My foot is better! I’m grateful to my active release therapist, my husband, my former coach, my friends and my podiatrist for seeing me through that awful injury. I’m also grateful to everyone who was generally “there” for me while I got through the hardest winter of my life. I’ve reconnected with many of my non-tri friends and grown closer to them and discovered a lot about my tri friends too. It was the worst winter for many reasons, plantar fascia and not running for several months didn’t help.
The good news is that I’ve come back from this injury with… better cycling strength and a new coach! He is tough as hell, a total machine and he has such a passion for this sport and for seeing others succeed. He’s the best coach EVER! He’s made amazing progress with me in our short time working together and I’m very excited to see what we will accomplish this season. He’s the most supportive coach I could imagine and he doesn’t let me get away with…anything. With me, he’s pretty blunt and straightforward, but that is exactly what I need. He won’t sugarcoat anything which is good. His expectations are high and his workouts are often long and tough, but I need that. When I really need him, he is immediately there for me as a coach. He identifies my weaker areas and helps me fix them. He’s invested in teaching me as we progress and I’m pretty lucky to have found such a fun coach to work with who is going to make me even fitter and faster than ever before. I am so happy to have him. With personal coaching, its all about the “fit” and the value and I really think this was a great move for my goals and my needs right now. I trust him with my season, I know he believes in me and he’s proven to me that he’s committed to me accomplishing my goals. He knows what my goals are and believes I can get there. He was very adamant that I be conservative when coming back from plantar fasciitis. That is very important to me. Plus, he is a wealth of knowledge and a great source for information. Now, I just need to maintain discipline, balance my life and do the work to reap the results.
Surprisingly, the transition has come with some umm…rocky spots with my former training group, but I am doing my best to rise above, maintain the friendships that were worthwhile and stay somewhat connected as there are many wonderful things about my last team and I’m forever grateful for the experiences I had there. I’m hoping moving forward, people have learned from the experience. We are all triathletes in the community working towards similar goals and embracing similar values. There is no need to be exclusive with your enthusiasms or your training buddies, in my opinion. I will continue to be open with my enthusiasm and support everyone, regardless of the color of their race day jersey.
I have no regrets that I am working with the coach who best meets my training needs. He’s the best coach for me.
I’ve done a cycling only event- just a short TT- but it was more of a learning experience than anything. It wasn’t a great race, but a good adventure with a fun friend, CW.
I’ve raced an olympic distance triathlon (Rumpass in Bumpass) and my swim and bike were both great. A 3 minute PR for the distance. Once my run legs are back, its going to be even more awesome. The race was the longest distance I had run since November.
My foot is better! I’m faster on the bike. I’m faster in the swim. I’ve come out stronger.