Triathlon Parents | Race Day, Training, Nutrition, Lifestyle, Gear

8 Tips to Making it Work

Just about every day, someone says to me “I don’t know how you do it.” And, on the surface, I get it. My husband, Greg, and I both work full-time. We have 2 young children (ages 6 and 2.5). And, we’re both training for an Ironman this summer – actually, for the second year in...

The Courage to Start, Again

Burnout. Yep. I’ve got it. After completing 3 Ironman races in 2 years, and following that up with a Fall marathon, I gave myself the green light in October to take some time off from serious training. It wasn’t really that my body needed a break (thankfully), but mentally I needed to remove the constant,...

Open-water swimming: how to practice sighting in an indoor pool

Open-water swimming is stressful, no question. We spend 90 percent of our swim training between two lane lines and following the black line on the bottom of the pool. Then we are elbow to elbow with 2,000 other athletes chasing a buoy you can barely see over the chop of open water. Good sighting techniques are...

Open-Water Swimming Preparation

Open-water swimming is its own animal. We never experience the wind, waves, currents, and crowds during our training sessions in the pool. Which makes it very important to be able to adopt your swim stoke to the condition you face during your open-water swims. Here are a few helpful tips to get you through some...

Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage

Sometimes I find that the best business advice doesn’t come from a business source at all. And I also find that the best training advice doesn’t come from your coach or peers. Sometimes it comes from books like Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage, a true story about determination, leadership, setbacks, and teamwork. Motivation is a funny...

Crash Report: Things you should know!

Bike shops across the country will tell you there are two types of cyclists: those who have crashed, and those who haven’t crashed yet. It’s true. And it happened to me recently. I was struck head on by a car while I crossed an intersection with the right-of-way and green light. It was a bright...

Triathlons – A middle-age, newbie perspective

By Warren Shiver — I have the pleasure of working with two IronMan triathletes (Monique – the sponsor of this site and blog, and David Szen, who recently guest posted). It’s been amazing to watch and consider Monique’s dedication and commitment to training as she and Greg train for Lake Placid this month. As an...

Is the training worth it?

Many of us endurance athletes wonder during the hard days of training whether or not it is really worth it. Well, you have to go no further than the USA vs Ghana game this week to prove it is. John Brooks’ story speaks to the power of commitment and visualization. NATAL, Brazil (AP) — Smiling...

Ironman North America Survey

Please take a few minutes to complete our survey. https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/NAIMSurvey We would like to gather information regarding North America Ironman races to help us develop targeted content for our blog.

Learning Something New — Coach AJ’s Guidance

In my work with Symmetrics Group, we have a common approach in our training sessions. We say that we will (1) Remind you of some best practices you used to do, and have forgotten/gotten away from, (2) Reinforce the good habits/practices that you’re currently doing and (3) Reveal at least one new thing to improve...

Triathlon training victim of my childcare providers

I read a good article in Triathlete magazine last month about a professional triathlete who is also full time Mom. Her story on triathlon training was inspiring as a fellow triathlon parent who is also trying to keep my family on an even keel. Check out her story – Liz Lyles. My story is a...

Sherpa > Athlete?

Two weeks ago, Greg and I went to an event for an entrepreneur’s group that he’s recently joined. (Lovely evening; we got to share some anecdotes and a snap a few photos with Ben Stein – but that’s another story.) At dinner, we learned that the husband in one couple at our table also was...

Planning your training week: Ironman Program

On July 27th I will be in Lake Placid, the two-time home of great Olympians, to test my endurance and determination in the Ironman triathlon. As you may have gathered from perusing our site, my wife will be competing with me (or against me) while my 2 kids, 2 jobs and one dog with a...

Family Sick Days – The Double Whammy

Winter has hit hard this year and many of us who are triathletes are finding it hard to move our training indoors. Let’s face it, getting stuck with treadmills, stationary bikes and indoor pools, staring at dreary scenery that doesn’t change, are the exact opposite of a what we want to be doing right now....

Gym > Family on Friday Night?

For triathletes, January 1st isn’t about new year’s resolutions. It’s about the mental turn that happens when you realize triathlon season is right around the corner. Your time of rest is done; it’s Go time. I was proud of myself for how I started. Fogginess from the NYE festivities aside, I was at the gym...

Review – Multitasking to the Max (Triathlete, Jan 2014)

In some ways, Holly Bennett gets it right in her January 2014 article in Triathlete magazine, “Multitasking to the Max” – there aren’t enough hours in the day for the lay person who balances work, life, family and triathlon training. Many of the same sentiments are shared in my November blogs (Plan Your Plan, and...

Relative Performance (RP) is more important than Personal Record (PR)

Athletes are notorious for setting high expectations for themselves, especially in competitions. Most triathletes use time as their primary metric for measuring their performance in a competition. Going this route, though, can be misleading and often times disappointing, as finish time is only one of many elements in a race. Weather conditions, the course itself,...

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