Eileen Swanson's Tales

Kate, Alec, E, Reid, Belle and Lucy Swanson

Life is great!

Just Chillin' poolside

Belle swimming laps all day on her own

Beautiful Swanson House in RSF

Reid, Belle and I had an awesome vacation down south at our family’s house in gorgeous Rancho Santa Fe. Just being in this amazing town is a real life beautiful vacation. Belle played with Lucy (Reid’s dad’s black lab) all week. We took them to the beach and watched them play in the surf! They were in heaven. We have a lot of friends who live in the San Diego area, so we made sure to meet up with as many of them as we could. One of our friends, Marit, met up with us at La Jolla cove for an amazing open water swim 2 days in a row. We had the best time ever. On our first swim in the cove, sans wetsuits, we saw a pod of dolphins out in front of us. Then we saw tons of Girabaldi fish and had so much fun playing around, that is after our 2.5 mile swim. It was just one of those swims where everything felt amazing, body and mind! I felt so ALIVE!! I was so happy to be out there in the warm ocean with my best friend Reid and awesome buddy Marit.

The next day we did alot of the same to start off the morning. This time we swam across the cove to the La Jolla shores. It was a long, fun swim with a seal encounter. I was swimming, feeling great, kept pausing to check on my swim buddies to make sure they were still close. Then all of a sudden I saw a shadow underneath me and I didn’t freak out. I just stopped and 2 feet away from me a super cute seal popped up. We were staring at each other, so close and then I got a little curious and went under to see how big he was. He was only 3 feet long and so adorable. He looked soft and silky and I really wanted to pet him. But then Marit and Reid said something about seal’s having teeth and that freaked me out. I nearly jumped on Marit and Reid’s back and they started swimming away. Well, we all did. It was kind of funny that we spooked each other. Now looking back, I really wish I would have petted the cute creature! Bummer, next time for sure. The rest of our swim was even more eventful, I saw sand sharks and more fish. This was another amazing swim!!

Back at the Swanson household in RSF, we spent tons of time playing in the pool with family and hanging out in the amazing backyard and golf course and body surfing at Del Mar Beach. It is such a beautiful vacation spot. Everytime we are in RSF it feels like we are in paradise! We watched a couple of awesome movies too, Gran Torino and August Rush. Great movies. And we went out to a couple great restaurants and had some fabulous meals prepared by my step mother in law. She is the best cook around!! What an amazing vacation! Belle is exhausted too…..

Super cute Coleen

Right before the start...

The NBC show with the 2nd highest ratings for a reality show, the Biggest Loser, teamed up with Tri California to complete an Olympic Distance Triathlon. Reid and I were honored that we were asked to be the Biggest Loser’s coaches. We sent them each a training plan to get ready for this race in 6 weeks. Not much time, but we knew they could do it! We had the amazing opportunity to change the lives of these 16 inspiring individuals (former BL finalists and winners from the past 7 seasons) by coaching them to be able to complete the San Francisco Triathlon on July 12th. This was super exciting for both Reid and I as we watch the show and realize how far these individuals have come and how hard they have worked to get there. We totally understand the hard work they have put in. They basically trained as pro athletes for 16 weeks on the infamous “ranch.” So cool and so motivating to the world! Anything is possible!!

Last Friday morning, the day before the actual SF Triathlon, Reid and I did a walk through of the course with the 16 BL athletes. This was so much fun! I love answering lots of question from first time athletes. These athletes were so excited, so new, so fresh, it was refreshing…. Each and every former BL contestant we met, was super friendly, super sweet, and eager to listen and learn. I loved the fun questions and comments from Heba to the super sweet and cute questions from Coleen. After the walk through, each athlete was given a bike fit and MORE course info. Then we were all off to a media lunch at Joe’s Grill in the city. We had a great time and a couple individuals were interviewed by the SF Examiner, Tri Cal TV, and various other media. It was a delicious lunch and great time to get to know each other better. I sat with Heba & Ed (finalists season 6), Coleen (season 5), Ali (winner Season 5), Pete (at home winner Season 4), Suzy (2nd place Season 2) and Holly (finalist season 4). It was interesting and inspiring to hear how each individual ended up on the TV show and to hear how motivated they were to compete in a triathlon. I loved sharing stories, I’m sure they thought my story was crazy when I shared what I did as a gymnast….in a good way though

After our lunch, everyone except for Reid and I and a few others had some down time. We took Holly and Pete to Sports Basement to have some work done on their bikes and to check out the super huge array of triathlon and running goods. They were in awe of this store, and again so appreciative to be where they are today. They deserve it! Last but not least, one more media event before the athletes were off to bed to rest up for their very first triathlon. The dinner was hosted by the Galleria Hotel and it was a hit. Media, the public, and lucky guests who were invited got to mingle with all of the BL former contestants. Everyone had so much fun taking pictures, asking questions, and just soaking it all in. We had a private dinner for the contestants and a couple others including Reid and I and this was even more special. This time they all shared stories with each other about their seasons on the BL show and the behind the scenes action and editing. Wow, TV really does creative things with their editing. The so called “not so friendly” people on the show are actually very nice, normal people who just got caught in a story line made up for TV!

The triathlon morning came quicker than expected for all. Reid and I helped each athlete get set up in Transition area, worked on their bikes, helped put on wetsuits and gave some last minute advice. Whoa, there was some serious GOOD HIGH ENERGY in the transition area. We all had an amazing time watching these newbies get ready for an experience of a lifetime! The swim start was unreal, I was brought to tears watching all of these athletes giving each other high fives in the water, screaming with joy, and seeing the happiness written all over their faces!!

They all had great swims, lots of fun, and each one came out of the water with a HUGE SMILE!! Off onto the bike and everyone again, had so much fun and did so great. It was fun hanging with Helen and Ali and cheering everyone on. Ali wants to do a triathlon soon…on this day she did the swim portion of the race as part of a relay. Brittany did the bike portion and Bernie ran. They all smoked their respective legs of the race. Bernie highlighted the relay with a 7.30/mile pace 10K run. A huge PR for him. He has been working hard on his run and it really showed that hard work DOES pay off!

The run was an incredible sight to watch. Heba, Ed, Matt, Pete, Bernie, Blaine, Coleen and Dane looked strong and were always so happy to be out there on the run course and loved the cheers from everyone. Nothing explains this better than some pics of those BIG smiles The BEST part of this amazing weekend was watching each one of these amazing individuals cross the finish line with so much joy! INCREDIBLE!! An absolute surreal moment! We, as coaches, could not have asked for a better storytale ending! Congratulations to all Biggest Loser’s! You truly are inspiring, amazing individuals. Keep it going…..

If you have the desire, will and means to attain a specific goal, then you MUST go after it now. Don’t sit around and let your dreams slip by, give it 100% and go for it. Do not let anyone or anything step in your way. Everyday should be a step closer to achieving your goals. First start off by writing them down. This is a must. Lululemon taught me this and it works…It truly does.

Since I have been sidelined due to an injury, I have been forced to work on my mental game. And I cannot tell you how powerful it can be to work on this part of your training. Focus on the positives, what you want to see, feel, hear, etc. Turn your negatives into positives ALWAYS. Visualize your perfect training or race day and focus on what and how you are feeling. Think about your breathing, your HR, the lactic acid and how you can control all of these things. Feel it, see it, believe it, achieve it…..

Now go out there and kick some butt, you are awesome!!