This Post is Brought to You by the Letter B!

 The Letter B: Balance, Balls, Banana Seats, Baseball, Bronchitis

...guess what, it's already near the end of August. Rev3 Maine is this weekend and I once again have a crew from across the country coming to Maine for the EPIC race. This is truly my favorite race of the year and I am so excited to once again have a blast.

3rd Place overall, 2013 "Team Small"

with Angela, who will be back this year! 

Scott (Train Fat Boy Train) returns to Maine this year! 

This year has been one of transition and struggle for me. Trying to balance all the balls in my life: work, family, clients, nutrition, and training. It has proved difficult, and it has been a bit of a struggle for me to put my own needs aside for time to train and work so many hours. SO much of who I am is tied up into training and racing and triathlon. I'd be lying if I said at times, I feel lost and incomplete without hours of riding, running and swimming. I miss it so...and as Cedar Point rolls around, I am engulfed in plans for one of my athletes racing the full there. I recall last year and remember with fondness the training, the chats with Coach Sharpie and the excitement building to perform. And I simply miss it.

CP 140.6 2013 at the finish with my INSPIRATION, Lola

However, I refuse to let the family ball drop. I am getting to the small amounts of free time I have with my daughter, who is growing up way to fast. I am so lucky to have been able to witness so many firsts with her this year. No more training wheels. Swimming like a fish. Running her first mile. Reconnecting with my childhood best friend, Beth, and watching OUR kids play together.

my little fish

I have always loved biking and my Dad saved my very favorite bike from my younger days in hopes that someday I would have a child and he or she would ride it.

Hello 1978-The Cactus Flower, complete with banana seat.

We had an amazingly relaxing family vacation at a lake house this summer, with lots of swimming, kayaking and canoeing. It was a little slice of heaven!

not a care in the world...laying on the dock

Family time was a big theme this summer and we had a blast at the local baseball games. Lola also won a heated game of "musical chairs".

I also spent a majority of the summer with a bronchial infection that just would not go away! Three rounds of antibiotics, inhalers, allergy meds, chest x-rays...you name it, they were trying it. Finally, I am getting some relief and things seem to be clearing up. I certainly lost a ton of fitness this summer (isn't it usually the other way around?). It is what it is...perhaps this was the Universe's way of shouting "SLOW DOWN JEN"

So with Rev3Maine weekend here, I am racing the oly and I will have fun. I will enjoy the swim in my beautiful Maine ocean, ride the rollers of the country bike course and will smile and cheer others on during the run. I don't care about the clock, PR's, Podiums or anything else. I will stay at the finish line and cheer until the last finisher of the day crosses (because it is my favorite part of the race!!).

Lola and her friend, Bella doing tires flips at one of my bootcamp workouts

I have been able to help so many OTHERS this year and that makes it all worth it. I am able to give back in ways I never imagined. Sharing my own story and journey is inspiring others to change their own lives. Through coaching, personal training and nutrition, I am helping others reach THEIR goals.  I love being able to do that and believe that is my mission in life to help others feel awesome. Just like I do every day.

I know what it feels like to be the before...and I know what it feels like to be the after. Every person deserves to feel amazing in their own body and to have the confidence to chase their dreams! 

Triathlon Rocks! A Giveaway

Before we get to the good stuff, just a quick update. I am still sick but on the mend-I had an appointment for my annual physical on Thursday afternoon and when my doctor heard me speak (well, lack there of since my voice was GONE) she asked if I felt as awful as I sounded. A listen to my lungs answered for me. In her words "your lungs sound junky" and I was at a point where I would either start to get better on my own OR go downhill and as of right now, I was rocking a pretty good case of bronchitis. She wrote up an Rx for antibiotics and told me to get some Mucinex to help get things "moving along".
Her other Rx? Take a break from training for a few days!! (imagine that) I am, by the way.
She is an avid runner and gets the whole training thing. She is even doing her first triathlon this summer so we did spent a great deal of time discussing triathlon (another imagine that moment folks). We chatted about bikes and OWS and fitting it all in with kids.
We also laughed at my electronic medical record photo on file-she said it didn't even look like me anymore. The picture was pre-Lola and even pre-pregnancy so I was freaking huge very fat ginormous a bit bigger back then.
Who knew that an annual visit to your OB/GYM could be such a fun filled afternoon?
So I am taking it easy and waiting until I can breath clearly without any stabbing pain to actually get my heart rate up there. Yesterday I walked a couple miles on the TM, did some core work and mowed the lawn with the push mower just so I didn't feel like a slug. Today I'll lift a little upper body and the rest of the weekend we will be busy planting our garden and splitting/stacking 4 cords of wood. Yup, the good ole WoodB!tch Workout.
______________________________________________________________
Triathlon Rocks!!

I have been reading the blog Irondiva for as long as I have been following blogs. I was anxiously awaiting her race report on Rev 3 Knoxville when I stumbled upon a picture of her wearing a tee shirt that made me laugh out loud.

I had to have this tee shirt!!

I searched for Triathlon Rocks online and they had a site that was under construction. So I searched some more and I found them on Twitter and then I found them on Facebook. I am SO good at stalking people huh??

I tweet to Irondiva (aka Colleen, CBK, @cbkingery) and @TriathlonRocks how I need to get this tee shirt. Agnese responded to my tweet and the e-mail exchange was on from there.

Their site launched and I was able to view all of the other tee's they offered in addition to the NOW FAMOUS "I pee on my bike" tee.
I loved all the tees they had to offer and saw a couple that I need to add to my collection.
Agnese got my two tees out to my lickity-split and before I knew it, my friendly mail man was here with my package.
Of course, I picked

I PEE ON MY BIKE

and

PEACE...LOVE...EXCEPT ON RACE DAY!



so cute with a skirt!

I was impressed right away with the cut and fabric of the tee shirts. These are no run of the mill cheapo cotton tee shirts. The ladies cut is a slightly fitted, super soft cotton. I liked the length of the shirt too-a lot of ladies cut tees I come across are too short on me. It's not like I am LONG or anything but I liked the longer cut of their tees.

I have worn my I PEE ON MY BIKE shirt out and about several times since I got it. I showed it off to my buddies in the tri club and it sparked several conversations and To Pee or Not To Pee--that is the question!!

I wore it to pick up pizza for the family and got some interesting looks from some of the people in the pizza place-guess they don't know about saving time during a tri!

I wore it to the gym and heard a couple chuckles and got lots of questions. Several people (non-triathlete) where grossed out at the thought of peeing on your bike but after discussing the virtues of it, they understood. A friend and marathon runner was all about the pee. She pees on the run (only during a race) if necessary! Yay for pee!!

Triathlon Rocks is Lola Approved!

another winner

Bottom line? I love, love my new tees!!

So do you want to get your OWN Triathlon Rocks tee shirt?? Agnese & Steve are being SO generous as to offer one lucky reader their own tee!! You CAN pick I PEE ON MY BIKE or you can pick a different style--there are several to choose from.

Here is how you can win! As usual, this contest is open to FOLLOWERS of my blog. Not already a follower of Miles, Muscles & Mommyhood? Just click that FOLLOW button to the right side of the screen. Once you have done that, you can enter! Please leave an individual comment for each entry.

MANDATORY: Visit Triathlon Rocks and take a look around their site. Tell me which tee shirt you would pick if you win this fabulous contest and why you picked that design.

Additional ways to earn and entry:

1) Visit Triathlon Rocks on Facebook, like them and then leave a comment telling them that Jen from Miles, Muscles & Mommyhood sent you over.

2) Follow Triathlon Rocks and MilesMusclesMom (me) on Twitter! Tweet about this contest-you can make up your own tweet or send these out:

I PEE ON MY BIKE #giveaway by @TriathlonRocks & @MilesMusclesMom http://tinyurl.com/trirocks

@TriathlonRocks tee shirt #giveaway @milesmusclesmom http://tinyurl.com/trirocks #triathlon

3) Tell me your best PEE story!! There may or may not be a bonus prize for the best one!!

4) Spread the word about this contest!! Share on Facebook, your blog, email your friends, write it on the wall of the gym, hand out pamphlets at your next race, etc. +1 entry for each way you share the Triathlon Rocks love.

Here is Lola's video debut to celebrate Triathlon Rocks!!

I will accept entries for this contest until June 11th at midnight.

From the eligible entries, one random winner will be selected and announced shortly after that.

Disclaimer: I purchased my tee shirts from Triathlon Rocks with a generous discount provided by the company. The opinions expressed in this review are my own and at no time was I asked for a positive review in exchange for the discount.