seems fairytale-esque. But, in the famous words of Taylor Swift - I'm not a Princess, This ain't a fairytale...

I approached Kelli about writing her story for my blog not because it was a sad story and we seem to be drawn to the fairytale gone wrong sort of headlines... but because I KNOW her story will touch everyone that reads it. There may be a person that reads it and is struggling themself, this might be what they need to reach out, get help. Or maybe for another person to recognize the signs in someone they love, the way so many people didn't in Kelli. Anyone that knows Kelli knows what an amazing and beautful person she truly is, inside and out. So from the bottom of my heart Kel, thanks for sharing this.

Above are pictures from Kelli's Senior year in High School, while she was struggling with anorexia

At 5'2 and 115 pounds I am proud to say im in recovery from an eating disorder. I went to Buckeye Valley High School and cheered throughout high school. My friends meant the world to me and so did my family. I'm an only child, so I'm very close to my parents. My dad is a business man, his work keeps him away from home a lot, and my mom stays at home. Overall, I was happy.

It was my senior year in 2008-2009 and it was going amazing. I got fall homecoming queen, got accepted into colleges, and was on my way to graduation. Until body image came into play. It all started in the fall. I would look into a mirror and hate what I saw. I hated how 'fat' I was. So I started starving myself and working out intensely. I was also taking a work out class at school which got in extra workouts, not helping my situation. Starving myself wasn't good enough for me, I was losing the weight but I wanted to lose it more quickly. So I started purging. I always wore baggy clothes or loose fits tops so people couldn't tell I was losing weight so drastically.

It wasn't until spring time, as I was getting ready for my senior prom, when I tried on my prom dress I was 000. They didn't even makes that size in prom dresses. Then at prom, all my friends' moms saw me and came to my mom and said I needed help. Thats when my parents took action and basically did an intervention with me and a few friends at my house. I was in denial. I still thought I was 'fat'. I did not think I had an eating disorder. My parents took me to the doctor and I was diagnosed as anorexic. I was rushed to Children's Hospital where I spent a week recieving treatment. It was the worse experience of my life. After leaving the hospital, I went directly into a rehab program in Columbus called 'The Center for Balanced Living'. I loved my rehab program, the girls in it, and my couselors there. I was in the rehab center for four months. After rehab I went straight from rehab center to Bowling Green State Univeristy. I gained back 20 pounds throughout the program and had a horrible time dealing with the weight gain, even though I was at a healthy weight.

Still to this day I struggle with my eating disorder. I struggle with it every single day. I just wish people would understand that eating disorders are a DISORDER. People looked at me differently after they heard about what had happened, like I was starving myself on purpose or for attention. It's a mental illness that is with me forever,  and I struggle so I can succeed. I will continue you fight, so I can succeed and overcome. I may have an eating disorder, but I am not my eating disorder.

This is Kelli today. Happy, Healthy, HOT ;)

 

Here's a couple facts for you:

1 in 5 women struggle with an eating disorder or disordered eating.

Eating Disorders affect up to 24 million Americans and 70 million individuals worldwide.

90 % of those who have eating disorders are women between the ages of 12 and 25.

At least 50,000 individuals will die as a direct result of an eating disorder.

It is estimated that currently 11% of high school students have been diagnosed with an eating disorder.

(from the Alliance for Eating Disorders Awareness)

 

Thankfully for Kelli, she's is on the road to recovery. As a matter of fact, today May 19, 2010 is her one year anniversary for being in recovery from her eating disorder. CONGRATULATIONS GIRL!!! <3 :)

 

If you or someone you know is struggling, please, GET HELP. Life is too short, and you too beautiful to spend one more day suffering. Reach out, tell someone. Having an eating disorder does not make you a weak person, getting help makes you a strong person. Strong enough to beat the odds. :)

God Bless America, God Bless Boobies!

Well today was the day! The day I started training for in March. As I said then, running has never been my favorite. So imagine my surprise at the slight love affair running and I have developed. Yea, it's hard, but it feels so good. The miles start to get easier and pass more quickly. My legs got stronger, and my determination greater.  No equipment or gym pass required. Just lace up and head out (iPod pretty necessary though I'd say ;))

It was an early morning for us, we live 40 minutes from the city, and had to get there early to park and get squared away before the race. After a week of training everyday, I took the day off yesterday, relaxed, ate a good dinner, drank plenty of water and got to bed at a decent hour. Even more shocking than my love affair with running was my actual excitement when my alarm went off at 5:30a.m. I was EXCITED to get down there and run! Who is this crazy person??

When my sister and I got down to Columbus, I knew there would be lots of people, a projeced 50,000 people had registered for the race (50,286 ran today - a new record). It was definitely crowded, but in a strange way. Everyone seemed a little nicer, a little more patient, not shoving and irritated like usual crowds.  We were all there for the same reason. To race. To find a CURE. And that's when it hit me. I had been looking at this race as a stepping stone to better fitness and an introduction to race running. But that's hardly what this race was about. It was about the women that have been affected by breast cancer. Our mothers, grandmothers, sisters, wives, best friends... The love and support resonating in the crowd was a tangible feeling. People lined the sidewalks to cheer us on as we ran, slapping high fives and running out into the runners with water or a supportive hug & words of encouragement. All our lives have been touched by breast cancer. On a table in a booth there were simple pink slips of paper to pin to your shirt to display who you are running in celebration of. I stopped to fill one out and was struck with sadness at the list of names I had when I finished. All these women in my life, have been forced into a sorority they never wanted to join. So then I realized, I'm not running for me. I'm running for them.

Connie Curry

Sara Paulin Casto (rest in peace<3)

Dee Dee James
Kim Byerly
My highschool soccer teamate (and best friend)'s mother, a dear family friend who lost her battle late last year, my high school attendance secretary, and another family friend, who babysits my dear baby nephew. These are some of the most loving and sweet women I have ever had the pleasure of knowing.

I ran for them today.

pink wigs galore!

My sister Oshun, and I at the end of the race!

Finishline. We will walk and we will run until we find a cure.

Another thing that touched my heart was an article I saw in the Columbus Dispatch today (which, by the way, was printed on pink paper to heighten breast cancer awareness). The story was about a "shadow run" that took place at Camp Liberty in Baghdad today. Over 1,000 National Guard servicemen and women ran a 5k in honor of the Race for Cure going on today in their hometown, that they couldn't be present for. Half a world away, and we're still connected, running together for a singular cause. God Bless America. God Bless healthy boobies.