Wildflower Triathlon

This is the second year I have participated in the one and only Wildflower Triathlon. Last year's experience at Wildflower was probably my worst race ever. That includes my whole running career, which started in middle school.To quickly sum up my race last year, my swim and bike went decently well. But since this was my first Olympic distance triathlon I did not know how to fuel properly for this distance. Since sprint triathlons are short enough that you can make it through on just water. It was also very hot and I failed to take that into account. So while on the bike I probably only took in about 8 oz of watered down gatorade. By the time I got to the run I was getting seriously dehydrated. I had to walk and at every aid station I tried to take in some water and more gatorade but it just didn't seem to help. I constantly felt like fainting. Once I finished I was very upset on how the race turned out and started to hyperventilate. (For the record, I have never done this before in my life! I didn't even know that that was what I was doing until a volunteer medic came over to help me) To cut this part short, from going into hysterics, being over heated, and seriously dehydrated, I was taken to the medic tent and ended up having a couple IVs.

What I have just shared with you is embarrassing to me because I always figured that something like this would never happen to me. I felt I was stronger than that, and smarter. However, even the strongest and well prepared people will experience things such as this. The good news, I made sure to figure out how to fuel myself for an Olympic triathlon and have never had this issue again! And I hope I never do! Oh, I almost forgot to mention, that after all that happened I still managed to place 4th in my age group (20-24).

Now for the part I'm sure you all are waiting to read about. My race experience this year. How did it compare to last year? There is no comparison! I had a score to settle at this race and I definitely settled it!

This year I decided it would be best to camp at the event. The previous year I stayed at a different area that was about 15 minutes away. My sisters (all three of them) came down with me and we arrived at Wildflower on Friday. Found ourselves a nice camp site near a tree and pitched our tents. This first day was insanely hot. I felt like I was in a sauna! I think the temperature that day got up to about 91 degrees, or at least it felt that hot. Back in Oregon the warmest it had gotten was about 75 degrees. So I was definitely not accustomed to this kind of heat. With the heat being what is was, it was crucial to stay hydrated. I made sure to drink as much water as I could but sometimes water doesn't seem to get absorbed very well. Therefore, it was on to the fruits and vegetables full of water! In particular, cucumbers, seemed to do wonders. I felt so much more refreshed after eating one. I might also add that I ate it plain. Just peeled it and then ate it. No need for dressing or anything else slopped on it.

For the rest of Friday I tried to stay out of the sun as much as I could but still made sure to walk around as not to tighten up. I ventured down to the expo area, which was about a mile or so from our campsite, so I could pick up my packet and then take a dip in the lake to get a feel for it. And let me tell ya, that water felt so lovely! Plus, this would be my first race wearing the blueseventy helix wetsuit, and it was quite comfortable. A lot more flexible than the last wetsuit I had. However, getting the thing on in that kind of heat was not that much fun, but once in the water I was fabulous. That pretty much sums up day 1.

Saturday turned out to also be a very hot day. This was the day for the Long course and Mountain bike races. I wanted to watch the Long course racers not only because that is the pro race but also because my coach, Erich, was racing. They started at 8:00am and the temperature in the morning was very nice, almost chilly, but for racers it was perfect. Sadly though, that temperature rose rather quickly as the race went on, which is about 4+ hours of racing. I was able to watch the start of the race but wanted to get back to our campsite so I could get my easy run and bike done while the temperature was still tolerable. Also, so I could see the finish and not have to worry about getting my workouts in later. To my surprise, the long course run went right by our campsite. I got to see the pros and Erich run. Plus, when they went by I knew if I wanted to see the finish I would have to hustle on down soon after they went by, and I made it just in time. Erich's race results didn't meet his expectations but the absurd heat may have been a factor, not to mention he hasn't been training for long course. Nice Job Erich!
This pretty much sums up day 2. Even though I got in a lot of walking that day I think it was best. Much better than laying around the campsite.

Erich over half way done on the run!

It was finally race day! The weather was not at all like the previous two days. Instead, it was just like Oregon! Overcast, cold, windy and spitting rain. The rain stopped relatively quick, but the cold and wind stayed with us throughout the day. So maybe this was to my advantage since I'm used to training in this type of weather.

The first wave of the day, which was the collegiate waves, went off at 9:00am. My wave was not to start until 10:10am, after all the male waves had gone. The waiting part felt like it took forever! Especially since the wind was so cold and fierce that it chilled you rather quickly. I actually wasn't too nervous by the time it was my wave's turn to go. Maybe I got all my nerves out the previous two days.

The swim was not a very fun one. I had a great start into the water and had good position, but due to the crazy wind the water was very choppy. The way out felt like it took forever. Thankfully, I got a good feel for the water and didn't get a ton of mouthfuls like I did at Nationals last year. Not to mention, blueseventy's helix wetsuit helped tremendously but keeping me more buoyant and flexible in the water. Once I got around the turn buoy to head back to T1 it was much faster cause now I was flowing with the water instead of fighting it. I came out in about 14th position. Through T1 I passed most of them and when I headed out for the bike I was now in about 3rd or 4th position. Swim was 27:57.

Swim start - I'm on the far right

The bike went really well. This course is famous for its hills. I've been told that this is one of the hardest triathlon courses and so far it has been the hardest one I have competed in. Besides having the hills to deal with there was now another factor, wind. This is an out and back course so I only had to fight with the wind for half of it. From the very start I was passing people left and right, well actually just on my right, otherwise it's against the rules and if caught I could get a penalty. Anyways, there were so many people (mostly men, since they went before all the women and I was wave 2 of the women's waves) on the road that I constantly had to stay towards the center line of the road and had to yell "on your left" A LOT! I always disliked having to do that, o'well. I took advantage of all the downhills and straightaways and hills now that I'm thinking about it. The hills actually aren't that bad. People just seem to have a natural fear of them though. There were a few sections on the course where there were big gusts of wind. That made nervous a couple times, and I had to get out of the aero position. Coming into T2 I was now in 2nd position off the bike. Bike was 1:17:19.

Getting back into aero position

Starting the run

I had yet to have any visual contact of the girl that was in 1st position. But I felt strong coming off the bike and I knew that I would be able to catch her if she didn't have a very strong run. At this point I still wasn't sure how far ahead she was, but thanks to some of the male athletes they let me know about how far ahead she was and encouraged me to catch her. One gentlemen told me that she was only about 30 seconds ahead of me, and this really excited me. I was now about 1k into the 10k course and I finally saw her. From there I started to real her in and ended up passing her around the 2k mark. From there I didn't look back and just focused on how many other people I could catch as well as not having to stop at all on the run, as I had the previous year! I had quite a few guys encourage me a long the way by saying "Nice", "Yeah" or something along those lines. My favorite one though, is I was coming up on a group of older gentlemen (I think they were in there 50s) and I could over hear them talking about how awesome it was to pass a lot of these young guys and at that point I passed them and then one of them said "we have just been chicked!" in a half serious yet playful tone. I finished strong and felt good the whole way, relatively. I finished the run in a time of 40:09 and had an overall time of 2:28:36. Times were a bit slower this year due to the choppy swim.

Home stretch

Just finished and am all sweaty and smiles :)

I ended up winning my age group which was 25-29, even though I am technically still 24, and I also was the overall Olympic female winner (1st out of 714 female finishers). This is my biggest win so far and I am so thankful to my family, Erich, friends, and sponsors for helping me achieve this goal! I couldn't have done it without you guys! :)

25-29 Age group awards - Yeah, bottle of wine!

Male and Female Olympic overall winners - Got an awesome transition bag!

Overall, I am very pleased with the way the race unfolded. It didn't have a lot of control over the swim but wish I would've been able to swim it a bit faster. Same goes for the run, which I did have control over. But I can not beat myself up about it considering that I have not been able to consistently run or do a workout for about 2.5 months due to my ankle issue. I am happy to report that I did not feel it at all during the race and should be able to now get back into more running! Yay!

Heart Of The Valley Triathlon

I always have a hard time writing a race recap. I'm not sure why, cause it's pretty straight forward. So I guess I better dive in and get into the meat of the event.

This was my opener race. Heart of the Valley Triathlon that took place on Sunday, April 21st. This was a sprint distance race (750m swim, 12 mile bike, 5k run). I usually dislike pool triathlons (and still do) but there are not a whole lot of triathlons in Oregon that have open water swims in April. At least I can say that swimming at the Osborne Aquatic Center was quite delightful. Their facilities are impeccable. Plus, it was nice to swim in a 50 meter pool vs. a 25 yard pool. It makes swimming with multiple people in one lane more tolerable and easier to pass or be passed. Although, it is quite a change from training in a 25 yard pool. I'd get about half-way through the 50 meters and my body wants to do a flip turn and head back. But after several laps my body and mind adjusted.

I guess the first thing to start with is the weather. Since this seems to always be a factor in racing. Leading up to the race the weather was on and off rain. I was a little worried that this would continue throughout the weekend. Thankfully, the day before it only rained in the morning and as the day went on the roads dried out. Race morning, it was overcast and the temperature was about 47 degrees. Not quite ideal temperature but I'll take that over having rain.

I was in wave #4, which was the last wave of the day to go. About an hour and 10 minutes after the start of the first wave. They were running a little bit behind schedule (30ish minutes) so I had plenty of time to warm up and get mentally prepared. Finally, it was our turn to start. There was 3 people in the lane with me and I was the first person to go. The other two followed in 10 second intervals. The first few laps went alright until I got passed by both of the people in my lane. I made sure not to let a gap form and was able to pass one with a few laps to go. My swim was 11:57.

All ready to go and waiting for my wave

Swim to bike transition went very smooth. Of the few girls that came out of the water before me I passed through transition and at the very start of the bike course. It definitely pays to be able to mount your bike with your shoes already attached. At this point I wasn't sure how many women were ahead of me so I went out to chase them down. When I came to the turn around point I realized I was the first woman. I saw the second one a little ways behind me and made sure not to let her gain on me. This was a hilly course so I made sure to take advantage at every spot possible. I ended up riding a 33:28 for my bike split.

Stupid shoe!

Bike to run transition wasn't as smooth as my swim to bike. My dismount went beautifully but when it came to put my running shoes on...phew, that took more time than was needed. I was having the hardest time getting on my right shoe more specifically. This could have been due to having my ankle taped. (I've had an ankle issue for about the last month. Still not sure what caused it) Finally, I got the darn thing on, grabbed my race belt and was flying out of transition to start the run. My legs felt quite heavy from the start but quickly loosened up. The run course was two loops in a residential area. So it was pretty flat, which worked out great since I hadn't been able to consistently run for the past few weeks. I ended up clocking in a time of 19:13 for the 5k, which was almost a minute faster than any other female.

At the finish!

Because of the different start waves I wasn't sure if I had won or not but felt good about it since the 4th wave was with the fastest swimmers. They printed out the results so I was able to check, and was very excited to see that I did win. I had an overall time of 1:07:19. About 30 seconds ahead of the second place finisher, who I believe was the favorite to win the race.

Overall Female & Male Winners. We got lots of goodies :)

If you feel like reading another race re-cap here is one from Race Center. The article is pretty good but some of the facts are not correct.

Something goofy my sisters and I did today. Enjoy all 8 seconds :) The Smoking Orange

As The Raven Flies Time Trial

Last Saturday I participated in my very first bike race, and the only reason I did was because a recent acquaintance suggested this race. However, I was planning on doing a few bike races through the season to work on my bike racing skills, and this one was perfect timing! This bike race was a time trial one. I don't know if I could handle those other races where you start in a pack. (I know there is a specific name to this type of race, but since I'm still new to the scene of bike racing, bare with me) Anyways, they actually scare me a little bit. Probably, because I have no experience riding with a group of people. I've only been on one group ride and ridden with one or two people at a time. Otherwise, it's just me, my bike and the road. So group riding is definitely something I will need to be working on!

Ok, now for the specifics of race day. Since I had absolutely no idea how these events go I was a little nervous. Well, there are always a certain amount of nerves before any race. But I had no idea if I brought the right gear, what time should I show up, should I bike the course before I race it?

I ended up getting to the race an hour and a half before start time. We (a few of my family members) got there so early that we weren't sure if we were at the right spot since there wasn't any kind of race setup yet and there was only one other car there. I saw that there was a TT bike in that car so I figured we were at the right spot. We drove around a little bit to make sure and by the time we got back to the initial spot we started at, the race organizers were just starting to set up registration. Now that it was confirmed that this was the spot where the race was to take place we went and parked. By this time a few more people were starting to trickle in.

Since I still had no idea what to expect and came so early I figured I should ride the course. As I started to get my bike out and put my gear on I saw some of the other people pulling out their trainers, bikes and they were all decked out in their biking gear. Since it was a little chilly that morning I had on a pair of my running capris, a long sleeve and a bike jersey. My apparel may not have looked like I was a serious cyclist but at least my actual bike gear did. I had my amazing Cervelo P2 TT bike and my aero helmet. At first, I thought the helmet was too much and should've brought my road helmet since I didn't see any others with an aero helmet...yet. But there was no sense in thinking that my gear was over the top. Rather that I'm here to do my best with what I've got and to beat ya'll :) That may sound a little cocky but that is always one of my goals in any race I enter. I want to win!

I've now ridden the course and gotten a good feel for it. The "hills", how to ride the corners, good spots to surge, potholes to avoid, and the roughness of some of the road. I made it back just in time before the first racer was sent off, which was at 10:00am. My time to take off was at 10:22am. Each racer was to take off at one minute intervals.

Once I had gotten back to the start area there were many more racers now. A lot of them were spinning away on their trainers and others were going back and forth on the road. I now saw some of the other people's gear and realized that my gear definitely was not over the top.

It was now about time to get to the start line. So I put on my number, had one last bathroom stop and was now time to wait in line for my turn to go out and hammer it! This part seemed like it took forever as I was watching the clock tick closer and closer to my take off time. As the time got closer I started to get a little more nervous. Also, checking out my competition. Most of the women were decked out! Aero helmet, TT bike, race suit, etc. But this does not always mean they are fast. So my goal, other than to win, was to catch as many women ahead of me as I could and to not let anyone catch me!

5, 4, 3, 2, 1... GO! I went out as fast I could, but made sure not to burn myself out right from the start since the first hill was only about 100 meters into it. The rest of the course went pretty smoothly. There were a few other ups and downs but the biggest climb was the hill at the beginning of the race and at the end. On the way out I caught 3 women and after the turn around I caught another 2. Also, I am happy to say that nobody caught me or even got remotely close to me :)

Waiting

It's my turn next!

Off I go

And I'm gone

A nice view on my cool down ride!

After I crossed the finish line I went to find my family. First to see what they thought of it, which wasn't a whole lot considering they only got to see the start and finish, tell them a little of how it went, but mostly to let them know I was going to go for my cool down. I had never biked out in this area before and let me tell ya, it was beautiful! I was only planning on doing about 30 minutes but once I got out there it was very difficult to turn around. So I ended up doing about 40 minutes. When I got back from my cool down most racers had finished. I had no idea how they were going to be doing awards or when and I wasn't sure if I had placed or not so we decided to leave. Especially, since we were all starving! Later that evening I got online to check the results and I ended being the overall fastest female. Not bad for my first go at a time trial race. Or maybe it was because I got six inches of hair slashed off the night before ;)

Just had to treat myself to a Shirley Temple :)

.

I Hit A Chicken On My Bike...Or Rather The Chicken Hit Me!

Once upon a time there was a young girl around the age of 24, whom hails from the heart of the Willamette Valley, that fell in love with the sport of triathlon. Generally, she swims, bikes, and runs 3-4 times a week in each discipline. For awhile, she was swimming at a couple different pools, but lately it works out best to swim at the pool that is closer to her, which is the Lebanon Community Pool. Being that it is a community pool the lap swim times, with the biggest block of time, are in the morning from 5:30-8:00 am. She prefers these times, as it frees up more of her day to get her work done and have enough recovery before she proceeds to the second workout of the day. Plus, one great benefit to having an early swim is she gets to see the sunrise, which is always such a spectacular sight. As shared before in a previous post, she sleeps with a couple of manx cats every night. Her cat, Jasper, is very sensitive and does not like it when she leaves so early. Therefore, he is in a pouty mood until she returns. Sometimes it takes Jasper awhile to warm back up to her for leaving him in those early morning hours.

Lebanon Community Pool

A beautiful winter sunrise

Waiting for Her return and pouting

Being that she lives in Oregon, the weather is unpredictable. Sometimes she is able to ride outside when the roads are dry and if not, its an "enjoyable" indoor ride. On some days, the morning will start off absolutely gorgeous. The sun is shining brightly with only a few clouds in the sky. Then about an hour later the clouds role in and cover the sun giving it that wonderful grey color. Sometimes you can tell if the clouds are going to dump that lovely form of precipitation called rain, by how dark they are, but sometimes they will deceive you! As I have experienced this on several occasions. Then there are those workouts that are best suited on a stationary bike. It just so happens that those workouts sometimes fall on a day that is warm and dry. Therefore, it is time to be creative to have the best of both.

A dry and then rainy ride.

Enjoying the sun while getting in a quality workout

Beautiful daffodils with a little rain

Since she has been a runner most of her life and lived in the Northwest, it is no big deal to go out and run in the rain, cold, snow, frost, wind, hail, heat, sun, etc. Rather, it makes every run different and entertaining. The road a lot of times can be quite boring. That is why she prefers to run on trails, and she is in luck, for they are in abundance where she lives. Although, most all of the trails are quite hilly. A flat course does not exist out here, sadly enough. But hills build strength. Not only physically but mentally! Here are few pictures of the places she gets to run.

Early morning frost.

A lovely trail

After a rainy run

Old growth forest!

Now that you have read this far you get the idea of how a typical day/week of training goes. Sometimes however, there are things that happen that one would never plan on. And this just so happened to Kambria.

She went out one day riding her bike (Joon Pyo the TT bike) like she always does. That day's ride was a 2 hour adventure that started in Crawfordsville and made its way towards Sweet Home. Since Sweet Home is not super exciting she ventured out toward Foster lake. Normally she would ride about half way on the roads that are not traveled very often, but instead she decided to be courageous and ride on the highway. By doing this, she would ride all the way around Foster lake. A first for her, which always makes a ride more exciting to travel on roads that haven't been traveled before. And oh, what a beautiful ride it was! On one of the final roads on the way back home she saw a chicken in the ditch just a few yards ahead. The chicken looked calm as it was foraging in the grass and dirt. As she drew closer the chicken noticed her and didn't know what to expect and therefore, freaked out. Instead of freaking out before she was near him the chicken decided to cross the road as she was passing. This resulted in a blind panic to make it across the street where the chicken believed it was safe. By doing so, the chicken made contact with the back tire. Kambria tried to pass as quickly as possible to try and avoid a collision but was unsuccessful and felt a little thump. Thankfully, as she looked back the chicken was fine and did in fact make it across the road. We can now say we know where the joke came from "why did the chicken cross the road?" 

Foster Lake

Looks very similar to the chicken that hit her

The day of her ride was one of the famous Oregon weather change by the hour day. It rained on and off all day. It was actually quite beautiful at some points of the day when it would rain when the sun was shining.

Sunny with rain falling!

*I was very unmotivated when I first started writing this post. It started out quite sarcastically and evolved into what you just read. Hope you enjoyed it. :)

Natural Energy Bar Recipe!

Here is the energy bar recipe that I mentioned in my last post.  I have come to greatly enjoy these lovely little energy bars. They are great for either pre or post workout. Although, I would take heed to having before a workout unless you know your body will be fine with them, and if you're not sure, might as well give it a try and see what happens!

This recipe is easy to manipulate. If you don't like some of the nuts or fruits I put in mine, feel free to put whatever you want. I'm sure they will taste just as good!

These are the main ingredients: Rolled oats, bananas, almond or peanut butter, almonds, 3 different dried fruits, 2 other types of nuts.

 

To start with grab 2 - 2 1/2 ripe bananas, mash them and throw them into a sauce pan along with a heaping 1/2 cup of almond or peanut butter. Cook over medium heat until the contents are combined and look somewhat disgusting. Set aside to cool.

Next chop up 1/4 cup of each 3 different dried fruits. Total of 3/4 cup. I used cranberries, medjool dates, and apricots. Throw them into a bowl along with 1 cup of oats, 1/2 cup chopped almonds, and a 1/4 cup of other nuts/seeds. I used pumpkin seeds and soy nuts. I also like to add in chia seeds, but I was, unfortunately, out the last time I made them.

Next, combine the mushy ingredients with the dry.

You're almost done now! Throw the whole thing onto a 13" baking sheet pressing the ingredients evenly throughout the pan. Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 20-25 minutes.

I added some chocolate chips to half them :)

Be sure to let them cool before you start to chop them into bars, or not, if you are super excited to try them...like I was when I first made them :D

Hope you enjoy the bars! Since this recipe can be changed easily I would love to read anybody's revisions or suggestions on making them better or a completely different bar!

Natural Energy Bars - No More Of That Processed Stuff!

I am so picky when it comes to food. For instance, when I was a youngster I use to hate yogurt, beans, eggs (I believed they use to give me headaches), peanut butter, nuts, raisins (I still dislike them), cottage cheese, peppers, onion, garlic, tomatoes, radishes, oatmeal, and I'm sure there are many others but this is all I could remember right now. As I have grown older I have expanded my palate to many of the above listed foods. I think one reason for my ever expanding palate is due to my love of cooking. Also, being an athlete many of the foods I use to hate I need in my diet, and now I love them. Plus, I love all the colors. Making colorful dishes is my favorite! And I've gotta have variety.

The last couple months I have been trying to think of foods that I can consume while on the bike. Foods that are more natural and still give me everything I need without upsetting my stomach. Of course, it's not as convenient as getting some gus or other "energy" bars from the store. Here anymore, it actually really creeps me out to think of some of those "foods" of how processed they are and how long their expiration date is. I know this isn't the case for all energy bars/foods out there but I would prefer to have something that will spoil within a week or less. 

I would like to share one story of foods that don't seem to spoil. A few months back we had some hamburger buns and we ate most of them but there was still a couple left that needed to be consumed. Therefore, into the bread box they went for later consumption. We didn't make anything that required the use of a bun for weeks, and eventually we forgot about them. I think it was about a month and a half to two months until we took them out.(Long time, I know) We examined them and to our surprise they looked exactly the same as the day we bought them. So into the trash they went! Creepy huh? Now I make all of our breads from scratch, and let me tell ya, they taste SOOO much better than the store bought, never molding, creepy bread!

Now back to the energy bars. I found a natural energy bar recipe online and tweaked it a little, and so far I love them! They have either peanut or almond butter (I prefer the almond butter), a variety of different nuts and seeds- almonds, soy nuts, pumpkin seeds, chia seeds, etc - banana, dried fruit and sometimes I add chocolate chips.
So far, I have only tried them on the bike once. This is mostly due to weather and that I haven't done any really long rides that would require me to take some nutrition with me. Plus, I prefer liquid over solids, but that's for another time. Right now I have mostly been eating them as a post workout food.
Here they are. Aren't they pretty? :)

Yum Yum!

If anyone is interested in the recipe, let me know and I would be happy to send it your way!

I'm really itching to try my hand at making an energy bar with pumpkin. Considering my pumpkin craze through the holidays. I don't have any more pumpkin from scratch but I have plenty of canned pumpkin that needs using. I will be sure to write a post about it once I create them!

Monotonous Counting!

Counting is inevitable when it comes to training. Whether it comes in the form of counting seconds, minutes, hours, or laps! For the majority of my life I have been a runner. So having to count laps was never too bad, considering I never had to count over 4 laps at one time. If I wasn't running on the track I had my watch to keep track of the time for me. Now that I have become a multi-sport athlete I now have to count for biking and swimming.

So far I have not had a problem keeping track of time or number of intervals on my bike workouts. When on the road I mostly just have to keep track of time, a few intervals with recovery and at what time I need to turn around at, since most of my rides are out and back. These are starting to become quite monotonous as well.....probably about time I route out some loops around here! As far as indoor bike rides, these can sometimes be hard to keep track of since there are more intervals. But I shouldn't have to worry too much about that now since I just started TrainerRoad. I have yet to use it (just set it up today), but it looks awesome! All I needed in order to use this program is a Garmin ANT+ stick and a Garmin speed/cadence sensor (this is a lot cheaper than having to buy a power meter!). So double awesome!!

Now here is where the true problem lies with for me and monotonous counting...swimming! Swimming and keeping track of laps through an interval can sometimes be quite challenging. Most of the time I don't have a problem keeping my mind focused on the current interval I am on, but then there are those long intervals, such as a 400, 500 etc, that are occasionally hard to count since my mind will sometimes wander. And even if it doesn't I sometimes over think the counting (if that makes any sense). Come to think of it, I even sometimes have a hard time counting for a 200, which would be counting only 4 laps! (This is rare, but it does happen) So what should I do to make counting laps easier on myself?

I thought of having someone count my laps for me during a workout, but I don't think that is very realistic. First, it would be incredibly boring for the person counting. Second, they may even lose track because they are so bored! Third, where would I find this person? I guess I could always try and guilt one of my sisters to do it. Seeing that I have three to choose from :) However, the more realistic option would be a watch that interacts with you. I have been looking into watches that are specific to swimming and gathering data. The one that I like the best is the Garmin 910 xt. It is a bit of a spendy watch, but well worth it. Considering that it is THE multi-sport watch to have! It collects data for swimming, biking and running! I've never owned a multi-sport watch before but am hoping to in the near future. Now if I could just get Garmin to sponsor me and let me try out all of their amazing products! :D

I was looking at pools that would be marvelous to swim at and perhaps make swimming laps not so monotonous. But I'm sure after awhile it would come to that again. So I guess to avoid that, I just need to travel all over the world and change pools every month!