The ground is still covered with snow here in upstate New York (and it is supposed to snow again over the weekend). I'm waiting for the temperature to rise to at least 48 degrees so that I can go outside for a ride. In this rare downtime, I thought I'd make a few announcements...
Training. We survived this long and snowy winter with TWO training trips to Clermont, Florida to train with fellow triathletes mom Sarah Haskins. Sarah and her husband and coach, Nate. Sarah and Nate are hands down two of the nicest people in the sport of triathlon and they graciously welcomed me AND Amy into their routine. Sarah and I have done lots of hard training together over the years and this time around it was no different – even though we’ve both had babies within the last year. We are definitely both motivated by our little ones, who played together while we were training.
While in Florida, I did two ITU Sprint races. These races weren’t on my plan for the year, but were both local to Clermont, so I couldn’t help but jump in. Here’s a recap of the first one (in case you missed it). The second race was one week after the first and in that week I piled on some hard training to take advantage of the Florida sun. This left me a bit tired on race day, but I put in a hard effort and finished 10th. After the race, my mom and I drove about an hour south of the Sarasota race venue to Estero to relax with my aunt and uncle before the long drive back to NY.
Coaching. After over a year of a self-imposed ban on coaching, due to being pregnant and my c-section recovery, I’m happy to announce that I’m back on a training plan and have a new coach! While I was in Clermont, I had the chance to meet Jesse Kropelnicki and Tim Snow of QT2 Systems, who were in town leading a training camp. We met a bunch of times to discuss training philosophies and I was very impressed by the organization and structure of their training plans. This team has had some amazing results lately, with lots of athletes running fast marathons and half marathons off the bike. If you’ve been following any of my results lately, you know this is an area I need to work on! Tim, who is my direct coach, has a plan for this and in the 2.5 weeks we’ve been working together, I’m already starting to see results.
Racing. Even though I started off the year with two ITU draft-legal sprint races, my focus this year will be on the half-ironman (70.3) distance. My next one of these races will be the Florida 70.3 on April 13.
Sponsors. Laurel and I excited about recently signing with ROKA wetsuits. If you haven’t heard of these wetsuits, you soon will! Lots of the top pro triathletes will be swimming in ROKA this year. The wetsuits, designed by two former Stanford swimmers, are fast and extremely comfortable. If you are thinking of buying a new wetsuit this year, check out ROKA.
We are also happy to announce that we’ve partnered with NuttZo nut butters. NuttZo would be the favorite to win if there was a World Championships of nut butters. We’re not just talking you standard peanut butter, Nuttzo is a blend of seven nuts and seeds. This is a triathlete’s dream food.
Amy & Maya. Amy is just about 14 months old. She spends her days playing and trying to talk. Her favorite words are “my-my” and “da-tle” which translate to Maya (her BFF) and bottle (specifically bike water bottle, her toy of choice at the moment). Maya made the trip to Florida with us and spent 10 days at the Royal Palm Pet Resort. She loved it there and was well loved by the owners. I’d highly recommend it to anyone who wants to bring their next time they head to Clermont to train or race.
Thanks for reading and Happy Spring!
--Bec