Team SMASHFEST QUEEN and 2017

I'm incredibly psyched about everything coming up next year.

Aside from being an official member of Team USA, I will also be representing Team SMASHFEST QUEEN! I applied for it earlier in the year  thanks to my friend Sandra's encouragement, but didn't think I'd have much of a chance since it's a pretty popular brand in the world of triathlon... but life once again proved to me that where there's a will, there's a way. I'll be wearing their gear at all my upcoming races- Including 70.3 Pucon and 70.3 Lake Placid- I am psyched! Check them out HERE. Their gear is comfy AND beautiful.
Next up? 70.3 Ironman Pucon on January 15th. I'll be headed down to Chile (my home country) to race in what has been argued to be the most beautiful race in the world. With my book coming out in December, training has been hard to fit in, but after a few weeks of setting the alarm to 4:45 every morning, you get use to it.
I've also been working on metabolic efficiency, and it has been showing some amazing results;  I've lost 10 pounds! Essentially, I've increased my fat intake and significantly reduced my carbohydrate intake- aka: becoming a fat burning machine by ensuring my body is going into ketosis. I've done some intermittent fasting. Coach Kitty has been helping me reach these awesome results. I still have a little more to go and I look forward to becoming a lean racing machine in 2017! 

2017: TEAM SMASHFEST QUEEN AND TEAM USA!

Here are some very exciting news:

I qualified for TEAM USA! 

Yeah... my jaw dropped as well when I went to the results tent to get my splits! It turns out, I came in 6th within my age group, and the top 18 qualify for TEAM USA and the World Championships in Penticton, Canada, 2017. Yikes! More to come on this as details emerge.

Tri National Championship

 Just as many people are winding down their seasons, mine is ramping up. I totally understand why you would want your season to be over at this point, the days are getting cold in New Hampshire and training outdoors is becoming harder and harder. The indoor trainer and the treadmill are becoming more appealing as it gets colder.
 This Sunday is a triathlon national long course championship in Miami, my brothers stomping ground. Well he never raced this actual race, he did race a similar one in Miami and my goal this weekend is to beat his times... nothing like a little sibling rivalry ( even if he's no longer here to contest).
It just so happens that this triathlon is also the USA Triathlon Long Course National Championship, and if I place within the top 18 of my category, I qualify for TEAM USA. I've been working hard and doing a little poking around to get a feel for my competition... and I think it's feasible. I guess we'll see. I've been working hard with a sports nutitionist on my training and eating habits.  I feel that that I will be reaping some rewards over the next few months I've been putting in the hours and working really hard.
I'm excited and thrilled to be taking triathlon to the next level.

Battling that scale.... AND WINNING!

So I was a little skeptical about the weight loss that would come with transitioning two way more Primal lifestyle. For those of you who don't know what this means, it is essentially means eating a very few carbs in your daily diet, limiting your protein intake and bringing up your fat consumption. In other words bring on the bacon butter and broccoli.

I was concerned that I wouldn’t be able to stick with it, and I was skeptical that I would actually lose weight with it. One month in, I can't begin to explain how good I am physically feeling about myself. I have lost approximately 10 pounds since Timberman half Ironman, and my swim, run and bike times has improved significantly.

I am sleeping much better and I feel well rested every morning. My ability to focus is intense and awesome.

When I talk to friends about my new metabolic efficiency lifestyle, they seem quite skeptical and concerned that I am not getting enough fiber or veggies. But as I explained to them, it's not about not eating veggies. The trick is to eat greens/veggies that are loaded with fiber, because that essentially cancels out the impact of the carbs.

How does it work? Essentially a western diet trains us to burn carbs for fuel. But we can re-train our body to burn our fat stores (virtually unlimited stores in my case) instead of carbs. It's all about teaching your body to use the metabolic pathway that prefers fat as a source of fueling all your bodily functions rather than carbohydrates. Proof that this was working for me came the other day in the form of a 21 kilometer trail run. All I had with me was my water backpack and some salts because it was quite warm. Other than that I ate nothing even though traditionally I would have had a good three to four gels (if not more) during the run. And I felt fantastic!

I'm an absolute convert and firm believer bet nutrition fundamental for performance- and then even a stronger proponent of encouraging of metabolic efficiency!

Living my dream- LONG COURSE NATS AND PUCON 2017!!!!

Sometimes your dream big, but you don't actually believe in yourself. I realize this a few weeks ago when I kept talking about wanting to race the 70.3 Ironman in Chile, but yet I was never sure about timing, funding or even the ability to train for a mid January race. Committing to my dreams is very different than just thinking that my dreams can come true magically. Commitment seems to be a better route the magic most of the time.

So this year my dream is happening. I'm taking my best self to race for Pucon 70.3 Ironman 2017! This used to be my brothers favorite race in the entire world, and for many years I was his support crew and cheer-meister. But this year my family will be cheering me as I walk in my brothers footsteps. Regardless of the outcome, Pucon next year will certainly be one of the highlights of my athletic career.

I have also signed up for the USA Triathlon National Long Course Triathlon (70.3) Championships in Miami Florida on November 13. My brother lived in Miami and raced this particular race on a few occasions. It'll be a really cool adventure- and who knows, I may even qualify for WORLDS in Canada! With all run and biking done on the flats, my worries have shifted to sharks and humidity. Which considering that those are factors I've never really had to worry before, I'm not really sure how much I should be worried... Right?
I've also signed up for Lake Placid 70.3 next year.

 I think the biggest news is that I'm working closely with a sports nutritionist named Kitty Clark from Wisconsin. She is helping me revamp my body to become metabolically adaptive. In short- I've drastically reduced my carb intake, I'm feeling fabulous AND I've lost 6 pounds in the few weeks since Timberman!  

Timberman 70.3 recap

So this year we decided to do it right! My friend Sandra and booked a hotel and made travel plans WITHOUT husbands and kids for the Timberman 70.3 race. I love my family to pieces, but buy did it make a difference to not have to worry about anyone else but ourselves! 

Here is us on race morning (circa 4 am...) eating organic Pete & Gerry's hard-boiled eggs for breakfast:

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Note the bags under my eyes... and my sleepy face in spite of a great night of sleep. Then look at how fresh an peppy my friend Sandra looks after allegedly tossing and turning all night! Can someone say photogenic?!


We were lucky to find parking about a mile away from the race- it was chaos! Since we had to rack our bikes the day before, we had to walk that mile with all our gear and bags to the race venue... we needed the warm-up anyway!
Sandra and I wished each other luck and parted ways to meet our age groups. The race took off and I felt great in the swim. The bike was going well until I realized my base salts had fallen out of my picnic baggie!!!
The rest of the bike ride was rough. I was eating and hydrating to the point I felt bloated, but I was desperate for salt... at one point, I started licking my arms for the extra salt!
I had another salt tube in transition- which made a world of difference on the run. But I think that the bloating really set me back from achieving my goals in the run. Along the run, I decided that once the race was over, I was talking to a real nutritionist- my race day nutrition was not working for me.

Overall though, I cut over 20 minutes from last year, coming in at 5:50. While numerically this is awesome, it BARELY moved me within my age group... I went from 42nd only to 39th! (...It makes me wonder what kind of super humans are racing in my age group...)

Post race selfie:

The ladies and their bikes:

THIS is how you do post-race fueling... Steak with fries (*note the decorative roughage*), buffalo boneless wings with a large coke, simultaneously served with desert; chocolate lava cake with ice-cream and hot churros. 

I felt motivated after the race. Not sure what else is in the books, but MORE is certainly on the way. I don't feel as tired as I did last year... I actually feel incredibly energized (though physically still a little jelly-fied and not quite ready to get out of bed for another week or two).

Made the news in Chile!

 A few weeks ago, my cousin told me that she had been talking to a friend of hers about my story and how I used my sport as a strength to overcome a lot of loss in my life. It turns out that my cousin's friend was a reporter, and the reporter asked if she could write an article about my story.

Next thing I know, my cousin sent me a message to let me know they will be contacting me for an interview. 

Monica, the editor for an important weekend newspaper magazine that focuses on women and tendencies, called me and we had a nice hour-long conversation. I wasn't really sure what would transpire with my story, or even it would get published in anyway. But on Saturday morning, Monica email me a copy of the article... It apparently went out to millions of readers!

Basically, for those who can't read in Spanish, it talks about how I use my brother's life as inspiration to train and race triathlon. He is my inspiration to keep going and better myself every day.

It was very emotional to read this. Within a few hours the notes on Facebook started coming in my inbox. Women from all walks of life talking about how inspired they were. One memorable woman told me she was an elevator attendant at a building, and she had been struggling for four years since she had her son to lose the weight, but that this article inspired her and she was going to sign up for a 5K. Another woman also reached out to me about her loss in her life, and told me how she was thinking about moving forward as well by getting involved in sports.

It's so inspiring to see that my story can help motivate other women. Even more fuel for the fire!