November 11, 2016

Friday Favorites #2

It’s Friday and I couldn’t be happier that the weekend is almost here. Cory was out of town this week for work so I didn’t get as much exercise or rest as I would like. I am looking forward to starting the weekend off on a great foot.

Here’s to somethings that I am loving this week:

#30thankfuldays on Instagram – It’s fun to focus on things that I am thankful for everyday, especially this week when tensions were high.

Brew Dr. Kombucha being sold at my local store, it is one of my favorite brands of kombucha.

Homemade Cranberry Orange Bread – I love finding new holiday recipes and this one did not disappoint. Our lovely neighbor mowed our front lawn for us, how is that for random kindness. I baked them a loaf of this bread as a thank you.

Sorel’s Major Moto Boot – I am in love with these boots, they are super comfortable and will be great once winter finally arrives here in Colorado

Is there anything you are loving this week? It’s time to start gathering ideas for gifts for loved ones!

September 21, 2016

Ironman or Ultra?

I am trying to be patient, I really am, but it’s not something I am good at. This trait has gotten me in trouble in the past. I want to do all the race and I want to do them RIGHT NOW. The trouble is when I try to do too many things too quickly I tend to do everything not that well or worse not at all.

So I am trying to be patient with planning races, on getting back into shape and with my body. It is very tempting to try to race long this year, but I know that would do me no good. If I try to race too soon it would e nothing but sad and slow and I would likely get injured.

That being said I have always been one to do better when I have a goals race to train for. So I have started to plot what races I would like to do in 2017 and the big question is Ironman or Ultra. I really want to do both but I know I need to choose. There are good reasons to choose either one:

Ironman

A length that I know I can do and love!
Doing all three sports will help me get in shape quicker without getting injured
I enjoy training with local triathlon clubs
Swim bike run is so much fun and I always miss it when I take a break
There is an awesome race in my backyard that I have never done

Ultra

I have done Ironmans but I have never done a 50 or 100 mile trail race
I LOVE trail running
It seems so much less overwhelming to focus on one sport
I have wanted to race in the Leadville series for years now
Leadville isn’t exactly in my backyard but it’s close enough to get out on the course to train on weekends

I will keep soul searching until one becomes the clear winner (I am slightly leaning one way already) but either way my focus for now is strength training and building back base fitness.

What would you do, Ironman or Ultra?

September 16, 2016

My Breastfeeding Journey // How I Increased My Milk Supply

I went back and forth A LOT about publishing this post. I assume that 99.9% of people that might stumble across this blog are likely not interested in breastfeeding. But breastfeeding is hard especially, in the early days. I found a lot of peace in reading other mom’s stories and struggles knowing I was not alone. I also learned a lot by reading what other mom’s did to increase their supply. I finally decided I should publish this in case my story could help another new mom.

I assumed that I would start breastfeeding in the beginning and all would be fine. I even told myself that if I HAD to use formula that would be okay (and it is fine) but as they say everything changes when you have a baby and those hormones are no joke!

I had some issues with hemorrhaging after giving birth to Cannon, I found this resource very helpful in explaining what happens in a Postpartum Hemorrhage (PPH) and how it can impact recovery and breastfeeding. If you had a PPH I highly recommend reading it. Long story short my milk took a long time to come in and was not enough to feed Cannon and help him grow.

When Cannon was born he was in the 65th percentile for weight and 88th percentile for height. This put him at a healthy 39th percentile for BMI. When we took him to the pediatrician at 4 days old he had lost over a pound and was in the 3rd percentile for BMI. This was way more than the recommended weight loss that most babies have after birth. We saw two different lactation specialists and it was determined that his latch was good and I likely just didn’t have enough milk for him and he was becoming dehydrated. My heart was breaking that my baby wasn’t getting enough milk and I felt like a failure. immediately the Pediatrician gave us some supplemental formula to give Cannon right there in the office and some to take with us as well. She also reassured me that Cannon was fine and if we kept working on breastfeeding him my milk would come in. In the meantime we should supplement to be sure he was getting what he needed. You can supplement with breast milk banks but given that Cannon needed to have something immediately we went with our pediatricians recommendation and used supplemental formula.

After a few days my milk did come in and Cannon started to put weight back on so I was less panicked. I was still irritated after a couple of weeks that I still wasn’t making quite enough and was having to give Cannon at least one bottle of formula a day. I made it my mission to increase my supply. I spoke to my midwife, Cannon’s pediatrician, a lactation specialists and did a lot of research. After a couple weeks of hard work I was able to increase my supply and even start a freezer stash for when I went back to work or emergencies.

I found that reading what other new moms had done so helpful when I was struggling so I thought I would share what worked for me.

**I am not a doctor or lactation specialist, although all of these strategies were cleared by my professionals. Everyone is different so you should discuss with your doctor before trying anything!

Things I know worked for me:

supplements! I take two different supplements that are meant to increase milk supply:
- Honest Lactation Plus – These have lots of herbs that are shown to increase milk supply. I take one tablet twice a day.
- Fenugreek is shown to help increase milk supply, and I definitely noticed an increase after I started taking it. You should take between 1200-2400 mg a day. The Lactation plus pills have Fenugreek in them as well so I take 2 Fenugreek in the AM and PM each and 3 capsules with lunch. These will make you smell like a maple bar which is annoying but there are worse things to smell like.

Add pumping into your day even if you are exclusively breastfeeding. In the beginning I would nurse Cannon then hook myself up to the pump. I would barely get any milk, it was frustrating and defeating. But the extra pumping signals to your body that it needs to make more milk and slowly I started to produce more. Eventually I figured out the right times to pump. Most women, including me, produce more milk in the morning than the evening. I gave up pumping past 3pm but I added pumping sessions over night. We are very lucky that Cannon sleeps most of the night but I still set my alarm for midnight and two am to wake up and pump.
Upgrade your pump and parts. I thought about upgrading from my Medela In Style pump to a hospital grade pump. I have friends who have said they are great. In the end I decided that since I was making more milk than he needed in a day and had been adding to my freezer stash that we didn’t need to make the investment. I did upgrade the flanges from the ones that came with my pump to Pumpin’ Pals Super Shields these are more comfortable and do allow me to get more milk from the In Style pump.

I also tried a couple other tricks like eating lactation cookies with Brewers Yeast and eating more oatmeal but gave up on those after not seeing much difference.

And of course you should get as much sleep as possible (HA!), drink lots of water, exercise, eat well and be kind to yourself! Good luck to all the new mamas out there!!!

For more information:

Increasing Your Milk Supply, Without Losing Your Mind (From MomLovesBest.com)

August 28, 2016

Breck Crest 10K Trail Race Report

On Saturday I was super excited to run at Breck Crest again! The last two years I have run the half marathon and loved it. Knowing that this is a difficult course all above 9000 feet there was no way I would be ready to run the half marathon 4 weeks after starting to run again. The 10K was still a bit of a stretch but I love this race so much I wanted to give it a go. I won’t go too much in this post on how I did and focus more on just the race and how it was run.

The race starts and ends on the River Walk in Breckenridge. This is an ideal place as it is scenic and also has many clean, flushing(!!!) toilets and free parking. Because the race is small the start is low key and relaxed. The marathon, half and 10k all have separate starts with bike lead outs to wind racers out of town, to the ski hills and finally onto single track. The trails are smooth and wind through forested mountain hillside.

[Source]

Unfortunately I don’t have any pictures of the course because I decided to not carry my phone. As I was running I really wished I had grabbed our GoPro. Both the half and full marathons run around the back and over the top of the Ten Mile Range. The 10K runs about half way up then cuts around front and then rejoins the half marathon course.

THe first half of the course is mainly up hill on single track in the forest. After about two and a half miles you end up running out onto the ski runs and follow some jeep roads. This part has amazing views of the surrounding peaks and the town of Breckenridge.

[Source]

There is one aid station for the 10K well stocked with water, Gatorade and Honey Stinger products. Just when you reach the aid station you are back on single track to wind your way down the mountain. Most of the trails were smooth but there was a couple sections that were on very technical terrain covered in loose rocks. I believe in the past years we ran on the jeep roads instead of the trail but this year the Spartan Race was on the road.

I was a little worried when I heard that a Spartan race was running on the same day on some of the same trails. The Spartan Race has over 10,000 participants! I am all for people getting out and doing whatever activity makes them happy and keeps them moving but I worried how it might impact my little race. I was happily surprise that there was very little impact. There was plenty of parking when we arrived and we got a spot close the the race start. Our race had to be rerouted a little to not be on the same trails as the Spartan competitors. The only tricky bit was where we had to cross the road the Spartan races were running up. There were SO MANY people it looked like a big city marathon! Luckily I didn’t have to wait too long before darting across and continuing on my way back into town.

The race ends back at the river walk in town, it’s a little short of 10K at about 5.8ish miles in true trail race fashion. The finish area is a great low-key party atmosphere at the finish. There is a large grassy area and access to a small creek so it is a nice area for families to wait for their racers. There is also a Starbucks about a hundred yards away for a convenient caffeine fix. The tech t-shirt is nice and I like the design but it is the same design every year so I have one in three colors. The half and full marathon finishers received medals that looked really nice.

Overall I think this is a great race and I was really impressed at how the dealt with the challenge of the conflicting time of the Spartan race.

July 17, 2016

Cannon // 1 Month Check In

I can’t believe it, Cannon turns 1 month old today. It’s super cliche as every parent says it but the time really does fly, I feel like I just had him last week, but on the other hand I can’t imagine life without him!

Cannon has been a fairly easy baby so far, when he gets fussy he usually just needs to eat, this boy loves food. He is up almost 2 pounds since his birth and is working on fattening up his skinny legs. He still has blond hair and blue eyes, I am convinced that these will darken to brown as Cory has such dark features.

They may not be epic mountain trails but these little neighborhood walks with my family feel pretty great #momlife #cmcn

We have been getting out to the grocery store, family gatherings and on walks as often as possible. We have avoided enclosed areas with lots of people until after his two month appointment where he will start his immunizations to avoid catching anything. We did have one big outing into the mountains today in celebration of his 1 month “birthday”. Cannon did great and Cory and I were very happy to get up into the mountains and enjoyed a picnic and walk.

Cannon turned 1 month old today so we celebrated by taking him on his first mountain adventure. He was an angle and we are excited to plan more family trips #Cannon #cmcn ❤️

Developmentally there aren’t huge jumps yet as Cannon is just getting used to being out in the world but he is getting stronger and stays awake much longer than when we first brought him home. He loves to be held while he sleeps and hates being too hot or hungry.

Right now we have lucked out with sleep, Cannon tends to only get us up once overnight to nurse. It really has been a magical month being home with my little boy and bonding with Cory about how much we love him. I know I will miss this time with a sleepy tiny baby so I am just trying to soak it in and commit it all to memory.

July 6, 2016

Welcome to the World Cannon

On June 17th Cory and I welcomed our son Cannon Michael Curtis-Nardin into the world.

Welcome to the world Cannon Michael Curtis-Nardin. Born 6/17 weighing 7lbs 13oz and 20.5 in long. We are sooooo in love with you!!!! ❤️

Our lives are forever changed for the better and we can’t imagine life without him.

January 3, 2016

2016 Intentions

This year thinking about goals or resolutions has been harder than past years. Normally I love this time of year with the fresh start and the feeling of all the possibilities that the new year could bring. I also would have my race schedule pretty well laid out with excitement at getting after some juicy training.

Obviously this year will look a little different, with a baby due in June there will likely not be any big race adventures for me in 2016 and definitely none in the first half of the year. But it is very important to us to continue to have an active lifestyle after our baby is born. I am certain it will look different and be much more complicated but we are committed to continuing in endurance sports.

In my wildest hopeful dreams there could be a marathon for me at the end of 2016, but I have never given birth or recovered from something so big physically so I will be patient and kind to myself and see how things progress. If that means the big race for 2016 is a half marathon or even a 5K that is fine too as long as I am back out on the trails.

So instead of setting data based goals and locking in training cycles I will keep my eye on the big picture and try to keep the following intentions in mind for 2016:

Chase the light

Take risks

Find Patience

Practice Kindness

December 31, 2015

2015.

2015 was a pretty fun year, full of travel, family and love. Here’s a look back at some of the highlights:

I started a new job early in the year

Ran on as many Boulder trails as possible

A quick trip in March to Moab for the Behind the Rocks Ultra

Cory did great on a wind, cold, wet day, #proudwife #BostonMarathon #BostonStrong

Traveled to Boston to watch Cory run the the Boston Marathon

Beautiful morning for a graduation #hopefullynotthelasttime

In May we traveled to Santa Fe to celebrate my graduation

Last workout of the day done! Lots of wildlife out, pelicans, great blue heron, bunnies and one wild pug #IMTraining #IMCanada #WinstonThePug #ironpug

June/July was lots of training for summer races

Bikes racked and ready it's almost go time!!! #teamsoas2015 #weareSOAS #IMBoulder70point3

Ironman Boulder 70.3 brought the heat and the fun

Whisper really is stunning! Also looking forward to getting home and plotting new adventures

July took us to Whistler where my Ironman was cut short by ridiculous weather but it was still well worth the visit

Super inspiring weekend cheering and volunteering at the Leadville 100 #lt100 #ultramarathon #trailrun

August brought more training and volunteering at the Leadville 100 again (I am putting in my time so when my year comes around I will get in for sure!)

In September we headed to California for Ironman Lake Tahoe

In October Cory and ran off to Disneyland for one last trip with just the two of us, we knew we were planning on starting a family and everything would change soon

In November we added a family member in the form of a French Bulldog named Humphry, he is the sweetest little clown

Cory is excited to match our little one for next season #gobroncos

In December we celebrated with family and finally announced that we are expecting a (human) addition to the family in June

Overall 2015 was pretty great but we are mainly looking forward to 2016 and all of the new exciting changes.

December 28, 2015

Silence

This little blog has been pretty quite the last few months….

I never meant to let it sit for this long but you know how things can sometime go. After Tahoe I wanted to disconnect a little and just focus on time with loved ones and getting things done at work.

Then the perfect storm of circumstances hit and I found I had nothing to say and no time to say anything in anyway.

Personally I did want a little break from social media, I stopped posting and even stopped checking in on social media.

Professionally my coworker left for another job leaving a lot more on my plate and much less desire to look at a computer after work.

Athletically both Cory and I were heading into our off season so there weren’t any country roads, mountain trails or sweat drenched intervals to post about.

But most of all there was a shift in focus. Cory and I had been planning for a long time to shift our focus from endurance events to starting a family. We were so grateful to get pregnant in late September but soon after I started to feel awful. I had no energy and quickly became ill most days. While I had hoped that I would run through almost all of my pregnancy that quickly became too difficult to do on a consistent basis so I had little to talk about here.

I am not very good with subterfuge so I decided that silence would be golden until we were ready to tell the world.

I do plan to be back to post a bit about what is going on with my life and pregnancy. But also to live vicariously as I coach my mom to her first marathon in many years and hopefully a BQ and Cory who we are trying to get to a sub 3 hour marathon this spring. While I will talk about my pregnancy and baby after s/he is here I promise it won’t become a “mommy blog” and the overall theme will still be endurance sports. The thing I am most excited to talk about will be my return post baby and the big dreams I will be chasing in 2017.

Cory is excited to match our little one for next season #gobroncos

In other big news we did add a family member, Humphry is a sweet little French Bulldog puppy.

He has already stolen our hearts and I can’t imagine life without him.

So here is to the secret being out and being back to blogging. I hope you had a wonderful holiday with your loved ones!

September 4, 2015

Fourth Quarter Goals 2015

I really love this time of year….September has always had a special place in my heart. To me it feels like the real start of a new year. I guess this comes from years of loving school and working in education since graduating from college.

The year feels fresh, I love the leaves changing and it feels like you get a new start. To be honest I don’t love the shorter days, but you take the good with the bad.

Dark chilly mornings at the pool means the seasons almost over

Luckily in Colorado it stays pretty warm most of September so we can still enjoy dinners al fresco and runs in the mountains so summer isn’t over just yet!

My goals for the last few months of 2015 are very simple and have shaped some of my recent decisions. I have two main goals:

Find Fun and Seek Peace.

These are simple but difficult tasks but will frame my decisions…if an activity will be fun then great, yes please. If a decision will disrupt the peace in my life than no thanks….I’ll move on.

One of the ways we are look to meet these goals is to book a trip to Disneyland in October just because it will be fun. I grew up going to Disneyland almost every summer but haven’t been back in almost 10 years. Cory and I went back in 2006 and had the best time! I am so looking forward to a trip that is just about having fun!

Also I am looking forward to planning some fall adventures on trails. I love trail running and don’t get to do as much of it as I would like when training for triathlons. So more time and trips will be planned to find more dirt on my shoes while thinking about BIG future dreams.

Super inspiring weekend cheering and volunteering at the Leadville 100 #lt100 #ultramarathon #trailrun

What are you plans for the last quarter?

runwithbeth