Highlight Reel …. 2015

Posted on December 29, 2015 by tootallfritz

I think the end of the year highlight reel is important, particularly for those years that go down in history as being difficult. And if I thought 2014, and the move to our new home in Indiana was difficult, I was wrong. 2015 brought us trials and tribulations that would have broken most. Yet we are still standing strong, just a bit weak in the knees.

I encourage all of you to focus on the positive. Leave behind the negative whether it be people, habits, attitudes or memories. Grab onto the positive from each year and make your own highlight reel. When we are old & grey, nobody wants to hear sad, woeful stories but rather the ones that inspire and bring laughter & smiles. We get to choose the legacy that we leave behind, let it be a positive one.

Stats – 1100 miles on foot. 900 miles on bike.

Races:

5K – 1
8K – 1
Half Marathon – 2
Marathon – 8
1/2 Ironman – 1
50K – 1

Best Run – Charleston, NC – Cooper River Bridge

Favorite pics. 1) Kids first day of school, 2) Lilo – 2.5 months, 3) Aby’s First Half Marathon, 4) Celebrating Mom’s birthday at Dierks Bently.

Favorite Race – Eugene Curnow Trail Marathon, which is a “practice” run for the Minnesota Voyager 50 mile ultra up by Lake Superior in MN. Took Julie & I forever to run it. So freaking hard. But we smiled the entire time.

Best Bridges – Pittsburg Marathon. Really loved this race, town & all the bridges.

Fastest Marathon – Indianapolis Monumental Marathon – 4:26

Best Selfie – Indianapolis Monumental Marathon. Me, Erin Rose, Tamyra, Missy & Julie in the back “flying”. Love this pic.

Favorite Race pic – Ironman 70.3 Steelhead

In 2015, I checked 6 new states off my list: Missouri, Pennsylvania, Iowa, California, Minnesota & Oklahoma. My goal to run a marathon in every state is ongoing as a long term goal. I love the adventure and the road trips with my run friends. But I also like to support local races, help my friends and run group members achieve their goals and run iconic races that just so happen to be in states I’ve already checked off the list. I’ve ran 15 states thus far and the journey will continue well into the future. One state at a time as the family & budget allows and as my run friends can fit travel & new states into their schedules.

As we close in on 2016, I first and foremost pray for a healthy, happy family, then a healthy body that can continue to pursue goals at whatever pace seems manageable. I hope to color in a few new states on my marathon map and participate in a few more 70.3 triathlons. I’m looking forward to a fresh start, new goals and the beauty of the unknown. Cheers to 2016! I hope it’s the best year so far for my family & yours!

** Cheers ** Amanda – TooTallFritz

Progression of the Running Watch 2007-2015

Posted on December 24, 2015 by tootallfritz

We are all hyper aware of the fact that technology changes so fast that its difficult to keep up or even stay in the game. This has always been an issue for me, particularly with our beloved running watches. While I WANT the latest & greatest run watch, I don’t want to pay for it. And I usually don’t need all the bells and whistles that come standard on the high end models. What to do?

I tend to buy based on price and my budget. I also try to keep it real. I’m not going to spend hours looking over the data from my latest run, so it’s not necessary for me to have a watch that records everything from my heart rate to my breathing. What do I need? Pace and distance. Splits. I like to look at my splits, briefly, like in the car after I finish a run, for maybe 2 seconds. Never on the computer. Never. So I usually keep things simple with my run watches. Let’s look at the progression of my technology since 2007. And let’s hope my hubby isn’t reading today cuz I’m also going to tell you what I’ve spent over the years on my quest for the perfect run watch. Yikes. Let’s get started before I lose my nerve!

It was in 2007 that I first became interested in actually tracking my runs and knowing my distance/pace while out on the road or trail. I was training for my first marathon and it wasn’t always convenient to plan my route with the car before I ran. We weren’t too far out from the release of the very first Garmin Global Positioning System (GPS) running watch that dropped in 2003. Those initial watches were big and bulky, overhung the wrist of most women, but all the cool kids had one, maybe you did too? It was a Garmin Forerunner 205. I never bought one but I think it’s important to drop a pic to remember this oldie but goodie. I believe the original price of this bad boy was $149 in 2003. Stock photo.

My very first run watch was the Polar RS200SD with Heart Rate Monitor & an S1 Foot Pod. No GPS technology on this watch, everything was measured via the foot pod. And EVERYONE asked me “what that thing was that was on my shoe”. Everyone. The watch was small enough that it actually fit my wrist. While I have a large body, I have a dainty wrist, so this was a good option for me. It was comfortable. Normal watch battery so it stayed charged forever. Foot pod had a AAA battery and would hold a charge for about 20 hours of continuous activity. I could swim with the watch but it would only record my time. I never used the heart rate strap and eventually lost it. The majority of the info the watch recorded was about heart rate. That’s what Polar does best, heart rate. I could see my pace, distance and pull up my mile splits via the watch. However, I if I wanted to transfer the info to the computer & connect with other Polar users, I had to do so via a special microphone that worked sporadically. It was a pain, so I didn’t upload my data often. Overall, this was definitely a good device at the time. It was always ready to run while the runners with the “original” GPS watches were waiting for a signal, which they would promptly lose if we ran in the city or thru the woods. Original Price: $220 – with 10% discount at Running For Kicks, my cost was $198 + tax. Mel D. even set the watch up for me and handed it to me ready to run. Thanks, Mel. Stock photo on the left, my package on the right as I was putting it on eBay last year sans HR Chest Strap.

From the Polar, I moved to the Nike+ GPS Sportwatch (powered by TomTom) with shoe sensor. Since I don’t run in Nike shoes, I always had to cut a spot out of the sole of my run shoes (under the insole) for my sensor. There was a little pouch I could have bought to tie the sensor/pouch to my laces but after years of having a huge Foot Pod on my shoe, I didn’t want to tie the Nike+ Sensor to my laces. Sensor was optional anyhow, not needed when GPS was available. The watch was fun. It popped messages if I didn’t run within a couple days. Always acknowledged new PRs. Sent me motivational messages. And the display numbers were HUGE. I could always see it while I was running, even when I was running really fast. Cuz I could run fast when I owned this watch. But it was big, with a long face that overhung my wrist. The face of the watch was hard and stretched across my entire wrist bone. It slid around when I was sweaty and I never knew if I wanted to wear it atop or on the inside of my wrist. It was either too tight or too loose and never just right. The end of the watch band actually revealed a USB plug and would plug right into the computer. Super easy charge, manage and upload info. I liked this watch a lot. It was $199 from Nike.com. I had a $50 gift card, so my cost was $149 + tax. Free shipping.

From the Nike+ GPS Sportwatch, I moved to the Garmin Forerunner 10. I really wanted a watch for triathlons but was too cheap to spend the $$. The Forerunner 10 fit my wrist. Holy Heck, a watch that I could run with that would sit on my wrist and not overhang. What a concept. It was comfortable. Cute, came in multiple fun colors. Focused on pace, distance & time. I could pull my history, past workouts and/or mile splits directly from my watch. I was IN LOVE. Perfect watch for me. Not too fancy. Not too complicated. But it didn’t link up to GP S satellites very quickly when I was in a new location (or even at a regular hang out) and the battery didn’t last long. I was starting to run a lot of marathons and my max battery life on the Forerunner 10 was 5 to 5.5 hours. Sometimes I run marathons slow. Sometimes I run marathons in the woods. Sometimes I run longer than a marathon. My perfect watch slowly became somewhat imperfect for me. It was easy to use, easy to charge with a USB on the computer/laptop or via the USB charger for the car or wall outlet. Easy to link up to Garmin Connect. Great beginner watch. So great that I bought one for Aby. All in all, we’ve had 3 of these Forerunner 10s (green, pink & a purple which replaced the pink after repairs from Garmin). I bought both mine & Aby’s from REI. I used EBates to get 5% cash back, plus I got 10% back on REI dividends at year end. EBates referral code HERE if you want to save $$ shopping online but don’t yet have an account. Original price: $129, my cost $109.65 + tax. Free Shipping.

I loved the Forerunner 10 so much that I moved over to the Forerunner 15 when it was released. Longer battery life, plus a few more bells and whistles. It counted steps and mileage indoors, even when the GPS wasn’t activated. This came in super handy as I ran lap after lap on the indoor track at the YMCA when the temps and wind-chill plummeted in the winter months. But it didn’t help me in the TRI world. The GPS would work on the bike but not for outdoor swimming. The watch still took a bit to sync up with a satellite & I was still having issues with running out of battery life while running & biking. It was advertised to have 8 hours of GPS battery life but I rarely got that. But the watch looked good. I love all things aqua so we’ll probably never part with this baby. Aby is using it now. Original retail was $169, I got this “New with Tags”, in the box, on eBay for $129, free shipping, no tax.

I still needed a TRI watch, are you beginning to see a theme? I also was interested in monitoring my heart rate and possibly starting some heart rate based training. But I didn’t want to wear the chest strap. Very few watches monitor heart rates off of a sensor in the watch (vs a strap). Plus if I was going to buy ANOTHER watch, then I wanted to make sure that it would measure my swim distance, if nothing else. Enter the TomTom Multi-Sport Cardio. Wireless heart rate. Counts swim laps. Records biking. But doesn’t do swim/bike/run all at once in a Triathlon mode like most multisport watches. Battery life is only good for 8-10 hours. However, this baby must be downloaded frequently because if you are out on a run and it reaches the max amount of data that it can record, it doesn’t overwrite old data/workouts, it just shuts down. Really. I mean, REALLY? It also struggles to link up to a satellite. It is hard/stiff and big due to HR sensors being in the watch. Overhung my wrist. Moved around on my wrist and it wasn’t very comfortable. Lots of bells and whistles with this watch. It’s cute. It charges easily, workouts can easily be downloaded but you must stay on top of the downloading to have space to run, bike & swim. Oh, and it does NOT record outdoor swimming, only pool laps. Good bye, TomTom. Original price was $249, but TomTom was offering a $40 race rebate after purchase. My cost: $209, free shipping, free tax.

Last but definitely not least. The Garmin Forerunner 920XT. It’s a real TRI watch. First, the satellite signal is so strong that it will link up as I sit at my desk, here in the house. It records indoor & outdoor running, indoor & outdoor swimming, indoor & outdoor biking. It links up to my phone via Bluetooth and I can review my workout via the watch, my phone or Garmin Connect on the computer. It uploads automatically, wirelessly when I’m within range of my network. It vibrates and notifies me of text messages, Facebook messages/notifications, Instagram notifications, events, etc. all on my wrist. I’m a little drop jawed over all this. I never knew that a watch that wasn’t an “i-thing” could so much. Plus it will seamlessly record all aspects of a triathlon. From swim, T1, bike, T2 & run. One time. Lots of splits. Battery life with GPS is 40 hours. Yes, 40 hours. May I never do any activity where I need to record data for 40 hours. Please. And Thank you. This watch is big but I strap it on my wrist and it doesn’t move. That’s right, it does not slide around. I wore it for almost 7 hours of running at the Huff 50K last week and it didn’t bother me in the least. Its comfortable. I’ve even been ~~totally geeking out and~~ wearing it during the day while I work. The face is bigger than I’m used to but it is lighter and thinner than the Forerunner 15. And smart. So freaking smart. I’ll probably never know everything this watch knows but I’m slowly figuring things out. Thanks to YouTube videos. So if you need a watch to do it all, including count your steps and your 02 intake (why do we need to know this?!?!) and your movement/non-movement and your sleep pattern, then this is your watch. I think I’ll just use it the way that I use most fitness watches & let it record my data, which I like to review from my watch screen. I’m so happy that I can once again see my splits from my watch. Big win!

While most will consider it a waste of technology if I choose not to use all those glorious bells & whistles, I do fitness for fun and stress relief. If I take myself and my numbers too seriously, that’s not fun. And then it produces stress trying to figure out what my watch wants to tell me. So there you have it. I now have a big fancy watch that does big fancy things but I’ll just be reading my text messages on it and recording normal swim, bike, run data. Smile This baby has a monster price tag at $449 sans HR Monitor, $499 with HR. However, I purchased it Thanksgiving week when it was temporarily discounted to $329 (no HR). Then I used a deal at Running Warehouse where if I purchased a $200 gift card, I got a $50 card for free. Then I purchased a $50 gift card and got a $10 gift card for free. Complicated, right? That was $250 spent for $310 worth of merchandise $$, then I tossed in the extra $20 to bring that $310 up to $330. Free Shipping. Free Tax. Plus I had sold the TomTom above so had $100 credit toward my new device. Bottom line, I only have $170 into this beast. A couple pics below of my 920 XT compared to the Garmin 15 (which is Aby’s watch now).

If you made it this far, you’ve probably come to the realization that I would have saved $$ from the start had I just bought what I wanted verses hopping around and trying to settle for subpar devices. Story of my life. One that hopefully you can learn from cuz it’s too late for me. I must say that I’m VERY happy I made the upgrade to the Garmin Forerunner 920XT. I’ll try not to geek out and learn all the things and be THAT crazy TRI person in 2016. Maybe. Smile

** Run & TRI Happy, My Friends ** Amanda – TooTallFritz

CrossFit Endurance – Week 2

Posted on December 10, 2015 by tootallfritz

The past week has been a blur. Michael brought home the flu last week and I’ve been sick on and off since last THUR night. When my alarm rang on Tuesday morning at 4am, I was not feeling good but decided to go to CF Endurance since it only meets 2x per week. I REALLY did not want to miss it. I want, no, I NEED to regain my strength. It’s important to me for a lot of reasons. In my world a strong body is way more important than a thin one. Ever heard the quote, “Strong Is The New Skinny”? Strength, both emotional and physical, that’s what motivates me. What motivates you?

Regardless of what I wanted, heading to CF Endurance on Tuesday was not the smartest move. I choked on just about every aspect of the workout, including the warm up. I was absolutely exhausted, had zero energy and just about as much focus. I look back at the pic of Tuesday’s white board and can hardly even remember anything other than how fatigued I felt. Thank goodness I was back on track today! Here is a recap of what CrossFit Endurance at CrossFit Tactical Strength in Ft Wayne, Indiana looked like for Week 2.

Week 2 – TUE 5:30am

Warm Up – Squats – 30/20/30 – Initially with bands around our knees, no weights, then we added in a weight bar. I think. I was already exhausted by this time and we hadn’t even gotten started. I remember that we counted. Out loud. Together. And I didn’t want to even do that.

Strength – Box Squats – 10 minutes. We started with the bar only, 33#s for my group, then did a back squat onto a box (or bench for those of us who are extra tall). Progressed by adding weights, 10#s each side, 53# total. The first graphic shows the movement, the second shows the form better on the back half of the movement. Goal being a good squat and to load the glutes & hamstrings, not the quads.

Sumo Deadlifts – New skill for our newbie class. Bar only. Progression on the squat movement. It was a bit of a struggle for me because I’ve only done traditional deadlifts. So I wasn’t keeping my feet far enough apart or getting my knees out enough. Here is a great explanation from PeakPerformance365 on the difference between the two deadlifts. Graphic below is from the same source.

• Conventional deadlift. Conventional deadlifts place more emphasis on the back and spinal erectors (posterior chain). If you have a very strong lower back there is a good chance that you will be able to deadlift more using a conventional stance. (Body structure will also come into play)
• Sumo deadlift. Sumo deadlifts shift some of the emphasis to glutes, hamstrings, quads, hips and upper traps. If you are experiencing lower back issues, or have a history of lower back problems, sumo deadlifts may be a better option.

Traditional deadlift pictured on the left. Sumo deadlift on the right.

Accessory Work – Jump Ropes – Skips – Foot work

Metabolic Conditioning – AMRAP (As Many Rounds As Possible) – 3 min. 10 Sumo Deadlifts, 10 Push Ups. Rest 1:30, repeat. Yeah, I was exhausted way before this. I “lucked out” and got the bigger bar for deadlifts, so that was already 45#s, then I had to add 10#s per side. Not my idea, ok. And I didn’t use my words and say this was too much for my ailing body. My bad. So I was 65#s with the Sumo Deadlifts and I didn’t do well.

Week 2 – THUR 5:30am

Feeling better today and we are finally starting to move into some real workouts. I was super happy about our WOD today, or the “Met Con” section as they call it at this box. This was our 4th class and it’s good to see that we are getting somewhere, slowly but surely.

Warm Up – 4 Rounds – 10 seconds ea: Jumping Jacks, Air Squats, Mountain Climbers, Lunges. All traditional things, only twist was with the Mountain Climbers. We had to take our forward leg OUTSIDE our arms. Made it way tougher and very awkward. Great image from CrossFit Oakgrove below to show the exaggerated movement.

Mobility – Hip Distractions with a slight variation to work on additional flexibility to ankle.

Strength – Push Press. 12 min. 33# bar, progress to 10# weights on each side. 53# total. Yay, something I recognize! Graphic below from CrossFit Gardendale.

Metabolic Conditioning – 3 Rounds – AMRAP in 1:30: Sled Sprint + Max Ring Rows. Rest 1:30, repeat x3. Working on anaerobic threshold. Short burst of intensity to exhaustion and it worked. I couldn’t breath after pushing the sled. And I could barely pull myself up for the ring rows. Plus they wanted us super low on the ring rows so it was even harder. Sled image first, we used one 25# plate and that was plenty. I liked this graphic because the lady is pulling her knees up high (like a sprint), which was what we were supposed to be doing. Ring Rows second, old pic of me at CrossFit New Lenox when I was thinner and stronger. We were lower today, or supposed to be closer to the ground with out feet out further. Tough.

And that’s a wrap for Week 2. So far, I’m super happy. This is definitely different than what I did at CF New Lenox but it’s good. The current Endurance course is like a cross between personal training, physical therapy and CrossFit. We are spending a lot of time now trying to get critical movements to become second nature as our muscles build memory. After that we can build with more skills, or add onto the basic skills for more complex movements. I look forward to where we are headed! How about you? Crossfit? Love it or Leave it?

** Trying to Get Strong (AGAIN) ** Amanda – TooTallFritz

A Return to CrossFit ….

Posted on December 3, 2015 by tootallfritz

Call this a week of new beginnings. It’s been approximately 612 days since my last CrossFit session. My CrossFit days came to a screeching halt in the Spring of 2014 as we learned that we were moving from IL to IN. Hubby had received a very sudden job offer for a position that I believe he had been interviewing on for over 7 months. We had about 2 days to decide if he should take it. Then we had another 2 weeks of mania before he left to start the new job, 200 miles away from where we lived in IL. It was a crazy time and to be honest, I still am not sure I’m settled in Indiana. Although I love the new area and being close to my family and old HS friends, it’s been nothing but a long period of adjustment, struggle and pure chaos, which is far from over. It hasn’t been fun but I’ve made a real effort to get back to basics and focus on my food, weight and regain my lost strength (both physically & emotionally). That’s what I focus on each day. I make the choice to eat well and be strong.

I’ve been looking for a CrossFit Endurance type program since I moved in August 2014. But it wasn’t that easy. The area I’ve moved to is much smaller. I’m now in a suburb of Ft Wayne, Indiana NOT Chicago. Slightly different market. There are very few CF boxes here and only one CF Endurance program within a 40 mile radius. That Endurance program was a cruise from where I live AND it’s an evening class. As a wife and mother with a full time J.O.B, evening classes don’t really happen for me. Ever.

So I visited a couple CF “boxes” (AKA “gyms”) looking for a CF class somewhat close to my new home. It didn’t go well. One box owner told me I was out of shape, overweight, and due to my history of injuries, I would need to be personally trained before I could possibly even go to one of their CF classes. Great. I knew all that but couldn’t afford a personal trainer or a bigger wound to my already damaged self esteem. So I tried to do home based CF workouts. I talked to some of the trainers at my local YMCA to see if we could get some CF equipment at the Y. I was making an effort but ultimately failing because I wasn’t even sure if I was doing the CF moves correctly. I knew I needed to regain my strength. I wanted to do Strict Presses, Push Presses and Dead Lifts, etc but I didn’t have anyone watching to make sure I wasn’t screwing things up. So I basically gave up til recently when I once again started searching for options. And bingo, one of the CF gyms had just moved to the north side of Ft Wayne.

513 Incentive Drive, Ft Wayne, IN * (260) 310-5360 * anthonyshefferly@gmail.com

I went for a visit. Can’t say I had a ton of hope. We still haven’t managed to sell our IL house and things are not good for us financially. I pretty much assumed that I couldn’t afford anything they were offering. But looking and talking are free, right?

Long story short, we set up a CrossFit Endurance Class on Tuesdays & Thursdays at 5:30am. Offering a one month trial period for December 2015. Very low cost (almost free). Trial period for any runner, triathlete, endurance athlete who may be interested in seeing if this is something they want to pursue. Trial period for CF Tactical Strength to see if an Endurance class will work for them and if there is a real interest/need for this type of class.

December 1st was our first class. Stay tuned for more info on my first week back to CrossFit tomorrow!

P.S. ….. Don’t forget to enter my giveaway for a FREE Entry to a Spartan Race of your choosing. Go HERE to enter!

** Happy Running & Enduring WHATEVER Your Heart Desires ** Amanda – TooTallFritz

Sleep, The Missing Link In Your Recovery

Posted on October 30, 2015 by tootallfritz

Possibly one of the most important things you can do for your body ~~other than eating right,~~ is to get the proper amount of sleep. I know, you are busy! I know you are up and down all night with the kiddos (and pets). But you have to sleep if you want your body to fight off all the nasty germs/illnesses and recover from your training plan. It’s a must.

This is all I could think about last night as I was up and down a billion times with my dogs. We had a rough one last night and every time I went up and down the stairs, my legs were screaming at me. My left foot hurts and my legs are fatigued. On a good note, next week I get to cut back on workouts to freshen up for the Indianapolis Monumental Marathon. On a bad note, I’m pretty crabby.

There is a great article by Jeff Kuhland on rest and recovery HERE, which outlines 7 “elements” for rest and recovery. The #1 “essential element” is sleep. See the excerpt from the article below:

Sleep is the most important time to recover. Adequate levels of sleep help to provide mental health, hormonal balance, and muscular recovery. You need to get enough sleep, which is between seven to ten hours for most athletes. Everyone has individual needs based on their lifestyle, workouts, and genetic makeup.

Hours slept before twelve at night are proven to be more effective than those slept after.

Sleep in the most natural setting possible, with minimal to no artificial lights.

Wakeup with the sun if possible.

Fresh air and cooler temperatures help to improve the quality of sleep.

Seven to 10 hours of sleep per night. Who is getting that? And who is able to wait til the sun comes before they have to wake up? Not me, or anyone else I know. So what can we do about it? Here are a few suggestions:

Go to bed earlier. I’ve been going “upstairs” early. Like between 7:45 & 8:30pm. Some days it feels like a punishment. Other days it’s a relief to get Mr. Michael settled early and have a bit of quiet in the house before sleepy time.
Drink hot tea or take a hot shower before bed to relax.
Use that crockpot & try to get dinner on the table earlier so that you aren’t cleaning up the dinner plates and rushing the little ones to bed at 8pm. So hard for me. I had everything cleaned up by 7 or 7:15p last night and it felt like a huge win.
Read, write or do something for “you” directly before you turn out the lights. Step away from the kiddos for a minute and just breathe. Yoga, anyone?
Get that workout in before dinner so that your endorphins have time to dissipate before bedtime. I’ve never been a fan of the evening workout but when I hit a workout after work, I keep it short & sweet with lower intensity.
Avoid alcohol before bed. Article HERE from the Cleveland Clinic on what happens when you drink alcohol before bed. Think scary nightmares, sleep walking and frequent waking.

No hydrating after dinner. I have a huge issue with this and usually drink a glass of water after dinner. That combined with my high water intake during the day leads to frequent potty breaks at night. I need to be better about this. My old weim wakes me up 2-3x a night to potty. It’s super frustrating when I have to get up before her and then I have 3 dogs ready to go outside. Yes, I have 3 dogs, which leads to the last thing.
We aren’t supposed to sleep with our pets. If you have a dog, or two, or more in your bed at night, I don’t have to tell you why. This graphic says it all. My lovlies cause me a lot of unrest at night. But I still love them and wouldn’t change a thing.

Do yourself and your body a favor and try to get some extra rest. I know I can’t make up for sleep deprivation but sometimes on the weekend I like to lay down and rest for a bit mid day. Makes me happier and allows me to stay up longer with the kiddos for fun things like movie night. If you need me, I’ll be thinking about sleeping cuz I’m a little short on it for the week.

Any other suggestions on sleeping, getting to sleep or staying asleep? Let us know!

** Sleep to Recover ** Amanda – TooTallFritz

Work In Progress …..

Posted on October 27, 2015 by tootallfritz

I wanted to touch base with all of you today and talk about a few things. So many of my blogger friends, run friends & Facebook friends are just killing it right now. I mean KILLING IT. Running killer times. Lifting heavy weights. Qualifying for Boston. Conquering new and ~~horrific~~ challenging distances. And I’m proud of them. They worked hard and they deserve everything that comes to them and more. But there is a whole group of us, myself included, who are also working hard but it doesn’t look quite as great on paper. That’s because we are a Work In Progress. And let’s be honest, some of us will forever and always be just that …… a Work In Progress.

Social Media can be as great as it is horrible. There is so much to motivate us and even more to tear us down. Let’s build our network accordingly. Keep the motivators, get rid of those who spew negativity toward us and others. Focus on what we can control. Identify our weaknesses. Be positive. Know that things don’t change over night. Fitness, life, parenting and work can be hard and getting where we want to go can be a painfully slow process.

In real life, there are road blocks. U-Turns. Detours. And people who want to tear us down, possibly because they are miserable and too afraid to chase their own dreams. They see us “going for it” and call us selfish, bad mothers, single-minded and/or obsessed. Well, they are right, I am obsessed. I’m obsessed with my own personal wellbeing. Obsessed with wanting to be the best person I can be today, tomorrow and well into the future. But I still have to take the detour like everyone else. Life is hard. It’s how we chose to react and handle what is thrown our way that defines us as people.

Don’t let the fear stop you from chasing down what you want. Don’t let the excuses build a wall around you. Don’t let stress be an enabler. Think for a minute. What’s the plan?

What can I control? ANS (for me): Only my actions and reactions.
What is my weakness? ANS: I’m a stress eater and let my emotions enable binge eating.
Be positive – I always get in my workouts, even when everything else is falling apart.
Know that things don’t change over night – I’ll keep chipping away at fitness even when it seems like my goals are hopeless. I’ve created mini goals to keep things focused and manageable.

Over the last 18 months, I’ve been in a period of constant change, chaos and struggle. I look back at the “easy days” longingly and wish that just a fraction of the easiness would return to our lives. I know that it will. I have faith that better times are ahead but for now, I’m focusing on what I can control. I’m doing pretty well with my food, except for the bags of mini health bars that hubby keeps bringing home for me. Unfortunately, today I told him not to bring them home anymore because they are the TTF kryptonite. Sad smile More salads, fresh veggies, spaghetti squash dinners. Less Heath Bar candy.

More StairMaster and Strength Training, less mindless running. I can barely move my 35# kettlebell at this point and that makes me sad.

And most of all, no matter what, I refuse to give up. Even if I never get back to where I “once was”, I’ll keep working toward new goals. Pursing new things with dogged determination because I know that for me, fitness is about more than the size of my jeans and more about the state of my mind.

I’m a Work In Progress and I’ll never give up ** Amanda – TooTallFritz **

Ironman 70.3 Steelhead Race Report

Posted on August 20, 2015 by tootallfritz

As I previously mentioned, life around the TTF household has been slightly chaotic thus the lack of a timely race report. In fact, it’s been down right stressful! But we keep on keeping on, right? Yes! So I showed up for Ironman 70.3 Steelhead overweight, undertrained but ready to tackle whatever the day tossed at me. Remember, I do this for fun. I run, train, TRI as a stress reliever and for a little bit of “me time” amongst the chaos. Total bonus is when I get to spend time with friends. Aby and Julie M were my race weekend support crew and we rolled into Saint Joseph & Benton Harbor MI with smiles on our faces!

We hit packet pick up, listened to the pre-race meeting, figured out the new swim course, racked my bike and hit the expo while Aby constantly reminded us that she just wanted to go to the beach.

There is something final about leaving your bike in transition. Most of us are on our second or even third or more bike. We started at the bottom with a low level road bike and worked our way up. We have an emotional attachment to our bike that is hard for people who do not ride to understand. Most of my friends actually have a name for their bike, I do not. But I still love it. And I spend a lot of time with it. And it never sasses me or talks back. So I bid my bike farewell and it sits in transition, awaiting my return and trying to soak up the calm before the chaos of race day begins.

When I return it is race morning. It’s full on chaos. Transition is packed. It’s still dark. Trying to set up transition in the dark, with 2499 of our new friends, just begs for things to be forgotten at the bottom of the transition bag! But we are finally set up and started inching our wetsuits on for the swim start. Wendy, myself & Judy getting ready to head to the beach for our 1.2 mile swim!

Swim waves went out in 4 minute increments. Judy was in the first wave at 7:00 am and Wendy and I were 12 minutes behind at 7:12am. There was a last minute change to the swim course to keep the swim start & finish close together on the beach. The change resulted in us having to swim further out into the mammoth body of water known as Lake Michigan. What Lake MI delivers on a given day is just a surprise so I was ready for the worst like IM 70.3 Racine in 2013 and hoped for the best. New course:

Water was calm at the start! Yes! But the course wasn’t as nice as the pretty picture above. We were swimming at an angle and it seemed like every buoy turned us a bit and we had to reposition. It wasn’t as easy as it appears, plus I felt VERY crowded in the water, both by the ladies in my wave, as well as the fast swimmers behind me. It took me a good 3 buoys to get myself together and just do my own thing but then as soon as I’d get in a groove I’d have a swimmer in front of me swimming perpendicular to me. I need to be more aggressive in the water but I’m not at this point. Swimming is the easy part of the TRI and I don’t really rush. When someone is swimming the wrong way in front of me, I stop and let them clear my path. Doesn’t make for a very speedy swim but keeps me comfortable. Something I need to work on for the future! Anyhow, I finally navigate the swim course, it was marked well and easy to follow. No clock when I got out of the water, which was odd, but I could make out the start line clock, that read 8:00 am real time. That put me in the water for 48 minutes and I was happy with that considering my lack of swim training. However, Ironman clocked me at 55 minutes via my chip so I’m not sure how I messed that up. Or why I was in the water so long because overall the swim was decent, I wasn’t panicky, there were some rolling waves out on the back side of the course but nothing too crazy. I kept moving but yes, I did stop numerous times to avoid “random” swimmers. But it was a beautiful day and I kinda enjoyed the cool, crisp, clear water.

No wetsuit strippers but I managed to get unzipped and unsuited. On to the bike! The bike as you know, can make or break you and is the longest segment of any triathlon. This race is a half ironman, AKA 70.3 race, where all the mileage equals 70.3 miles at the end of the day. 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike & 13.1 mile run. I had been having bike issues most of the season. Issues with my shifters. Issues with getting out for longer rides. Too many issues. I really had no idea what I could do on the bike so the plan here was to hold back on the first half, eat, drink and relax. Get thru the nasty/bumpy section of bad road, then try to be somewhat “fresh” for the last half and all those uphill sections (which suck the wind and energy right out of me). One loop course, which is my preference. I hit the half way mark (28 miles) right at 1 hour 30 minutes and vaguely remember thinking, “wow, if you keep this pace, you might break 3 hours”. But then I dismissed the thought immediately because I knew that there were some nasty uphill sections to come. I really didn’t have much of a strategy. As I’ve said, I’m super bad riding uphill, I was down into single digits so many times, 9mph was very common. But I USED the downhill. No matter how tired I was when I got up the hill, I was ready to rush the down. And I did that to the best of my ability. At the end of the ride, when my butt hurt so bad I wanted to toss my bike I was tired, that’s what held me together, crushing the downhill. Then eventually the thought that just possibly, if I kept pushing, I might, just might break 3 hours on the bike. And I did. 2 hours 59 minutes on the bike. HUGE triumph for me after a summer (full year really) of trials and tribulations. Happy girl.

After a phenomenal (for me) bike, I hit the run. I hadn’t done one brick all season and my legs had trouble spinning off the bike. Took about 3 miles to get in my groove. Course had two run loops. There were 3 big hills on the first loop. 2 on the second. I walked the entirety of each hill. I also walked thru each of the aid stations and made sure that I got enough fluids, ice and refueled with coke and small bites of banana. Run went well. I wasn’t dead but not speedy. I thought I’d run a 2:15 but at the end of the day I was at 2:21 with the walking. It was a good day. We had cloud cover, which was a HUGE help (especially to those who melt in the heat, like me). Temps were in the high 70s at the finish (78 degrees). It was a bit sticky with humidity but manageable thanks to the clouds.

I’ve now participated in all 3 Midwest Ironman 70.3 events. Muncie in 2012, where I took a DNF due to a torn tendon in my foot (race was also downgraded to Olympic distance due to extreme heat – 108 degrees). Racine in 2013 where the monster waves and bumpy roads stole the show. And now Steelhead. There were things I liked about each of these events. The bike course at Muncie was FUN and the hills seemed manageable. Not too steep but big enough to produce some speed. The run in Racine was beautiful with scenic views of Lake Michigan. But Steelhead was different. It felt like home. My family goes up to Saint Joseph MI on occasion for day or weekend trips, year round. My friends Judy & Julie M both have “cabins” within a reasonable distance of the race site. In fact, we actually went up and I was able to ride the course once before race day. So, yes, it’s a big fancy race, but one that felt like it was on our home turf. And there is no denying the home field advantage. And that’s how this race felt, like I had an advantage cuz I knew where to hold back on the bike and where to push. I really enjoyed Steelhead. Great race. Great volunteers. Plenty of aid stations on the bike (3) and on the run (5 each loop).

In closing, I’ll address the full Ironman issue one more time. I’m frequently asked “when” I’ll do a full ironman. First, a full Ironman (2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, 26.2 mile run) just isn’t for everyone, so it’s important to realize that it’s just not what some people call fun. But for myself, I’ve been dreaming about the full distance since my first half in 2008. Then I was blessed with a bouncing baby boy in 2009. Baby boy is growing, CRAZY and is becoming more self sufficient each and every day. In fact, he started kindergarten this year and will be turning 6 in just a couple weeks!!!

I think we are finally at the point where I could tackle it, IF I could justify spending the money to register. In fact, I’ve been upgrading my equipment for years so that I’ll be ready when the time finally arrives. However, the last year has brought us a lot of change and financial strain. We have taken steps to rectify the problem (Hello, NONPAYING IL renters, I’m talking to you.). Then, maybe, I can tackle the full ironman. It’s something that I think about every day. I even think about it when I should be sleeping. It’s definitely “on the list” but I need to make sure that its something the family can endure in terms of time commitment to my training and also the $$ commitment of the registration fee and travel expenses. Plus, I need to find a race that will NOT interfere with Aby’s Cross Country season. So those are a few of the reasons as to why I’m not YET an IronWOman. But I’ll get there and it will be all the sweeter when I do because I waited for the right moment.

Keep Pushing For YOUR Dreams – Amanda – TooTallFritz

Ready Or Not ….. Ironman 70.3 Steelhead

Posted on August 5, 2015 by tootallfritz

I didn’t ride my bike or swim at all in 2014. The move (packing, finding an IN house on a tight time table, finding renters for the IL house, and actually getting all of our stuff from the old house/barn to the new one) was quite a project. I ran when I could but that was pretty infrequent too between April & September (2014). When spring 2015 came around, I had a real itch to get out on my bike. However, I wasn’t real familiar with all the roads in my new area. Drivers here had ran me off the road while running more than once. And I knew of 2 ladies who were hit and killed while riding their bikes in IL (different areas) early in the season. I was a bit nervous about getting out on the road. Actually, I was scared.

I finally got my bike out after the local coffee shop, Jeremiah’s Brewed Awakenings, ran a promo for Bike Month in May. I think the promo was that they would give a free coffee to anyone who completed 7 items on the bike month promo sheet. I never did turn in my sheet but I did dust off my bike toward the end of the month and take it for a spin. And I was a happy lady. I started riding around my area. Even found a couple good routes with a few hills. Set my basement up for some marathon bike trainer sessions because I was having trouble getting out the door between kids, work and Aby’s Cross Country schedule. Signed up for Ironman 70.3 Steelhead. And then my basement flooded with my bike trainer in it and all plans were halted.

When there is a crisis at home, mom doesn’t leave to go ride her bike. So all swimming and biking stopped with the basement flood. It was emotional. It was exhausting because we (hubby, kids & I) had to clear out and demo the basement. Insurance didn’t help much at all. In fact, it didn’t even help enough to pay for the replacement of our geothermal heat/air unit. And when it rains it pours, right? So it was at this exact same time that’s our IL renters decided they weren’t going to pay rent anymore. Now our home is in a partial demo’d state with no heat/air. Current basement pic below.

We’re paying for 2 houses and an eviction lawsuit to try to get the renters (can I call them that if they aren’t paying???) out of our IL house. Lot’s going on and not much to do with training or triathlon. But over the last three weeks I’ve tried to get my shit together mentally & physically salvage my training because the IM registration fees are pretty high and am hoping for another 70.3 finish.

I’ve only managed a couple swims but I’ve ridden numerous times, mostly 25 milers but I’ve been riding.

I even took a day off work to go ride the Steelhead course with a few amazing athletes.

We took a practice swim that really sucked in Lake Michigan but at least Laura N. was able to get my wetsuit zipped This is a real win because of course, I’m now “a bit” heavier than the specs of the suit recommend.

So the good news is that I won’t drown because my wetsuit technically fits. And I should be able to cover the 56 miles on the bike because I’ve trained for almost a full 3 weeks. Smile And well, I can run a half marathon. So I guess I’m ready to do a half ironman! Right? Right!

So there it is, all laid out. Steelhead, I’m coming. Whether I’m “Ready or Not”. I wasn’t going to win anyhow, so I’ll just keep ticking off the miles until the finish line is in sight.

** I TRI ** Amanda – TooTallFritz

Fitletic Hydration Belt Giveaway WINNER & Discount Code

Posted on July 15, 2015 by tootallfritz

I have a winner!!! Is it you?!? Today I am giving away one Fitletic Hydration Belt.

The random number generator selected #88.

#88 is Gila Robinson!

Gila, please contact me ASAP at amanda@tootallfritz.com so that we can get you set up with your new hydration belt. I’m sure you have lots of miles to run this summer and we want you to be hydrated and ready to rock any distance you choose to conquer!

For the rest of us, we can order our Fitletic Hydration Belt HERE using the 10% discount code: amanda10

Run Happy & Hydrated ** Amanda – TooTallFritz

Swimming to TRI … Tips on Surviving the Swim in YOUR First (or Next) Triathlon

Posted on June 25, 2015 by tootallfritz

Let’s be honest, if you’re swimming laps at your local YMCA, then it’s probably not because you are a diehard lover of the swim. You have a triathlon on the calendar, right? Yeah, me too! And that’s why I’m in the lane right next to you.

Every time I meet a new triathlete, I hear the same story. They fear the swim. In today’s world, every parent I know, besides myself, has their kid signed up ~~to be Olympic swimmers~~ on a local swim team. But in my day, swimming wasn’t all the rage. Sure we went to the pool in the summer. We swam in the lake with our friends and family. But nobody was going to be the next Missy Franklin. It was a different world when I grew up but it’s those “non swimmers” from my generation who are now creating the newest group of triathletes. Why? Cuz we are now middle aged women. Looking for something that we can call our own. Something outside the hubby, kids and the J.O.B. Something just for us.

And so we sign up for our first triathlon. We know we can run, been doing that for a few years now, right? And we learned to ride a bike as a child. Once you learn, you never forget, right? The bike may be old, need a tune up or possibly new tires (since the old ones were dry rotted) but it will cover the distance for a sprint triathlon. So you’re in and registered. But what about the swim? Here is everything I know about swimming a TRI. I’ve never taken lessons but have done a few swim clinics and I always ask advice from lifeguards, swim teachers, swim coaches or high school/college swimmers when I get the chance. If you’re a swimmer, I’ll probably ask you questions, even if you are my 10 year old niece. Smile

Triathlon SWIM Tips:

Relax. You’re not going to drown. And if you think you might drown, please stop reading this and go find a coach!
Practice may not make you perfect but it will ease your nerves. You have to swim before your TRI. Minimum 1x a week. More if you have the time. The more time you spend in the water pre-race, the better. You will get more comfortable with each swim session.
Get a good swim cap and a tinted pair of goggles. Start using them in the pool while practicing so they won’t seem foreign on race day. Goggles are not required during triathlon but you do want to protect your eyes from other peoples fingers, the water & even the sun (thus the reason for tinted goggles). Swim caps will be required and provided by the race to distinguish your swim start & age group.
There are no rules regarding the type of swim stroke in a triathlon. You can freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke, sidestroke or even dog paddle, as long as you get in and out of the water on your own power. So if you start to feel panicky while swimming, pull your head out of the water and do a different stroke.
Keep moving in the water. Triathlon swims normally start in waves, usually by age group. Each wave is separated by a specified amount of time, anywhere from 30 seconds to 2 minutes. Meaning that groups will start before you and then there will be a group immediately behind you. Keep moving because the faster swimmers from the wave behind you will be upon you (and passing you) before you know it.
Mentally prepare yourself to be around people while swimming. This won’t be like your lonely practice swims at the Y. There will be 20-100+ people around you at any given moment.
There will be lifeguards and spotters in the water with or near you. On boats, paddle boards, wave runners, canoes, etc. If you cramp or panic, you can hold into a boat/paddle board/buoy for support as long as the lifeguard doesn’t have to actually assist you in any way.
Fastest stroke for most people is freestyle, or front crawl. Where your face is in the water.
If you tend to swim crooked, try bilateral breathing, where you breathe equally on both sides of your body. Easier said than done for someone like me. Bilateral breathing has been a goal of mine for 4 or 5 years and I’m just finally getting it now. Bilateral breathing tip (from a swim coach at the YMCA of Dekalb) – Use a kick board initially. Hold the kickboard out in front of your body with straight arms. Just kick to propel yourself & the board forward, then put your face in the water and practice breathing. First breath on your strong side, next one on your weak side. Couple times down and back & you’ll be ready to rock this on your own while practicing your freestyle. You may get a few partial mouthfuls of water (at least I do) but it will help even out your stroke and straighten up your swim.
Freestyle stroke requires that you lift your head out of the water on occasion to “spot” or check your position in an open water swim. The most efficient way to spot is to do so right before you breathe. So lift your eyes slightly out of the water in the front, then turn your head to breathe. You just need a quick glance to make sure you are still on path. Example HERE with a video in section #4.
If you are in a slip stream of another swimmer, you can just follow along and that will require less spotting (and less energy) on your part, just don’t follow them blindly in the event that they get off course.
Some TRIs, have a line or rope that runs between buoys. If you can find the line and stay on it, you will not need to site because you can just follow that rope. Sweet!
Swim freestyle with a wider arm stance. Don’t cross your arms in front of your body when you swim. Most of us ladies, bring our arms over our head and our hand enters the water in front of our head/face. Wrong. That’s wasting motion, kinda like running with your arms pumping and crossing in front of your body. It’s the same thing. Think wider, almost awkward, swim stroke where your hand enters the water parallel to the body. Confused? Hold your arms straight out in front of your body, parallel to the ground. Like a movie zombie or sleepwalker! That’s the position of arm entry. At the side of your ears. Not in front of your head.

Source

One your hand enters the water, reach in front of you to get the full motion of the stroke, then pull back in the water with loose fingers (not a tightly cupped hand which wastes energy) toward your hip bone. At the same time your body is rotating for efficiency and to get ready to take a breath. When you hand gets to where your hip was, the hip should be gone because the body has tilted/rotated. When I’m in the water, I imagine my hand almost pushing my hip up and out of the way. Not a perfect example below. I’d like to see his hip rotate out a bit more on the top pic but still a decent example.

Source

Complete diagram of full stroke.

Source

That’s pretty much everything I know about swimming. If you have additional tips, please share because I am far from an expert and would love to learn more!! Know that I’m not fast but I can cover whatever distance. I’m trying to get to the pool at least 2x a week now. Still not a lot but better. I just think about my bilateral breathing, wide arm stance/entry, reaching thru the stroke so as not to cheat myself, and then body rotation where my hand pushes my hip out of the way. I still need to work on my flutter kick. Sometimes I forget to kick.

If you plan to wear a wetsuit in your TRI, watch the first video in this link HERE. Judy, please watch it cuz I’ll need you to help me get my ~~too small~~ wetsuit on at Steelhead!!!

TooTallFritz

Running Toward: Health, Wellness & PEACE …………………………………….. Running From: Insanity, Screaming Children, Housework & a Big Ass

Category Archives: Triathlon

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Ironman 70.3 Steelhead Race Report

Ready Or Not ….. Ironman 70.3 Steelhead

Fitletic Hydration Belt Giveaway WINNER & Discount Code

Swimming to TRI … Tips on Surviving the Swim in YOUR First (or Next) Triathlon

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