The Backpacker's Life: Central American Adventure

Guatamala-> Honduras-> Nicaragua-> Costa Rica

Crazy...yes.  Smart...extraordinarily.--->  This trip is probably the wildest thing I have done in my life, but it also was the best thing that I could have done. While living out of a backpack, taking almost exclusively cold showers for weeks, managing with no air conditioning, trying exotic foods, and doing things I never dreamed I could do...I realized that I know exactly who I am.  (Not what you thought I would say, right?)  I didn't "find" myself on this trip, rather I realized that I'm not lost.  I enjoy my home town (relatively small city with a dash of country and southern charm),  I have a great family and supportive friends, I am proud of the career I have built for myself and love my job,  I have the sweetest dogs, I've moved beyond the limitations that my feet have put on me, and most importantly, I'm happy and feel centered and balanced.  It's taken years to get back to this level of peace, and this trip showed me that I've accepted all the ups and downs of my life and no matter what, I am choosing to make the best of it.  

Trip Highlights: 

~Guatemala- Explored markets, streets, and nightlife

~Honduras- Horseback riding up and down a mountain to see Mayan ruins and visit ancient villages; scuba diving, lounging in natural hot springs, 

~Nicaragua- Volcano boarding (hiked up an active volcano and rode down on a wooden sled), looked into an active volcano's crater (close enough to it to cough on the sulfuric gas), made a clay pot with a manual pottery wheel, spent 3 days living with a local family who spoke not a word of English (I had to pull out my Spanish language skills big time!), completed a 6 hr hike of an active volcano

~Costa Rica- climbed a hollow tree, went ziplining (including flying superman style on a line that was 1 mile long!), visited a coffee, chocolate, and sugar cane farm, more hot springs, canyoneered and repelled waterfalls, went white water rafting

Here are some of my favorite photos from the trip:

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Reflection

2 YEAR ANNIVERSARY- Right

*Right: 2 year surgery anniversary*

I was having so much fun living my life that I actually forgot about my anniversary until a couple days after it passed...whoops. This is another major sign that I've moved on from the impact these surgeries have had on me and have defined a new life for myself...crappy bionic feet in tow. On June 4th, 2015, my 2 year right surgery anniversary, I spent the day doing something I had never dreamed of doing and certainly something I thought I was too scared to do. I mean...I'm the girl that believed that there were sharks in the deep end of the swimming pool for the better part of my childhood and I went SCUBA DIVING!!! Like in the legit ocean...40 ft deep...in Roatán, Honduras. I loved it so much that I went back and dove again the next day. It was an unforgettable experience. I think that any time that you are that far outside your comfort zone, there is always a lasting impact on your life.

The tank alone was 60 lbs!!!! The biggest challenge for my feet was standing up with all the equipment on in preparation for jumping off the boat to begin the dive.  It was also quite the challenge to get back up in the boat with the heavy equipment.  I felt my ankles and knees buckling :/

Race Report- Sprint Triathlon #4

First tri of the 2015 season!!!

Sprint Triathlon #4

Date: May 16th, 2015
Event: Sprint Triathlon (300m pool swim, 12.4 mile bike, 5k run)
Time: 1:45:10
(Swim: 6:30, T1: 2:23, Bike: 53:30, T2: 1:14, Run: 41:34)
Age Group Place (25-29): 9/11 (still not last!!!)

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The Swim- 300m Pool Swim (6:30)

Average Pace: 2:10 per 100m

Really proud of my improvements in the pool.  I've been doing more sprinting in my pool racing, but I have also improved my endurance.  I cut 1 minute and 29 seconds off of last year's swim time!

The Bike- 12.4 miles (53:30)

Average Speed: 13.9 mph

I'm a lot smoother and more skilled on my bike, but my calves still hold me back quite a bit. The race course was hilly and cramps in my calves struck me.  

The Run-5k (41:34)

Average Pace: 13:23 min/mile, Average Speed: 4.5 mph

My 5k time for a tri keeps hovering around the 41 minute mark.  I strategically go much harder on the swim and the bike, and then just see how I feel on the run.  By the time I got to the run, I realized that I haven't done enough training to push it on all 3 legs yet, but of course, this is just the first race of many this year.

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Reflection

I didn't feel great over this race, but I was proud to be out there.  I really enjoy racing and am just happy to be able to compete again.  I have some work to do to prepare for my "A" race of the season, which is a half iron distance aquabike in October.  Good starting point, but I am ready to finish wrapping up the academic year at my job, take a break from training, and head on my backpacking adventure!

I just might be crazy...

...because I booked an adventure trip to Central America for the summer on a whim!!!! I had an "itch" this week to pick myself up and go on a solo adventure. Hey, that's what frequent flyer miles are for, right?!?! This year has been all about pushing myself outside of my comfort zone again and doing the things I've always wanted to do, the things I probably would have done by now if the pause button wasn't hit while I was going through and recovering from my surgeries.  I haven't been on a real vacation in almost a decade and it is beyond time to get out and see the world.  I had an absolute blast traveling to Europe twice last summer (Portugal and England), but those were both work trips.  It's time to explore on my own and I figured I might as well keep the summer international travel tradition going. I'm not going to let my passport collect any dust! This trip will include a lot of hiking, trekking, and adventure sports.  Oh...and I'm going to need a backpack!  It will be about 3 weeks of backpacking through Central America starting in Guatemala and ending in Costa Rica. I also better brush up on my Spanish again...it's been a few years since I've used it.

Race Report- Marathon Relay

I'm a marathoner* again!!!  

*Full Marathon, run as a relay with 4 people.

Gotcha!  Hey, maybe there will always be an asterisk behind my accomplishments...maybe two, one for each of my reconstructed ankles.

Today, I ran a full marathon with my family.  My mom and dad have only ever done a 5k, and my brother has done up to a half marathon.  I am the only one in my family to have run a full marathon before, but that was before my surgeries.  As an exercise physiologist, I always look for fun ways to keep my family active.  Our Thanksgiving Day 5k tradition is always fun, so I thought it was time to up our game.

 It was a really cold day and tough for me personally coming off of my swim meet yesterday.  Run training has been going well, I'm doing 2-3 runs per week.  My "long run" is about 1 hour 15 mins,  and then I do up to 2, 30 min runs otherwise, ~8-10 miles per week max.  My pace varies with how I feel; I run all off of feeling now.

For the marathon, I ran about 7 miles of it and averaged 11-12 minute miles.  The relay format was a little under a 2 mile loop repeated until we reached 26.2!  We could switch off at the end of each lap when we wanted.  It was easy for my feet to handle the shortened repeated runs compared to running 7 straight, however my feet got tight and cooled down after each run while waiting for my turn, so getting started again was tough.  This is the longest I have run on a single day since my surgeries.  It was really great to cross the finish line of another race!

Maybe it's not the full marathon I'm used to running by myself, but it sure was fun getting my family involved and accomplishing the task together...
 

Race Report- State Masters Swim Meet

First Masters Swim Meet

I've been training really hard since my first meet back in January.  I am now swimming at least 3 days a week balanced with my tri training (cycling, running, and strength sessions).  I really am feeling stronger each week.  For this meet, I entered the 50 breast, 50 free, and 100 IM.  For these events, I only had a few weeks to become proficient in all 4 strokes!!!  Breaststroke has been the hardest for me to learn and butterfly is the hardest to do (for everyone, so I'm not alone on that).  Really jumping right into the deep end with my life challenges this year.  #LiveLifeOutLoud

Results

50 breast- DQ (Time- 53.18)  I was too deep off my dive and I took two strokes underwater before surfacing...whoops!

50 free- 37.24 (Time Drop -2.16)  Extremely happy with this time!  Over 2 seconds dropped in less than 2 weeks.  I am most proud of myself for only taking two breaths on the way back, and I nailed the flip turn.

100 IM- 1:54.31  That was really hard, but oh so fun! It is challenging to swim all four strokes in the same race, but I really love how hard you have to think to keep yourself doing the right thing at each wall and during each length.

Race Report- 1st Swim Meet

I'm a swimmer!!!

I mentioned to my coach a few weeks ago that I wanted to swim in a meet, he immediately responded, "You will, and a year later you'll swim at US Masters Nationals."  I've been swimming for a year now, and it is time to challenge myself.  Being ready for Masters Nationals, I don't know, but I definitely want to start competing to see where I am.  Don't forget my motto for the year- "Live Life Out Loud!"  He and a few of the other local coaches convinced me to sign up for an event in a local high school meet.  It was an extra HS meet for swimmers to earn qualifying times for their conference and state meets, so anyone could really sign up because everyone competes as individuals.

So here I am..27 years old, competing in my first swim meet!!!  The days leading up, I had a lot of work to do.  One of the big things was learning to dive, period, and then to dive off the blocks! I also had to work on my flipturns, since I was going to have to nail one at full speed for the 50 freestyle.  I was soooo nervous that day.  My coach entered a seed time of 39.99 seconds and I was determined to beat it.  No matter how fast I swam, I knew that I would be eating the high schooler's bubbles. But, this was all about me and pushing outside my comfort zone.  I climbed on the blocks when they called us up and my legs were shaking.  I nearly fell off the blocks and false started.   I haven't been that nervous doing anything in a very long time. When the gun went off I dove in and was off.  I swam as fast as I could, the whole time worrying about having to nail the upcoming flip turn.  I took 4 or 5 breaths into the wall (A big NO NO in the swimming world), basically hyperventilating, flipped ok, but came off deep.  After getting out of the turn, I swam as fast as I could and got my hand on the wall. No matter what my time was, I was proud of myself for what I had done.  I crossed a huge hurdle in my swimming career, swimming in my first event!

But then... I turned my head to look at the scoreboard and it said 39.40!!! When I started a year ago, it took me 1 min 15 seconds to swim a 50. I have almost cut my time in half! I beat my Coach's goal time for me and exceeded my own expectations!!! And in that moment, I realized I was hooked!!!