Something to Blog About

So, Nationals. Yea. It hurt. It was humbling. It was hot. And I loved it. You know the body does some strange things. It really does and it is amazing what you can put it through and have it bounce back. The last year that I was actually training hard for triathlon was 2006. Like an actual training plan and following a regular regimen. I did sporadic training and workouts from 2007 through 2008. And from 2008 up through 2010 I really did nothing. I could actually go months without training. In fact, I rolled up to Nationals last year just to go with a friend and I had not training in almost two months. I had just come back from two weeks in South Africa. Training for triathlon had taken a backseat in my life.

I know, many of you who are reading this are thinking, what the hell, you totally train. And I do now. Those of you who know me know how much I had pulled away from triathlon for several years. I really didn't see a point in it anymore. That ship had sailed. I had ridden that ride and wanted something different. And then something amazing happened. A dream come true actually. Through an interesting turn of events I qualified for Beijing 2011 World Championships at Nationals last year and one of my dear friends and colleagues told her husband and their company decided to sponsor me for the year. They took care of whatever I needed--travel, bike, race wheels, etc. A total dream come-true and I wholeheartedly thank TriPoint and Stimpact for giving me the opportunity to remember what type of passion that triathlon can provide to one's life. Thank you Tripoint Stimpact for the season. I promise I will also do you proud in Beijing:-)

But back to Nationals. So yea, as I had mentioned earlier that I had given up on triathlon. My body was not ready for what I started to put it through this year but I did it anyway. End of January I started doing some light training to get my body used to what it meant to train again. It was much but my coaches at Tri On The Run Fitness Center were smart and sensible in slowly getting me back to what it meant to just being an athlete. I had a few injuries early season that put me out of training for weeks at a time and that saddened me, but I took it for what it was worth and knew that I just had to roll with the punches...and punch back whenever I could.

Well, mid May is when I picked up focused training for Nationals and Worlds. Track intervals, weights, working on dialing in nutrition. It was still hard for me to learn how to balance a triathlete training schedule again. I missed workouts, but mainly swim workouts, which is my strength, and went heavier on the run. With 5 months of focused training I was able to roll up to the line and compete with the best in the nation and hold my own. I am pleased with knowing that the human body is capable of some pretty amazing things:-)

My race started at 12:38 in the afternoon. Talk about nerves and fear having all day to work themselves into your head and make you start to doubt everything you have done. But, over the years I have learned you have to let the fear in. You HAVE to, but only let it in for a short period of time. Let it in for 5 seconds and ask yourself what you are so afraid of then let the fear back out the way it came in. Trust me--it actually just leaves. It no longer exists! So yea, I was nervous before the start because the course was hard, extremely challenging and the afternoon start wasn't gonna make it any easier. It was getting pretty warm out.

So as my wave (second women's wave) was corralled for the deep water start  in Lake Champlain, I took one look out over that choppy water, sucked in a deep breath and jumped in the water with several hundred other fast fast fast women. As the gun sounded I surged forward, got pummeled in the head, my hand with stitches clobbered some woman on the head and ended up losing one of my stitches mid swim (as I had 4 stitches in my hand three days before the race cuz I am an idiot) and I don't think waterproof bandaids are meant for kicking ass swimming, but anyway, fought my way to the lead pack. The first turn buoy was less than 100 meters out and it was murderous swimming. Everyone was jockeying to get around the buoy first for clean water. I knew I wasn't gonna make it to the buoy first, but I did know I could stay in the lead pack...and I did. The wind had whipped up some chop on the surface, and the swim was rough, but I hung with the lead pack and come out right at 12 minutes for the 750m. Fastest female had a minute on the pack and she came out right under 11 minutes! Baller!

I flew through transition, literally was running a sub 6 minute mile through the 300 meter transition run. Ripped off goggles and started taking wetsuit off as I ran. Stripped it off and threw on the helmet and took off running with bike. I beat all the women out of transition that I had come in with. Transitions are the one thing I do REALLY REALLY well. Anyway, this time I was quite as lucky as there was some congestion in the narrow bottleneck where everyone was exiting to get on the bike. I am really shocked that at the level of Nationals not everyone does flying mounts. IMO it's the only way to get on your bike when you race, and when you don't do a flying mount it creates a backup at the mount line. So anyway, as I come flying up running with my bike to jump on it on the fly I encounter that very bottleneck that should not happen at Nationals. Again, maybe it's that fear thing. People seem to be afraid to get on their bikes that way. So, yea, I had to stop and slowly weave through people to get some clear road well past  the mount line where I could actually get on my bike.

Took off on the bike and we had a slight uphill climb so I knew I wouldn't be getting in my shoes anytime soon. Flattened out enough with enough open road at about the 1/2 mile mark where I could get my feet in my shoes. And this is where my race went to my head. I used to be a really good cyclist, but the thing with the bike leg of a tri is it is the absolute easiest thing to get good at, but it takes time in the saddle. And I had not put enough time, yet, in the saddle to be back at that level. It just takes a lot of riding, so I know it will come back, but it is disheartening to see all the women pass you that you had just been in the lead swim pack with and then women who were not in the lead swim pack start to catch you, you know it hurts the ego. The bike was just plain challenging too. The Olympic racers got some nice flat course. The Sprint we just climbed for 6 and a half miles through some challenging hills before making the turnaround. There was a nice screaming fast downhill section, but once you have blown your legs up, it's hard to recover. I rolled into transition, not even knowing where I was in the placing anymore, but knowing I was coming into another leg of the triathlon that I knew I'd been working on and was ready despite knowing that the first half mile of the 5K run was straight upill with some pitches on the hill up to 12% grade!!!

I again flew through transition (and one of the USAT announcers at the dismount lines actually shouted out  that's how to do a dismount folks:-) Booyah, so my bike leg may have been weak, but at least I looked good coming into transition:-) I took off running, but it hurt. It sucked. I am not gonna lie. It was really hot and humid by that time (close to 2 pm I think), but I moved my legs and told my brain to shut up and go. I wanted to die. But I moved the legs up the hill and was PASSING people. Men and women who had either passed me on the bike or started in front of me. I started catching the women from the wave in front of me. I was feeling on top of the world again, however, I didn't feel like I was moving that fast. Oh yea, I wasn't, that little thing called heat and hills will do that to you. But I was moving faster than others. My watch told me I was running about a 7:30 pace. Ok, not what I wanted, but I was moving. There were a few more rollers and my pace varied, but I kept up with passing people. I just wanted the run to be over. It was so hot and it felt so long! The way that the finish line was set up for Nationals you couldn't even see it until you came up on it and you had about 200m to go. Anyway, I kept wanting to dig deeper but also reserve in case I blew up. I was in a very confused state.

The finish line finally materialized and I stumbled across it--in a graceful fashion of course. Went right to the medical tent to have my hand and stitches attended to and went in search of results. Due to a glitch in the system they had temporarily lost half the results, including mine:-( talk about tenterhooks...I wanted to know how I had raced and if I had qualified for Worlds next year. My friend John Howe and I cleaned up our transition areas and got our bikes and rode the 4 miles back to our hotel. He was stoked. He had gotten 6th so knew he had made the team. I was just really hoping I had. I knew that I wanted to use Worlds 2012 as a platform to raise awareness and funds for pre-service teachers to gain opportunity to work in an AIDS orphanage in South Africa, so I was just hoping results would get fixed. Anyway, got my bike broken down, packed my bags and John and I got a cab to the awards ceremony! My coach texted on the way with my results. He had found them and was letting me know how I did. I was so excited to get his text and felt so blessed to have a coach who is invested enough in my success to look out for me. And guess what I did earn a slot! I was 9th in my division! I was really upset with my times though. I had a 17mph average on the bike and my run split was right over 8 min miles. But then when they announced the fastest women's bike split of the race she hadn't even broken 20mph! Ok, so I didn't feel so bad anymore. It was a hard day. The fastest runner in my division didn't even break 7 min miles, which again proved to me how hard it was. And these are the top athletes in the nation--hailing from Hawaii, California, Florida, Ohio, etc. everyone brought their A game which can always be intimidating in transition when you are eying your competition and making "small talk" but it makes ya stronger, so yea, I will take it:-)

So yea, I have three weeks until Beijing, leave in two weeks and there is not much more I can do training wise, other than maintain and just know that the training will pay off. After taking years off, and just returning to real and regular training this last year I will say I am pleased with how things turned out!