Tri-Dogmom

And, without further ado, I announce what is NEXT.  I have a million reasons why I'm doing this, but I'm super excited to continue pursing my dreams, and doing it for an amazing cause all at once.  While I had a near panic attack with both nerves and excitement as I pushed submit on my own personal donation, I can't wait to begin this journey. I'll try to be better about training updates, aches and pains and progress, but in the meantime a huge thanks to those who have already promised donations, but most of all for your overwhelming belief and support for me.  I have no words! I know this may come as a shock to some of you (ha!), but I'm doing another Ironman! The beginning of this year was quite busy, and as I was trying to put in my last training block for Ironman CDA, life handed quite a few lemons my way. I got through and performed to the best of my ability, but when the race was over I didn't quite feel... DONE. Let me back up to the days lead...

I wanted to get this post out while it's still fresh on my mind, pain in my body and a slight hangover from yesterday's celebration. Ironman is hard.  Even on a day with perfect conditions it will test your body, it will test your mind.  You can train 20 hours a week or 6 hours a week and the end result is going to come down to how well you EXECUTE a plan, and what kind of grit you can pull out on the day. Last year training for this race everything went flawless.  I followed my plan to a T, I rested and I recovered.  This year was a little chaotic with a lot of travel then followed by 6 weeks of caring for sick dogs and packing up to move to CDA for the summer.  I wasn't resting, I wasn't recovering and all of my workouts were not the quality I would like.  However, in the last couple of weeks leading up to the race my dogs were recovering, my stress was low and I was doing what I needed to get my body and mind race ready.  I was feeling great! ...

It's been almost a month since my last post and I feel like my life has completely changed.  I can honestly say this has been one, if not the hardest, most stressful months of my life. I'll back up a bit and talk about the good. Before our life got turned upside down and both of our dogs were diagnosed with cancer, I was training hard, feeling great and had a pretty solid race in Rocky Point. I conquered one of my huge fears which was swimming through huge waves, basically dolphin diving and body surfing and avoiding all stingrays! I biked my legs off and ran fairly strong landing my second 3rd overall place at the Rocky Point Tri. After our trip to Mexico we learned that Baxter had hemangiosarcoma. The really bad kind. The kind that spreads quickly and the prognosis is 1-3-6 months.  I'm happy to say that he has mostly recovered from his splenectomy (where the tumor was) and that he's doing great. We've had a couple of little scares, (most recently our firs...

For as long as I can remember we used to call our long run days, Bubba day. Baxter would get to go for a long run and then snuggle with us on the couch as we recovered from training. It's all he's known. Running, training, the stupid bike rides where he got left behind for hours, to ending the weekends snuggling on the couch. Bubba Day. Although most people would say that pretty much every day is Bubba Day, I have officially declared every day until the end of his days BUBBA DAY! Last Saturday afternoon I was sitting on the couch recovering from a 7hour workout.  I had a big weekend planned, a sort of mini self training camp.  Baxter was sitting next to me and started to tremble.  It was odd, and concerned me.  I worried he was maybe sick, so I decided to try to feed him.  If he would eat then I figured he would be ok.  He ate his dinner and seemed fine so I prepped all my nutrition and bottles for the next day's ride.  A few hours later he st...

Marquee is kind of our local season opener! Nothing too exciting or different about this race, as pretty much all of our local races circle the same route, swim, bike run..... All in Tempe Town Lake, all loops on the bike around it with way too many turns and the same circles around the lake for the run! Let me back up a bit.  After camp I had a note in my training peaks with the race on it and a question mark. I wasn't really into doing the race, but I did want to support my local team, so I was on the fence. Rather than deciding myself, I let Michelle decide. She chose go for it, so we had a moderate week leading up to it where I could work on a bit of shorter speed work to wake up my legs from all of the long Ironman training miles. Then, I had a little mishap.....I was heading out on my bike for a Saturday ride and just feeling off. I hadn't slept well the night before and my allergies were driving me crazy! About an hour into the ride I got a really bad bloody nose and...

It seems like just yesterday I was sitting on my couch, legs in the recovery boots, shantini in hand with a smile on my face thinking about last year's camp. Just like the rest of life, it's flying by oh so fast. This past weekend I led a group of amazing athletes through a 4 day training camp where we trained ~19hours including 200+miles on the bike with 15000ft of elevation gain, 5500yards of swimming (OWS included) and 25miles of running (2 runs).  What is most impressive about this camp were the athletes attending it. I had athletes ranging from their first year in triathlon to 25 years of experience, as well as uber talented Kona and amateur title holders. Even more impressive than those stats was the GRIT these athletes showed. Executing a long weekend of training in RECORD AZ heat was mentally and physically challenging and each and every one of them nailed it and exceeded my expectations. The weekend started out with some serious travel obstacles which had my brain...

I have no idea how it is possible that the last 2+ months went by so incredibly fast.  Foras long as I can remember I don't think life has every moved so quickly.  Each week I pull up my training calendar, my personal calendar, my work calendar and I somehow manage how to plan everything down to the hour (give or take some flex) fitting in everything I possibly can.  Takeout lunch and dinner, over-priced pre-made juices and peanut butter have saved me more than once.  My wine fridge is over flowing because I don't have nearly enough time (or my husband's company) to enjoy it as often! Ironically, the busier I am the more productive and efficient I am.  My coaching business is taking off and I am BLESSED with such an amazing group of athletes to work with right now.  Each one different, with different goals, different bases, different schedules.  Hands down, if I could when I can make this my full time job, I would WILL do it in a HEARTBEAT.  Nev...