I Am Done with the Algorithm Too

When I read Kristin Mayer's April 14th blog post — I Am Done with the Algorithm — my first thought was "Exactly!" While her post was about the goals of her clothing brand, Betty Designs — I recognized what she was saying in terms of my book. The goal is to make people feel something. She went on to explain that she's not chasing likes or changing who she is to keep up with the algorithm. Amen! I don't want to chase it either.

Following the algorithm only makes you feel crazy and often drags you further away from your goal. I know. I lived it during the last five years of trying to get my novel Transitions out of my head and onto paper. I read countless books on writing a novel. Listened to podcasts over and over trying to find the secret sauce to telling a story. I couldn't write. Paralysis by analysis.

I fretted over how many words each scene had, the average sentence length, was I showing or telling. In the meantime, my story sat stagnant.

Early this spring I did a 40-day social media fast. Part of me hated the idea. Any social media momentum would be gone. A chunk of time with no posts, no talking about the book that wasn't even close to being finished.

And then it happened. With my nose not pressed to my phone, scrolling and scrolling, I had time. Time to sit in front of my computer and actually focus on my book. Scenes that were short — or more specifically didn't meet the ideal word count — were left as is. If a scene only needs 900 words to get to the point, why stretch it to 1500? There was freedom in that one small concession.

My extra time also allowed me to go back and look at the story as a whole. Certain scenes got moved to different places in the novel and it changed my whole perspective of what I could do as a writer.

Throughout the story I've worked to incorporate real races, real bikes, real gear. Two examples are my nod to Betty Designs, Kristin Mayer's company. Her kits were some of my early favorites, and I've featured them in the novel.

The first kit appears before Barb's Race 2015, Tara's first big race toward her ultimate goal.

I glanced down at the red and black swirl of my teal kit — the little skull-and-crossbones logo grinning up at me from atop a butterfly hidden amidst the curling design. Appropriate, I thought. Shiver me timbers.

Me and Hot Stuff

The second kit is what she chooses for IRONMAN® Vineman:

I took off my jacket and tossed it into the back seat of the truck. Pink helmet, matching shoes, kit that actually fit — for the first time in years I looked like I belonged on a bike. A "real" cyclist. The white sleeveless tri top with its chevron in mint green, bubblegum pink, dark pink, and black hugged me just right. The matching shorts felt compressive and breathable at the same time. I stood a little taller. I might be forty-five, but I didn't have to dress like it.

Barb's Race 2014

In real life I wore this kit at Barb's Race 2014. Tara saves hers for the IRONMAN® Vineman finish line. Kristin didn't only dress me, she dressed my characters. 

Her post closes with a promise of what to expect from Betty Designs moving forward — real athletes, real photography, and a brand voice that is unmistakably Betty.

That's exactly what I am trying to give people with this novel. A story based on real athletes, real races, and a narrative voice that is unmistakably Tara.

Stop scrolling. Go finish the thing.

My SwimRun Confession: I Ghosted the Start Line

Here's my confession: I signed up for a SwimRun and ghosted it because it scared me. An IRONMAN finisher scared of a race she didn't know or understand. 

How It Started

Back in 2023, I saw a post by TBF Racing about a six day sale with heavily discounted race entry fees. That year I raced the Dirty Duathlon (relay team "Hot Flashes"), the Lost Trail Half Marathon, Chanoko 30k, and Ice Breaker Triathlon. There was a fifth race, but I didn't do it. Maybe the cheaper entry fee made it easier to walk away from, to pretend I didn't sign up. Whatever the reason, race number five, the Folsom Swim Run, got dropped. Race day morning, I felt a pang of remorse. Maybe a little FOMO. But I stayed home.

Exhibit A: The TBF Racing post that started all this trouble.
Notice the "👍 You and 3 others" —
Yes, I liked it. Yes, I signed up. No, I did not show up.

Maybe I should have signed up for the short course race instead of the long course, but my pride got in the way. I was an IRONMAN for crying out loud, there could be no short course racing for me. 

As they say, pride goeth before a fall — or in my case, before a no-show.

How It's Going

This race has been living rent-free in my head ever since July 2024. I still want to do it. It still scares me. But I am humbled enough after the "no show" to be willing to sign up for the short one. To give myself a chance to figure it out. This is going to be my own little graduation race. 

Follow My Adventure

So here's what's coming. I'm dragging you along for the whole ride...

• What is SwimRun? - Time to do some research and figure things out. I have a basic idea, but it seems to be a whole other subculture of racing.
• The Gear Spiral - This is what really freaked me out...what to bring. Maybe I was just lost without transition or a bike.
• Finding a Partner - You who know me know this was coming...Trisha, James and Emily!
• Training - Time to start thinking about this.
• Race Week - Stay tuned. It's a race a few miles from my house that's only 3.5 miles long... how much drama could there possibly be? 😄
• Race Report - Of course there will be a race report! The payoff. Win, crash, or crawl across the finish line — you'll hear about it.

I still can't believe I ghosted a race just because it scared me. But I'm back, and this time I'm showing up."

Meet Buster – The Dog Who Got Me Out the Door and Into My Novel

There's a Welsh Terrier named Buster in my novel. He belongs to Tara Fisher, my protagonist. He is there for the downfall — completely clueless that her world just fell apart. He goes absolutely crazy when Mason comes home from college the following summer. He gets left at the kennel for all the big races.

He is every dog I have ever loved.

Buster: Headed home from the kennel after a race weekend

He was the easiest character to write. He was also the hardest.Here's something I haven't told anyone yet.
The real reason I started running was a Welsh Terrier named Buster.

Burning off some energy Cesar Millan style

Humble Beginnings

Cesar Millan said the key to a calm dog was exercise — daily, consistent, purposeful. So Buster and I started walking. Then we discovered he liked running. And slowly, without either of us planning it, so did I. It wasn't the whole story — P90X and a Facebook post about a triathlon class and a coach named James Cotta would come later. But Buster got me out the door first.

NOTE: I even wrote about it at the time — What I Learned About Running from My Dogs — though I had no idea then where those miles would eventually take me.

I think James and Zoe feel the same way about running

After a few miles I would bring him home. Drop him at the door. And then I would keep going.

He would have kept going too. I knew that. But somewhere in those first solo miles — door closing behind him, road still open ahead of me — something shifted. Those were his miles first. Then they became mine.

Waiting for me to get home from a run

I didn't know it then but that moment...Buster done, me realizing I wasn't...was the first threshold I ever crossed as an athlete. Everything that came after, the triathlons, the marathons, the IRONMAN finish lines, started at that door.

Novel Buster doesn't know this yet.

Story Change

As written, Buster is a domestic presence. He reads the room during arguments. He retreats when things get heavy. He licks Tara's face at exactly the right moment. He is a barometer, not a training partner.
But soon he will...

Somewhere in the early chapters, there will be a scene, maybe just a sentence or two...Tara dropping Buster back at home and then her continuing on her own. Her first solo miles. The unremarkable moment that started everything. It belongs in the book because it happened in real life, and the best things in this novel did.

To All My Pups

I have had five dogs who made a real impact on my life. A Welsh Terrier named Buster was one of them. And here is the thing about dogs — our dogs reflect us. So it is not a surprise that they all seem like him. 

NOTE: The bernedoodles would like me to clarify that they do not share Buster's enthusiasm for running. Or his and Hannah's enthusiasm for barking at absolutely nothing, each other, and everything in between. Cesar Millan's training plan was put to the test by the Welsh Terrorists (as they were called at the kennel).

The Bernedoodles: not fans of running, but they do enjoy a walk

Tara's Buster reflects Tara. Which means, in the way that all fiction works, he reflects me too.

He was the easiest character to write because I have known him my whole life.

He was the hardest because you only get so many dogs like that. And every time you write one you are writing all of them.

Why I'm Still Here – An Open Letter to Women Still Fighting

In December, I will stand at the starting line of the California International Marathon for the eleventh time.

Eleven times. They have a name for people like me. They call us Loyal Runners. I think I just call it stubborn.

Back with my pace group.

If you're new here, welcome. If you've been here before, welcome back — I've missed this. Either way, I want to tell you who I am and why I'm writing again, because this chapter of the blog is different from the ones before it. It's more honest. It's more personal. And I think, for the right reader, it might matter.

---

I am 58 years old. I am a triathlete, a marathoner, a wife, a mother, and a novelist working on a book about women who lose themselves when their kids grow up and have to find their way back. I live near one of the best bike trails in the country, which sounds idyllic and is — except that the reason I moved my riding from the road to the trail is that a driver hit me and two friends from behind on a country road in 2017 and kept going.

He left us there.

Thankfully, the emergency people found us!

I won't relitigate all of that here — there's a post from December 2017 if you want the full story. What I will say is that part of my left side has been numb ever since, that road cycling as I knew it ended that day, and that finding a safe trail a few years later felt like getting a piece of myself back that I had quietly grieved.

I tell you this not for sympathy but for context. Because this blog is about a body that has been through things. A body that keeps showing up anyway.

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Menopause doesn't get talked about honestly enough in athletic circles. I didn't suffer dramatic mood swings the way some women describe. What I got instead was quieter and in some ways more maddening: I ate the same. I trained the same. The weight came anyway. Nobody tells you that the rules change without warning. That the body you knew — the one you had negotiated a truce with through years of training and discipline — quietly renegotiates the terms without consulting you.

I have fought my relationship with food my whole life. I won't pretend otherwise. That fight has taken different forms at different times. What I know now that I didn't always know is that the fight isn't about willpower. It never was. It's about figuring out what your body actually needs, at this age, in this season, under this specific kind of stress — and then doing the hard, unglamorous work of meeting it there.

Right now my house is being remodeled. My routine is disrupted. My stress is high. I stepped on the scale this morning and it hadn't moved in a month.

I'm writing anyway.

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There are moments — at the neighborhood gathering, at the doctor's office, in the mirror — when I catch a glimpse of a version of aging that I am not ready to accept. The slow retreat. The quiet surrender to "I'm too old for that." I understand it. Some days I feel the pull of it myself. But I am not ready. And I don't think you are either, or you wouldn't be here reading this.

---

Here's what the next eight months look like: I want to get to my race weight before my CIM training block begins in earnest at the end of July. I'll be documenting the journey here — the Oura scores, the training, the nutrition experiments, the weeks that work and the weeks that don't. I'll be writing about what it's like to train for a marathon at 58 with a partially numb left side and a remodel happening in the background and a novel due and a God I'm trying to stay close to.

It won't always be pretty. It will always be honest.

If you're still fighting — for your fitness, for your health, for a version of yourself you're not ready to give up on — this blog is for you.

I'll see you at the start line.

— Tracy Loyal Runner. Closet Athlete. Still here.

Metformin, NAD Supplements, and the Road to My Best IRONMAN

In 2023, I ran my second best time at the California International Marathon. This was shocking because I knew I was carrying extra weight and I had managed to hobble to the start line. I felt pretty banged up. In fact, I had my left quad taped up in hopes that it would make it through the race without too much pain. I was shocked at my time and chalked it up to a good training plan and coaches (Thank you Karyn and Javier!) 

Taped up but smiling 
(close to the finish line)

Feeling motivated from my success, I decided to sign up for my first 50k. I took a week off after CIM for a bit of recovery for my thigh and jumped into a 50k training plan. Three days in, my right hip was in so much pain, I could barely walk let alone run.

The next four weeks consisted of Zwift rides and walks with my dogs (and a couple of swims because I knew I had to start training for IRONMAN® California eventually). The rest of January 2024 continued on the same. I started adding easy runs back in and I competed in the Dirty Duathlon (couldn't let my relay partner down) but as the race date for the Jed Smith 50k drew near, I had to make a decision. I contacted the race director and asked to change from the 50k to the half marathon. It was probably the smartest decision I could have made...actually, the smartest decision would probably have been not to run yet, but I didn't want to back out.

The following Monday, I started the 75 Hard challenge. The basic rules are for 75 days to stick to a diet, two workouts a day, read 10 pages of a motivational book (Bible OK), progress pic every day, no alcohol, drink a gallon of water, skip a step = start over. I decided to re-visit my prescription for Metformin. Since I wouldn't be drinking, it would be the perfect time, plus I hoped it would help me shed some of the extra weight.

NOTE: I had started taking Metformin at the beginning of my marathon training in August, but was not consistent and really didn't notice any changes. I even ordered a CGM (Continuous Glucose Monitor) to gain more insight, but nothing stood out as being the cause of my weight or injuries.

As the days of the challenge went by, I did start to drop some weight. I assumed it was a combination of the diet and exercise, and maybe the Metformin. I was pleased with my progress, but something in the back of my mind was bothered by the fact that I was taking a daily medication...one that I didn't want to have to keep taking. Besides, I wasn't sure if it was actually doing anything for me.

There are a lot of "may"s in there

In order to make an informed decision about continuing with Metformin, I did a deep dive on Google. A lot of the results mirrored the standard benefits listed on the label. However, I started seeing more and more results that made me start to rethink this drug. I found studies that said that Metformin could negatively affect an increase in my VO2max — one of the main things that all of my training was trying to improve!

Research published via CrossFit's health resources found that combining Metformin with exercise significantly blunted VO2max gains compared to exercise alone — in some cases by as much as half. Participants also reported working harder at the same effort levels, suggesting the drug was undermining the cardiovascular benefits of training.

A study published in the National Library of Medicine found that Metformin interferes with the mitochondrial adaptations that normally result from aerobic exercise training in older adults — essentially working against one of the main goals of endurance training.

I sent my doctor an email asking about the negative effects on my training and did not receive a reply. I decided to stop taking Metformin. I was already not thrilled to be taking a prescription drug. Reading that it may be working against my goal of improving my time at IRONMAN® California made the decision even easier. I was going to do this the natural way — exercise and nutrition.

NAD, NMN, AND THE BIOHACKER RABBIT HOLE

Once I started researching NAD and its role in energy and recovery I couldn't stop. NAD — nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide — is essentially the fuel that powers your cells, and it declines naturally as we age. For a middle-aged athlete trying to train for a full distance triathlon while holding down a job and a life, that felt very relevant.

My NAD journey actually started back in 2019 when I first tried Tru Niagen — so I was ahead of this trend before it became a mainstream longevity conversation. In April 2024 I picked back up with NAD Regen by BioStack Labs, which takes a different approach than most — instead of just flooding your system with NAD precursors, it combines NAD3® with spermidine and resveratrol to both boost and protect your NAD levels. Then I moved to Qualia NAD+, which uses three different NAD+ precursors along with resveratrol, B vitamins, magnesium, and a small amount of natural caffeine from coffee fruit extract. I am currently on my second month of WonderFeel Youngr NMN, which combines 900mg NMN with resveratrol, ergothioneine, and vitamin D3.

Do I think any of them made a difference? Honestly, I'm not sure. I think WonderFeel has helped my energy and recovery but I also have to be honest — I am not currently training for Boston or IRONMAN® California, so maybe that's why I have more energy. LOL

The honest answer is that nobody definitively knows which NAD supplement is "best" yet. What seems to matter more is consistency — taking any of them daily over time versus sporadic use of whichever one has the best marketing that week. What I can say is that once I went down this rabbit hole I couldn't unsee the research. NAD declines with age, mitochondrial function declines with age, and recovery takes longer with age. Whether supplements meaningfully offset that for a recreational triathlete is still an open question for me personally. But I'll keep experimenting.

As always — I am not a doctor, this is not medical advice, and your mileage may vary. Talk to your healthcare provider before starting any new supplement, especially if you are taking other medications.

UPDATE — April 2026

I wrote the original draft of this post in November 2024, right around the time I had my best IRONMAN® California race ever — 11:49:29, 6th in my age group at 56, one spot from the podium and a Kona qualification slot. Then I ran a PR at CIM. Then Boston happened. Then another IRONMAN® California 2025. Then 40 days off social media and a completed first draft of my novel — which Hot Stuff is currently reading and has given two thumbs up, though he is only on chapter two so I reserve the right to update that endorsement.

Struggling through Boston

The injuries haven't gone away. My right Achilles is still barking and I walk like Frankenstein every morning until things loosen up. I've also developed a Haglund's bump on my right heel — a bony growth that is as delightful as it sounds. I've been experimenting with different shoes to find what helps rather than hurts, which may become its own blog post because the rabbit hole is real.

My current race calendar is appropriately humble. My big spring event is the Fair Oaks Chicken Run on May 3rd with my grandchildren — which I am treating with the same seriousness as any other A race. My actual A race is the 2026 California International Marathon. My goals are to lose some weight, run my best, and maybe earn a redemption trip to Boston.

Some things heal slowly. Some things are worth the wait.