2015...Checking in from Cabo!

Um, wow. That about sums up my reaction to life thus far. Up until I reached a quarter century, literally at 25, life had been pretty smooth sailing. The biggest stressors I had faced were college papers, demands from parents and coaches, the occasional fight with a friend, a sports injury, the buildup to an Ironman....cake!

This post may be a long one because I have a lot of personal and professional things that I've kept to myself the last couple of years that I'm finally ready to speak about and release, welcoming a breath of new air, new beginnings, and a new found strength that only certain downfalls could've provided.

The first bump in my step isn't really news- the back injury that seemed to pop out of nowhere in 2012, thus leading me to pull away from any hope of being a professional triathlete, maybe ever competing in an Ironman distance again, and starting the real world job hunt that had only proved fruitless since my 2009 college graduation.

It came at a necessary time as I was also exhausted and craved change- maybe not so much change as came about- but change nonetheless.

Fast forward to moving to LA and no luck at finding a job that would sponsor a visa. There were amazing internship offers that I wasn't legally allowed to take as an intern can't be foreign unless the company sponsors an entire H-1B petition for them (no company in their right mind would do such a ludicrous thing).

So out of a casual bar conversation with a stranger bloomed the idea of moving to Cabo San Lucas- the thought of which had never entered my mind prior to that fateful February evening in Pebble Beach.

So in a span of two months I visited Cabo, signed employment with Snell to sell real estate, sold my car in LA, packed up my condo, flew to TX, packed bags there, and moved to Cabo.

Through all of this, beginning in November 2013, I was battling some perplexing, frustrating, and depressing health issues. I've only vaguely told people about this because until recently I still had no clue what was really going on.

All I knew was that since cutting back my training from a full time athlete to your average gym-goer, I had actually become more fatigued. Where was the sense in that?

If only it had been just fatigue, I started getting double vision, headaches, grave unexplained and random bloating, muscle cramps, and a complete apathy toward any and everything.

One could say I was depressed, but it was different. It would come in bouts, and even when my mood was great, when I was stoked and at my most optimistic, this cloud loomed over my physical and mental health.

Around April, when I was finally in Texas for a few weeks before the move to Cabo, I Googled my symptoms like mad, determined to narrow down what could possibly be preventing me from even 30minutes of activity a day, causing weight gain while eating healthy organic foods and in complete caloric control.

Enter hypothyroidism. I was convinced. This had to be it. Thyroid and a major hormonal imbalance whether related or not, where causing this turmoil.

Back track for a second- even in early 2013 when I went to Clermont for QT2 Pro training camp, I had a discussion with Jesse about my ridiculous fatigue and recovery issues at my young age. How I felt like I was 80 and training was ten fold harder.

Anyway, three days before scheduling an appointment with my family's endocrinologist, I started taking a supplement by Mega Food (I love this company btw because everything is FOOD based). I didn't want to take anything synthetic, especially on my own, and I didn't want supplements that had thyroid hormone etc because if I was wrong I'd be playing with fire.

Mega Food's Thyroid Strength has a large dose of iodine from kelp, 300mg of tyrosine, some holy basil, copper, magnesium, basic things that help to support your thyroid.

You may think I am crazy as heck and that's fantastic but I swear by the time I stepped into the doctors office a few days later, I almost wanted to apologize for not canceling the appointment because I felt 16 again.

I had energy to conquer the world, I slept amazing, the water retention disappeared about as magically as a bad bout of PMS, the headache gone...just out of this world amazing.

I told the doctor this, he ordered blood work, and a week later we discussed that I may be borderline hypothyroid. As such, I should continue on Mega Food's supplement, my multi, and check back at year's end. If I feel like stopping that supplement then I could go off it a few days or weeks and monitor the symptoms.

I lost roughly 10 lbs by July, and the sky was blue and sunny again!...And then it happened....In Cabo Mega Food anything can't be found, and the only multi is Alive (which is ok, but you'll later understand why this didn't work for me), and I had run out of my own. Everything returned to the nightmare of early that year, until late August when a trip to Mexico City reunited me with my pills haha that my mom had sent from the US with a friend for me to pick up there.

Again like a roller coaster, I was revving back up to normal. Thanks to the hurricane, once back in the US I wanted to monitor blood and all again and see if there was a way I could not be dependent on this supplement forever...I mean what if they discontinue it? What if I am in another country? etc. Also, I was sure something else was missing in this puzzle.

Coincidentally, I happened to read Jordan Blanco's post about some health issues and her doctor, in Colorado, Dr. Silver at Boulder Peak Health. She seemed like an excellent option- a doctor that lives in the heart of crazy endurance athletes like myself, is an athlete herself, and speaks of hormonal and women's health so passionately.

Immediately I scheduled a phone consultation, we ordered blood work, and this is what we found....

Everything looked normal and actually very healthy. Creatine looked a bit elevated, could just be dehydration....but there was ONE "aha!" to my symptoms: MTHFR.

I have a genetic mutation C677T that hinders my usage and production of folic acid.

Very few multi vitamins on the market use FOLATE- the bioactive form- and instead use synthetic folic acid, which if you have my issue you can't use and it only in a sense clogs you.

Folic acid is also used to fortify a lot of foods- luckily many are gluten products like pasta and cereals that I don't eat.

Regardless, through my years as an endurance athlete I had run these reserves of folate pretty low, and since a couple years ago I had stopped taking a certain multi vitamin that contained the FOLATE that I didn't know I needed and had switched to multi's like Alive that have folic acid.

If you do your research you'll see that your body's ability to use folate directly impacts your thyroid, your hormones, your ability to make new cells, seratonin, dopamine, everythingggg!!

So why had Mega Food's thyroid supplement worked really well for me? Because it fed me the tyrosine and other thyroid supporters that my body wasn't churning on its own.

Since then, taking METHYLFOLATE, and/or a vitamin like Garden of Life's Kind Organics Women's Daily which has folate (from lemon), I feel like a NORMAL 27 year old!!

These ups and downs have resulted in my inconstant training, in reality exercise. They've caused me to value health and the ability to have even the most basic active lifestyle, and more importantly that Ironman did not cause this, that I didn't overtrain, that I'm not a hypochondriac, that I wasn't depressed, and that I can and will still workout avidly and compete in sports- especially the one I love most.

Through this all, through the moves, the job challenges, the hurricane that left me literally feeling homeless and unemployed, and sad about what had happened to such a beautiful place, I learned that as quickly as the body recovers, so does the soul...so do groups of people, and cities like Cabo.

And out of the storm, if you keep your mind and your heart in the good that you want out of life and what you hope to contribute, life will exceed your expectations and give you tremendous fortitude and opportunity to live out your potential and help others do the same.

I came back to Cabo in early December, with only plans of staying a few days at a friend's house- unsure what conditions it was really in, just wanting to tie some lose ends, not overstay my tourist-visa-welcome in the US, and clear my head a bit after two months of another round of door knocking for US jobs that led to nothing.

The progress was outstanding! Sure roughly 60% of hotels are still shut until late spring/summer, there are some "issues" in the lower income areas of San Lucas and San Jose, and only things pertinent to tourism are being dealt with full force, but if you really witnessed or understood what this place went through with Odile, the fact that it felt 99% normal in its everyday functions, leads to nothing but respect and admiration for the community.

At that point, I had a gut feeling (I always say there's one thing you can trust over everything else and that's your gut!) to try and stay in Cabo. So I put it up to fate. I said, if there's a place for me here, then I will be able to commit myself to the sports development that I had begun to get deeply involved in with TriCabo, it will be nearly effortless to find a place to live, and my family will be receptive to the choice.

One phone call to Paco of TriCabo expressing my desire to commit to them 100% at least until summer and see where it goes, and he was on board and thrilled at my decision. One email to these condos that a new friend had shown me, and they responded with ONE unit left for lease through June available Jan1.

Coincidently, one of our TriCabo coworkers that had been administering TriCaboKidz had begun to slowly step out of that role and so it was perfect timing that I came in to shadow her and take the reins to grow our Triathlon School for kids, promote our races, our camps, and help develop sport in Cabo.

I feel elated, healthy, free, and honored to be giving back doing what I love more than anything else.

Working with the kids is refreshing, inspiring, challenging, and am also coaching some local adults, and hoping to change a little bit of the culture in this part of Mexico to be more in tune with an active and healthy lifestyle.

As well, I have my own lofty triathlon goals for this season that I can't wat to announce in the next post...now with the fabulous assurance that my health is on track!:)

My hope is that I can welcome any of you to Cabo in the near future and showcase the progress we have made with the community's involvement in sport, and host you in a wonderful training or racing experience.

Cheers from sunny Cabo!

The rest of the Kona trip & Seattle

It was my true intention to blog every day while I was in Hawaii but after the very first blog post on, technically, day zero, it simply wasn't going to happen.

When I'd finally sit down on the computer, it was with mediocre wifi, so more often than not I'd resort to my smart phone.

The trip as a whole was fantastic! I set out to try and connect with as many people as possible in hopes of finding a job in this industry that could keep me in the US or somewhere cool abroad, and I left with numerous promising leads.

It was fabulous to see new and old faces, and spend some time helping out at the expo and for the first time, getting involved in the keiki (kid's) race before Ironman.

The Saturday right after I arrived I found out there was an organized race of the full swim course and jumped in last minute with a friend which was amazing because it felt like I was racing again but then emerged to find fruit and bagels waiting at the King Kam beach restaurant.

Every day I'd run and/or swim, mostly solo but got in a solid 11 miler with Hillary (www.smashfestqueen.com) all along Alii, and another short one with Beth before finally leaving the Island- got to meet little Wynne too :) The swim highlights were: obviously the "race", finding the Smash girls mid-sea and joining them for the remainder, and the last dip from the Pier getting to swim out to the 1.2 bouey with Chrissie Wellington, and the Grangers.

For the majority of the trip I shared a condo with Holly, SOAS' Steph, and her sister Andrea- it was awesome spending time with these great women! The night before last, Jen Barber let me crash with her before slumming it back down to Uncle Billy's "hotel" and we had a great dinner and a failed attempt to find late night local Big Island ice cream despite miles of walking in effort.

 (Jen, Me, Jordan Blanco at the Aloha Party)

(Our yummy dinner with an awesome view at Daylight Mind)

I also had two long lunches with some of the Mexican athletes and it was cool to hear of their journey to Kona and how/where they train back home.

The rest of the sun and fun is all in pics....

some amazing salads: Ultimate Burger (in a bowl), Lava Java Greek chicken, & Huggo's seared ahi :P

Sinfully hydrating Nuun cocktails at the Triathlete house party

 One of the first swims in my new Betty suit (www.bettydesigns.com)

Rad view from our stay at the Royal Kona the night after the race!

Finally stole a pic with this legend!

cheering along the run course!!

Race Day!

Sebastian the King of 2014

What a performance by Ben Hoffman!!

Fun times at the ClifBar party

Day after the after-party on a couple hours sleep with Tawnee for a "swim"

Shiono Sushi- top notch!!

The best for last: Rinny in absolute Beast Mode about to cross the mat for her 3rd Kona title!

From Hawaii, I was set to travel back a whole 17.5 hours to Texas with stops in Seattle and Dallas. The Ebola scare in Dallas coupled with the agony of being sleep deprived in airports felt enough to warrant getting off in Seattle and stay with my good friend Sam a few days. I'd only passed through Seattle in 2007 en route to Portland for Nationals, so never explored any of it.

Aside from the gloomy weather, the people, abundant culture, fantastic food, and general love/support for outdoor activities made me think I could totally live there! We enjoyed walks to some amazing coffee, cocktails at the chic Edge Water Hotel, a swim in Mercer Island, and a fabulous dinner at Anthony's Home Port in Kirkland.

Icing on the cake was getting to play original Nintendo and meeting Sam's horrendously cute rescue dog, Mimi.

Kona 2014 Day 0

It happened! For the 7th year I'm back at the Hawaii World Championship- 3rd time not racing...except last year was a total catastrophe as I spent only a few days on the Island sick and counting down the minutes to return home. Needless to say, I didn't stay even to the race week and sort of left apathetically without looking back- more concerned about fixing my own work/life situation than playing around in the Hawaii sun.

However, this year the Kona plot began brewing early summer when the TriCabo races and events were being planned at full gear and I was set to come promote the camps and primarily our inaugural Cabo Whaleman. As well, I wanted to help some friends out at the Expo- LAVA Mag & SOAS.

The almost too-good-to-be-true fun of 2012 was begging to be repeated and 2014 had to be it. Then Hurricane Odile came through Cabo and did its little dance of destruction and there went Cozumel 70.3, and any concrete thoughts of promoting Cabo tourism through Ironman week.

Fast forward to a few days ago, sitting at home in Texas, regrouped and looking at everything through a "blessing in disguise"/"glass half full" lens and tick tick the dots connected and...well...ALOHA!

It's hard to succinctly describe the feeling of touching down in Kona. Wait, backup to getting on the triathlete-filled plane at LAX, and feeling a mix of butterflies as if I was going to race again, and an excitement of the week when this whole community of swim, bike, run lovers unites in paradise to celebrate the best of the best. I ran into a good friend, Pablo who was seated just across from me, and it was amazing to hear about all the endurance racing he packs on year after year! The baggage claim was full of people from all over the world, each with their unique story of how they got to be at this year's World Championship.

I got my suitcase, which was all I had since my bike is still cozy in Cabo, and another good friend and Kona local, Cody, picked me up and we went to grab lunch at the Kona Brewing Company. I'm not a beer person, but their Longboard is fantastic and after a whole morning of travel it went down like liquid gold.

From lunch he dropped me off to check in at Uncle Billy's where I'll be two nights before joining some girl friends at a condo for the remainder of the trip. At the lobby I met the cutest woman- in one of the elder categories- that was telling the receptionist she qualified in IM Sweden but had never swam without a wetsuit and was nervous and just hoping she'd make the swim cutoff. I couldn't resist, and asked her if she wouldn't mind me helping her out these next few days in the ocean to give her a few pointers and get her more comfortable so she makes that cut off no problem! So tomorrow we'll start bright and early :)!

Quicky, I unpacked and put on my bikini to head straight to the beach to get back some of the color I lost since Odile. I enjoyed a little swim in the ocean and was feeling surprisingly awake despite the 4am TX-time wake up, so also went for a run on Alii.

Now I'm starting to wind down and will just relax the rest of the evening.

Tomorrow after I swim with the woman I met, I think there's a group doing the whole course so why the heck not?!

Arriving in Cabo

Anything that provides surges of adrenaline and intense excitement or anxiety filling my stomach with butterflies pumps me up and propels me onward like I'm on "speed". The last few days before flying over to Cabo were all of that and more.

I rented a furnished place and that coupled with the fact that winter is non-existent here, guaranteed a much easier move. But, alas, I'm a girl, and you can never have enough cute tops, sundresses, or sandals...and since I signed up for IM 70.3 Cozumel, I had to take my bike. Not just the bike, a trainer too- I'll be busy working and with afternoons that can get over 100F, I need a quick indoor option. Admittedly, I also want to lower my chances of becoming road kill. On top of that, as much as I've tried to reduce my neurosis over the years, I still pack my favorite little food items wherever I go so I gathered everything I couldn't live without from Whole Foods (it was a lot) and stuffed it with a massive Powerbar order to hold me down through Coz.

Anyway, it ended up looking like this: (shoe/purse suitcase, 2 clothes suitcases, bike trainer, bike, nutrition/food suitcase).

Since my mom and brother were also coming along for a few days, we hit the airport with a ridiculous amount of luggage- thankfully it all made it to Mexico without a problem! The lovely lady from US Air even offered us a first class upgrade which would dismiss our overweight baggage fees:)

We landed in Cabo on Saturday night and made it to my place at almost 10pm. My 20 yr old brother is still a little boy, so he was intent on walking the beach with a flashlight to hear the waves "spot cool things" and see the stars... lol ok. It was actually awesome, because the night sky here is UNREAL, and at the Dreams Hotel next door they were shooting fireworks. 

The next day, my mom and I headed out at 7am to drive 2.5hrs to Pichilingue (don't worry it's a tongue twister to me as well) just north of La Paz, to pick up my car that was coming on a ferry from Mazatlan in mainland Mexico. 

It was the smoothest road trip ever! Highway 19 which takes you all the way there from Cabo is amazing!! There were only a handful of cars the entire 114 miles there, and as a triathlete, it was exciting to see tons of cyclists- even groups with sag vehicles- enjoying the incredible shoulder and perfectly paved hilly road.  

For those curious on riding there: my plan is to park at the Mega or some other large parking lot, and avoid the little streets from Hwy 1 through the town of Cabo over to the 19 (it's like 2 miles but a lot of cars and lights). Ideally, I'd be leaving from Diamante which is on Hwy 19 and you can click the link to this incredible property; but in short it's a residential/resort community with a 10acre saltwater lagoon (no motor sports), a state of the art gym, 3 Tiger Woods designed golf courses, a spectacular outdoor lap pool...etc.

Once we got to La Paz, we had a bit of time to kill and stopped at this cute little hotel restaurant for coffee and breakfast called La Perla. I had never been to La Paz and it is stunning! Like Cabo, many Canadians and Americans are spending a few or more months a year here for the weather, mellow life, and outdoor fun: surfing, paddling, running, snorkeling. Along the 25 min drive from La Paz to Pichilingue, we saw a handful of desolate beaches with shallow turquoise water and a glassy surface. It looked like a perfect weekend road trip from Cabo to escape any and all civilization:) 

Like all Mexican situations, we didn't have to wake up as early as we thought because the 10am scheduled arrival of the ferry actually got in at 11, and my car followed a literal magic trick of a thousand 18 wheelers coming out of that ferry first. That ferry is huge, I went inside and actually got to drive my car out :) but I still don't, and probably never will, understand how that many ginormous trucks came out of it. By the time we were on the road back to Cabo it was 1pm. 

The cool thing was being able to haul ass in my new car with no worry of getting pulled over. I kept it at 90-100 and maybe a bit over hehe.  

Finally back home, my mom and I couldn't wait to join Daniel in the water! We spent hours playing in the waves, and got a couple of fun, scary close calls!

We also discovered, that on my same grounds, is Las Ventanas- one of Cabo's most luxurious resorts. That, and Zoetry Hotel, which is the one my apartment corresponds to, leaving me thrilled to welcome friends and family to an amazing vacation spot in Cabo! 

Famished, we had no desire to wonder where to eat so we went back to Pocho's in the Marina, which my mom and I adored when we were here in March, and devoured some ceviche, grilled mahi, and drinks!! Also, I met this guy...

Yesterday, I went into Snell, to get all my paperwork done to get rolling with my business (www.cabobytatiana.com)!! But before that, I got in a morning run from my condo on the Cabo Real Golf Course - stunning!!! Sadly, I didn't take my phone for a pic this time- mainly because I have no Pandora in Mexico :'( 

The trip had finally caught up to us as we napped for hours that afternoon and woke up only to head to San Jose to gorge on incredible Mexican food at Las Guacamayas. This place after a long, hot training day is going to be epic!! It's cheap and sooooo goooood!!!! 

Up on the left, inside the arch, is the pastor (pork), slow roasting to perfection with a pineapple on top....it might be my favorite thing on earth, especially after last night. 

Now Tuesday, I was chomping at the bit to ride outside (did a short trainer ride yesterday), and got in roughly 20miles from my place to Palmilla, turned around to the Sheraton grounds, and back home. 

Contrary to what most people think, and what I had heard about riding here, I got more respect and peace of mind than in most roads I've ridden in Texas and California. With groups, I've had glass bottles thrown at us, and out in East County San Diego, a few girlfriends and I were almost intentionally murdered by some drugged out idiot in a Jeep that slammed his breaks right in front of me (in the shoulder) as I was in front while we were all descending a big hill! 

The thing that makes it sketchy here is some of the great shoulder isn't regularly swept, so when it narrows for bridges/bypasses, you have to get on the white line/regular lane and buses don't like making room for you. Once Cabo adjusts to more cyclists on the road- and I saw a few this morning- they'll learn how to react better, but they are definitely not disrespectful. 

A quick shower, and hit Costco with my parents, and now we're off to rent some jet skis at Medano Beach to ride over to the famous Arch. I'll have plenty more pics and stuff to share once we do that, explore Diamante, do the zip lining and mountain biking, and check out other beaches!