Skin Care for the Athlete

Since the summertime has hit, I have been having more difficulty controlling breakouts. 

I sweat much more these days as my miles increase, my spin classes increase, and it is insanely hot everywhere I go!

So I consulted with my friend Larisa

Laris is an Esthetician at Trios Salon. She is amazing! She is sweet, kind, and caring as well as educated in her field. Click HERE to learn more about Larisa!

Here's what Larisa writes...

• • One of the main functions of your skin is “excretion” which is eliminating waste products or also known as “sweat”. As you are working out and producing sweat, you are detoxifying your body—which is always great! Because of this you need to take special care of your skin, before, during and after workouts.
    
    First, NEVER work out with makeup on. Your pores are opening to allow for the flow of sweat out, which means that things can easily get “in” them. The sweat will combine with the oil and makeup on your skin for a big mess that is a breeding ground for bacteria and breakouts. Remove your makeup before working out and prepare your skin with a spritz or blot of toner and a light layer of moisturizer.
    
    Second, during your workout you should have something on your skin. Especially if you are a sensitive skin person or you are prone to breakouts. Having a light moisturizer (Bioelements Oxygenation, Beyond Hydration, etc.) will protect your skin and will allow the sweat to basically “slide off” of it, instead of sitting on top of the pores and disrupting them. If sweat irritates your skin, a light moisturizer will help to protect and soothe your skin from the stinging.
    
    If sweat is like gathering up the garbage and putting it in bags and setting it on the curb—you need the professionals to drive by and remove it. If you let your trash sit out on the curb….well, we all know what happens. It is a similar to what will happen if you let that waste sit on your skin. So after your workout you need to cleanse! Remove that waste! You should use a cleanser appropriate to your skin type then follow up with toner and moisturizer. If you are in a situation where you cannot cleanse right away I would recommend a bacteria-zapping toner like the Bioelements Active Astringent, a favorite to keep in your gym bag for a quick post-workout blotting.

Keep you eyes open for another installment from Larisa!

Mom and Me Mondays start with a run!

I only had one client on my schedule today and she happens to be my very best friend of over 16 years. So I knew she wouldn't mind if Wes tagged along to our training session. I opted to keep Wes out of preschool today for Mom and Me Monday.

But first....I Run!!

I dropped off Wes at the Y-care center at the YMCA and hit the treadmill. I had 6 miles on my schedule.

The first two miles I spent warming up and working out the cobwebs. 

The next 3.5 miles I spent doing quarter mile hill repeats alternating between 1%-2%-3% incline.

I finished with a half mile cool down and then did some leg work in the weight room.

After that I grabbed Wes and headed to my appointment. We were the only ones at the Studio and Wes did a great job! 

Then it was FUN TIME!!

We went to Fun Plex and got the double park pass. A Full day at an amusement park and a water park!

We had a blast!

We played in the kids area and the "motion ocean"

The motion ocean is a large pool that has big motors that create large waves in the pool. It is super fun!

We rode down some awesome water slides!

We did the tilt-a-whirl, bumper boats, Ferris wheel, and more!

I even talked Wes into riding the "big" roller-coaster with me...

Was not his favorite thing....in fact he asked me not to go on it again. But he rode it like a champ!

We spent 6 hours playing today!

I might have to make Mom and Me Mondays and more permanent part of our week......I want to make sure I get to spend time with him while he still wants to spend time with me!

Race Research

I've been researching my next race to get my training schedule down pat for the next month or so. Ok....really I've just been freaking out about hills the last couple of days and I'm slightly OCD. 

General Information

Marathon Name: Nike Women's Marathon

Official Sponsor: Nike

City: San Francisco

State or Province: California

Country: United States

Continent: North America

Start Location: Union Square

Event Specifics

Events: Course Type: Road

 Maximum Elevation: 335 ft

Minimum Elevation: 3ft

Elevation Change: 332ft

Average High Temperature: 69º

Average Low Temperature: 51º

My two go to hills routines are a hills pyramid where I increase the incline every 1/2 mile until I hit 4% then back down. I do this for the set amount of miles for the day. OR I do hill repeats where I up the incline to 3% for a half mile, then back down to 1% for a half mile for the set amount of miles for the day.

Anyone have any other suggestions???

I am all ears!

 

Hottest Race EVER!

I know that Badwater (click here) is suppose to be the toughest and hottest race on the planet....I think my Triathlon today could beat it!  Heat AND humidity

6am: Temp 78 Humidity: 84%
Noon: Temp 90 Humidity: 67%

I climbed in the car at 6:30, race gun went off at 8am. I picked up my packet and set up my transition area, then found my buddy Jen. We sat in the shade until the start. It was H-O-T.

Then swim went ok....I still do not understand why open water swims are so much more difficult! I just don't get it!!! I can swim a mile in the pool but you get me out in a lake I a struggle with my 550 meter swim! Ugh!

They changed the course this year for the bike....it was a much better ride but also a much tougher ride! Very hilly. Although it was a tough ride, I like this course much better than last year!

When I saw my time after the ride, I was happy! The run started off tough, you could feel the heat radiating off the paved trail....brutal. I caught up to a co-worker of mine and we did the last half of the run together. Not my fastest 5K, but my toughest by far! It was really great to have someone for support for the last part of the run, it made a big difference!

I ended up getting goosebumps on the last half of the race, which is not a good thing. I knew I was way overheated. I crossed the finish line, happy with my time, kicked off my shoes, and headed straight for the lake. I stood, waist deep, until the goosebumps went away and then found my hubby and sister who came out to support me!  It was so brutal out, I didn't stick around to chat or see awards. My results..

2011                                         2010
Swim: 17:00                                                   Swim: 17:00
Bike: 53:10                                                     Bike: 1:04:48
Run: 29:02                                                      Run: 30:57
Time: 1:41:46                                                  Time: 1:58:58

I am pretty happy with my time, especially considering the weather conditions! I have no other Tri's on my schedule for 2011. Now it is time to focus on marathon training. Next up..

NIKE WOMEN'S MARATHON!!!

Info...click here

Triathlete Lab Rat Complete

I have completed the final section of being a lab rat. My last round consisted of a VO2 Max test on an arm ergo-meter....

 

This thing.

After the test, I got all my results. My VO2 max and body composition. 

I'm nervous about posting this on the world wide web, but all in all, I feel pretty good about the results.

I am 32 years old

I am 5'6" tall

I weigh 156 lbs

My VO2 Max is 45.1 which puts me in the"very good" category. The Intern looked up some numbers and I am in in 88 percentile.  All in All....I feel pretty good about that.

I have 18% body fat. The intern looked up more numbers and I am also in the 88 percentile.

That number puts me in the "athletic" category. I suppose I would like that number a little lower but honestly I am ok with it. I am a 36 D and enjoy having curves. I like feeling feminine, I love being a mom.  At this point I know I am in good shape and can keep up with my son.

Although I would like that nice tight tummy I used to have several years ago.....

Gift from Blogs Abroad

It is amazing how much blogging has made to world a smaller place!

I have gotten to learn about some pretty amazing people from some pretty amazing places and haven gotten in contact with old friends as well.

First, I received a postcard from Sweden!

Tina at tinajoathome sent me this pretty postcard. Tina is a runner and mother to boys so we share some similarities despite being strangers from thousands of miles away!

Jess at blondeponytail is an old friend from high school. We have reconnected in the virtual world and have gotten to spend some time together over the last week or so as she visits her parents. Jess lives in Washington with her amazing Baseball Coach for a husband. She is a marathoner and an all around great athlete. While she is in town visiting, I have invited Jess to come to some of my spin classes! It has been fun catching up! She brought me this super cool Tri It Wear T-shirt!

Julie at Adventure is Out There is a fellow Team In Training athlete from Oregon. She is super amazing!! She just completed fundraising for the Team AND completed a HALF IRONMAN!!!! 

She is a mom, enjoys wine, and is an insane endurance athlete like myself!

I won her giveaway and she sent me this Zaca Recovery patch....for those days when the wine tastes a little too good!

Julie threw in a bonus gift!!! This super cool Team In Training towel!

This inside is the awe inspiring Team logo and it reads..

"Suck It Up Princess"

LOVE IT!

I am totally feeling the love from my blogging buddies!  Thanks Gals for totally making my week!

Weekend Race Warrior

This weekend was the Run For Justin. I must say.....I rocked a PR.  

The Results:

Overall    Div                                                                              Time  Pace
278/609  22/64    Nikki Kendall         Omaha NE           32 F     27:57  9:00


Next weekend is the Papillion Mayor's Triathlon. I am a little nervous about to lake conditions for this event. After seeing the glowing green lake, I am anxious about algae levels. I know they will test the levels before the event and in all honesty...I'm hoping they swap it for a duoathlon! That water looks awful!

I have had very poor event planning for these two events. I taught an extra "power pilates" class on Friday before the 5K and came into the 5K with sore and tired hips and glutes. I forgot to ask for a sub for my two classes the Friday prior to the Tri and actually volunteered to sub an extra spin class the Thursday before. I'm not real sure what I was thinking.....I'm nervous now. I may still request a sub for my Friday classes and see what I can get.

With everything that has been on the schedule lately I am noticing a few "burn out" symptoms. Mainly in my eating. I can honestly not eat enough! I have had ice cream the last 3 days in a row which in not my normal eating habits. I'm looking forward to getting the Tri over with and not having an event on the schedule for a couple months. I am looking forward to just focusing on running.

I complain about being a little burnt out but in the same breath I am hoping to rock another PR next weekend. I know I am faster as far as my run and my ride.....I think I can PR this race. I did this race last year as my first Tri and I am hoping to knock off some time!!

The Butterfly Project

We decided to show Wes the wonders of nature with a Butterfly Garden

You order your kit online and are sent a cute little container of caterpillars and a mesh habitat.



The caterpillars grow in their little containers that come full of the peanut butter looking substance for a week or so. They grow impressively fast!

Soon they attach themselves in their cocoons to the top of the container lid and you have to place them inside their mesh habitat.

Within a few days...BOOM...Butterflies!

What I never knew....when butterfly's hatch, there is the red substance similar to afterbirth that coats the lid that they attach to and drips from the new butterfly's little body.

In this picture you can see the newly hatched butterfly and the red ickiness next to him.



You feed your new butterfly's sugar water and orange slices for a few days before you let them go.

We decided to set the butterfly's free on the Fourth of July....it is Independence Day after all!

So we let the boys set free the butterflies at our BBQ on Monday

However...our timing was very poor.

As you can see Butterflies waste NO time attempting to expand their population.

Butterfly sex......

Now you've seen it.

Happy Birthday America

 We started off our Fourth Of July weekend celebration with a 9 mile run on Saturday followed by the Home Run Derby.....can you get more American than that????

We headed down to TD Ameritrade Park and got to watch some amazing college players shoot for the stars! A young freshman won the derby! Impressive!

They let us down on the ball field to enjoy the most amazing display of fireworks! The biggest display this side of the Mississippi River from what they say!

As you can see.....Dave and I still have fireworks between us...

So how did you celebrate the Fourth of July??

Here in my house...

We spent the Fourth of July playing!

And setting off explosives!

It was great!  Good food, good friends, and family.