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Tri4Tri21 | Brenna

@tri4tri21

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💛💙 Mom of 3, littlest with Down Syndrome, doing triathlons and raising money for DS charities in South Africa 🇿🇦🫶🏼

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💦 Fuelling a 3h bike vs a 12km swim! @tailwindnutritionsa by @tri4tri21

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7 hours ago

💇‍♀️ snip snip! Just a “recovery day” (from swimming at least) with a 3h zone 2 bike… rainy weather making the indoor trainer * chef kiss * 😘 cool as a cucumber 🥒 by @tri4tri21

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7 hours ago

Should I chop off all my hair (just a little)? by @tri4tri21

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a day ago

🏊‍♀️ 🙌🏼 23 days until Langebaan Express 12km and I can’t decide whether today’s training made me feel less or more confident about the big day 😅 I know for sure I just need to make it to the half way point (6km at pearly beach) and then it’s the (long) home stretch…

Anything you can do once you can do at least once more, right?! 😂

Help me make the effort more meaningful by donating a pulse oximeter at the link in bio ☝️ @brave.org.za is raising funds to distribute 300 of these life saving devices to families of children with Down syndrome in South Africa. Let’s swim 12km for 12 babies!

(Psst, send me a message if you’ve made a donation. If you’re in South Africa I will send you a pair of our funky mismatched socks!!)

https://www.brave.org.za/for-lungelo by @tri4tri21

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2 days ago

🏊‍♀️ 12KM FOR 12 LITTLE LIVES 💙💛

On November 7, I’m swimming the Langebaan Express 12km for 12 babies with Down syndrome. The goal: to help provide their parents with a small (but potentially life-saving!) tool - a pulse oximeter.

Why is it so important?

In the past few months, our community has lost FIVE beautiful babies, with almost no explanation. Many of their parents have said their babies “just stopped breathing”. Our community is heartbroken, but we’re also being called to do something. To try and get this small but powerful tool into the hands of as many parents as possible, and help keep ALL of our babies safer.

A pulse oximeter measures oxygen saturation and pulse rate. It doesn’t tell us everything that’s happening inside a little body, and it certainly doesn’t replace medical advice or care. But it can give parents another piece of information that may help them recognise when something isn’t right.

@brave.org.za is currently distributing these devices to parents who need them and raising funds to make more available.

So I’m calling on YOU to help!

Head to the link in bio ☝️ to contribute. R579 OR $50 CAD Purchases ONE pulse oximeter. Send me a message if you donate and I’ll send you a pair of socks!

Help me make every kilometre count! 💛🌊💙

⭐️ more info in pinned comment!!! ⭐️ taken in Cape Town, South Africa by @tri4tri21

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7 days ago

Quick post! Rough draft before I race out the door … let’s raise R7000 for @brave.org.za by November 7 (my 12km open water swim). 12km to raise 12 x pulse oximeters for parents of kids with Down syndrome in South Africa 🇿🇦 That’s r579 each or 50CAD! Donate at the link in bio And send me a message so I can say THANK YOU 🙏 ! by @tri4tri21

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9 days ago

Kinda chic being part of The Lucky Few 💛💙

…AND being *extra* lucky 🍀 to have such a supportive family who helps me fit triathlon training into our busy, beautiful life 🫶🏼 🙏

Grateful to have this little champion - and my other amazing minions - to do this with!

8 months to Ironman South Africa 🇿🇦

Donate to @brave.org.za at the link in bio! by @tri4tri21

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2 months ago

🌊 DOT 🏊‍♀️ / day / of / training / Double swim day! Some extra childcare support on Thursdays usually means an opportunity to get some quality training done. With the Viking 5km only 4 weeks away and Langebaan 12km in November, SWIM is the current focus!

☀️ Warmer weather this week meant the ocean was calling and I seized the opportunity to swim in Small Bay. Warm skies did not however mean warm waters! At 10 degrees, it was the coldest water I’ve ever swam in, and I managed a slow and calm (relatively) 2km. It took almost 6 minutes to be able to keep my face in the water and at least another 5 to actually get in the zone. 10 is COLD! And such a different experience than the 12-13 degree waters a couple weeks ago.

🧘‍♀️ from between 1km-1.5km I was able to drop into such a beautiful headspace. I felt calm, in control, and present. The cold just became a sensation, and was no longer a shock or painful. My breathing was smooth and I could really take in the beauty of Table Mountain and a clear sky — seriously though, how lucky are we to live in this gorgeous place and swim in this magnificent ocean?!

🌊 As I approached 2km, I started to gradually approach the edge of my physical limit. After a full on internal debate/contemplation about the physical vs mental challenge of it all, I eventually made the call and swam to shore.

🧊 That’s the thing about cold swimming though: you gotta know when to make the call! pushing your limits in a pool or running or biking is one thing, but when you hit the wall in cold water, it’s a whole other ball game. I know there’s a very fine line between pushing myself close enough and gaining some adaptations and going too far. Today, I was probably 5-10 minutes away. Just enough that I could still undo my own wetsuit (willing my numb hands with all my might to pry my feet out) and fumble with my keys well enough to unlock my car. But I was pretty close to asking for help 😂

🫖 A flask of hot chocolate with
@tailwindnutritionsa recovery and the heat blasting in my car for 10 mins warmed me up enough to get back on the road.

Continued in comments … by @tri4tri21

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3 months ago

⭐️ DOT ⭐️ Day Of Training ~ MONDAY! After long swims Saturday and Sunday, the last thing I want to see on Monday is a pool 😂 (also, I my hand collided into my husband’s hand sharing a lane on Sunday and I did some serious damage to my knuckle 🙊 his head is fine. We’re still friends. But my hand is questionable 🙈

Typical Monday routine is the Bike ~ Threshold. I maintained the volume of last week (30 min + 20 min + 10 min at zone 3) and instead did 4 x 15 minutes zone 3. I’d say equally challenging but I’ve found a great docu series to zone into for these rides so it’s starting to be something I look forward to!

Little “break” to do errands and shop with baba, pumping (coming up to a HUGE number of logged hours in this Spectra - I’ll let you guess the total 😜), some lunch and a cup of @tailwindnutritionsa recovery.

Finished the day with 75 min (13km) zone 2 easy run. Not so easy on this foot with nerve pain, but funny enough I bumped into my podiatrist at the foam shop running our final errand of the day and reminded me to book my follow up for the new orthotics. Post-babies body definitely brought with it some major feet changes that require a lot more upkeep than any other part of my body 😂 didn’t anticipate that! But grateful to have a great team at @capepodiatry to help me get this sorted before Ironman!

Last pic - some cool foam pieces for a soft play obstacle course I’m working on for baba. First birthday coming up! 🎈 by @tri4tri21

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3 months ago

💕 This season has been a whirlwind… I don’t think I’ve posted in weeks? Months? 🙏 Still trying to catch my breath and remember what day it is!

Since the beginning of May - between myself, the kids and our childcare - we’ve been on what feels like an endless rotation of colds, flus and hullabaloos! One unexpected emergency room visit, many phone calls with medical aid, oh and a birthday celebration for my eldest child! It has been a season for the record book😂

☀️ I can see the light though!

While I’m still pumping 🍼 around the clock, scheduling OT and other appointments, doing our daily physio, and trying to fit in my own daily training, there just has been very little time to post an update. So here we are. Catching our breath. One day at a time.

💕 The family is healthy
💕 All is well
💕 I’m not (totally) injured 😂
💕 Some incredible events are just around the corner!

🌊 Reluctantly - but gratefully - heading out for a REFRESHING 🧊 ocean swim… 6 weeks to go until the Viking 5km in Cape Town! 🏊‍♀️ by @tri4tri21

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3 months ago

💛💙Beautifully, wonderfully and perfectly made. Down Syndrome is not a diagnosis of suffering, sadness or despair. Most days it is QUITE the opposite!

I will never shame someone for making a different choice than we did (with some countries claiming 90-100% termination rates of babies with DS, the probability of someone close to me making this choice is HIGH).

In the same breath, I will also never stop advocating for my child(ren) and pushing to change the narrative that DS = suffering. That DS = a burden. That DS = anything less wonderful than my genetically typical kids.

👩‍⚕️ And my big hope is that over time we encourage doctors to change the narrative as well. I believe women should ALWAYS have choices, AND I believe that parents should also have information. Correct information. Up to date information. Resources like @brave.org.za . Guidance and perspectives from those with lived experience.

That’s why I’m here. That’s why when I introduce my baby to someone new I say “she has Down syndrome and it doesn’t change much. She’s a baby and she’s amazing.” And she is a TREAT to spend time with! by @tri4tri21

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4 months ago

🌊 …they strip everything back. Swimming in the ocean (especially as I stretch my time and distance in the water) and raising my daughter with Down syndrome both push me beyond where I thought my limits were.

Both humble me.
Both ask more of me than feels comfortable.
But they also give me something I can’t really get anywhere else - a deep, simple gratitude:

🧘‍♀️ for my breath
🏊‍♀️ for my body
💓 for my heartbeat doing exactly what it needs to do to keep going

(just like the lyrics in the video that made me want to share this today ☝️)

And with parenting, that gratitude stretches even further:

🌱 for the health of my children
🏡 for a safe, comfortable home
👣 for every milestone that arrives on its own timeline for my littlest one

Some days I hit the goal. Some days I don’t (hello 4.2km when I had hoped for 5 this weekend!), and I have to step back, train more, try again.

But every time, I come out of it more grounded, more capable, and more aware of how much there is to be grateful for. 🙏 🌸 by @tri4tri21

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4 months ago