COACH CYNDEE

It's the time of year when the season changes and people end up getting sick.  I take supplements regularly but this time of year I add a few to help me stay healthy.  Some thing that can make you more susceptible to getting sick are: overtraining  drinking alcohol lack of sleep poor diet poor gut health allergies that are not controlled stress some medications smoking  dehydration  If you are training for a major event like a marathon or ironman then it is essential to make sure all the other factors on the above list are in check.  You should ensure you are getting enough sleep and eating healthy.  Staying hydrated and avoiding alcohol and reducing stress are also helpful to staying healthy.   I like to add a few supplements during cold and flu season to ensure I stay healthy.  Supplements that I take year around include: Multiple Vitamin Vitamin D and K Omega-3 Turmeric B-complex Probiotic  MetaPwr Mito2Max by doTERRA Life Extens...

  I've been coaching people in the pool for over 15 years.  I have coached people who were advanced swimmers and people who didn't know how to swim at all.  I recommend every person who swims regularly to use swim equipment.  Swimming equipment will help you improve your swim and also break it up so it's not so boring.  Here is a list of equipment and reasons why I recommend each piece of equipment.  Pool Buoy - this goes between your legs and will help you focus on your stroke because you will not have to kick at all and the buoy will help your legs stay afloat.   Amazon - pool buoy Fins - fins are great to help beginner swimmers. It will make learning to swim a little easier.  Fins are also great to use to do drills.  Drills are important for beginner and advanced swimmers.  They help swimmers focus on certain aspects of the stroke.   Amazon Fins Kick Board - kick boards are used to practice your kick and I also have new...

I have raced over 30 Half Ironman distance races over the years.  I have picked my top 5 favorite races!   Let me know what you think and what your favorite Half Ironman Courses are!  5 - Mountain Man Half Ironman in Flagstaff.  I really like Flagstaff and I have raced there many times.  In the summer it is always great weather and a really good place to vacation and race. It gets really hot in Vegas and going to Flagstaff to race in July is a great way to escape the heat. This course is a good course and the race is very well organized. They also give really good overall awards!  I have a handful of these cool overall awards from the various distances over the years.  I really enjoy this race and hope they continue putting it on.  4 - Oregon 70.3 was a really great race. It was a great city to visit and a nice place to race.  The weather was great and it is a very fast course.  You could literally float the swim, the bike was pre...

  Over the years I've completed 15 Ironman races.  Some of the courses I completed multiple times so I will be listing 11 courses and I'll start with my least favorite. 11 - Ironman Utah was a miserable day with extremely cold weather along with a very difficult course.  Living close to St. George Utah I was able to go up and train on the course so I knew what I was getting into.  The day of the race the weather was horrible.  The air temperature was in the 40's to start and the water temperature was high 50's.  Along with cold conditions it was very windy and racing on a difficult course with  bad weather made for a long day.  Over the years they have modified the course  trying to get larger attendance but its not a race that a lot of people want to do  because of the difficulty.  I had to get help out of the water because of hypothermia but I warmed up and was able to finish.  St. George Utah  10 - Ironman Chattanooga h...

I can't believe in my 20+ years of racing I had never done a relay.  I haven't been training for a triathlon for over a year. I've been doing some running, swimming and teaching spin classes to stay fit. We decided to do the a vacation/relay race.  We thought it would be good to get away and race but not be too serious about it.  I like swimming and running so I decided to do that portion and my boyfriend said he would do the bike.  We got there a few days early and booked a fun day at Flora Farms.  They grow their own food, have a few shops, you can tour the farm and they also have a spa.  Being mostly vegan is hard when you travel to certain areas and the two times I've traveled to Mexico it's hard to find good places for me to eat.  This place however was fantastic! The food was super fresh and great!  The specialty cocktails were amazing!  This is the good thing about doing a relay is you don't have to be really serious and can have fun a...

I haven't been doing many races in the past year but I recently did the St. George Marathon.  I have not ran a lot of marathons in my racing career in fact I think I've done more Ironman triathlons (15) than marathons over the years.  I have been very busy but thought I'd like to challenge myself and run a marathon.  St. George was a good choice because I've heard it's a great course and really well organized and it's close to Vegas. A lot of the course is downhill which was good for me because I am usually a good downhill runner. I ran the Revel Mt. Charleston race several years ago and had one of my best races and qualified for Boston. My finishing time there was 3hrs 39 min. I wanted to run some long downhills training for this race but I didn't have the opportunity to do that more than once when I ran 16 miles down from Red Rock (mostly downhill).  My second to last long week of training went great and I felt good. I knew I wouldn't be fast but felt ...