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Wow! It’s been a while, huh?

A lot of things have happened over the past few weeks that have caused me to be MIA. The biggest reason I have been missing is that I finished my thesis paper and defended it! I was supposed to defend my thesis paper on HIV/AIDS in Latin America and the Caribbean on-campus, but due to crappy weather we did it via teleconference. The best part of presenting my paper via teleconference was the fact I could wear my PJs and not have to put on makeup and my pearls. Winning moment right there!

So I can officially say that I have graduated Summa Cum Laude with a Master’s in Public Health! Wahoo! I can now add the three little letters, MPH, that I have worked very hard to achieve over the past 2.5 years while working a full-time and a part-time job after my name! Yes, I might be bragging slightly when saying this, but I worked my ass off to finish graduate school while working. For anyone who has been in this position before, it’s not easy and I am very proud of my myself that I was able to balance work, school, and training and still maintain a 3.89 GPA. Damn, that B+ in Health Care Economics…

Anyway, now that graduate school is officially done I have been slightly lost. School has been a big part of my life for 20+ years and now I have reached the end of the road. I know I’m not done with school. I’m a bit addicted to school. It’s a rather expensive addiction I have learned. Hello SallieMae! I bet crack is cheaper… I still hope to pursue more schooling to obtain my RD, but I’m going to take at least a year off and really invest my time in developing my career. I’m not 100% sure at the moment how I’m going to utilize my MPH degree in my new career path, but I know I will find away.

I’m getting very excited about beginning training again with my coach on January 1st. For the past month I’ve been itching to get started again. I’ve been doing a little bit here and there, but I’ve been mostly consumed with my thesis paper and new job and unfortunately the whole swim, bike, run thing got put on the back burner. I do think this long break was good for me physically and mentally. I think the physical part is pretty obvious. My hip and foot needed to do some healing before I begin pounding the pavement and racking up some major mileage in the coming months in prep for IMLP. Mentally, I think I needed a break too. I had a lot going on this past Fall and I just needed a break from a regimen. It was nice to do what I felt like doing when I wanted to do it. I did a lot of yoga, did some of my favorite classes, tried Crossfit, and spent a lot of time doing some strength training, which I love. I have certainly gained a few pounds, which has set me in a bit of an anxiety-induced OMG I’m fat thought pattern. However, I have found that yoga has been a great help in ridding my thoughts on that subject. Race weight will come. A few extra pounds during base training is not a bad thing…

In more exciting news… I got to meet Crowie a couple of weeks ago in Boston! I adventured down to Beantown to visit Linda and go to the Crowie book signing. We hit up a hip hop yoga class prior to lunch and the book signing. It was my first time doing a hip hop yoga class and it was a bit weird. I’m still on-the-fence about the whole thing. I think I still fancy the normal relaxing music during yoga classes, but it was nice to try something new too. Crowie gave a great Q&A session before doing the book signing. And yes ladies, he is even more gorgeous in person! What I really like about Crowie is that he is very down-to-earth and clearly a very family oriented man. It’s quite refreshing to see that in the professional sports world. Although, I don’t think professional triathletes really compete with the status and income of other professional athletes (i.e. football, baseball). The key thing he said during the Q&A session was that all athletes should focus on core strength. Genius! Much of my strength training is core-based and I am constantly stressing to my clients and athletes the importance of core strength in everyday life and athletic performance! Don’t skip it! As you age you lose strength and thus it is important to begin training now!

 

~ Happy Training!