They fit!

Today is a big day for celebration...a pair of my pre-children jeans fit!!! I don't know why this pic is blurry, but who cares...I can zip up a pair of my size 8 jeans again!!!!

Yeah, they're still tight, but I can wear them and still breathe. I still have a few more that I can't zip up, but this is a major milestone! And hopefully I'll be posting pics of those ones soon. :)

And here's just a fun pic of a mom and her stinkin' cute boy....

I have been talking to Erika, the fitness coach, and she recommended that I try a strength-training focused program to help me lean out and lose some inches. I'm nervous because although I do some strength training, it's never been my main focus. And I don't want to lose the cardio endurance I've built up. But I'm also excited to try something new and see how I like it! I'll let you know how it goes.

The tri recap

Last weekend, I did my first triathlon since having kids. It was the Ogden Valley Triathlon up at Pineview Reservoir. It was a "sprint plus" distance, so it was a 3/4 mile swim (1000 meters), a 15.4 mile bike, and a 4 mile run. I've only ever done regular sprint distances, so this was longer than any other tri I've done before.

It was hard. But I finished. And I beat my dad and won $100. (He offered any of his kids $100 if they could beat him in a triathlon before he turned 60. And he turns 60 in Feb. so this was my last chance.)

Anyway, it wasn't a pretty showing by any means, but at least I did it right? :)

Here we are getting ready for the swim.

About 30 seconds after I started swimming, the zipper on my wetsuit broke and started to create this huge drag. And I had a panic attack about swimming in the lake, so needless to say, my swim was AWFUL!!! I don't know what it is about swimming in open water like that because I do just fine in the pool, but I totally panicked in the lake.

Anyway, after the swim I was totally dead and I thought that for sure I would not win my $100.

But then I recovered on the bike and did really well on the bike portion. It was fantastic...we biked around the lake and it was beautiful and I was cruising along. Then came the run. My legs felt like bricks for the first mile or so. Then the next couple of miles were on a muddy trail. So my run wasn't so great either.

But I finished! And I didn't die.

Matt finished as well.

And so did my dad. We were watching the clock intently to see if I won (since his wave started about 20 minutes after mine.) But I still beat him!

There was a group there that was racing for their handicapped family member. They pulled him in a boat, a trailer, and then a stroller so he could do the race too.

Pretty cool.

Anyway, I'm glad I did it even if it was hard. I could definately feel the extra weight I'm carrying since I did my last tri, and I'd really like to lose the rest of it. But I did come in first place in the Athena category (girls over 165 lbs.) I hate that I'm big enough to be in the Athena category (even if it's only by a few pounds), but I was still first! (Even if I was last in my age group.)

My final time was:

Overall: 2:35:44
Swim: 36:21
Transition 1: 6:00
Bike: 56:50
Transition 2: 3:38
Run: 52:53

And so I accomplished my New Year's resolutions of running a half marathon and doing a triathlon this year.

Progress

This may be a work in progress, but I HAVE come a long way! It's good to be reminded of that every now and then.

Before the Ab Challenge

30-Day Ab Challenge starts tomorrow! Here's my "before" pic.

Not much change since I completed that other health challenge earlier this summer. (Yeah, I've kind of been slacking this summer.) But...here's my measurements:

Weight: 168 (yeah I gained a couple of pounds in the last couple of months)
Waist: 32.5
Hips: 41.5
Bust: 39
Chest: 33
Biceps: R-12, L-12.25
Thigh: R-23.5, L-23.5
Calf: R-15.5, L-15.5