You cannot discover new oceans unless you have the courage to lose sight of the shore

Once again I am probably butchering the quote, but remember English is not my first language which entitles me every now and again make up my own quotes and sayings J.

We spend our lives asking ourselves ‘what ifs’, regardless of what decision we make when a choice is prompted at some point in our lives we ask ourselves how would things be if we would have chosen the ‘other’ path.

Four years ago when our daughter Nora was borne we made the best decision of our lives at the time. Having been a nanny myself and not having family close by (other than my sister), the idea of having some stranger taking care of our kids was just far from realistic. We had interviewed people but I always had an issue, we finally narrowed it down but at the end of the day I knew I could not find anybody who met my requirements because they weren’t me.

At that point we decided I was going to quit working. Having a full time job, a husband and kids just didn’t seem as what I wanted/needed anymore. As most moms I’ve always wanted to make sure my kids had good values and didn’t want to look back and regret missing the toddler years.

I have told myself multiple times during those four years that eventually I would go back to work, but I wanted to wait until Nora started Kindergarten. Long story short, Nora has one more year to go until she starts K BUT an opportunity came by that I thought it would be silly not to consider.

After much thought and weighing in the pros and cons, Sami and I decided I should give it a try.  Tomorrow will be my first day back at work. Much different than my corporate America days but I am very hopeful it will be something I will really enjoy. I have joined the staff at a local school (5 miles from home) where I will be teaching Spanish and will be the head coach for their swim team. I am not sure there is any other job posting that would fit me any better than this one.

I would lie if I said I am not nervous, I have never been one person to be scared of change. I tend to do well with change in my life, I am also one to think (as much as Sami hates me saying this) that things happened for a reason. I might not know what the reason is at times, but I am confident that I was ‘meant’ to do this.

As I look forward to the next three months I see lots of early morning workouts, long weekends of training and times when I will question if I made the right choice given the fact that I have an IM in November, but I have seen so many people who does just that. Full time parents, full time workers, full time triathletes or maybe I should call ‘us’ weekend warriors.

I am ready to face the next challenge and I am sure that with determination, hard work and lots of caffeine I will still cross that finish line coming November.

Allatoona Sprint & Chattanooga RR

Due to some changes (more on that later) I have been trying to fit in the last couple of weeks everything that I have not gotten done in the last 4 years. That is my excuse for not being able to keep up this blog alive, I am sure I can think of many other excuses but for now on I am going with this one… So before I update on my latest changes I wanted to post a quick race report on the last two races I’ve done since I got back from Spain: Allatoona Sprint & Chattanooga Waterfront.

The Allatoona Sprint is one of the 3 races PT Solutions puts together, Dale and the crew do a phenomenal job at having plenty of volunteers and making the finish line even more memorable. Knowing that the venue is the same as the Acworth Women Sprint Tri, I debated on doing this one but at the end of the day I decided to sign up for a couple of reasons, time wise it worked out perfectly with my trip back from Spain. After a three week hiatus is always good to have a reminder on what the racing scene looks like and get some adrenaline going.

I started on the last wave and knew there were a couple of overall contenders ahead of me, their wave started 3min before mine. I got in the water and felt pretty good, went as hard as I could and hoped to put a bit of a gap on my competition. On the bike leg I felt strong and pushed hard, I knew they had changed the run course but on a sprint distance tri there is only one way of racing. I came into T2 and saw one of my competitors heading out of transition, I knew she is a very good runner but I did a quick calculation and thought… she started 3min behind me so I would have to have a really slow run for her to make up for the difference, well apparently either my run was that much worse or hers was that much better (however you like it best J) but she put a heck of a run leaving me on the dust and as 2^nd OA female.

Two weeks later I headed to Chattanooga for my dream race (not really!). Like I’ve said many times, there is always that one race that you do once, twice… or THREE times and you have the same exact thought ½ way into the run … ‘I am NEVER doing this race again’, somehow I’ve manage to do it three times (and counting) , I am 100% I will be going back, because for once I’d like to say ‘I had a KILLER race in Chattanooga’.

The swim was fast as always with the current, this was the fastest I have ever swam 1500m breaking the 19min, I would love to give full credit to my coach, masters coach and swimming partner but the reality of the situation is that there was a STRONG current this year, but I’ll take it. I got off the water and realized I had never started my watch, got on the bike and felt good right away. Since this was my third year doing the race and I ALWAYS die on the run I decided to hold back on the last half of the bike, I caught up many of the girls who had an earlier start time and wanted to make sure I could held on the gab for as long as I could.

Halfway into the run I started to feel the fatigue, the heat and the overall exhaustion, coming into the Shute I was very tempted to  get on the floor and just roll down the hill as I was pretty much done.

1st Masters, 5th OA female

Overall I was happy with both of the races, specially Chattanooga, not so much for the results itself but mentally these are the ones that make you stronger and at the end of the day are the ones that differentiate you as an athlete.  Like I said to my coach after Chattanooga, I am hoping this mental toughness pays off coming race day in IMFL, cause I do have to admit that other than NOLA this season’s races have been a 'mental test’

Where there is a Will There is a Way

Back in May and before heading to Spain I typed a post which for some unknown reason I never posted on this blog. Since then I’ve been meaning to catch up but after a three week hiatus with the family and a much needed break from social media it has just gotten harder and harder to get back to it. Since I’d still like to go back to this one post I decided to post a ‘summary’ of it and some afterwards thoughts…

The majority of this blog is about me and my thoughts on my way to IMFL, but as I got ready for our big trip to Spain, I started to think back the last 6 months and how Sami had completely dedicated himself to IM training and set a precedent to what I have in store…

Last year when we decided that 2012 would be a good year for me to do an IM we discussed the ins and outs, the training, the family the dedication, and everything else that entails IM training. Being both of us triathletes we have to plan our races and training schedule together so that we make sure there is always somebody with the kids. Being that said, and since I was going to sign up for IMFL 2012 was going to be my year and then Sami would do his IM in 2013.

A couple of weeks after I signed up for IMFL Sami’s training partner registered for IMLZ (Ironman Lanzarote), this is a race that Sami has always said he would love to do, knowing he would have somebody to train with just sounded too good to pass on. After we looked at our options and checked with our coach, we realized that both IM (IMFL & IMLZ) were further apart enough that we would be ok and training schedules would not coincide.

Sami & John morning of IMLZ

Sami signed up for the race and that is all she wrote. As I was training for NOLA70.3 him and John (his training partner) trained for their IM race. I would lie if I said it was easy, Marc started soccer season and every Saturday there games and other family responsibilities going on. So , I pretty much got all my weekend rides either early in the morning on the trainer or later in the afternoon while Sami got his long days in.

They say ignorance is a bliss which I completely agree, I now know what is in store for me. But the one thing I have to say is that I will always have the ‘if Sami was able to do it, so do I’. Our social life has pretty much been nonexistent, weekends were for training and during the week the lights went off a lot earlier than we are used to.

I have a great sense of admiration for anybody who works full time and trains, and if is IM training even more so. The hours, dedication and energy that training takes is something only those who do it know, add a family to it and a second person trying to get in workouts, races and such.

I look back at race day in Lanzarote and it was such an unbelievable experience, the boys were ready and I had just a blast. I just wish we hadn’t add more stress to the race than what an IM already entails. But our competitive nature had already dreamed big, not knowing what the terrain or the competition was it was like Sami likes to put it a ‘humble’ experience.

All in all I am SO proud of Sami and John, for sticking to their plan on race day, for fighting til the very end on conditions that I can only tell you weren’t ideal.

I take my Sherpa responsibilities very seriously :) 

If anything I have learned two things, first of all as much ‘respect’ as I have for IM training and as nervous as I am I really think that ‘where there is a will there is a way’, Sami and many others are proof of it. Second of all, this is my first IM, I don’t need to add any more stress to it, the goal is to get all the training in and ‘enjoy race day’, do I really think is going to be ‘enjoyable’?? well, I am sure it will be as soon as I hear the words ‘Carmen Brahim you are an Ironman’, but I am sure I will have my up and downs in race day as well as training. I am determined though to make the best of it, and like they say enjoy the journey.

REV3 Knoxville Race Report

When I first registered for this race I did it knowing that it would be two weeks after my HIM in New Orleans. Some people think that is too close, but I did the same last year and with the proper recovery ‘regimen’ I was able to put two of my best races to date. So, I figure if I were to do the same I should be ready for some more pain by the time I toed the start line in Knoxville.

The whole plan was a bit vague, Raquel and Sami were trying to decide if they were gonna race/come along, but between Raquel’s exams and Sami’s last long training weekend by the end of last week it was obvious this was going to turn into a solo race.

I had made plans to room with two friends of mine if nobody from my family end up coming, so we cancelled one of the rooms in our reservation and figured we would make it a fun girl’s weekend. The one part I was not thrilled about was the drive since I was by myself, the trip itself wasn’t a long one but is always nice to have somebody to chat with.

Fast forward to Wednesday and it hit me all of the sudden that I had been on a funk all week long, it was time to shake it off and concentrate on the race. By Thursday morning I did all that I could to change the mood and get pumped for the trip.

Friday I was ready, packed my bags and loaded Pandora with everybody’s pre-race tunes. I have to say that no, I did not like all of them but it was pretty cool to see/listen to the music on my way to Knoxville.

Saturday morning I woke up early, had breakfast and loaded the car. Backed the car out of the garage just to find out my front right tire needed some air, thank GOD Sami had the bright idea to look at the tire to make sure there were no nails. Come to find out I had no one but two nails, so had to drop off the car at a Goodyear store nearby and ended up heading out 2hrs later than I had initially planned.

By the time I made it to Knoxville it was almost the cut off time for the practice swim, so went directly there, swam in the river and proceeded to check in for both the race and the hotel. Changed into my tri kit and went for a spin and left my bike in transition. Which by the way was FAAAAAAAAAAAR from the swim end, if you’ve done this race on the past and thought T1 was far well they moved it even farther due to construction, next year I am taking roller blades J.

By the time I got back it was time to shower and meet Dasha, Jennifer and Tony for dinner. The rest of the evening was spent laughing and chatting which is always good before a race.

Heading to transition

The morning off we headed to transition, got a quick run in and made it to the swim start. I was surprisingly calm, I think I am getting good at not loosing my mind before every race. I know I’ve put the work and at that point there is not much to do just to follow the plan and hope everything comes together.

The swim was a wetsuit legal with some current, I don’t think Chattanooga current but there was some. If you’ve been following my blog from the beginning you probably remember reading my ‘summary’ of IMFL as a volunteer and some things I needed to do/change, my wetsuit being one of them (long sleeves vs sleeveless).

A couple of weeks a go right before New Orleans Haley Chura was nice enough to offer her TYR Hurricane for NOLA 70.3 that way I could see how it worked and I could borrow it for IMFL, well there was no swim in NOLA so this was the one race where I was going to give it a try. Mind you she is probably the BEST amateur triathlete swimmer out there, so I have to admit I felt a bit of pressure knowing that same wetsuit had been top female out of the water on this same race two years in a row (2010 for the Olympic and 2011 Half), I knew there was a good chance there were still some ‘speed power’ in there and was looking forward to take advantage of it.

The gun went off and I went out like I always do HARD, the Olympic distance is a swimmer’s distance so I wanted to put as much gap on my competition as possible, not knowing where I was (rank wise) I took the turn around to head to the swim finish and GOSH that was messy! At this point the people doing the half and those doing the Olympic are swimming together, it was not pretty and if you think I swam over you please accept my apologies, there was no way out of the pack (or multiple packs I should say). As always I tried to be as close to the buoys as possible and made it to the swim finish.

I glanced the clock and I thought ‘uh, oh 25min is NOT good’, but then of course thought, well that means it was long which means is probably going to work to my advantage. Other the run to T1 everything went super fast, I had practice leaving the shoes on the bike so I just had to grab my helmet and glasses and was on my way out. Now I just need to go to one of the Multisport Explosion bike practices and learn from these kids how to do a flying mount and dismount (yes, I had my shoes on the bike but I mounted old lady style).

As I was heading out I saw a couple of friends, and then realized if they had started 5min ahead of me and I know them to be pretty good swimmers I might have done ok. A couple of min later I realized I had swam a 20 NOT 25, not a PR since I have broke the 20min twice in Chattanooga but I really don’t think this current was as strong, I will take it!

The bike course on this race is HARD, hill after hill after hill, and I am not talking about rollers I am talking about 9mph climbs. I wanted to go hard on the bike. By the time I made it to T2 two girls had passed me who by the way were drafting of each other, the good thing was that as they passed me and started taking turns an official pull next to them and apparently gave one of them a penalty.

T2 was pretty fast too, I haven’t had a chance to compare transition times because they are still working on the final times, but I am willing to bet I had one of the fastest transitions in the female field.

I started running and felt ok, a bit out of breath but controlled (I don’t know any other way you’d run a 10K in an Olympic race). By the turn around I thought I could push a bit harder but my legs were done, I stared to feel very fatigue and my breathing was out of control. Around mile 3 a fellow local triathlete (Kat Tindol) passed me, Kat ended up taking 1st in our AG. I knew my run was not going too well but wanted to make sure I finished. It was hot and the more I tried to control my breathing the worse it got. The last mile an a half I just wanted to be done, I was taking landmarks one at the time, a couple of times I really questioned if I was going to finish, by the time I took the turn to the finish shute I was just in heaven thinking I was done.

Not the best picture of me but it really sums up how I felt

Overall not the race I was hoping for, BUT a race nonetheless. I have to keep reminding myself this year is all about IMFL, and the more I race the more I can learn about myself. In the past I have had a couple of races where mentally I have given up and I have just let myself go, I honestly can say I gave it all out there on Sunday, it just wasn’t my day. I wanted to quit so bad but knew I would not be happy with myself if I did so, I was shocked to see that I ran 4-5min slower than any of my Olympic races last year, but I know the last 1.5 miles slow me down A LOT. I learned a couple of things out there…

1^st – I will probably not race again two weeks after a HIM, I was not able to do a couple of things in between those two races which probably harmed me more than helped.

2^nd – You can turn things around, the beginning of the week was not ideal but I managed to turn things around and by Friday I was pumped and full of positive thoughts.

3^rd  -  I am SO proud of myself for keep pushing, I knew I was not having a great run, in the past I would have given up and gotten mad, but talked myself into doing all I could to cross that finish line which reminds me of one of my favorite quotes... “Don’t be afraid to fail, be afraid not to try”

4^th – We are all entitled to a bad day and/or bad race, just make sure you hold your chin up and give it all.

5^th – This will probably be the last time I EVER go by myself to a race, I wished so bad that Sami, Raquel and the kids were there, especially after the race.  I was glad to have friends there but it was not the same.

My goal is always to give it my all and I did, now is time to recover and get back on the training wagon.  While I am home I will be doing shorter workouts, since it is the only one time I get to see the family, but they’ll be more intense so that at least I can keep my fitness. I am eager to come back and start with IM training, I know I am in a good place and it is only going to get better by November.

Before I go, shoutouts to everybody who raced the half distance… 90 degrees on that course is not something anybody can do! I was so proud of everybody but specially my roomies Dasha and Jennifer and my friend Heather Holland who the first thing she said when she crossed the finish line was ‘I rather give birth to triplets than doing this again!’, well the truth is that you have done one of the hardest courses with one of the hardest race conditions… piece a cake from here!. As well as to Kat for taking 1st in our AG on a VERY tough day!!

Happy training!

Carmen.

NOLA 70.3 Race Report

New Orleans… The home of beignets, Bourbon Street and triathlons without swims. :)

Going through one of the pro’s race report I fell in love with her statement, seriously how fitting is it?. So, I mentioned before how I like to go in great lengths in my race reports, I usually start with the trip and the days prior to the race, especially if is an out of town kind of race. This time around I feel as if I have to go back even more given the circumstances, so chill out, grab a cup of coffee and feel free to stop reading anytime you want to.

The day before heading to NOLA I was on my way to the pool when a friend of mine texted me and asked me if I had read the news about the race, the first thing that came to mind was ‘don’t tell me we are not going to have a swim, AGAIN!’ after a couple of seconds of thinking on a thousand different scenarios I told myself not to freak out, last year there wasn’t a swim and I end up having one of my best races, how worse could it get?

Well, it turns out it could be a lot worse. A year ago they cancelled the swim the morning of, and end up with a bike/run race. This year apparently they decided that this wouldn’t be enough to screw up with the swimmer’s race and head so they decided to put a 2 mile ‘warm up’ run before the bike. To make matters worse they shortened the bike course since part of the course had lots of debris from the storms. So if you think about it that is a swimmer/non-runners worst nightmare... Carmen’s dream race LOL.

I put a smile on my face and said ‘whatever it is, I can’t do anything about it’. I have been working way too hard to self-sabotage any races and I figure after the fact I could vent on my blog about it, so here it comes… SERIOUSLY???? Two years in a row, looking back what I find most offensive is the fact that they cancelled the swim based on forecasted conditions, I don’t know about everybody else out there but I don’t recall weather forecasters being right very often, not sure what the point of not waiting til race morning was, so before I go any further I will say ‘fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me’… PHEWW! I feel better now.

A year ago I drove to New Orleans with my sister Raquel and had the time of our lives, honestly race day was just one more thing to add to the fun weekend. This year was quite different, me, Sami and John (Sami’s training partner) drove together, don’t take me wrong I had a great time but starting with the fact that I was only allowed to go to the bathroom so often on our trip down (and then back), and the fact that the two people I was travelling with were THRILLED with the recent news of not having a swim the whole weekend just had a different ‘ambience’.

One of the things that had me worried was the fact that never in my life I had run more than 13.1 miles, not on a race nor in a training day and yes you will say ‘come one is only 2 more miles’, but guess what, for all those non-swimmers out there just think of the stress you go through when moving from an Olympic race distance to a Half Ironman… now imagine you didn’t even get to train for that extra distance, not so cool huh?, so I would be lying if I told you I wasn’t taken off by the news but tried not to let it get to me. I was determined to have a good race.

The two days before the race were pretty low key, we tagged along with Jeremy and Elaine, they always seem to pick the coolest restaurants and with two guys on my party you can imagine research was not a priority.

Race morning we headed to transition to get everything set up, it was pretty cold and the wind didn’t make us feel any better, good thing we were prepared and kept my two jackets on til I headed to the TT start. After I was done setting up I headed out for a quick run warm up and left my ‘extra layers’ back in the car. I was lucky to have one of the earliest waves and decided to place myself on the front for the time trial start (we were sent out on pairs every 3” within your wave). I end up being the 3^rd-4^th person to start on my wave, which was pretty nice, last year I got stuck at the end of my age group and I didn’t want to make the same mistake this year.

Jeremy had mentioned we should go out and settle on a solid pace but nothing crazy, low Z3. So I did, I actually felt VERY good on the first two miles, on the way back I saw Jerry Halphen, Sami and Dean Pappas (all of them on the wave after ours). I noticed at that point that Sami didn’t start on the front.

Finally have a pic with both feet off the ground... am I becoming a runner??

T1 was pretty uneventful… and please let me brag about my speedy transitions this time around, this was something that needed work on the last couple of seasons, I hope this is an indication I will be ‘better’ this year although I can’t take credit for it cause I have not practice anything in specific. BUT I had the second fastest T1 in my AG and fastest T2.

As I have mentioned before this year is all about my IM and pacing on the bike, I wanted to have a good run (secretly looking to break 1:40) and I remember how last year we had headwind on the way out and tail wind on the way back. So my plan was to take it easy on the way out and then push harder on the way back, this way my legs wouldn’t be overtired for the run, little did I know this year there wasn’t as much tailwind on the way back, instead we kept hitting crosswinds everywhere. I never found the time to push harder. I usually stay mid Z3 on my HIM bike, but this time around I was way below that (average HR 147.. not even Z3 buuuuuhhh). My shoulders and neck were very sore from holding tight to my aero bars, after the race Sami mentioned how he just ‘relaxed’ his upper body, well unfortunately some of us are midget size and found myself being blown over the course more times than I thought possible. On this leg of the race I am usually passed by a couple of girls, but I was surprised at how many of them passed me. By the time we reached T2 I was just glad I was done with the acrobatics trying to keep myself from falling.

T2 was FAST!, yes I said fast please check and see J. Took my visor, salt tablets and gels and made my way through the run out arch. Due to the storms they had to change the run course to a two loop course, I started running and settle on a pace, I didn’t feel particularly good but didn’t feel bad either. Right before mile 1 I got passed by Jeremy and one of the male pros, it was pretty cool to see them a couple of times through the course as they stayed together for one whole loop. Right after they passed me Mirinda Carefree passed me as well, that girl has the perfect form! Almost like mine if I may say so myself J. 

Once I started the second loop I felt great all of the sudden and decided to push a bit harder, by mile 9 I passed these two guys who were running together and they thought I was holding a ‘good pace’ and stuck with me. It actually helped me keep my mind busy since they were having a full blown conversation and kept me entertained (I will never understand how people can talk while racing). Around mile 11 I started to die and they encouraged me to stay with them. I saw a girl ahead of me who I knew had passed me on the bike (she was not in my age group but was in the 40+ wave), I started closing the gap and by the time I passed mile marker 12 I decided to make the pass, looking back I should have waited a little bit to sprint cause half a mile into it I run out of gas, she passed me again and I just ‘survived’ the last ½ a mile.

I have the feeling this pic wont be making it to an magazines :)

I crossed the finish line and had no idea what my bike or run time was (my Garmin was on my bike and somehow I managed to stop my watch), I knew I had way too much left on my tank after the bike, but I also knew I was pretty happy with the run… I thought maybe I broke 1:40?? Well I didn’t, come to find out I ran 1:42:38 which for the speedy ladies in my AG might sound like nothing BUT that is my second best 13.1 (last year I did 1:41:52 on that race, course was a different one though). I am very happy with my run, I wish I had broken the 1:40 but I think if we wouldn’t have had the two miles up front I would have been able to (famous last words… could of, should of, would of).

Looking back I wish I had pushed harder on the bike, but you never know what would have happened with my run if I did. Overall I am happy the way things went, race conditions couldn’t have been any worse for me, I always wondered how I would like doing duathlons… well, I don’t, that is why I do TRIathlons. And for those thinking I am a whiner, I would LOVE to see some of you guys getting your run cancelled… and since we are at it lets put a little ‘warm down’ swim at the end of the race ;).

I learned a couple of things on this race, first of all I had the best race day nutrition to date which I am sure is what helped me stay consistent on my run, I also learned that if I think I can push harder on the bike odds are I CAN (especially if every time I look at my HR is not even in Z3!!)

I wouldn’t be fair if I didn’t give a shout out to my weekend companions and they both had an awesome race. First of all Sami had a KILLER race, he crushed it and ended up 2^nd in his AG. This was a great confidence booster for his upcoming IM and I can’t wait to see him race in Lanzarote. John, his partner in crime, also had an amazing race taking 4^th in M45-49, these old guys can run!!

Carmen and the studds

It is pretty funny how last year I ended up 5^th in my AG and couldn’t get a slot to Vegas, this year Sami and I had decided we are not going to do Vegas, he didn’t take his slot and I actually end up getting one on the roll down which I didn’t take either. Most people think that the older you get the easier is to place, well think twice, I ranked 8^th in the F40-44, these ladies can run! It is becoming very clear that if I want to stay competitive at this distance a- I need a swim J and b- I NEED to bring my run under 1:40.

Next up for me is Knoxville Olympic, I am antsy to get to the start line. I know my run is better than last year and can’t wait to see what I can do on the bike.

Thank you to my sponsors for getting me to race day on top shape (PT Solutions, Muscle Milk and K-Swiss). To my coach Jeremy who always amazes me how he knows what to say (or not to say) to make sure I can have the best race (if it weren’t for him I would have shown up with my disc and needless to say that would have NOT been pretty). Lastly, thanks to the one person that ALWAYS makes this little escapades possible, my sister Raquel. She was yet again the champ this weekend, stayed with my two monsters and not even once I had to worry about how they were doing.

Race Week and Overdue Kudos...

I can’t believe that it has been six months since I toed the start line at the Anderson, SC Half. This past months have been full with time with the family, good food, lots of training and of course a handful of setbacks. But thanks to one person I’ve come through the little bumps and I can not only say I am about to race the first tri of the year but on what I would consider a pretty good shape.

A couple of weeks a go I dedicated a blog to ‘my team’, talked about my family, my sponsors and all my friends who even without knowing it they have pushed me through the hard times in training. I have been meaning to follow up that one post with one more person, that no, I did not forget at the time but I just though he deserved his own post… my coach.

This is going to be my fourth season doing triathlons and third working with Jeremy (Sipos). Once hubby and I got bitten by the triathlon bug we knew we wanted to be as efficient with our training as possible. We ‘shopped’ around among some of the local and remote coaches and instantly decided on Jeremy.

I have to say that having an athletic background and always with a coach’s support I never thought I would be able to find a better fit than my former swim coach Paulus Willdeboer. Little did I know how much I had changed on the last 20 years of my life and how my coaching needs were sooo different than during my swimming years.

We met Jeremy and started working with him a month or so later (October 2009). I could right away tell this relationship was one to last. Sami and I are both pretty self-motivated, we know we want to do well and we know that it takes dedication, determination and HARD work (yes, I didn’t capitalized that work by accident). For those that know Jeremy it can’t come as a surprise to you that he meets all of those three as an athlete, but you probably don’t know that he also meets those as a coach. Jeremy has not only taken us to a level that I don’t think me or Sami ever thought we would be able to compete at but he has proved to us that he is in for the long run like we are.

I am not going to lie and say that I always like him, the last 3-4 weeks of a hard block, when volume picks up, you hurt all over and just want to REST his emails are not always welcome with a smile J. But I know ‘coach knows best’, I can’t help but smile as I type this as I can picture my daughter Nora singing to the soundtrack of the movie Tangle where they say ‘mother likes best’, I like to change the wording and sing it ‘coach knows best’.

Turning 39 has come with some up and downs (can’t wait to see what the 40s bring!!), I don’t get sick very often nor do I get injured, but on the last couple of months I had some ‘minor’ injuries and a couple of colds. Luckily I have been able to keep up with the training, and other than back in January when I was for 3-4 days when I couldn’t run or ride due to a knee injury I have been able to ‘keep moving’ through all the little bumps.

It always amazes me when I see people spending X amount of $$ on a coach and then doing their own thing. I wouldn’t go as far as saying that I would trust Jeremy with my kids (although my kids LOVE Mr Jeremy and Mrs Elaine), but I can tell you that whatever he asks me to do I will do it. I think Sami and I have been very lucky to find him and his coaching style couldn’t be more fitting to us.

Usually at the end of my race reports I like to thank the family, Jeremy and all those I feel I owe it to, but so that I don’t have to write (or for you read) the same thing over and over I will just say it here, thank you Jeremy!

As I mentally prepare for Sunday’s race I know how I should race coming race day, like I told Jeremy at one point last year ‘think of it as I am your puppet and you the puppet master’. I know exactly what the plan is… pacing pacing pacing. Trust me when I say that word will be embedded on my head all day Sunday and hopefully everything will come together.

Race week butterflies or ‘butterfly kisses’ like my kids like to call it have started, I am pumped and excited to race and can’t wait to see everybody out on the course. Oh and by the way, for those that ‘feel sorry’ about themselves for getting older, think twice, me and my 40 year old+ peeps will be getting in the water the very first female amateur wave which is definitely a first for me!! (sorry John F and Haley!!!!!).

Hope everybody has a great week and safe travels to all our friends travelling to New Orleans, see you on the course!!!

Happy training!

Carmen.

Triathlon Season is in the air

It seems as if social media is slowly filling up with triathlon races, everybody is registering, watching or participating on a race sometime soon. I like to think of it as the ‘unofficial’ start to the triathlon season, I have not toed the start line yet but I am getting eager to do so, especially after this weekend.

Not only there were a handful of tris in FL with some GA representation but the IM season has officially started with IM Melbourne. I am not sure why did on Saturday evening but after a full day of activities I sat in front of the computer and soaked in as much IM coverage as I could, around 9:30 my eyes started to close which was around the time the girls started the run, stayed awake as long as I could but the need of sleep won and had to call it a night. Sunday morning I woke up and ran downstairs to check IM online to read how the race unfolded.

Four weeks from my 2012 debut I find myself day dreaming about race day and crossing the finish line in NOLA 70.3. Training has picked up these past couple of weeks and I still have two more weeks before things start to settle down, right now I am at a point where I just want race day to be here.

As I mentioned on my last post I was feeling a bit off in the water lately, and although I have only been twice at masters I decided to increase my swim sessions to three until things get back to normal. I don’t know if is the excitement of approaching race day or the tips Maria gave me the first day at the pool. After 20 years it was nice to get some feedback on my stroke, it just brought some memories back. What I know is that I am starting to feel more comfortable in the water and I can only imagine this will get better by the time we reach New Orleans city limit.

Swimming is always more fun w a group

My bike fitness is always a mystery before the start of the season, I have no idea what to expect. Last year I made some good improvements on the bike and since I trust my coach 100% I can only imagine all those hours on the trainer are about to pay off. Since this was one of my issues last year (pushing too hard on the bike when it came to HIM distance) I am just hoping for a more comfortable ride and be able to get off of it with some energy left to be able to put a solid run.

My runs are feeling pretty good, not having a running background it always amazes me how one day I feel awesome and the next one not so good. Luckily the days that have not been so good are my recovery days, and so far I have been able to put some good long runs in. Me and the track is a whole different story, we have a love hate relationship. I know is a necessary evil, but somehow I always get a pinch in my stomach at least two days before speed work. This week was no different, but fortunately for me the session went MUCH better than last week, I know is just a matter of putting more time on the ‘lanes’ before I start seeing major improvements, but I will take small victories for now.

So things are progressing nicely, four weeks before race day I am only 2lbs over my race weight so I know that is not something I am going to have to worry about, which is nice because there is nothing more stressful than having a bucket list the week before your race.

In other news, my mother in law is coming in town for two weeks. The kids are thrilled and so is mommy, timing for her is probably not ideal since Sami is putting his IM hours and I am on the last two hard weeks of my block which means there won’t be many late nights at the Brahims but we’ve planned a couple of fun outings while she is here and I am sure we will all have a good time even if those are in the middle of the day J.

The kids w the Gi

And just in case I am not back for a while Happy Easter and Happy Training!!