BLOG — WHERE YOUR FEET TAKE YOU

Open Water Swim Tips

We have all been there, standing in the funnel of the start line just waiting for our turn to jump into either a lake or ocean churning with white caps and swells, or maybe its a calm day and the water is calmly waiting for the 1500-2500 humans about to churn it up. The anxiety of open water swimming is compounded by the fact that combined with weather, masses of humanity, and currents the water can be very choppy and/or tough to swim in. Open water swimming does not have to be terrifying and even it is never going to be your favorite portion of a triathlon you can tackle it with grace and grit.

Importance of Post Activity Fueling

Recovery practices are vast from the sleep that you get, compression, baths, massages, supplements, nutrition, and so much more. There are two post activity (training) windows for fueling towards recovery. The first window is the 30 minute window immediately following training and the second window follow immediately after during the next 90 minutes after that 30 minute window. Proper post training fueling facilitates; Replenishment of electrolytes in the body, Fluid replenishment, Replenishment of glycogen in the body, Muscle repair, recovery, and synthesis, Decreases risk of illness and injury, and Prepares the body to do it all over again the next day.

6 Tips to Faster Transitions

Because transitions are so short it is easy to forget about them, but there are two of them and a smooth transition can help prevent an unnecessary heart rate spike, stress, and is FREE speed in a triathlon, who doesn’t like Free speed?!?!

Coach Kayla's Five Rules for Everyday Nutrition

Daily nutrition is one of the most difficult pieces to manage whether you are an athlete or not. It is very time consuming and in the time we live in our days are often so full of “stuff” that finding the time to focus on our daily nutrition is really hard especially when you can just head to the drive through and quickly pick something up. The thing is that your daily nutrition did not have to be crazy, it doesn’t have to take a really long time, and honestly it really is just going back to the idea of the basics of eating.

Race Simulations: Why We Love Them

A race simulation doesn’t always have to be a complete day that is treated like a race but merely a specific workout say your long Sunday run where you do it at race pace effort, or even just a bike done with large portions at race pace effort. Now you can’t, and don’t want to do these types of training days, all the time because our bodies would break down but strategically placed they can be very beneficial.

Nutrition Rules of Thumb for Racing and Training

Dialing in your nutrition in racing and training is daunting and complex, when you nail your nutrition you feel so much strength but when it goes bad it can go really really bad…. Part of my goal as a coach and through this blog post is to help change the mindset that calories and fueling our bodies during training is detrimental to us. I want you to start thinking of fueling during training and racing as consuming calories during training and racing as providing your body with the support needed in order for your body to perform at its absolute highest ability; calories are fuel and fuel is strength and fuel is performance. The calories consumed during training and racing are the fuel our bodies need in order to optimize our performance and recovery.

An Athlete's Favorite Mantras to Dig a Little Bit Deeper

You are stronger than you think you are and your body is much stronger than your brain thinks it is. We say a lot of things to ourselves when we are deep in the pain cave of a race, or even when it is a hard day of training. We train ourselves to be mentally tougher than the person next to us, and it takes something different for every single person. It is these little pieces that when you are deep in the hurt locker that you can grab onto to light that fire deep within you to help you put one foot in front of the other. In this post find out what not only myself but other athletes as well do to help keep themselves out of the darkness.

January 2019 Monthly Recap

With that moving forward in 2019 I am going to share a bit more of the journey that started all of this, the journey of an age group triathlete doing everything she can to be great, with you all through monthly recaps regarding my own training. In these recaps I’ll chat all things triathlon that happened during the run, share the good and the bad, anything I learned, a high level idea of what I did for the month and every once in a while favorite workout for each of the disciplines. I hope that you enjoy these, and that maybe the journey will not only provide you with some education yourself and maybe inspire you to go after your own crazy journey.

5 Tips to Finding the Comfort in the Uncomfortable

Being uncomfortable whether it be physical, mental, emotional, or even spiritually can be very scary. Your comfort zone is this wonderful little bubble that gives the illusion of protection and when you step outside of it your mind instantly senses danger and begs you to crawl back into that bubble. Read more for 5 tips to getting comfortable with being uncomfortable.

[Mindset] Changing Your Self Talk

As a coach, and athlete, I preach a lot about positive thinking and positive self talk to my athletes. Honestly, I preach it to myself OFTEN as I have to constantly remind myself to think positively to take the negative thoughts and turn them into positive thoughts on a regular basis. I truly and whole heartily believe in positive self talk, not only does it boost your confidence but it is a great way to develop a mindset that challenges the obstacles you are facing as well as giving you the courage and confidence to stand back up when you fail. The mind is a very powerful feature and is so very often under utilized in our daily lives from a powerful standpoint.