Age: 31
Favorite Food: When training, fruit or steak. After a race, ice cream!
Preferred Race Distance:Olympic–especially in Xterra races.
Number of years racing: 6

What are some challenges that you have faced in training and racing since you had your first child?
At first it just seemed like a matter of rearranging the order of how you do things. Then my husband had a surprise open heart surgery. That changed everything. Now I take any opportunity for a workout, tired or not. I went from training 20 hours a week the summer before I had a baby to maybe training 6 hours a week (on a good week) with a baby. Getting out to bike has been the most difficult. I have learned that any price for a babysitter is worth it. Racing has become more of a brick workout. I don’t feel in shape enough to feel like I can go as hard as I use to. I just go as fast as I can and hope for the best. (Knowing the little guy is at the end to give me a big hug is the best part, even if I end up at the back!) I also have it in the back of my head that we are going to have one more, so this summer is just try and get in as good of shape as I can before the next kid. Then I will try to get back into race shape.

How did you maintain your fitness during pregnancy?
I raced up until I was fivemonths pregnant. I coached cross country and ran with the kids until the last six weeks, mountain biked until that same time, went swimming about 5 days a week, hiked and lifted weights all the way through, even on the day I delivered!

What is some advice that you can give to women who are in similar circumstances (starting families and trying to maintain a triathlete lifestyle?)
Make an active lifestyle with your kids, find a babysitter even if it’s only a couple of hours a week. Even the littlest bit of workout time make a big difference in how you feel and you can still race fairly well. Racing becomes more of a fun outlet instead of a major competition. Now I just love the environment and the experience instead of the results I get in a race.

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