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2021/2022 - Pregnancy, baby, return to racing

WOW. So much has changed since I last posted in here. About two months after that last post I found out I was pregnant! 

I spent 2021 in various phases of life:

  • First trimester I was super sick and actually unable to even get much movement in! I don't think I've ever worked out that little in my life! Every day just felt like a struggle to survive.
  • Second and third trimesters I was able to swim, bike, run and lift. I was able to run up until a couple days before I gave birth! I mostly ran and lifted - I hated biking pregnant and wanted to limit my covid exposure so I didn't go to the pool super consistently until the very end of my pregnancy.
  • I spent the rest of 2021 fumbling my way through learning how to be a mom and take care of a baby! It was months of living in a haze of no sleep, hormones and tears BUT with all of that in the rear view, it was an amazing time of growth and learning so much.


I had 4 IM branded deferred races from 2020 that rolled to 2021, then to 2022. I started structured training for triathlon in Feb 2022 - 6 months after baby. I raced a local oly in early June (which went well!), then CDA 70.3, Boulder 70.3, and WA 70.3. 

CDA 70.3 was a great "back to tri" race. I knew the course and my expectations were low. I had a great swim and bike and realized I had a ton of work to do on the run. I had a BLAST racing again with all my tri friends and it just felt great to hit a real start line.



Boulder 70.3 was honestly my worst race in a LONG time, but still decent swim/bike, really rough run. I thought I was more fit going in, and I totally unraveled mentally on the run. I knew I had work to do on my mental strength but still enjoyed the trip with my family and racing with friends I don't normally get to race with! (including my coaching team!)


WA 70.3 I came into really not caring much about this race. This felt like one race too many since these were each like 6ish weeks apart. I ended up with a 70.3 PR! Great swim and bike, then a solid run!! I got 4th in my AG and my first Ironman podium!!! Was super thrilled.



Overall, I'm beyond thrilled at how this year has gone so far from a triathlon perspective. I feel so fortunate to be racing again. I have one more race this year... Ironman AZ! (Originally IM CA in 2020, then IM CDA in 2021, but since I was 7mo pregnant, it's now IM AZ 2022!) When I decided to defer to IM AZ, I was still pregnant and didn't really realize what this whole mom life would be like OR what my body would be like after a baby. In hindsight, I really think that this year would have been more manageable if I had only raced 70.3s and waited to get another full on the schedule till next year, or at least alternated years with Isaac on who was doing a full. With that being said, I have 3/5 of my biggest training weekends behind me and my body is responding really well to this build! I'm pretty excited to do this race and see what I'm made of again. The full distance is a whole different beast. I haven't raced a full since Ironman Mont Tremblant in 2019 - and I keep trying to visualize the feeling of getting off the bike 7 hours into the race and STARTING my marathon... it's a different kind of pain that's hard to remember! 

Another post to come on how this year has gone from a life balance perspective - momming, working, training is a difficult Venn diagram where nothing EVER seems to feel in balance. If I'm doing great in training, I'm not spending enough time with my daughter. If I'm killing it at work and putting in more time, my training suffers. If I'm spending time in mom mode, my emails are stacking up and Teams is pinging at me nonstop. I have had a PHENOMENAL support system in all three of these areas and I can't imagine how people do this without as much help and support as I have. But it still feels like life is always leaning and pushing in one direction and the other two are suffering. I hear this is "normal" but it certainly doesn't feel great even if it is normal.

Well - send strong, steady vibes for me in LESS THAN A MONTH at IM AZ! Might start updating this again as an outlet. We'll see.

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