#BeYourPotential

Hello everyone!

I was recently blessed to go on a trip to Salt Lake City, which happened to be one of the most fun weekends I've had in a long time. In the midst of exploring the incredible natural beauty of that part of our country and getting to spend a whole day skiing )which I haven't done in just about 10 years, and I wasn't as terrible as I thought I would be!)  I got some very exciting news. Well -- triathlon exciting at least but it can also be exciting for you, too so keep reading! :)

Skiing in Salt Lake City

I was selected to be a part of the 2016 Esprit de She Ambassador team. For those of you who haven't heard of the Gildan Esprit de She race series, it is an female-only (sorry fellas!) racing series that takes place across the country. From 5k & 10k races to Duathlon and Trialthon. Last year I took the plunge and participated in the Esprit de She Sprint Triathlon in Naperville. It was the first tri I had ever done and the minute I crossed that finish line, my whole attitude changed for the better. I felt strong and capable and feminine and happy. I continued to chase that feeling as my training and racing continued. But I will always look back at that race and know that it is the reason that I am where I am to this day.

That feeling is something that I want to share with all athletes around me. I especially encourage any woman who has ever thought about triathlon or doing a 5 or 10k race to start with Esprit de She races. You will not find a single race environment that is more supportive of their athletes. And you will be an athlete! And that's so cool!

Since we're still at the beginning of the year and I'm sure plenty of you have made resolutions to take care of your health or to try something new. I think having a goal is a great way to keep yourself accountable for that resolution, this year can and will be different if you want it to be.

Here's where I can be a tiny bit helpful in that arena (warning: shameless plug ahead!). Being an Esprit de She Ambassador gives me the opportunity to help others with the cost of race entry to their races and I'm so excited to share that with you. Simply enter my personal coupon code
GEDS16AMB053 to receive a $5 discount on your race registration. And if you don't want to go it along, find a couple friends and #tritogether and sign up as a relay team! Life is more fun with friends, isn't it?

Feel free to use and pass that code along to anyone who may be interested in these races. Also visit www.espritdeshe.com for a full list of Esprit de She races across the U.S. And check out their awesome promo video in case you need a little more inspiration.

I hope this might inspire someone out there to try something new, I am confident you won't regret it.

God bless and happy training!!

-Catherine

Follow me on Instagram: c.schu.tri

Triple Sport Triple Threat - Life Time Triathlon Hour 2016

First tri of the year : Check!

Hello! I hope everyone had a very happy holidays! Today was my first triathlon event of 2016 and all-in-all, it was good. I've never done an indoor event before and it was pretty cool. It was nice not having to be a slave to the elements. The Life Time Fitness Indoor Triathlon Hour is made up of a 10 min swim, a 30 min bike, and a 20 min run with time built in for transitions. Waves of 10 athletes were sent off every 20 minutes. I have always had an extremely positive experience with Life Time operated events and today was no exception. They are a well-oiled machine. Our "wave leader" was positive, helpful, and attentive and for that I am grateful.  Today was not my top performance by any stretch but not a disappointment either. If anything it helped me establish my base line for the upcoming season. For instance, I just can't ignore doing brick workouts anymore. As much as a loathe the bike to run workout I just have to do it.

Swimming by far is my weakest of the three disciplines. I've been able to swim

Pre-swim selfie. Minimal nerves and slightly chilly

since I was very little and I really enjoy it. But swimming for fitness and competition is a completely different experience for me and its something I've struggled to improve over the last year. I have noticeably improved (thank God) but not enough that I'm competitive in the water yet. I opted to swim in a swimsuit as opposed to a tri-suit considering there were 10 minutes for transition and sitting on a stationary bike for 30 minutes in a wet tri-suit was entirely unappealing to me. As for today, my swim felt pretty good, not great. I was third in my wave after the swim which I'll admit was better than I had expected considering I haven't spent much time in the water lately. I did kind of luck out by not having to share a lane with anyone else cause my lane partner never showed, score!

The bike was a bit more a challenge for me today. As the cycling portion was only 30 min I found it hard to get in to a rhythm quickly. Generally, I take a long time to get into a groove on the bike, I mean a REALLY long time. By the time we were almost done I had finally hit my stride, so that was a little disappointing. This is one of the reasons why I'm so psyched to try a long-course like Steelhead in August. I think, at least for the bike leg, I'll be much more in my element. Also had a minor issue with my fit. I was sitting way too far down initially and it was not making my knees and legs happy. So I hopped off about 10 min in to adjust my seat. Once I did this I was so much more comfortable and could really get into it. As a silver lining to the bike portion I geeked out to myself a little bit when I walked by the cycling studio right next to where we'd be riding and the instructor was playing one of my favorite songs from one of my favorite bands, Marianas Trench. I had a giant smile on my face for the first 3 minutes of riding because of this. So thanks unknown cycling instructor for making the initial few minutes very fun for me :). You're the real MVP. 

To be quite frank... I have a love-hate (mostly hate) relationship with treadmills. We're not friends, even though they let me do runs in the winter when I'm being too much of a pansy to run outside. The run portion of this event was 20 min at your own pace. So instead of going for distance, like I probably should have been, I impulsively chose to do some interval work. This was a good idea for me simply because for my first 4 minutes of running I couldn't really feel my legs. This is something that will get better over time with the aforementioned brick workouts I mentioned before. My max pace was 7.5 MPH and my jog pace was 5.5. It definitely helped me break up the monotony of just running on a treadmill for 20 min. I would also like to give credit to Sarah Koenig and the Serial podcast for keeping my occupied on the last half of the bike and all of the run. 


Everything felt pretty good and I had a lot of fun. This morning was a great reminder of how much I really really like this sport and I'm so excited for where the rest of this season is going to take me. I think its safe to say I've committed to tri for 2016 and I am so excited about that commitment. Now time to relax with my favorite tea in my favorite mug. Happy New Year, everyone! God Bless. 

Journey to Steelhead -- Day 1

Happy Sunday! 

So today marks the beginning of a journey. The beginning of me doing everything I can to prove that I will compete, complete, and (hopefully) enjoy every minute of Ironman 70.3 Steelhead in 2016. It felt necessary to mark an official Day 1 and that is today. I have a lot to learn and practice and improve on before I will consider myself even remotely "ready" to take on that race. But I am determined and I have people who, although they might not understand why I am doing this, they will support me through it. For that I am truly blessed and thankful. 

As far as what day 1 included, it just ended up being a 40 minute easy run around the new place I call home. I couldn't pass up to the opportunity to do an outdoor run in the middle of December in the Midwest. So I'm going to put this in the "win" column and move on. I'm trying to come up with an effective way to keep myself motivated throughout my workout (any and all suggestions on how you motivate yourself are welcome!). But today I rewarded myself with finishing my run at a new tea house that I had never been to before. It turned out to be a delicious and fun way to keep me motivated throughout my run and it helped me settle down afterwards as well. 

It's a long way until the race but I think I need about as much training as I can get. But I am confident that today is the first day of an incredible journey. Onward march!