Eileen Swanson's Tales

Wow, so sorry it’s been so long since I posted. Being an new mom is amazing!! It’s so different and so awesome, but of course with a new baby comes alot of work ) McKenzie was born on February 16th, after 31 hours of labor. It was a long painful labor and delivery but so worth it. I ended up going through it all….pushed forever almost had a regular delivery and finally ended up with an emergency C section. So recovery from both was rough!!

McKenzie is now 22 weeks old and thriving. She rolls over both ways, moves around tons, scoots forward and back (almost a crawl), sits up, and talks/babbles all day long. She is amazing! We love her so much!!

I’ve been able to do a couple open water swim races and enjoyed every second!! From Alcatraz to Tahoe and Lake Del Valle, they’ve all gone well, 2 firsts to boot Next up, Santa Cruz roughwater swim. I’m almost ready for a triathlon, but I need to get my running back up to speed. I had a setback early on, so I am just back to running again. Hope to race a tri in the next month or 2 Cheers!

I am starting to get a little anxious now. I only have 3 weeks or less left before our baby girl arrives. The nursery is ready with everything in place. It’s such a cute room, pink and white, with cool birds, owls, butterflies, trees and flowers on the walls ) Adorable!! I hope our little girl loves pink, ha!!

It’s hard not to be a little nervous. The fear of the unknown, life changing experience coming soon…..yikes! Life has been changing as my belly has been growing! It’s crazy looking back at pictures of what I looked like at 0 to 7 months pregnant. I didn’t look pregnant at all, or hardly at 7 months. It is nuts how distorted our image of ourselves is!! And it didn’t help to have a crazy boss making rude comments so I would stay in shape (no need to talk more about this here). I never thought my belly could get any bigger when it was barely a bump. Yikes, scary that I thought I looked pregnant back then. But I am happy to say and proud that I have now gained 22.5 lbs in my 9th month of pregnancy. My Dr is happy and the baby is a healthy size. I’m a late bloomer for sure

I’m still walking quite a bit, about 4-6 miles a day, about 35 miles a week. It’s been so fun having all this time to spend with Belle and being outdoors!! I’m also swimming 2-4 days a week, depending on how I feel. Some weeks I even add in some core work, but at this point in my pregnancy, it’s very rare! It’s also hard to get comfortable in any seated position now, so I’d rather stand or lay down than sit. It’s such a weird feeling to have a basketball attached to the front of you and not be able to bend forward It’s really crazy. But, the coolest part of all is seeing my belly move when our baby girl squirms, wiggles, kicks, rolls, and turns. It’s so awesome to see!! She sure is an active little one. I would say she moves 17 of the hours that I am up, seriously!! My Dr thinks she is going to be very active )

B and I after a run about 10 days ago

OMG, I am almost 7 months prego! We are so excited to meet our baby girl in a couple of months!! All 3 of us are excited, yes Belle is too It’s amazing how so much has changed in our lives in such a short period of time. It seems like just yesterday that I took a pregnancy test. So, what has changed? Lots! Here is a short list….

For one, workouts are no longer a “must,” if I feel good I workout, if I don’t it’s no big deal. A 2 or 3 mile walk some days is good enough And some days a 6 mile run feels good. I just listen to my body and do what it wants!

Our conversations are no longer about sports, training, racing, work – they are now about Baby!

Deciding on what color to paint our baby girl’s room is a hot topic! PINK and WHITE please….

Baby Basics and Breastfeeding classes on Saturday’s is supposed to be fun now!

We even started talking about when our baby will start school. Crazy, but I know time will fly by!

We are always looking at other people’s strollers.

Reid was so excited to come home with…NO not a new bike….but a BOB jogger )

The one major thing that will not change in our lives is how much we LOVE and spend time with Belle. I do understand that I will be sooooo sleep deprived, etc….but Belle is our fist kid and there is no way I would treat her any different. You can quote me on that Oh and we just celebrated her 4th birthday in style, a trip to the lake to swim with 16 of her furry friends. Her favorite sport of course! HA!

Will try to write more often when work calms down a bit!!

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone

Belle's favorite birthday present!

Having the time of our lives in Hawaii in September

Sorry it’s taken me a while to post again. Just been so busy and my mind is racing all over the place. It seems like just yesterday that I was planning my whole 2010 race schedule and super excited about my open water swim season, and just like that everything changed!! In an absolutely amazing way of course ) Well, I am well into my 2nd trimester, week 22 or 5 1/2 months. It’s crazy how fast the time has flown by. My 20 week appointment went really well. Baby Swanson is weighing 2 ounces ahead of schedule, which means I am a week and a half ahead of where I should be. And to their surprise, I had only gained 9.5 lbs at 20 weeks. Very low, but I’m trying to stay in shape for my job. Pretty cool how the body works!

19 weeks after a fun run and a dip in the pool

The 2nd trimester is treating me well. I have had a few rough patches with some stretching pains and stomach aches, but nothing to complain about. It’s funny that I say ’stretching pains’ because I am still pretty small, but my body is trying to make room for the growth of our baby girl. Sometimes it feels like my abs are fighting back and trying to stay strong while my tendons and ligaments are trying to relax. Sounds weird, but it’s so hard to describe. I guess it’s kind of like stretching a muscle that is on the verge of cramping but having no control of stretching or cramping. HA! Ok, not sure if you get it….just get pregnant and you will see, haha!!

Running, swimming and walking are great right now! Cycling, not so much unless I have to for work. My hip flexors hurt when I cycle now, so I have decided to cut back. Running is super fun still. Somedays I get pressure pains and other days I feel amazing. Everyday is different, so I see how it feels and then I adjust. Yesterday was my best run so far. 7 miles and I felt smooth, fast, and did some of it on trails Reid and Belle are so awesome. They run with me and never complains about anything. If I have to walk, they just walk with me. They are the best training partners and best friends anyone can dream of. Yeah I am biased but they ARE pretty amazing!

Some of you have asked what my training weeks look like and to be honest I wake up and decide what to do and of course it all depends on what my job as an NTR has in store for me. I also sometimes do TRX at home, but that’s been lacking as of lately. Today I decided to do an easy swim on my own and just have fun in the water. Sometimes I just go to the pool to PLAY!! Yes I am still a kid at heart!!

Hope everyone is doing awesome!!

Wow, time flies for sure! I am already in my 2nd trimester, 4 months pregnant and feeling much better. I feel good, not great yet. I still have nausea and food aversions so I want to tell all of you out there that EVERY pregnancy is different no matter how many books and articles you read. I have a bunch of friends who either just gave birth or are pregnant too and while there are similarities in how we feel, there are huge differences too. For instance, one pregnant woman can feel super hot throughout their entire pregnancy but I shiver after swimming in 72 degree lakes with the air temp at 80. I also have been cold, when it’s below 75 degrees out. I am not sure why, but it’s just the way my body is responding.

B and me at 12 weeks prego

I can’t stand to eat foods that I once loved, like chicken, turkey, steamed veggies, or even some yummy breakfast foods. It sounds so odd, I know, but pregnancy really does crazy things to your mind and body. The first trimester was a challenge, as I had to learn to tone it down in everything I do….even on walks with Belle. You are not supposed to get your body temperature above 102 degrees, so on days that we were 100+, I either had to walk really slow while Belle ran way ahead of me or I had to cut our walks super short. I didn’t want to risk getting my body temp up. I had to learn to throw away my competitive spirit when training. This was by far the hardest thing for me. I sometimes found myself timing myself on runs while keeping my HR under 150, and getting excited to see sub 7 min pace. Not necessary, right?! I had to remind myself that it really wasn’t worth pushing myself at this time in my life. It’s not just about me anymore It is about us!!

13 weeks preggers

Another huge change was adjusting the amount of training. While some of my pregant friends worked out day in and day out and felt amazing, I felt sick and ridiculously TIRED throughout the first 3 months. It’s the I just did an Ironman tired, all the time. Imagine that, every single day no matter how much sleep you get!! Yes that is how I felt….and add in the queasy stomach, amazing! HA, seriously though, that is how I felt. I am happy to say that most of this is gone now and I am able to feel a bit more alive. But I am still waiting for that time in pregnancy where women say you feel amazing! Hopefully that is soon to come….

14 weeks preggers

For those of you expecting triathlete moms or thinking of having babies in the future, here is an idea of how much I had to tone down my training. As I said before every one is different, but just wanted to share what I have been up to in terms of workouts. This may seem really low key to alot of you triathletes out there but this is what my body allowed me to do and I listened to it )

Sample Week in my First Trimester:

Monday – walk 3 miles with Belle, Teach 60 min spin class (although I got a sub for 4 weeks when I was feeling reallyt nauseous)

Tuesday – run 4-6 miles sometimes with Running Groups for work, walk Belle 2 miles

Wednesday – swim (no masters as I dont like looking at the clock anymore) on my own 45 -60 mins, walk Belle 2 miles with running groups for work, some core work

Thursday – depending on how I felt, 3 mile run or 4 mile walk with Belle or with a new running group for work

Friday – 3-6 miles of running or walking with Belle again depending on how I was feeling, some core work

Saturday – maybe swim 45 mins and walk a couple of miles (after I work events)

Sunday – SLEEP!! (after working events)

As you can see, I backed way off on swimming. This is my favorite sport, but I was just not into it during my first trimester. I started picking it back up again and hopefully I will fully be into it again soon. I have cycled a bit more now, once a week as I have to for work, since starting my 2nd trimester. I am sure these next couple of months will be awesome and I will pick up more swimming and cycling again )

Cheers to an awesome September!!
E

Sorry that it has been so long since I last posted. Life has been extremely busy, but amazingly fun!! And a few major highlights along the way made the last few months SUPER! In June I landed a new job with PowerBar as a Nutrition Tech Rep. Talk about an amazing opportunity and right up my alley. There are only 10 of us across the nation and everyone is an awesome athlete, from Olympians to Pro Triathletes to Kona AG winners. We all get along so great and love that we represent PowerBar! NTR’s are your nutrition specialists. We know the insides and outs of all PB products. After extensive training in Boise the 2nd week in June, we ended the 7 days of classroom style lectures with all of us participating in the Boise 70.3 race. I did a relay with another NTR, Lon from Austin, we had a great day of teamwork and won the relay competition. There was alot of good, fun smack talk before the event and we all had a blast. Nothing like 10 super competitive athletes (plus our boss who is the IM NZ record holder) in one room together for 7 full days, GREAT MEMORIES for sure

After I got back from Boise, I was stoked about PB, my run fitness, as we all ran once or twice a day while in Boise, and racing!! I was all excited to lay out my new race calendar and even do an IM in the early fall. I was calling all my friends and asking what races they would be doing so we could travel and room together. My sponsor Cervelo was shipping me a new bike, Cobb was ready to get me fitted, everything was working out so smoothly. But, day three back home I was starting to get suspicious of why my body was feeling different. My boobs were hurting, my heart rate was high, and I was lethargic. I swear even Belle could sense I was acting a little different. I packed my swim stuff and was planning to head to master’s swim practice but Belle was all riled up and waiting by the garage door. She only does this when she knows we are going somewhere. So, I thought I should listen to my body and Belle and within 5 mins we were in the car and on our way to the grocery store instead of swim practice. I picked up a pregnancy test and drove back home. I have to admit I was freaking out. Reid and I had decided last summer that we were ready to have kids in the next year or two. But this past April, we decided we would wait until next year and race one more season. When we got home, I handed Belle the box (she usually carries something into the house for a treat) and strangely enough she ran straight upstairs instead of over to the kitchen to get a treat. I knew for sure this was going to be the day. All signs were pointing towards something amazing about to happen. Sure enough the first preg stick was positive immediately. I jumped on the phone to call my best friend Ali, who told me to calm down and take another test. The 2nd test was positive too. OMG!!!!! I was sooooo shocked, excited, not sure what to feel…..I called my other good friend Kristin, and she was all shocked too because we had just promised each other that we were going to get in awesome shape to race ITU Pan American Cup in July. Meanwhile, Reid was on the Wed Bakery ride and I knew he would be home any minute. I couldn’t wait another second so I kept calling him. I wanted to share the news, the excitement, the nervousness, anxiety, joy, everything that was going through my body……..When he got home, I showed him the 2 sticks and was like “ummm, what do we do?” I know this sounds crazy, but you have a million emotions going on and sometimes don’t know what to say. Reid was all excited and calm….just as he always is. It was PERFECT, I needed that calm, the reassurance it was all good!! And of course I started balling……It makes me cry again thinking about that day, as I am now in my 10th week and amazingly HAPPY!!

Of course, great opportunities arise when we are not always in the best shape, HA! I got a call from a great friend Larry Rosa in my 8th week of pregnancy. He asked me to meet him in 2 days and do a photo shoot for Triathlete Magazine. I said no problem AND immediately started doing a bunch of crunches, lame Reid saw me and told me to stop. He is always attempting to stop me from my craziness!! The photo shoot turned out awesome. Reid and Belle came to watch and they became part of the shoot. SUPER FUN TIMES!! This is about the time that I started telling more people that I was prego. I had to tell Larry, I wanted him to know that I was not slacking off on training, just mellowing out

The following week I attempted another photo shoot that wasn’t so awesome! It was a bikini shoot, HA! Larry asked if I could suck my stomach in more, hahahahaha….Nope! Well, I guess I can’t do string bikini photo shoots until next year. Well, you never know we may try one in a few months for another story Reid saved the day with his hotness and a great shoot!!

9 weeks pregnant )

My husband is HOT!!

A couple more cool things I want to tell you all about…..Coaching 50 former contestants, winners and finalists of the hit TV show the Biggest Loser’s to compete in the SF Triathlon at Treasure Island last week. Very fun and cool times! Everyone finished the race and became triathletes, soooo cool!! NBC brought a huge camera crew out and filmed a ton of the events leading up to the race and the race itself. Reid and I signed off on releases so they could use us on the show. Not sure exact air date, but will post when I find out.

I also hosted TriCal TV at the SF Tri at TI. It was cool, our team worked awesome together and videos were up on the site same day www.tricaltv.com and youtube.com And I am happy to say alot of the videos already have 1000s of hits. Busy, busy times…..but just living life to its fuillest!!

Oh one more highlight….Reid and I raced in our first ever Stand Up Paddle race. It was awesome!! I got 2nd to a pro from Hawaii. Live it up!!

E

1st place Alcatraz challenge

Yes, I am officially at 77 San Francisco Bay swim crossings!  That is Alcatraz Island across the bay to Crissy Field, Aquatic Park, or St Francis Yacht Club.  All swims have ranged from 1.2 miles to 2.3 miles.  Water temps have been as coold as 50 degrees F, to as warm as 61 F.  It has been a unique experience each time.  Every swim has been different due to currents, tide, eb flow, wind, fog, sun, seals, dolphins, but no sharks yet )  I have had an amazing time and I am so blessed to have the opportunity!! 

Last Sunday, I raced in the Alcatraz Challenge swim.  Reid was the race director for this event.  It was a busy time leading up to the event for Reid and the Tri California staff.  As always Tri California puts on the best races.  And I am proud to say Reid did an awesome job.  I was super stoked to have been able to do the test swim the day before the event.  This is a swim where 6 of us take a small boat or 2 out to Alcatraz Island and do the swim to test out the water conditions for the next day’s race.  It’s pretty sweet being out in the middle of the bay with no one around.  I love it!  It’s such a cool feeling, one that I wish everyone can experience!! 

Back to the race.  I felt good, not great, but good enough to swim through the chop and against the current to come out with a win.  Yay!  I was stoked.  Here is a link to the results…..http://raceresults.eternaltiming.com/index.cfm/20100530_Alcatraz_Challenge.htm

Fun times as always…..keep smiling )

E

Kind of funny, taking a shower post race

My BFF Kristin and I post swim

I’m absolutely LOVING open water swimming once again!  Every spring/summer for the past couple of years, I have raced in a bunch of open water swim events.  Some races take place in frigid lakes, some in the chilly ocean,  rivers, and even SF bay.  All swims for Pacific Masters Swimming points competition have to be swum without a wetsuit.  Something I totally agree with and even wish triathlons for pros would change to non wetsuit!  I know some people would totally disagree, BUT alot would agree as well.  It’s what separates the real swimmers from the non swimmers.  I am not saying that I am a real swimmer, but for some reason I do way better without a wetsuit.   It’s just so much less restricting even in the best wetsuits out there on the market, one of which I tested out before it went out on the market and am lucky enough to have, the TYR Hurricane.  It is awesome and great for tri’s that still require a wetsuit )

So far this season, I’ve raced in 3 open water swims.  Two lake swim races and one bay swim.  The water was very chilly in all 3 but bearable for sure.  It’s super cold getting in, but once the gun goes off, I don’t even think about the cold.  I just put my head down and swim.  All the races so far have been so brutal at the turn buoys.  There have been so many great swimmers all vying for position throughout the race.  This is what I love about swim races in the open water.  It’s physical, tactical, and cool!  At two of my races I had a great position at the turn buoys but still managed to get dunked, kicked, pulled and even had my suit ripped.  NICE!!  As crazy as it sounds, it’s kind of fun to be in all the action up front   I love to work hard and it’s awesome to have so many great swimmers to work with.  

Spring Lake, Santa Rosa

So far my record is 1st place overall in my first swim, 1st in my division and 5th overall in my second swim, and 2nd in my division and 4th overall in my third swim.  So far I am leading the open water points competition and hope to keep that up going into my next several races.  Wish me luck!!

Swim buddies

Cheers,

E   

Belle loves to come to races, she gets to swim too!!

Sometimes, life throws crazy curve balls at us and we have to deal with them the best way we know how.  We can either dodge them or take them head on.  Reid and I have had a couple curve balls thrown our way and for a second I freaked out, but quickly realized that freaking out was not going to help our situation.  Of course Reid is always there to tell me to calm down and think things through…and to move on.  He is clearly the best husband out there, hands down (ok, ok, I am biased I know).  But he is pretty amazing

Last Friday we had our 5th wedding anniversary, YES 5 whole years have flown by.  I know everyone likes to say time flies by, but seriously it has flown by so fast that I can remember our wedding day like it was just yesterday!  Reid and I share the most unique bond ever, I don’t know any other couple that does what we do, day in and day out and never really ever fight.  We may disagree but we get along so well, it’s a pretty amazing feeling.  We are soooo lucky.  And so appreciative of it all!! 

Leading my 75th Alcatraz swim, and a huge barge cuts us off, YIKES!

Several days after our anniversary is my birthday (April 21st)!  5 years ago on my birthday, we had just celebrated buying our house, racing IM AZ, getting married, and starting new jobs…..all within 3 weeks.  It was the most hectic, memorable, and amazing time of our lives……And the times just keep getting better and better.  Life is full of greatness, you just have to find the right opportunities and always stay positive.   That’s what I learned and keep learning!  

anniversary dinner with friends

After an awesome swim set on my bday, Reid and I joined several of our friends on the weekly Bakery ride.  It started drizzling on our ride to the ride.  No biggie, we put our rain jackets on and had fun.  It was fun for the first half of the ride, then the cold and wind and heavy rain set in and we were freeeezzzing.  Of course one of our friends decided to push the pace, like he always does, but most of us were too frozen to respond.  I tried to go with the quick pace, but I got dropped.  Well, kind of, my good friend JD gave me a couple of good pushes and I got back on.  Then it started pouring even harder and I was hurting again.  And again, my awesome friends helped me stay in there.  So sweet!  Love my buddies.  We are always there for each other.  By mile 40 of our 60 mile ride, we were all now frozen solid but laughing so hard at how CRAZY we were to be out there in the 40 degree temps, 30 mph gusts and heavy rain.  It’s amazing how a positive attitude can change even the harshest of conditions.  Cold, wet, numb, getting blown all over the road, yet still all SMILES!!   It can only make us stronger!!  What a day, it was a great day!! 

One more thing to write about….I’ll be quick.  I recently got asked to be the new host of my own show!   HA, kind of.  I will be the new host of TriCal TV.  I am SUPER EXCITED!  This will be awesome.  I just got started the other day and will be out at Wildflower, reporting, interviewing, filming, racing, and leading swim waves on a stand up paddle board.  Look for me out there.  Here is a little clip…..http://www.tricaltv.com/   You can watch me at 00:03, 02:14, 02:58, and 03:48. 

Life is great!! 

gymnastics posin' with good friend Heather

The other day when our weather was in the 70s, Reid and I decided to take Belle to our favorite lake Del Valle, just a 30 min drive from home,  to do some Stand Up Paddling (SUP)!  It’s a beautiful lake, surrounded by green hills, trees, and home to lots of wildlife.  We love it here.  Belle usually swims with us as we play around and have a great time in the clean water.   But this day we brought our SUP boards and wanted to teach Belle to ride along with us. 

This was Belle's first step on the board and it took a second to learn

It literally took a second for Belle to catch on and figure this out.  AMAZING!  I must say she is the smartest pup around, oh and super cute too )  Reid asked her to jump on the board and hold still.  Just as he said, she listened and stayed on perfectly balanced, exactly where he wanted her to be.  Super cool.  I got on my board behind them and off we went paddling around.  I, of course, had our camera with us so I coulc take tons of pics.  It was a memorable time and one we definitely will never forget.  What an awesome day!! 

Belle and me SUP'ing

After paddling around for over an hour, we decided to head back to shore to let Belle do her favorite sport of all time, diving!  Off the dock….. We seriously had one of the BEST times ever at the lake!! 

Fun Times!

Belle playing after SUP'ing

Cool Dive