Anne Biscaldi

Personal Website: www.livinghealthylife.com

Instagram: @health.byanne

Please tell us about yourself:

I was born and raised in France. At 23, I left never to come back with my boyfriend – my dear hubby now. We worked in England and Ireland, juggling work and 2 children. Then in 2007, we arrived in Florida, which is when I totally changed my career from accounting to personal training. The reason behind this was my “back issues.”

Back pain sufferers, I hear you, I’ve been there!  In fact, it’s the reason that I became a personal trainer and a Holistic Health and Wellness Coach.

When did the back problems begin?

I used to suffer on and off with my back for as long as I can remember. After doing all kinds of reeducation programs as a child, and reading all the books on the planet on the subject as an adult, I decided that enough was enough and I took action. As I became stronger physically, and developed my core, my back pains were less frequent, until they disappeared altogether or were at a very manageable level of pain. I realized that I was stronger mentally too, and much less stressed.

How did it impact your ability to exercise?

I went from not being able to run at all after my two pregnancies, to progressively running marathons, long trails, and mud runs. Then, my husband challenged us to start doing triathlons in 2013. Just one problem, we didn’t know how to swim, and never rode bikes either. Then came the grueling and painful process to learn how to swim and not throw up (I used to have severe motion sickness, even in the pool).

Being 45 and doing things I could not in my twenties is so rewarding and satisfying, but I don’t take anything for granted and religiously apply these facts for me and my family.

What is your philosophy on health and wellbeing?

I believe in a holistic approach to get results with your health and fitness: nutrition/cooking, doing more than one sport to avoid injuries. I also believe that recovery time and self care are essential, too.

Work as much on your mind as your body, especially for endurance distance: you need to work on your sources of motivation, feeding your mind with positive thoughts, managing stress, being organized and having a detailed plan to achieve your goals. All of these things are interlaced and necessary for success!

“Consistency trumps intensity” especially as you age. Your work with the body you have, not against it.

Please tell us about your race experiences:

My hubby and I are race junkies! He is an 11 time Ironman. I admire him so much for his determination and finding the time to train with a demanding job.

I reached the red carpet 5 times and didn’t succeed 3 times, but I learned so much from each race, whether I finished or not. I always study what went wrong and go again.

For us, a race is an adventure together and we love to travel for it. We feel so lucky to be in the US with so many areas and states to discover. It’s our quality time together (except when I reach a low level of sugar and become unbearable LOL).

That’s why we try different formats and types of races: Ragnars, 24h Tough Mudder, Ironman, Superfrog, Trail Triathlon, Trail runs, Wings for Life,  marathons, swim/run.

What are your current plans?

Our races for this year are: the Yeti 100km in Washington (with 2 miles in a tunnel),  Ironman Maryland, *Boulderthon (the very first marathon and half in Boulder finishing on Pearl Street).

*If you are interested in doing the Boulderthon, here is some information! The website is www.boulderthon.org/‎. My hubby is one of the race directors. If you think this race is for you, PM me for a $20 off discount!

In addition, our first swim/run was so fun that we decided to go again to beat our time of 5 hours.  (https://www.trisignup.com/Race/NC/Danbury/SwimRunNC). Please check it out, it is so different and wild and the race directors are awesome!

And because the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, our daughter is preparing her first 70.3 Ironman in Lubbock, Texas and she will race with dad all the way.

You will find the races we have done on my website www.livinghealthylife.com and my Instagram @health.byanne. I am posting regularly new recipes, inspirational quotes and soon workouts.

I love talking about new adventures and talking to other runners and triathletes! Let me know if you have other races that you recommend!

Do you have any advice for someone looking to get started?

Life is a roller coaster of events, during good or bad times you need to go with the flow and find a way to go through or even reinvent yourself.

The resilience you get from endurance sport is such an asset to see LIFE through a better lense. It transforms you for a better version of you.

Be well athletes,

Anne