Tri-Dogmom

As I mentioned in an earlier post , I have always been inspired by Jen Harrison's pay it forward reward that she does every year.  Now that I'm a coach myself, and slowly starting to build my business, I thought this is my chance!  I'm having so much fun helping others and not only is my guidance helping the athletes, but I also feel like it's helping me as I continue to train and pursue my goals. I received some amazing emails, applications and until the week before the deadline, I had my decision narrowed down to 3 people.  Then, I got a last minute note from a very sweet woman that as soon as I read it my decision was made.  There is not just one thing about this woman's story that stuck out, but this feeling that I got as I read it.  As soon as I finished, I didn't even say anything, I just handed my computer to my husband an his words were my exact feelings, "wow."   She was the one. While our stories are not the same, some of her tragedy a...

I have so many things to say, but I wanted to get this race report out first while it's still so fresh in my mind. As many know I decided to try and qualify for Boston after a couple of glasses of wine and some peer pressure. To be honest, I'm not usually that easy to convince. Well, I used to be. Then, running too much left me injured far too much and I really do enjoy doing training and racing Ironman. But, after my mom passed I got this new found motivation and courage to just shoot for the stars.  Mind you, Boston was not something on my bucket list. When I started running marathons the idea of running a "3:40" was just so far out of what I thought possible that I just never even imagined I would try. Well, I took the challenge and I worked my ass off.  For the first time in many years I focussed about 5 months on running.  Running fast, running long. Cycling and swimming took a backseat. The training nearly broke me, but worse than that it nearly took my love ...

Yesterday I was putting a few things on my calendar and that's when I realized what today was.  April 16th, my mom's birthday.  My mom's 60th birthday.  It's still so unreal to me that she's gone.  That just before her 58th birthday she left us.  That's SO young.  Today I rode my bike for 3 hours with my FIFTY year old friend.  I look at her sometimes in awe.  When you take care of your health and live life to the fullest, it's never ending what the possibilities are. When I think about this sadness, it really just fuels my fire to keep dreaming, keep pushing and keep reaching to do things I never thought possible.  Of the many things you did teach me, mom, these are the lessons I will take with me every day.  Every day when things seem hard and I'm tired, or grumpy or feeling lazy.  I'm doing what I love because, I can.

Once I recovered (mentally and physically) from camp, I was feeling awesome!  My weekend workouts were stellar and I was full of energy.  With an Olympic (ish, long bike) distance race on tap I was really excited to see where my fitness was.  Perfect taper for a marathon, right?  2.5hr all out race!  Of course it is when you are BSC!  The bonus would be that I did this race last year after only 4 weeks of triathlon focused training (coming off my marathon focus) and this year I have been solely focused on my Ironman CDA training since January. All week long I was hyper.  My workouts were short and zippy with a lot of fast swimming trying to force a good swim split out of me.  I was calm and excited, not even remotely stressed or worried about splits.  I was just ready to go out there and go HARD.  This is a new found confidence when it comes to racing, and I'm not gonna lie, I like it.  It sure beats worried about the outcome. ...

A couple of years ago I read this post by Jen Harrison. I thought it was the COOLEST thing ever.  Each year at the beginning of the year, she offers up coaching services in an effort to "pay it forward," providing coaching services to someone with hardship or other motivating factor. Inspired by her generosity, combined with my love of coaching and helping athletes, I've decided to open up my coaching services in a similar way. I would like to offer my TeamBSC coaching services which include weekly personalized  training schedules, and unlimited email contact. The coaching services will start May 1st and go through the end of your "A" race for 2014. I'm looking for a very highly motivated athlete that is willing to be open minded to a new training plan, and willing to provide feedback and upload workout data so I can best help him/her achieve their goal! If you are interested in getting more out of your racing season, or looking for a change, plea...

I'm not even sure where to begin with this post, but I figured I should write it while everything is fresh on my mind, my legs feel the work and my heart is so super happy.  This whole camp idea started as an invite from me to my friend and fellow TeamBSC coach Kelly to come join me for a huge training block in prep for my Ironman CDA build.  I knew I was going to have some time off from training at the end of April pre and post the Boston Marathon so I wanted to bank some training.  Kelly was all in and that's where this all started. Michelle actually brought up the idea of making this an official training camp.  I thought about it for a few weeks deciding if I wanted this to be something I just focused on for myself, or if the idea of running a training camp was really something I wanted to do. In all honesty, it didn't take long for me to make the decision.  For years I have planned workouts and crazy training adventures for myself and whomever else I cou...

Just over 3 years ago when I first started working with Michelle, I remember getting my first week of training put into TP.  I was at my friend Amanda's house watching the Super Bowl and got an email saying that the first week was up.  I logged in, my eyes wide open seeing a full week of swim, bike, run and then saw the tally on the side of 15+ hours.  There was so much detail! Specific HR goals, and the explanations in the swim workouts were so cool.  OMG, it was like I had died and gone to heaven.  I love DATA!  I love seeing max and average and pace and miles and all that stuff.  Oh, back then I even got some rest days ;) I loved entering my notes and my data in, but my favorite part was the response and feedback I would get.  With each workout, there would be a response.  It was like being graded (but not really) and encouraged and just fueled my fire to do better!  8 weeks later I was asked to right a "race plan" for my first ...