October 2013

Now that the Half Ironman is over, a lot of people have been asking me:  “What’s next?” My immediate reaction is, “NOTHING! I want to do NOTHING!” and then I throw myself dramatically on the couch, grab the remote, and watch a marathon of Downton Abbey episodes.   Hah Hah. No. Really.  Over the past [...]

When I first approached Kristien about my plans to do a Half Ironman (because  let’s be serious – taking on a HIM when you have a 16 month old is a whole family affair), I knew that I held the ace card up my sleeve. “So, I’ve been thinking about doing a Half Ironman… it’s [...]

Can you believe that tomorrow is the kick-off of the holiday season? I love Halloween in and of itself, but I really adore it because the 31st means that it’s the start of the most wonderful time of the year.  Yay!    Here’s what I’m looking forward to this year:   Halloween Handprint Pumpkin – [...]

The Miami Half Ironman was an awesome race. For weeks, I’ve been visualizing a perfect race. While I swam laps, I imagined the perfect swim. When I rode my indoor trainer, I thought about the perfect bike.  And when I pushed Henry up big hills in his jogging stroller, I dreamed of a perfect run.  [...]

Final times:   1.2 mile swim: 45:32 56 mile bike: 3:35:11 13.1 mile run: 2:31:04 Finish: 7:03:07 I am very proud of my completely panic-free swim!  And the fact that I ran the entire last mile without stopping – and crossed the finish line with a huge smile on my face.  Full recap coming later, [...]

From North Carolina to Indiana to Nebraska to Florida!  Here’s what my crazy week looked like in snapshots.   It started as all weeks do, with mischief and fun with Henry at home… I packed up two suitcases – one for my work trips and one for my triathlon. I gave everyone big hugs and [...]

Well, well, well.  15 weeks of training flew by in the blink of an eye.  Training for a big race is a funny thing on so many levels – the way it consumes your life, the way it warps your perception of a ‘normal workout,’ the way your plan initially seems so long and daunting [...]

When I told Coach Marni how much I’d be traveling the week before my big race (I’m in four cities and on 6 flights), she told me that my goals should be:   1) Hydrate; 2) Eat healthy; 3) Do 45 minutes of cardio everyday if I can’t squeeze in the prescribed workouts. 4) Sleep. [...]

So, my back started to hurt last week.  Major sad face.  I’m not sure what triggered it, beyond the expected stress of training, but suddenly, my lower back was hurtin’ so much.  That caused my shoulders to tighten up.  I was a big mess. I’ve been getting lots of acupuncture from the Husband.  He’s been [...]

I’m really excited that it’s Fat Talk Free Week.  Operation Beautiful is the week’s official partner, and I couldn’t be more thrilled for Operation Beautiful to be a part of such an important week. If you’re a college student, I hope you see Fat Talk Free Week efforts on your campus!  If you’re not a [...]

All summer, I tried to get my butt in a lake. There are quite a few organized open water swims in Charlotte, but they always fell on a Saturday that we were out of town, entertaining guests, or I was sick.  I wish I had tried harder to do more open water swims, but to [...]

Another awesome tailgate! Another awesome game! I can’t believe the Miami Hurricanes are currently 6 – 0 (a record we haven’t held since, oh, the early 2000s).  It feels awesome to be a winner again.  We drove to Chapel Hill with three of our friends and Henry’s best friend Mirabelle.  The moms didn’t go into [...]

It’s funny how training for a long event completely warps your perception of what a ‘normal’ workout consists of, isn’t it?  Under normal circumstances, I think of 1000 – 1500 yards as a normal swim; a 45 minute cycling class a normal bike; and a 3 – 4 mile run as a normal run.  But [...]