biking

This weekend was nothing short of amazing – The Arnold Sports Festival 2014 and my first (indoor) triathlon. I am left sitting at my desk on this Monday in complete awe and inspiration of the entire weekend. I met so many of my fitness inspirations, as well as got to meet some new ones. I also competed in an event that is brand new to me and I think it’s safe to say that I fell in love with it.

Me posing with Arnold.

I love when I get like this – in complete admiration by how amazing the human body is. Being athletic and competing is such a gift and something you earn. Not everyone can do it and that is why I feel so blessed and awesome to be able to. It’s hard work, but it is so rewarding. Watching your body change. Seeing what you’re all about. Seeing how far you can run or how much you can lift…it is truly amazing.

This weekend I saw so many athletes and fitness celebrities that I’ve been a fan of for years. Seeing them in-person and actually getting the chance to talk to some of them was incredible.

One of my fitness inspirations and NLA sponsored athlete, Amy Updike.

I also got to meet the owners of an amazing fitness brand that I’ve followed for over a year – Flext Til You’re Famous (FTYF). About a year and a half ago I just started my fitness journey and FTYF had just launched a limited fitness apparel line. To see the business grow into what it is today and to follow the fitness journey of so many other FTYF fitness fans has been one of my favorite things about my own journey. Over the past year my friends joke that I’ve been the PR representative for FTYF in Northeast Ohio. I’ve gotten so many of my friends and family to now wear the brand and support the business. I was super excited about the expo this weekend because I’ve never seen a FTYF shirt outside one of my “converted” friends or family. I saw a bunch of people wearing shirts and eventually we ran into the two owners of FTYF – who then gave us another free shirt for wearing the brand! I was basically star struck and barely remember taking the picture with them! I can only hope they are even more successful in the future! Go check them out if you haven’t already.

FTYF Founders

The indoor triathlon on Sunday took place at the world’s most beautiful gym – Lifetime Fitness in Beachwood. We were wave 5 and started at 9AM sharp. The indoor triathlon consisted of a 10 minute swim, 30 minute bike (on a spin bike in one of the studios) and a 20 minute run (on a treadmill). We had 10 minutes to transition from the pool to the bike and then 5 minutes to transition from the bike to the run. I absolutely adored all the people in our wave. They were all super nice and fun to be around. Plus the fiancé and I were brand new to anything tri-related and everyone else was a tri veteran so we ended up learning a lot. After the race we talked to a few (real) triathletes who have competed outside and I think I got convinced to do an outdoor tri this summer. There are a few I have in mind so stay tuned for that!

Post-race (third race of the season as well as three for three sports!)

Pre-swim

I am still so new to swimming. It’s so challenging, but such a good workout. I still get my cardio fix, but it’s my entire body, not just my legs. I’m excited to keep training in the pool – even if it means still holding onto the side huffing and puffing for the first couple swims 🙂

Did anyone else go to The Arnold Sports Festival this weekend? Any advice or good races I should know about as a new “wanna be” triathlete?

Dad posing

For me life is continuously being hungry. The meaning of life is not simply to exist, to survive, but to move ahead, to go up, to achieve, to conquer.
– Arnold Schwarzenegger

This past weekend was my first running + biking event — the 2013 Bellefaire JCB Biathlon.

The event was a 5K run (3.1 miles) followed by a 12.9 mile bike ride through the beautiful cities of Shaker Heights, Beachwood and Mayfield. I convinced the boyfriend to compete with me. (FYI he loves when I force him to do events like this. Just kidding, he enjoys it. Most of the time at least.)

The run was smooth and fast and we finished in about 27 minutes. Pacing ourselves at 9:23 was a good idea since we had a nice little bike ride ahead of us. The ride was challenging, but awesome. There was one gruesome hill that had bikers dropping like flys. The BF and I powered through it though, even high-fiving at every mile. (We continued this tradition from our first half marathon together back in May.)

Overall our time for the entire event was 1:27 something. The BF snuck ahead of me and technically beat me by 8 seconds. Of course me being Miss. Competitive/Must-Win-Everything didn’t like that 8 second lead. (In fact I still don’t like it.)

Post-race was a giant picnic with TONS of food. I’m pretty sure I ate back all the calories I burnt in the race on the food I ate afterwards. That’s OK though since it was my cheat meal for the week. Let me tell you how delicious it was to eat a pulled-pork sandwich on white bread. In fact, I even went a little wild and stole a bite or two of the boyfriend’s donut he was munching on.

While we were enjoying our food, an announcer came on and started the awards. I was sitting back against a table and had only just whispered “I wish I had a medal to hang up” to the BF when suddenly the announcer called my name over the speaker! Everyone I was with screamed and cheered as I ran up there. I had no idea! I went up there and to my huge surprise received a congratulatory first place medal for my age group (20-24).

Winning that medal was the cherry on top of an amazing race. The boyfriend and I added it to our “We’ll be back every year for the rest of our life” event check-list. At some point I would love to do a duathlon, which is running biking and running again. I think the next event like that around here though is next August. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see what happens!

Next up on my “train all winter race all summer” is a 10K on Sunday at my favorite winery! (Find more information about the Vineyard Run.) The race is through the scenic grape vineyards and has mostly trails, plus you get a FREE glass of wine post-race. I mean, what’s not to love about this event?

There’s a few smaller races I’m thinking about doing in September, but the BIG race coming up on September 28th is Akron…*dun dun dun*

I still have not decided if I’m doing the full or half. On a good day I can run 17 miles, but I’m near death after. The fear of having to run almost another 10 miles after that is really stopping me from signing up, but the fear of having to wait until next summer to have the chance to run a full again is scaring me too. I know that if I do the half, it’ll be easy and I’ll wish the entire time I did the full. On the other hand if I do the full I’ll A.) Be alone and B.) Want to die. I can’t decide and time is quickly running out. I don’t want the fear to stop me, but what’s the smart decision here?

Am I only half crazy? Or fully crazy? That is the real question.

She Writes & Runs

Stories from marathons, travel & everything in between.

Flex, Run, Bike, Swim

Biathlon Beginnings