About 10 miles into IRONMAN Hawaii 2017, I threw myself a pity party, broke into a walk and swore off Iron distance racing while trying to convince my husband (aka Blanco) that he should let me quit the race. Of course, he wouldn't let me pull off my chip and urged me to keep moving forward. Minutes later I came across Jan Frodeno who was having an equally tough day and I snapped out of my momentary misery... since even if I was an unhappy *hot mess*, I knew that eventually "it too shall pass" and the finish line would be upon me soon enough. Even before toeing the line in Kona, I'd been cons ..read more

A couple of days after competing at IRONMAN Hawaii for the 6th time, I was watching one of the Real Housewives shows on Bravo and one of the women quoted the old adage: "the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results..." Having just had yet another "ugly run" at IRONMAN Hawaii when I was hoping for a four hour marathon, I started to question my sanity! Of course, when I review my training, my preparation and my process for the World Championship race in 2017, I have done quite a few things differently this time, so I'll give myself some ..read more

I recently wrote an article for Australian Triathlete magazine about triathlon training and racing as I age. While Ironman South Africa time was not my fastest Ironman, it was my second fastest race and arguably in tougher conditions. I did Ironman Arizona in 2008 in 10:33 to win my age group that year in the W35-39 age group. That compares well with my recent W45-49 age group win at Ironman South Africa in 10:42. I figured it might be useful to share what I am doing to maintain my times, and arguably, continue to get faster! Swim – perhaps the biggest area of improvement for me has been t ..read more

In 2011 I purposely DNF’ed after the swim at Ironman St. George. After racing in Kona in 2009 and 2010, I was a little burned out on Ironman. However, Blanco was keen to return to Kona (he first raced there in 2010) so we were hoping to repeat our 2010 plan of both qualifying at Ironman St. George. The St. George race day coincided with my birthday AND our 1stwedding anniversary and at the start line I felt so emotionally wound up, I just knew that I didn’t want to suffer through an Ironman that day. I completed the swim, soft pedaled my bike back into town and spent the rest of the day on th ..read more

Each time I race in Kona, I swear off the event forever... as I sit here on the lanai of our friends' house at Hualalai 48 hours later, I'm casting my mind towards what I will do differently next time.  Ha! I'm already reversing my words even before the soreness from chafing and DOMs subsides. It's unlikely that I will try to qualify for 2017 but maybe 2018 could be on the cards ;) This year I was fortunate to arrive in Kona 10 days out from race day which I had hoped would help me acclimate to the hot and humid conditions. But, who am I kidding, the environment here does not suit me, an ..read more

Each time I race in Kona, I swear off the event forever... as I sit here on the lanai of our friends' house at Hualalai 48 hours later, I'm casting my mind towards what I will do differently next time.  Ha! I'm already reversing my words even before the soreness from chafing and DOMs subsides. It's unlikely that I will try to qualify for 2017 but maybe 2018 could be on the cards ;) This year I was fortunate to arrive in Kona 10 days out from race day which I had hoped would help me acclimate to the hot and humid conditions. But, who am I kidding, the environment here does not suit me, an ..read more

The Ironman 70.3 World Championships were not originally on my radar for 2016. Ironman's decision to relocate the 70.3 championship race on an annual basis has made the 70.3 race-cation a staple on the Blanco calendar. However, this year's event in Australia would require long-haul travel just weeks before Ironman Hawaii... and team Blanco had qualified for Kona in 2016. It will be my 5th time racing Ironman Hawaii and while the race is usually a celebration for me and I have zero performance expectations, I take the race pretty seriously and get anxious in the weeks leading up to the race. I ..read more

I can't hide the fact that I've had a few frustrating seasons of triathlon racing recently. While some things have gone okay, I've never quite felt at home in my "racing body" since I did Kona in 2013. It has basically been three years since I felt in control in a race, rather than pushing myself to give more than I was able to give. Finally this past weekend at Vineman, I feel closer to my old self than I have in 5 years and it showed in my race performance, my self-talk during the race, the results and how I am feeling and recovering post-race. The Clif notes version is that after 8 attemp ..read more

I can't hide the fact that I've had a few frustrating seasons of triathlon racing recently. While some things have gone okay, I've never quite felt at home in my "racing body" since I did Kona in 2013. It has basically been three years since I felt in control in a race, rather than pushing myself to give more than I was able to give. Finally this past weekend at Vineman, I feel closer to my old self than I have in 5 years and it showed in my race performance, my self-talk during the race, the results and how I am feeling and recovering post-race. The CliffsNotes version is that after 8 attem ..read more

Hello 2016 and my 16th season of competing in triathlon! Where did the time go? I cannot express enough gratitude to the sport of triathlon and how it has helped me discover so many new and interesting things... friendships, partners, health, wellbeing, entrepreneurship, daring, competition, drive, travel... not to mention a ton of fun and laughs over the years.  I don't take any of it for granted. After 16 years, it's still exciting and fresh to plan for another new season of racing with dreams of where I might go and what I might achieve. I should probably restate that in the plural fo ..read more