Health and Nutrition
Working with Your Female Physiology
I recently read Roar: How to match your food and fitness to your female physiology for optimal performance, great health, and a strong lean body for life by Dr. Stacy T. Sims. The title is a mouthful but it does … Continue reading
Stress Management-A Strong Immune System
There are three kinds of stress and each day is a good time to modify how much we have in our lives. The three are chemical (ie food), mental/emotional, and physical (ie exercising). Given the current pandemic, it is even … Continue reading
Seek Guidance, Courage, and Humility
#4 Seek Guidance, Courage, and Humility As you work on your swimming. Recognize that help or support can be beneficial. Find a coach to offer some support, and to guide you in your training. Know that we can all use … Continue reading
Six Minute abs For Swimmers
Here is a quick yet effective routine to do 1-2 times a week. Get yourself a mat, sliders, 1 dumbell, and a timer and have at it! 1)Russian twist (optional weight) 2) Cross Body Mtn Climber with Sliders 3) Prone … Continue reading
Kaizen Video Approach
At the end of some of my swims I set up my GoPro to take video of myself. I put it on a ladder against the wall then swim back and forth in front of it. It’s fun to do, … Continue reading
Mindful Swim Training Camp
Yes, I am very excited about this camp! A well rounded holistic approach to swim training. I know my mentor Terry Laughlin talks about Mastery, I want to ad Mystery and Curiousity on your way to Mastery. Doing the same … Continue reading
Commitment
As I was unpacking my bags from the weekend, I found a small, half eaten bag of potatoe chips leftover from Friday afternoons lunch at the farmstand/deli in western Massachusetts. I had stopped for lunch on my way to a … Continue reading
Pressed for Pool Time
I thought I had another week, but just found out the pool was going to close this Wednesday after the morning swim instead of next Wednesday’s 7-8:30 a.m. window. Then a four week pool drought would commence. Having been on … Continue reading
Swimming is Swimming, Meditation is Meditation
Swimming is not meditation. Meditation is not swimming. Though people say swimming is like meditation it is not. More accurate is to say we can swim with the mind of mediation. Which is to say we can swim with a … Continue reading
Body Shame to Body Gratitude
In the 1980’s I remember reading this line “what could women accomplish if we weren’t so focused on our bodies?” I wish I could also recall who said it, but I don’t. Regardless of the source, it has risen up … Continue reading
The Messenger
What I have learned is the messenger is the message. That is live it, practice it, embody it, not a façade, but to be that. With integrity and compassion through awareness, practice. Everything, everyone is the opportunity to practice living … Continue reading
Listen to Your Gut
The holidays may not be relaxing and comfy for everyone. If this is you, here is something to try to help you relax and stay in your body. In times of stress it can be easy to bolt or hide. … Continue reading
Unknown and New
Each day, if I am payng attention, is the beginning. Each day something unknown can happen. A new awareness, something I didn’t know or recognize the day before. I never really know what’s going to happen. I can have a … Continue reading
Self Study
Mindfulness and meditation seem to be the new buzz words, the new thing, the new kale. I see it in magazine articles, blog posts, newsletters, books, podcasts, etc as discussions and explanations. Yay! We all need it. We all can … Continue reading
Organic Electrolyte Drink
Organic Electrolyte Lemonade Drink Looking for an alternative to all the sugary chemical drinks out there! This is my favorite and simple organic drink. 1 cup Organic Coconut Water 1 Tblsp Fresh Squeezed Organic Lemon- strain the pulp, or to … Continue reading
Puppy Mind, Dog Mind
Have you ever had the pleasure of teaching a puppy to sit and stay? They don’t. Well, not right away. You can plop them down and they immediately get up to wander, sniff, explore, and play. You do not expect … Continue reading
This Is What We Came For
It was starting to look like I should bag this whole race idea and go home. My plan was to leave the house by 6:30 a.m. to get to the race by 8 a.m. leaving me time to pre-ride the … Continue reading
We Pass Through Awkward
I often congratulate swimmers when they tell me they feel a little awkward when working on a new skill. What they are practicing may be more efficient or more fluid. It may be a better movement, but the movement feels … Continue reading
Hydration part II
Just after I posted my blog about staying hydrated by addressing keeping the skin hydrated a reader/athlete/friend pointed out a few more things he does to keep his skin hydrated when swimming, so with his permission I am sharing. “Well, this … Continue reading
Skin Hydration for a Healthy Immune System
Winter is dry. The air is dry. Hydration becomes more important, surprisingly, than in the warmer months. Why? It is easy to miss how dry we can be. It is not just losing moisture in sweat, but also losing moisture to … Continue reading
Fat Bike, Commute, Ski
Sweaty but very, very happy! The Coop was in the shop, needing a battery, and the snow was great. I couldn’t miss it. So, I pulled out Hellga and loaded up the back pack. Back in the early 90’s … Continue reading
Seriously Out of Your Comfort Zone
Carol Leaps Off the Raft!! Each year do at least one thing that gets you seriously out of your comfort zone. It is so easy as we get older to stop challenging ourselves physically. As the body grows older we … Continue reading
Failure
I just read another story about failure. Story line: Fail leads to success- once you fail pick yourself up and the next thing you know you have made millions. Yes, agree, to a point. But…first you have to recognize your resistance or … Continue reading
The Middle Way
Neither good nor bad, just is. In my book The Truth Inside I write about not judging things, ourselves or others as good or bad. There is a middle way when we don’t judge, things “just are”. Recently I was … Continue reading
Training or Exercise
Training and exercise are not the same. We do need to have physical activity- exercise- in our lives as part of being healthy, but we don’t need to train. I know it can be just semantics, but they are different. … Continue reading
Instinctual Eating: trusting your body
Instinctual eating is listening to and trusting the bodies biological need for food. There is so much information out there about what to eat to be healthy, to lose weight, to manage type 2 diabetes or to fuel for sports. … Continue reading
The Justifying Ape
I was reading Elizabeth Gilberts latest book Big Magic in which she refers to we humans as the creative ape. She is refering to our ability to create and make things. True, we are creative, we have made many things … Continue reading
The Eating or the Anxiety?
Eating when you feel anxious or stressed doesn’t mean you need to change the eating. Eating is the sign, the symptom. Address the anxiety or the stress first. Anxiety and stress come from thinking about something, something you don’t want … Continue reading
Trust Your Body
What would happen if you let go of the diet or anything that suggest you can’t trust your own body, that you are separate- mind and body- and that you need to be managed or controlled in some way? What … Continue reading
Nothing By Chance
Just after finishing Xterra Worlds w Dave DeSantis I finished 4th place in my age category at the Xterra off-road World Championship triathlon by 2 seconds. Click-click. Passed at the finish line by another woman in my age category. … Continue reading
A Lesson from Racing
I recently did a triathlon and won as overall woman. But it’s not the win that moved me it was that I had realized I was giving up on myself and was able to turn it around. As I was … Continue reading
Balance, our true nature!
Here’s to the Warrior III and Crane Poses! Balance is our true nature! Since committing to my home yoga program and adding in the warrior III and crane poses, they have become my favorite poses. I feel like they have … Continue reading
Resting Heart Rate
Resting heart rate is how many times your heart is beating per minute while lying still. The best time to find your resting heart rate is first thing in the morning before getting up and going about your day. … Continue reading
How Far Can You Go
It’s not pain we feel when we are pushing the body, unless of course you fell and broke something, but sensation, an aliveness in the body. Pushing the body is the body going full tilt, all cells on deck, all … Continue reading
Get OutSide in the Off-Season!
Ah yes, winter season, the off-season for many athletes, like myself in the Northeast. A good time to do something different to give body, mind, and soul a little rest. A shift is great to keep yourself fresh, but it’s … Continue reading
You On the Sidelines or in The Arena?
“It is not the critic who counts, nor the man who points how the strong man stumbled or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; … Continue reading
It’s Ok to Keep Your Swim Simple
When planning to go to the pool for your swim keep this in mind: what you do for your swim practice does not need to be complicated, keep it simple. Think about one intention and one goal for the swim. … Continue reading
Law of Least Effort
I woke early this morning, early enough to get to the pool to swim during morning lap time versus noon lap time. I hurried out the door after a small bowl of steel cut oats I had cooked earlier in … Continue reading
Competition!
Xterra World’s Maui 2013 We have all heard that competition is 90% mental and if you haven’t heard this well then, competition is 90% mental. Being in a competitive event is largely mental not so much physical. The body is … Continue reading
Embrace It!
Triathlete J’aime embracing winter running in New England Anticipating the alarm, I lay in the darkness of a winter morning. Knowing it will go off at any moment, but not knowing the actual time. No point in getting up before … Continue reading
