Our contest winner, Steph Walsh Beilman, hails from Pennsylvania and is the proud mom and grandmother of a family of swimmers. The winner of all three breaststroke events in her age group at the USMS nationals in Cleveland, Steph first learned about P2Life from a fellow swimmer and now uses it to fuel her workouts. Hear more of her story below and read on for her delicious NutriBoost smoothie recipe, which keeps her powered through intense swim training and competitive meets.
Congratulations on winning our NutriBoost recipe contest! Tell us how you got your start in swimming, Steph.
Well, I am the oldest of 15 children; all of us swam as we were growing up! We started on a country club team outside of Philadelphia and several of us got the bug and began swimming year-round for Vesper Boat Club. My coach, and still very close friend, was Mary Freeman Kelly, a 1988 honoree into the International Swimming Hall of Fame as a swimmer who swam in the 1952 Olympics in the 100 m backstroke. She was such an inspiration as a coach of one of the top women's teams in the country throughout the 60's. Several of her swimmers, including myself, went on to coach at the college, high school, YMCA, and USA Swimming levels.
A
s Title IX and Masters Swimming were beginning at the same time in the early 1970's, I began coaching the women at Harvard and joined the New England Masters team and swam for them for about 10 years.
Wow, that's impressive! How is swimming a part of your life now?
My swimming has been a constant, though sometimes more intense than others, throughout these many years.
Masters started at age 25 in those early years and I have been swimming ever since. When I moved back to the Philadelphia area in the early 1980's, I joined Valley Forge Masters.
I train at the Upper Main Line YMCA facility in Berwyn, outside of Philadelphia, PA with a wonderful group of swimmers early in the morning three times a week, usually Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and I add Sundays in the summertime. We are blessed to have three 25-yard indoor pools available to us at the Y in the winter, and from April through October, we have a heated outdoor 50-meter pool we use there, so we never go wanting for lanes!
Now I swim for the Colonials 1776 Masters Swim Team and we are headquartered in the Valley Forge, PA area. I am the team's leader and keep the communication going among our 250-300 swimmers throughout the year. We swim at several different pools but get together for meets and various
team workouts and activities.
That's great! What's your training like?
My training over the years has been lessening as far as yardage goes, with my normal workouts usually 2200-2500 yards these days. My best events used to be 50-100-200 fly, 200-400 IM and 200 backstroke and 200 breaststroke. Now my aging shoulders can't handle the longer fly events, so I am doing a lot more backstroke and breaststroke, plus a 50 fly for old time's sake! I surprised myself at last summer's USMS nationals in Cleveland by winning all three breaststroke events in the 65-69 age group. It had been a while since my last win! Our Colonials 1776 240+ women's medley relay also won, which was awesome.
Congrats! So how did you discover P2Life's NutriBoost?
It was in Cleveland; that was the first
time I had tried P2Life's NutriBoost. I spoke to my old friend
Richard Burns about how he uses it and he swears by it. So I tried it and have been very pleased with not only the taste, but the way it helps with my recovery after workouts and meets. My recovery has improved and I am not taking ibuprofen like I used to after workouts.
I make a smoothie before each of my morning workouts using the recipe below. It gives me enough nutrition and is not too heavy before a swim and also as an after swim drink. It tastes terrific and it does not leave a vitamin taste in my mouth.
Awesome! Tell us about the other swimmers in your family.
The picture below shows the "Swimming Walsh Women", all 8 of the girls in our family. I am the one on the far left (the shortest and oldest!).
Five of us were national leve
l qualifiers and seven have competed in Masters swimming events over the years.
I'm also the mother of two sons, Chris and Stephen. Stephen swam through college at Yale and is also a Masters swimmer who represents Colonials 1776. I have 5 grandchildren, 4 of whom swim year round. They are ages 10 down to age 6.
Steph, it's so great to see how swimming and nutrition is an integral part of your family history. Thank you again for sharing your recipe with our readers!
Steph's Smoothie Deluxe
plain, nonfat yogurt - 2 cups
frozen (or fresh, if in season) strawberries - 2 cups
blueberries (and peaches if available) - 1 cup each
ripe banana - 1
honey - 2 tablespoons
ice - 3-4 large cubes or equivalent (I like my smoothies very cold, but if you don't like it really cold, then milk, water or juice would work instead of the ice, to make it the desired consistency)
Put all ingredients into blender and mix, making it a consistency that is easy to drink through a straw.
Enjoy!
s Title IX and Masters Swimming were beginning at the same time in the early 1970's, I began coaching the women at Harvard and joined the New England Masters team and swam for them for about 10 years. 
time I had tried P2Life's NutriBoost. I spoke to my old friend Richard Burns about how he uses it and he swears by it. So I tried it and have been very pleased with not only the taste, but the way it helps with my recovery after workouts and meets. My recovery has improved and I am not taking ibuprofen like I used to after workouts. 
l qualifiers and seven have competed in Masters swimming events over the years.
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