Women of Steel

Women of Steel

I competed in my first triathlon since being pregnant and having Savannah yesterday. I was talked into it by friends at the gym while I was pregnant, and I wasn't too sure about it so soon after having the baby. Luckily, the birth was a breeze and my recovery was amazing. I felt so great after having her. I was able to start running again about 3 weeks after having her. I have been able to bounce back quickly and am now up to running 7 miles at a time at an 8:30 pace (or so). Spinning has always felt good and I feel stronger in every way since having this baby. It is a world different from when I had Jack, but I guess that is because I was in good shape when I got pregnant and throughout my pregnancy. The swim was always the issue for me, and I have only swam three times in the last 2 years. I was pleasantly surprised to be faster than I thought I was and I can do 300 meters in about 6:30.

Yesterday dawned cloudy and pouring rain so I wasn't that excited to get out there. I was a bit of a buzz kill on the drive to American Fork. Luckily the ladies with laughing with me and we didn't know what to expect. We got down there and they announced that they had canceled the swim and we would be doing a run, bike, run. We started with a 1mi run. That felt good and really helped to warm us up. The bike was next and it was almost 13 miles. I loved that. I was a little nervous on the wet roads, but overall it felt good. Next was the 5k run and that was harder than I expected. Getting off the bike to run really was hard. My legs felt like jello and I literally felt that I was running soo slow. It was hard to keep going and to get my legs moving. I started feeling better about half way in. It was still more painful than I was prepared for. When I saw the finish line, I kicked it in a bit more and finished with tears in my eyes. I finished in 1 hr and 19 min. That was good enough for 7th in my age group, but 3rd in my age group in my bike time. I was actually surprised to see that I finished the 5k in little more than 24 min. It felt A LOT slower than that. Overall, I was 63rd out of about 600 ladies so I can't complain with the top 10%.

I love my ladies from the gym. It sounds stupid to say it, but the gym has changed my life and really introduced me to my very best friends. I love that we can compete with each other, support each other and be there for each other. I am lucky to have such great ladies in my life. I am so grateful to be a woman. We are lucky to be able to create little tiny humans and to have such amazing bodies! I'm proud of myself and what my body can do. I am actually going to train harder for the next one to see what I am capable of!