The past six weeks I’ve spent extra time training for the June Lake Triathlon, with three fellow VFitters as part of a relay team. The journey took me from the sidelines of the pool as my kids “swim team mom” to in the pool/lake, training hard for the 1 mile open water swim.

And I have to say, this whole journey has been life changing.

Thanks to social media and live interaction with the VFit team, we have been able to share the training journey with my community and am here to close out this chapter, summing up the weekly recaps and story.

I also came up with 5 TOP takeaways to share, in the hopes that there’s pieces in our journey that help inspire you to expand outside your comfort zone, take bigger chances, and enjoy your own personal journey more.

“On July 9th, 2022 the VFit Mountain Goats did it! As a relay team with Rachele on the 1 mile swim, Meghan on the 25 mile bike ride, Kathy on an epic 6.2 mile trail run, and Becky cheering them all on – they completed the race together.

It was a tough course, with variable weather, at an elevation of 8,000 feet, lots of grit and hard work but the team pushed through and came out all smiles and shine on the finish line.”

2 weeks before the race, our running teammate Becky found herself with a major knee injury and had to bow out of the race, leaving us heartbroken to lose her, and scrambling to figure out what to do.

But in true VFit fashion, where there is a will, there is a way – and local teammate Kathy stepped up to the plate to hop in.

A triathlon relay consists of 3 teammates, but in this case, we became 4! Becky came to cheer us on, hold our bags, and give us all the support in the world. The dream is in the team!

My Top 5 Takeaways from the journey, followed by a weekly recap of training:

🌟 Don’t take yourself so serious in life that you stop trying new things and letting yourself get uncomfortable. The biggest growth and reward is when we journey and push through our comfort zone.

🌟 On the flip side, please DO take yourself serious enough to put in the work and effort to chase your goals. Chasing and reaching goals takes training and hard work, I’m most proud of myself for sticking to what I committed to and not letting excuses derail me. I made it work, even on the busiest of weeks, to get my training swims in and it paid off.

🌟Being uncomfortable is ok – in fact, you grow the most from those moments. If you are scared to do something, it’s because you care about the outcome and it’s something you should reach for. There’s plenty of times I felt like the literal fish out of water, but I knew those athletes around me in the pool and lake, were all there chasing the same goal and we all wanted to the best for one another.

🌟 Having a team to do life with makes everything more fun. Your team will help support you, check in on you, and help hold you accountable. The dream really is in the team and you become the sum of who you choose to surround yourself by.

🌟 Most importantly, enjoy the journey!! May we all embrace being “works in progress” in this life! While the race was the end goal, it was that six week journey and all the steps that it took to get there that really made up my journey and what I’m most thankful for. Make sure to enjoy every success, embrace and learn from each stumble or failure, and remember that we all only get one life to live and work to celebrate your wins each day.

6 Weeks of Training Recap:

Week 1

I said yes.

I committed to be on a relay team for the June Lake Tri and I’m the swimming leg – Olympic distance. Funniest part is, 2 local VFitters asked me to be on their team and I thought “say yes more!”

And I did just that.

Between running VFit, teaching classes, taking the dog out and living a pretty active lifestyle, I haven’t trained for anything specific for a long time. But I felt the desire to push myself out of my comfort zone, focus on something with a tangible goal and to use the years of FUNctionsl fitness I’ve gained through VFit to train for this upcoming event.

I hired the best coach around. My 9 year old daughter who is passionate about swimming.

Off we go at 6:45am on day 1 of training! 💦 Bonus – 1:1 time with her, which is hard to come by these days ❤️ Let’s go Mountain Goats!”

Week 2

I know we talk about it in classes all the time.

The importance of accountability and making connections with accountability partners or buddies.

We’ve found at VFit that linking up with a partner for accountability has been proven time and time again to improve our members’ check in totals and overall morale with getting in their workouts.

Accountability goes much farther than just for classes I learned this week!

The biggest thing with finding an accountability partner is that it makes a huge difference on those days when you just don’t feel like it. We all have those days, even us Trainers.

You may not *feel like it*, but if you skip out, you know you are letting someone else down who is supporting you and expecting you to show up, to honor your commitment.

Here’s a huge shoutout to my accountability partner Kathy.

This week was INTENSE in so many ways at home, with it being the first week of summer and all 3 kids home full time. There was also work to get done and the never ended catching up with loose ends, all of which could have taken over my mornings this week, but since I knew you were there to train with me, I showed up.

I showed up for you. I showed up for me. For our triathlon training team, for my family, and our entire VFit community.

Week 3

I’ve found my VFit community is there with me, even when I’m swimming alone in the pool.

First, with all the cross training we do together in our classes together.

Each time my legs burn I think about all the work we do together in classes like Barre and willPower to build muscle endurance.

Or when I start going for speed and my heart starts racing, I think of our Never Miss a Monday Met Mash and Tabata training – together and smiling through it.

Second, all the messages on these posts and also private DMs of support as I push myself to do something I’ve never done before!

The outpouring has been so heartfelt and many have shared that they’ve been inspired to go after a goal they’ve had in the back of their mind’s as well, because these weekly posts have them inspired.

That as you know, means the world to me and is a lot of why I’m sharing my journey with you all.

And third, my VFitter community is literally there with me with each heartbeat as I use my My Zone heart rate monitor and check myself into active class times when other VFitters are taking clasees or working out on their own too.

The second pic shows all of our My Zone tiles as I was swimming, trainer Maria was landscaping, and the other VFitters were all in a live class together.

This added level of connection is just awesome and I felt like we were all together in the pool.
I’m feeling strong and already can see progress with my swim times and stamina in the pool here on week 3.

I look forward to continuing to sharing my weekly accountability posts up until race day!

Week 4

“Swim training week 4 and it’s not getting easier.”

“But I can for sure tell I’m getting stronger!

My My Zone perfectly sums up how I felt this morning, slow to start!

I wanted to quit! Wasn’t feeling it! But I kept going and somewhere in there, my energy and drive kicked in.

Some days you just need to start! Abd like dory says ”just keep swimming.”

I always say in classes, “often times your best workouts come when you really don’t want to show up!”

Challenge yourself fo get through 5 minutes and see where it leads.

Today I ended with my longest swim yet, 50 laps.

A little progress each week adds up to a lot over time.

Week 5

So grateful for my VFit community. I told them about my tri swim training weeks ago and have been openly sharing the journey.

They are truly the best cheer team around!

This may seem like no big deal to many, but it is for me.

Im not a swimmer, I don’t love being cold and I don’t have a ton of extra time to train for a mile open water swim.

But I’m making it happen thanks to a TEAM!

From my 2 vfitters Meghan and Becky who asked me to be on their team. We text each other daily, we cheer each other on, we tease each other – we are team Sierra Mountain Goats.

Becky was even so kind to let me know I wore the wetsuit inside out yesterday 🙌

And here at retreat, each morning I’ve had a group of the most supportive, authentic and genuine cheerleaders along my side.

Today they even encouraged me to do double what we did yesterday, racking in .92 miles total!!

The event is in 2 less than weeks and this whole experience has nothing to do with the results, it’s all in this fun, uncomfortable and out of my comfort zone journey.

Week 6

This swim mom has turned into a passionate swimmer this summer and I couldn’t be more proud of myself.

I’ve never considered myself a swimmer or signed up for a big race like this, but when the opportunity to join in a team being formed by 2 VFitters in my local community for the June Lake Triathlon – with them swim being in my fav lake on earth – I knew the universe was telling me this was my time to rise up and accept the challenge.

Being successful means you need to adapt and embrace change.

When your schedule changes, you have to change your schedule and stick to getting in the activities you’ve chosen to make a priority in your life.

You’ll never have a bunch of extra time to pour into your health, you have to create those windows and make it work because you understand how important it is.

Three ways to do this are: 1) set weekly goals 2) have accountability buddies and 3) show up even when you don’t feel like it.

The kids are home from school for the summer and fitting in triathlon training has gotten admittedly more challenging.

I’ve had to readjust the time of day I do my training, even if my body wants to do it in the morning, it’s not realistic, so I’ve had to will myself to commit to train at different times based on the days’ commitments. This means I’ve even had to do my training swims at night or bring the kids, but I’ve committed to stick to my plan and that means I have to adapt.

I started training 6 weeks ago with 30 laps in the pool which sounded like a ton of swimming, way more than I was used to. Each week, I’ve added 5-10 more and lo and behold, I made it to my end goal!!!

Sometimes progress feels slow, but small increments forward on a consistent basis really add up huge. Our mind and will is oh so powerful, use it wisely in your favor and you too can conquer your own big goals you’ve set for yourself this summer.

Race day is this weekend, look for a few more posts as I close out my training and sharing my accountability posts. Thank you so much for your support throughout this journey.