My mechanic, my lover

Let's get something out in the open right now: I love my husband. Not only does he bring home the bacon, he also wields a mighty bike wrench. I was at a wedding recently and the officiator gave the following advice to the couple: "Bring her a treat every now and again to show her you're thinking about her, but don't do it too often that she comes to expect it." I have probably come to expect that if my bike is not working properly, Kulani will have it fixed by my Saturday morning rides. My Lemond wasn't riding as comfortably as I wanted it to recently, so he ordered a new stem that's less than in inch shorter than my old stem, but it has made all the difference in riding comfortably. I don't tell him often enough how much I appreciate his help in keeping my bikes in tip-top shape. So baby, thank you. And also, my shifter thing seems to be stiff again. Could you do something about that? Thanks again. 'Preciatch ya!

Shout out to Dr. Watabe

My doctor's nurse called me on behalf of Dr. Watabe to congratulate me on finishing the Hawaii Half-Ironman. Dr. Watabe has to be the best doctor in Utah. He saw me during my pregnancy with my youngest daughter, and he's only in his early 30s. I know this because in triathlon, they write your age on the back of your leg, and Dr. Watabe is a triathlete. I see him around at local races with his wife and child. He encouraged me that I could be healthy enough after delivering my baby to compete in the race.

It's interesting listening to people who have never competed in the sport. They can't believe people would pay money to torture themselves that way or wear skin-tight clothes when their bodies don't exactly look flattering in the attire. Where as a triathlete, for the most part, doesn't really even see the body size; you see the sweat and determination and you respect each other. Dr. Watabe looks good in a triathlon suit; I, on the other hand ... Triathlon is a bonder of people, not a hater. There's a great ad on the back of my triathlon magazine with a woman sitting after a swim and the look on her face says contemplation. The ad sums up nicely why I do this sport: "We all have to do it. Explain our actions. Make sense of it to somebody that doesn't quite get it. You may even question yourself sometimes, but not for long. No matter how tired you are, how much your muscles ache and joints hurt, you feel better training and nobody can take that from you. It's just you and your body. The pleasure and pain is only yours. It's personal."

For me and Dr. Watabe, we get it. Dr. Watabe will be doing the Vineman in July. Good luck, Doctor. And thanks.

First Half Ironman

"I am half-Ironman, dododododododo-do-do." Or however that song goes. So I completed my first half-Ironman. In Hawaii. In the heat. If there is a word for that event, besides grueling, it is hot. I'm not sure I'd ever like to do that race again. Next year I think I'll do the Vikingman instead, a nice, flat cooler course with a down-current swim. But Hawaii's ocean swim was probably the most enjoyable part of the race. I saw an eal and a sea snake while I was swimming. Helped keep my mind off the monotany of the swim. I finished the swim in a not-too-disappointing 50 minutes. That was about the time I was swimming in the pool, so I wasn't too far off my mark. But then came the bike. Hawaii's course is hilly. There were a series of big rollers topped off by a 7-mile climb to Hawi. We gained 1,000 feet of elevation during the course of the ride. When I finally pushed my bike to the transition area, I had to hobble off the bike. It took me 3 hours 40 minutes to ride 56 miles. That's abismall, but the bike has never been my strong point. Someone yelled out, "Don't worry. Your legs will return." And that person was right. By mile three of the run, I felt pretty strong. I caught up to a girl who flew over from the mainland to also do this race with us. She came with my brother and sister-in-law. I tried to encourage her to keep up with me, but she'd had it. I kept running, feeling somewhat guilty about leaving her behind. But I was on a good pace, despite the heat of the lava fields. I was averaging 10 minute miles, which if I was able to keep up for the full 13 miles, I'd come in before 7 hours. An older Japanese man ran with me for a few miles. He said his wife was waiting for him at the finish line with "cold beer." Even though I don't drink, that still sounded nice. The Hawaii race organizers have cold sponges, ice water, Gatorade, fruit, gels, and cola at every mile. That kept me going. Occasionally I'd run through the aid stations, and other times I would walk. I caught up to my husband by mile 7. He had told me earlier that if he wasn't having a great race day, he would wait for me and we could finish together. So the last five + miles were a lot of fun. We walked and ran and talked and just enjoyed being together. We encouraged other runners, guffawed at the Hooters girls at mile 11 cheering everyone on, and thanked the volunteers bringing us cold sponges. We ran the last mile across to the finish line. Our girls waved at us from the side. We held hands across the finish. We finished in 7 hours 27 minutes. It was glorious. I choked up at the accomplishment. My oldest daughter, who is 4, approached me after the finish and said, "I'm proud of you and Dad. You did great." That was very sweet, but then she followed that with, "Don't do anymore long races, just short ones." I agreed with her.

My brother B.J. did really well at that race, finishing 15th overall. He was second in his age group, which got him a slot to the half-Ironman championships in Florida. My brother-in-law was faster last year, but I think he still did pretty well finishing at 5 hours 46 minutes. His wife had bike problems, and didn't finish the run.

Now we're training for the Burley Spudman, after I recover from my post-Island blahs. There's always Monday.

Saturday Sunrise Ride

Due to time constraints, my Saturday road ride had to be completed in the wee early hours of the morning. I began my travels at 6:00 a.m. It was a beautiful morning. The sun had not yet crested over the mountain behind our home. I mounted my bike and took off in the direction of the Mount Timpanogos Temple. The road along the east side of the temple is a gentle climb until you reach Highland. I passed through Highland and into Alpine. I then made my way west to Traverse Mountain. By now the sun had peaked over the mountains, and the temperature was starting to rise, but there were still relatively few cars on the road.

I wasn't planning on doing a climb, but when I saw a bunch of road riders climbing up Traverse Mountain, I had to join the fun. It was a 20-minute climb to what seemed to be the top to me. I got passed by one person: a runner with huge calves. Should I be embarrassed that I was passed by a person on foot? Possibly, but I was enjoying the climb and the view too much to care. My heart rate was plenty high, so I let the runner pass me without trying to pursue and overtake him back (whilst saying something smug like, "eat my tire dust, super-huge calf man." I always like to wave or say "hi" to fellow road riders, but no one returned my friendly gesture while I was climbing up and they were speeding down. On my way down the climb I found out why: you need both hands on your bike and complete concentration when barreling down the hill. My guess is that I might have reached speeds of 40 mph (I still don't have a speedometer on my bike yet). It was glorious! After traverse Mountain I weaved my way down through Highland and Lehi, then over to American Fork and back to my home in Cedar Hills. It was supposed to be a 4-hour ride, but I only had time for a 2 1/2 hour ride, as I needed to be at my sister Hetty's wedding shower later that morning. I also found that runners said "hi" more than roadies did.

I'd ridden my tri-race bike for the first time last week, but when I rode it again Saturday, I fell in love with the bike and we got married. Our honeymoon will be at the Hawaii half-Ironman in two weeks. I'm changing my name to Cindy Isaac-Fisher. That's how much I love my bike.

I relate very well to Forrest Gump on so many levels, but when I'm riding a bike or out for a run, I love to recall Forrest Gump's words when he's describing the beauty of the earth through the places he's been. I too feel that connection to earth. There was that sunrise over Mount Timpanogos casting its rays over Utah Lake. Then there was the look of the runner's face as he triumphantly passed me. The politeness of drivers pulling over a lane to not frighten me as they drove past. It's a feeling you want to share with loved ones. I wish that joy on anyone wanting to take it.

Let me introduce you to my bikes

My husband is a gear queer. Ever since we've been married he's had the nicest bikes. He worked at a bike shop for nearly the first three years of our marriage, and I'm pretty sure he got paid in bike parts and accessories. Therefore, he always had the nicest stuff. Then he started collecting double the stuff in case a friend wanted to ride with him and the friend did not have a bike. Now I am doing triathlons and I get all his old hand-me-downs. But let me warn you, his hand-me-downs are other people's dream bikes. I don't say this to brag, really, I say this to express my heartfelt appreciation to a husband who likes to collect things, and consequently, collects things for the both of us.

I have two bikes. One bike is a training bike and one bike is a racing bike.

Traing bike: It's a Lemond Versailles. It's navy blue and vanilla painted. It's a workhorse bike, but isn't as fun to ride as my racing bike.

Racing bike: An Isaac Efficiency. It has triathlon-drop handlebars (I'm not sure of the actual term), and it feels like a rocket. When I'm in the tuck zone and speeding down a flat, I feel like I'm doing 30 mph. I don't know how fast I'm going because we've haven't put on a speedometer yet.

Getting a good, fun bike to ride really helps on those long training hours. The only other thing that would help would be a nice long road, with rollers, and no cars.

Nursing myths

When I started training for this triathlon, I heard a lot of bad advice from women, basically telling me to take it easy. Well, let me tell you; me taking it easy is akin to being the biggest slob in the world. The reason why I sign up and compete in triathlons is because otherwise, I would do NOTHING! I would be A-1 coach potato. Some of the myths that were perpetuated on me were as follows:

• Exercising changes your milk, and the baby won't like the taste of it.
• Lactose gets into your milk and causes the baby to have stomach aches.
• Your milk supply will decrease.

After researching the above topics, I found each to be false. My baby hasn't rejected my milk, even when I feed her directly after exercising. My doctor calls it a "salty margarita," because there's salt on the lip of the "glass" but not in the glass. I have been more susceptable to mastitis because of my long workout days, but we've trudged through it.

As long as I take a prenatal vitamin and eat plenty of calories, my milk supply has stayed high. It's more difficult to lose weight fast because I have to eat plenty of calories, but slow and steady wins the race.

Hawaii Half in three weeks

So more than a year has gone by since my last post. Since that time, we have added another addition to our family. Nohealani was born in February, and I started training about a month after her birth. Have I lost all the weight I gained? Nooooo. But let's not go there. Well, actually, can I just say TV folks are sooo not in touch with reality? They were making a big deal of Tori Spelling gaining 40 pounds over her pregnancy. Big deal. Forty pounds is nothing to cry about. I read that Elizabeth Hurley gained 53 pounds, and Jenny McCarthy gained 60 pounds. I myself gained the nice round number of 47 pounds. So I have between 10-15 more pounds to go. But I'm not sweating it. It will disperse somehow or another.

I've been training about one hour a day, and between three and four hours on Saturdays. My days off are Sundays. I am following a plan in a book my husband bought me and it is supposed to get me ready for a half-Ironman in 13 weeks. My doctor is also a triathlete, and he gave me the okay to start training a month after my little girl's birth. He's a pretty cool guy and I see him at races on occasion.

Nearly a year later

It's been a while since I wrote, but I have much to report. Now my glorious husband has joined me in the sport of triathlon, but that also makes it difficult for us to both compete in the same races. One of has to watch the kids. But I'm not daunted. In the off season, I haven't done much except run. I'm okay with that, however, and I will be getting back to the sport starting next week. Then it's the Saratoga Spring Splash the last weekend in April. I turn 30 on April 11, so I can't think of a better time to get back into the sport.

My husband is an Ironman! Actually, a half Ironman, I guess. He finished the California Ford Half Ironman in March. They swam in the frigid ocean, with temperatures of 54 degrees faranheit. Yikes! My husband said he was so cold he could hardly breath, even with a wetsuit on. But he survived the swim (1.2 miles), did amazingly well on the bike (56 miles), and survived the run (13.1 miles). All this from someone who, I swear to you, could barely swim and run nine months ago. He has come a long way, and dropped 40 lbs. in the process.

Our next trip is to Hawaii for the Honu Half Ironman. My husband is part Hawaiian, and he hasn't been back to the land of his heritage since he was 4, so this will be a momentous trip for many reasons. Our dear girls are staying with Grandma and Grandpa, while we relax in the sun (after the race, of course). It will be like the honeymoon we never had.

First Race

If you are interested in triathlons and have never done one, you can be in shape, even if you've been a couch potato for many years, in less than six months. Of course, I'm not talking about an Ironman or even half Ironman, but start with a sprint distance or an easy Olympic distance.

So I started with the Salem Springs Sprint triathlon in Salem, Utah (about 50 miles south of Salt Lake City). Terrific triathlon to start with! The night before the race, they had a "beginner's" meeting, where Dave Probst (I think that's who it was), a local triathlon coach, gave an hours worth of great stuff for free. The biggest advantage I could offer anyone that he shared with us from the meeting is to not let your first open-water swim be the race itself. Luckily, I had experienced my first open-water swim in Utah Lake two nights previous to the race. He is so right. An open-water swim is sooo much different than swimming laps at a pool. It's scary and hard. You seem to move much slower, and at times I was wondering if I was moving at all. But you do get used to it, and quicker than you'd think.

Salem Springs is a mountain-water runoff stream, so the temprature hovers around 63 degrees. Wetsuits are mandatory. I bought a $240 wetsuit from the Orem Swim, Bike, Run shop, a great purchase since I plan on competing in triathlons for years to come. My husband is well versed in the biking world, having worked at a bike shop during his undergrad years, so he hooked me up with a sweet Lemond road bike for just over $700. So there was a lot of money to fork out for this, but well worth it if it keeps me motivated to stick with it for years to come.

The swim had a slight current. The bike course was flat and fast, and the run followed much the same path as the swim. My goal was to come in under 1 hour 30 minutes. I finished in 1 hour 29 minutes. I was estatic! I had a smile on my face from start to finish. I just had a great time, which probably sounds weird to those who don't like to run or compete in events, but I seriously loved it.

Getting into shape

So March came, and even though I wasn't sure if I was ready to compete in a triathlon (nor was I sure I would ever be ready) I made the leap of faith to plunk down $60 and signed up for two triathlons: the Salem Springs Sprint Triathlon in June and the Burley Lions Spudman Olympic-size Triathlon in July.

My training consisted of going to the gym every other day and doing two workouts totalling no more than 1 1/2 hours (because that's as long as I'm allowed to leave my kids at the Gold's Gym daycare without paying more. Plus, my kids could only handle being there for about that long.) So the 1 1/2 hours also included transition time. So I would bike for 40 minutes, then run for 35-40 minutes; then the next workout would consist of 30 minute swim and 35-40 minute run. I'd interchange those three times a week, than on Saturday, I'd try to double all my efforts by biking or swimming for an hour and running for an hour early in the morning when my husband didn't have to get up early to go to work.

Since my brother is a workout nut and loves traithlons, I also sought his input. He, of course, thought I should be working out more. But I'm a mother of two, for crying out loud. Wasn't gonna happen. I had to be content with my workouts as they were.

My biking speed was fairly slow, and it was on a bike machine, which does not a real road ride make, as those in the know, know. I went about 13-15 miles per hour. My running started at 6.0 mph and increased to between 7 and 8 mph. My swimming speed stayed fairly steady, taking me about 40 minutes to swim a mile. I found that my favorite was the swimming. What a rush! The feel of the water, the way my muscles felt strong after 20 laps, the joy of floating and realizing that for humans, swimming is what I imagine it would feel like if we were able to fly. Glorious.

Warm-up and Introductions

The triathlon season is over for me, but perhaps it's good to reflect on what I have accomplished and set goals for next season.

It started in December '04 when my weight had reached nearly 170 pounds, more than 40 pounds from my low weight and at least 25 pounds over my goal weight. Enough was enough. So I chose the Christmas season to challenge myself to lose weight. For some reason, the challenge of losing weight during the pie hoovering season seemed like a great idea. My thinking: If I can lose weight now, I can keep the lifestyle change throughout the year. I started by reading a few chapters of the Dr. Phil Weightloss Challenge book. I got bored with the book, but continued with the weight loss.

I started with running. Running is my fall back. It's the thing I do. I know how to run. I started by running 30 minutes five times a week. My husband and I re-enlisted in our Gold's Gym membership pass, only this time we added the daycare option. I tried getting up early in the morning to work out, but then I lost my motivation, so rather than beating myself internally for not getting up early to exercise, I took my two girls (ages 2 and 1) to Gold's Gym for an hour in the afternoon while I worked out. Since I was an athlete in high school, I thought I'd choose the hour between 3 and 4 p.m., just like after school sports, to run on the Gold's Gym treadmill. It also gave me the added benefit of being able to watch Dr. Phil with my headphones on.

Around late February I started thinking about triathlons. I have a brother who does triathlons and loves them. Could I love them too? I'd run a marathon four years prior, and I knew I didn't love them.

Short break while I get my girls some breakfast.