Changes

Nothing changes if nothing changes. I made some really hard changes over the past couple of months. And now I’m starting to see the wisdom in making those changes.

My new Tri Coach Dave Deschenes is amazing. Not just good, amazing. I’m getting so much great feedback and he tailors every single workout to my paces. Because of his commitment, it really makes me want to do every workout with focus and as best that I can to show the same level of commitment. And it’s challenging and that’s fun – to have a challenging run and crushing it!!!!! Friday we did an hour zoom call to discuss run form. We didn’t even get to evaluating the videos of my run form in that hour, but just listening to him talk and show me illustrations about good run form made me realize some of things I am not doing right. So this morning, I made a correction to my arm swing (I had been crossing over, which pulls my hip over) and I really felt the difference in my core and my quads engaging more. I also worked on increasing my cadence.

Changing swim squads recently was super hard for me. I had made so many friends over the past 3 years at my old squad and I miss seeing them every week. But Tim with Magnolia Masters is so, so good. I’ve made several key corrections with him in just the first month and my form is much more efficient now and my kicking is coming along. No speed records yet but I know that will come. And making new friends.

This week was right on point with nutrition. I dropped 2 pounds by carefully monitoring my food intake. One day of swimming Tim mentioned I looked fatigued and I had dipped down too low calorie-wise the day before, so even though it is off-season, I need to pay attention to that. Really working on eating less sugar and fat, more healthy carbs and drinking more water. It’s going well and I don’t feel hungry or deprived.

Strength training is also starting to show some results. I am starting to see the difference in my arms and legs and that is exciting. I also feel my core more in all workouts, and that is the ultimate goal of it all.

So, settling into off season well, knowing I don’t have a race for 17 weeks. Approved COVID vaccine shipping today – that is the happiest piece of news in 2020.