I am having such an awesome season!
My comeback race was 3Sports Sprint: Just a local pool sprint, but I wound up with a huge PR and 1st place in my age group and 8th overall women and I was smiling and so incredibly happy the whole time. I had put an unbelievable amount of pressure on myself. It was scary going in….because I was so worried I would disappoint myself after all the hard work I had put in, but it turned out great! I absolutely love triathlon and racing. The opportunity to race was not lost on me that day. I enjoyed every single instant of the experience. I raced it hard. My swim was still slower than I wanted, but the bike was a ton faster than I thought and my run was perfect. I have never been so happy to see a finish line in my life. Silly, since it was just a local sprint, but YES, I was back! The podium finish was just icing!
I did a swim time trial 300 yards a few weeks ago and beat my pre-wreck time by 2 seconds! Yeahh! 4:41 is my new record. Amazing!
I have also raced the Luray Sprint. There was stress leading up to this race: some bike mechanics issues, camping in a rainstorm, running late etc. However, I had a lot of fun with my team mates leading up to and during the race! My swim was better than I had expected, despite leaky goggles. I biked about right, but probably could have pushed more into zone 4 since it was just a sprint. I raced the run hard. I came in 4th out of 48 women in my very competitive age group and 11th overall woman out out 155! Not bad for a former middle of the packer! I am excited to be learning how to push myself more in these sprint races. I am very happy with my hard work in training really paying off.
Now, I must admit Its not all perfect and I am struggling a little now. During my injury recovery, my determination level was oh so very fierce and every single workout was executed with an extreme precision level like I didn’t even think was possible. I was absolutely adamant that when I came back to racing I was going to come back shockingly fit and wind up on the local podium. That was my goal. I wanted to come back stronger than before. It was kind of amazing, what I was doing on that indoor trainer….the HR zones I was reaching and the way I could hold onto it for so long….I was like some kind of bullet train on the indoor bike. Nothing was “too hard” for me and I always wanted more. Now, I achieved that little goal and I am so happy, but with that being “out of the way”, I am having some issues pushing myself on the bike and I’ve skipped a few recovery rides too. I just don’t know why I can’t seem to WANT to excel in the bike like I used to. Yes, I want it, but that inner drive that shuts out all the pain and forces me to “push through” everything…it seems to have abandoned me as soon as I had my first”comeback” race. I wish I could tap into that laser sharp focus I used to have. I know it is there somewhere…. and I need it back! I still have Lobsterman, Giant Acorn AND B2B Half Iron on tap!