Saturday, October 17, 2015

2015 - Our baby is an Ironman!

This is a blog I've started many times.  Turns out I was just too tired to finish it and now I finally understand why!  In my last blog I did a nice recap of my summer of racing just before racing Ironman Mont Tremblant.  Let me do a quick recap of what I'd call my best Ironman to date and our surprise pregnancy story!!

IRONMAN

I was in a good place heading into this Ironman, despite being very tired the last few weeks of training, I felt like I had a good race in me.  I traveled to this one alone since I had raced there before in 2013 I had a good feeling for the race venue and logistics.   Since the race was already a couple months ago, I don't even remember all the details to bore you with!

What I do remember is truly feeling good all day. I was relatively aggressive on the swim, starting with a group and then leaving them when some age group men came by and came out just under 55 min.  I got out onto the bike and knew if I just rode smart and came off within reach of the front I could keep it together on the run.  Despite a couple frustrating issues with my chain getting jammed, causing me to lose the girls I was riding with, I finished up ok with a 5:15 ride and 8th off the bike.

It was my goal to run under a 3:10 marathon, with my previous best on that course being a 3:14.  With my half Ironman runs being my best ever I knew this was a doable goal.  Like all marathons, I just went out and ran!  I always check my watch a couple times in the first couple miles to make sure I'm going a reasonable pace (not too fast) and then just go off feel the rest of the way.  I came by most of the girls within the first 8 miles and found myself in 4th place.  After that I just kept on the liquids and nutrition. The last couple miles were a little tough and slower, but I knew my placing wasn't going to change at that point, so that might have been part of it :)  I finished with a 3:04 marathon!  I was proud to finish with a 9:20 in 4th behind Mary Beth Ellis, Liz Blanchford (3rd in Kona this year) and teammate Lisa Roberts.   What a day!


PREGNANCY?!  (some details, and maybe a little personal, sorry!)

After the race I was abnormally very ill with a horrible stomach ache.  Ugh. So much for post race celebrations.  After returning home it was a lot of sleep and I was struggling to have any good recovery.  I had planned to be in off season after the race, but my body was exhausted.  After a few weeks I started to wonder if something was going on...

It wasn't until Friday, Sept 25 when I called my doctor concerned about my lack of energy and weight gain that I was encouraged to take a pregnancy test.  So as we were getting ready to head to a Garth Brooks concert that night I took a pregnancy test and it showed a positive!! WHOA we were in shock. We cautiously enjoyed Garth Brooks wondering if this was real.  Monday I called the doctor and they brought me in for a blood test.  Yep. It was real.

You may be wondering how the heck I had no idea....well, let me tell you.  With the training and weight loss I had over the spring and summer I was not getting my period (not since Feb, also when we went off birth control).   So we had NO idea how far along in this pregnancy we were.  So they brought me in the next week for an ultrasound where they said we might not even see anything.  To my huge surprise there was a full on baby in there!  They dated it at 13.5 weeks!!  Whoa.  Goodbye first trimester.

We have a due date of April 6, 2016, which is Mark's Birthday!!  We're almost at 16 weeks and just last week I finally got my energy back!  I'm enjoying working out again and luckily can still fit in most of my clothes :)   We are finishing up all of our home projects and need to have these done before our big winter fun with the Snowshoe Scurry Series.  So far:  living room = done!  Basement workout space = half done....maybe finish today, guest bathroom = next up!

So HUGE thank you to all of our friends and family that are offering support and excitement with us for entering this next chapter of our lives.  With an early spring baby, I'm aiming to stay healthy and fit and hopefully be back at it end of 2016!!