Eileen Swanson's Tales

>>January 18th, 2010

This last week was mixed with some really cool opportunities.   Somedays I feel like I am all over the place with so many new ideas and exciting things that I want to dive right into.   I guess that is way better than not knowing what to do and not being super busy!!  On top of my “want to try” list was coaching gymnastics.  Don’t get my wrong,  I do LOVE coaching triathlon, but gymnastics is also so near and dear to my heart.   It was my life for 16 years!  I lived in the gym, starting with 20 hours a week for years to 40 hours a week for the last 6 years.   And back then I LOVED it.   Now, you wouldn’t catch me ever trying that many hours for triathlon again.  That spells injury! ;-)  for me at least!  Been there done that!

I had a unique opportunity to coach at a gym where my ex coach’s wife is the head coach.   I also have some friends who have  daughters that attend this gym and they have been trying to get me to coach for years.  I finally gave in and made my way over to the gym and had a long chat with my friend, the head coach.   I started that day and shadowed with her through an entire practice.  It was during that practice where I saw myself all over again as a little girl aspiring to become an Olympian.  It brought chills and tears to my eyes.  At that moment I just knew I needed to be there to help these young girls achieve their dreams.   It was an amazing feeling to go back to that place in my mind and remember exactly what went through my mind at least at one point during every grueling practice.   I coached three days last week and loved every second.  The girls are so sweet and so willing to learn.  They soak in every piece of information I give them and I see the desire to succeed in their eyes.

I was lucky that not only did coaching gymnastics make me smile all week long, I was invited by TRX to take an 8 hour long certification class yesterday in San Francisco.  I was so excited for the invitation.  We actually practiced on the TRX suspension training systems all day long.  It was amazing, I learned so much and even got to demonstrate for the class, some fun and super tough gymnastics moves using the TRX ;-)  So now I am officially a TRX trainer.  Woohoo…..Can’t wait to help others discover the most amazing total body workout system.  I am a huge believer.   I think everyone should own a TRX.  Click on this link or copy and paste AND start today, you will see results so quick!!  Have fun!

http://www.fitnessanywhere.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=SFNT&AFFIL=84Z80dK8

>>January 10th, 2010

Reid, Belle, and I drove up to Pinecrest with our friends Molly, Jeff and their 3 dogs (Max, Cujo, and Stanley).   We planned on spending a couple of hours snow shoeing and letting our dogs lead the way while frolicking in the snow!   It takes a little over 2 hours to get up to the snow.   Surprisingly it was in the 50s as we neared the trailhead.  But within a couple of miles the temps dropped into the mid 40s.  Still super warm for a play day in the snow.

All the dogs were so excited as soon as we pulled up to the trailhead.   Belle was so happy to see her friends and even more excited to romp in the snow  Her favorite friend is Stanley.  They all get along so great, but Stanley especially loves to follow Belle around wherever she goes, up in the woods, off the trails or just way up ahead of us.  Wherever Belle goes, Stanley must follow  They are super cute together!!

Two fun hours of snow shoeing, taking tons of pics, having a mock running race, and just having a blast was all we needed to be all smiles on the drive back home!!  Oh and the stop to have some awesome pizza on the way home was a bonus!  And Starbucks too, YUM!

If you haven’t tried it, you should definitely check out snow shoeing.  It is an awesome workout and you can go as hard or as easy as you want and you still get in a great workout!  Your quads and hammies get in some really great work…oh yeah and so do your lungs at 6000 ft of elevation.  We are already planning another trip to the snow very soon!!

Great cross training makes for a great season to come…..Get out there and try it out

>>December 1st, 2009

Ok, seriously, do you need to do that 6 hour ride on November 29th?   Or that 18 mile run?   If you are traning for a December or January IM or marathon, the answer is yes!  But for the rest of us, take this time to do the things that you have been neglecting all year.  Most importantly rest your body and mind!!   Many people do not take the adequate rest and relaxation time they need year after year, only to wonder why they are burnt out in June/July every season.   It is ok to rest and deviate from what your crazy triathlete or cyclist friends are doing now ;-)   You will be the one feeling amazing all season long!  It does work, give it a try! 

Now about those Off season training programs….Hmm, unless they are super easy, include strength and core workouts, and adequate amounts of stretching and recovery, I would say no to them.  I learned the hard way this last season. While my athletes were dong amazing,  I was trying out a different method for myself only and got hurt.  The only sport that  is ok to continue to work hard in over the winter is swimming.  With the help of a master’s swim coach, you can thrive in the pool and remain injury free.   It’s is way less stressful on your body.   Cycling and running during the off season of course is great, but not 6 hours or 20 miles, you get the point!? 

Try to add in some fun spin classes, good core workouts, strength sessions or TRX.   If you want to have even more fun try stand up paddling or surfing.  You will get in an awesome workout and what better way than to be outdoors in the ocean or in a lake ;-)  It may not be easy for those of you to in the MidWest or on the East Coast until the spring.  West Coasters, you have no excuses!!  You may even want to try sports you’ve always wanted to try, diving, skiing, snowboarding, cross country skiing, soccer, to name a few.   All are great for endurance athletes.

Rest up, relax, take care of all that good stuff you’ve been putting off and have fun!  You will be fresh and rejuvenated come January 1st!!

>>November 12th, 2009

Click here to view the PDF

Click here to view the PDF

>>November 5th, 2009

I love Stand Up Paddling.   I was first introduced to SUP last winter by a good friend, Brent Allen.  He took Reid and I out to Monterey to teach us how to SUP.  It was awesome, I fell in love immediately.  It’s one of the sports where you need to use your entire core to control every movement.   Being a former gymnast, I LOVE any sport that involves using my upper body and abs.   I am actually better on my hands than on my feet ;)  well maybe not, but close!!

A couple of days ago, Brent invited Reid and I to help out as water safety at the Marin Triathlon with Surf Tech.  We were so excited and totally up for the challenge.  Stand Up Paddling for the 2nd time only and having to lead waves of swimmers was kind of a scary thought, but the scarier the better for the Swanson’s.  We are crazy that way ;-)  We had a blast and found our sea legs pretty quickly.   After a good 15 mins of SUP on my SWEET Surf Tech board,  I was feeling pretty confident and relaxed and having an amazing time out in the bay.   If I fell in, it would have been pretty cold, but I was so glad to wear just boardshorts and a sports bra.  I got hot working hard and trying some new tricks. 

After all the swimmers were out of the water, Duke (head sales guru at Surf Tech) wanted to take some pics and have all of us race.  There were 4 of us on boards and all of us were stoked to race each other for fun of course! Yeah right, you know me, HA!  This was so much fun!  Then we got crazier and I was dared to do a handstand.  It took several attempts for me to hold the handstand, but I never fell in…much to my surprise.  The race announcer was calling out my attempt play by play and every tri spectator was watching.  If you know me well enough, you would know that I love the pressure.  I was a gymnast, remember! ;-))

>>September 19th, 2009

Blake of Garmin Slipstream and me

 

I had the awesome opportunity to join Team KCBS/KPIX Ch 5 to ride in the Audi Best Buddies Challenge 100 mile bike ride.  My good friend, Ch 5 weatherwoman Roberta Gonzales invited Reid and I and we couldn’t  say no to this amazing event.  Best Buddies is an organization that supports individuals with intellectual disabilities and Maria Shriver is the spokesperson for this event. 

The ride was absolutely breathe taking , an unbelievable experience.  100 miles with 7000 ft of climbing!  A couple of Garmin Slipstream pro men were in attendance to make the ride even that much more fun!  The Tibco pro women’s team was also there and wanting to get in a good “tempo” ride.  It was so SWEET!  The first 9 miles of the ride started off very controlled with 2 escort Audi TT’s  leading the way!  Reid, our good friend Steve Cramer and I quickly moved up to the front of the pack with the pro riders.  The Garmin guys and Tibco women were so sweet and fun to ride with.  We had a good pack of about 30 strong riders, moving along at a good fast pace along rolling terrain.  It was not until we passed through Big Sur, Ventana hill that the pace got a bit too fast for my hill climbing ;-)  Reid, Cramer and the pro riders were putting the hurt on the rest of us.  But I was lucky to have a couple nice guys slow up for me so that I could pace off of them up that crazy climb!  At the top of the climb, Reid and Cramer were waiting for me.  I had to make a quick pit stop, which put us even further behind the first pack of riders.  So, of course Reid said we should work hard to catch them.  Gulp!  I’m always up for a challenge and Cramer happened to be up for it too.  We were flying up and down the California Coast, trying so hard to catch back on.  It hurt, we were all working super hard, breathing extra hard, and feeling the serious burn in our legs.  But within a couple of miles, we were back on and so happy to sit in and draft.  Phew!

But here comes the crazy part.  A mile after catching the group, we hit some big rollers and I was feeling it.  My legs were screaming, my lungs were burning, but my mind was fresh and willing to deal with it all ;-)  I stayed on for as long as I could until I felt like I was going to pass out.  I backed off at that point, only to have a CHP officer on his motorcycle tell me to hold on.  I was like what??  He said “hold on” and pointed to a part of his motorcycle that I could actually hold on to.  SUPER COOL!  When does this ever happen!  AMAZING!  I was so stoked.  But I was also too scared to hold on for long.  It was scary ;-))  So, I let go and he then said “jump on.”  He let me draft off him for a bit, before he had to go back up to the front of  the group since he was the lead escort!!  Once I caught back on of course the pace picked up again.  This time I killed myself to stay on and even got some nice pushes from my hubbie, he was not going to let me fall off again! 

By mile 75, we hit the biggest climb of the day.  Not only was it long, but it was steep too.  I was actually loving it.  I was so stoked to have gotten so far with some amazing riders.  Plus this was my longest ride in a year!  I couldn’t believe how great I was feeling despite all the crazy hard efforts.  However by Mile 90 both Cramer and I were toast, cooked, done!  Reid, on the other hand, was still looking fresh and ready for another 100 miles ;-)  We stopped to take some pics at a cool, popular tourist spot with a ton of elephant seals.  After the pic, we got back on our bikes even though Cramer and I were ready to lay on the ground and take a nap and rode the last semi rolling 10 miles to the finish.  Our ride time was just a bit over 5 hours.  Crazy!  This is my fastest 100 miles ever and I am coming off a 6 month injury.  It must have been the great company and great cause that inspired me to ride fast ;-)  Thank you Best Buddies, Garmin riders, Tibco women, Reid, Cramer, Roberta, and Darrell for an AMAZING, unforgettable experience. 

We were taken care of extremely well at the finish line.  The Best BBQ ever and several hours later another unbelievable BBQ at Hearst Castle, complete with an open bar!  Super fun times….

A week later and I was back at it, competing in a local triathlon.  700 meter swim, 19 mile bike and 4 mile trail run.  I haven’t run more than 3 miles a week or every other week since having this crazy injury 6 months ago. So going into this race, I thought I would just jog/walk the run.  But I was first out of the water, beating the guys ;-)  and felt so good that I thought I would race ’til the end.  I ran a, crazy for me, quick 4 miles and it didn’t hurt that bad!  I guess a 6 month taper works well for me HA!  Seriously, I had so much fun and loved all the local athletes and friends cheering along the way!  There were 700 of us racing in beautiful Pleasanton, CA and I won and had a blast doing it ;-) 

 

>>September 10th, 2009

I love my job as an ambassador as well as educator for lululemon athletica. Everyday is a new day at lululemon. We have so much fun on the job and off the job. We are a tight knit group and we truly believe in the company, its culture, mission, and its bright future. One of the greatest perks is bringing Belle to work with me. Everyone loves her there and our guests are always so happy to see her. She puts a huge smile on everyone’s face! Here are some pics to give you a glimpse of what it is like to work and have fun amongst amazing individuals at work

>>August 21st, 2009

I had an amazing fun time at my last open water swim race at Lake Sonoma. My athlete and good friend John Jeha and I drove 90 mins to get to the race venue. We got there with little, but plenty of time to spare for a swim race After checking in and being placed in wave 1, we got in the 73 degree lake to warm up. The water felt awesome, warm and inviting. Only 2 people wore wetsuits, which was great to see. I love going to all these Pacific Masters sanctioned races where most everyone competes sans wetsuit. Although skin suits made by Blue Seventy and TYR are still legal, they won’t be for long which will be even more fun to see how everyone stacks up with a plain ‘ol swimsuit.

Wave 1 was a very eventful start. It was an in water start and we were treading water for 5 minutes before the start. We all agreed to head back to shore after 4 minutes since we were all getting a little chilly and restless. As most of us headed back to shore, the RD told us to go back and within 10 seconds we were off. Talk about brutal swim starts, wow this one was one of them! Most of the top PM swimmers were present and ready to fight for clear water. I was lucky to get in a great spot and get pulled along behind a super fast guy, who ended up winning. I felt great and loved every second of this full contact start I guess I just LOVE swimming so much that I feel in my element and super calm. As soon as we got out about 200 meters, I saw my friend John to my right. Since we are pretty close in pace, I decided to swim next to him and see if we could work together. But he seemed to be swimming off course a bit, so I took a hard line to my left and got slightly ahead of him.

As I approached the turn around buoy, I had this annoying woman slapping my feet with every stroke I took. This had to have been the most annoying swimmer ever. I kicked hard once to get away from her, but no luck there. I surged a couple more times and again she clung on. She kept pushing my feet down and clobbering my calves for the entire swim. I seriously considered stopping and yelling at her, but I know that is a total waste of energy. So with 100 meters to go I went hard, kicked tons and tried to make one last ditch effort to get rid of this nuisance. This time she came right up to my side and started slapping her arms down hard to try to get me to move from the most direct line. WTH?? Who does that? I sprinted at the end but this lady had the nerve after all that she had done, to almost trip me to get the half step win over me. OMG, I was so mad!! I couldn’t believe it. She looked at me and said good job. I couldn’t control my frustration and told her that she was totally all over me, that it was rude, bad etiquette, etc….. She didn’t know what to say except to shrug her shoulders and utter “that’s proper open water swimming.” NO WAY! I continued to tell her that she was wrong in what she did and she needs to learn some proper swim etiquette. I should have said more, but at that point my friend John had just exited the water and told me that she was lame and just to forget it all. It was cool to see the other swimmers tell me that I was in the right and that woman was totally rude and should have been dq’d. Anyway, I had a super fun race, was 3rd overall and 1st in my division. I was super happy with my result and even more happy to learn that I was beat only by an ex Olympian. The other woman who clobbered me all day, didn’t count. Great experience and another swim event under my belt. I’m starting to feel like a fish

>>August 14th, 2009

It’s been over 4.5 months with this foot injury. To make matters worse, over the last several weeks I was put in a removeable walking cast. Per doctor’s orders I was strictly confined to swimming and rest. I was not alowed to bike or do anything that would put more stress on my already injured foot. So, I swam 3 days a week, once I was able to squeeze in 4! Some people ask me why I didn’t swim everyday and all day, simple answer - I did not want to over do it in the one sport that I could still do! I added in some open water swims. Even challenging myself to a one mile 56 degree ocean swim sans wetsuit. Then I followed it up the following day with a 2 mile swim race. More on those in another post.

A week and a half ago on a Thursday, I became so fed up with the walking cast, that I ripped it off. I decided that I was going to run starting that day!! This may sound crazy to most of you, but the doctor said that if the pain did not go away with the boot, then my injury was strictly nerve related. With a nerve injury the doctor said he would allow me to do anything that I can tolerate. So, that very moment after ripping off my cast, I told Reid that I was going to run at the Team Lemon fun run (which I am suppossed to lead) and I was so determined. Luckily I had such great company from Team Lemon members that it made my first run back so enjoyable. It was actually more than enjoyable. I was runnign again, feeling strong, athletic, elated, beautiful, light…I can go on and on. I WAS STOKED to be running. I was smiling from ear to ear and no one could wipe that smile off my face. I even went to bed smiling

That amazing run was a week and a half ago. Since then I have ridden my bike a couple of times, run 2 more times, and coached a triathlon clinic down in gorgeous Pacific Grove, CA. Today I RACED! YES I raced in the local triathlon at Shadow Cliffs. It’s a super fun and popular triathlon in this area. There were 1300 athletes toeing the line today! I was so giddy and excited to race alongside 5 of my athletes. Thet are awesome. When the gun went off, I couldn’t believe I was racing again. Sweet! I exited the water 1st including men (and the race director yelled “new course record”). This added to my already big smile. I felt just ok on the bike and amazing on the run. I felt like I had trained for the run , which is crazy since I haven’t run much in forever. But I was happy to take that feeling and run with it HA! I had great competition on the run. A girl from SVTri club was running with me the entire run. She would make a move and I would respond and vice versa. It was exciting, I love this type of competition. I hasd one advantage and that was being the local chick and having so many friends, athletes, my fellow tri club members (FMS) yelling, screaming, cheering words of encouragement. It was AMAZING! Such an awesome feeling to be back in my element, doing what I love, and living my dream. I was feeling light, quick, and strong. Which was so surprising to me and made me truly believe in the power of the mind.

Back to the race, and the last 400 meters….the SVTC girl made her final move and I let her get 2 steps ahead. It was so exhilirating. I knew I could respond and start my kick. With 200 meters to go, I took off and was so moved by the loud cheers, screams, jumps…the crowd was going crazy. It was my day and I got the win! I was so thankful for my competition, she made me really work hard and again realize that so much of this sport is mental. KEEP MOVING FORWARD, Dream Big!!

>>July 27th, 2009

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…..