COACH CYNDEE

I recently completed my 11 th Ironman in Chattanooga, TN. Racing in a place you have never been to is always an adventure.   Traveling with someone you are not with all the time can also be an adventure.   My friend of many years was racing too so we decided to save some money and room together.   He got there Wednesday night and I arrived Thursday morning.   I walked into the room and immediately noticed the freezing temperature in the room.   Upon getting there I had to use the bathroom and almost fell in the toilet because he did not put the lid down after using the bathroom.   I can only imagine the humor of me getting injured because I fell in the toilet or had hypothermia.   Ok maybe I’m being a bit extreme but you get the point.   My roommate Christian for the next several days wanted the room temperature in the 60’s whereas I preferred high 70’s low 80’s.   There seemed to be no compromise between us so as he would turn it do...

I decided to do a race called Toughman in Provo Utah on August 22 nd .  It fit perfectly into my training leading up to Ironman Chattanooga, which is September 26 th .  I wasn’t excited about the 6-hour drive by myself to Provo. Originally my boyfriend was going to go with me and we were going to make a weekend of it.  He couldn’t go at the last minute so I decided to drive up Friday and drive back Saturday after the race.  I even debated about going at all but figured I had paid for it so I might as well go.  It was supposed to be a fast course, which was exactly what I needed for training for IM Chattanooga.   My bike and swim have been really good so I hoped for a strong bike and swim and didn’t know what to expect on the run. I have been running longer but my runs have been slow.   Battling a few injuries I have not been running like I had hoped.   I was told the lake was pretty gross and very shallow.   The water was brown a...

My Ultimate Direction Hydration Vest and my Desoto skin cooler shirt Welcome to Triathlon…Now you're broke! In the world of swimming, biking and running there is so much gear that one can waste hard earned cash on, and believe me I have spent a lot of money on stuff that sits in my garage and I don't use!. I am going to share with you some of the gear I use on a regular basis that has served me well and gear that I couldn't live without. TYR Split Fins Swimming - There are three things I love to use in the pool.  They include: TYR Paddles Standard pool buoy TYR large paddles TYR split fins I have tried many different fins and I keep returning to my good old TYR split fins.  I like the split fins because they don't tire your legs like some other fins.  When you swim, bike and run you don't necessarily want to kill your legs in the pool.  The split fin is great to use when doing drills but because of the split it does not over work your legs. I lo...

So often I hear people comment that they have some part of their body bothering them so they are starting to stretch more.  Even more often people contact me for a massage because they suddenly are having pain somewhere.  It seems that most people neglect both stretching and getting a massage until something hurts.  I am always telling my clients they need to be more consistent with pre and post workout stretching and getting maintenance massages.  Before workouts warming up with active or moving stretching is very important.  Equally important is your routine after your workout, which should include foam rolling followed by stretching.  If you suddenly have pain and then think that stretching will miraculously make it go away you are wrong.   In fact I would suggest against doing a lot of stretching if you possibly injured something.   When you have an acute injury stretching may not be the best option it may need a several days to recover...

The first question people ask when they find out that I am a vegetarian and an athlete is, “how do you get enough protein?”   I once thought the same thing about vegetarians or vegans.   I quit eating any meat except chicken and turkey when I was 15 and I am 46 now.   I never really had the desire to eat it and honestly I didn’t really like chicken and turkey I just thought that all my muscle would wither away if I didn’t eat it.   Reluctantly I ate chicken and turkey and not think about the fact that it was once alive.     I didn’t like to eat any chicken on the bone because it grossed me out I just ate chicken breast or turkey breast and tried not to think about it too much.   Last year I finally had enough and I told myself that I was going to slowly eliminate it from my diet.   I wasn’t telling myself I couldn’t have it but I was going eat less of it.   My boyfriend who is a huge meat eater was not too happy but I told him it wouldn...