Lampwork Bead Market Giveaway

Every week on the Lampwork Bead Market we have a different artist do a giveaway, and this week it's me! I'm giving away this nice springy selection of daisy beads ad my Daisy Bead / Garden Bracelet tutorial AND some penny charms. Head on over, join the page and enter!

Less than a week!

Less than a week till my very first Triathlon, Yikes! When I registered for the TriStart program months ago I actually though "the time will fly by" and boy has it! I've enjoyed learning some new sports (kept swimming, swimming is still NOT my friend) and really enjoyed the other athletes and coaches. 

I'm still really struggling with swimming, I found out at transition practice yesterday the slowest swimmers go first in the heats *gulp* I'm not sure how I'll get through the 500m but I know I can. I cannot wait to be out of the pool and done the swim, it'll be a big milestone for me.

Excited and anxious about the coming race on Sunday!

Run Away

Less than 2 weeks!!

I think this is what I look like every time I realize how close the Tri for MS is. Less than two weeks away! This sunday is the transition run through, YIKES!

As far as the run (4 K) and the bike (20K) I am feeling pretty confident. The swim (500M) not so much. Tuesday night was a graduation to the big pool at Commonwealth. As soon as we were told we'd be going into the big pool I felt ill, then panicked, then faint, ill again, then my inner voice said RUN AWAY….repeatedly.

I really thought about going back to the teach pool, I turned around a couple times. Though, I cannot do this, I just cannot. Turned around again, felt ill, felt like crying, felt faint as I watched my team mates get in, felt ill, turned around……….and finally just got in.

I hung out in the corner for quite a while, people who CAN swim went by, I watched anxious at the numbers of people in the lane, the speed at which they were going, the waves (yes WAVES) in the pool. Finally inched my way to the wall, and finally with the help of coach Connie and some team mates, managed to push off the wall and attempt to swim.

It wasn't pretty and it wasn't fast but I made it the 25m to the other end, had a minor panic attack when I realized there is no ledge down there you just kinda hang on. Took a deep breath and tried to settle my erratic heart rate, and swam back.

I did this 3 or 4 times, until my brain stopped screaming at me to run away. And while it never was pretty, nor fast, nor a proper swim stroke I did manage to survive a swim in the big pool.

Tonight we are in the big pool *shudder* again and I will survive it again. It won't be pretty, it won't be fast and it'll likely still not be a proper swim stroke BUT I can do it.

24 Hours

Lampwork Bead Market

I'm a part of a new FB page for lampwork beads. It's called the Lampwork Bead Market and has loads of talented bead makers offering bead for sale. There is a weekly give away contest so make sure to  check back and see what it is every week. Stop by and have a look it's growing pretty fast!

Treadmill running and intervals

Sticking to my weekly blog post about my Triathlon experience today is all about treadmill running. Yuck right? Not my favourite thing to do, I don't think any runners like using a treadmill. But when you live in a rain forest sometimes the weather doesn't co operate.

Today was one of those days, to top it off I found myself short on time. So I decided to try sprint intervals on the treadmill. 1 min of slow running and 2 min of hard running, no walking for 30 min. I'll be honest I started it thinking there wouldn't be a hope of me getting through the whole thing. Usually I do a walk run combo out on my runs, in my mind I didn't believe I could run for 30 min straight. Well, wrong! I did it and felt great after. I do think the mixture of swim, run and bike affects each one. I'm pretty sure all that biking and those kicking drills swimming have improved my leg endurance and my running.

So there you have it, treadmill and sprints conquered today.