Zest Ed

Race Directing YWCA Minneapolis Women's Triathlon is the convergence of my personal and professional development. Personally I’ve come a long way in understanding and advocating for the underrepresented. Professionally it is both my coaching, athletic, and administrative skills all rolled into one.

Creating a pathway to diversity may be uncomfortable. Thank you, @kymzest, for sharing how you are creating a safe atmosphere to #tri! Listen on your favorite podcast platform or view on YouTube! #juneteenth #diversifytriathlon #diversitymatters #womenstriathlon

Returning to an old love
In 1996 I did my first triathlon. In 2003 I coached my first triathlete ( 😘), fast forward to 2017, I had done an Ironman and been helping produce the YW Women’s Tri and I was burned out and disillusioned with the sport.

I still love ZED and wilderness adventure, but the YW Women’s Tri needed me and was willing to invest in me. I’m willing to invest in it. So I sent myself to the USA Triathlon Endurance Sports exchange. I’m learning so much and making such great connections.

Cheers 🍻 to pivots, risks, and adventures of all kinds!

Hey all! In the last year I've had a lot of irons in the fire. I've been working on a lot of different projects seeing which ones work best for our family, which ones are meaningful and financially sound, and which ones would simply catch fire. Turns out the YWCA was willing to invest in me and the YWCA Minneapolis Women's Triathlon!
I'll still be doing some coaching as Zest Ed, but my primary job will be to put on an amazing race and event for our community.

Triathlete brings passion for the sport back to YWCA Women’s Tri - YWCA Kym Zest is returning to the YWCA Women’s Triathlon as Race Director! Kym is excited to revitalize the race and triathlon community to empower women and eliminate racism.

This year feels SO DIFFERENT at my 5th Women Coaches Symposium.

In 2016 I came full of hope and enthusiasm.

In 2017 I left in near tears. I didn’t see how I could continue coaching.

In 2018 and 2019 I was happy to be coaching but felt so insecure. I was deeply anxious about not coaching a traditional sport or coaching in a traditional format. I felt embarrassed, and like a teenager I felt invisible and wanted to hide.

Then, pandemic, baby, and crippling postpartum anxiety…

Today I walked in comfortable and confident in every way.

I am no longer self conscious of not “belonging” with these professional coaches.

I am SO HAPPY to be here. I LOVE coaching what, how, and who inspires me.



I’m still in the process of reinventing Zest Ed and the coaching I do. I’ll be focusing on my Strategy Sessions. If you want help planning, I’m your gal, shoot me a message.

Hello.

Just as I was getting ready to come out of maternity leave, we bought a house and postpartum anxiety reached critical meltdown levels. My brain was absolutely scrambled.

I got on Zoloft. But just as important has been retreating to my in-laws so I could be taken care of entirely. I’ve had over 10 days to recover doing almost nothing.

Two lessons that I knew before but I understand in a whole new way:

1️⃣ Getting outside to run 🏃🏻‍♀️ when my anxiety is high, even when I feel terrible, can be magical. Even when the run feels crappy it still eases the strain on my mind.

2️⃣ Do less. I’ve always been one to push myself to do the most. Do the maximum that I can handle. That has destroyed me these last few months of new parenthood. I need to slow down. Do less. Stop rushing around seeing what else I can fit in.

These are good lessons anytime. More is not always better. Moving outdoors is healing.

So while I do very much want to resume Zest Ed work, first I’ll be taking care of myself and my family. Then I’ll be coaching my core of membership clients who’ve been supporting my paid leave. When those things feel manageable I’ll return to taking new clients and hosting events and classes.

Thank you so much for following me. I hope I’ll be able to occasionally share some fun stuff as I coach myself and clients. Please stay tuned!

Check it out at
Lynn and Jodi are Minneapolis locals hosting this great podcast.

Listen to my interview with them I did in my last month of pregnancy. We talk about:

⭐️ The fun scale and how it’s different for everyone.

⭐️ Setting goals and how I’ve accomplished the wide range of things I have done.

⭐️ My top tip for getting outside. It's not "just go" but it's about doing your research so it can be safer and more fun.

You should also subscribe to their podcast, lots of other great interviews!

Ok, back to the relentless, exhausting, adorable cycle of parenting an infant…

Introducing our new adventure partner: Baby boy Ashley William Zest AKA Sprout 🌱 !

Born Monday 5:56pm on 12-27-21 at 6lb 1oz and 19.5”

We are delighted and exhausted. These last 10 days have been absolutely harrowing and a lesson on how important the “Don’t die.” part of my adventure motto “Have fun, don’t die.” is.

I shared the story with people subscribed to my newsletter. It’s too long for social media. If you get on my newsletter now you’ll get a series of emails to catch you up on my story and on day three you’ll get the birth and aftermath adventure story. You can get those emails by downloading my Free “What’s Next: The Life Cycle of a Goal” or just sign up for the newsletter - Links 🔗 in profile!



For those who want the ultra short version… It was a 40 hour labor that ended in an urgent c-section due to Pre-Eclampsia with severe features. We spent our first week as a family in the hospital due to my dangerous uncontrolled blood pressure. It was a nightmare. We are finally recovering at home, but my health is still tentative.

The shining star 🌟of all of this has been our 🌱 Ashley ❤️

“There is nothing sweeter than a Sprout!” Will coos hourly 🥺
He is delightfully easy (mostly) to care for and love. Breastfeeding has gone smoothly. Will happily and easily soothes him. There are no words that can adequately describe what it is like to be so bowled over by loving a tiny human you made.

No baby yet, still pregnant 🤰🏻🤨

Don’t tune out while I’m a sleep deprived p**p and vomit covered new parent 👩‍🍼 zombie 🧟‍♀️ !

Download my FREE “What’s Next? The Life Cycle Of a Goal!” Use it to:

✅ Learn where you are in the goal process.

✅ Figure out your next steps.

✅ Not stall out along the way.

Only people on my email newsletter will get some special events and offers when I’m back from my maternity leave!

Go to my website! 🔗 in profile!

Hi 👋🏽 I’m Kym. This is Will.

Time for a reintroduction just before we go dark (or dim) on social media!

I coach people to achieve outdoor goals with more meaning and longevity. I write training plans and workouts, but mostly it’s talking, strategizing, troubleshooting, and celebrating.

Will is mostly behind the scenes, running the website and planning our adventures. He is also AMGA Single Pitch Instructor (rock climbing) certified working for REI and Outward Bound.

Zest Ed is our micro business. It’s just me, working out of our tiny apartment in the Powderhorn neighborhood of Minneapolis. After four years in business, it still doesn’t provide me a living wage, but I’m working on that. I LOVE being an entrepreneur and serving my clients and community.

We’re about to take on our biggest adventure yet - of parenthood! Thanks to incredibly supportive clients allowing me a paid maternity leave, I’ll be not working at all for at least 8 weeks and not taking appointments for 12. I hope to post some updates (like a birth announcement) but I’m going to take the time I need to recover, heal, and adapt.

While I’m out, follow The Hike Podcast and We Do This For Fun for upcoming podcast interviews with me. And get on Garage Grown Gear newsletter for a New Years goals article by me.

In the meanwhile, here's some fun trivia about us:

💍 When we got married we both changed our last name. Zest is what we made up!

🐱Our first kitty (RIP) was Turtle. Pigeon is our current fur baby. We love the s**t out of her. She is not ready for a human sibling.

🚲️ 👟 ❄️ We’ve been bike, run commuting year-round for over 10 years. We're determined to keep up the low-car lifestyle with the baby.

🐟️ I started "swimming" at three months old. I could swim before I could walk. I’m still most at home in a pool.

⛺️ Will started camping before his first birthday. He's always been at home under a tent (or tarp)!

🏠️ Despite being active outdoorsy people, we also love a lazy day in bed to read and watch stuff.

Intrigued 🤔? Read more about us on my blog or our website, both linked 🔗 in our profile.

Hard won success🏅! Devon’s happy place is biking and swimming. But in September 2019 she set the goal of “just want to be able to run a 5k, not fast, just run the whole thing.”

It’s been a long journey with a lot of physical, mental, and pandemic challenges. It hasn’t been a straight line and progress came much slower than initially hoped for. Yet here we are, two years later not only having achieved the initial goal, but being excited for future potential.

This summer she learned to have different “gears” by running intervals on the track and felt “thrilled” to do longer runs that were eye opening to the possibility of running a 10k.

It was so satisfying to debrief 2021 and plan 2022 and beyond with her.

Who helps you work through challenging goals? Who helps you strategize and plan for your future athletic and wellbeing goals?

🤔 Interested in the kind of coaching I do? Check out all the links 🔗 in my profile!