I'm Tri-ing

If you've read my last post here, you know that I'm embarking on a bit of a foray into triathlon this year. So in order to ease myself into this whole adventure, I thought start with an indoor triathlon held at our local YMCA. I found out about it through a local triathlon club.  {More about that in a moment}.  Anyway, it sounded kinda fun and unintimidating.  It involved swimming laps in the indoor Y pool for 20 minutes, followed by a 10 min transition, then 30 mins on the stationary bike and then a 2 mile (3.5km) run along the Centennial trail that runs behind the Y and along the Spokane River. Hmmmmm...sounds very doable.So here's how it went.
I got there a little early and the first wave at 8:00am were already starting in the pool.  My wave was 8:30am and I'm so glad I opted for the later session.  There were only 5 of us in that second wave so we got our own lane in the pool.  The first wave had about 12 people and so they were all sharing a lane.  While I was waiting I got to meet Spokane Al.  He was just as nice in real life as he sounds on his blog.
I was kinda nervous getting in the pool...swimming is definitely my weakness...but everyone was so nice and encouraging...so I just did my best. 
I took too long getting changed out of the pool..( I can see already that transitions are going to be a problem for me )..so I only had 20 mins on the bike instead of 30 mins.  The organisers had an awesome ironman video playing so the riding went by fast. Then it was out on the trail for a run.  The weather was beautiful and it was just perfect running weather.


The Results...


Swim = 18.5 laps in 20 minutes (465 yards)
 - heaps of room for improvement here.
Bike = 10.7 miles in 20 minutes
Run = 2.14 miles in 18:06 mins (pace = 8 m 27s/mile)


The Verdict...


I had a blast. The people were awesome and it was just so much fun. 


And finally the most exciting news......I mentioned that this tri was organised by a local tri club, Team Blaze.  Well...I am now officially a member.  How exciting.  I picked up my team kit today...hence the photo in my team shirt above.(Yes...I know I look a bit bedraggled but this was taken straight after I got home from the "Y" - pre-shower).  I took my camera to the tri and I took NO photos at all.  Zip, zero, nil nada...so this pic of me in my new kit will have to do.

Never Say That Science is Dull.

Let me just set the scene.


We are currently learning about the Solar System in science.


I'm giving the kids random facts about a particular planet to see if they can guess what it is. Well it usually goes something like this:
- It's referred to as the "Red Planet".
- It's the 4th planet from the sun.


The first one to know what it is calls out "Mars".
You get the idea.


So today I'm giving out some clues:


- It's the seventh planet from sun.
- It's the third largest planet in our Solar System.


{NOTHING}


So a few more clues...


- It was the first planet discovered using a telescope by William Hershel in 1781.
- It was named after a Greek god who was the father of the Titan, Kronos and the grandfather of Zeus.


(STILL NOTHING)


Ok, OK a few more...


- It's made up largely of gas...hydrogen, helium and methane.


{I hear a stiffled giggle...then silence again}


Hmmmm...


- It has a ring system and is extremely cold...


{More suppressed laughter and I look up from my book to see 3 faces with hands pressed firmly over their mouths}


"You know what this planet is don't you?" I asked them. They shook their heads.
Yeah right.
"You just want me to say it don't you?"
More head shaking
"Fine" I say, "The planet's name is URANUS"
The kids just can't hold it in any longer and fall over laughing hysterically, rolling off the couch, gasping for breath between fits of uncontrollable giggles.


Sometimes I forget what kids...{especially boys}.....find amusing.  Bodily noises are right up there but somehow...hearing your mother say "Uranus" was number one on the list today.

Time to Get Serious.....Seriously

So you may remember that last year I committed to doing a triathlon this year.  I won't go into the fact that I may have been under the influence of alcohol but regardless I filled out the entry form and paid my money.  Committed.


No sweat...at that stage the triathlon was a year away and I still had plenty of time.  Being the planner that I am I started walking on the treadmill to get into a little bit of shape ....and then finally after about 2 months I tentatively went for my first run.  It was actually a run/walk but whatever, it was faster that my usual pace.  I honestly had no intention of doing anything except making it through this triathlon thing without ending up in the ER...not bad for a race plan right! So I was as surprised as anyone when I actually started to....dare I say it...ENJOY this whole exercise thing.  Crazy!


So here we are in March.  Somewhere between last summer and now I have also committed to a second triathlon, 2 half marathons and possibly a full marathon this year. And no...I wasn't under the influence of alcohol when I signed up for any of these other races. 


So along with all the other riveting goings on in the Melville household you will now be subjected to my intermittent training reports.  I know...you are just on the edge of your seat in anticipation. 



So this morning I headed out early to the Centennial trail for 11 miles.  Matt snapped these pictures of me this morning.  You can see me trying to hide my morning hair unsuccessfully under my cap.  Garmin...check.  Fuel belt...check.  Fluids...check.  Nutrition...check. And off I go. 

After I got home I had my first ice bath....brrrrr.  But my legs are thanking me now.  11 miles in the bag.

Happy St Patrick's Day

What better way to celebrate St Patrick's Day....than with Green Krispy Kremes. Mmmmmm.

The Derby

Jack's first pinewood derby with his Boy Scout group.



So much went into the vehicle preparation. Lots of very cool designs. Jack's is the dark green one at the back



The racing is all very serious....the track, the timer.



But the most important thing...EVERYONE gets a trophy.

Boys

Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words.


This is what happens when you ask boys to add some food coloring to frosting for cupcakes?


Hmmm...yup!



And this is what happens when a neighbor who works for a airplane parts manufacturer is cleaning out his storage unit. It amazes me how stuff can just mysteriously appear in my house out of thin air.

Yeah...I know...ANOTHER update!

Yeah, yeah I know....I have been a bad blogger.  Bad Donna...bad, bad Donna.


I guess life has been getting in the way of my blogging.


These update posts are starting to become the norm for me.


Firstly to explain my blog moving....hopefully this is only temporary.  Blogger has very thoughtfully decided to discontinue supporting FTP publishing which iswhat I use to publish my blog to my website.  So until I figure out how to publish it to my site some other way I have had to transfer it back to its original blogspot address.  Ugggg...technology is not my friend :-(



(Surprise, surprise...our usual photographer in front of the camera for a change)
So back to our regular broadcast...it's all about skiing and snowboarding here.  We are coming to the end of our 9 weeks of Friday ski and snowboarding lessons.  We have been taking Fridays off from regular school work to head up to Silver Mountain....you can see why homeschooling is a BIG hit in our house.  The kids have made a heap of friends and have just LOVED honing their skiing and boarding skills.  And to make the last day extra good Matt took the day off work and joined us. The weather was beautiful...50' and sunny...and Mother Nature had been kind enough to deposit 4 or 5" of fresh powder for us the night before. NICE.



If you can stand the camera jiggling around here is a fun video that Matt took yesterday.  It really highlights the typical mayhem of our ski days.  We always have at least a half dozen other kids and adults skiing and boarding with us. Yes...ALL the kids you can see in this video are skiing with us.  Can tend to make the process a little bit like derby car racing...lots of mayhem, crashes and  F.U.N.

The Loose Tooth

WARNING:  This is NOT for anyone with a weak stomach.  It's a little gruesome...but it gives you some insight into the World of Melville.


It has become tradition in our house that Dad is the puller of all loose teeth.  I can handle vomit, diarrhoea and other assorted bodily disgutingness but those little wiggly teeth REALLY turn my stomach.  So whenever there is a wiggly tooth it is customary to have Matt examine the said tooth and test its wiggliness (is that even a word???) and determine whether the tooth is ready to come out or not.


Max is usually too impatient to work within Dad's time frame and usually pulls them out himself but Jack follows the proper Melville protocol for tooth removal.  Honestly I don't even know how this whole thing started but precedents were obviously set at some point early on and so the kids ALWAYS go to Matt for the loose tooth procedure. 


So if you are a little macabre and your stomach can handle it...here is the whole drama that unfolds every time we have a wiggly tooth :-) AND FYI...this morning Jack announced that he has ANOTHER wiggly tooth.  That will be the third one in 2 weeks.  The poor child will probably be eating paste for the next 6 months :-)

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