Seattle Ironwoman

He who is not everyday conquering some fear has not learned the secret of life.  - Ralph Waldo Emerson I'm not someone who worries a lot. It takes a lot to stress me out. It takes even more to make me angry. In general, I'm a happy person. Maybe it's because I'm fairly selfish and always make sure I enjoy every day on my own terms. Maybe it's the endorphin's from daily runs or yoga. Still, I like to think it's my disposition, or the fact that I try to look at the positive side of life. However, in the last year or so I have spent a lot of time actively pushing myself towards things that scare me. It's very uncomfortable and unsettling to push towards those things. They're not easy but I figure, if I don't do things that cause me discomfort and fear, then I'm not growing. If I'm not both happy AND growing, then what's the point? I don't think my purpose is to just exist and happily float through life (which I co...

Ironman Canada is over. Training is over. I have all the free time in the world to do whatever I want. You would think that after training for 6 months, I would be excited to get my life back... but the feeling is totally the opposite. Sadness, let down, feeling lost... what do I do when I don't train? Am I still an Ironman when I'm not training for one? What next? What now? PID's - Post Ironman Depression  - Definitely dealing with this post race. I've always felt a little let down after marathons, but I've never put as much of myself into a race as I did for Ironman, so the letdown has been pretty huge. The worst part about the weeks after race day is being unable to workout to make yourself feel better and get those endorphin's flowing. You can start swimming again a few days after the race, but I got an m-dot tattoo last week (first tattoo ever - WOW, tattoos hurt...) so no swimming for me for a couple weeks. We're allowed to start biking after a wee...

I am so thrilled to have successfully completed Ironman Canada 2015! It was an incredibly challenging race - the hills on the bike were no joke - and it poured rain on us the majority of the day. Despite the things we couldn't control like the weather, I had a very well planned and executed race. It's so easy to already forget the low's of the race and only remember the high's. Before the race: We were lucky that the rain held off until we climbed into the water. We took the shuttle from T2 to Alta Lake, and it felt like the longest ride of my life. It was very overwhelming to begin mentally preparing for what was ahead of us. We setup our bikes, added fuel to our race bags, and climbed into our wetsuits. The Swim: I had been very nervous about where I should start in the pack for the swim. I didn't want to get run over and kicked in the face and also wanted to make sure I didn't spend the whole swim passing people. I decided to stay off to the side at t...

We made it to Whistler and the past three days have been a whirlwind! We're staying in a condo near the village and the location is fantastic. We're so lucky to be up here with such a great group, but you can see the anxiety across our 4 faces during certain points of each day since we got here. Most of our current anxiety is coming from the unpredictable weather. No one is sure how much/when it will rain, what the temperature will feel like on the bike, if we'll need a coat or not and how hot we'll get on the hills. Today our workout was the shortest triathlon of all time. Our swim was cold - no wetsuits today so they wouldn't be wet tomorrow, and the water was super choppy. Our bike ride was during the rainiest part of the day but it was nice to get a feel for how slick the roads would feel. Our run was super short but great for loosening up for tomorrow. We're all nervous but ready to get this done!  If you want to follow me and my team tomorrow - visit t...

As we've been tapering, I've been overwhelmed with all kinds of feelings. Happiness, fear, anxiety... all the feelings, more than I've felt in a while. I have been so exhausted the past 6 months that I've felt a constant state of being "out of it" and haven't felt as emotionally connected, so this overwhelming rush of emotions throughout the days has been very different. I thought that when they said not to go crazy during taper that it would only apply to elite athletes that train a LOT harder than me. Already, I've found myself pushing my workouts too hard. Everything this week is supposed to be super easy or don't do it at all. I'm swimming, biking, and running too fast and hard. It's challenging to not keep pushing at the intensity I'm so used to - every workout I have to remind myself constantly to slow down - total opposite of everything up until now! While tapering has certainly been challenging mentally and emotionally, I am e...

One week from now, I will hopefully have already crossed the finish line. Isaac and Nate (the person who told me it'd be a great idea to do an Ironman) will hopefully have finished a couple of hours ago. No one really knows where Chelsey will be including her - but hopefully she'll have a fantastic race and maybe have caught up to me during the marathon. That's all assuming everything goes according to plan... which, no matter how much you prepare, you can never anticipate what might cross your path during the race (like a bear). Flat tires, crashes, bonking, stomach issues.... a lot can go wrong during a 12-15 hour race. (12-13 for the boys, 14 for me). While getting through the bike portion will be a struggle (see video below about Ironman Canada race specifics), you have to respect the marathon and listen to your body. For anyone that has run a marathon, you know the challenges of hitting that 21 mile wall. From what I've heard, there are multi...