Eileen Swanson's Tales

NEW SITE

2009-05-25T21:00:00.000-07:00

My AMAZINGLY AWESOME sponsor TRAKKERS just created a new website for me. From now on all blog posts will be posted here http://www.eileenswanson.com/ If you want to follow along or comment, please visit and post on my new page. YAY! Thank you so much Trakkers, you guys ROCK. If you haven't already signed up for a race on June 7th, please check out REV3 tri. This will be Trakkers first half IM event with amazing prize purses and awards for all. Check them out http://www.rev3tri.com/
Have a great day!

This pic Trakkers found of me from IM Lou swim back in August inspires me to get in the pool!!

Down but NOT Out

2009-05-18T09:29:00.000-07:00

It's been a crazy 4 weeks. I have been hit with everything I could handle in a short amount of time. The good news is that I am "down but not out." For those of you that read my blog back at the end of March, you would know that I was feeling on top of this world ;-) I was having a series of great luck and success in all of my running and swim races and I was training better than I ever had. It was this fire and desire that made me realize how important my health and happiness meant to me. It is something that we all take for granted every now and then. Of course it is in the low moments that we realize how great we had it.

I have had a foot injury for a little over 4 weeks now which forced me to stop running and training on the bike the way I used to. I am one who loves to do it all and when something is out of whack, I get pretty hard on myself and frustrated. I know I need to work on this. So, what better timing to work on this and focus on my swimming, right? Of course. But 8 days after hurting my foot and organizing and coaching our 3 day Alcatraz Camp, I came down with a wicked case of bronchitis. I was trying as best as I could to stay positive and think that I would still be able to race WF. I still was going to race up until the night before the race when my fellow pro friends and coaches told me that it would not be wise with a hurt foot and still coughing up stuff. So, as you all know I opted to cheer everyone on and have fun! I was still smiling and letting go of my frustration by thinking that my foot and sickness would be all better soon.

A week after WF and I was again feeling so happy and alive while I was on my first run in 3 weeks. It was an absolutely amazing feeling to be running almost pain free. Since I didn't want to overdo it, I waited another couple of days before I ran again since my foot was just a little sore. I ran just a couple of miles and felt a little pain. So again I backed off and waited a couple of days before I attempted another run. My 2nd and 3rd runs were all of 15-20 mins. So nothing spectacular but it sure was nice to get that feeling back.

A day after my 3rd run we were back in SF coaching our 3rd set of Alcatraz clinics. It is super fun and rewarding but also quite exhausting to be honest. We are doing all the sports with each participant and talking, giving lectures and answering questions all day for several days. This clinic was actually the most exhausting for me since I had to swim with the slower but gutsy swimmers and I ended up being in the bay for a lot longer than I ever have and I was just treading water and encouraging the swimmers to keep moving forward. They did awesome and were super happy. And I was frozen solid ;-) But that's my job and I'm happy that I can help people accomplish their dreams of swimming across the bay. The next day I was toeing the line at a local triathlon with amazing athletes and great friends, including Macca, Lieto, Gina Kehr, Kelly Couch, and Kristin Hilger Iavarone.

I was racked next to Lieto and Macca and this was super fun. Macca asked me why I haven't raced in quite a while. Ha! The last time we saw each other was a year ago at WF. He is an amazing guy and it was cool that he was racing at our local tri. Lieto's kid Kaiden was helping me set my transition area up. He became a fan of mine (as Karis his mom says) after learning that I ride with his dad on Wed and race pro too ;-)) So funny! At the swim start I lined up right next to Lieto and Macca was 2 people over to my right. It was such a fun and relaxed swim start with Belle swimming in the water a couple of feet away from us. She finally got out with 3 mins to go, everyone LOVED her ;-) I told Lieto not to kick me and told Macca that I was going to try to stay with him. He said "sure mate, let's go." And then the gun went off and we were on our way. It was pretty mellow and I only had one person hitting my legs over and over for the first 20 strokes, but then it was smooth and comfortable. I think I got too comfortable by just sitting in and drafting. I was feeling just ok so I thought I should just hang there. It was a just ok swim, I came out tied for 2nd with Kelly Couch, and Gina was just a couple seconds in front of us. My time was over 30 seconds faster than last year. For a 3/4 mile swim my time was 16:28. I headed up to my rack and Gina was about to run out. So I stripped my wetsuit off super quick and was off on the bike in 2nd.

Here is where everything leading up to the race decided to show itself. I was fatigued. There is nothing else I can say except that my legs were wobbly and I felt weak. It was such a bummer, but I knew deep down that I had not rested, I have been super stressed, and sick. So what could I ask for? My body was not responding as much as I tried so hard to go fast, I just couldn't. I kept thinking about all the great rides I have had, but it was a no go. I got passed by the 3rd and 4th place pro women and I just didn't have it and mentally gave up a bit. I stayed with it and kept trying but my legs would not respond. So, I just did what I could and when I came into T2 I saw Reid and Belle and I told them I was pretty dissappointed by the look on my face. I wanted to call it a day since I knew I hadn't run in several weeks other than a total of 45 mins. So it would have been really hard to make up what I thought was 4 mins. Now looking back, I shouldn't have given up, 3rd place was only 2 mins up. But I gave up enough to not have a chance to catch her. UGH, what a mistake. I really need to work on my mental game and not letting this injury bring me down this much. It really is not worth it and I know better. I ended up in 5th place with a slower time than last year on the bike for sure. Faster on the swim and about the same on the run. I let 4th place go too, but having a "pity party" with myself attitude. This REALLY isn't me!! I really knew something was wrong. I was just feeling awful. Literally 20 mins after the race I started having this weird flashing in both eyes. I couldn't see more than a couple of feet in front of me. It was scary. I knew a migraine was now coming on. We rushed to get out of the race area and into the car where a full blown migraine took over. I was in SO MUCH PAIN!!! I have never had a migraine this bad ever. I had to throw up several times, I thought my head was going to explode and my eyes were going to pop out. That is how much pressure I was feeling in my head. It was unbelievable. I kept telling Reid I was going to die. Seriously the worst feeling ever. I am just getting my vision back today and my headache has subsided a bit. If I bend over or lean down to pick something up, I still get an awful pressure filled pain. I'm hoping it will go away very soon...

Lessons learned: RECOVERY IS VITAL. Stay POSITIVE throughout 100% of ALL races, ENJOY being HEALTHY, DO NOT taking anything for granted!!

SF and Team Lemon

2009-05-11T14:14:00.000-07:00

Having fun in the city on Thursday night, prepping for camp!

Leading the talk on swim exit startegy

Giving my swimmers some tips during our test swim on Friday

The infamous Sand Ladder, and this is only half way up...

Another beautiful weekend in the Bay Area!! Reid and I headed into the city on Thursday night for another 3 day Escape from Alcatraz Camp. 3 down and 2 more to go. What a great experience for everyone! The coaches, athletes and their families all had an amazing time. We had 14 first timers to the sport of triathlon taking our camp. These newbies are so much fun to coach. They have this excitement and contagious positive vibe about them. Very cool!! And I am excited that I got in another swim from Alcatraz Island to St Francis Yacht Club, 71 times and counting and another friendly seal encounter ;-) Another SUPER COOL piece of news to report....I ran for the first time after 19 days of being injured. WOOHOO, my foot ached a bit to start but then it felt so good and all the endorphins kicked in and I was feeling on top of this world. Wow, it is amazing what we take for granted untul it is taken away from us. I had the best time running with our camp athletes and showing them the Alcatraz run course. It truly was a spectacular 3 day camp!!

Leading my swim group across the SF Bay ;-)

On another note, I wanted to share some more exciting news. Lululemon is launching a running and triathlon team in the Bay area (and across the country too!) Team Lemon is a group of athletes committed to training and racing for events together and having a ton of fun along the way! For those of you who want a super fun, diverse group to be a part of, this is the group for you. To find out more and to join send an email to teamlemon-sanfran@lululemon.com AND remember to join us in Walnut Creek on May 29th for the Grand Opening of Lululemon, right in the heart of downtown!!

Grinning from ear to ear during my first run back in 19 days ;-))

Smart Decision, WF weekend!!

2009-05-04T09:30:00.000-07:00

Reid's swim, he's smiling up front right next to the guy bending over.

Courtenay and I in transition

Hanging out with good friends, the Lieto family!

Reid pre-swim looking happy as usual.

MASSIVE Transition area, TONS AND TONS of bikes, this is the BIGGEST triathlon in the world!

Reid warming up 2 mins before his swim start

And he's off, Reid is leading the swim

Virginia the women's overall winner, here she's 3rd out of the swim

Off onto the bike

Kevin Koresky and I on the boat dock after I started the pro women's wave.
Andy Potts on the run chasing Terrenzo Bozzone

Reid out on the run

Well, I made the decision not to start the race on Saturday! It was a super tough decision and I had asked a bunch of other pros at the race as well as my former coach Jen and my Dr for some advice. I REALLY REALLY wanted to race but my body was telling me something else. My foot was still throbbing walking around the race site on Thurs night and Friday morning and I was still having trouble breathing, not to mention all the mucus I was still coughing up. SO, after several sleepless nights, I made the tough but smart decision not to race.

Instead I got to start the women's pro wave, cheer on all of my pro and amateur buddies and have fun! The best part was doing some announcing and starting Reid's wave too ;-) Reid had an awesome swim, bike and then hurt his back on the first mile of the run when he slipped and fell. So the rest of the run was alot of walking down hills since it hurt so bad, yikes! He is ok now and his back is getting better. I admire him for finishing in all of that pain, what a tough guy ;-) On top of al that, Reid still had to do some work for Tri Cal later that day and on Sunday. What a trooper!! Speaking of troopers, my good friend John Dahlz won collegiate nationals last weekend and decided to race on tired legs. He was 4th out of the water, top 8 off the bike, then had a really rough run. But never once did he give up and I found him walking at mile 11, after 6 hours on the course. He wanted to finish his first ever half IM!! Inspirational!

I had so much fun hanging out with tons of great friends and even people I had never met, but read my blog. These people ended up being so awesome and now I'm happy to call them friends!! Oh and I was lucky to be able to do the swim with the collegiate women on Sunday during the Olympic distance race. Those girls are fast. I wasn't supposed to win, which I couldn't anyway, but I came out in 3rd in my first ever sub 20 1.5K swim, 19.50 was my time ;-) SO MUCH FUN!! I can't wait to race soon....

Reid, me and the Biggest Loser Reality show contestants, Blaine and Dane. They both raced the 1/2 and finished...AMAZING!! Watch them in 2 weeks at the Season Finale of BL!

Reid and Cindy

Great friend, Haley. She is amazing, she finished 6th!

One of my closest buddies, Jenny Fletcher. She was 3rd Overall at the Olympic Dist race!

My favorite smack talkin' buddy, we had TONS and TONS of fun....

Stuff Happens but it's ok!

2009-04-30T14:08:00.000-07:00

Thanks John Segesta for the pics...I can't wait to run again...

After a very fun, hard working, PR filled several months, I hit a road block. I am trying to figure out a way over and around this road block and each day continues to get a little better. It has been 13 days since I have run and my foot is getting better. It gets better one day where it only hurts a little to walk but then the next day it hurts tons to walk. So with the help of Dr Elkind and Reid, I am continuing to figure out what and when I can do certain activities. It will get better, I know it will, but I just have to be patient which is so hard for me. It is tough to go from having amazing training and run racing days to not being able to take Belle on walks. Luckily I can take her to the park and lake where she can run herself around and have fun ;-)

I also got sick last week and that turned into a full blown bronchial mess. It was really hard to breathe and I had coughing spasms that lasted all night. I've had to use my inhaler and of course when I needed it at times when I was out, I didn't have it handy. I attempted to ride yesterday after taking several days off of exercising, and that turned into a scary "I can't breathe" situation. The Lieto brothers told R and I that they were going to push hard and turn around early so the ride was really fast for a while and I felt like oxygen wasn't running through my lungs and body the way it should. I found myself gasping for air and almost feeling like I needed Reid to give me CPR. Ugh, what is up with me? I know I am sick and just need to let my body recover BUT it is so hard because I have worked so hard to race this season and it is such a bummer that I am not sure if I will be able to even attempt to race this weekend. So far it looks like I will be cheering Reid on from the sidelines unless I miraculously recover in the next 48 hours!! I need some HEALTHY and POSITIVE Vibes.....

Best wishes to all for a fun filled, healthy, fast racing weekend!!

Come on, why??...

2009-04-25T12:08:00.001-07:00

Lovin' my new TriBabe's Lululemon vest, thanks Kirsten Hansen ;-))

Everything seemed to be going great the past 4 months! Life is amazing, loving my new coaching gigs, substitute teaching jobs, TriCal camps, etc.... Just this past week and a half things have changed. I had been suffering from plantar fascitis, mainly in my right foot and all of a sudden one morning it was debilitating! I went from running the best I have ever run to barely walking out of bed. I won't lie it sucked and I was worried, but not too worried. I was still riding and swimming and enjoying our anniversary, my birthday and more fun stuff....

It was not until a few days ago where I really started to worry. I was getting ART, graston, massage and everything done on my foot by an amazing Dr and friend Lauren Elkind. Still I was not feeling any relief and was not able to run. Day 6 of not running and I was getting frustrated, I had done all the right things, have been feeling amazing, but it was one of those dumb mistakes that may have put my foot over the edge. I think it was all the hills I rode, hiked, and ran while I was coaching the Wildflower camp several weeks ago. But in all fairness to myself, I HAD to run with the participants, we needed coaches to help all levels of athletes. Plus most of them did not know the course. Stuff happens and TODAY (Day 7 of not running) my foot is feeling much better. Lauren has been amazing! I am hoping the pain will subside and I will be able to start running again soon.

So at least my foot is making progress as of today, BUT unfortunately I woke up this morning with a sore throat and running nose. ARGH! Sometimes I think our bodies are telling us to slow down, relax, rest up!! I think I have enough fitness to race next weekend, so I have to believe that what my body needs right now is REST. Thanks to all of those who have given me great advice about what to do lately....Lauren, Chris Lieto, John Dahlz, and of course Reid ;-))

Anniversary Ride and 70th Bay crossing

2009-04-19T21:12:00.000-07:00

Yup, 4 years!!

At the top of Mt Diablo, what a beautiful day!

This past Thursday was our 4th anniversary. It's hard to believe that it seems like not too long ago that we had just met. I guess, having so much fun always is what keeps us super happy!! We decided to spend the day by having a great breakfast, going on a long walk with Belle, then riding up Mount Diablo. We had such a great time riding up the mountain together, enjoying each other's company and laughing about how Reid always has to half wheel me ;-) HAHA! There was even snow at the 3000 ft level of the mountain. Here's proof!

After we got to the top, we took some fun pictures. It's pretty amazing how much we take for granted living in the Bay Area. We have some of the most beautiful rides and views. You can see the entire Bay Area and even as far as the state capitol on a very clear day!

Later that night we headed to SF to get ready for the start of the 3 day Escape from Alcatraz camp that we head up. We had a great dinner at Dragon Well, one of my favorite little restaurants in the Marina. Friday was the start of the super fun camp. We had particiapnts fly in from as far as Maine and New York to take our 3 day camp. What an amazing experience for all of us. We go over every mile, yard, inch of the swim, bike and run with everyone. We even do the entire swim from Alcatraz Island to St Francis Yacht Club. This swim took place today. We have 3 escort boats that take us to the island and follow us during the entire swim. Such a unique and incredible experience. Today marked my 70th Alcatraz swim!! I am very lucky to get to swim with the athletes during all of these camps and clinics that we provide. I love helping athletes out by providing encouragement and motivation and sometimes letting them rest by holding onto me ;-) Today's swim was very different. I swam with the lead boat and 3 really accomplished swimmers. So we only stopped a couple of times to make sure we were all together and taking the best line, which is very tricky on this course. We made it to shore in a great time, although a couple of us overshot and ended up at Crissy Field beach, just another 100 meters to the right of the StFrancis Yacht club! Afert 70 crossings, each time is still unique and more fun than the last ;-))

Post swim, everyone was so stoked!!

Shop Nude

2009-04-14T19:24:00.000-07:00

YES it's TRUE! It's live, check it out http://www.lululemon.com/ YES you can now "shop nude!" I know there are so many of you out there that can't wait to get your hands on a new piece of clothing from Lululemon ;-)) This is SO exciting. Not only can you now buy online, you will be able to browse the site and read about product information and care, yoga 101 info, and much more. You will also be able to take part in the Lululemon monthly challenge! What else? You'll be able to read their new blog ;-)) and get awesome tips and great reads!! I'll be a guest blogger every once in while too along with Beth Gerdes and Rachel Ross, so keep checking back!

More new stuff to report, I have new super cool SRAM Red cranks on my bike! I'll test them out tomorrow. I hear they'll be awesome for climbing! Hope you all had a great Easter weekend! We had a blast with family, friends, and of course the furry ones too ;-)

Springtime FUN

2009-04-11T13:43:00.000-07:00

Check out the wake Belle leaves behind her, super fast swimmer...

Belle swimmin' with friends!

Beautiful Belle in a field of Spring flowers at the lake

After a couple of months of solid training under my belt, I started to feel a bit of pain in my foot the past couple of days. The athlete in me said to push through it BUT the coach in me said to stop and rest! So what did I do? A little bit of both, I ran, but ran shorter and then rested. I am sure the cause is plantar fascitis and since I have been compensating just a bit, I tweaked my knee. I sure hope all of this goes away as quick as it came on. I am sure it will. I had to teach two back to back spin classes today for a total of 2 hours and 15 mins, but afterwards I decided to call it a day. I iced and then headed to the lake with R and B!

Belle played tons and tons and I only walked around for a bit. I am seriously trying to stay off of my feet as much as possible today in hopes of a miraculous recovery before tomorrow's planned workouts. If I'm not much better, I will have to change plans and do what I can. No big deal right?! I am so much more flexible with myself and much more relaxed about things this year. It really does feel so good to say, 'you know what, it's just not worth it to push through this pain and cause greater injury.' Last year and years prior I would push through every pain and end up really hurt by the summer. And I would still race...what was I thinking? I guess we all learn some time or another and it is never too late to change!!

On another note, I am happy to say that I am part of a very cool group of Lululemon girls, TriBabes ;-) This is such a special group of girls and I am so excited to be a part, a couple of pros and a couple of super stellar elites make up the TriBabes! We are all spreading the word on how amazing Lululemon really is. Online shopping is coming very, very soon..... Yippee!!

That's Belle (Lululemon mascot ;-)) flying up to her friends...check out those ears ;-)

Wildflower Coaching AND training...

2009-04-06T16:52:00.000-07:00

Beautiful Lake San Antonio!

Our Beautiful cabin front yard with lots of wildlife! Oh and my new Lululemon top ;)

Working Transition drills with the camp participants!

Reid and I are co-directors for all of the Tri California camps and clinics as some of you may already know. This past weekend was our first set of clinics for the year. For those of you who do not know about Tri Cal (http://www.tricalifornia.com/), it is the largest event management company in the nation with prestigious triathlons such as Wildflower and Escape from Alcatraz to boot, to name a few. Reid and I are basically in charge of putting on all of Tri Cal camps and clinics for all of their events. A super busy, super detail oriented job, so it's great to share the work amongst the 2 of us. We have the privelege of hiring some of the best coaches out there to help us coach each camp or clinic. Such a fun and rewarding experience to give back to the sport!

We drove down to Lake San Antonio (the site for the Wildflower triathlon) on Friday morning. We got down there early enough to set up for the next day and to get in some good training. This course is amazingly beautiful but VERY VERY HILLY! If you LOVE hills this is the course for you. As many top pros that have raced here and continue to race here say 'this is the hardest half IM on the circuit, hands down.' Everyone should do this race at least once. I guarantee you will come back again and again to challenge yourself. It is definitely a race that will get you stronger for sure!! If it's not the 15-17% grades on the bike, it will be the 16-18% grades on the run that will make you STRONG ;-)

Saturday and Sunday were full one day clinics 9-5PM, where each participant was given the opportunity to get detailed instruction, advice, tips, and led on all parts of the swim, bike and run courses. They did the full distance on all 3 events plus lots of talks and lectures on everything you need to know about triathlon! FUN, fun times and always awesome to help others out, we were all their at one point. As for myself, I am still learning too ;-) You can never get enough information right?!

We also did our own training on top of the clinics. My close friend Kristin came out to do some training with me on the course. We rode and pushed each other all through the entire 56 mile course and then some. Then we ran off the bike and pushed each other some more. We weren't done after 4 hours so we ran and hiked (some of the hills were too steep to run on our thrashed legs) some more. We were pretty tired by the end of the day, to say the least! On Sunday I decided to take advantage of some free time to do some hill repeats on the bike! Wow, that really hurt in a REALLY GOOD WAY!

WHOA, I am tired today ;-)) GREAT FUN in 80 degree weather too!

Love these HILLS ;-)

Had to practice some gymnastics before we left!

Hilly Half Marathon Win!

2009-03-30T09:20:00.000-07:00

My Dad, Belle and I

Kristin and I, loved my new Lululemon outfit ;-)

Awards, wearing my new Lululemon hoodie ;-)

Yesterday was my 2nd half marathon and 5th running race of the year. I raced one in February that had some rolling terrain and I felt awesome up 'til mile 10. This time around I was much more prepared BUT this course was SUPER HILLY! We climbed and climbed, then descended and pounded the pavement, then climbed and CLIMBED so more. It was the hilliest course I have run for a half so far. As usual I was super stoked to start the race and had so many friends around and it was in my hometown which made it that much SWEETER!

One of my best friends, Kristin, drove up from Santa Cruz to race with me. This was such a great treat, as I love hanging out with her. We have so much fun always! We started the race at the front with a couple of friends who I knew would pace pretty smart. I am all about building into the race, I'm not a fan of going out too hard anymore ;-)) The first mile of the course is a slight downhill which makes it easy to go out too fast. I looked at my garmin to make sure I was holding back enough, I saw 6.15s and 6.22s, so I decided to slow it back just a bit. At one point one of my athletes flew by me and I had to yell at him "Jon, remember be smart." He thought about it for a few seconds, then slowed down. As soon as we hit mile 1, we made a sharp right turn up a super steep hill. This hill went on for a good 1/2 mile, I was feeling great, nice and light on my feet. Again another down hill and some major pounding, I again held back a bit. I know from experience that the pounding of the downhills, if I let myself go, will come back to haunt me later in the race. Onto the next section of the course, a nice 2-3% grade for a couple of miles. This was a tough part of the race and it was so great to have one of my long run training partners (Ralph) next to me and to see another training partner up ahead. We kept each other in check and made sure we were on pace, 6.40-6.50s, since it was slightly uphill.

The hardest part of the course was still to come and this was up Crow Canyon rode, a 3 mile climb with some long steep sections and some good downhills too. At mile 5, Ralph fell back and I moved up to stay with a pack of guys. I tried to hold onto them on the first steep section but noticed that I was laboring a bit too much and my legs were starting to burn a bit much for this mile in the race. I made myself calm down, dropped my shoulders, relaxed my arms and face, and started to feel better. By mile 7-8, was a different story, I started to hurt and freak out a bit that my race was done, the hills were getting to me. This time I thought about all of my friends and competitors out there experiencing the exact same feelings, if not worse. Then I started to think of what my friend Desiree always says when she is hurting, "if it's hurting me, it's killing them." I really needed this thought at that moment, and off I went and started negative splitting. I was feeling great again and moving up and down the hills feeling light again. Cool! I was still in the lead for women and was hoping to hang on.

Miles 10-12 was an out and back section and windy. We ran down a slight grade and onto a flat section and then had to come back up that grade and to make things even more interesting, we passed by my neighborhood. Thoughts of Belle sleeping on our bed all warm and snuggly crossed my mind, but I knew I had to finish first then I would get to relax ;-) This section is where you could see your competition. I finally saw some friends in both directions and was so stoked to see them doing so great! I also saw Kristin and she looked great, I couldn't tell how far back she was, but I knew she could catch me if I slowed a bit. I picked up the pace these last 3 miles and realized I had some left in the tank which is a GREAT sign! YES!! And nothing was SWEETER than crossing the finish line with family and friends cheering me on in my hometown of San Ramon on a beautiful sunny day!! It was an awesome feeling to come in 1st and to PR on a course that had ~1500 ft of climbing. Most people said they were 3-4 minutes slower than their usual half marathon times. I averaged 6.48s/mile on this tough course. I am more than happy and stoked for great things to come... Thanks to all of my training partners and Reid of course for always motivating me to push harder to reach new heights!

Track kids I coach were there cheering me on.....

Track, Swim, and Cookies ;-)

2009-03-27T18:32:00.000-07:00

Yum, new wheat free Snackmals, animal cookies ;-)

After starting this change to my eating habits last week, I have already seen a significant improvement in how I feel indoors and outdoors while training and working. I have felt much better! Breathing seems better, way less sneezing and coughing, and more energy! YAY! The only thing I still have is itchy eyes when the wind blows all the pollen in the air. Even when I come inside after a ride or run, I rub my eyes over and over again, until I hit the shower and then they're better. So, I guess I have to head straight to the shower after any activity, no hanging around for too long or I feel like I want to yank my eyes out. Yup, they itch that much from the pollen, trees, and grass. But I can't complain, as everything else is so much better already.

I had an awesome track workout the other day, where I just felt GREAT! My feet were moving, my legs were responding, my Lululemon outfit was rockin,' and my mind was totally in it! I love these days, where you feel like you're floating. Well, not quite that fast, but it was a good day and one where I improved by 3 more seconds per quarter and 5 seconds per 800. It helped to have Reid and my awesome friends Tara, Lloyd, Ed and Fer all there to push and motivate. We have so much fun working hard together even at 6AM, when it's 36 degrees out. We are crazy because at 1PM it was 70 degrees out, but we always opt for the colder, harder workouts! I love it!

Today I invited one of my best friends Ali to swim with our masters group at 5AM. We even planned out matching 2 piece suits (same pattern but mine is pink and hers is blue), yup we're dorks ;-) Ali was an Olympic trials swimmer, collegiate superstar, and all around awesome mom to 3 boys. I had told my 5AM buddies who Ali was and that she would be joining us for some fun. We got our lane ready to have our butts kicked by the speedster. We had an awesome main set of 10 x 100 and 10 x 75s all on a 1.10 send off. I was kind of worried that I would have a tough time making the set and would have to pull over or something. BUT I felt great, long, and fluid and made it to the wall with 3-5 seconds to spare on all the 100s. Phew! I was stoked and loved how hard the set was for me! Ali said it was tough for her too, but I think she was just being nice ;-) Then it was off to a run with Reid and another good friend Simon. We did a nice, steady 52 min run with some hills. AND guess what? We were done with all of our training by 7:30AM!!

I have gotten so many emails about gluten free products to try and most taste so good!! The problem is most of my friends have been sending me suggestions on gluten free cookies and that's about it....So I have lots and lots of great cookie choices, but I need meals now ;-) All of you are so awesome, thanks so much for all of the suggestions lately.... Any gluten free recipes?

The Dr said what!?

2009-03-24T16:17:00.000-07:00

I wanted to share some crazy but interesting news. I have been sneezing, wheezing, and having to rub my eyes alot lately. I usually have some seasonal allergies, so I thought they just kicked in super early this year. So, I decided to go to the doctor to get some tests done to determine what I really am allergic to. Enough guessing, I needed some answers.

The Doc suggested I get an allergy test, which consisted of having 4 viles of blood taken from me. I used to have blood tests done regularly, so I thought it would be no big deal. Somehow, I have now become a wimp with needles. It could be because the nurse kept moving, shaking the needle with each tube she switched. Ouch, that did hurt in a weird way, it actually made me queasy. Anyway, I was so glad that I would have answers.... The tests came back 8 days ago and instead of talking to me over the phone as the Doc usually does when I have blood test taken, she insisted I come in as this would be a lengthy talk. Yikes!

A week ago, I went in to talk to the Doc. She was very serious and very stern in saying "you need to take better care of yourself." I was like "what? I do." She was shocked with how bad my tests came back. I clearly have asthma, I am allergic to trees (oak, cedar, you name it), grass, weeds, pollen, dust mites, wheat, rye, barley, cats, and dogs! YIKES! Luckily though, I am only moderately allergic to dogs. As long as Belle is bathed regularly and we clean our house weekly, I am ok. PHEW! Reid was so funny about this one....he was like "oh no, you'll have to move out." HAHA! Seriously, he and Belle are inseparable! Well, all 3 of us are ;-))

Oh and the Doc also said that my poor bod was not getting the necessary oxygen to all my muscles, thus the soreness always!! So glad there was a reason for alot of symptoms. Although I can't complain as I have been having great training and racing sessions these past couple of months. I am excited to see what all these changes will bring to my body in teh future!! So far, I have already seen some cool changes with a week of keeping my allergies under control and starting my new diet. I ran faster than I have run in a long time on an easy Sunday run, averaging 7.19/mile for the whole 14 miler and today on the track I was running a couple seconds faster. Cool stuff, I am happy with everything these days ;-)) More good stuff to come...

Big Swim & Belle's Lululemon Photo shoot

2009-03-19T13:36:00.000-07:00

Pics coming soon, here is a sneak peek and a video clip below

Whew, what a fun couple of days!! Yesterday was officially "Iron Wed" at the pool. This happens every 4 weeks where we do an EXTRA HARD set and it's EXTRA LONG! Only 4 of us finished out the set yesterday, it was 5300 yards and most of it was done on 1.15 base interval. It was AWESOME, except for the fact that my right forearm was in knots and cramping so bad (due to my fun challenge the day before, walking on my hands 40 yards across the football field) Our coach told me I should stop if my arm was hurting that bad, yup the pain was written on my face. I pretended I didn't hear her and suffered through the set, but LOVED every second of it. I HAD to finish the set and stay on that tough interval. John my lane mate was awesome and we kept motivating each other to finish it out! YAY for a great swim, one that I can remember, a great deposit ;-)) Next up was a great tough 4 hour and 42 minute ride! I'll spare the details but just add that it was a beautiful ride and we ended it by climbing up Mt Diablo!

Enough about Iron Wed and onto the SUPER FUN stuff! Today was my photo shoot for Lululemon. I was so excited and ready for this day. The shoot took place on the beautiful serene trails of Mt Diablo. The highlight of the shoot was of course, Belle!! Yes, Belle! Reid and Belle were on set for a super fun day just to watch and hang out. But then the photographer (John Segesta) fell in love with her and said she should be in the shots too. SO COOL! So, he took TONS of shots of Belle and I running up and down the trails for hours!! It was the BEST time ever. Paige, my super sweet friend, who selected me for this job was having a blast out there too. We were all smiles and laughter... Once Belle was officially done with her portion of the shoot, I got to do some cool gymnastics moves that John loved ;-) So I got to do them over and over and over again! Even more fun!! What an amazing opportunity!! Thanks Lululemon, Paige, and John....you guys are AWESOME!

Belle and I are a bit tired now but if we could, we would do it again tomorrow ;-))

Belle cooling off 'on set' after her photo shoot debut ;-)

Lululemon Family

2009-03-14T19:07:00.001-07:00

I wrote about how much I love Lululemon a couple of times in the past. But never in my DREAMS did I picture someone approaching me asking if I wanted to be a part of the Lululemon family!! Yes, a friend of mine who works as a representative of several athletes contacted me about a month ago after reading my blog on how Reid, Belle and I were shopping at the Lulu store in SF :-) She asked if I was interested in becoming an ambassador for the coolest, hippest, athletic clothing company AND I said YES!!

The past month has been super fun! I have had an official Lululemon interview, a super duper FUN fitting, a shopping spree, several visits to the store because I can't get enough of the amazing atmosphere at every store, and a surprise that I'll mention in a later blog, stay tuned ;-) As an ambassador, I will be working directly with members of the Lululemon family to help spread the word, show off the best yoga, running, and everyday wear, and do my best to help others become more active in the community! I will lead running and possibly cycling workouts from my soon to be announced store in Walnut Creek, opening in May! This is the BEST job ever. I am already having so much fun and I am told it will only get better ;-)) Lululemon rocks!! Visit a store near you or if you're in the Bay Area, come to the grand opening of the Walnut Creek store on May 29th, I'll keep you all posted. http://www.lululemon.com/

Have a great weekend!!

I had to post this picture of Belle (Lulu mascot) drying off after her bath! SUPER CUTE!!

Vibes

2009-03-10T17:35:00.001-07:00

POST RIDE HIKE!!

This past weekend I decided I would ride with the HOP group (aka, House of Pain). I am not sure who came up with that name, but that's the group's name! As I started my ride solo, I decided maybe I would join another group and see if I could pull alot of the time vs drafting and holding on for dear life the whole time. I have some good friends in both groups so it's always great to ride with either. So, I met up with HOP 'light' and stayed at the front during the warm up. About 12 miles into the ride someone flatted and most of the group stopped and waited. I was getting antsy waiting around chatting with some buddies, so I asked if they wanted to roll slowly. They were up for it and we were off rolling super slow.

A couple of minutes later some girl with a long curly blonde ponytail rides by and stops at the stoplight with us. One of my friends says hi to her and she ignores her. Then I say hi and she ignores me. Whatever! Maybe she's in a bad mood or something. So off she goes at the light like she does not want to have anything to do with us. At this point I was SUPER anxious to get going and looking back the group was no where in sight. I started to think that maybe I should go off on my own and try to hold the group off as long as possible. This would be a fun game for me and since I coach myself (Reid helps too), I thought I would do what I felt was best for me at this time. So I told my friends what I was going to do and they were cool with it. They wanted to wait for the group. I was super duper excited to start TT'ing and see how long I could hold the group off.

First I came up on a group of women training for an all women's cycling event and saw one of the athletes I coach in the group. That was fun! I said hello and kept on going. I could see the blonde ponytail up ahead in the distance and that was my new target. I couldn't wait to catch her. Just for fun ya know? ;-) She was moving at a good pace, so it took me a couple of miles to catch her. Once I did, she heard me and started picking up the pace. I decided I would be polite again and say hi and keep on going. Ok, here comes the FUN!! I say hello and she immediately is 'full of it.' She doesn't even say hi but she starts with the most negative talk I have heard in a long time "I feel horrible today, I am cold, my legs hurt, and I just want to be on my mountain bike." YES this is what she says to a complete stranger. I look at her and say "oh that's too bad, sorry." AND I try to drop her as quickly as possible, who wants those negative vibes around!!

Unfortunately it was tough to drop her since she hung onto my wheel like a flea. HA! I was getting annoyed but then realized, who cares? Have fun with this, enjoy your day!! These were the thoughts now going through my head. I kept pushing a bit harder on the rollers in hopes she would fall off. And she did, but not for long. I have to admit she was tough! Ok, so then I start to think maybe we can work together and stay away from the group. This would be even more fun! I wave her to take a pull and she doesn't respond. Hmmm, ok so I decide to put me head down and just ride as hard as I can but steady since I know I had another 35 miles to go. Occasionally I would look at the ground to see if I could see her shadow. She was still there! Finally we get to a little hill and I slow down a bit to try to talk to her and guess what she does? She takes off on me, WTH!?! Luckily she hit a stoplight and I roll up to her and say what was that all about? She says nothing except "do you know where I need to turn, I normally don't ride out here alone. I feel horrible." AGAIN!! SO ANNOYING!! OMG!

I helped her out, told her where to turn and decided to let her go. I didn't want her drafting off me anymore, since she was NOT so friendly. I ease up, watch her almost make a wrong turn, and I YELL really loud 'LEFT TURN.' She hears me and doesn't even say thank you. This went on for 2 more turns. I had enough of her and again tried to drop her with no luck. So I decide to draft off of her for a bit. That was fun, she actually let me draft for a mile, but then she stayed on my wheel for the next 10 miles until we hit a slight climb. She slowed way down to take off her arm warmers and off I went AGAIN. This time I was successful. Reid was riding backwards on this loop and I knew he would be somewhere on this climb. I was so excited since I knew I could finally have someone fun and friendly to at least be around, I was feeling her negative vibes so far, yuck. Reid appears a third of the way up the climb and turns around to ride with me. The first thing I say is 'we have to keep working since I don't want that chick to catch us and I am stoked I'm staying away from both HOP groups.' We stop at the top of the climb to take off some clothing and guess who appears? ARGH, the blonde chick! She finally says "thanks for helping me" and continues on. Ok, at least one nice comment ;-)

Reid and I rode past her and she clung to our wheels again. How funny is this? I was over it since it was a good ride for me and so far I was staying away from the groups. Cool stuff! Finally by the end of the ride, she said a few positive words and that was that! WHATEVE!! HAHA! Oh and the groups never caught me......

Super Stud if I may say so...

2009-03-05T19:26:00.000-08:00

After being sick and in bed all weekend, Reid goes off to do the racing for the family. He was so excited to leave for his 50 mile road race that he talked about it for a couple of days! I was pretty excited for him too, as was Belle ;-) You all know by now that I have to include her in everything! The road race was close to a 2 hour drive from here and so this meant that Reid would have to leave at 5AM. Perfect, he still can stay at home the night before ;-)

So when Reid takes off, I wish him well and he kisses both Belle and I. I have to say it was pretty nice to stay in bed since I was feeling like crap. It is a bummer being sick but it happens. I slept for another 3 or 4 hours until guess who wanted to play? Yup, Belle! She has 2 ways of waking us up 1) when she has to go out to do her business and 2) when she just wants to play. Either way, we HAVE to get up. So I got up and was so eager to hear from Reid. I caught up on housework, rested and waited for the call. We always call each other as soon as we're done with races or super long rides and runs, just to let each other know that we're ok and to hear how things went.

I finally got the call!! Reid is super modest and never really says how great anything went. So I have to pry for answers. Here is how the conversation went, Me "Hi Sweets, how are you?" Reid "Good, I'm on my way home." Me "So how did it go?" Reid "It went well." Me "How well? " Reid "I placed" Me "AWESOME sweets, that is so great. So, what place?" Reid "I won!" Me "WOOHOO, YAY, SUPER COOL, SOOOOO PROUD of you." Reid "thanks sweets, see you when I get home, oh and how is Belle?" He forgot to mention the nice cash award, watch, jersey and super cool rock award he won...

Ok, I have to say he is one Super cool, super sweet stud! At least I think so ;-))

Life goes on when you're sick...

2009-02-28T16:44:00.000-08:00

Have you ever been sick and noticed that everything and everyone keeps on moving forward except you? Well, today, I am having one of those days! I got sick yesterday. I knew it was coming on, but I kept trying to fight it off and continue with my fun, busy schedule of full time side jobs ;-) Yes, FT side jobs, that's what I'm calling it. I have 5 that keep me super busy, but super happy as well!! Anyway, today was our high school kid's first track meet and guess who couldn't make it? Yup, me. I was stuck in bed all day! Coach Reid and Coach Steph were there encouraging and guiding these little studs!

Meanwhile at home, I am reading text messages about how the kids are doing, catching up on emails, and reading FB about how everyone is doing something today except me. For the first time, I am actually ok with it. I have to admit that I was bummed that I didn't get to see our kids compete today, but I am happy that I am continuing to listen to my body this year. I stayed in bed most of the morning. Plus who would want a contagious coach breathing in their faces. That would be mean. Anyway, I got alot of rest and caught up on emails and coaching stuff. It is ALWAYS so great to be able to snuggle with Belle!!

Back to the track meet. The kids did AWESOME!! They set 3 new school records and all of our distance runners kicked serious butt and this is their first meet!! WOOHOO!! So happy for all of them. We have been working them hard and it is starting to show! We are super excited to keep at it and make sure they all continue to improve and have fun of course! Lots of exciting times to come I'm sure.

Ok, so you all know that Reid is awesome, so I had to share this pic. Here he is after coaching all day, working on cleaning my Kueen K. Of course Belle is helping too ;-))

Gotta go to bed to try to get better......

Pouring Rain 5K and more...

2009-02-23T19:25:00.001-08:00

FUN TIMES!!

Reid, Steph, and friends after the race!

Super fun times on Sunday!! Woohoo! 10 of our friend's and us decided to brave the Bay Area storm and race a 5K and have a little tailgate FUN! It was a couple's relay where the girl races a 5K first then tags her partner and then he runs a 5K. It was a VERY WET morning and alot of our friends didn't want to warm up. But I absolutely have to. So, Carrie and I went for a nice, soaking wet warm up run, it only lasted 5 mins before we decided to turn around and just say 10 mins was enough!

Luckily I brought 3 different outfits. Yes everyone likes to make fun of me for always bringing extra clothes, but in this case I was the one who was smiling and nice and warm pre race ;-)) Reid was awesome in helping me get ready and holding the umbrella over me as we headed over to the start. It was not just raining it was dumping. I was actually excited, the more challenging the better. We were informed before the start that there was a bunch of contruction on the course so we would have to detour a bit around it, which added about .1, so it was going to be a 3.20 mile race. No biggie, more time in the rain for all of us, HA!

Off we went and I was feeling good. Actually not just good, but great! This was a first for me racing in a relay in this much rain and wind and stepping in huge puddles that were unavoidable on the narrow course. FUN!! I really loved it! My shoes were soaked, as were everyone else's, but I could care less. I was feeling light and ready to give this race my all for the day. Of course it's not an A race, but who even cares about labeling races anymore, a race is a race. You just go and give it what you have at that moment and never give excuses, right!? So, as mile one came and went I found myself in 5th place. I saw 1st - 4th about 15 meters in front of me and never let them get more than this at any point in the race. At mile 2 I decided to make my move and pass a couple of girls. I was now in 3rd, then still felt great and moved into 2nd. This may have been a bit too early, but heck why not have fun and see what you can do!! I held onto to 2nd and Steph (my good buddy and fellow track coach) stayed right on my heels. At one point I thought I could drop her, but we hit a little uphill grade and she powered up it and came right back to sit on my heels.

I wanted to go at mile 2.75 and I did, I picked it up again and again Steph responded. So I waited and kicked at 400 meters. Oops, should have waited a little longer. Steph stayed right by my side and kicked with 100 to go. She got a gap on me, then I came back with 25 meters to go and we crossed the line together and tagged our partners at the same time. We finished 2nd overall for the girls, held 6.07 pace for 3.2miles. The girl in front of us got us by 10 seconds or less. It was so much FUN! Steph and I walked and jogged a bit and waited for our partners. We were so hoping they would hang on to our lead. They both are awesome runners. So we had high hopes for them but most of all just wanted them to have as much fun as we did!

Reid had gone out a bit too FAST trying to hold onto 2nd place AND that early, crazy FAST pace came back to haunt him. He had tried so hard, but slowed just a bit on the last 1/2 mile and got caught by a couple fast guys. It's cool though, he gave it his all and that is all he could do. Believe me he left it all out on the race course. As he was running in to the finish line and we were all yelling and cheering, he looked like he was going to pass out! Ouch! He is awesome, the best partner I could ask for! What a great day for all of us! Super fun and we topped off the morning with a little tailgate party and some good food ;-)

Later that day we did some trainer work, of course played with Belle and took her out for a LONG walk in the rain, then went to our friend's engagement party! We had a FABULOUS SUNDAY!!

Karin, Brooke and I at Karin's engagement party!

Is it really just a number?

2009-02-15T12:24:00.000-08:00

Overcome your obstacles ;-)) R, B and I on Mt Diablo enjoying the snow!

I have been asked a bunch of times recently about how I "maintain my weight" and "how much I weigh." The first question is fairly easy to answer, I try to exercise often or alot and not overeat too many times a week ;-)) I no longer weigh myself as I believe it is just a number. Yes it can tell me something if I compare it to what I weighed the last time I stepped on a scale. But does this really mean anything? I know how I feel training and racing and I know how my clothes fit. I see what I look like in the mirror, so why stress over a number? It seems as though everyone lately has been obsessed with how much they weigh. I was remember being told recently, "I bet you weigh XXX." I replied, I have no clue and the lady looked at me like I was crazy. She could not believe that I didn't know. I thought to myself, if I am going to be as stressed as her, it definitely confirms why I should not weigh myself.

Lately I have been thinking about this woman and how concerned she seemed with my weight and how it compared to hers. I know the pressures society places on woman and how they should look, makes people stress about this. I know too well, about these pressures. Being an elite gymnast, I struggled with weight, being too thin and having coaches weigh us in every morning and give us a look like "what the heck did you eat for dinner?" At times they would voice their opinions to us and it hurt. I was always one with alot of muscle, the powerhouse type gymnast, not the long skinny type. So, as you can imagine it was tough trying to convince my coach that there is no way I could weigh what some of my boney teammates weighed. At one point in my life I got to a point of no body fat and in serious need of help. It was at this time in my life that I realized that weight meant nothing. 30 lbs heavier I was at the top of my game, and 30 lbs lighter I was barely getting out of bed.

So now I've learned that I can be a good healthy athlete with a little bit of meat on my bones ;) I had to go to the Dr's office for allergies a week ago, and guess what? They had to weigh me with all of my clothes on and my shoes. Ok, I have to admit I freaked out a bit because a) I have not weighed myself in ages and b) I was wearing 3 layers on top, my True Religion jeans, and Uggs. When I saw the number, I told myself who the heck cares? It was more than I had seen the last time I was on the scale BUT this is the fastest I have run track ever and the fastest I have run a 1/2 in a long time. I'll take it! Remember not to let the "number" control you. You are in control and do not obsess over it. No need, no reason! If you feel healthy and you're happy and you're eating right, then you're doing awesome!!

Crazy "Peet's ride"

2009-02-12T13:53:00.000-08:00

Superman Reid

What a crazy ride yesterday! Not only was it extremely cold and on the verge of pouring down rain, it was a bit chaotic. But it was still a good hard effort, as it SHOULD be on this ride! We started the ride thinking we were late to the start of the ride. It's a nice 8 mile flat stretch to Peet's coffee shop, where the ride starts. Reid told me that we had to "go," which means I need to get ready to hang onto his wheel and work my butt off. He powered down the rode and I hung on for dear life! There was one point where I had the guts to look at my computer to see that we were moving at 34mph. Yup, crazy! Crazy and cool that Reid is that strong! I wish I could be that strong, maybe someday, who knows ;-)

We get to Peet's with 5 mins to spare, BUT no one is there. Usually there are about 10 or so cyclists waiting around until a group of a dozen or more other cyclists ride by to pick everyone up. Well, no one was there so we thought we had missed the ride. Reid again says let's work hard and see if we can catch anyone up ahead. So I put my head down and again hang onto Reid's wheel. I was hoping we would catch the group sooner rather than later because I wasn't sure how long I could go at that pace ;-) We hit a long stop light at one point and I was so thankful. A good friend, Mark Deterline, rolled up behind us and said he had been time trialing to catch us so we could work together to catch the group. He also thought the group was up ahead. When we finally get another 12 miles up the road, we come up on Deterline's teammate who always waits in that same spot for the group to roll by. He tells us that we are ahead of the group by probably 5 mins. I head over to the next gas station to go to the bathroom and Mark and his teammate keep going and tell us that they'll roll really slow and wait for us. Unfortunately as soon as I come out of the bathroom, Reid yells "they just went by.' Oh crap, here we go again. Head down, work HARD, and HOPE!

We can see the group ahead and we are working super hard and bam, we hit a stop light. Darn! We go again, and now they're further away and then Reid says STOP!! I slow way down, stop, and there is a stray dog crossing the road. YIKES! We leave our bikes on the side of the road and try to coax the dog over to us. He looks friendly but scared. He stops, turns toward us, then starts slowly walking away from us onto a dirt field into the foothills. We try and try, but he is too scared and starts running. ARGH!! I hate this! Fortunately he is running away from traffic and into the hills. Another driver sees us and calls for help. There was nothing we could do at that point, so we rode away. I was sad! But the driver said he would stay and was super sweet and said thank you for trying to help! Phew, there are awesome people out there willing to help animals!!

At this point we decide to take a short cut to catch the group as we ride backwards on their loop. It wasn't much of a shortcut since we made it almost all the way back to the regroup point (it's a big circle loop). It was great to see everyone, finally!! Now after TT'ing for almost 90 mins, we were all together!! Now here comes more craziness....First, Chris flats, then 20 yards later Mark D. flats, some people decide to soft pedal and wait, but some went ahead. I decided to soft pedal and wait until Steve Sexton (pro Nat'l team members, super young and sweet) said he was just going to start working and wait for everyone at the gas station at the base of the last climb. So, I decided to go with him and 7 others. Reid waited with the others, so now there were 3 groups. Oh and then more drama, 2 more guys flat and then I flat within a couple of miles of leaving the others. Geez. We fixed them and were off!

As soon as Steve went to the front to "work," the pace was pretty BRISK!! I was working and hurting and before I knew it, someone let a gap open up, so Mickey (my hero) said "E, come on" and so we went together and I did all I could to stay right there and not get dropped. We were now back on the train, phew! I looked back to see if anyone was behind me, but there was no one. So I knew I had to stay with this group of 5 or I would be in no man's land. The pace kept getting faster and I was holding on by a thread. I knew I had to make it to the gas station where the pace would slow down and we would regroup and wait for the others. We were about 2 miles from this point and Pfffftttt....I FLATTED again, but this time on my back wheel! ARGH!! Mickey pulled over with me and immediately took over. He wanted us to get back as quickly as possible. But we both couldn't get my tire off, it was so flippin' tight! After numerous attempts, another set of our friends rolled by and stopped to help us. They couldn't get it off either! YIKES! This was insane. Finally Reid, Lieto, Dahlz and Deterline come by and stop. Well, Reid tells them to go on. So, Superman Reid gets the tire off and now we are in business. We start to ride and yet again Pfffftttt...another flat. Definitely a problem with my wheel, possibly a spoke!! We were both out of tubes and decide that I should ride the flat 2 miles to the Starbuck's where I could wait for Reid to ride home and drive a car to come get me. It was about an hour ride to our house.

So, I had a nice soy latte, read the newspaper, walked around, sat on a nice big cushy couch almost falling asleep while I listened to the rain and wondered if Reid was ok without any spares. After 90 mins, Reid and Belle rescued me, YAY! What a day!!

Recovery week

2009-02-06T17:48:00.000-08:00

I was giving Reid a back rub when Belle decided that she wanted to take over! ;-)

After doing the half on Sunday and having it be my longest run since September, I planned to rest and recover lots this past week. Well, that plan almost worked out perfectly until I remembered my role as high school track coach ;-) Reid and I coach the distance runners for the Dougherty Valley track team. While it's loads of fun and very rewarding working with these kids, it's also another run workout for us ;-) which can be great or not so great!

Yes we actually run with the kids. We take them on dirt trails, gravel trails, road, and do speed on the track of course. It is such a fun time watching and providing instruction to these boys and girls. However when we are so beat from our own workouts, it is tough to run with a huge smile on our faces as the kids are used to seeing already! HA!

Monday, we were both SORE from the half and thought that a nice 5AM swim would shake off some of the soreness and loosen us up! It kind of helped, but not so much! I was all excited after the swim to hang out with some friends in the hot tub and just chat. AND very excited to head home for a nice, warm breakfast and snuggle up with Belle. I totally forgot that we were going to have to run with the track team in a few hours. Yikes! BUT it turned out to be OK. I guess it all depends on what your idea of recovery is! :) Running on trails up and down the hills felt like "OWWWWW," but it was so worth it seeing some of these young talented athletes all fired up to start their 1st "official" day of practice. We had some fun runs during the past month, but all voluntary ;-)

The rest of the week turned out to be great with more running with the team and the usual group rides, swims, and runs with a bit less intensity as I am being smart about my recovery! I am all SMILES this week and look forward to a super fun weekend. Hope you all have a GREAT one too! I will leave you with this little clip of some backyard fun with Belle, check out those 'hops.'

Breaking News: Training Smarter works

2009-02-01T13:25:00.000-08:00

Post race goofiness ;-)

Reid and I post race at Ocean Beach on the Great Highway!

It's been a while since I have run a half marathon race, actually a year ago to date. Wow, what a difference a year can make in learning SO MUCH about yourself, coaches, and what works and whatt doesn't! Today I challenged myself to a beautiful half marathon in San Francisco. Reid, my brother and I all wanted to have fun and see where we are at at this point in the early winter season. We had high hopes that we would have a great time no matter what. And that is exactly what we did ;-)

I have been training alot smarter these past 2 months. I started training right after Thanksgiving, after a good long 4 weeks of almost nothing. I started back up slowly and especially made sure to build my running base very carefully. I am happy to say that going into today's race, I had not run more than 90 mins, 10 hilly miles. But I changed things up in my training to include speed begining the 2nd week in December, thanks to my awesome friends who talked me into running track with them on Tuesday's and Friday's. They talked Reid and I into starting with them as they were on their 6th week of track. We were happy to jump right into what they were doing, but at our own pace at first. Now after 7 weeks of this speed stuff, I am beginning to believe it will work!!

Back to the race - I have to say that honestly I felt decent and strong up until mile 9.5-10. Huh, that was my longest run leading up to this, I get it NOW ;-) Seriously speaking, I was super pleased with my mile splits until mile 12, when the last 1.1 miles felt like ETERNITY! I had held 6.42 pace avg until this point and then I fell apart. I PUSHED, SWUNG my arms like a maniac, moved my feet as fast as I could, but the brutal UPHILL finish was SUPER DUPER TOUGH!! The last 3/4 of a mile was all uphill and geez, it was a killer! I am so HAPPY though, I gave it my all and Come on, it's only February 1st, SO early in the season ;-)) My finish time was 1.29.59, but not sure what chip time was. Four minutes faster than this time last year when I was in serious structured training with a coach. YAY for SMARTER and way less training this year ;-) Make it count!

R, Me, and My Bro

Being goofy!!

Playin' around after the RACE ;-) HA! FUN TIMES!!

HAPPY SUPER BOWL SUNDAY!!

Swim Meets Hurt!

2009-01-27T10:33:00.001-08:00

On Sunday I decided to partake in a 'Quadrathon' swim meet. The meet consisted of a 500 free, 100 free, 200 free, and 50 free. You could do all 4 or just one or none ;-) We all decided to do all 4 events and let me tell you, 4 swim events in a row is REALLY TOUGH! I can't even begin to comprehend how those world class swimmers can do mulyiple events at the Olympics. And if you're Michael Phelps, you do at least a dozen events. SO AMAZING!

Back to the swim meet.....I seeded myself with times that I thought I was capable of swimming. Of course this was not my goal race for the season, so I did a good solid several hours of training the day before. We all did, well just us triathletes! Some of the top swimmers at this meet were SERIOUS! I talked to a couple women who had been training 6 days a week in the pool for the season to begin with a bang at this meet! Wow, good for them. Everyone has different goals and aspirations and it's cool to see and hear about them.

I was a little nervous about my first event, the 500. I knew it was going to hurt and all I wanted to do was hold 1.10s, race pace, but as soon as I dove in and looked at the woman next to me, I turned into a crazy sprinter! HA! I was in the last heat with the fastest women and they went out in 1.03-1.05. I did a 1.04 and thought I feel ok, SWEET! But by the 200 mark, I was thinking "oh s%#@" this is going to hurt really bad. I had friends cheering for me and I could see them telling me to pick up the pace. I tried so hard, but I was in serious deficit at this point and started ascending my splits. Oops. My last 100 went back down, but I ended up averaging 1.10s. Serious, oops!! I went 1.04s to 1.13s to end in 5.50 and first in my division. I was ok with this time, perfect for this time of year. The positive to this swim, is that this is a bit faster than the time I was doing last year and I was swimming 4 days a week for 75-90 minutes and now I'm only swimming 3 days a week for 55-60 mins. COOL!

Next up was the 100 free! This was by far the TOUGHEST event of the day for me. I am not a sprinter at all, although I have really fast turnover! My problem is my kick and push off the walls. I do not kick at all and I am not good off the wall. Even after the 500, I had some girls come up to me to tell me I could have taken off 10 seconds if I only kicked and stayed under past the flags. Thanks girls! The 100 was so hard since I was still tight and winded from the 500. I gave it all I had and came in at 1 minute high. Still good for me. Same time as last year when I was swimming lots. I placed 2nd in my division in this. I warmed down after the 100 alot more than after the 500 which probably helped my next 2 events.

The 200 free and 50 free felt way better than the 100 for sure! I had fun in the 200 and paced alot smarter than the 500. I came back on the last 50 to take 1st, holding 1.05 pace. The 50 is basically an ALL OUT sprint. Well, for me it looks so funny since I hit the water so hard in my regular swimming that this must have looked CRAZY!! I actually saw the video and it wasn't as bad as I thought ;-) I finished off the meet with a 2nd place in the 50. This was such a fun meet. I am so stoked that my swimming is totally fine with alot less work. I am focusing more on the other sports as they need way more attention ;-) Cool times and such a great workout! I was exhausted....in a great way though!!

Start of the 200, I'm in lane 2 ;-)

Fun Shopping!

2009-01-22T13:08:00.000-08:00

Guess where we're at?

I really enjoy living in the peaceful, beautiful foothills of Mt Diablo. It's so close to San Francisco, just a 40 min drive. I LOVE the hustle and bustle of the city, but I also love the quieter roads and trails galore here in Danville/San Ramon. When we feel like shopping, the city is the place to go. We had some cool gift cards that we wanted to use from Christmas, so we went to the city to have fun. All 3 of us of course ;-)

Our first stop was Saks Fifth Ave, yup we were lucky on this one! Reid and Belle waited in Union Square while I went in and tried on a million different things and finally decided on a pair of True Religion jeans. I love them. It only took me an hour to find the perfect fit! HA! I can't believe how patient Reid and Belle were, they are AWESOME. As I headed out of the store, I had to take this super cute picture of them waiting for me, just chillin' on the lawn ;-)

Next stop was Neiman Marcus. I had a pair of super cute jeans that were not the right size. So I went in there and returned them but felt bad about R and B waiting, so I decided to take the credit and return some other time. It was seriously going to take me another hour to find something that I really liked. I can't rush when I shop, I need to take my time or I sometimes end up with stuff I never really wear. Of course when Reid saw me empty handed, he said I should go back in there and find something I like. He is AMAZING! SO PATIENT!! I decided it was cool and I didn't want them waiting any longer, so we headed to our last stop on Union Street in the Marina district.

This stop was for Reid. He had some really cool stuff that he needed to exchange at guess where? Yup, Lululemon. They make awesome men's technical wear, especially shirts and jackets. I was going to wait outside but the super cool Lulu employees said to bring Belle in. SWEET! So Belle and I got to look around and had so much fun with the employees in there. They loved Belle and just wanted to pet and squeeze her. Yes she is that cute ;-) HA! Since it was Inauguaration Day, Lululemon had a BBQ going on out front. I took this picture of Reid eating a hot dog and Belle of course just hanging out!

We really had so much fun in the city. As a bonus, the weather was gorgeous. It was a nice toasty 69 degrees!! We could not have asked for a better shopping day in mid January ;-)

P.S. I finally added the Followers feature, so if you enjoy reading my blog, come follow along ;-)

Who Loves Track?

2009-01-18T13:18:00.001-08:00

I never thought I would LOVE track. Who in their right mind would love killing themselves over and over again going in circles on a red rubbery surface? Hmm, I always disliked the thought of even setting foot on a track. After pole vaulting a bit my senior year in college, running with the crazy fast UCLA track team a bit as well, I still did NOT like track. Not only did I find it boring, it was REALLY painful as well.

Fast forward 10 years and I am in love with track, even though practice is at 6AM!! I have to thank my awesome training partners for this. Carrie, Steve, Reid, Ed, Simon, Lloyd have made track so much FUN in a crazy sort of way. We love pushing, chasing, and killing each other over and over again and having tons of fun in the process. I am finally learning how to pace myself better, how to push myself past what I thought was my threshold, and most of all I am learning to let go when I need to.

I am more than Happy with the way the past 2 months have come along. I am learning so much about myself and loving everything that I do. I am listening to my body, listening to my husband who tells me when I need to stop, and I am the happiest I have been in a long time. I know it's because of all the changes I have made in my life. I just let go of what was not working, followed my heart, and constantly remind myself how lucky I am to be healthy, young, and close to my family and friends. Life is precious, enjoy every moment!!

Snow and surprise ;-)

2009-01-10T15:19:00.000-08:00

Max, Belle, and Stanley

Fun TYR stuff!

Love the new TYR suits ;-)

Belle and I had the best time ever in the snow yesterday with Molly and her bearded collies, Max and Stanley. Reid missed out but for good reason, he had an interview! It was awesome hanging out with Molly, we had great chats about EVERYTHING! She is so much fun, I love it when you can just chat and chat and the time ticks away. Before long, we were at the Crabtree trailhead and ready to go snowshoeing with the pups. Belle was wondering where we were going, but as soon as she saw snow, she was so READY to play.

Max, Stanley and Belle took off up the trail, as Molly helped me figure out how to tighten my snowshoes (well, they were actually hers). Once we got going it was so much fun and so BEAUTIFUL!! The serenity of being on a fresh powdered snow trail with huge trees and peace and quiet was amazing! Belle was having a blast running around with her two new friends. The pups all looked super HAPPY, just having fun exploring, following each other, and rolling in the snow like little kids. Molly and I were so happy that everyone got along so well and listened so well! Everytime we called them when they would get too far ahead and out of sight, all three of them came sprinting back to us, always together in a pack ;-) Such GOOD dogs!

After a couple of hours in the snow, we headed back and grabbed lunch along the way and had more time to talk ;-) The day ended when I got home and had a nice LARGE box waiting for me in the house. Reid of course had told me about it while we were driving home, so I was anxious to see the goodies. TYR rocks! They sent me some super cool, fun suits, clothes, etc.....I am so thankful for them, I will definitely do my best to represent them as best I can. EXCITING and FUN TIMES continue.....

Addicted

2009-01-08T20:17:00.000-08:00

I LOVE doing any sort of strength training. I have always been addicted to lifting weights. I just love how it makes me feel. I feel strong, powerful, young and healthy when I lift. Sounds crazy to some, but to me it is what I grew up doing being a gymnast and a swimmer.

After having weights and core cut from my schedule last year, I felt blah and knew I needed to get the strength back. So this year I am fully commited to strengthening my body by doing a number of different exercises and core work. I have been so excited that I now have this back into my routine that I have been caught at home lifting after just getting back from the gym. HA! Not much though, we only have 10 lb weights at home and Reid usually gives me the look like 'what the heck are you doing?" Or I get stopped by Belle licking my face as I do some crunches. If she really wants me to stop, she lays right on top of me and I can't move. It's great!

Make sure you're doing your core work and have fun in the process. It makes you strong, lean and mean ;-) in a good way though ;-) Have fun getting STRONG!!

Fancy, New, Fun Stuff

2009-01-05T15:37:00.000-08:00

Well, 2009 has started off great! There are a couple of seriously cool things I need to mention. First, baby Belle has a new sponsor, Pattern and Paw. They make the most unique, fancy, and stylish dog and cat collars and leashes. Belle has had a P and P collar since she was 7 weeks old ;-) These collars are super sturdy and last forever, well I'm pretty sure as they have withstood a ton of lake swims, mud romping, snow, and just about everything. And they still look awesome. We have received many emails and questions about Belle's collars, so go to Pattern and Paw and purchase one with a sweet 10% discount, exclusively for Belle's friends. Use coupon code "belle09" and order away!! You will LOVE them!

Next I am super excited to represent TYR in 2009! I love all of their stuff and am ecstatic about our new partnership! They have some new suits out, check out their new super fun prints, they're awesome!

Reid and I will both be coaching high school track so this will be so much fun! I am also going to be substitute teaching full time and taking classes to receive my teaching credential so that I can teach high school English. All great stuff going on! Oh and last but not least, Belle was featured on Channel 5 news playing in the snow!! What a fun and exciting start to 2009!

Happy New Year

2009-01-01T17:51:00.001-08:00

Post NYE run with Karin, Reid, Dave, and Carrie - ALL SMILES!!

Ed and I on the track, warming down after a hard hour and change...and it's still dark!!

Wow what a year! 2008 was filled with so many great experiences, challenging times, but most of all health, happiness, and thankful for a great family!! Yesterday we spent our entire day doing everything that we love. We started the day off with an awesome, hard 4.2K swim set. It sure was tough, but nothing beats swimming with people that you love and who can push you 'til you feel like your about to drown ;-) HA! Thanks Mo, Kim, Tom and Reid!! Did I mention this was at 5AM?!

Next on our busy agenda was a 45 min snuggle nap with Belle! Yes, we got to take a quick nap right after swimming with Belle, who had kept the bed warm for us ;-) This was the BEST nap ever, it was just perfect since we were pretty tired from getting up at 4:30AM and swimming and we were cold. So a warm, snuggly nap was JUST RIGHT! Then it was time for oatmeal.....get dressed to bear the cold and go for a group ride. We headed out FREEZING at first, but Reid said we should start out hard to get warm. He was right and our hard effort to the start was a great way to warm up quick. The infamous "Bakery" ride started out small, but we picked up people along the way and it quickly turned into a 60+ person ride. All the normal people, plus some out of towners were on the ride.

It was fun and quite a brisk pace at times, but all great stuff to kick myself back into shape. I love it! At one point on the ride I heard a familiar voice ask me when I got my new "sweet Kueen K. " Apparently Chris Lieto hasn't seen me on it in quite some time, HA! Chris and I had a great little chat about some changes the both of us have made in terms of coaching. He too has made a change just a little later than I did. It's all good now! What a great long ride, the longest I have ridden in quite some time.

When we got home from the ride, Belle was happy to see us as always, except this time she looked a little guilty. She had pulled a couple of Christmas cards off the fridge, but that was it, no big deal!! We played with her a bit, defrosted in the shower and then had a great lunch! We were pretty exhausted from a big morning and afternoon, but we still wanted to take Belle to her favorite place. We were off to the lake after lunch and had so much fun with Belle! She played so much and we practiced some search and rescue stuff. Super day thus far!!

Back at home we got dressed and ready to head out to our final workout of the day with more good friends. We went on a nice, easy run with friends and topped it off with a walk to Starbuck's for more chatting and laughing!!

Lastly we headed home to play with Belle some more and get ready for a great dinner with good friends! What a night! We only made it 'til 11:45AM and then we were in bed and fast asleep!!

Cheers to an AMAZING 2009!! Get ready for some exciting times.....HAPPY, Fun, Dream fulfilling times!!

Merry Christmas!!

2008-12-25T12:25:00.000-08:00

Belle and Abby

The biggest best Christmas tree!!

The bow on Belle is off of one of my presents, Ha!

Baby Belle!!

Belle and Zoe excited about some of their new toys!

Kate and Alec Swanson, the twins

Belle's stocking was FULL ;-)

Helping Belle open her gifts

Mouth Full, loving her stocking!!

Melissa (my step mom in law, the nicest person) and Kate

Belle and Zoe

Anxiously awaiting....

Dressed for the Party

Belle, Lucie and Abby exhausted after a full day of Xmas Eve events ;-)

Hope everyone is having a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!! Reid, Belle and I are in the San Diego area in Rancho Santa Fe. It is so beautiful down here, we are having tons of fun with Reid's family. Yesterday we met up with Meredith and Marit for a good run. To finish off a great morning we went to my fav coffee place - Coffee Bean and Katya joined us too ;-) LOVED IT!

Mer, me and Marit post run! Reid ran too, but he had to take the pic ;-)

At coffee after the run

Today has been another super day. We woke up to Reid's half brother and sister (11 year old fraternal twins) all excited and giddy to open presents. It was such a fun time opening gifts, laughing, watching all the dogs (Abby, Belle, Lucie, and Zoe) pull all the fun toys out of their stockings, and taking some adorable pics of them. Then we had the perfect Christmas breakfast, Reid's step mom makes the absolute BEST meals ever. We had homemade scones, scrambled eggs, lots of fresh fruit and cinnamon rolls, YUM! And freshly squeezed orange juice! Absolutely delicious. Of course we had to work off our breakfast so we went for a LONG walk on their golf course with all the dogs ;-)

Happy Holidays!!

Me and Katya at coffee, post run for me, K joined just for coffee ;-)

Holiday goodies

2008-12-20T18:22:00.000-08:00

It's that time of Year where all those goodies are all around us. Wherever you go you either see or hear about these goodies. I am referring to the cakes, cookies, candy, chocolates, and even salty snacks. They are everywhere, even at our health clubs! This year has been the first year in forever that I am seriously having FUN indulging in them, all of them! I realized that I was always craving all of these desserts or yummies, only to finally cave in during the tri season. Bad timing! So this year I will probably be sick of all these sweets by the end of the Holiday season. Fingers crossed ;-)

I am realizing that what my body has really been craving all these past years doing tri's is strength and core training!! Yes, I know this may sound crazy, like why haven't I been doing it all along? Well, my coach(s) didn't believe in it, at least they felt like my time was better suited to swim, bike and run since I was working tons and had limited time. But now that I have been doing so much core and even though I am eating goodies, my body is feeling better than it ever has. I grew up doing core/strength training and had built alot of muscle that way, so I guess it is only natural that my body is LOVING it once again ;-) YAY!!

I hope you all don't go out there and start eating tons of goodies....well, why not? It's the time to do it!! Have fun and do NOT feel guilty! ENJOY!!

Winter Wonderland!

2008-12-16T12:30:00.000-08:00

We are having a very cool storm pass through the Bay Area this week. The rain and air have been so cold lately. Our expected low temp overnight tonight will be 24 degrees in some areas. That is REALLY low for us here in the Bay Area. But we are enjoying it as best we can! There has been snow on the hills and mountain tops and ice elsewhere. It's super cool! We are LOVING it ;-)

The past couple of mornings we have been up by 4:30AM or 5AM and in the pool or on the track. This morning we opted for a very fun track workout. Fun is not what most people think of when they here the word track! But I LOVE it! There were 6 of us out there on this 35 degree morning and we all had solid efforts. I felt so much better after the 2nd mile repeat. Then I was feeling good and warmed up ;-) After burning a few cals on the track, Reid and I headed to Starbuck's for a much deserved latte, it never tasted better ;-)

An hour after track, when we were all warmed up and fueled, we decided to take Belle up Mt Diablo for a fun snow adventure! Mt D is a good 7 mile bike ride or in today's case, a drive to the base. We drove up as far as the rangers let us and then went for a great hike in the snow. I still can't believe how awesome it was to get to play in the snow on my favorite mountain top. Belle had the best time ever. She was running around, sprinting at times, just having the greatest time. Reid and I had fun too! What another great day this week and it's only Tuesday!!

Have a great one......

Cute Ad

2008-12-15T13:57:00.000-08:00

For those of you that have pets, check out this link. I was surprised to see this email ad today. http://www.patternandpaw.com/archives/november08/

Pattern and Paw collars and accessories are the BEST!

Once again Belle is featured, too cute! I wish she could start doing some work for us. Hmm, maybe she can start dog modeling. I need to look into this ;-) HA!

Hope everyone is having a great Holiday Season! It's been great here, we are all happy, healthy, and loving this time of year. Not many gifts and exchanges this year, but that's not what it's all about! Spread the cheer, keep smiling and enjoying life!!

New Sport!!

2008-12-11T14:06:00.000-08:00

Reid and I had the rare opportunity to meet up with a great friend of ours, Brent Allen, who has been busy travelling around the world with his sweet wife Kelly Sue. Brent has been an amazing friend to us. We met him in 2002 at one of the Tri Cal events. He then hired us to work for him for a couple years before he moved on. He and Kelly Sue were lucky enough to pack up the house, put everything in storage, and decide to travel the globe! Who has the guts to do that? SUPER COOL! I admire them. Now they are back in Carmel, loving life after experiencing the world ;-)

We decided to head down to Carmel to hang out and go stand up paddling with Brent on Tuesday. Neither of us had ever done this cool sport, but Brent has become quite the pro at it, so he taught us well. It was so much fun and so hard at the same time! You really work your core! We went out in choppy conditions so it made it harder for us first timers, but we got the hang of it pretty quick. The ocean was beautiful and clear. I could see the bottom as I was paddling out, it was refreshing. Falling in was fun too. Nice and not too chilly!! After 80 mins of SUP, we headed back to Brent's place for lunch and time to chat business. What a SUPER FUN, REFRESHING DAY!!

Go out and try something new......

Major Upset in the Swanson Household

2008-12-06T12:47:00.000-08:00

Kristin (Hilger) Iavarone, me and Reid (the winner ;))

Belle giving us a kiss post race!!

Who ever said that you can do a 5K for fun? YEA RIGHT! No such thing. Whether you are in shape or not, a 5K HURTS! Like really, really bad ;-) Being the super competitive family that we are with each other, we decided we would join lots of great friends and have "fun" at a local 5K!

One of my really good friends, Kristin, decided to drive up from Santa Cruz to join us for some painful "fun." We had a good time warming up together and chattin' away as usual. Although with the temps in the high 30s, it was hard to talk and warm-up without freezing our butts off! After a good warm-up we chatted with more friends and had a blast getting ready to start. This was Kristin, Reid, and my 7th day back at training after a nice several weeks off. So, we really just wanted to have a good time out there. BUT, we all kind of forgot that a 5K is TOUGH to have fun at, it's over pretty darn quick and you have to hurt to have somewhat of a chance to not get passed by some xcountry high schoolers ;-) HAHA!

We all went out pretty close together, all 5 of us who are good friends. I felt great, really great! We went through mile 1 in 6.29, except for Reid who decided he would pick up the pace already. He went through a bit ahead of us. I was having such a great time, smiling, thinking how easy this felt. But soon enough I felt the lactic acid build up so quick in my quads. UH OH! Reid was getting away, so was Kristin, so were 2 of my other friends. Oops, did I go out too quick? Hmm, YES is the answer!! Mile 2 was not so good, to put it mildly. But the last mile felt good again, so I gave it all I had on my rusty legs, and pullled off a decent 6 min/mile. Not too bad, but remember this was for 'fun!'

Good place to start from, but a bit annoyed that Reid beat me ;-) HAHAHAHAHA, a first in a 5K in a long time. Good job to him for sure, and to Kristin and all of our friends that raced!! SUPER DUPER FUN!!

Happy Times

2008-11-27T20:49:00.000-08:00

Yumm! Oh and check out the four legs up in the air in the background, that's Belle as usual!

Great work Reid, HA ;-)

The folks!

Hope everyone had a HAPPY THANKSGIVING! We had a great day for sure!! A little bit of everything today is what a great Thanksgiving is all about, at least in the Swanson household this year! Play time with Belle, coffee, breakfast, a fun run, a bit of strength training and getting the house ready for my parents to come over. Super, super fun times all day ;-)

This Thanksgiving was a bit different than most for us. We didn't have to travel which was really nice and we didn't have to cook! My parents wanted to do the cooking which was awesome! So we basically got to play all day and enjoy the outdoors. My mom and dad came over with everything delicious and ready to eat. All we had to do was carve the turkey, heat and serve all the goodies!! ;-) I loved having my mom and dad over! They are awesome parents and super fun to be around! Our dinner was filled with lots and lots of laughter. I laughed so hard I was crying most of the night! ;-) AWESOME TIMES!

Cheers!!

Things we do for our 'kids'

2008-11-23T18:36:00.000-08:00

It's starting to get chilly overnight here in the Bay Area. It was 37 degrees the other night and last night it was 39. This is typical in our area, so the lakes of course are starting to get chilly too. Wetsuits for sure if we plan on doing any open water swimming. Well, no plans right now, but an unforseen trip into the SUPER COLD lake was in store for Reid and I today!

We took Belle to the lake this AM and met up with a dozen other friends and their dogs. It's so cute and so much fun to watch our 'kids' frolic in the lake and on the dirt trails. It's just as rewarding to see our dogs be so happy as it is for those with 'real' kids. But for most people, I'm sure it's hard to understand how we feel. It's ok though, as long as we feel this way about our 'kids' that's all that matters. A couple of people have told Reid and I that it's totally different when you have your own 'real' kids and we're like, no it's not, we'll treat them all the same. Which, if you ask our friends, means that we'll treat our kids AMAZINGLY well ;-)

Belle's favorite water toy, her orange bumper (duck retrieving toy) had a hole in it. It was perfectly fine for the first 20 mins of her retrieving in the lake today. But then another lab went after her bumper and couldn't grab it and it started to sink. Reid and I saw this happening from shore and we wanted to jump in and grab it before it sunk all the way. We thought about it, but then again, we were wearing jeans and sweatshirts, so it was a no go. Belle was swimming around and around trying to find it, but no luck. It was too deep and she hasn't learned to dive down that deep yet. So, we decided to head home, get our suits on, bring our goggles and give it a shot. It was so tough leaving the lake with Belle still looking for her toy. She usually carries it to the car too after we're done and so she kept looking at us, sitting in front of us, stopping us, it was so sad.

So, as good parents we were back at the lake in the afternoon. This time it was our turn to dive down to find her bumper. Little did we know that it was going to be SUPER COLD!! Reid got in first and he didn't look like he was freezing just yet. So Belle and I followed him in and OMG!!! it was FRRREEZING! I couldn't catch my breathe, I was starting to hyperventilate and was telling Reid that I couldn't do this. He just told me to relax and try to take some breathes and I'll be fine soon enough. Phew! He was right! I calmed down and started searching for Belle's toy. It was flippin' COLD! Did I say that already? WOW 'we are crazy' was all I could think of. All this suffering for our 'kids' toy. Now, would a parent do that for their 'real' kid? Not sure, but I doubt it.

We swam around for 20 mins and that was all we could take. No luck. We dove down a couple of times and all we could see was murky lake water and weeds. Belle was in the water with us this whole time and every time one of us would dive down, she would wimper as she wasn't sure if we were ok. One of us would tell her that it was ok and she would stop. What a cool pup!!

We shivered for a good 30 mins even with our dry clothes on. We finally stopped shivering after getting EXTRA HOT coffees from Starbuck's ;-)

What a day!! ;-)

Back in Time

2008-11-21T18:58:00.000-08:00

ITU New York 2005

I ran into some friends and athletes that I coach this morning at the club. It was so great to see them and so awesome to see how hard they were working. Sometimes we forget that it really does take patience and ALOT of HARD WORK to get to where we want to in sport. At times I think we want, want, want and forget about how much work, work, work it takes to reach our goals and dreams!

One of my friends that I hadn't seen in quite some time wanted to ask me some questions about gymnastics. Her daughter is currently a Level 4 and almost ready to start competing. Very exciting times. So, Mo wanted to ask me all about growing up as a gymnast, the sacrifices my parents had to make, how hard it was to have friends at school (when your gym teammates become your family), and if I would want my kids (assuming I will have some oneday) to go through this process. It took me back in time for sure and I was reminded of how hard I worked back in the day. I need to remember this everytime I am out training this year! I really do want to have an amazing season and I really do KNOW HOW and WANT to work my butt off ;-)

I loved sharing my experiences with Mo today!! We could have talked all day, but unfortunately we were both in a hurry to get somewhere. So, we'll have to chat more soon! What a great feeling to be able to share our own experiences to help others!!

Back to relaxing before getting back to working my butt off next week!!

Smile!

2008-11-16T21:56:00.000-08:00

Kauiai 2005

What makes you smile? My dad always told me to smile. He told me that smiling at people would make them smile and bring warmth to them immediately. It's so true. Think about it. When you're in the grocery store, post office, mall, gym, wherever you may be and you make eye contact with someone and smile, doesn't it make you feel good? It feels even better when they smile back. I have lived this way my entire life ;-) I love to smile and I love to make someone's day, whether I know them or not.

At school, teachers would tell my parents that I was "one happy kid." At the gym, my coaches would say the same. They would tell my parents that I would smile even when I was in a world of pain. It's just me!! BUT this past year, I noticed something different. I was not smiling as much. I knew there was something wrong. What was it? I kept asking myself this. Was it the change from amateur to pro? Was it the new found pressure of performing? Was it the new coaching? Was it the 2.50 hour commute to work? Was it the 50 hours spent at work? What was it?

I think it was a combination of all of the above. So, of course I made the drastic changes and soon enough was smiling once again. I am even smiling bigger now!!

I wanted to attach some old pics I found where I am TRULY HAPPY!

SMILE!!

Happy 2nd Birthday Belle

2008-11-13T22:38:00.000-08:00

Today is Belle's Birthday!! I can't believe she is already 2. Time seriously flew by. We picked Belle up from a breeder in San Diego on New Year's Day 2007. She was just a little ball of fur, an adorable one and the BEST car traveller ever. She slept almost the entire 8 hour trip home. I remember holding her in my arms and letting her sleep on my lap. What a precious little pup!! We have been so blessed with her! She has brought so much love, happiness, and pure joy into our lives!!

Belle is the happiest, most awesome behaved lab I know ;-) We started training her at a very young age. She was too young by 9 days to attend her first puppy class, but they let us in, on one condition. She had to be potty trained. Of course! It only took us a couple of weeks and she didn't have any accidents at the super young age of 13 weeks. It was amazing. We really have been lucky with this smart little cookie ;-)

Today Reid and I took Belle to Lake Del Valle for a nice 4 mile hike and a lake swim. We had beautiful weather, in the mid 70s. Perfect! Belle had the greatest time running around on the trails, bouncing around in the shallow water and of course chasing after her bumper and swimming tons!! It's such a great feeling to see her so happy......WHAT A PERFECT BIRTHDAY!!

Off Season and Feelin' Youthful

2008-11-12T11:59:00.001-08:00

The sun came back, after 3 cold days in CA....B and I in off season mode!

I was at the club yesterday doing some ab work, stretching, hanging on the pull up bar (reminds me of my gymnastics days ;-) and chatting of course!! It always feels so good to do a little something everyday during the off season. I know, it's only been 3 days, but I am already antsy to get going again. A couple of walks with Belle, a trip to the lake, and hanging out at the club is pretty fun for now! But in 10 days, I will be SO READY for more!

I finally believe in taking an off season, it's only taken me 10 years. Geez! After talking to Reid the other night, I was trying to remember the last time when we were together that we actually took an entire week or 2 off. Never! So crazy, but I learned for sure this year that taking time off to let the body recover, rejuvenate, recharge is essential in order to be successful at this sport or any sport for that matter.

On another note, at the gym yesterday during my many breaks to do some people watching, I had 2 woman come up to me and ask where I got my tan and fit body. I laughed and said, well I spend most of my time outdoors and I love to swim, bike and run. They said "oh that's just for young people right?" I told them it was for everyone. They then said, "you're like 18 right?" HAHA! I was laughing so hard. I told them to add on 14+ years. They were so shocked but then the conversation led to, "are you a fitness instructor, do you teach exercise classes here, where can we take your class." It was great and now they want some one on one coaching! ;-) I love to get people fired up to get fit!!

Friends

2008-11-09T19:28:00.000-08:00

You know who your true friends are when things aren't going so great! You REALLY TRULY know who they are. They are there for you through ups and downs no matter what. I made some major changes in my life this entire year AND it was through these changes that I was clearly able to see who would stand by my side. I want to say thank you to all of my friends out there who have always stood by me. Yesterday I attempted a very tough and unique event. Of all events out there, I decided to finish out the TriCal series with an 'off season' attempt at an ITU Pan American Cup. Yea, you can call me crazy, but I wanted to see what it was like to toe the line with the BEST of the BEST in short course. Also, I had some series prize money on the line and I just needed to start the race. Plus it was a 40 min drive from my house!

So, after a rocky road this year, a couple of weeks off in October due to illness, I wanted to see what it would be like to test my long course, slow twitch fitness at this fast twitch event ;-) You can say what you want, but it is only those that are brave enough to TRY and TRY again and get up time and time again that will someday reach their dreams. It was an exhilirating feeling to be in the company of athletes whom I have met over the years and who have risen to the top of the sport but who continue to be humble as ever! In true ITU style we all lined up on a pontoon and waited for the gun to go off. I had an awesome dive, made it straight to the front sandwiched between 2 awesome athletes and started the long journey to becoming the best that I can possibly be. This was the start of an amazing journey that I know and truly believe will flourish someday.

I had alot to learn and take in on the swim, I now know what I need to do to get closer to those top girls, aside from swimming more than 2xs-3xs a week. I knew I would exit with some girls and I did. It was not a great swim time for me, but you know what? I hung in there, I learned so much, and it made me hungrier for more. The rest of the race was filled with more and more firsts and I have to admit it was humbling at times, but every single one of those top girls went through this before. I talked to several of the girls post race and they said it is a tough road and that they were once in my shoes and they kept fighting. So I will continue to fight, work as hard as I can, and I WILL get there someday. As I have said before PATIENCE and BELIEVING are key AND no one can take that away from me. It is up to me and people can say what they want to say, but this is my DREAM and my desire and I am NOT giving up.

** Oh and I did get the series prize money, a check for $900 ;-)

Reflections

2008-11-07T14:35:00.000-08:00

At the TOP of Towne's pass in Death Valley!!

2008 has been a year filled with joy, laughter, frustration, excitement, disappointment, and best of all ALOT of LEARNING!! I would not trade these exeperiences in for anything. Although I would have LOVED to have had an amazing, fulfilling season, I am happy to say that I learned so much from all of my rough and not so stellar races.

I hired a new coach at the beginning of the year and I was super excited about the possibility of learning and growing and most all becoming a better triathlete. I had previously trained no more than 8-10 hours a week and had some good results. So I thought that with the new coach, new program of 1.5 to 2 times the volume, I would see gains in performance. I followed the plan to a T. I did all I could with also working 50 hours a week. I soon realized that I was not getting in enough recovery time. I was working hard, killing myself at times, and seeing improvements in training, but come race day I never had it. I was not used to training through races and I now know this is not for everyone. Good for those that can do it and handle the stress on their bodies, but this was not what my body could handle. After several training camps, with training time in the 25-30 hour range, I had some great fitness gains, but again, I never rested enough to actually let this show in my races. I did however have the GREATEST EXPERIENCES ever at these camps. It was all because of the awesome girls who I trained with, roomed with, and chatted the nights away with. They all taught me so much and I hope that I helped them out too. My favorite camp of all times was in Noosa, Aus! What a great memory!

After the last camp of the year in Victoria, I had gotten really sick. I was just coming off of IM Lou, an ITU race and then trying to push my body hard again at a camp. It was not happening and I was not communicating the way I wanted to with my coach. I do not think he realized how serious my sickness was and that I was dangerously close to completely shutting down. Sometimes coaches just don't 'get us' and as much as we try and try to make it work, it just is not the right chemistry. And that is OK. It doesn't mean that one person is completely at fault, it's just not the right fit for everyone.

It took me close to 4 weeks to get back to feeling like my self again, perky and ready to GO! ;-) Thanks to some good friends and awesome communicators (ELF and Jen H), I was able to get back to training and feeling like I had some POP and liveliness again! I have to say that communication is KEY to any coach/athlete relationship. If that is not there and the coach doesnt 'get you' then it is not a perfect fit. I am HAPPY to say that Jen H is the RIGHT fit for me!

Cheers to a successful and most of all FUN 2009!

Triathlete Mag write up....

2008-11-02T19:38:00.000-08:00

Had to take this pic of Belle at a neighborhood Halloween display!

Thanks CY for asking me if I was on page 66 of Triathlete Mag ;-) I would have never known that Team ALCiS had a nice 4 page article and some pics. Team ALCiS kicked some serious butt this year. My teammates did amazing! I am so happy to be a part of such an awesome group of sweet, cool and talented athletes. It has been an honor!

Hope you all had a great Halloween and fresh start to a new month. November will be a GREAT month, I just know it. As I said in my previous post, it feels so great to have a fresh start. I was not happy with how some 'stuff' played out over the past year, so I made some important changes and can confidently say that I now feel the love. Aside from my past sports experiences, I never knew how important it was in our sport to have a coach "have your back and BELIEVE in you" 100% of the time. Not just SAY IT, but actually mean it and whole heartedly believe it. Wow, believing and following through can make a HUGE difference!! I am super excited for GREAT things to come in the future.......

Happy November!!

FUN 10K......

2008-10-26T13:30:00.000-07:00

My best bud Ali and I...and of course B ;-)

Love my new lululemon top!

I decided to have fun and run a SUPER HILLY 10K today. The 10K, made Wildflower look flat. I had so much fun!! So many of my friends were at the race, so it made it so much more fun and exciting! Reid and Belle were our cheerleaders, they were awesome support out on the course!!

I have not had this much fun running in so long. I had no expectations, just RUN and see how I would feel. I did just that. The first 4.90 miles are uphill or rolling, I enjoyed every second. To hear the sound of my breath, my feet hitting the ground crunching leaves, my legs burning as I pounded the downhills, was so awesome today! I don't know why I was so happy to be out there today, but I just was (oh and the new lululemon top Reid bought me the other day definitely added to my giddiness ;-)). I worked really hard and LOVED the feeling of that deep burning in my legs, it HURT and I LOVED IT!!

At the end of the race I ran into my massage guy and he was surprised to see that I had raced. He said "oh my, your next massage is free. that deep tissue massage I gave you on Friday night takes 3-4 days to recover from." Oops, another learning experience for me! It just never ends this season, HA! It's all good though!!

Sometimes we just need a new start, new motivation, new friends, new venues, new attitude, ........today was my new start!!

Fun times yet again at the LAKE ;-)

2008-10-25T17:46:00.000-07:00

Super Pup Belle!!
Flyin' Lab ;)

What another beautiful day here in San Ramon, CA! ! It was again in the upper 80s today, so after some fun swimming for me and riding for Reid, we decided to have a fun day at the lake with Belle! Yup, we LOVE going to the lake and just hanging out for an hour or 2. It's so peaceful and the trails are perfect for Belle to be off leash on. Plus a couple of her friends are always there on weekends as well....

I am loving everything new and different about this time of year. The weather remains gorgeous, the brisk morning air is refreshing, yet the afternoon sun is so warming! The newness of training shorter distances, speed, hanging out with friends, and just enjoying life!! You only live once right? So why not make everyday count?! Have fun, always smile, do some nice things for others, hang with family and friends, and just remember how lucky we are to be healthy!!

I am so excited to do one more race this season! It will be an exciting change to go into a race fully rested and confident! I am looking forward to it.......

YAY, Belle WON!!

2008-10-21T09:52:00.000-07:00

Pet of the Week: Belle of the Ball October 21st, 2008

This week’s featured pet is an adorable yellow lab named Belle, who loves the water almost as much as she loves her stylish Pattern & Paw collars.

P&P Stylist Says…Belle is like a beautiful swimsuit model. We love her beautiful blond locks, and her love for the water is very obvious.

READ THE ARTICLE HERE -
http://www.patternandpaw.com/blog/2008/10/pet-of-the-week-belle.html

THIS IS TOO CUTE ;-) And yes Reid and I are proud parents!!

Fall in CA

2008-10-17T11:54:00.000-07:00

It's fall in California and it is absolutely gorgeous! It is 84 degrees out and Belle and I just got back from our daily trip to the lake ;-) I love California! Not only do we get the feel of the crisp fall air in the mornings and overnight, we also get SUNSHINE all day long. I am REALLY enjoying life, especially without the "job!"

It's been 9 weeks post corporate world and I feel like a NEW person! I am pretty much all recovered from my health scare post IM and everything I did to my body this year!! I am feeling renewed and ready to go. Thanks to some changes in my life, I am feeling like my self again PLUS more ;-) Coaching is going well and I am really enjoying working with some new athletes for the 09 season. It's definitely a fun, challenging and rewarding job. I LOVE it!

Reid is also feeling like his self again after his BIG (just shy of 400 mile) ride! This weekend we'll have FUN in the SUN!!

Hope you're all having a great time during your off season or soon to be.......I think a couple of you have a race or 2 to go.

Reid and Belle already in their off season!! ;-)

Congrats IM WC Kona Finishers

2008-10-12T12:32:00.000-07:00

Linsey, 5th pro and 1st American

Wow, what an exciting day in Kona! How amazing was it to see Chrissie Wellington be so calm standing on the side of the Queen K after going through both of her CO2s and being stranded...AND then to see Rebecca Keat stop in the middle of her race to give Chrissie a spare CO2 cartridge. WOW! Great sportsmanship! Amazing!

Congrats to all of my buddies out there who did amazing and hung tough to finish another Ironman World Championship!! I am so impressed and amazed by all of you! Now, relax and enjoy some much deserved time off!!

Most of all, I would like to say how excited and proud I am of Linsey Corbin. If you read my blog a couple of months ago, I had posted how Linsey was my mentor and is always there for me through good races and bad ones and just about everything. Throughout the season, I would always have a sweet message from her that would give me loads of encouragement and that would always inspire me. She really is an amazing person!! I am truly in awe of Linsey's performance yesterday! It really goes to show that hard work, dedication, perserverance, and an amazingly positive attitude can take someone so far and achieve some of their biggest goals. Linsey is well on her way to achieving her DREAM! Congrats Linsey, we are all so proud of you!! You are truly my hero ;-)

Kona Fever....

2008-10-10T13:58:00.000-07:00

Thomas Hellriegel and I Kona 05, love him! He walked me home since it was dark and didn't want me to walk alone! What a sweet, classy guy!

PT, Tricia and I - Kona 06, pre photo shoot, see Tricia is already posing ;-) HA!

Reid and Macca Kona 05! I love how Macca always remembers our names! ;-) We met him in 2002 on a Swami's ride in San Diego. I rode up front with him for the whole warm-up and we chatted away, such a COOL guy ;-)

Kona 06 leaderboard girl for the pro women!

Kona 06 photo shoot

It's here, just one more day 'til IM World Championships in Kona! I am so excited to watch so many good friends race this year. It will be an amazing day out there. I wish I was there as I had the opportunity to go with Lifesport, but I promised myself that the next time that I would be in Kona in October would be to race. I have been to Kona to work at the race, to play one year while doing a photo shoot for IM activewear, and another year I was there to hang out and watch friends! So, I have seen it all and LOVE it all. But the next time I go I WILL be racing ;-)

Good luck to everyone racing including my awesome buddies, Katya Meyers, Kim Loeffler, Haley Cooper, Rachel Ross, Linsey Corbin, Cramer, Coach Dan, Belinda, Steve and Carrie, my ALCiS teammates, and many others. You guys are all so awesome!!

Playin' around....

2008-10-09T14:54:00.000-07:00

After taking 2 weeks off of training, and 3 weeks off of swimming, I thought it was time to have some FUN! So, my good friend Kristin Hilger and I decided to do a fun lake swim and trail run! Well, we were all serious about doing a certain distance in the water and on the trails until we met up this AM. It was crazy FUN! We haven't seen each other in a while so we just chatted and chatted and chatted.....we even attempted to start the swim and got in the lake waist deep and then chatted more! HA!

We finally started the swim and had a blast! We stopped a couple of times and talked some more ;-) This was probaly the most fun I have had swimming in a long time. Although I felt somewhat out of shape, it was still great being out in a calm, warm lake in beautiful California. And it was about 75 degrees out! Nice!

Our run was just as fun, nice and easy! It was great catching up on so much! We always have so much to share with each other. Our next workout together will be in a couple of days, hopefully we'll get more done next time ;-)

Have a beautiful day!

24 hours of Pain!

2008-10-05T22:58:00.000-07:00

SO AMAZING, 300 miles into the race and looking awesome!

Climbing and climbing and more climbing ;-)

Well, this isn't how I or Reid wanted it to end, but it's ok, sometimes we can't have it all. I am posting now after taking a much needed 8 hour nap ;-) All I really have to say is The Furnace Creek 508 is the most insane race I have ever witnessed! Yes that is 508 miles of contiunous cycling, climbing mountains at 10-16% grade for hours upon hours through Death Valley! CRAZY, but so AMAZING! Reid's dad and I crewed for Reid, which meant we would be providing Reid with drinks, gels, real food, clothing, lights, and just about everything someone would need to be out in the middle of the desert exerting all the energy they possibly can non-stop.

At the start of the race, Reid seemed excited and pretty nervous too. I was super excited for him! As the day went on, Reid looked so strong and so happy to be out there. I loved seeing him, running next to him on some climbs to give him what he needed, and to of course keep encouraging him. I loved crewing, it was so much fun, but tons of work. We had to make sure to give Reid the right amount of calories and liquids throughout the day and night! We would drive a couple of miles ahead of him during the day but at night (beginning at 5:30PM) we had to follow directly behind him. This was tough at first, as we were following going anywhere from 5-40 mph, depending on the terrain, and had to be directly behind Reid. It is definitely a job you have to be very focused on and wide awake for, even at 2AM.

I was so proud of Reid seeing him conquer some of the toughest climbs I have ever seen. One of the climbs went on for 20 miles at 10-13% grade into a severe headwind. I watched a couple of really strong veteran riders struggle so bad trying to make it up. I swear I couldn't stand in one place without the wind blowing me all over the place. And I was just standing there. CRAZINESS! It was that STRONG of a headwind! Reid's dad was awesome and drove alot of the time, while I navigated and ran out of the car each time we had to hand Reid a drink, food, or more clothing. By midnight, we were all starting to get just a little tired. We were up and ready to go by 5AM that morning. So, it was non stop action since that time. By 3AM, I could tell that Reid was starting to get a little fatigued. How could he not? He was still climbing and it was still windy out AND he had already been riding since 7AM!!

It was so cool watching him ride so strong through so many tough miles, and also so cool to see him come out of the lows he had faced on some of the climbs. I could tell by 4AM that he was starting to struggle a bit more. I knew that this was going to be so tough and that he would face unfamliar territory after 200 miles. He had flown through the first 200 miles in 10 hours and was hydrating and fueling great. So, we were very optimistic and encouraged that he went through the next 100 miles looking good. But at 4AM, he hit a serious low. His body started to shut down. We encouraged him as much as we could and he bravely pushed on. By 5AM it was starting to look tougher and tougher. All we could do was keep fueling him and telling him that he would feel better after the he crested the top of this climb. He was in good sprit, but I could just tell and see how bad he was feeling.

By mile 375 and 24 hours into the race, Reid had hit the worst of his lows and his body basically said no more! Reid sat in the car, tried to warm up a bit, closed his eyes to see if he would feel better, but it was just not going to be his day. He had already climbed over 20,000 ft, rode 375 miles, and hadn't slept in 24 hours. I kept encouraging him and telling him how proud I was of how far he had gone and he just looked at me with 'this look" and said I really am done, really I am." It was so hard to see him look so tired, so beat, and so sad. I just kept trying to tell him how awesome he did and how this was by far the toughest race ever and how proud he should be of going this far! He knew this was the furthest he had ever ridden and the most he has ever climbed but of course it always hurts not to meet your goals.

We headed to the next checkpoint to tell the race officials we were out. It sucked and I know it hurt Reid to tell them, but it was reality on this day. We drove Reid's dad back to LA and then we headed to our hotel. After 28 hours of being awake, we were finally at our hotel for a much needed shower and nap. We slept for the next 8 hours straight!

I'll keep cheering Reid up and giving him all the love and encouragement he needs. I know he will be so much stronger in everything he does now, after accomplishing a brutal 375 miles of this seriously incredible race.

Congratulations to all of those that finished the 508, especially Carlo and Billy. You are all so amazing!!!

Cheers,
E

Birthday, The 508, and Belle

2008-10-01T21:47:00.000-07:00

Today is Reid's Birthday! We had a great night together. Reid has always wanted to do Search and Rescue work with Belle, so he found an organization that does this kind of work in our area. Tonight, on his birthday he wanted to take Belle out and get started on S&R. It was super cool! The CARDA Search and Rescue group met Belle, checked out her demeanor, asked us lots of questions about her training and we were off to train with them. We watched a series of searches by a couple of trained dogs and it was incredible. Two of the human team members hid in the brush in separate areas about 1/2 mile apart and one dog at a time had to try to find them. We hiked up a trail, turned onto a couple of other trails in the pitch black (with a flashlight), and each dog found the people hiding! It was awesome how they alerted us to each of their findings. I can't wait for Belle to start doing this! So far so good ;-)

Reid's other birthday present to himself is doing the Furnace Creek 508! Yes, a 508 mile bike race solo through Death Valley and the Mojave Desert! I will be crewing for him along with his dad. We will be leap frogging Reid during the daylight hours and following closely behind him during the night hours. We will be giving Reid food, drinks, encouragement, you name it..... This should take him roughly 36 hours. He is SO EXCITED and I am too. I can't wait to see him accomplish such an AMAZING feat! He will do great!

Have a great weekend and Good Luck to those of you racing and to my teammates heading to Kona, safe travels!

Weddings, coaching, and REST!

2008-09-27T20:01:00.000-07:00

These past couple of days have been filled with tons of different emotions! From feeling totally lethargic and barely able to get out of bed, to being fired up about possibly doing another IM this season, to wondering what my blood test results will show, to contemplating going back to work full time. Well, my doctor decided alot for me, basically that I need REST, and LOTS of it! My blood work came back with alarmingly low levels of electrolytes, iron, magnesium, you name it. Scary, I have been training at 60% of normal levels. At least I now know that I wasn't going crazy, that my body was really telling me something and that is why I kept getting sick. My body was saying STOP and I just kept ignoring it. Now that explains alot!

Yesterday was my first full day of rest. It was hard at first, but then taking a little stroll to the lake with Belle and watching her play was awesome! I felt refreshed and finally accepted that this is what is best for me now. I was also super excited about getting dressed up for my good friend's wedding at night. As soon as Reid got home, we were off to Clancy and Mike's wedding, it was so beautiful and so much fun!! Everyone looked amazing and it was so great to see so many friends.

Today was our 9-4PM coaching clinic for the San Francisco Triathlon at Treasure Island. As always it is so rewarding to coach so many new triathletes. I just love their passion and enthusisam for the sport. It is so contagious! We had a great group today, including an 11 year old star, Emma ;-) Whew, what a great start to the weekend!

Have a great rest of the weekend!

End of Camp...

2008-09-24T10:42:00.000-07:00

Katya Meyers, Coach Dan, and Me post Thetis Lake swim in Victoria

After IM LOU, PG tri, and a week in Canada for a training camp, I got sick 2xs. Yup, I won't lie, it sucked and I was pretty upset. I know my body was telling me something and I know that I am stubborn and want to keep going and going. But on Day 5 of our training camp, I had to just stop and stay in bed. I had a bronchial cough and was coughing up green mucus. Sounds gross and it totally was!! I knew I was not well and probably needed antibiotics. I stayed in bed all day on Friday, only getting up to drink and eat. Saturday, I again stayed in bed in the AM and felt a little better so I walked down to a pharmacy to see if I could get something to help relieve the painful cough and burning sensation in my chest and lungs. By Saturday night, I started feeling better and knew I only had one more day of camp left. So, I got out of bed on Sunday morning to meet up with Haley, Katya, John, and Coach Dan for a 5 hour ride and short run.

I was feeling just ok on the ride, but coughing up a lung every so often. The ride was hilly and hard and we all split up at 2 hours to do our own 3 hours at IM race pace. It was ok at first, but as the time went on, I started feeling lethargic and knew I was now stuck out in the middle of no where and had to suck it up and ride back to the Lifesport office. I was hurting more from being sick than anything else, and every hill I climbed I was starting to feel sicker. By 5 hours, I thought I was so close to the office, only to find out that I was lost! ARGH! I stopped and asked a guy walking down the road for directions and he didn't speak English. OMG - I was getting frustrated at this point and just so ready to be done with the ride. I stopped again and found a really nice man who said I was only 18K out of the way. He was so sweet and felt so bad for me when I told him I had been out for 5 hours and 15 minutes and that I was from CA and totally lost ;-) He gave me perfect directions and I was back at the office in 5 hour and 41 mins. Yup, alot longer than I had planned for, but I was just SO HAPPY to be done. Coach Paul was there waiting for me to get back and told me to head out on my run. The run was nice and short and I actually felt ok. Phew!

Ok, so after getting back home yesterday, I called my doctor and asked to be seen. She was available and I went in to get checked up and to ask a ton of questions. Not only have I been sick a couple of times this year, I have also had some weird early onset muscle soreness and fatigue which has gotten really bad lately. Basically, when I start running, no matter how slow I go, my muscles lock up and feel like I have just run a marathon. I can push through the pain and discomfort and eventually my muscles loosen up and feel better by 45-60 mins. So strange and really frustrating. I did some research online while I was sick last week and found that this may be related to my thyroid issue. So I asked my doc and she seemed to think this may be the case. So I got a ton of blood work done yesterday and hopefully we will have a clear answer by tomorrow. I also had an EKG done as my doc thought she heard some odd sounds in my heart. She thinks it may be normal since I am so active, but she wanted to test me to be safe. Anyway, we will know results of all tests by the end of this week. I hope everything will be ok and that I will get the help I need to be back to great health soon!!

Canadian Camp

2008-09-17T20:38:00.000-07:00

Icing in the Pacific, Katya and I

Haley and Katya looking at me weird, hmmm ;-)

Getting ready for our 2K repeats ;-) Katya, Haley, Leanna, me and '08 Olympian Lisa

Haley and I post run!

Today we did a brutal 90 mins swim set and it HURT for all of us. But it was so GOOD for us. Janet, Shelley and I were in Lane 1 and had a great time killing ourselves ;-) I had fun leading the lane and making Coach P mad! HA! Not really, but he was mad at all of us! YIKES! We were all so tired from yesterday's workouts and especially our almost 2 hour open water swim at Thetis Lake. It was a tough swim and Coach Dan bonked in the lake and almost had to have Coach P rescue him in a kayak!

After our tough swim today we had 2K repeats at Lochside Trail. This was a great workout and a really great mental challenge, which we all overcame ;-) Then off to the ocean for icing our sore muscles!

Along the way to the ocean I took pics of some really cute wildlife!

Off to bed to get ready for our 4 workouts tomorrow!

Have a great night!

Beautiful Vancouver Island Camp

2008-09-16T14:29:00.000-07:00

Katya, me and Janet at dinner last night

Haley Cooper and I post Starbuck's treat ;-)

My favorite Coach Dan!

I am here on Vancouver Island, Victoria, Canada!! It is gorgeous here at this time of year! So far, we have had amazing weather. In the 80s here, clear, sunny, water everywhere, just how I like it ;)

Yesterday I arrived and we had a great group swim at Commonwealth Pool. I met some super cool athletes, Laura, Haley, Leanna, and of course got to see my good friends Katya and Janet. Afer the swim, Haley, Laura and I went over to Starbucks for a quick chat to get to know each other better and just hang out! I love those girls, they are so down to earth, and both in medicine. Well, Haley is on her way to a career in dentistry while Laura is a dermatologist. Very bright chicks!!

Today we had a fun base run around Elk Lake, a good 15K of running and guess who showed up? My sweet friend Lisa Mensink (08 Olympian)! It was so fun to run with her today. She is only here for 2 days, so it will be a quick trip and a bit of catching up. We also had a good recovery ride today led by my fav coach Dan Smith. This ride was so beautiful and fun! We stopped 2xs to take pics ;-)

Now, I am on my way to Thetis Lake for an open water swim. I am so excited for this workout!! It's supposed to be a really awesome lake! I'll take some pics there too ;-)

Have a great day!

IM and Speed do not mix

2008-09-14T17:13:00.000-07:00

Well, of course you will say I am stubborn, BUT I just had to race - 12 days post IM Lou! I wanted to go out and support Tri California and race an Olympic Distance race yesterday! I thought no problem, I can totally do this!! Easy, right? NO WAY!

My recovery from IM did not go as planned, I got sick with a sinus infection and sore throat a week ago. So I hadn't worked out since IM, except a couple of easy swims, a short ride and a short run. I thought I would be well rested and ready to go on Saturday. The race was ITU style and the start list was very small, so $$ was going to be a given if I finished!

The swim or as Tri Cal calls it "the kelp crawl" is loaded with tons of thick green kelp. With my style of swimming (choppy stroke) the kelp seems to get wrapped up all around me and I tend to struggle with it and constantly have to keep reminding myself to relax and stretch out. Yesterday, being as tired and sick as I have ever been before the start of any race, the kelp seemed to bother me just a bit more ;-) All 6 of us girls started on the beach, ran into the ocean and I felt surprisingly ok. As we got close to the first buoy, the kelp began to thicken and there were less clear patches of water, I started to struggle here. Rounding the first buoy I sat in 2nd place and felt a bit lethargic and winded. Uh Oh, by the turn buoy, I was feeling IM and my sickness coming on hard! Bummer! But I pushed as best I could without blowing up and a couple of girls went right by me. I just couldn't go with them. As we got close to shore to run up the beach, around a rock, and jump back in the ocean, I really began to hurt. I rounded the rock in 5th and there was still one girl behind me. I tried to bridge up to the first group, but I just didn't have the power or speed. The 6th girl caught me and we both struggled with what seemed to be growing kelp. It was everywhere and there were no clear patches of water on the 2nd lap. It got ugly. Kelly Couch and I both were frustrated as was evident by the video I watched, we were wrapped up in the kelp and you could see the weeds of green stuff all over our arms on each stroke. It is heavy stuff if it gets stuck around you. It's like dragging a weight behind you while swimming. Yikes!

We exited the water together and ran up the ramp to our bikes and Kelly was mumbling "the kelp sucks." HA, I totally was with her on that one ;-) It was just not an easy day already, people were yelling, "you guys are a minute down." Argh! Both Kelly and I had a tough time taking our wetsuits off, and we had slow T1's. Geez, huh? We finally got on our bikes and that was it! I had no power, no speed, nothing in me. My body was saying no way, forget it, stop, now! Kelly rode off and I couldn't even sit on her wheel. It was rough seeing my only hope of someone to work with on the bike ride away, while I felt like I was spinning in place. So, we were now on our own for the rest of the race. Kelly could not catch the 4 girls working so effortlessly together up ahead and I couldn't catch Kelly. (Oh I forgot to mention I was riding a a loaner road bike, which was a bit too big for me, since I don't have my own road bike. Yup, great idea, I know!) I felt like I was a parachute in the wind, and it was super windy! It's always so windy on this bike course since it's along the ocean and the race starts at 12:10PM. It is however, so beautiful!

I was feeling weak and tired and just ready to lay down and be done with this race as soon as I got off the bike. But I know all I had to do was finish to get prize money since 4 of the girls on the start list never showed up. I sucked it up, rode in despite being so slow and frustrated with my body, and started the 10K run. Now this is where I really felt like I was ready to lay down and STOP! My legs tightened up to where they were cramping up. My quads hurt so bad that all I could do was 6.50 pace. Well, that was just for the first 3 miles, then I slowed WAY DOWN to half IM pace. Yikes! It was embarrasingly slow, but I finished and earned my biggest paycheck of the year $700!! YAY! I totally need it since quitting my job 5 weeks ago.

Next race I'll be so fresh and ready to ROCK! No more of this racing tired! It's just not for me ;-)

I have to say the coolest part of this race was meeting so many awesome pro's. The men were incredibly friendly and the women were as well. Some of the awesome pro's are Haven Barnes, John Dahlz (who I already know and rides on some of the same group rides), Rebecca W-Huber, Joe Umphenour (AMAZING ITU athlete and SUPER SWEET guy), Jeff Piland, Alexis Smith, and I can go on and on. These athletes make racing as a pro so much sweeter!! Thanks so much!

E

Kentucky Round 2

2008-09-09T18:43:00.000-07:00

John, me and Bree in Louisville

I know 95 degree heat and plenty of humidity is not everyone's cup of tea. But for my awesome husband, it's his calling. Reid spectated and was my #1 cheerleader last weekend in Louisville and saw how tough this IM looked by the carnage on the side of the road. But this didn't stop him from deciding that this course would totally suit him, so he signed up for 09! Yup, he really did!

Crazy enough, I decided that I would join him. I didn't have to sign up yet, but I made a pact with Reid that I would be out there and this time I would get it right! I am not scared of the heat, humidity, and rolling hills anymore, I am hungrier than ever to have a great race there!! I now know what it's like, and I WILL train plenty for it this time around. I am super stoked to go back to Kentucky next year, this time with a new plan in place and a better heat trained me ;-)

Now, who will win this one, Reid or me?

IM Kentucky 09 will be AWESOME!!

IM recovery....

2008-09-07T10:57:00.000-07:00

Belle and all her friends cooling off at the lake....Trail walk after Belle's swim ;-)

Reid and Belle and lots of friends!

Well, it's been 6 days post IM Lou and I am recovering slowly. At first I thought it was going to take forever after having a miserable time in my first 2 days post IM. But then I slowly started to feel better with a couple of swims and a fun bike ride. Reid got sick with a bad cold the day after the race and I thought I was going to get away with not catching it. Nope, no such luck.

Last night I felt a little light headed and weak while we were at the dog park with Belle. I was so done before she was ;-) After a light dinner, it was clear that I was starting to come down with something. Today I woke up with a congested head, nose and sore throat. Bummer! I need to get well quick as I have PG tri coming up next Saturday!

After getting out of bed and walking around a bit and taking Belle to the lake with Reid this morning, I am starting to feel a little better ;-) YAY! I am going back to bed soon to get some more rest ;-)

Have a great weekend!!

IM Kentucky pics.....

2008-09-02T19:21:00.001-07:00

Just as we got back to the hotel room after a much needed IV, blood test, and massage
Wee and Me at dinner the night after the race ;-)

OUCH, running down the finish chute!

Katemonster feeling like we all did ;-(

Running down the finish chute!

Katemonster's coach, John, he had a really tough day too, but still managed a 10.12.

Mile 14, you know it's bad for everyone when your 9 min pace is passing people. Yikes for all of us!!

Wee coming in on the bike

Pre race swim on Saturday AM!

Kate, John and me at the Saturday swim

Getting into my new Blue 70 at the practice swim

I am feeling much better today! I have not slept for the past 2 nights due to major throbbing and aching, dry heaving, and just feeling like crap. But being home is making me feel better already!!

I have alot to work on for my next IM, but I am going to take away all the positives and of course learn from the lows I faced on Sunday!

I am still super stoked about my swim. I literally felt like I was floating down the river and not working very much (but getting beat up and grabbed) and I swam a 53.47 and was 2nd pro out of the water, behind super star Hilary Biscay. Coach P was proud and said I should be proud too ;-)

My nutrition needs some tweaking as does my riding and running ;-) I couldn't have asked for more though. I just left my real job 2.5 weeks ago and only got in one real 'pro' week of training before starting my taper mode. Some people think I may have over done it on that week and it cost me feeling like crap towards the end of the bike and onto the run, but I think it is just that I was not trained enough and it is my fault for having that other job. But now I will train super hard and see what I can do. I am excited! Very excited!

Have a great day!

Quick IM LOU recap

2008-08-31T18:32:00.000-07:00

bike mile 67 IM Lou, so happy to see Reid and Coach Dan

Bike out in 2nd place at this point ;-)

WHAT A BRUTAL DAY! It was absolutely crazy! I have never seen so many people walking on a run course ever. I have also never seen a dozen ambulances and a dozen medics on bikes attending to athletes on the side of the road. It was mid 90s and because of the humidity it felt like 115. Seriously!

I started off with a good swim, when I crossed the mat it said 53.47, so not sure why they posted me as 55.00 mins. Maybe the timing mat at the changing tent is where they calculated swim times. Hmmm. But it was the most contact I have ever had in an entire 2.4 mile swim, well I have only done one other. I was punched in the back (by some chick who pretends to be all sweet and nice), my ankle was grabbed and pulled back (by that same chick), men were giving me charlie horses, and it was like this the whole swim. I tried 2xs to go off on my own and around the pack I was in, but then I remembered the swim isn't everything and the day was going to be a long one. Still super happy about my swim time.

Bike was tough and the run was even rougher! It was all about who could survive on the run. I would run to each aid station, then walk and take in as much as I could. Then repeat for all 26.2 miles. My run was really a slow jog. I had the chills and some bathroom issues on the run too. It was just not my day or really anyone's day, except for a select few.

I ended up cramping really bad when I finished and nearly passed out, so I was wheeled over to medical and given some IVs. I am a little better now, still really slow to move....

More later......thanks for all the good luck messages, texts, and emails. You all are AWESOME!

E

Ready to go #27!!

2008-08-30T11:07:00.000-07:00

My new bike, as of a month ago, I love it and it looks and feels faster than my old ride ;-) Thanks PT and Terry!!

It's here, finally, IM LOU! I can't wait to get going. I am all ready to go. Just need to drop my bike off and some bags and I am set and ready for show time ;-) I am racer number 27!

It's been a super great experience already. I have been so lucky to have so many AMAZING blogger friends become my 2nd family while I am here. Kate Weaver-J and her family have been the most amazing people ever. Kate picked me up from the airport, drove me on the bike course, had meals together and has been just the best!! I can't believe how sweet her whole family is. Thanks Katie for being such a great friends!!

Reid finally arrived this morning, so now I am defintely ready to go! It's so great having family here for sure, although I was starting to feel like Kate's family was also mine ;-) Oh and I met Mel and her family and they are incredible too. Mira and Robin, other blogger buds are here too as well as Kate's coach, John, who is also super nice!! And I can't forget to mention how great it is to be here with absolutely no pressure. I am just going to see what I've got and enjoy the experience, every moment of it!!

A good friend and training partner, Steve Cramer, sent me this quote and this is what I will live by tomorrow during my 2nd IM:

"Why is it so important to keep pushing, to finish strong? Because I'm here. Because I'm alive. Because I can. Every time I think it's getting too tough, that if I take one more step or push any harder it'll kill me, I'll remember that this is proof of life. I'll think about everybody I know that would trade everything they have for the chance to experience a single moment of this day. Each stroke, each crank, each step is a privilege, and the pain is only a reminder that I am put on this earth to LIVE."

Thanks everyone for all of the well wishes, I will do my BEST, Dream Big, Race Big ;-)

Ironman Louisville Suit ;-)

2008-08-27T09:27:00.000-07:00

My good friends at Splish and Trakkers were once again so amazing in helping create the 2 most awesome suits for IM LOU! Which one should I wear? Hmmm. I love them both! Thanks again Dawn and Ira at Splish and Jay and Charlie at Trakkers!! You guys are such awesome supporters!

Coaching!

2008-08-26T15:35:00.000-07:00

As I get ready for Ironman Louisville, I have been thinking more and more about my new career change to coaching full time. It is just so awesome to do what you love to do and feel great about it. I am loving every second of coaching, training, and being a pro ;-)

I am in the process of trying to grow my coaching business as now I know this is what I really want to do. It is just so amazing to help people excel at something they love to do. This year I was able to see one of my athletes, who I taught to ride a bike 2 years ago, complete her first IM in a time she still can't believe she did!! It was the BEST feeling ever to hear her voice post IM all excited and in disbelief! I was also able to witness another amazing feat at Wildflower this year. One of my athletes lost 25 lbs and took 45 mins off of his time in just 5 months of training. As a coach, it really is so rewarding and fulfilling to see your athletes so happy with their huge accomplishments.

So, if anyone out there needs a multisport coach, I would love to help you out! I am definitely accepting new athletes right now and would love to see more dreams come true! Remember to always DREAM BIG!!

Splash n Dash

2008-08-22T10:59:00.000-07:00

Me in Kona watching IM a couple of years ago!

Last night was the final Splash n Dash of the summer series at Lake Del Valle. I did the first one in June and absolutely loved it. So, Coach P thought it would be a great way to get in some more speed work before Kentucky. I love this type of event, swim 1 mile, run a hilly 5K on trails!! Totally my style ;-)

I had a really good swim for me last night. I stayed in the first pack of 4 men and felt comfortable. These are the same guys that I was not able to stay with back in June. They were a good minute and a half to 2 mins ahead of me then. Not this time ;-) I stayed with them all the way to the swim exit. I even thought about going around them a couple of times, but then I thought it would probably be best to stay in the draft since 2 of the guys were wearing wetsuits. I was so stoked that I have improved a bit on my swim. Thanks Coach P for all the crazy pool workouts ;-) Oh and there was one girl way ahead of us (about 30 seconds) but she was 16th at Olympic Trials back in June and her brother was also ahead, another stud swimmer! Wow, they are awesome!

I was first (out of my pack) onto the run and I felt pretty bad! I even thought about calling it a day. It was that bad! I felt like my quads had the most lactic acid they had ever had and I was hardly moving fast. I calmed down, let the 4 guys go by me, took some serious deep breathes and before I knew it, I had caught the Olympic trials swimmer on one of the steep uphills and was making some ground on one of the men in front. By mile 2 I was feeling pretty good and able to let loose ;-) I ran the last mile hard and even felt good on the last climb. It was super fun to feel great again!!

I won for the women and was 5th including the men. It was such a great night. Reid and Belle were cheering me on and Belle ran with me the last 100 meters to the finish ;-)

Off to the pool......

Dreams...keep us going

2008-08-19T14:21:00.000-07:00

Wow, the Olympics have been AMAZING!! Super AMAZING!! I am loving every moment I can stay up to watch live or Tivo ;-) I am especially lovin' watching my former coach commentate on some of the women's gymnastics. He is SO into it, as he always was. He is the same, except I would say he and Martha are quite a bit softer now than in my day ;-) That's a good thing I guess.

As a 5 year old, my parents enrolled me in gymnastics after ballet and tap were too boring for me. HA! By the age of 8 I was in awe of my new idol winning the first ever all around gold medal in gymnastics in the 1984 Olympics. Mary Lou Retton was my idol. Ironically enough, 3 weeks after her amazing winning moment, she would tour local gyms in the Bay Area and one of them was my gym. My coach at the time prepared an exhibition floor tumbling and dance routine for all 20 of her competitive gymnasts. I was lucky enough to be a part of the routine and I will NEVER forget it. When Mary Lou and Bela Karolyi stepped foot in our gym, almost all of us were in shock, so amazed. I will never forget how hard and how high I tried to tumble to impress Bela and Mary Lou. I squeezed my legs so hard together to show good form and I pushed off that floor so hard that I would feel the new heights that I would fly to. It was super fun. At 8 years old, I was living a dream.

The moment that will be in my mind forever was soon to come during this exhibition routine in 1984. Bela saw how hard this little 8 year old was trying. I somehow caught his eye. He came over to me and said perfect and did his signature hand gesture. I get the chills now just thinking about this. It was definitely one of the BEST moments of my life. Wow, from that day on, I worked so hard in the gym and out of the gym, even doing exercises on my own at home. I was determined to be one of his gymnasts someday. Fast forward 7 years later and I was at Karolyi's gymnastics trying out and winning a spot to train as an Elite there. I DREAMED of this my whole young life, my family sacrificed so much, I let some coaches words of negativity that I would never make it fuel my fire, and I made it!! I did not make it as far as my teammates made it, eventual 1996 Olympic gold medal champions, but I gave it my all and I couldn't have asked for a better journey. A scholarship to many NCAA Div 1 universities was great, not my Olympic dream, but still a success.

So if we never Dream Big, we will never know what we can accomplish! We must hold onto our dreams and work very hard to see if we can get there, so that we will never have any regrets!!

Keep Dreamin'

Tough Stuff!!

2008-08-14T21:42:00.000-07:00

Belle sleeping after a rough day ;-)

Wow, this is TOUGH! My first week as a "free" pro has had so many highs, but a few lows as well. I know it is not going to be easy and I am so willing to endure whatever it takes. AND today was especially a really tough day!

Coach has been wanting me to do alot of my workouts in the HEAT this last week before IM Kentucky. Being a working woman in the past, I was not able to train in the heat during the week. So this is the perfect time to do it. This week it has been in the 90s and unusually humid. I had some rough runs in the heat over the last 2 days, but nothing like I encountered today. It was 97 degrees out with 67% humidity. I didn't know that at the time I started my LONG run, I just thought it was a GREAT idea to start my run in the HEAT of the day! OUCH!

I started out feeling ok, but 30 mins into my run, I thought I was going to pass out. I was getting the chills and seeing stars. But I thought, just push through it as Coach would say and stay in my Zones. Well, it wasn't before long that my body said enough and I was forced to slow way down. I was drinking Cytomax and water and I stopped to refill my bottles unusually early in my run. But nothing seemed to work, it was just HOT and my body was telling me that it wasn't going to go any faster. So, I made what I could out of this workout and suffered through it. It wasn't pretty, but I survived! It was not in the right Zones, but pretty close! It was all I could do today in this crazy HOT weather and I am going to take it and know it made me stronger for Kentucky!!

By the way, Belle had another great day with 2 long walks and a trip to the dog park. I swear she is like a kid. I spend every minute with her when I am not training. Now I know why we paid so much for doggie daycare when we were both working ;-) I wouldn't trade her for the world ;-)

Have an awesome Friday!

Epic Weekend!

2008-08-11T14:23:00.000-07:00

Wow, I have my first day off of work on Friday and Coach P gives me what the 'real pro' girls do, not just on Friday but all weekend long! It is official, I am starting to train and recover like a pro ;-) I am lovin' it!

Friday, I started the day off with a nice 3 mile hike with Belle. It was so sunny and beautiful out! Ah, this totally beats being in an office ;-) Then I had my longest run ever, 2 and 1/2 hours followed by a 90 minute swim. It was really tough but all I could think about was what an AWESOME way to celebrate my first day off of leaving my job!! SWEET! I loved it and enjoyed every moment.

Saturday was another great one, but more of an easy day. Reid and I met up with our good friend Chris McCrary (agent to several high profile pro triathletes), Leanda Cave, her boyfriend Torsten Abel, and another good friend Jason Cruser. We had a great fun ride, and I listened to Coach P and turned around early, even though I wanted to keep going with this super great group of people. Then off to another great long walk with Belle ;-) And of course some awesome family time at night! Oh and watching the Olympics is amazing! We love it, it is so inspiring!!

Sunday was EPIC! I have never done anything like this ever...... I started off with a 3700 yard swim, with some great speed work in there, then a 6 hour hilly ride, followed by a 5 mile hilly run. I was lucky to have Reid as company. He rode his single speed so that we would be out there together, but be going at different speeds when we needed to. I never once drafted off him, we stayed close to each other but we never let either one of us dictate the pace for the other. I was so Happy to stay in my Zones, exactly how Coach P prescibed this workout. I worked hard the whole way and when Reid felt great and went ahead, I let him go and focused on my self and my plan. It was such a great, spectacular, but HOT day! The temps got into the 90s, perfect for Kentucky training. I did have 2 low points on the ride, where I was starting to feel like I was so done for the day, but I didn't give up and pushed through it and my body responded and came back stronger. Wow, the power of the mind!

My run off the bike was another story. It took me awhile to get going, but once I did I felt pretty good. Of course I was super tired and hurting, but it was still a good run, once again in the Zones Coach P said to be in. Overall it was an AWESOME day! My LONGEST, HARDEST, HOTTEST training day ever. I am stoked!!

Off to walk Belle ;-)

Final Day at Oracle, I'm free!!

2008-08-07T21:57:00.000-07:00

Live it up.......Soar high

Today was officially my final day as a Senior Commodity Manager at Oracle. It was a bittersweet day! Although I am VERY EXCITED to begin my new journey, I am also a bit sad to leave some of the awesome people that I had the privilege to work with. I was very fortunate to be given the opportunity to take on a great position within a very successful company. I did not take it for granted. I can positively say that I took advantage of the opportunities that were given to me, as I learned so much in my 13 months there and will always have that with me.

One big Whoops for my Final Day at Oracle! As many of you know, I almost always trained during my lunch hour at the famous O gym on campus. Well today was no exception and I met Reid at the O pool for a quick 55 min swim. What I didn't know was that my boss, VP, and co-workers were back at the office planning a surprise lunch party for me. Oops! When I was done swimming, changed and headed back to the office, I checked my phone and noticed that I had 3 missed calls and a voicemail. It was my boss and co-workers trying to get a hold of me. Yikes! I felt sooooo bad. But I didn't know, nor was I supposed to. It was such a sweet thought!! Luckily they were all cool with everything and no hard feelings. They knew I was probably at the pool, so we made up for it with some sweets ;-)

I am so happy and proud that I made it through 10 years of full time work in the corporate world holding several different positions and learning so much all while coaching, training, and racing. I am happy to see what I can do now with dedicating all of my time to my passion!! Dream BIG! Live life to its fullest, no regrets!!

Riding Solo, almost

2008-08-06T08:02:00.000-07:00

Yup, my teammates will be proud, especially Wee, Caroline and Sammy. I did it, I rode and ran solo ;-) I love to have company on my rides and runs and I was recently told that I should do more of my training solo. I tend to go with the pace that my training partners push or not and I end up almost always going too hard or too easy. So, after our Victoria training camp, my teammates 'dared' me to go for a long ride on my own. I did it, well almost all of it!!

I actually rode the last half of my LONG ride on my own and it felt awesome! I stayed in my Zones that Coach had requested, I pushed every hill hard (seated of course ;-), and I felt amazing. I felt free!! It was such a great feeling. I worked hard, but not too hard, and when I had to ease off, I did and there was no feeling pressure of having to keep up or not drop anyone! NICE! I had a good run off the bike as well and again, I felt free and it was all about my Zones, pace, and how I felt. Sweet feeling!

Thanks girls for 'daring' me to give this a shot! I will do more of this again this weekend!

Have a great one......Oh and just one more day in the corporate world for me!! YAY!

Pacific Grove's friendly Seals

2008-08-03T21:16:00.000-07:00

Our Friend, up close!

Beautiful Pacific Grove, CA

This weekend Reid and I coached the Tri California clinics. We headed down to Pacific Grove, CA with Belle to coach 20 athletes over 2 days on the PG triathlon course. As always it is so much fun and so rewarding to coach! We love it! Saturday's clinic was 8 hours long as we went over the entire swim, bike and run courses and a few lectures. And today's clinic was just a swim clinic at the famous Kelp filled Lover's Point beach. This place is so near and dear to our hearts as this is where Reid proposed to me back in 2004 ;-) It is so BEAUTIFUL here!!

The PG swim is famous for its "kelp krawl." There is so much kelp in this part of the ocean that at most times in this swim, you are pulling and pushing your way through this large, green, silky-feeling stuff. It gets wrapped around you and if you fight it, you will just get more and more tangled in it. Kind of scary at first, but once you practice in it a few times, it gets less overwhelming and actually becomes pretty fun! But I have yet to love it during the actual race ;-) Maybe this year!!

Today my swim group had the MOST AMAZING experience. We were swimming out about 100 meters from shore, when I stopped everyone to re-group and give some tips. We looked around and noticed 5 seals pretty much surrounding us. Super cute! Luckily everyone was very comfortable and calm in the ocean. The seals got closer and closer to us and then went under. We all looked under water and there they were staring at us. Then, one of the seals came right up to my feet and touched me. I felt his whiskers and skin. SO SOFT! So cool! He then went over to one of the other swimmers and touched her too. We were all so excited, this was so awesome...... They followed us for the entire swim and touched us a couple more times. This was the BEST swim I have ever had out here at PG and my athletes were in awe of it all........

After we were done coaching the clinics, Belle got to experience swimming with the seals too ;-) But they just stared at each other and swam in different directions ;-)

Let's start this week off GREAT!

Swim, Love to SWIM!

2008-07-30T11:10:00.000-07:00

Rach, me, Reid and Belle. Rach placed in the 1/2 mile and 1 mile swim, I got a glass plaque for winning and Reid was 1st in his AG

I forgot to post about my super fun swim on Saturday! Reid, Belle and I headed out to Lake Del Valle for a 2 mile swim race. We all love to swim, well Belle and I especially, so I knew this would be a fun morning! :-)

We got there just in time for me to sign us up and Reid to play fetch with Belle in the lake. Talk about a SERIOUS water dog!! Wow, Belle goes nuts for the water and can outswim just about any dog or person trying to get her toy in the water ;-) Amazing wonder water dog!

I was lucky to find a really, really sweet lady who was willing to watch a 58 pound, yellow lab! HA! Yes, it was either find someone who loves dogs to watch Belle or leave her in the car while we swim 2 miles. I scoped out a dog lover and Erin was so gracious to watch Belle. She even wanted to play fetch with her while we swam. PERFECT! THANK YOU ERIN!!

The swim was so fun. I led from start to finish and felt great the whole time. I did what Coach P said and lengthened out my stroke, worked on being smooth, and relaxed. It felt so nice to swim easy for a change. Oh wait, I was in a race. Oops. Yea, I caught myself daydreaming a couple of times and then remembered to focus. It was so different leading a swim and not having anyone around me. I had to sight a lot too. But I was happy that I had a good swim and finished the 2 mile swim in just under 48 minutes. Then my walk up to the finish line on the sand took another couple of seconds ;-) It was a great morning!

Oh and the cutest part of the whole day was when Reid was swimming in and Belle and I saw him and she swam out to him and brought him in.........SO COOL!

Have a great day everyone.....

It's Official, I gave notice.....

2008-07-27T17:05:00.000-07:00

Here is the view from our ride today ;-) I love CA!!

Here is the HUGE news!! It is now official, I quit my job at Oracle. I have 9 more days left and I will be a real "pro triathlete." ;-) I am SUPER EXCITED! I have always wanted to give triathlon a real chance and since starting tri's almost 9 years ago, I have always held a corporate job of some sort and always worked at least 50 hours a week. So, I will now be coaching and training full time. I will finally give myself a chance at training and recovering like my competitors. SO EXCITING!!

I will continue to coach several triathletes and marathon runners and hope to grow my coaching business. I absolutely love coaching!! It is so fun and rewarding to see your athletes grow and improve. It's such an amazing feeling.

Thanks so much to my awesome husband who is always so supportive of whatever I choose to do. He is the most amazing person!! Thanks to Coach P for believing in me and thanks to all of my awesome teammates for encouraging me to move in the right direction!

No matter what happens, I will always know that at least I tried and I will have no regrets when I am older!!

Have an awesome day!

IM LOUISVILLE, here I come ;-)

2008-07-24T14:26:00.000-07:00

I have to be the HAPPIEST girl on this planet right now! I am so EXCITED to race an IM. I know this may sound crazy and I may not have the best day out there, but I am going to DO MY BEST to have the BEST ATTITUDE out there. Coach just gave me the go ahead to race IM Louisville. So, yes I will get "lucky in Kentucky." That's for Bree ;-)

I get to meet some of my blogging buddies and I get to meet one of my newest sponsors too! This will be an amazing time!! I am like a little kid all excited for X-mas! HA! I know an IM will be tough, but I am so willing and so ready to take on this challenge! I will face this race with an awesome attitude, hopefully I will be smiling and waving out there like Wee ;-)

HUGE thanks to Reid once again for supporting me in this amazing journey. He really is the greatest hubbie I can ever dream of. It's so real, just ask some of my teammates ;-)

Have an awesome day!

Bye Bye Canada, Thanks Teammates!!

2008-07-20T17:27:00.000-07:00

Janet, Bree, Sammy and I post Vancouver 1/2 IM

Teddy, our homestay's dog, he was awesome, we miss him so much!! We bought him that indestructible frisbee ;-)

Coah Bruce Regensburg (Paul's dad), Sammy and I at our Team Dinner

Teddy jumped into our rental car and didn't want us to leave ;-(

Subaru was AWESOME to us!!

Kristin and I at the 137 meter pool

Vancouver, BC

Bree, me, Coach P, and Katya at the VIP reception in Vancouver

What a beautiful country Canada is! I loved Vancouver and Victoria, BC. We had an amazing time filled with lots of new learning experiences, all that will not only help us now, but in the future as well. We hung with AMAZING, talented, sweet, fun friends and teammates. We learned so much from all of them.........

- Caroline Smith taught me to "be smart" with my training, "to forget the negatives quickly," and how to not let anything "eat me up." She is such a tough, but fun person. I loved getting to know her and I LOVE her accent ;-)

- Katya Meyers taught me to "relax" and not get worked up about things.

- Jenny Fletcher, we just met, but we bonded pretty quick and we both taught each other that it is normal to feel down and confused but just for a few seconds, then we must realize how great our lives are. Miss ya Jenny.

- Sammy Mazer taught me that no matter how hard things get I can still smile and have fun. She has a very bright future ahead of her. Sammy is awesome!!

- Janet Nielsen, ahhhh, where do I begin? Janet is such an amazing person. Everytime we are around each other, we are laughing and getting in trouble with Coach P. We are such a funny pair together, especially in the pool ;-) Janet showed me how to be a super confident swimmer and know that I can swim with anyone. Thanks Janet!

- Lisa Mensink, the Olympian! She inspires, motivates, and always helps me out when I am confused or frustrated. I love how she always has a clear head and can turn anything into a positive. I will take her advice on my next step which you will all hear about very soon ;-) Best wishes for an awesome Olympics Lis!!

- Bree Wee, one of my closest friends and teammates. She knows so much about me that no one else knows. She is my confidante, partner in crime, and my favorite swim buddy. I can't list everything that she has taught me as I could go on forever. But a few highlights from this trip that will be so important for me to remember are to "know that I only have one short life to live, so GO FOR IT," "BELIEVE that I have got what it takes," and always "keep my head in the game."

- Coach Dan taught me to not get worked up about things and realize that even though I may feel like I am far back on a climb, I am NOT! He helped me so much with my confidence! What a cool coach!

- Coach Paul, I love the PROCESS, I BELIEVE, and I KNOW I will get there with your help!! Thank you!

Have a great day!

Sick ;-(

2008-07-18T10:14:00.000-07:00

Janet, me and Sam last night. Can you tell how sick I look ;(

Well, it had to happen while I was here in Victoria. BUMMER! I got sick. Not just a cold but a full blown, bacterial infection - fever, chills, sweats, sore throat, migraine, and bronchial cough! I started feeling weak and fatigued on Tuesday night, but I thought it was no big deal, just tired from the race and training camp. I had great swims, rides, and runs and just kept on plugging away.

Wednesday morning at our first swim workout, I started feeling really achy, weak and filled with phlegm. I still pushed through a really tough workout of 2x (12x100s). I still managed to do 1.19s-1.20s, but I was not feeling good at all. I faked it til I made it! As Bree would say! Then onto our super tough 3 hour HILLY bike ride. I rode with the FAST girls and guys, Katya, Caroline, Lisa (Beijing Bound), Reid and Coach Dan. I was hurting so bad on some of the steep climbs. I had a couple meltdowns and knew something was wrong with me. I just felt awful. I still pushed through this SUPER TOUGH workout and managed to have a good 2nd half of the ride. Coach Dan and Reid were so awesome and encouraging. They would double back for me on the climbs and fill my head with so much positiveness. It was AMAZING! They are super SWEET! By the end of the ride, I had a deep chest cough and felt slighly feverish. I kept trying to stay positive and convince myself that I was just tired.

Onto the final swim workout of the day at Durrance Lake at 4PM, and I knew I was getting sick. But again I was in denial. I swam a great pace with Lisa, Bree, and Janet. We had a great time and stayed with each other on the 300 intervals. Every one of these girls is so strong and so much fun to be around. At the end of the swim, we took our wetsuits off and I felt the chill of that water run down my spine and I got the chills. Again, I thought maybe some rest and I would be all better on Thursday morning.

Wednesday night I was up all night with a fever, chills, and the sweats. I was hurting so bad and feeling so bummed. Reid helped me out so much by being so comforting and sweet! I missed the morning swim workout but Coach said to try to make it to the run in the afternoon. I did just that and Coach gave me a nice easy base run of 60 minutes. I did this run with Reid and at first I felt ok, but about 20 mins into the run I was feeling pretty lethargic and achey.

Dinner at Paul's parents house Thursday night and I was faking it so bad. I was trying to act like I was better even though I was aching all over and feeling pretty sickly! I wanted so bad to be healthy and good to go.... As soon as we got home, I lay in fetal position in bed and started having the chills again. The chills turned into a fever, really bad sweating (where I had to change my sleep outfit 3xs). I was again up all night. This morning Reid took me to a walk in clinic to get checked on by a DR. I was just diagnosed with a sinus infection and possible strep throat. I have antibiotics and a nasal spray now and I am trying to recover as quick as I can. Too bad we leave tomorrow AM. It's ok that I am missing these workouts as I know my health comes first and I need to get well!! There is always another day..... And as Caroline said "you will not even care that you missed a workout or 2 in 5 days, 5 months or 5 years." SO off to bed I go.....

Race and Training Camp

2008-07-15T10:45:00.000-07:00

We just met and we clicked so quickly, Jenny and me, she is awesome ;-)

I wasn't in the cool top 5 pic, but I was top 9 ;-)

This is the COOLEST pool ever - 137 meters long.....R, E, and KH

Kristin and me posing the day before the race - such dorks ;-)

Janet, me, Wee, and Caroline

The Subaru ;-)

We're here in Victoria now after racing the Vancouver 1/2 on Sunday! Vancouver was beautiful and we were taken care of so well. Subaru was AMAZING and gave some of the pro women cars to drive around in all weekend. They even put our names on the cars ;-) HA! It was so much fun! The race itself was yet another learning experience for me on this journey to becoming the best I can be. I again learned so much and will run with it and grow.

I had the best swim of my life, swimming with the leaders and feeling strong. I even overcame a slight mental lapse when I was dunked by a pro guy and held under, only popping up to see that I was under the first buoy. I could have easily freaked out and wasted energy and let the group go, but I "let it go" got my head back in the game and swam away from that pro guy. I felt great and exited the water with a new PR of 26 minutes in 2nd place. I was pleased with this time and know that I still have room for improvement.

Onto T1 and the camera men were filming me. I had such a circus in there, HA! Embarrasing. I had trouble getting my left leg out of my suit. It was stuck on my timing chip. Ooops, I finally got out of it and onto my bike. I felt just ok at first, then flat later on. But I wanted so bad to hold my spot in 2nd place. I was passed early on by Caroline and then later into the ride by Rachel K. I held onto my new spot for almost 3 laps. Then I let the negative thoughts get the best of me and instead of focusing on the positives, I started to think about how much pain I was in. Ok, I know I keep going through this, but eventually I will get it right and then I will be where I should be and hold my place in the race. Until, then I have so much to learn, but I also have alot to be happy about ;-)

I started the run feeling defeated, since I went from 2nd to 7th all on the bike (plus a 4 minute pnealty). Again, another HUGE obstacle that I have to overcome is that defeated feeling. On the run course I just ran and tried to push it a bit, but I was not feeling it. I think a huge issue was my mindset. I did get my head together by the 2nd lap of the run and negative splitted by 5 minutes. Ok, so this goes to show that I could have gone this pace for the first half too. I WILL get there one of these days, I know I will. And now being here in Victoria, I am already learning so much from all of the girls, coaches, and a famous sports psychologist. It's all good and a HUGE BONUS - having Reid here!!

I have to add in that I had a great swim with Heather Wurtele yesterday. She is awesome, both as a person and athlete. I hope to learn alot from her........

Have a great day!

Canada Half and Camp

2008-07-09T08:54:00.000-07:00

Bree, me, and Janet in Oz.....

It's time to take a trip up North. On Friday, I will be heading up to Vancouver to meet up with my Coach and teammates (Bree, Katya, Janet, and Lisa). We will be racing in the Vancouver Half IM on Sunday. I hear this is a super fun race and an absolutely beautiful course. I am really excited to see my friends and of course Coach too.

After the race, we will all travel to Victoria via ferry. Coach has a week long training camp planned for us. I am so excited as a guest will be with us, guess who? My best friend and hubbie, Reid will be joining us this time around. It was so much fun in Oz but tough to be away from family. So this time Reid is coming with me....YAY!! I am so HAPPY! Of coure Belle will be in good hands at home with my parents ;-) They LOVE her!!

I will fill everyone in on our exciting times in Vancouver and Victoria. I am sure I will have lots of fun stories, pictures, and more to share.....

Have a great rest of the week.....

Follwing process goals.....

2008-07-05T19:19:00.001-07:00

Looking way too Happy, waving at the camera man ;-) This is right before I pick up the pace!

My good friend Clancy!

The Cutest Yellow Lab ever, Belle ;-)

My best friend forever ;-)

The Swanson's and Castillo's

My friends and I, we all placed in our divisions ;-) *Karin, far left is an amazing swimmer and 1984 Olympian, super cool and amazing*

Hope you all had a great fun-filled 4th of July!! Every year my family and Reid and I run in our Independence Day hometown 5K race. This year Coach asked me to do the 10K. I was worried since my last couple of 5Ks in a row a couple of weeks ago left me sore for almost a week. Yikes! But Coach gave me process goals to focus on throughout the race, so this made me a bit more confident. Still I have to admit, I was worried!

I had a rough day on July 3rd with stomach issues, I guess from eating something bad so I was skeptical of starting the race the next morning (no Bree it wasn't my cooking :)). But with Reid as an awesome motivator, we were up and ready to go by 6AM race morning. The race is only several miles away from our house, so it made for a quick ride over there. It was so cool to see my family, including niece and nephew, getting ready to race!

I was told to go out controlled and steady and to keep my HR in check. I was so ready to follow this plan, since I REALLY wanted to feel good by the end of the race and not blow up at mile 1, like I have done in the past. I started next to a couple of friends and Reid and we all decided to start out easy and build. We did just that. I was feeling so good and so strong and in control. I was talking and waving at the cameras. Ok, a bit too much in control! HA! But by mile 2.5, I decided to pick up the pace a bit and see how I felt. I felt awesome!

At the half way point I continued to build and stay in control. I gradually got my HR up to closer to where Coach said it should be. I still felt good and I was told to let go and give it my all with 3K to go. I did and I got down to 5.40 pace and then before I knew it, the race was over. OMG - I could have gone that pace for longer BUT I was so HAPPY that I followed the plan and focused on the process that entire 10K. This is a HUGE improvement for me. I was stoked, I negative splitted by 2mins 30 secs on the 2nd half of the race. The race ended up being 6.31 miles and I ended up 3rd overall for the women.

I emailed Coach and he was super happy that I followed my process goals the entire race, but he did say that "next time go out a little more aggressive and even split and you will have an awesome time." I was super conservative this time but I learned how to race a 10K way better than I have before ;-) Cool times on the 4th!!

Cheers,

Pool "Pull" Work

2008-07-02T20:53:00.000-07:00

I have this love/hate relationship with "swimming," but I LOVE the water! Sounds funny, huh? You see, I absolutely LOVE being in the water, splashing around, playing, having fun with Belle, floating, swimming if I feel like it, etc......But when I have a set workout where I have to HURT really bad, I am not so much in love with "swimming." Actually I do love it, but definitely after the fact....when I am all done ;-) Just ask Bree or Reid!

The other day Coach gave me a really cool PULL set. I am a good puller, well much better than kicker and so I really have fun when I get to pull. I had a 600 pull, followed by 4 x 300s pull. Lots of it and I felt so good and strong! Sweet! It is so nice when I don't have to use my legs, especially after a hard run. So, after pulling so much, I got out of the pool and walked to the locker room. While I walked over to the locker room, I ran into a friend who I hadn't seen in so long. He immediately said this "Hey E, have you been lifting?" Then he touched my arm. ARGH, HA! People say I should take it as a compliment, but I seem to always get this comment. I swear I have been hearing this comment my whole life, it's my big arms ;-) At work, people ask "do you lift?" or "are you a swimmer.?" So funny, I guess it is a compliment ;-) HA!

Cheers,

Super FUN Sunday

2008-06-30T09:11:00.000-07:00

It was an awesome day at the Lake with Reid and Belle yesterday! We played fetch with Belle, taught her how to swim out pretty far in the lake while we both swam next to her, hiked, and played some more in the water ;-) It is mornings like this one, where the sun is shining, the wind is still, the water is crystal clear, all we could hear were the sounds of us splashing around and laughing, that make me extremely HAPPY! What a beautiful morning!

Later in the day Reid and I went for my prescribed 2 hour run along trails near our house. We ran up and down these beautiful trails and enjoyed each other's company, until one of us would take off to get up to a certain HR zone! I have to admit I was feeling a little better than Reid yesterday especially on some of the steeper hills ;-) We ended the run with a hard effort as Coach asked and I was super happy to being feeling great at the end of 2 hours. This is a first for me. Reid was happy to be done ;-)

Then off to see Belle and go for another short hike. We have so much fun together, the 3 of us! It is so amazing how much fun and joy you can have doing the simplest things with the people you love most! We laughed and smiled so much the whole day!

Just before dinner I headed off to the pool to finish out my week of training! It was a fun, not so hard set that consisted of lots of pulling. Oh, I just LOVE to pull. It's my favorite! Kicking, not so much....LOL.

.....Oh and I can't forget to mention that I had the BEST phone conversation with Marit yesterday. She is an amazing person and I am so happy to call her a good friend ;-)

Have an awesome day,

New Fit ;-)

2008-06-27T18:26:00.000-07:00

Yay, I have some awesome friends out there who have been helping me with my bike fit. I have been writing about my bike issues for some time now, especially my saddle issues. So, I decided it was time to make some serious changes.

Jim Felt of Felt bikes and Dave Bunce of Blackwell research have been working with me for the past several days via pics, emails, phone calls and more pics..... They were so surprised that I was "WAY OFF" in my position. They said "no wonder I was in so much pain" and no wonder I "did not have much power transfer to the pedals." Crazy, huh? We spend all this time and money on the sport and a simple thing like getting properly fit is SO ESSENTIAL.

I was told that my seat was WAY too high and too far forward. So we moved me back a whole inch and down a 1/2 inch, WOW! Huge change. The front end is too high and needs to move down 1 inch minimum and 2 inches would be optimal. This part I have not been able to do yet. Jim is trying to find a new bar and stem combo to make this happen. The Zipp bars I have on there now, do not go down any further.

Tomorrow I will test ride in my new more comfortable and powerful position. I am so excited. I KNOW this will work no matter how different and off I will feel at first, since I have been riding in the wrong position for over a year now. I am so stoked. I am going to MAKE this WORK. As Dave Bunce said, "look out."

Have an awesome weekend!

Bad Air.....

2008-06-26T18:19:00.000-07:00

It's so sad in CA right now. There are 700 wildfires burning throughout the state. Most have been set by a severe electrical storm and others by the extreme heat wave and some accidents. Although the closest fires are about 25 miles away from us, the air quality is so bad! Once you walk outside you can immediately see and smell the smoke. It is so thick and it makes it so hard to breathe at times.

Every news and radio station has been warning us to avoid being outdoors for long periods unless absolutely necessary and definitely not exercise outside. Of course I have been swimming and running outdoors and it finally hit me yesterday. I had a hard swim and run set and I nearly coughed up a lung. But I HAD to get these workouts in or I would go stir crazy at work. So, I swam at lunch with Reid and we both felt the thick smoke entering our lungs as we worked hard in the pool. It was not TOO bad, until the run at night. After a long 1 hour 45 minute commute after work (serious traffic delays) last night, I again HAD to move my body or I would go nuts.

I went out for a hill repeat session and nearly passed out. Under Coach's orders, I was supposed to work very hard, but he didn't know about the fires. After my 3rd repeat, I decided not to fully kill myself, and save my lungs. I finished out the set, but didn't pick up the intensity any more or I for sure would have passed out from inhaling so much smoke! I did see stars though ;-)

Today the air quality is not much better, so I opted for an easy swim and I'm still contemplating my trainer workout.........

**I pray for those that are affected by the fires and pray that the fires are contained very soon**

Be Strong!

2008-06-24T09:20:00.000-07:00

Finishing in 1st at Splash n Dash with my baby Belle ;-)

After feeling absolutely toasted, as Marit would say, throughout the weekend, I looked forward to my day off of training on Monday! Yes, I finally had a day off and I thought it would feel so good. Well, it kind of did and then I realized what I have been missing all along.

A complete day off for most of my competitors would mean EXACTLY that - put you feet up, sleep in, take naps, watch a movie, lay out at the beach or play, ice, get a massage and just simply relax. Well, this is what I have been longing for. I REALLY need a day off, completely. I need a massage, I need to sleep more than 6 hours, I need to walk around barefoot or with comfy shoes on (not heels for work), I need to wear shorts and a tank, and simply lay around and relax ;-) I know this is not realistic for my lifestyle and I have to deal with it 'gracefully.'

I cannot freak out, get upset, or stress, I simply have to mentally 'RELAX' and know that what I am doing will only make me stronger! This is my life and it is GREAT! I have to remind myself that I can do well in this sport, I just have to believe in ME.

So keep the work coming.....keep the training and racing going......I CAN and WILL handle it all ;-)

Cheers to an awesome week!

Race #3 in 3 days!!

2008-06-21T10:03:00.001-07:00

My Bro and I post race with my new sponsor visor TRAKKERS (they're awesome), a pic of the race venue, and a golden retriever puppy I had to hold post race ;-)

Well, I would highly NOT recommend 3 races in 3 days. After my last 2 races in the HEAT on Thursday, I have been SO SORE! This is the sorest I have been since OZ. I can't believe what serious speed work can do to your body when you are more of a long distance athlete! OUCH! Yesterday I REALLY wanted to take the day off, but Coach made me swim 4K in a meters pool and it was a tough workout. Not only was it 100+ degrees out again, but the pool was 86 degrees. I was sweating in the pool and I was super thirsty even though I drank 24 oz of water while swimming in the first hour. I didn't think I needed Cyto or a sports drink out at the pool, but I probably should have had something with electrolytes.

Last night I was barely able to walk down the stairs in my house. My quads, calves, ITBs, shoulders, and back are extremely sore to the touch! I contemplated sleeping in and not racing today. But I am super stubborn and I knew that Coach would tell me to suck it up anyway. So, I got out of bed at 4:45AM and got ready for the sprint race (400 meter swim, 12 mile bike, and 3.1 mile trail run). I got there and did the usual - set up, talked to some friends, and headed to the start. It was cool how many people showed up to race, ~1000.

The start was in knee deep water and I positioned myself at the front right next to my brother. I made sure to tell him not to elbow or kick me in the face. As the gun went off, he totally bumped into me, took my space, then some dude grabbed my ankle and pulled me back. WHAT? So lame! I was annoyed. Then I got elbowed in the face, so I swam over some guy and got right back at the front. This little race had the most brutal swim start of any of my races this year. CRAZY! I was out of the water in 2nd, right behind some guy. I ran through T1, felt ok, but as soon as I mounted my bike to go up a 100 foot hill, I knew I was in trouble.

My quads were already built up with TONS of lactic acid and I was hurting. My new saddle (yes another new one, the Adamo is getting shipped back) was too low and too far forward. UGH, I had just put it on last night, but tested it out and thought it was in the right place. I keep doing this, I know, how dumb! Anyway, I put my head down and just pedaled. I was not going very fast and within the first mile a couple guys passed me. I tried SO HARD to ignore the MASSIVE PAIN in my calves and quads especially. Then because of my pathetic slow moving pace, several more people caught me by mile 3. Then a chick passed me, then another chick passed me by mile 5. Yikes! I saw the first woman again at the turnaround (looked like she was in a good pack of guys, no biggie, lots of people draft in this sprint race, and good for her for being fast). GEEZ, I was really not moving forward. I didn't give up though. I know I had to put my head down and just go, but of course I start thinking about how frustrated I am, how I'm so slow, etc.... The best part of the bike was when my brother caught me. I didn't let him go and we rode close to each other for the last 5 miles.

I got off the bike, knowing I had my work cut out for me. I was told I was a minute down on the 1st woman. And I saw 2nd place in sight. I put my heart and head and everything into this run, but I was just TOO WASTED, TOO SORE, TOO THRASHED to catch the 1st female. I was super bummed, but I know that I have put my body through a TON of speed work this week and I couldn't ask it to do anymore. The up and down hills on this run were brutal for my thrashed quads. OUCH! I finished over a minute behind the 1st woman, hopefully never again ;-) I so wanted to win as I have won this race everytime I have entered it, 6 times now! Oh well, I have 3 more chances this season. I think the race director jinxed me when he told the crowd before the start that I was going to go 8 for 8 this year in all his races. Thanks Mark! HA! Just kidding, not Mark's fault, only my own!

Have an awesome weekend! Hope Wee, Kat, Lins, Dana, and everyone else do awesome this weekend!

Yay! Fun Times...

2008-06-20T08:21:00.000-07:00

Splash n Dash venue!!

The Oracle 5K was so HOT! We are having a heat wave so the temps have been in the 90s-100s this past week. When we started the race at noon yesterday, it was already 90 degrees and climbing! I was drenched with sweat just waiting to start, nice!

I went out super fast and felt like I was wonder woman, only to find out at mile 1.1 that I was NOT wonder woman ;-) HA! I went out in 5.20 pace with the guys (including my hubbie) and then I blew up BIG TIME. Oops! Coach P was so mad at me. The pace and the HEAT got to me. I seriously wanted to try to see what I could hold on to. I guess NOT that pace. Ok, well I went up to 7 min pace on the next mile, then sucked it up and tried to pick it back up again. I held on to win for the women and was 12th including the dudes ;-) I was SO HOT and hurting! 5Ks really hurt! ;-)

Next up was the Splash n Dash at 6:30PM at Lake Del Valle. It was 100 degrees at 6PM as we were all getting ready and contemplating a wetsuit. CRAZY! I REALLY REALLY did not want to wear one, but the fast elite guys all said they were wearing them. So, to be able to stay with them I would have to wear one too. The water was around 74 degrees. We were crazy. But once I got in the lake, it was actually not that bad. When the gun went off, I started out fast and strong and felt ok. I was trying so hard to let my legs drag along as they were already feeling a bit tired from the earlier race. I led for a bit, then drafted for a bit, overheated a bit, swam on my own for a bit, and came out in 3rd behind 2 guys. I swear that swim felt SO LONG (after the race it was confirmed to be 1.2miles). NICE! I love long swims, but not in these temps.

I got out of my wetsuit and started the run pretty easy and mellow. I was determined to NOT blow up this time. I ran by Reid and Belle cheering for me. So CUTE! Belle started wimpering as she wanted to come along, poor baby! But she got to play in the lake instead. Anyway, the run started off with a bit of an inlcine, then rolled through single track, over a small bridge, down some more single track, up a BIG hill, where 2 guys caught me, then over another bridge to a turn around and back. I was so dehydrated that I grabbed 4 cups of water at the turnaround. It felt so good to drink this little bit of water! I felt much better on the way back and much better on the rollers. I finished strong with Belle alongside and won for the women and was 5th including men. I was HAPPY with a great speed work day!! And a couple young girls came up to me post race to ask me questions about training, racing, and my Splsish suit! It was so sweet and I loved to share all that I have learned over the years. They were so cute and so excited to be racing!

One more race to go this weekend! YAY! I am having so much fun!! Will post pics later.

P.S. GO Bree, Go KAT, GO Lins, and everyone else this weekend!

Oracle 5K and Splash n Dash

2008-06-19T08:12:00.000-07:00

Pat will love these pics...getting ready to see him today too....

Today will be a fun filled day with 2 races, of course around my work schedule ;-) Here at Oracle at Noon, there will be a 5K race. Reid and I are both racing it along with about 600 other people. Should be super fun and hurt a bit!! It is already in the mid 70s outside and should hit 90 when we start the run! NICE!

Oracle knows how to celebrate!! After the 5K there will be awards, a HUGE BBQ, raffle prizes from 30 vendors, a DJ, and this will all take place POOLSIDE! (Rach don't be upset your missing it ;-)) It will be so COOL!

Then we will head back to work and get ready to leave a bit before 5PM, as we have another race. YES, a SPLASH n DASH series. This race will take place at Lake Del Valle, which is a good 25 min drive from our house but over an hour from work. Oh and we will pick up Belle along the way at her Favorite place Club K9 (doggie day care). She gets to play outside all day with other labs!! The Splash n Dash race features a 1500 meter swim and 5K trail run with "2 Honesty hills." That is what we have been told. I have seen these hills and they look pretty mean ;-)

I'll keep you posted on our fun filled, action packed day!!

Cheers,

Just smile.....

2008-06-17T08:49:00.000-07:00

!! Happy Little Family!! ;-)

I need to keep thinking "just smile," while I plug along at work today. It is a stressful day here at the office with our huge aquisition now taking its toll on our group. We are swamped, to say the least! But all I need to think about is how lucky I am to be happy, healthy, loved, and following my dream athletically and career-wise.

Hope you all have a stress free day! Remember that you are fortunate to be healthy, happy, and loved ;-) Keep smiling!! Life is GREAT!!

Hosting Father's Day!

2008-06-15T21:41:00.000-07:00

My mom, dad, oldest brother and I in first pic and my cooking in the 2nd pic. SEE BREE, I CAN cook ;-)

Today was a super fun day. We took Belle to Lake Del Valle for a couple of hours in the morning. We hiked a few miles to get to a nice spot where we could all swim. Belle loves the water and can swim forever. So we all played around in the lake throwing Belle's toys around and watching her race us to get to them first. It was such a beautiful, fun morning.

Later in the day we went for a pretty mellow 90 min run with hills. It was such a great run on some new trails that we found near our house. Cool!!

We hosted Father's Day dinner at our house. Yes everyone, I cooked!! Well, both Reid and I cooked. It was so much fun. My mom, dad, brother, sister in law, niece and nephew joined us. We had such a FUN FAMILY TIME! It is so great to be so close to family. We all get along so great, which makes for the BEST times.

Hope you all had a great weekend!!

Cheers to a great Monday!

No pressure = TONS OF FUN!

2008-06-14T17:16:00.000-07:00

Belle and I post run today!

This past week has been a sweet recovery week! Coach had me doing very easy workouts if any, except for my hard swim yesterday! Today I had a super fun ride on my road bike. My TT bike is being worked on now. Jim Felt thinks he has the solution to my saddle/fit issues. I am hoping and praying this will work!

I realized today that just going out on my road bike (which I haven't ridden in 2 years) without any specific direction from Coach, was TONS OF FUN! I road with a group for a bit, then some on my own, then back with another group for the last part of the ride. It's so cool here, how there are 5 or 6 different groups that you can ride with on any given Saturday and everyone is so nice! You can pick and choose what effort level you want to ride at and start with a certain group, then end with a completely different group. It really is awesome here in the East Bay!

I had such a great time and even ended up regrouping with Reid with 5 miles to go. When we got home, we took Belle out on our transition run, just a couple of miles. Belle led the whole run and of course we had to ask her to slow down for us ;-) Sometimes, I wish she can run for me during my races! HA! She is one quick pup!

Have a great rest of the day!

An Extra 9 weeks.....

2008-06-11T20:44:00.000-07:00

My run training partner napping ;-)

Well, here you have it.....I now get an extra 9 weeks to train for an IM. After a talk with my boss at work, that did not go so well about taking time off, which led to a long talk with Coach P and Reid, we decided that it would be best to not do IM CdA. Although I race as a pro triathlete, my real career at Oracle has to come first. I do not want to put my job in jeopardy, so making the tough decision to not race CdA during this tough time at work, is the best decision I could make.

It was a tough decision, but with the help of Coach P and Reid, we looked at it more as a blessing in disguise. I am a huge believer in things happening for a reason and at this point in my training and racing, I think CdA was not meant to be. I have to look at the bright side and that is that I get extra time to train and get things dialed in, especially with my bike seat issues ;-)

So, I am looking forward to recharging and getting super fired up for these next 9 weeks. I have not made my decision yet, but I am deciding between IM Canada and IM Louisville. Both races have a lot of great things about them that suit my strengths. We will see as it gets closer.....

Thanks so much to all of you who have been wishing me good luck for CdA. We will just have to wait until August and I promise it will be a good one ;-)

Happy training!

Happy!!

2008-06-10T08:46:00.000-07:00

Thanks so much for all of the awesome, sweet, and encouraging comments that you all left regarding my Alcatraz RR. You are all so amazing! I truly appreciate all of the friendships I have made through the tri-blogging world ;-) I am so HAPPY to have such amazing friends like all of you!!

Escape from Alcatraz run pics, gotta love that 400 step sand ladder ;-)

Trying Day.....

2008-06-08T15:36:00.001-07:00

16th out of 20th - ugh!

All I can say is that I stuck with it in spite of my mind telling me to DNF about 100 times. It sucked, I won't lie, it was the most trying day both mentally and physically I have ever experienced in the 5 times I have done this race. It started with a swim that I thought was good. I swam alone, as everyone was pretty much scattered throughout the Bay. I felt good and thought this was going to be it - my first swim this season where I can show that I can actually swim with the best. Nope! I exited the water and realized the line I took was not the best line. I was 1minute down on the girls I should have swam with, AGAIN! I didn't know this until I ran the mile to T1 (which felt as bad as Splash n Dash in Oz where I felt like I weighed 200 lbs) and noticed only several women bikes left on the racks. YIKES!

Onto the bike and this is where I was ready to FLIP OUT! I could not bear to put any weight on my sit bones. That darn Adamo saddle has me so badly bruised that I have hematomas on all my bones down there from the Boise race. I was cringing with every little bump in the road. I for sure was going to DNF. But then I thought, no way, you are tougher than this so stick with it. I had these thoughts all throughout the bike course. And because I couldn't stand the pain the saddle was causing me, I stood or hovered over my saddle for the entire ride. My legs felt awful to begin with, so this added to my already bad race. I gave up at this point and thought, just finish. I was SO frustrated and dissappointed with everything.

Onto T2 and I stood there and thought about calling it a day. Again, I convinced myself that it would be better to just finish than DNF. So, I headed onto the run and felt ok. I started to think maybe a miracle would happen and my legs would come around. Again, this didn't happen. So, as I struggled up the hills, onto the deep sandy beach, up the 400 step sand ladder, and back to town, I realized that sticking with it was the best thing I could do. Even though results make it look like I am not so fast, it is always better to stay in the race and if you have to, turn it into a hard training day. There were several other pro women that finished after me that must have had bad days too. At least they finished too.....

Hope you all had a great weekend!

5th Race of the Season...

2008-06-06T18:24:00.000-07:00

Escape from Alcatraz pics from 07! Including the super tough sand ladder ;-)

Nothing like getting thrown into super competitive stacked pro fields in all my races so far this season. But as a good friend would say "it's the only way to get better." In the 3 half IMs I've done this year there were at least 2 World Champions, 2 IM winners, and 2 Olympians. The other girls weren't too shabby either with ITU titles, top 3 performances in Hawaii, etc.....You name it! I will be the first to say that it is intimidating to toe the line with some of the biggest names in the sport, but in order to get better I have to line myself up with the BEST! Someone who has become my mentor and confidante is Linsey Corbin. She is always upbeat and ready to tackle the world ;-) She does not get intimidated when she sees who is at the start, in fact this fires her up even more when she sees the top pros there. Well, she is one now too! But she never used to let it bother her, even when she was just beginning, like me. I love the confidence that she has and I love her don't settle for 2nd attitude. She is awesome.

So as I get ready to tackle yet another stacked pro field on Sunday at the infamous Escape from Alcatraz triathlon, I will remember everything that Linsey has told me. I will go out there and not be afraid of who's there and what they've done, instead I will be excited that I am given the amazing opportunity to go face to face with these athletes. I will do my best, give it my all, and you just never know what your best will bring on any given day! I am ready for another round of racing the TOP athletes in this sport!

Cheers to an awesome weekend!

P.S. Wee you are always my #1 motivator and will always be my favorite roomie (even though your side of the room looked like a tornado blew through it ;-))

Boise Pics ;-)

2008-06-05T18:23:00.001-07:00

Some race pics with my new Mel designed Splishy! Eating ketchup in one pic just for Wee (no chicken though ;-)) Kristin and I in the last pic in T2 the day before the race. Such a fun day!! No potatoes WEE!

Boise 70.3...Getting better....

2008-06-02T20:20:00.000-07:00

Lucky Peak Reservoir, Boise 70.3

What a weekend! It was one filled with lots of new beginnings, highs and some lows, fun times, and new experiences as well. But most of all as Coach P put it "it was a step in the right direction, an OK race."

I arrived late Friday night and my friend Kristin picked me up at the airport. We got back to the hotel and pretty much went to bed. Saturday morning was SO CRAZY! This is how quick it went, we were literally on the go from 9:15AM-8PM.

- We got up, put our bikes together
- ate breakfast
- headed to the pro meeting (SO NICE to see some of my friends, including awesome teammates Lins and Katya)
- waited in line for 1 hour and 10 mins to pick up our race packets (YES seriously 70 full mins)
- went back to finish putting together our bikes (my brakes were off and couldn't be tightened, something was off)
- Kristin's wheels didn't take air so.....
- we went to the local bike shop (AWESOME GUYS there, check them out if you are ever there - George's cyclery)
- drove to T1 (a good 25 min drive)
- talked to Coach P
- tested our bikes out
- climbed a 1/2 mile dirt/gravel rode carrying our bikes up to T1 (everyone was complaining, not just me;-))
- dropped our bikes off
- ran back down the hill
- stopped to get something to eat at the grocery store
- just made it to T2 with 1 minute to spare to drop off our runing stuff, PHEW!

Absolutely hectic, non-stop action!! We were tired, but it all had to be done. We ended the night with a fun dinner at PF Chang's ;-) Kristin is so much fun!

Sunday morning came so quick and we were lucky enough to get a ride from Coach Bruce and Coach Dan of Lifesport all the way up to T1, no climbing the hill on race day! It was super windy and cold up at the top of the reservoir. This made for a very choppy swim!

As soon as the gun went off, I took off and wanted to stay close to the front if not at the front of the pack. I got punched in the back once so I immediately picked up the pace and before I knew it, I was leading the pack to the first buoy. As soon as I turned right at the buoy, it was super choppy and I couldn't breathe. When I race I really only breathe to one side and unfortunately it was the wrong side for this race. I started freaking out that I couldn't catch my breathe and thinking that I didn't belong at the front (SO DUMB). I have never freaked out like that before, but I think the combination of being at the front, the cold water, and my new wetsuit choking me really caused this. Within seconds of my meltdown, I had let 5 girls go by. I tried to calm down and go with them, but it was too late. By the time I got myself together, I was now on my own to chase the leaders. I was so upset since I know I am better than this and have swam with several of those girls before. I got into a good rhythm, finally, and swam with one other girl during the last 800 meters. I exited in 6th place and had the slowest T1. I was frozen and had a tough time taking off my wetsuit and putting on socks. Geez, it was slow. I lost an extra 30 seconds to everyone else's T1 times here.

The first part of the bike was super fun. It was a fast downhill to get off the top of the reservior, before we began to climb up again. During the first 10 miles I got passed by Desiree and Linsey. Both of whom were so sweet, saying "great job E." I tried to keep them in sight for as long as I could. But their pace was too fast for me at this point. I felt ok on the bike with my new saddle, but I did realize that I need to move it forward. I kept sliding off the tip and having to move back every couple of minutes. That was annoying, but I knew there would probably be something off since I only rode the saddle a bit before I raced on it. My fault, but I had no choice, my other saddle was unbearable. Overall though, it didn't hurt close to as bad as my old one so that was good news!! I do have major deep cuts where the seams of my Splish suit are, since that is where all my weight is supposed to be with this saddle. Probably not the best idea to wear a skimpy Splishy with this Adamo on my first real test. Anyway, the rest of the ride was a mixture of flats, rolling, and a couple hills. I must say it was Frustrating to get passed by 7 pro women that I should be able to ride with. But I worked as hard as I could and I thought I would be pleased with my time, however it was a little slower than expected. Coach P thinks it's because I kept moving around to not fall off the saddle and my postion was off because of this. Oh well, it was still a good effort with all things considered.

The run was amazing! Tons and tons of spectators lining the 2 loop course. There was never a moment where someone was not cheering you on. It was super cool! Many of the pros said that the crowds and noise was bigger and greater than in most IM's they have done. It was truly amazing!! It was almost as loud as the crowds in Kona! SWEET! I loved it!

I felt ok throughout the run, much better than I did at Oceanside and WF, so all I could say was that it is an improvement and a step in the right direction. That is all I could ask for at this point. I'll take it for now and know that I can do better and WILL do better each race!

Have a great day!

E

OUCH!

2008-05-30T09:08:00.000-07:00

If you read my post the other day about my group ride and saddle issues, you probably know that I was going to get the new Adamo road saddle. By Monday, I had gotten to the point where I couldn't even sit on my saddle for more than a minute without having to move around trying to get comfortable. It was so painful, it had been for over 5 months now. It was defintely time to get a new one.

Well, my Adamo saddle came on Wed, so that gave me 2 days to test it out. Since I get home from work around 5:30-6PM most days, I really do not have much time to ride outside. But on Wed, Reid helped me get the new saddle on my bike close to the position my old one had been at and off I went around my neighborhood to test it out. It was crazy how weird it felt, it is so different than my old one in a GREAT way. But there is also some weird bone tenderness you immediately get since all of your weight is resting on your sit bones and 'frontal' (for lack of a better word) bones. Anyways, I was amazed at how close to perfect I thought my new positioning was. You know, you can never really tell until you ride long or short and hard on a new saddle. So I was happy with this 15 minute test spin. Little did I know........

Yesterday, I was determined to get out for a good hour on the saddle and really test it out. Reid came with me knowing that I would probably have to adjust the saddle a dozen times ;-) He was right. Within a couple of minutes, I felt like I needed to move forward. So we made that adjustment. Then I needed to move up, then back, then tilt the nose down, then forward again, etc, etc. So after about 10 adjustments and having to go to the bike shop to get my seat post cut down, I think I have the saddle in the correct position. I am still not sure (maybe 75% sure now) since I was running out of daylight to ride anymore. I am mostly annoyed about the REALLY PAINFUL feeling on my sit bones. They feel really badly bruised. OUCH! This HURTS BAD! The good news is that this is normal for alot of riders who first try out this type of saddle. I hear from talking to some friends as well as the guys at Blackwell that it can take as little as 3 rides or as many as 10 rides to get used to this saddle. Well, I will be a new category of 2nd ride is a 70,3 race and my saddle feels GREAT! I have to keep thinking this way, the more positiveness, the better right? Wish me luck. I WILL FEEL GREAT, I WILL LOVE THIS SADDLE on SUNDAY! ;-)

Have a FUN weekend!

My FUN Teammates....

2008-05-29T08:49:00.001-07:00

Bree, Me, and Janet - Noosa Main Beach, Rach Ross, Linsey Corbin - FUN GROUP OF GIRLS

I love all of my teammates, my ALCiS guys and all my Lifesport girls. Lately, us Lifesporters have been having so much fun on emails and blogging and chatting live. Wee called the race Linsey and I will be doing on Sunday the "potato race." Yup, how mean, huh? ;-) Just because Lins and I will be racing in Idaho at the Boise 70.3 doesn't mean that we will only be eating potatoes all weekend long!

Linsey fired back with calling the Honu 70.3 the "spam musubi" race! HA! So funny. But I kindly renamed it Spam Wasabi race and Wee will be eating lots of wasabi ;-) Ok, I know we are crazy girls, but super motivated and determined to win any challenge thrown our way. We love to have fun!!

We are super excited to have new teammates join us recently. We will now be joined by Terra Castro and E.L.F.. Both of these girls are super fun, strong, awesome, and sweet. I can't tell you how sweet Terra is, you will just have to meet her in person someday. And E.L.F is spunky, fun and really motivated! Welcome girls.....I look forward to having so much fun with you all...

Good Luck, Fast Thoughts and Warm Wishes to all of you racing Boise and Honu this weekend!

XO,