It's a Rev3 Thang!

For the second year in a row, I applied for Team Rev3. After racing my full iron-distance triathlon with Rev3 in Ohio last year I knew I wanted to go for it again with hopes this year would be my year. And, guess what...THEY PICKED ME! THEY PICKED ME!!! I'm totally excited about the opportunity I have to race and train with the amazing Team Rev3 this year. It's an experience I can't WAIT to get started.

Unfortunately, the weekend we had our Team Summit in Boulder, CO (a place I've always wanted to go and where one of my best friends recently moved...) I was stuck in a small room on the back side of the Opryland Hotel listening to lecture upon lecture upon lecture while my teammates were out in CO skiing, meeting with our awesome sponsors, doing some kind of "don't break the egg" challenge and all other sorts of fun stuff! Okay, I make it sound a little bad but the reality is I was in Nashville reaching a goal of mine - to become certified as a USA Triathlon Coach! One of the best parts of the weekend was getting to know ONE of my Rev3 Teammates who was also with me in Nashville - Laura W!

Here we were during a 15-minute break (10 of which it took us to get to this beautiful location in the hotel!)

While we were in Nashville, we decided to go "Honky Tonkin" so we could get the "feel" for the city (of course, I used to live there so I already knew what the "feel" was like...which is why I left 15 years ago and this was my first time back!). But, Laura and I (and her sweet husband) had a blast! The place below was actually called "Honky Tonk Central" but look at the great view (from the 3rd floor) that it had of Broadway (pic on the right).

And, of course, we HAD to visit Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville!

Anyway, I am so thrilled to call Rev3 my team! This team is already knocking my socks off with their sense of community, concern for others, craziness, and athleticism. It's going to be a VERY fun year and I can't wait to meet more of them!

I've already started registering for some of the Rev3 races this year and I hope to see many of you out there with me. I know many of my local Team Z'ers are going to be heading down to Williamsburg (I mean, who WOULDN'T, right? It's going to be an awesome race!) but, please join me for some other Rev3 races: 

May 5: Knoxville

June 1: Quassy

June 23: Williamsburg

Oct 6: Half Full (Columbia, MD)

Oct 13: Anderson, SC

It's looking to be a GREAT season!

I've become "that girl!"

For months now I have known that I have some major imbalances in my body. Long story short, it's normal to have between a 1-5 lb differential from side to side in our bodies. But, "THIS GIRL" has a 20 (TWENTY) lb differential from side to side!

Well, I've known for a long time that strength training is important to runners but, quite honestly, when I hear the word "strength training" I think of weight lifting. And, honestly, I HATE weight lifting. I'll do it if I have the accountability of meeting a friend at the gym or something of that nature but, in general, I hate it. The thing is, strength training isn't necessarily about weight lifting. The reason it's good for a runner to have good core strength is it helps greatly with injury prevention. And, like me, if you have a 20-lb difference from one side to the other, you are going to get injured! And the "injury list" is THE LAST place a type A triathlete like myself wants to be!

This past weekend as I sat at my USA Triathlon Level 1 Coaching Clinic I realized I have become "THAT GIRL!" I've allowed these imbalances to continue on for so long that now it hurts to run. And, it wasn't until this weekend that I had an "ah ha!" moment! My moment came when I realized that I don't need to make an extra appointment to a chiropractor before I feel better and I don't need to go get a massage (although, I still may do that!) to feel better. All I need to do are some simple functional movement type exercises to begin to build my core strength and prevent some of the pain I'm experiencing. 

I'm almost embarrassed to write that above statement. As a coach, I tell my athletes all the time about the importance of strength training. Yet, I don't put my words into action! But, let me be super clear...TODAY IS A CHANGING DAY for me!

So, I quickly googled to find some good core exercises that will help me build my glutes, hamstrings, and all the other related muscles around my hips & back (where I know my pain starts). Know what I found? It doesn't take long to do these exercises but...guess what...IT HURTS (in a good way!). It just made me realize the truth of the matter...I have an EXTREMELY WEAK CORE and I need to do something about it...FAST!

I'm sure there are some videos out there that are much better than this one but this is where I'm starting! These exercises can be done daily but I'm going to at least do them three times/week starting right NOW!