I have been writing a blog about my personal triathlon experience since 2009. I did this as part of my post race process and I really enjoyed having that record to look back on. I also liked connecting and sharing my stories in case others might relate. I know other blogs have surely helped and inspired me over the years.
Since moving this blog over to Track Cat, I haven’t shared many race reports. I am aware blogging of this kind seems to be going out of style with the prevalence of Insta/FB/Twitter but I miss blogging! I’m going to continue posting my personal journey here.
2017 update so far:
January/February
I took up snow shoeing and cross country skiing in order to embrace the VT weather! We also put a “fixer upper” house under contract which took quite some time to actually close due to some stressful hurdles. I escaped from the cold for a little while for a training camp out in Tucson. We woke up to swim in an outdoor pool every day and we rode bikes and ran on trails!
In January I experienced a pivotal moment where I realized it was time to take my own reigns and self-coach. I love having a coach but it was time to try to give myself what I have been doing for the athletes I work with.
What I liked about having a coach was the freedom to just be an athlete, the partnership of having someone who was also invested in shared success as a working relationship, the intellectual dialogue and an outside sounding board and perspective. What I do like about self coaching is the flexibility of trying what I want or changing my schedule when I want to with out having to ask someone else, never having to censor my TP log, greater self awareness and deeper self exploration as an athlete and being accountable only to me. This is why I’m really excited about offering a mentorship program for those who want to self coach. It is to offer support and partnership to those who want to jump into writing their own plans! https://everracing.com/coach-mentorship-program/
SNOW SHOE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP!
This was in Saranac NY this year and it was a lot harder than I expected but I loved it! My first snow shoe race was the World Champs! I went big! We had a warm day so I got to wear shorts in the snow. At first I was aggressive and a tad overzealous but after falling in the mud/ice/snow when things became technical, I realized my goal should be to “finish” and remain vertical as much as possible! I pushed the pace on the flats and was cautious on the ice and rocks.
I also hit some exciting training benchmarks…swim TT and power PRs! I was really building strong.
March/April
I was so tired of the long trainer rides by March but building solid fitness. I learned to turn trainer rides into “games” with lots of changing paces, some checklists with points to score for the session and rules to follow.
By the end of March, Nick came home with a really bad flu. It wiped us both out for weeks! I spent 6 days flat out resting laying down and mostly sleeping. From there it was a very long struggle to come back. My fitness sure plummeted and frustration mounted.
Florida 70.3
I felt healthy enough to do the FL 70.3 to dust off the race cob webs and ride my bike outdoors for the first time before TX. I decided the night before the race to be conservative and race at Ironman pace/watts. I felt quite sick by the end of the run though…dry heaving a lot in the last mile. Nevertheless I had a good time, met some awesome other athletes and was happy with the race because my goals for myself were met on the day. I used RPE but kept my computer on for data. I later looked at the watts/HR to see if it matched my expectation for Ironman. It did! I felt really worn down after the race though. I was still weak and couldn’t just recover like normal. Plus, I was coughing a lot.
DNS
The day before my IMTX flight my husband told me he thought I was still not healthy enough to race a full. I had been resting a lot, taking it easy with light spinning expecting my Jan-March build would carry me through and trying to get healthy. I informed him (the passionate athlete mind was on…not the coach mind) that it was “just allergies.” Nick pointedly had me take a look at the snow coated outdoors with zero pollen or green in sight. Not allergies. DRATS!
There were tears. I had spent all winter training and building to the event.
I knew that I could go down to TX and start the race but I was unsure if I could recover from the event. Pushing an Ironman on a healthy body takes a big toll. Pushing a very long race like that on a body that isn’t 100% could have set me back so much further, prevented recovery or put me at risk for a medical issue during the race. Today, I am so glad I did not do that race. It would have wrecked me and instead I am rebuilding that fitness and excited about the possibilities of 2017! Health comes first.
We also actually moved into our new home in the mountains in April. It is still a big work in progress…and a bit of a nightmare to clean and but we are giving it some TLC!