2010 Ironman World Championships and TRX

This is the 2010 Hawaii Ironman Commemorative edition of Lava Magazine (December/January 2010). Significant because tomorrow is the official broadcast on NBC. Its the triathlete's superbowl, our world championship. I'm very excited to see it even though I know how it ends (no spoilers for those who weren't glued to a computer in October when it actually happened :).



This issue is actually even more significant to me because it also has an article on Function Strength (p.106) that is mostly about TRX. A little over a year ago I became a group fitness instructor at the Y and a certified TRX instructor. I taught and worked out on the TRX throughout my Ironman training last year and was delighted to see my run, bike and swim times drop as my core strength and muscle fitness increased. Even better than that was watching people who came regularly to my classes but weren't doing the long ironman workouts that I was, have great results, especially in core strength, from just the TRX. Being able to help people function better in their day to day lives, to not get as tired, to have better posture and less pain, to drop extra mass and gain extra energy is the BEST part of my job and TRX has been a big part of being able to do my job effectively. If you want to check it out please follow this link http://www.fitnessanywhere.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=SFNT&AFFIL=3t96Pt2U . If you want to try it out you can come to one of my classes, Tues at 10:50 at the central Y or Fri (that's TODAY)at 4:00 and at 5:15 at the north Y-the times of these change slightly in January. If you can't make it to one of these, try one of the other great Y instructors http://www.ymcaspokane.org/4/schedules/ .

More crafty type stuff coming soon (cards, jewellery, baby presents... :)

Inspiration

I love facebook. I admit it and embrace it. In fact most of the people reading this are reading it on facebook. If you are you should check out my actual blog (http://www.fromthebottomofmypencilcase.blogspot.com/) because I just put up a new banner (which I will probably edit again soon...where was I?)...Oh yeah, I love facebook! On facebook friends such as Craftster send me ideas like this one: http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=323205.0 right to my home feed. Seemed like a perfect way to use up more of my stash of supplies. So Lucy has a new pair of slippers. A couple of things if you want to make a pair yourself: I used faux suede on the bottoms for slip resistance and durability and next time I will round out the toe portion more, rather than tracing the exact shape of her foot. But they were really quick and easy including making the pattern.

The star wreath is inspired by my new favorite blog ever. http://www.littlebirdiesecrets.com/ I used the same colors as her example (but with more papers from my stash-I may actually get through it) but made my wreath smaller (I cut my own form and the biggest piece of matte board that I had was 12" wide). I also skipped the background stars (smaller wreath). I cut my stars with the crcuit that has gathered dust since I got it (basic shapes cartridge size 5.5 and 5).


Now here is the problem with all this wonderful inspiration: one blog leads to another and another and another until I have so many great ideas overwhelming me that I just need to go for a run and forget about being creative for a while. Maybe that's not a problem. I will need to redo my blog links list though ;)

Happy December Birthdays

I have my next race all picked out http://www.runsurfcity.com/Half-Marathon-s/23.htm It's the Surf City Half Marathon in Huntington Beach. Its the day after my birthday so I'll get the start off being thirty-mumble....with 13.1 miles in sunny California. Hopefully registering and paying for it (done) will get me running again. I've been a little lazy about it lately and I need to get back in a routine.

For all the December babies who have had their birthday gifts wrapped in christmas paper or worse a "combined" gift :)....this post's for you. Not a christmas theme in sight. I can't stop myself from apologizing for the not-great photography on these but I have given them all away and can't redo it. It may have been late at night (as with everything I do there was definitely some procrastination involved), not sure why exactly I did such a poor job but I really do know how to adjust focus and exposure. :)

The javabella cards are for Katie's orchestra fundraiser, they are going into a themed basket for auction. The Stamp is Stampin Bella, papers are SEI Poppy. The "Grow Up" card papers are from Sassafrass Lass, "Happy Birthday" is Cosmo Cricket, "Happy Birthday to you" uses one of the stamps that I illustrated for Judikins and Cosmo Cricket paper, The Blue Shiney one is also SEI Poppy, and the pink one has a drawing that I did because I couldn't find the cupcake stamp I wanted to use. But I like my version better :) I drew it on watercolor paper and colored with copics. Thanks for looking.

More Copic Colored Cheekies (I ToldYou I Was Addicted)

The title is slightly misleading in that the Hey There Cookie card was done with luminArte shimmery watercolors. Papers are from Cosmo Cricket, MME, Bo Bunny and Basic Grey. I used the Cheeky Glamour stamp again and the new one is Cheeky Rockabilly both from the Greeting Farm. There is a Close to My Heart snuck in there as well. For those who live in Spokane drive safe and avoid the side streets, its crazy out there!

~Nicole

Three Days in a Row!

One more card and a hat. I have not done a lot of crocheting before but since I don't knit at all, when Katie asked if I could make a sock monkey hat it seemed like the way to go. I was really happy with how it turned out (especially since I made it up as I went along with no pattern). She loves it and the rest of the kids want one too.

For the card: Cheeky Glamour stamp from the Greeting Farm, Naughty and Nice words from Inque Boutique and inside it says "If you obey all the rules you miss all the fun"-Katherine Hepburn from Stamping Bella. Papoers are old ones from Bo Bunny and Scenic Route. TFL

Products of Christmas Past

After a year of not doing much by way of paper crafts I've had to put a few stipulations on my present renewed interest in all things crafty. I need to use up a lot of my stash that has sat lonely and ignored for 12 months or so. In an effort to do this I've been making lots and lots of cards. I even broke out the copics-they are quite addicting and I can see myself getting completely obsessed with them. Here are a few of the cards, hope you enjoy.

Catching Up

I have had this strange idea in my head that I can't post any new stuff to my blog unless I update my friends and family on the past (blogless) year. Specifically a post about Ironman. so here goes.


Most of you know that I spent most of Nov-June training for Ironman Couer D'Alene. In fact the reason IM stands out as the one blog worthy thing of the past year is that is about all I had time to do. :) At the peak of my training I was up to 22hrs a week. I also got a job teaching group fitness classes at the YMCA (which I love!).


Well all of those 4+hour bike rides paid off and by the end of June I was feeling fit and confident (mostly confident-I am really grateful for the encouragement of my Team Blaze team mates and my husband David). Race day dawned (and I do mean dawn-up at 4:30) clear with minimal wind-Perfect! The water was chilly but bearable thanks to my wetsuit and neoprene cap. I had tried out neoprene booties at Onionman and found that they filled with water and slowed me down considerably so no booties for CDA.

The swim itself went smoothly. No more black eyes like I recieved at Boise 70.3. I was near people the whole time and got bumped plenty but I took coach Tristin's advice and swam inside the bouys just going around the corners. I only went off course once when I turned the first corner and suddenly the sun was in my eyes and I realized that my goggle were slightly fogged. That combo made it impossible to see but I fixed the goggles when I got out to cross the mat for the first lap and the second time was fine. I came out of the water in 1:26:30 well ahead of 1:40 goal.

On the bike conditions were great, just a very slight headwind heading back into town. I had recieved multiple warnings to go easy on the hills in the first lap so didn't push very hard at the begining. I was glad for that by half way through the second 56 mile lap. 112miles is a loooong way on a bike. My shoulders and back and ...well you know, were really sore but I knew I could finish it. Coming back into town was one of my best moments of the day. My bike split was 6:24:05, respectable but not blazing fast which was my race plan.

I started out on the run and I felt great. I used the run 4 min, walk 1 minute that I had trained with and it seemed to be working. As I came back into town at the end of the first loop I knew that I could not only make my 14 hour time goal but that I would probably beat David's time from the previous year. He thought that that was what was making my grin as I ran through the park but really it was all the people, my friends and family that had come out to cheer for my as well as the perfect strangers who were calling my name and wishing me luck. Only 13.1 miles to go! That last lap was definitely very physically hard but knowing that I would finish in a little more than 2 hours made the time fly by. The only parts I remember were passing people I knew that I didn't expect to pass. My run time was, again, not super fast but it was under 5 hours at 4:54:39-ahead of my 5 hour goal.

I wanted to savor my finish shoot run through but as the clock came into view I could see that not only would I break my 14hr goal but that I could break 13. So I high fived a couple of people then ran in as strong as I could to finish in 12:55:37. I AM AN IRONMAN!

Overall it was an amazing day. Much better even than I expected. I had no mechanical difficulties (though I did drop my chain going up a hill on the second bike lap but that was due to user error and easily fixed). I am so gratefull to my family and friends for their support and I'm still amazed that I could do this! Thank you to all who helped especially Katie for her babysitting and David for....well everything!

I am still out there

Last night I looked through some of our older scrapbooks and realized how much I missed creating and doing my artsy stuff. Only 40 days until Ironman then I can add some of that back in to my life. I have been keeping busy though. So far this year I've done the Goofy Challenge in Florida (The walt Disney World Marathon and Half Marathon done on back to back days), the Snake River 1/2 Marathon (new PR of 1:50:17), the St. Paddy's Five Miler(another Personal Record for me at 40:50), The Spokane River Run 25k trail run (2:28:03-considerably better than last year's 2:48:56), The Lilac Century (my first 100 mile bike ride), and the Windermere Marathon (another PR at 4:14:17 -adjusted to the full distance ...there was a glitch but I did the whole 26.2 and much faster than my old 4:40:01 time. Plus we ran/walked this one-thank you Jeff Galloway!). another huge thanks to David (Eric) for his support and encouragement and for training with me through much of this. Next up: Onion Man Olympic distance tri in Walla Walla. And maybe I'll get going on an art journal or something that interests my crafty friends :).