Dodge Fitness Center at Columbia University, Saturday, March 10, 2012 Begining @ 7:30 AM

For more info on these 2012 ChiRunning Clinics click here.

Unfortunately, because I was almost completely wiped out by Bronchitis the weeks before I was not able to participate as much as I would have liked. I was definitely feeling better by the time the conference rolled around but still really weak and light headed. In all, I am glad that we decided to go because I learned so many valuable skills for building my own practice and teaching!

This will be my first ever Olympic length triathlon and I am so jazzed. I will be posting progress reports on my training details here. If you have any pointers I would appreciate them. If you are coming out the the event to watch or if you are racing that day let me know!

Special thanks to all of those who have been so supportive including all teh memebers of Team Green Dog, Lars, Joel and Vince and especially my racing sponsors especially Lynskey Perfromance Design, Spokesman Cycles, and Vega Perfromance!

As a CRCW B-Day present to myself I have decided to make the move to a Plant Based Nutrition regime.  Although it is largely based on the Thrive Diet created by Ironman Brendan Brazier I am hesitant to think of it as a diet. It is trendy now in the multi sport community to follow the Paleolithic (Paleo) Diet and I have studied it carefully since I first heard about it. It is interesting to me how much it has in common with the Thrive diet-except for the eating animals part of course. Essentially they both hold as their highest priority a complete rejection of processed foods. For me the Paleo Diet was not really an option as it just reminds me too much of the Atkins diet, which I had a bad experience with-it is really just a personal hang up on my part.

Since beginning ChiRunning I have lost over 65 lbs. to date! It is very strange to think of myself as a Vegan. I had thought for the longest time that on my 40th Birthday (January 2012) I would try to adopt a meat free lifestyle and eat a more nutritious diet. Last week my Aunt died after a long and terrible struggle with unmanaged diabetes. She suffered a great deal in much the same way that her mother, my Grandmother had (she also had diabetes). Being from the South originally and now living in Harlem I am constantly surrounded by the overweight, food addicted and morbidly obese. It is something that has so profoundly shaped my experience I don't even know where to begin. There has to be a way to cure this epidemic and I am convinced now more than ever that restoring a mind-body connection is the first step in breaking the cycle!

One of the main reasons that I have decided to give Triathlon a try is due to the fact that I have met so many amazing multi-sport athletes since I started ChiRunning and especially since I started teaching ChiRunning. Of course two of my biggest inspirations have been Master Instructor Vince Vaccaro and NYC's own Ironman Joel Matalon (also a CRCW Instructor).

I have been very lucky to have so many great teachers but also great students, many of whom are also triathletes. It has meant a great deal to me to have the opportunity to work with these great athletes. I know how beneficial ChiRunning can be for a Triathlete but I don't like to preach something I have never put into practice...so here goes! Now about those Brick workouts...

On Sunday we had two ChiRunning Advanced workshops with a great student to teacher ratio. If you are not familiar with the advanced level workshops these are extensions of the beginners class and cover some of the topics discussed in these classes and add in hill running and the opportunity to have your from analyzed with video.

Special thanks as always to Danny for taking the time to travel back to the big apple to teach another great workshop. Danny will be returning to New York City October 8, 2011. If you would like more info on where you can find a beginning ChirRunnning workshop or an advanced workshop please visit the chirunning.com website.