Best Week Ever

 

There is no way of sugar-coating it, I am a full on Triathlon GEEK!  Ever since my brother and his friends started racing triathlon I have been following the “who’s who” of the professional triathlon world.  However, my interest/obsession really kicked into high gear once I started training and racing in triathlon myself.  Naturally, I was more interested in the female triathletes then the men, as I saw them as my role models, and honestly what I hoped I could become one day myself.  Well, cut to early 2008 when I was already signed up for my first Ironman, and chugging the Triathlon Kool Aid, I came across a female pro named Hillary Biscay.  That name sounded very familiar, like I knew her somehow, and when I looked her up I discovered that she was in fact from my home town of Palos Verdes,  very cool.  Even though we had an iron-clad hometown connection, I did not really know her all that well, because since my parent's divorce, I only visited PV on the weekends.  Nevertheless, when I asked about Hillary to the social media director of Palos Verdes, my Step mother, Sally, she told me that Hillary was wonderful, and that she tutored my younger brother Bo when he was in high school studying for the SAT’s; which I took as even more of a reason to cheer Hillary on when she raced ironmans all over the world!

A couple of months before my first Ironman in 2008, I mustered up the courage to email her, and as cheesy as the email was I’m sure, she actually wrote me back.  This back and forth went on a couple times a year for the next year or so, until I finally decided to go all-out and hire her as my coach for the 2010 season.  That was a HUGE year for me, I improved in the swim, bike, and run, and finished off the year crossing the finish line at Ironman Arizona to an ecstatic coach and friend waving her arms at me with genuine glee splashed across her face, it was amazing. 

The last few years we have continued to stay in touch, even though she is not my official coach anymore, I still apply everything Hillary taught me to my training philosophy for both marathons and triathlons, even if it is done by afar.  Then again, sometimes in life one  needs to snatch an opportunity that may only come by once in a lifetime, and over the last five days I have been living the dream.  Hillary and her husband, Maik Twelsiek, a phenomenal triathlete himself, put on a training camp for 5 days in their home town of Tucson, AZ, which for like-minded folk like me, is like Heaven in the desert.  After much thought, and discussions with my husband, I decided that I would make the leap to leave town, and my family, in order to train along side the best of the best in the triathlon universe, so off to the desert I went!  I swam more, rode my bike more, and ran more than I have all year, but each work out was fun, tough, and rewarding.  I met amazing people from all over the country, who just like me, think Hillary is an incredible triathlete, and a true role model for all of us wanting to push ourselves to the limit, and beyond. 

For more details about the training camp, and amazingness in triathlon and life in general, check out Hillary's blog, www.hillarybiscay.com