26 | AustrAliAn triAthlete
Mu M’s in training
MIrINDA cArfrAe
Australian Triathlete Magazine:
When did you realise you were pregnant?
Mirinda Carfrae: I knew as soon as it’s
humanly possible because we were trying.
We decided after we finished Kona we
would try to start a family. You never
know, because we had just turned 36,
we love racing, and I love my career, but I
didn’t feel it was worth continuing my
passion to pass up trying to start a family.
We figured we’d try this year and got
pregnant on the attempt!
ATM: How did you tell your partner you
were pregnant?
Carfrae: Tim (O’Donnell) was actually
out of town for a Garmin event right after
Thanksgiving. I was super excited and
trying to call him, but he was in meetings
all day. I started sending him texts, but I
didn’t want to sound frantic, so I told him I
was ok, but to call me. He finally called
me, and I told him I got a positive
pregnancy test. He was so surprised and
said, “How do you expect me to go into
these meetings now and just act normal?”
We were both pretty excited! I told my mum
as well, who was in town, but otherwise,
we kept the pregnancy pretty quiet.
ATM: How did you hide your pregnancy
during the first trimester?
Carfrae: I was fortunate because during
the offseason, I like to have a few drinks
and let my hair down a little bit in
December and January, so not training a
lot in that period wasn’t weird for me. With
Siri’s (Lindley) group, we’re pretty isolated
in our training in Boulder, so that made it
easy too. It was harder when I went out
with friends for dinner and drinks. I
continued to order drinks and Tim would
just drink them, so he was very drunk in
December. We went to Australia to train in
January for about eight weeks, but it was
much harder to hide there since it was
summer and my tummy was sticking out a
bit. By then we were in the second
trimester, so we decided to tell people as
we saw them.ATM: How did your sponsors react to
your pregnancy news?
Carfrae: My sponsors reacted really well
when I told them I was pregnant, which
was one of the scarier parts for me. To
have to tell them I was taking a year off
was hard, but I had a pregnancy clause
with one, so that helped. Tim and I have
been very open in our plans to start a
family with our sponsors so nobody was
surprised. They are all taking good care of
me even though I am pregnant.ATM: How has your approach to training
changed now that you’re pregnant?
Carfrae: I am just trying to enjoy my
training now. When I was in Australia it
was pretty cool because there was a
group of pro women who are all pregnant,Mirinda training a little
less these days!so we had a nice little pregnancy training
group. It was a lot of fun. We’d meet to
swim, do a long run on Sunday through
some National Forests, and then we’d all
ride together a couple of days a week. It
was nice to step away and not have any
pressure on any session. Since I have been
back in Boulder, I have been hiking, which I
never get to do. I am still running, and I will
continue to run until I am uncomfortable.
Some days I feel better than others, so I
just play it by ear right now, but I am still
weight training and swimming quite a bit.
Overall, it’s just nice to have time to
socialise in between training since I am
not pushing myself like I would in my
usual training.ATM: Was it difficult cut back from the
rigorous training schedule?
Carfrae: Initially it was hard to step away
from the intensity I was doing in my
regular training. After 15 years of being on
a schedule, to step away from that, in the
beginning, was strange, but I think being in
Australia and now, being back in Boulder,
has really helped. I just physically couldn’t
do that kind of training right now, so I am
just letting it go and picking it back up
when it’s time.ATM: What’s it like having more time to
spend supporting Tim?
Carfrae: It’s nice that right now I can give
Tim a little more energy since we’re both
always training so hard and trying to win
that big race every year. It’s nice now to
have the freedom to support him and
hand him a water bottle or gel while heSource: Instagram