Week 1:
Well in terms of “What a difference a year makes…” this time last year I was a nervous wreck, clueless about so much…yet excited to enter into a whole new world. This year I am a coach. I am the one that is helping those like the me of last year see themselves as strong individuals that can and will reach their goals of completing their first Tri. It is exciting and humbling. The transformation of my entire outlook on life through tri training last season will be a time in my life where I can say definitively that I will never be the same as I was before. I am hoping to continue not only improving myself this season but also helping others realize their own goals.

Monday: Swam 700m with a few friends at an amazing pool that allows us to circle swim the entire pool. This was a relaxed work out since just yesterday I ran and finished the full Mountain Goat! That was a goal that I had set for myself last year after running the “baby Goat” as my first race after knee surgery. I was exhausted however and knew that I would need to get some lactic acid out but didn’t want to kill myself since tomorrow night is the start of the Intermediate Tri training.

Tuesday: Tonight was tough, my right shoulder was hurting from an injury over the winter and my legs were lead. I was not on in form but had a great time training anyways. Looking forward to putting it all together and really seeing what I can do in the swim this year. Swim is by far the best of the three sports for me…which is funny given that last year at this time I was in the beginners lanes feeling like I was drowning. I had never had any swim lessons before and had a lot of bad habits to break! Core was intense tonight and thinking I will be feeling it in the morning!

Wednesday: Coaching night!!! Tonight was incredible! Getting to meet new athletes and seeing some of the gang from winter training was awesome! I am super energized to see how far we can all go as a group! The energy off of this group is insane! I coached the upper lanes tonight working with the athletes more comfortable with the swim. It was great to be able to give feed back and give tips to help them in their form. So gratifying and empowering to see men and women working to better themselves and take the time to be healthy!

Thursday: Run Coaching with Personal Best. Ouch! I am sore and exhausted and was cranky going into training/coaching tonight. It was cold and dreary and took forever to warm up but I tell you what within 20 minutes of running and talking with the group…bad mood gone! Amazing how a crappy day can be made so much better with a little exercise and laughter. This was the first run since goat and we did ladder sprints. During those last few sprint sections I definitely was telling myself that if I just kept pushing then I would treat myself to a chai latte and an Epsom Salt soak! It worked! Exhausted but excited to head into the weekend and biking!

Saturday: Biking! We started at Alliance Bank stadium doing drills in the parking lot. My entire morning feels off since the coffee that I got was not good and without that caffeine…well it got ugly! The coaching went fine, going through drills (awesome that a lot of the members of my group are friends that have trained with me over the winter so a lot of fun was had!), however after training there was the thought of going on a longer ride with a few people to get in a work out as the coaching did not really push physically that much. The ride did not go well…a crash in the beginning that injured a friend and busted my already injured shoulder and recently tuned bike, a broken shoe clip that caused one of us to fall in traffic, a broken derailleur on my bike from earlier crash that made it impossible to shift properly, a ride back that had us in traffic with angry bike hating motorists…all I really think because of that bad cup of coffee…