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Why You Should Do a Triathlon

October 7, 2016 by Nikki Cole

Why You Should Do a Triathlon by Nikki Christiansen for Busy Mom's Helper

Want to start getting in shape and feel like you have accomplished something?  I’ve ran half marathons and 5k’s and while they’re rewarding I still feel like I didn’t accomplish anything too great until I did my first Triathlon and this is Why You Should do a Triathlon, plus some helpful tips.

Why You Should Do a Triathlon by Nikki Christiansen for Busy Mom's Helper

Running has never been real fun for me but after running my first half marathon I was so excited for my next.  Sadly after hearing how many people ran the half marathon I didn’t feel like it was all too impressive or rewarding.  I thought maybe I needed to do a full marathon, but sadly my knees are not capable right now to do that.  After searching and doing a couple more half marathons I decided I was going to do my first Triathlon and I was scared about all of it.

Now there’s different styles of Triathlons, there’s a sprint which is what I did which is only a 500 meter swim, 12.5 mile bike, and a 5K.  So still quite a bit distance but not as much as a full or Olympic Triathlon which is double everything.  You can also do a relay with friends or family if that’s more your style.  I did the Sprint Triathlon and after completing it in 5th place in my age group I couldn’t wait to do my next one or an Olympic triathlon and this is Why You Should do a Triathlon too.

No I did not train like crazy for this event but I was in decent shape because I have been doing half marathons and such, still not super fast or anything but had a good exercising program.  The hardest part was swimming, the event was going to be in a pool swimming laps so I found a pool that did lap swimming and went a few times.  Check out your event and see if it is going to be in a lake, ocean, or a pool.  Mine we swam in the pool which also offered lap swimming most mornings.  Luckily I was able to go to a few times and found out that I am definitely not a swimmer, I sank pretty easily.  I just tried making it to each end without stopping and did a total of 10 laps each time, which was the number of laps I would have to do in the Triathlon.  If you can’t make it to a pool just focus some of your training on high cardio, elliptical is great because it is low impact but still gets your heart pumping.  Also get some goggles, nothing fancy just something you can find at Walmart.

Why You Should Do a Triathlon by Nikki Christiansen for Busy Mom's Helper

Biking, ok train for this!  I didn’t bike hardly at all before the event because biking is so simple right?  Wrong!  My butt hurt so badly afterwards that I could barely get off my bike to start running, I felt like I was waddling the whole time and looked like a penguin.   So practice biking just to save yourself from an extremely sore behind.  I used an actual road bike, the ones you see with thinner tires, they coast better but several people went with just cheap bikes they already had.  Make sure your bike also has a good water bottle holder because this is where you will want the most water.

Running!  I ran quite a bit before the race and I would run a 5K about 3-4 times a week so I thought I was really prepared.  No I was not really fast at running but I could run it pretty easily.  This is where training from biking 12+ miles right into running needs to happen.  It was extremely awkward getting off my bike and starting to run.  Like I said my bottom hurt and my legs were so confused at what motion they should be doing, so practice these two together so it’s not completely new to you the day of the event.

Clothing is very important for a triathlon.  I ordered a tri suit from swimoutlet.com that was perfect, sadly though it did cost a little bit but came in great.  If you don’t want to order a tri suit you can also just wear a swimming suit, something that works well swimming,  and slipping on shorts and a t-shirt during transition of events.

Why You Should Do a Triathlon by Nikki Christiansen for Busy Mom's Helper

Some tips to make your event successful.  Most triathlons have orientations of how to proceed through the event the night before, if it is your first time go! There was a lot of useful information and great encouragement.  Practice going through transitions, from swim to bike to run so you don’t get all confused the day of the event.  Also make sure you don’t spend too long drying off after swimming because the clock continues on so real quick dry your feet, throw on your shoes and go.  At your bike have a t-shirt or something with your bib on it so you can just throw that on and not have to worry about trying to pin it on while hurrying through the transition.

Why You Should do a Triathlon?  Because it wasn’t as exhausting as a half marathon and you’ll feel like you accomplished something bigger, like three events not just one running event.  Most triathlons only have a few hundred people but half marathons and marathons sometimes have over a thousand participants.  Why not be one of the few than one of the many?   Triathlons will also hold your attention span better because you don’t do just one event you move between different activities which made it go a lot faster than I thought.  And if you are anything like me running isn’t so nice on your knees, (not that that stops me) but if long distance running hurts triathlons, especially sprint triathlons, are shorter distances of running but still can achieve that gratification of finishing something people think of as extremely strenuous

Completing a triathlon made me feel like I accomplished a goal, not one I knew I had but something that after completing it realized that that is what I would have regretted if I had not participated. A quote I read that got me inspired to do a triathlon says “Why be bad at one sport, when you can be bad at three?” kind of a weird inspirational quote to get you started but it worked for me and I hope you can accomplish your goals, if it isn’t doing physical activities even just get out there and work everyday to accomplish it.  Just remember, I would rather say ‘I did it than I gave up’.

Why You Should Do a Triathlon by Nikki Christiansen for Busy Mom's Helper

Filed Under: Health & Fitness Tagged With: activities, exercise, fitness, health, Sports, triathlon

Don’t Miss Another Girl’s Night Out

April 8, 2020 by Kelly Dedeaux

Night Out

This is a sponsored post. I received product samples to facilitate my review. #CulturelleNightOut

Raise your hand if you’re busy! I’m imagining EVERYONE with their hand in the air, waving it around like a mad woman. Okay, probably not ‘everyone’ was doing that, but you wanted to, right? Because life IS busy! As I’ve gotten older, it’s become much more difficult to get nights out, especially just fun nights out with my girls. Don’t Miss Another Girl’s Night Out – because you deserve a break!

Yes, I’ve had that happen before. One of my best gals was in town visiting from Utah, and only here for 2 days. I was so excited, and was even going to take her back to the airport so we’d have time to catch up. Guess what happened? Yup – got a miserable cold, and didn’t want to share with her so missed out on even seeing her once on that trip. I was ticked! I’m so glad I didn’t miss out on my girl’s night out last month, though, and took extra precautions to boost my immune system with Culturelle Advanced Immune Defense.

Don't Miss Another Girl's Night Out / by BusyMom's Helper / Stay healthy & prevent sickness #CulturelleNightOut #IC #ad

So what IS it? It’s a triple-action dietary supplement that has tons of live active cultures (2.5 billion of that probiotic awesomeness) as well as Epicor, Vitamin C and Zinc so your body’s natural defenses are more activated.  You start taking it about 3-4 days before your event, like my mani-pedi girl’s night out last month, then continue for the full 10 days (1 capsule a day). It’s been a long while since my toes got a cute color on them – so glad I didn’t miss this!

Don't Miss Another Girl's Night Out / by BusyMom's Helper / Stay healthy & prevent sickness #CulturelleNightOut #IC #ad

Since you want to have a blast during your girl’s night, and not stress about the cost, here’s a little help: a $2 off coupon for your own Culturelle Advanced Immune Defense! Get that extra drink or upgrade your nail polish color – or tip your waiter a little more!

It was SUCH a stress relief to just take some time with the girls – and a big THANK YOU to Jeni and Tasha for coming with me for a little pampering! As much as we love our hubby’s and kiddos, it’s really nice to get a break and spend some time for ourselves every now and then.

Don't Miss Another Girl's Night Out / by BusyMom's Helper / Stay healthy & prevent sickness #CulturelleNightOut #IC #ad

What do you think of my pretty purples? I’ve never had the gel nail polish stuff before, but am loving how durable it is – because you know it gets tested when you’re handling kiddos and dishes all day!

Don't Miss Another Girl's Night Out / by BusyMom's Helper / Stay healthy & prevent sickness #CulturelleNightOut #IC #ad

More great fun…

healthy orange julius

Nestle Tollhouse Vs. Dad's Recipe: The Healthier Cookie / by Busy Mom's Helper #cookie #chocolatechip #heatlhy #recipe

Easiest French Manicure Ever / by Busy Mom's Helper #PamperedPiggies #Ad #nailpolish

Filed Under: Health & Fitness Tagged With: health, medicine, sponsored, supplement

Star Wars Half Marathon

September 13, 2018 by Nikki Cole

Star Wars Half Marathon by Nikki Christiansen for Busy Mom's Helper

Star Wars is already amazing; running a Star Wars themed Half Marathon through Disneyland? EPIC!

Star Wars Half Marathon by Nikki Christiansen for Busy Mom's Helper

Contains affiliate links that support this blog at no extra cost to you. See my disclosure policy for more info.

Now I know what you’re thinking ‘there’s no way I could run a half marathon’, well good news there’s a simple 10k or even a 5k you can do as well!  Disney has several fun events throughout the year and some of them are different themed runs that take place through the park.  I got the great opportunity to run the Disneyland Star Wars Half Marathon this year with my husband.

So yes running is hard and no I am not a huge runner. I have had ACL replacement surgery, torn my MCL, and several other injuries to my knees so no I am not a huge runner because it is hard and it gets boring.  I never thought I would run a half marathon because of my injuries and because I don’t enjoy just plain running, but these events are way exciting and it’s satisfying to be able to say I have ran three now.

I have run three half marathons now and every single one of them was hard yes but the amazing memories and the accomplishment from finishing them is amazing. This last one was my absolute favorite, not only did I get another half marathon under my belt, but I got to run with characters in Disneyland and enjoy the celebration of the new Star Wars movie.

Star Wars Half Marathon by Nikki Christiansen for Busy Mom's Helper

If you ever get a chance run in a Disney race, they are so fun and with all the excitement going on you won’t realize how tired you are, you will just know how much fun you are having. Now with that said it does take some training.  No you don’t have to go run every day.  My training consisted of elliptical, biking, running, strength training, and stretching.  Like I said earlier, I have bad knees and continuous running is not recommended at all for them.  I am not giving up my races so therefore when I am not racing I need to take care of my knees, so I don’t run hardly at all in training.  I train on the elliptical to train my lungs and get really good cardio.  I ride a stationary bike to help stretch out my legs and get a little bit of cardio and strength in.  No I do not do squats or lunges, if you have bad knees these can cause damage if repetitively done.  I do however do leg curls, leg raises (backward and forward), inner outer leg lift/press, and calf raises.  I also do walk to help train my feet to be able to stand for that long on concrete without bruising or blistering.  So I don’t run all the time; I will run about 1 to 3 times a month but just 2 to 3 miles, not very far at all.

Some tips if you’re thinking of a Disney run:

  1. Plan early! Look up upcoming events (where, when) and mark the registration date. You will need to sign up usually within an hour if you want something other than the half marathon, the half usually fills up within a couple days. So planning is critical otherwise it books up, so look ahead and plan.
  2. Train! Don’t expect it to be really easy, it’s not super hard either but how great your trip is will be determined greatly by the amount of training you do before. Of course you’ll want to go to the park after so if you don’t train you will be so sore and tired you won’t get to enjoy your trip.
  3. Find a buddy! Mine was my amazing husband who pushes me along and supports me the whole way. We talk through the whole thing and he makes the run so much easier knowing I have that help and support.
  4. Enjoy! Take in everything that’s going on! Enjoy your run, don’t just focus on it being a race focus on having a great time and doing something amazing.

Star Wars Half Marathon by Nikki Christiansen for Busy Mom's Helper

Think it will still be way too boring for you? What if I said there were storm troopers, Darth Vadors, and several other characters and decorations from the show throughout the whole race you could take pictures with?  We had tons of characters from the movie cheering us on the whole way, along with bands playing music to get us pumped.  There were plenty of stops with bathrooms, drinks, and snacks to help us get through it as well.

No I did not get a record time with this half, but it was way exciting and memorable. After the race I also got to spend time in the park which is always an adventure.  One of my favorite parts through the race was going through this kind of tunnel and through the tunnel they played Darth Vador’s voice of him breathing and saying ‘come to the dark side’, it was way cool.  Another part I really liked was being able to not only run through the park but go through behind the scenes areas.  And of course I loved having hundreds of people cheering me on.  Like dressing up?  Perfect, pick your favorite theme and dress up!  Don’t go too overboard because you still have to run.  Through my race I saw Darth Vadors, storm troopers, Leia’s, and all sorts of characters from star wars.  If you like running or not, but want to get in shape and have a memorable vacation, sign up for one of these runs and I promise you will not regret it, even though I was sore after, the memories from this trip are amazing and are going to stay with me forever.

Star Wars Half Marathon by Nikki Christiansen for Busy Mom's Helper

Star Wars Half Marathon by Nikki Christiansen for Busy Mom's Helper

Other fun from Disneyland…

Our Disneyland Rental House / by Busy Mom's Helper

Disneyland just for Kids? by Nikki Christiansen for Busy Mom's Helper

Free Printable Disneyland Height Requirements / by Busy Mom's Helper / Free Printable California Adventure Height Requirements

2016 Unofficial Disneyland Activity & Autograph book by BusyMomsHelper / shared on Carrie Elle Blog

Disneyland Vacation Recap / by Busy Mom's Helper #Disneyland #Vacation

Watch for the next Disney Half Marathon, and book your Disneyland vacation today! Use promo code: BusyMomsHelper for $10 off your vacation package!

Filed Under: Disney, Health & Fitness, Star Wars, Theme Parks Tagged With: Disney, fitness, fun, health, running, Star Wars, travel, vacation

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Unofficial Disneyland Activity Book / by Busy Mom's Helper
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