A little bit about myself……
In 1989 I first was introduced to triathlon at Cal Poly where I joined the Cal Poly Tri team. I really enjoyed the variety of swim, bike, run and never having to constantly train for one sport. I started doing sprint triathlons (500 yd swim, 12 mile bike, 3 mile run) and then quickly progressed to competing in college doing Olympic Distance races (1.5 K swim, 40K bike, 10K run). After college I continued to grow in the sport where I completed a few Half Ironman Distance races(1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, 13.1 mile run). And then over the years this finally led to me completing 3 Ironman Distance races (2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, 26.2 mile run).
Crazy enough, the first marathon I had completed was in my first Ironman race in Wisconsin. I’ve been lucky enough to be able to participate in some of the most well known marathons – New York, London, and Chicago.
This venture into triathlon led me to physical therapy. The sport was new to me and I was very excited to be training all of time. What I didn’t realize was that I also needed to take care of my body while not training. I wasn’t doing the stretching or core work to supplement my workouts. Because of this I strained my low back. This was a big wake up call. Luckily I was prescribed PT to help me recover.
I was a biology major at Cal Poly but I had no idea what I wanted to do. After this intro to PT it all made sense to me. I was interested in healthcare and sports. This was the perfect profession where I could combine the two. Was it really to take care of other athletes or to have inside knowledge for myself to keep me healthy while I continued to race.
Years have been flying by and now with 2 young children I find that running is the most efficient workout that I can do. It also is the one sport where I can still train for an event and still have time for my kids.
Now in my 50’s my perspective on training and racing have changed. Instead of trying to PR the next race or reach higher levels of fitness, my main goal is to stay healthy. How can I perform at my best, stay healthy, have time for my kids and have fun?
With a unique perspective of being a PT and a marathon runner, I want to share with you some of the things I have learned along the way and also some new insights that may come up.
