Welcome!

Well, after lecturing my coach on the importance of having a blog, I figured I might as well create one for myself, too.

My name is Kate, and I'm a 22-year-old triathlete.  How ya doin'?  

A bit of my history:

I come from a theatre background; also known as all theatre, all the time.  I grew up on the stage; starting as a baby model for a bank commercial, and starting to act and sing as soon as I could talk. I performed in well over 50 theatrical productions by the time I was 16, and by the time I was 19, I knew that I was not meant to be an actress. I found that I loved directing more; having the choice to produce only the best plays (in my opinion, of course) and do them in my way, with a deep emphasis on character development and personal relationship to the characters. All through this time, I was somewhat of a couch potato, and completely uncoordinated. I tried almost everything, from ballet, to gymnastics, to basketball (way back when, in sixth grade, when 5'6 was considered tall) to track and field. I gave them all up within a semester.  All of them were too hard, too embarrassing, too depressing.  So, to sum up most of my 18 pre-athletic years, I was an unhappy couch potato when it came to exercise.  I was always busy, so I didn't really notice or care enough to take much care of my health.  I ranged from about 150+ lb at 5 feet tall, down to super skinny at 5'6.  

This was all fine until my sophomore year, I was struck with viral meningitis, and went from being a compulsively busy, out-and-about from 6:00am - midnight college student, to an immobilized b0dy who couldn't walk more than 5 steps.  I had to relearn how to do everything, even walking and eating.  I did this with a huge amount of help, and managed to in the same semester direct a play (the first few weeks of rehearsal were in my room, me in bed, with the actors around me - talk about dedication!) and only loose a few decimal points of my GPA. 

 After this scare, I was terrified into taking responsibility for my health. Note, at this point I wasn't a person who ate fried foods, drank soda, etc.  By my sophomore year, I hadn't had refined sweeteners in two years, (now, it's been well over four!) and ate a vegetarian diet that only occasionally crept into the ramen noodles and mac and cheese of my peers.  Still, however, I ate in a way that was really unhealthy, without much variety or nutrient-rich choices.  I also knew I needed to exercise. I started working out in the gym, to the point of obsessive (more on all this nonsense later.) The year before, I had mentioned to my family at a memorable Mother's Day gathering that I wanted to try a marathon.  They literally all burst out laughing, and I didn't really blame them. Needless to say, I wasn't running any marathons at this point.

One night, I had a dream I did a triathlon, even though I barely knew what it was. In my dream, I finished dead last (there was a baseball score-board, and my aunt Marcia was at the finish line, sleeping.) It was still the best dream of my life. This time, after my many hours in the gym and obvious changes in attitude, my parents did not laugh.  I bought a book, entitled "Triathlons 101" and started training. I went from no miles to six miles in six weeks, and quickly injured myself.  My mother's attitude was, if you're going to do this, you need help.  I searched for a triathlon coach through my tri-club, but none of the listed possibilities sounded viable - they were all very electronically oriented, and I am a person who relies and thrives upon relationships. I searched online, and stumbled across "tricorecoaching." In the corner of the website was this logo. 

In my gut, I just knew that the understanding of the need for the balance of these qualities was just what I needed, and I was right. I started working with coach Robert Hockley, and the rest is...well...alot, but I have work to do, so enough for now.

Workouts today:

1:15 workout on Westchester Pkwy with Robert. Worked on Aerobars, and I really feel like I improved drastically with them. Hit 28 mph on the flats - not bad at all!