It feels a bit odd not to use a first blog post to explain what I want for this blog, what I plan to write about and share, and what any readers can expect to see. The truth is, I don’t know those things. I created this space because I want a landing place to chronicle my journey as a triathlete, and as you can probably imagine, sometimes the unexpected happens along those journeys. I find that writing is cathartic for me and helps me process whatever is going through my brain at any given time, and since I’m definitely more of an electronic versus paper kind of person, I thought a blog was the appropriate space. I feel like I need to do some type of introductory post before I can really get into anything, so I guess this is what this is.
Just a little background about myself:
- Age group: 35-39
- Gender: Female
- Location: Miami, Florida
- Distances: Focus is Ironman, but I do shorter distances in my build-ups
- Race plan for 2015:
- Key West Sprint (Done!)
- HITS Naples Sprint (Done!)
- ING Miami Half Marathon (January 24)
- Bayshore Olympic (March 1)
- Florida 70.3 (April 12)
- Miami Man Speedway Edition, Olympic race (May 24)
- Escape to Miami, Olympic (September 20)
- Augusta 70.3 (September 27)
- Ironman Florida (November 7)
- Equipment:
- Swim: Blue Seventy Helix, assorted goggles, swim caps and suits
- Bike: Specialized Transition, Cycleops PowerTap, Garmin 510 computer
- Run: On Running shoes, Garmin 920xt (which is really all three sports)
- Guilty Pleasure: Any show on Bravo. All of them.
- What do I want out of this sport?:
- To be GOOD. Really Good. (I’m sure more will come on this later)
- To stay fit and active for a long, long, long time.
- To travel to great destination races.
I called this blog the Intentional Triathlete because that’s what I’m striving to be/do – act intentionally and mindfully (Mindful Triathlete was already taken, too!). This is something I’ve struggled with in the past; I would do things either out of habit or because it’s what I thought I was supposed to do. In the end, most of the time that worked out ok, but there was a chunk that I felt a little hollow about and needed to change. But, it’s hard! Particularly for a busy triathlete who works during the day, trains the rest of the time, and attempts to manage life between those two things (I give working parent-triathletes all the credit in the world!). It seems like I’m moving so fast, from sleeping to workout to work to workout to eat to packing bags (all the bags…so many bags!) to crash and burn because I’m so exhausted from it all. Since I’ve started being more mindful, less judgmental and more present, I feel I’ve been able to cope with the load much better. It’s still very much a work in progress, but at least it’s that.
I have a camp scheduled for February 18-22 in Clermont, so my focus for now is on that. I’m really trying to nail down my body composition and FTP before camp. I’ve been trying to do this for oh…..five years now, and since I haven’t been all that successful I’ve started working with a nutritionist to help me break some of the bad habits I’ve started up. Mindfulness and intention is a big part of this process as well. I’ve created so many ‘food rules’ for myself that it’s become a detriment at this point instead of a helpful guide. I’m working on being mindful of what my tummy is telling me at any given moment and paying more attention to those cues versus the ones coming from inside my head.
(That sounds really messed up just reading it, but it’s surprising easy it is just to pick up something out of habit. For example, I used to always stop at the store and get a treat on the way home on Fridays. Not because I particularly wanted it, but because it was my reward for making it through the week and it’s what I’ve always done. My nutritionist is really helping me work through some of those issues, which I think is going to ultimately help me get down to my prefered race weight.)
So, this is the start. Hopefully more to come soonish. I don’t know how often I’ll post because I want to make each of the posts interesting and insightful, so we’ll see how often I have something interesting and potentially insightful to share!
Triathlon done intentionally 