You’re a Fat What??!?!?! Part Two

Our health begins in our gut. Consider the following facts about the gastrointestinal system:

• The gastrointestinal system comprises 75% of the body's immune system.
• There are more neurons in the small intestine than in the entire spinal cord.
• It is the only system in the body that has its own, independently operating nervous system, called the enteric nervous system.
• If you stretched our the gastrointestinal systemic its entirety, it would have the surface area of a regulation sized singles tennis court.  There are over 400 species of microbes living in your gut, totaling over 15 pounds of mass and containing more bacteria than there are known stars in the sky.

Now lets talk sugar.  Sugar causes inflammation in the gut and overall body.  The more processed and refined the carbohydrate (sugar), as a rule, the faster it breaks down in the digestive system, and the bigger the sugar rush it delivers.  That's why refined flours, sugars and sugar syrups pose such a problem for our systems.  As we gulp down sugar, those simple carbs are converted into simple sugar molecules (glucose) that pass directly into the bloodstream.  Blood sugar then rises, and the pancreas releases insulin to lower the blood sugar levels by taking glucose out of the blood and into cells.  If our body needs the sugar at the time we put it in the body, the body uses it appropriately. If not, the pancreas goes into overdrive, releases too much insulin, and begins the increase in inflammation in the body.

Normal inflammation in the body can occur when we are rebounding from an injury.  White blood cells rush to a point of injury in the body and mend.  When the injury is deep inside the body, such as the gut, hidden inflammation can trigger chronic disease and we get so used to it we don't even realize it's there.

The body in a fasted state has 1 tsp of glucose (sugar) measured in the bloodstream.  This is where our body likes to be.  The average American has, at any given time, 20 tsp of sugar in their bloodstream.  YIKES.

Two weekends ago I had my first BIG DAY of training.  Which basically means, I Swim, Bike, Run for 6 hours straight.  The goal isn't to see if I can do it, the goal is to learn what is working, and what is not with regard to my pacing, and most importantly, my nutrition.  I woke up, had my bullet proof coffee, with butter, heavy cream and MCT oil (concentrated Coconut Oil), did my strength resets and headed to the pool.  Got home, hopped straight on the bike and had two water bottles, each with 159 calories of UCAN (a starch based energy supplement that does not spike blood sugar), and two water bottles with Celtic Sea Salt and lemon.  I plowed through all the water bottles - probably should have been better hydrated - and should have drank more before and after my swim - because I felt like I had too much in my belly (nutrition included) during the run.  The run was a 30 min zone 1 effort, then push to 15 min of zone 2, and finish as hard as I could - no higher than high zone 3.  No tummy troubles, no bonking.  didn't have to take in any nutrition on the run.  It was great!

This last weekend, I had a 30-min run before my 3:30 ride indoor on the trainer.  I had my bullet proof coffee, did my resets, hopped on the treadmill, hopped on the trainer and didn't have any nutrition until 45 minutes into the ride, and continued to "drip feed" my nutrition throughout the bike.  Then the next day I had a 2 hour run.  The only nutrition I took during the run was salt/lemon water and a TBSP of honey at 1:15 in.  Felt Great.  Finished at a sub 8:20 min mile run pace - I got stronger as my run continued.  AWESOMENESS!

On Thursday I head to Florida for my first ever Volume Training Camp.  And my first time ever away from my little T.  The plan is 10+K swim, almost 300 miles biking, and 30 miles running.  What a break! :)  I wanted to send a blog update every day, but I'm hoping to not take a computer at all (I KNOW!!!!  CRAZY!!) so I'll take good notes and report when I get back.  Viva warmth!

gastrointestinal system facts resource: http://www.precisionnutrition.com/fix-gut-fix-health
sugar/inflammation facts resource: https://experiencelife.com/article/sugar-breakdown/

You’re a Fat What??!?!?! Part One

I am a Fat-Adapted Athlete.  A Fat What???  Exactly.

Most of my athletic life – certainly since I picked up the art of triathlon – I have had gut issues, mainly on the run part of a triathlon.  It’s so frustrating after putting in so much time and effort training our body to race long and fast, only to get to race day and have your tummy troubles hold you back.  You know you can run faster.  Your legs don’t hurt. Your joints don’t hurt.  Your heart and lungs don’t hurt, but you’re afraid you just might…..you know…..not make it to the next port-a-potty.

One of the things with becoming a fat-adapted athlete is “you notice what you don’t notice”.  It’s hard to explain, and you just can’t really understand it until you are there, but I never realized how much better I could feel on a day-to-day basis, let alone have stellar workouts and feel great after, with very little fatigue.  Yes, my tummy troubles went away, but I also gained so much more. 

I’ve had a pretty healthy diet all my life – as far as mainstream society would think.  Not a lot of junk, lots of home cooked meals, lots of salads, maybe a bit too much candy.  Every new approach I used to overcome my tummy troubles, I couldn’t get concrete results.  I tried no gluten, no caffeine, low carb, nothing was tried and true.

Then a year ago, my DH found a triathlon website that had him intrigued.  It was a diet based on the idea that our bodies have a TON of fat that we can use for fuel, but we need to teach our body to use it.  With the standard recommended diet, our bodies can’t access that fat because we’ve lost the ability to process fat efficiently.   We simply don’t feed it enough fat, and feed it too much processed stuff – aka refined carbs/sugar.

I’m not a nutritionist, and there are a ton of resources that are much better at describing this than me – I’ve included many of my favs in links below – but here’s my quick stab at describing our diet.  You’ve heard this before – Even the skinniest athlete has enough fat on them to run a marathon – but why can’t we USE that fat for fuel???  Our bodies have 2,000 calories at most in carbs (glycogen stores) available to use as fuel.  But we have almost unlimited fat stores.  When I was training for my first Ironman, I definitely upped the fat intake realizing that my body would use what I gave it for fuel.  Eating more fat helped my body learn how to use fat as fuel.  We now take that to a whole new level.

A ketogenic diet is a high fat diet.  75% fat, 20% proten, 5% carbs.  Because I am in the midst of training for an Ironman, I include more carbs into my diet – strategically.  Strategically being the key word here.  Think of your body as a fuel tanker.  You have fuel in the cab to keep the truck running and a WHOLE LOT of fuel in the tankers you are pulling.  If you follow the standard American diet, you can end up on the side of the road with no fuel left to drive the truck – but you have this enormous amount of fuel in the tankers you are pulling that you have no access to.  When you are fat adapted you can tap into that extra fuel and not end up sidelined in the middle of the race.

I often miss meals.  I race in a fasted state for all workouts that are less than 90 minutes.  I use strategic carbs for longer workouts.  I put butter and heavy cream in my coffee (seriously, it’s freaking delicious).  I don’t get hungry.  I don’t crash during workouts.  And the best part is, I have yet to get tummy troubles during any of my runs, short, long, easy, hard.

Here are some links to some good resources.  If you look to the very first Friday Fat Black episodes, (#1, #3) they have some good basic explanation of the #JERF Just Eat Real Food Movement and the benefits of being a fat-adapted athlete.

 A good, basic ketogenic information site http://www.ketogenic-diet-resource.com

Trispecific –  http://www.trispecific.com  Friday Fat Black podcast

The Natural Nutritionist http://www.thenaturalnutritionist.com.au

And it Begins - Ironman #2 Training

And It Begins…..

So, I’m at it again. Training started yesterday for Ironman New Zealand: Race Date March 7 2015. Gone are the mornings of sleeping in until 5:30 and going to bed late at 9:30 J And I couldn’t be more excited or nervous.

 

Things to be excited about:

• We’re going to New Zealand!
• Kelly (BFF) is in New Zealand!!
• Kelly’s family is coming to the race site to spend the whole week with us and cheer me on!!!
• Tanner and I get to stay and explore NZ for an additional 2+ weeks with Kelly and her boys!!!!
• OK, enough about NZ and Kelly. Can you tell how excited I am about that – I’m typing faster just thinking about it.
• Attempting Ironman #2 and getting it in the books – hopefully a tick faster than IM #1.
• After giving birth to a child, pretty sure I’m invincible or at least that my aerobic capacity has increased by about 5% because of my increased blood volume – The ‘new’ blood doping.

Things to be nervous about:

• Traveling with a toddler half way around the globe – ‘nuff said
• I’ll have 3 days to be on a bike on the actual road before the race to make sure I can still balance on two wheels because I’ll have been strapped to a stationary bike trainer for all my bike riding.
• For IM #1 I trained for 6 months with a ridiculous amount of volume (time spent swimming/biking/running). For IM#2 I am training for 3 months at a reduced volume (by almost 40%) – three reasons are 1)I’m a mom and I don’t have much extra time, hence wakeups will now start between 04-04:30 every day, 2) I’m a wee bit older and need more time to recover and spend on stretching instead of training and 3) I live in the Nordic North so all of my biking and most of my running will occur indoors, in a basement, so two multi-hour rides on the trainer over the weekend will reduce my brain (and other parts) to complete mush….not good when training for an IM, when you need all the head space you can get.
• Attempting Ironman #2 and getting it in the books.  I haven’t completely forgotten the amount of work and pain required to get me to the starting line and through the finish line. 
• Race Start time for my body because of the time shift = 12:00AM……yup Midnight. So not that far from typical wake up time of 4 AM right??? No big deal…..
• Setting goals – My husband asked me the other day what my race time goals were…..I told him I don’t’ know . He said I was lying. He was right – but I’m scared to say them out loud…..or write them down.

So all the above being said – I’m beyond over-excited for this trip, for this race, and for this experience for my family. It is an opportunity I’m glad we grabbed at first thought, and I’m so glad that I have a husband who encourages me and pumps me up every time I come up from that basement, or home from the pool. And the voice that I can hear as I'm coming up the stairs or open my car door “Mommy!”  - with that face and those little feet running so fast to get to me - never fails to keep me moving. 

I'm back!!

So, I figured it was time to dust off the Try Mom, Tri blog in pursuit of my first Ironman distance triathlon.  I was hoping to have a profound first entry, but as I started making notes, I realized that each idea deserved a post of its own, so I’ll start with a quick update of where I left off at the end of the 2013 season – Yes, It’s been that long – sorry.

This blog came to be out of a sense of obligations to Moms, triathletes or not, TO TRY.  After I became a Mom for the first time, I had no idea what I was in for.  Almost two years later, I still feel the same way.  I’m someone who has always tried to fill all my time, multiple jobs, extra University – then I found triathlon, and soon after – Ironman.  I still do other things, but I LOVE focusing on Triathlons, training, helping others train, plan their training, race calendars, swim form, run speed – anything to keep me ‘moving’ in the sport of triathlon.

When I was pregnant, I took that season off as my son was due around Christmas.  Fortunately for me, I got my husband hooked on triathlon, so I still got to go on the beginning, easy, part of his rides until I couldn’t reach the handlebars anymore J  And I still got to get up stoopid early for race days.  It wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be to watch a race.  Don’t get me wrong, I would have loved to race.  But as you Moms know, being pregnant is a different kind of ‘purpose’.  I wasn’t one of those women who loved being pregnant, but it was pretty cool and I did love the focus it gave me.  And of course, now looking back, and looking at my son, knowing that his little body started in my body – is still completely amazing to me.

OK, enough about pregnancy, back to tri training.

Pretty soon after my son was born, I started thinking about what that tri season was going to be like.  I really thought I would just get after it, lose the pregnancy weight, may be shaped a bit differently, but overall, just focus on training like I had before…holy crap…obviously I knew nothing about being a mom.  A nursing Mom.  A stay at home mom who also had a full-time telecommuting job.  So I signed up for a half ironman distance, near my folks home (built-in babysitters for race day), in early September.  And I did it.  And it was hard - Not just the race - Everything about getting to that race.  But I did it.  And you can too.  Whatever it is that gives you purpose outside your family/kids.  Find a bar, and set a goal above it, and then do it.

2014 season was pretty cool too.  My husband completed his first Ironman distance race at Lake Placid, New York.  My son and I got to go on the adventure with him.  As hard as an Ironman is, lemme tell ‘ya, spectating one with an 18 month old is no piece of cake.  In fact, I think I’d rather race than spectate J  Thankfully we had some AWESOME friends and family members help us with a roof over our head when we arrived, get to the race, through the race, home from the race, in general ‘crewing’ us.

I still raced in 2014 and finally reached one of my long time goals – Top Three Female overall.  It was an Olympic distance  - which is a very good fit for me. The swim is longer, so it gives me more time to get a head start on the bike (where everyone starts passing meJ ) but the race is shorter, so at the end, I can truly race the run.  Plus the training is doable with a family and not so much that you feel like it’s too much.

Now, I’m training for an Ironman in March 2015.  In New ZEALAND!!!!  Thanks to wanting to visit my BFF, who moved her family there over a year ago, I figured, why not do a race while we’re there – how cool would that be?!?!?!!!  So I signed up last March, and it’s already within 5 months of race day – how did that happen?  Currently doing out-season training (usually done in the winter months), and will start my official IM training load in early December…LOTS AND LOTS of time swimming, biking, and running indoors L  I also am using a coach and racing with a team this time around - more news on that to come as well.  More reasons to blog about it and pass on all the knowledge I will gain through this adventure.

Thanks in advance for all the support and I’ll start outlining my ideas for each week of progress!!

Celebrating that Mama body

I've really been struggling with this blog post.  I started it a couple weeks ago, after reading an article featuring a photographer showcasing 4th trimester bodies, and how society's expectation for how a woman's body should look after giving birth.  It's quite ridiculous, yet very real.  My first reaction was "How awesome, I'm so glad someone is doing this, it's so important". Then after thinking on it for a while my reaction was "This sucks that so many women feel this way about their post pregnancy body".  I had a very clear message in mind in this post - Celebrate that mama body no matter what the size, shape and perhaps some battle scars post pregnancy. But I struggled as I heard many of you reading this post thinking "Really? Easy for her to say. She's back pre-pregnancy weight and just completed a Half Ironman - whoopdeedo and good for her"

It's true - I am back to pre-pregnancy weight and I did complete a Half Ironman a couple months ago.  (Full disclosure:  I have fallen off the work-out wagon since my race.  But now that my babe is sleeping through the night I have rekindled my love with waking to the sound of his voice, so I sleep in instead of getting up to work out.)  I often tell people that I'm fortunate in what I love to do in my free time is to work out.  I love triathlons.  LOVE them.  Love the training, Love the competition, and trying to figure out how early I can be ready for an Ironman if we choose to have another baby.  My second love is helping others start or get better at doing triathlons.  Especially mamas who have very limited time and think there is no way they have time to prepare for a triathlon.  A wonderful by-product of my passions is being in pretty good physical shape most of the year.  But my body will never be the same as it was before I was pregnant.  And I'm not sure I want it to be.  This year, I posted some of my fastest times, in my mama body.

People have many passions.  You may devote those extra 30-60 minutes a day to reading, TV, movies, knitting, resting.  Every one of those choices is perfect for whoever you are.  If you don't know what that passion is for you - maybe try a few different things out in the weeks to come.  Really try to ensure yourself some mama time every day.  Believe me - around here - especially in the fall - that is HARD to come by for me.  But you gotta try to find it.  And let your 'roomate(s)' know what and when that is, so you have their support; whether that means taking care of the kids, clearing the house for quiet time, preparing dinner.  Honest communication is key to success.  (in all things really right?)

Now, truth be told (and for those of you who see me on a regular basis, know how very true this is), I don't put a very high value on the way I look, with or without clothes.  It's not that I don't value myself - It's just not that important to me to look a certain way - mainly because I'm not very confident in my ability to look 'put together', so a t-shirt and jeans is a safe, easy and comfortable option for me most of the time.  Which is why when my husband and I went out for date night and I wore a short dress with boots and accessories (I didn't have many to choose from) - which a best friend and her daughters had to come over one night and help me pick out because I would have totally worn jeans and a black sweater - his jaw hit the floor.

I don't feel comfortable in a bikini, never really have.  But not in the traditional sense - mainly, I just don't see it as functional.  But I have to admit, I do feel a bit more comfortable now that I'm a mama because I feel like it's awesome that my body had a baby!!!  So, who cares what you think it looks like - I think it's pretty dang amazing.  When it comes to race day, my tri gear, although skin tight and often not very flattering, I could give two hoots, because it's what I'm about to do in that tri gear that fuels my fire.  (another full disclosure:  I did ask DH if I looked acceptable in my tri gear before my first race.  Heck, I'm doing a triathlon - I look great!!)

It became apparent to me the other day when T was sitting on my lap after nursing, my shirt was pulled up and he started grabbing at my tummy.  I had been feeling pretty good about my mama body until I saw his hands kneading my soft belly.  It made me feel kinda icky about not working out more, not being firmer - then I realized that my son...MY SON.... who I gave birth to...GAVE BIRTH TO....is kneading my soft belly - I LOVE IT.

So here's the point...and I really do have one here...... you are a MAMA...you put another humans (maybe multiple other humans) needs ahead of yours every minute of every hour of every day.  You scarf down quick snacks in between making and serving/feeding others full mealtimes with love.  You get up early and stay up late doing laundry, cleaning the house, feeding the dogs, planning meals, planning fun activities.  You are a MAMA.

It doesn't matter if you had a home or hospital birth, vaginal or cesarean, adopted your babe(s), gained 100 lbs during your pregnancy, are back at your pre pregnancy weight, barely have time to get in 10 minutes of yoga each week, are so tired you can't even see the bags under your eyes and accidentally put a box of cereal in the fridge (then didn't think it was weird when you went to get it out of the fridge to have some...), have nursing tatas that are nearing your belly button, not quite sure where that belly piercing used to go, have a dark line down your tummy that just doesn't seem to want to go away, have new marks on your body from stretching over a bowling ball, what matters is that you are AMAZING.  If you were fortunate enough to be pregnant - YOU GREW ANOTHER HUMAN BEING WITH YOUR OWN BODY- your lovely mama body, and you are fantastically amazing!!!  If you were fortunate enough to be able to adopt your own child - HOLY COW, YOU GAVE YOUR CHILD A MAMA AND FAMILY FOREVER - your lovely mama body, and you are fantastically amazing!!

Next time you stand in front of the mirror before you shower/bathe, look at that fantastically amazing mama body.  Not the value we are told to see by society.  But that amazing mama body that gives more love every day then you ever knew you had.  That amazing mama body that carries your children in and out of the car, the high chair, around the store, crawls around on the floor playing cars and dolls, makes silly sounds, has interesting conversations, gets tugged on, pulled on, kneaded, comforts tears, gives unlimited hugs, kisses and squeezes.

Look at that mama body up and down and up again.
Be proud.
You are loved.

Race Report - You won a Baby!!

Expectations [Week 19; 1 To Go]
Adventures [Week 20; 0 To Go]

Well, I did it.  I successfully showed up and completed my A Race on Saturday, 7 1/2  months after giving birth to my son.  A Half Ironman distance triathlon.  T and I (and Great Cousin KK) adventured 700 miles from home to get mama to the starting line.

Forecast became increasingly....interesting....as race day approached.  After an interesting night of sleep with T and a rough morning (thanks Grandma for getting my crying son back to sleep while mama got out the door to the race) Grandpa dropped me off and I was off to the transition area.  My Big Brother and Cousin met me before the race and were there to see me off on the swim.  It was quite a drive for them that early in the morning, and it meant the World to me that they got there to see me before my race.

 

Because of high winds and white caps at 4 AM, the swim was moved to the marina, which was very interesting.  The swim consisted of a time trial start (which makes for a very different race mentality as you don't know when folks started as you are racing them out on the course), and two loops up and down and around the boats and docks.  We even had to go under one of the dock walkways which was kind of freaky, but it was safe and calm.  It rained most of the swim, which didn't matter much cause I was wet anyway....but the spectators probably weren't loving it :)  As I exited the swim I saw Grandma and Grandpa and T cheering for me!!!  I didn't expect that at all as I figured they would still be sleeping -  but I guess T had different plans :)

So the bike was cold.......and wet......and windy most of the way.  It was a fairly flat course, but the wind took it's toll on the athletes and you could see it on our faces as we passed each other after the two turn around points.  But I grinded it out, and didn't get in a crash or slip during the ride - so that's a win for me!  One of the beautiful things about weather - good or bad - during a race, is that everyone is in the same weather (for the most part), so we all had the same 'stuff' to deal with, and any race day is a good day.  And......I successfully peed during the ride.....yup, I said it.....I HAD TO GO!!!!.....and it's harder then you think when you're trying to pedal or at least not slow down too much :)  Guess I'll have to start practicing that  next season.....don't worry babe, I'll warn ya if you're behind me and we're training together :)

So then the run.  I was feeling pretty drained, but happy to be done with two out of the three disciplines.  Only 13.1 more miles to go.  I lost my last water bottle on the ride (grabbed a water bottle at the aid station, got one sip, and lost it when trying to put it back on my bike) - so was trying to play catch-up a bit with hydration.  It wasn't hot, so I hadn't lost too much water, but I still knew I was behind a bit.  Now it was time to test out my over the shoulder boulder holder as my milk supply as been growing since 6 AM (nursing mamas who like to be active - Go to Athleta - it's the best $60 you'll ever spend) Short of the long is that I made it - I was a bit top heavy - and I pushed it a bit hard from miles 7-9, which made the last 4 miles pretty ugly - but I made it.  It is different from most other races that I've been a part of because there are three distances (sprint, Olympic, half) of a triathlon, duathlon, aquabike, and kayakathon - so there are A LOT of other races going on - all of which are finishing before the full half ironman distance of the triathlon - so it was a bit lonely out there on the run.  As I came down the finish shoot there was not another racing soul to be found- which just felt a little off - but I was ecstatic to see Grandma, Grandpa and my Beautiful T at the finish line waiting for me. 

It was an awesome day!  I overcame quite a few obstacles to pull that day off and having a great cheering section sure did help :)  I couldn't help but think when I was struggling about my last post.  Again, you know who you are and I thought of you often.  Thank you for inspiring me and pushing me to be the best mama and triathlete I can be.

T was a trooper the entire day - of course.  He traveled back and forth to the race twice - napped well, and even came back to town two more times as we tried to participate in the festivities at the end of the day because....... I Placed 2nd in my Age Group and 6th female overall!  Now there were only 32 women in the half ironman distance - but 6th place ain't bad for a new mama.  It was a very long day, but well worth the wait, in a couple torrential downpours under the tent, to walk up with my son for my only hardware of the season.  When I came back to our seats a fellow athlete sitting near us (you can see her in the pic)said jokingly "You won a Baby!"

Oh man, did I ever.  And I wouldn't have it any other way.

                                          (the flash was really bright :) )

Thanks so much to EVERYONE who has supported me and my family over the last 8 1/2 months.  I fear forgetting someone so I won't list everyone, but you all know who you are.  Whether you live in MI, MN, FL, TX, PA, MA, or NewZealand (yeah you too:) )  I love you and I thank you.

Mantras - And Living Them

Volume [Week 16; 4 To Go]
Injury [Week 17; 3 To Go]
Perspective [Week 18; 2 To Go]


I apologize for the overuse of CAPS in this post....but I was in-between crying and screaming as I wrote this :)

Less than two weeks to go till my half Ironman A race...12 days to be exact...and.....I'm injured.....long story short - I woke up one morning and couldn't pick my head up off the pillow.  It was Terrible.  Horrible.  Very Bad.  This happened on a Thursday.  After an emergency visit to the chiropractor and a corrective session of massage therapy I thought maybe - JUST maybe, I would be able to race on Sunday. Yeah - not so much.  But after 6 full days 100% off, and not showing up at the starting line of my scheduled Olympic race, I attempted to start my workouts again. I did attend the race, but as a spectator to cheer on my friends....and I cried on the drive to the race because I couldn't race, but DS and I had a great adventure day and it was a BEAUTIFUL day to watch a race.

Without getting into the specifics of how I eased into my workouts - it simply was hard to not continue to work out.  It was hard to mentally wrap my head around the fact that I wasn't going to be 100% at my A race.  It was hard to watch my fitness fizzle into nothingness as I wallowed in my pain and injury cycle of ice/heat/biofreeze/rest/sorrow.

OMG!!  GIVE ME A BREAK!!!! 

Win the Day / Pain is temporary / Embrace the Suck / If it was easy everyone would do it / Pain is weakness leaving the body / Enter the Pain Cave / Fake the Funk / enter any mantra

During training you have good days and bad days.  During a race it's important to be able to recall both.  The good training sessions remind you that YOU CAN DO THIS!  The bad training sessions remind you that YOU CAN DO THIS!

During training you have set backs; fatigue, injury, vacations where you drink too much- eat too much- and train too little, schedules that make training sessions simply impossible to execute as planned, small humans that seem to take up every minute of your day although you don't know where they went.  How do we react to that adversity?  How do we react to things not being optimal?  How do we react when we can't 'go back' or 'undo' or simply change the state of affairs? 

Well I, apparently, slump down, simply cash in my chips and just want my season to be over....WHAT!?!?!!!  yup, that's how I reacted - sad but true. 

Wait a sec - What was this triathlon season about for me?  Why do I race?  When training for and executing and Ironman Distance Triathlon you have to have at least one thing that you can bring to the forefront of your tired brain as the pain begins to take over your more tired body.  ONE thing that reminds you WHY you are racing.  You WILL come to a point where your mind has to have a conversation with your body and your mind MUST convince your body to overcome.

I came into this triathlon season after having a baby...HAVING A BABY 8 months ago!!!  I will have an 8 1/2 month old son at the finish line of my half ironman triathlon race in 12 days.  How frickin cool is that?  My goal at the beginning of the season was simply to show up at the start line of my scheduled races.  I told myself, and my family, that if I got to the bike and couldn't do it - at least I showed up.  If I got to the run and couldn't do it - at least I showed up.  If I had to walk the entire run - at least I showed up.  Even the race I was legitimately injured for, I showed up in support of my fellow triathletes.  My goal at the beginning of the season was to lose a pound a week until race day.  Well that was pretty impossible when I actually did the math, but I did lose 30 lbs in 30 weeks after 6 weeks post partum - and at the moment I'm stuck - at a pretty great weight.  That's AWESOME!!

What in the world am I moping around about?  What is my one thing?  Why do I race?

I race because I am able.  I race because there are those who can't.  I have people in my life that would LOVE to be able to train for a triathlon.  It never fails during a long run that I think of the people I love in my life that can't, for whatever reason, swim, bike, run.  At All.  During every race, I mean every race, (there's even video proof in my IM of me telling folks to call her and tell her that I love her) I think of the person who inspires me the most.  A person who would love to be out of breath with me on that run.  A person who would love to have the ability to start a swim with 2800 other people at the same time.  A person who would love to be chaffed from too much activity.  A person who has undergone many more physically painful situations then I - and I think of that every time I feel like I'm hurting on my run.   A person who gets me choked up thinking about how much she inspires me to be a better woman and mother every day.  You know who you are -  And I love you.  Many people tell me that I inspire them because I do triathlons or because I did an Ironman.  Which is great - don't get me wrong.  But My inspiration?  An amazing mom, wife, sister, daughter who (Even though she doesn't feel like it probably) tackles each day with vengeance - and has many reasons she could use to just cave in.  A woman so strong in her faith she could build a mansion on it.  An amazing couple who is trying to put the pieces of their life back together from an accident.  Trying every day to be thankful, while still struggling to physically get back to life.  An Incredible teenager (who I still think might just do a triathlon one day - he did actually cross the finish line of one once) who is trying to be his best every day, and overcome each challenge as it faces him.  An amazing infant who lived inside me for 10 months and came out of my hoo-haa (a feat I'm still quite amazed about when I look at him) and learns more and more every day.

YOU INSPIRE ME - and I race in your place - in 12 days.  You will be ever present on my mind and reminding me that I will show up and I will give it my best - that day and every day after.