I've been so many places

I've traveled all over Europe, but the US is foreign to me. I grew up on the East coast, I've stayed somewhat local, I've been to the states that touch my own. I went to Florida when I was too young to remember and SF twice to visit friends and attend a wedding. That's about it. This summer I decided to go on tour. Or, well, it sort of happened that way. The best part is that I can call it "work" even though its been exhaustingly fun. If I manage to squeeze in a podcast or an interview, counseling sessions or a blog post, I'm working. If I laugh until my abs are sore I'm playing. Most of the time I'm doing both. I love what I do.

*The fun (hard work) started the last weekend in June with our Mega Deth Training Weekend in Lake Placid. Then I flew to TX to finally meet Texafornia in real life. I laughed and "worked" my ass off there.

Some Texass cactus. I wasn't skeered.

*From TX I took the following week/end with the fam in MA for a race that I completely flaked out of by not registering in time. I ended up having a beautiful solo ride along the MA/NH coast instead, which I can't wait to do again.

*Then I flew to Oregon to visit my good friend and web designer Molly Bermea. It was an awesome non-triathlon related weekend. We went rafting and hiking and I got to relax, a lot. We even ended up on a CA beach at one point (which I am SO counting as a destination when I tally up my summer travels).

*After OR I had less than a day in NYC before packing up and heading back to Lake Placid for IMLP. That totally rocked. And yes, I completed my self-supported HIMs and had a ton of fun. All the guys had a great Ironman day and I signed up for IMLP 2010 (no biggie).

This is what the sky looked like after I registered for IMLP. I think it's a good sign.

*During my Lake Placid trip I took 2 separate days to be the airport limousine service for some friends to Burlington, VT. While I was there I made a day (or 2) of it.

This is the car I drove to VT. The car happens to be ON A BOAT.

*Back to NYC for 3 days then to Block Island for a visit and a race. John won the BI sprint overall and I scored 1st in my AG. I should race more. So I'm gonna.

Yesterday I had a blast at Coney Island. Thursday I'll be at an amusement park in Bristol, CT. Saturday I head to West Virginia for a race. Virginia is for lovers, not workers. When do I work? This IS work. My life RULEZ.

Totally Naked Self-Supported Endeavor

(Pic: One of my favorite gems in our Lake Placid house)

Next week I’m headed back to Lake Placid to support my tri-peeps for their IM. Last year’s IMLP trip was ridiculous amounts of fun and we have another great group this year. I’ll be staying in our usual house with Rambonie, Phil, Javier, Bill, Farrah, Gustavo, Michelle, Nathan and Kristine. And now we even have Triboomer right next door! I’m seriously giddy about this. I can’t wait to help my friends by being a sherpa, a cook, and a cheerleader. As an extra bonus, I get to hang with Kate Lavoie and Janet Brode (two of the greatest tri-wifes ever).

So I figured that since I’ll be there, and since the course will be marked, and since I love to train… I’m gonna do another self-supported HIM on the IMLP course the day before the race. Rambonie and I did this last year and it was fricking awesome. We also got the better weather of the 2 days (fingers crossed for good weather this year). So on Saturday I’m going to do one loop of the swim, bike and run. David Mak and Jackie V are both going to join me for all or part of the “event”, and we may even be joined by some other tweeps. And of course, keeping with tradition, the event has a name. I’ve decided to call it the Half-Naked self-supported HIM for 3 reasons:

1. We will be scantily clad because we are triathletes.
2. The word “naked” draws attention (which I like).
3. I have been on a mission for the past year to be 100% myself, honest, genuine and authentic almost to the point of discomfort. This has actually been incredibly enriching and has opened up so many new opportunities with work, friends, family, etc. I sometimes call this “being naked” with people. So the Half-Naked is dedicated to this mission. It shall be a celebration.

One more thing… I was in Lake Placid for a Mega Deth Training Weekend only a few weeks ago. The purpose of the trip was to be a big push in training, on the race course, for my IMLP tri-peeps. Well, being that I lub them and hanging out with them always happens simultaneously with swimming, biking and running, it turns out that I’ve trained a lot more than needed to complete a HIM. The LP training weekend made me realize that the Half-Naked wouldn’t be enough of a challenge. I know I can do it. I wanna do something that I’m not sure I can do. Soooo… I decided to do ANOTHER Half-Naked, completely alone, on the Friday before. Yes, an IM distance split into 2 days. Of course this will be called Totally Naked. And I really don’t know if I CAN do it. Although, I do know I’m a badass, so I’m betting that I can.

If anyone else wants to spend time Half-Naked with me, let me know and I’d love to have you join in. Unfortunately for you all, I only get Totally Naked by myself :)

I'm a BIG STAR on the latest Zen and the Art of Triathlon podcast

Check out the show from my visit to Texas (via http://texafornia.squarespace.com/):

Click here to listen

"Christine Lynch (Twitter.com/holisticguru) came down to Texas from her hometown of Harlem to show us how to shop and cook better. In return, we took her on a killer bike ride and then to Lance's bike shop in Austin.

Christine proved herself to be a grocery store ninja and also a master of hot bike rides. She had a great time and we truly enjoyed her visit.

Listen in to get lots of shopping and cooking tips from a true master.

Shownotes!

• Christine, Kai, and Brett making hemp milkshakes with ingredients from Nutiva. Thanks, Nutiva!
• Christine and Brett out on the Ride of Truth. 70 miles in the hot Texas sun... Will she crack?
• We take Christine to the weirdest 4th of July party ever.
• Off to Barton Springs for some swimming and trail running.
• Partying at Mellow Johnny's bike shop.
• Driving from Austin to Houston in the ZenTri Mobile Studio."

Wicked Training Weekends

I've had two mega awesome training weekends recently. I luv swimming, biking and running but it only gets better when I travel for it.. and when I'm surrounded by my best buds... and when our sponsors send us tons of delicious nutrition to stuff in our faces. My Nutiva friend, Mark, is the bestest for rushing the stuff through the mail to get there in time for the madness.

First we had the Mega Deth Training Weekend in Lake Placid. The boys are all training for IMLP and that means that I sometimes train for IMLP. That also makes me a badass because I'm not even doing an Ironman this year. I should also mention that I never really felt like I needed to recover from the 19 hrs of training in 4 days because my nutrition was perfectly spot on. I felt incredible. The weekend went something like this:

• *Friday - Load up the car with the essentials (Phil, Javier, bikes, Nutiva goodies, Nuun goodies, Action Wipes, and ONE Coconut Water). Then swim 4k at Pond Blanco and run 10 miles before driving to Lake Placid to meet up with Rambonie and Jen.
• *Saturday - ride an LP loop (56 miles) then stop for snacks (Nutiva energy bars and ONE coconut water) then start another loop and cut it short due to a mysterious cycling accident by Javier (Crash Gomez). After a short break, a run loop (13 miles).
• *Sunday - Hemp shakes for brekky, made with coconut water to fuel up for another bike loop (56 miles) followed by a 3 mile run then a 2k swim in Mirror lake. We had to be on the road by 6pm to head home and people were psyched that we shared our sponsor goodies which also left us with less stuff to pack into the car.
• *Monday - A spontaneous 14 mile run with Phil because we're just nuts, then recovery hemp shakes made with ONE acai juice (such a yummy mix). Phil is officially hooked, even though hemp is NOT addictive. It's a choice... a smart one.

Next up was my trip to Texas to meet Texafornia in real life and survive the Ride of Truth:

• *Thursday - Missed my connecting flight in Dallas because of a delay in NYC, but didn't mind because I got to meet Triboomer and his wife. I have so many people to thank for helping/ offering to help with that situation as soon as they saw my updates on Twitter. Triboomer picked me up in Dallas and drove me to Waco, TX (3 hrs round trip) to meet Texafornia in Waco and drive back to College Station (3 hrs for him as well). This was all pretty crazy, especially since the airline offered to put me up in a hotel, but Tex said no to that because we had a trail run scheduled for the morning. Crazy, I know.
• *Friday - Trail run with Texafornia. We were joined by his 4-year-old triathlete son Kai. I hope to be as tough as Kai someday. He started out on his mtn bike and finished up by running with us. Then we made hemp shakes and had a taste test with Kai. We recorded audio of this which is supposedly hilarious, listen for it on the Zen and the Art of Triathlon podcast via iTunes. After that we went on a healthy food shopping tour, joined by @Envirogisgirl and a cooking lesson (Sweet Potato Quesadillas) for our pre-ride dinner. We also made potato wedges with Nutiva coconut oil to fuel our ride.
  
• *Saturday - ROT ride. I took the healthy hippie approach to fueling for this event by drinking my TOP SECRET maple syrup energy drink, and eating potato wedges and dates. I won't say much because you'll just listen to the podcast. I will say that it was 121 degree (heat index) when we finished the 70 mile windy ride. I survived and didn't complain once. I did feel like I got hit by a train for days afterwards. That night we went to a 4th of July party where we saw nothing that was weird. Not one bit.
• *Sunday - Hemp shakes for everyone before our trip to Austin and Barton Springs for a swim lesson. If you ever have a chance to get a swim lesson with Texafornia, jump on it. It was awesome and I now have a few things to work on that will make me a more efficient swimmer. At 2pm, in the heat of Texas, we decided that it wouldn't be insane to do a trail run for 45 mins. After that we suffered heat stroke, jumped in the water again, then went to Mellow Johnny's for a Tour party. We also did another healthy shopping tour with ZenTriNurse (Texafornia's fabulous wife).

The above photo was taken right before the Ride of Truth. I do not have an explanation for Texafornia's behavior here.

Mindful Eating = Zen Eating "I see you food"

Again with the shownotes. I'm so good to you.

Zen and the Art of Triathlon podcast - Eating Mindfully

Click here to get to the show.

8 Tips for Eating Mindfully:

1. Set the mood for meal prep AND eating (candles, music)

2. Chew your food (start by practicing with 1 meal per day)

3. Limit distractions

4. Use all of your senses

5. Avoid stressors

6. Don't stand or walk while eating ("drive thru eating")

7. Eat like your life depends on it by making meal time a quality time

8. Even one meal a day of eating mindfully will make a big difference

Action Steps: (how to begin)

1. Ask yourself and identify where you're at with mindful eating and where you're starting from. You can do this by journaling, blogging, talking to someone, or even just really thinking about it.

2. Choose one thing to try and start tomorrow (or today) and add one more each day as a focus. Add the next one even if you haven't yet mastered the previous. This will give you a taste of how great mindful eating can feel.

There's so much more info in the show. You NEED to listen to it.

I'm like all cool rockin the show notes

Zen and the Art of Triathlon Podcast - Power Squash

Click here to get to the show

So I thought it might be nice to post some show notes because you're all gonna wanna do what Brett and I talked about in this awesome episode.

8 tips for controlling your portions:

1. Use smaller plates and bowls

2. Use chopsticks or small utensils

3. Pre-pack leftovers, pack left-overs in serving sizes for easy reheating, avoid serving "family style".

4. Fill half your plate with veggies.

5. Re-frame how you think about and plan your meals. When asking "what am I having for dinner?" think of your veggies first and your protein/carbs as a side dish.

6. When you want seconds (or thirds) ask yourself why. Are you still hungry? Was the food just damn good? Maybe you were distracted while you were eating and missed out on the experience of the meal.

7. Set the mood (it's not lame).

8. When not eating mindfully you aren't able to recognize the triggers and signals from your body, like fullness.

If these tips aren't really making sense its because you need to listen to the show. Do it.

You Win Some You Crash Some

The Ridgefield Tri was my first race of the season. This is only my second season (I was a runner before) so I still make a lot of beginner-scaredy-cat moves, like getting in the water last so no one will kick me. Then I just chill when I swim. That's what I did this time but somehow I was passing everyone in my wave and I was first out of the water. In my head I kept thinking "Woah, I'm so awesome" I think that made me swim faster. I also think I swam faster because I've been doing all my swims at the 50 meter Big Boy Pool.

On the bike it took me awhile to feel warmed up, as usual. I'm stronger this year because I've been riding a lot more. I wasn't being passed as much as usual and I wasn't paying attention to how fast I was going. At one point early on, I was passed by a girl in my AG. My first thought was that it didn't matter because I would catch her on the run as long as I kept my eye on her. Then my superhero powers kicked in and I passed her, like by a lot. At this point I realized there was a good chance I'd be first in my AG because I felt great, was riding well, and running is my super strength so I still had that to look forward to. This realization encouraged me to overzealously take a sharp downhill turn WAY TOO FAST. I knew better. I rode this course a few times with my tri-studs (Javier, Phil and Tom) and I came close, every time, to smooching the guard rail in front of me. The problem is that I love going downhill fast, especially with turns. I love taking risks and I love being scared. Add these things together and they equal STUPID.

It happened in slow-motion... I saw my rear wheel out of the corner of my right eye, fishtailing. I thought uh oh. In response, I applied some brake action, flipped over the front of my bike, tackled the pavement, skidding, skidding, skidding down the hill, somehow totally relaxed the entire time. Then I got up as fast as I could, ran up the hill to my bike and tried to get on before that girl could catch me. I looked at my rear wheel and it was a goner, not only that, my chain was dangling. I also heard my Knight In Shining Fireman Outfit screaming "Don't get on that bike! Are you okay? Don't move!" as he ran towards me down the hill.

Long story short, my Fireman Knight checked my wounds (even the ones on my butt cheeks) and his fireman friend checked my blood pressure and all the rest of that deal. I started to feel dizzy and nauseous and I was yawning a lot so they wanted to call an ambulance. I hate hospitals and ambulances so I disagreed on that particular idea as being a good one. I told them I was probably just a little too excited about my awesome crash, took deep yoga breaths, and magically my blood pressure came back up. I also used my fembot powers of persuasion, which always seem to work ;)

While we waited for the last rider to come through I chatted it up with my new friends. I asked them to describe, in detail, how awesome my crash was. I got to wear a fireman jacket AND a super heavy fireman hat to match. I kept them well entertained. Then they drove me back to the start, listening to my suggestion that it would be helpful to use the sirens for my entrance. We got there and found Javier (my coach) and I skipped over to him, covered in road rash all excited about my first crash.

Overall it was a great day for my tri-studs. Phil was fourth in his AG, Javier made it to the top third, and JH won overall and set a new course record! Also, people were coming up to me and saying that they had never seen someone so happy after crashing. Ain't nothin gonna breaka my stride...

I was not thrilled about removing this bandage

A cute little road kiss.

Knee and shin.

Elbow: day 2

Leaving the race, being a self-sufficient badass.

Oh, and my bike's gonna be okay. Just needs a wheel and some TLC.