Now, it’s just us girls. Well, it’s just us moms who, thanks to child bearing, have droopy boobs of all shapes and sizes. I’m also a D cup. Trying to find a sports bra to hold ”the girls” down is beyond challenging.

It’s been my experience that finding the best bra to swim, bike and run in is like finding your favorite department store or coffee shop.  You have to experience several to find your favorite.

Here are two sports bras that have worked for me:

1. CW-X Xtra Support Zip Bra. The company doesn’t make this with the zip front anymore, but it was the very first sports bra that stopped all that bouncing.
   

   CW-X Xtra Support Zip Bra

2.  Under Armour Endure High-Impact Sports Bra. It’s another zip front and what I currently use. (I wish I could say that was me modeling the bra in the photo below, but alas, maybe next time.)
   

   Under Armour Endure High-Impact Sports Bra

Looking for other options? Click this link for other ideas for all bra sizes courtesy of the November 2011 issue of Runner’s World.

Not sure how to find a bra that fits?

When trying on sports bras, follow these tips:

• Run in place. No duh, I know. Does the bra hold you down without constraining you too much? Are you bulging out anywhere?
• Lean towards the mirror as if you are riding your bike in the aero or drop position. Make sure “the girls” stay in place in this position as well.
• Look for a comfortable, moisture-wicking fabric. This will help you avoid wearing a wet bra forever after your swim.

Check out these articles for more ways to find a sports bra that fits:

http://www.rei.com/expertadvice/articles/sports+bras.html

http://running.about.com/od/womensrunning/ht/sportsbras.htm

Please use the contact form or response form below to share what sports bra works best for you.

Here’s another resource for kid triathletes:

Kidzone from USAT

http://www.usatriathlon.org/audience/athlete-resources/kid-zone.aspx

ORIGINAL POST: 

I can’t really say if being a tri-mom makes me look cool in the eyes of my kids—I’m guessing not—but I do try to include them in my training and racing as much as possible.

Here’s how I try to get them involved:

• Drag them to kid-friendly races. It’s certainly easier and more motivating to have your kids cheer you on during a race. Before you sign up for your next race, check to see if other activities are scheduled throughout the day of your race to keep your spectators occupied.
  

  My Girls Cheering Me on During the Lobsterman Triathlon 2010

• Sign them up for their own races. Some races include runs or short triathlons for the kids after you finish your race. Some are more serious than others. Check out the following sites to find some:
• http://www.usatriathlon.org/elite-international/youth-elite.aspx
• http://www.trifind.com/gs_kids/KidsTriathlons.html
• http://www.ironkids.com/
• Have them join you during your training. When the weather’s nice, my kids will bike or rollerblade with me while I run on a local rail trail. When they were younger, I would push them in a jogging stroller. My kids know join me while I do my strength training DVD, which involves jumping jacks and other exercises they are familiar with.

My Youngest Likes to Hang Out on My Bike

Of course, how much kids can get involved certainly depends on their age. My kids are now 8 and 11 so they obviously can participate more than toddlers can.

Please share how you keep your kids involved in your triathlon experiences.

I take a few months off in the fall—as you can tell by my lack of blogs lately—except for participating in my year-round swim team.  

But with no triathlon race schedule to follow, it’s hard to stay motivated. And winter here in New England is not ideal for biking and running outdoors.

Brrr...

So here’s what I’m doing to try and get back into the tri-groove:

• Planning this year’s races. As I said, without a schedule, the most I’ve done lately to get motivated for the next tri-season is to watch Ironman Kona on the Universal Sports network. By mapping out this year’s races, I can set up a training schedule.

Chrissie Wellington, Triple World Ironman Champion (2007, 2008 and 2009). Photo courtesy of triathlonshots.com

• Setting a challenging goal. I’ve actually signed up for a half-ironman!  How the heck am I going to do that? Well, thanks to beginnertriathlete.com, I have a plan to start following.
• Signing up for other types of races. I’ll be attending a few swim meets and running my first half marathon this spring. If you’re lucky enough to go on vacation somewhere warm, try to find a race in that area.
• Meeting with friends for indoor cycling workouts. Every Saturday morning, we meet and do the Spinervals “Have Mercy” workout—or as I call it—the “kill-me-now” workout. I have to admit, I hate indoor cycling, but working out with my friends makes it easier. There’s also spin classes at my gym that I hope to try soon.
•  Focusing on strength training. I’ve never done any strength training, despite how often I hear of its importance. I recently bought Strendurance 1.0 – 12 Week Strength Development Program so I’m hoping to improve in that area. I’m also working with my tri-coach to develop an individualized strength training program. If you’re looking for a tri-coach in your area, go to the USAT site. 

Please leave me a comment to let me know what you’re doing to motivate yourself during the off-season.

1. Swimming in a pool or lake does not prepare you for an ocean swim triathlon. OK, this seems fairly obvious. I swam in three ocean water tris last season and found the swim challenging but not impossible. So I thought I was safe to simply practice in the pool and the lake.  Unfortunately, my prior ocean swims were in calm bays. When I did the Vineyard Warrior last month, I swam the rough waters of Inkwell Beach in Oaks Bluff. I hate to admit it but I was so seasick I almost puked. One of the kayakers asked me if I was OK. This despite the fact that swimming is my best discipline.
2. Riding up hills is my biggest challenge. I live in a hilly area and ride them all the time, but I constantly get passed during races. Maybe my form is bad. Maybe it’s because my Athena-sized body is holding me back. I do easily zip pass all those skinny triathletes on the descents, so there may be something to that theory. I got passed the most during the Pirate Tri, so I’d like to give props to Maine triathletes. They are hardcore!
3. Placing in the top three is awesome if you can manage it.  While doing the Westborough Sprint Triathlon this August, I was keeping track (as best I could) of my fellow Athena athletes. My goal was to somehow place in the top three–something I’ve never done before. During the bike I figured I was probably the 3rd or 4th Athena. But in the last half mile of the bike, I was suddenly past by two Athenas. I got so mad that they were ruining my plans! I wound up running my fastest 5K ever and I past them back, resulting in a third place Athena finish.

   

   Top 3 Athena – Westborough Sprint Triathlon (that’s me in the yellow)

   This photo brings me to my fourth point:

4. Looking good in a triathlon photo is not possible. I keep hoping that maybe those next set of professional photos will finally get it right. Well guess what? It never happens. The photos are fine. It’s just me that looks bad. And who wouldn’t after swimming, running and biking? Triathlon is just not a glamorous sport.   

 So what lessons did you learn this season?

Sun Rises on the Vineyard Warrior Transition Area, September 11, 2011 (Photo posted on Facebook by Max Bossman)

The night before, I sat in my room at a small B&B and performed my favorite pre-race tradition: painting my nails a funky color.

Crackle Nail Polish is so Awesome!

I don’t get manicures or do my own nails very often. But for some reason, I get really motivated seeing my crazy nails on a race day as my fingers start my swim stroke or when my thumbs press on top of my aerobars.

On the morning of the race, I always do the following three things:

1)       Eat a bagel with peanut butter and drink some coffee. I do this about two or three hours before the race. Then I hydrate with water and Gatorade. About a half hour before the race, I enjoy a PowerBar.

2)      Mentally practice my transitions. Here are some of the things I go over:

• Where’s my bike going to be when I enter transition area after the swim?
• Where do we bike/run in and out?
• What is the order of the items I put on for my bike and run? (For the bike I first put on my shoes, then my sunglasses, and finish with my helmet.)

3)      Scope out the swim. Knowing where the buoys are located is a given, but I also check what is behind the buoys in the distance because sometimes you can’t see the buoys when you’re sighting. It’s good to have another reference point. Here’s a good video that discusses this:

 So tri-moms, do you have any pre-race rituals?

If so, leave a comment below. 

Here are nine ways—some obvious and some not so obvious—to squeeze training into your schedule:

1. Find a babysitter (if you don’t have one already). Yes, this is a no-brainer, but sometimes it is easier said than done. Check out care.com or sittercity.com. Both let you post babysitting jobs and search for caretakers near you. However, their free service is a bit limited. You have to pay to get people’s contact information.
2. Tap your existing resources. Got family or friends nearby? Ask them to watch the kids. Use bribes if necessary. Babysit their kids in exchange. I’m lucky because my neighbors are often available (and nice enough) to watch my kids when I ride or run.
3. Get the most of out your weekends. I leave my longer training workouts for the weekend when my husband is more likely to be around to watch my girls. 
4. Exercise early. I swim with my YMCA Masters swim team at 5:00 in the morning two to three times a week. I make it back before my husband leaves for work. Then I put the girls on the bus and I’m off to work.
   Note to single moms: I don’t mean to exclude you with all of the “my husband” talk. This is just my experience. Please feel free to share your ideas.
   Note to all moms: I could advise you to “exercise late” but my personal experience has proven two things: 1) You’ll usually be too tired at the end of the day to work out and just skip it or 2) If you do exercise late, you will have insomnia that night because the exercise jolts your system into high gear and it won’t shut down.
5. Embrace the indoors. Invest in a treadmill or a bike trainer and your kids can be there while your train. I do this during the offseason just because it gets too cold to run and bike outside.
6. Take advantage of the gym or YMCA. Most offer a drop-off program for kids that are either part of the membership fee or charge a small additional fee.
7. Join a tri club to meet other tri-moms. One club I know changes their weekly training location so the members can alternate babysitting duties. To find a club near you, click here.
8. Be creative. One tri-mom I knew would bring her bike trainer to her kids’ soccer games and ride on the sidelines while cheering them on!
9. Remember it will get easier.  When my children were very young, I could only participate in one or two sprint distance triathlons a year, because I could not find someone to watch my kids long enough to do more serious training. Now my kids are older and I can leave them alone for short periods of time. The older you get, the more time you’ll have to train. So there is a positive side to getting older!

So how do you find the time to train? Please send in your tips by using the “Leave a Comment” link below.

The main goal of Tri-Moms Blog is to build a community of moms who love to swim, bike and run, and are looking for ways to improve their triathlons and share their own experience.

Together we’ll discuss the challenges of raising a family while training for triathlons.

Who the Heck am I?

My name is Susan and I live in Massachusetts. I first starting doing triathlons in an attempt to get some semblance of my body back after my youngest was born. My first triathlon was a Danskin tri in 2004. Since then, I’ve participated in about 20 races.

Here’s what I’m not: an elite or leading age-group triathlete. No such luck.

Here’s what I am: an Athena athlete (defined by USA Triathlon as a 150 pound-plus woman triathlete) who participates in a few Sprint and Olympic Distance triathlons each year. I’m a great swimmer, but a speed-challenged biker and runner.

What am I Going to Blog About?

I know you could care less about my T1 or bike leg time of my latest race, so I won’t share them. If I talk about a race, it will be to review it or share what I learned while doing it.

I plan to share with you my observations and advice about my triathlon experience.  I hope you’ll give me the same in return. Tell me I’m right. Tell me I’m wrong. Ask question. Let’s just get a conversation going.

You’ll see some rants and raves, opinions about what “the experts” are saying, maybe some product reviews and much more. Tri-moms.com will always be evolving and so will the topics.

If you’re a mom who is new to triathlons, I hope you’ll come here to learn from the more experienced tri-moms. If you are a tri-mom with some shorter distance triathlons under your belt, I hope you’ll share your advice and get some new tips from others. If you specialize in half or full Ironman races, you won’t be learning anything new from the likes of me, but please, stick around. We will need your advice.

How Can I Tell You What I Think?

Use the form below to send me your comments. While we’re on the subject, please read my comment policy:

1. Feel free to say what you have to say. Ask what you want to ask. Comments are going to be the heart and soul of Tri-Moms Blog.
2. Point to a link on your site or someone else’s site if it is relevant to the topic at hand. Simply linking to your own site or blog post will be frowned upon. Irrelevant posts will be removed.
3. Be respectful of others. No insults, meanness or flaming.  Personal attacks will result in an immediate ban.
4. Keep it clean. Moderate language is allowed, but I reserve the right to edit or delete anything offensive.
5. Leave the spam in the kitchen or the pantry. Spam filters are in place but any spam comments that slip through will be immediately deleted.

In closing, I’d like to leave you with my very first Triathlon Drawing of the Month.

This artwork was done by the very talented Catherine Thacker. (She also happens to be my niece so please pardon the nepotism.) If you would like to submit a child’s triathlon artwork for consideration, please fill out the Contact Form on the upper right side of the page to express your interest.

Tri-Moms Rule!