New Coach and Sponsor

I am happy to say that BlueSeventy is sponsoring me again this year. I love all of their swim gear, especially their swimsuits. I am still amazed at how long they last from swimming in chlorine. I am still swimming in the same suit that I purchased from them over a year ago and it still fits like the first day I got it. I even raced in it at Wildflower last year. Along with their amazing swimsuits, their goggles are great too. Others I've had in the past put too much pressure around the eye socket and leave them feeling almost bruised...not to mention making you look like a zombie when your done. With blueseventy's googles, they are comfortable and I don't feel like they are ever suffocating my eyes! The last product I will mention before sounding like a salesman, is their wetsuit. It is very comfortable and allows for good arm movement. The wetsuit I had before felt constricting in the
shoulders, so with this wetsuit I get a larger range of motion. Since most all of the triathlons I compete in are open water this suit comes in to great use! So if you are looking to get some good quality swim gear at a good price, blueseventy is for you! (Last salesman comment, I promise :) )


Blueseventy is not the only thing "new" for me this year. I just recently got a new coach, Cliff English. I have been training with him for about a month and so far he is great! He relieved me of the stress of training myself since I was getting to the point of frustration and making no gains. Every workout he gives me has a purpose. At first it was a little hard to adapt to since I wasn't use to it and therefore made me constantly tired. For instance, usually I do a long run on the weekend that would be from 70-90 minutes long, and the goal was just to run that length of time at a steady conversational pace. Now instead of just one pace it's usually in the form of a tempo type workout for that length of time. Longer warmups and cool downs but also some good tempo work, like 3x8mins or 2x15minutes at 10k effort. They usually leave me pretty tired when I'm done but I know that I'm making huge gains with these kinds of workouts. I guess in other words you could say that now I am doing more quality over quantity for workouts.

My first race is in a week. I'm really excited to see how it goes and also a little nervous. But I feel very prepared for it. Much more so now than I did a month ago! It is in Tempe, AZ. I'll be driving down with my sisters on wednesday. It should be a fun trip as we plan to stop quite a bit and make more of fun journey down rather than our normal straight shot down. Let the season begin!!! :)