“Life ain’t all sunshine and rainbows” -TriRock Philadelphia

In light of the race taking place around the Philadelphia Museum of Art and Rocky’s infamous steps I felt this image suited the weekend quite well. “Life ain’t all sunshine and rainbows”… and it wasn’t. Shortly after I arrived in Philly, the rain started and continued through the weekend. The afternoon prior to race day, I received an email saying the swim had been cancelled and the race was now going to be a duathlon; a 40k bike and 10k run with a time trial start. I didn’t let the change of events shake me, drawing on the lessons I have learned from my past two years in the sport I just focused on “going with the flow”. The morning of the race was still rainy and transition was sloppy. I set up, warmed up and waited for my start time.

A tap on the shoulder by the race director was my signal to start. I sprinted out of transition and hopped on my bike. The roads were still slick and the descents were a little sketchy. Then it happened. 5.5 miles into the race, I heard a strange rattle from my rear wheel. I had a flat and my day was done. I pulled over to the side, unclipped and reminded myself “this is a part of racing, its not a big deal, make the most of the day”. With my cleats and helmet in one hand and my bike in the other I proceeded to walk and cheer on the other participants as I slowly made my way back to transition. At one point I stopped and chatted with a volunteer, she didn’t know much about the sport so I answered as she asked. Eventually we realized there was no sag car, so she gave me a stick of gum and I thanked her for volunteering and continued my trek.

Eventually, I made it back to transition. My feet at this point were bleeding and blistered. Though I was disappointed that I didn’t get to finish I was grateful that 1. I didn’t crash on my bike 2. I am privileged to share the journey of triathlon with my boyfriend (who had a phenomenal day finishing as 4th Pro!)  and 3. I was able to meet his grandfather, aunt and uncle while on our trip and begin to develop a relationship with them.

Next up, Live Love Tri. A local New Mexico reverse sprint tri, just for women! Looking forward to sharing the passion of triathlon and the inspiration of the female spirit with all those women!

Airport Survival Tactics and a Triathlon:

Part 1: Houston

• Alex Willis and I arrived at ABQ airport at 5am thinking that would be plenty of time to catch a standby flight to Florida. To our surprise everyone in the United States had decided to travel about the country April 23^rd and all thought it would be down right dandy to fly via Southwest. I departed ABQ alone at 11:30 after Alex took a 9:15 flight to Kansas City. I arrived in Houston at 2pm and spent the next 7hrs in that airport running back and forth between counters trying to find a flight to get me to Florida.
  • Airport Survival 101
    • Buy an excessively expensive blanket, it will keep you warm and become an adult appropriate security blanket in those meltdown moments.
    • Read the fine print on the back of your buddy pass, it will teach you the rules of flying standby; saving you a lot of mystery work in figuring out how the game actually is played.
    • Bring an ergonomic backpack. That cute one that doubles as a purse will not be so cute feeling by the end of the day.
    • Get your story down to as few of words as possible. You will be telling it over and over again to multiple different gate attendants.
    • Remember to eat and drink, it makes formulating comprehensive sentences much easier.

Part 2: Kitten Therapy

• Upon finally arriving in Tampa at 11:30pm. Alex informed me that our homestay had two kittens and a geriatric dog. Knowing my nerves were in a fragile state in Houston he spared me the news by not sending snapchats and waited until I arrived. I spent the rest of the weekend cuddling kittens every chance I got. Kittens aside our homestay was awesome. Karen, Joe, and Jackson were really fun and super hospitable. So thankful to have made new friends in them.

Part 3: Sunburns and Juice

• Anyone remember that “song” from 1998 “always were sunscreen”? Yeah, do that, because within the 30minutes I spent doing my pre-race run-throughs I was cooked like a lobster.
• After finishing our race prep, we decided we wanted a smoothie. We stopped at Soho Organic Juice Co. Sounds great right?! (It really is) but be aware to sell your bike or take out a small loan to pay for these tasty little bottles of liquid gold. 4 bottles and $40+ later we hope to have replenished all our vitamin and mineral deficiencies.

Part 4: Oh yeah a Triathlon

• Oh yeah, the race! So for those who don’t know yet, USA non-draft short course triathlon has made some huge changes this year by eliminating most of their pro races. With next to no pro races there are next to no races to qualify for your pro license in the Olympic distance. St. Anthony was one of 2 shots for me… No pressure, right?!
• So the gun went off and this little girl from the mid-west was like “waves? What are these? How do you swim through them?!” All alone I muscled my way through the course thinking, “I probably look like a struggling seal, any moment now I’ll be eaten by a shark”.
• Well I made it out of the water free of being shark bait and proceeded to the bike. The wind had picked up and I was blown around like a little kite. I had been told a spectator I was in 6^th coming out of the water and from what I could tell I wasn’t going to be able to catch the top 3 girls. Frustrated I decided to just let go of the idea of trying to turn pro and just finish to the best of my ability. I never felt great on the bike but I just plugged away and tried to keep two wheels on the ground.
• Transition 2 was interesting, I dismounted, hit a bump with my rear wheel and suddenly my bike stopped rolling. In a panic I threw my bike over my shoulder and tried running with it through transition. Then when my ant-like strength wore off I just dragged it back to my rack.
• The run was another run, I settled into a pace not knowing I would run 3minutes faster than any other girls and crossed the finish line apathetic with the day. When I looked at the results no times were posted and it appeared I was sitting in 7^th. So we packed up and headed home. On the drive my phone started to blow up with texts.. “congrats Pro!” “Top 3 thus far” “killer race”… I responded with “you’re mistaken, I was 7^th, but thanks…” (wah, wah, waaaaah)
• Turns out I WAS 3^rd overall and henceforth qualify for my Pro Card, so that’s pretty cool.
• 
• 

Part 5: Re-Standby

• Currently blogging live from Las Vegas! Where we wait to see if we can go to L.A or Denver or Phoenix (heck maybe China) to connect with an Albuquerque flight. Standby! For Coast to Coast updates!
• F.Y.I the days to avoid flying standby are Thursdays and Mondays. (From the mouths of gate attendants)

Going for Goals

A Goal, as defined by Webster, is the object of a person’s ambition or effort, an aim or desired result.

Setting goals are in my opinion, what keep us as humans moving forward both physically and emotionally. I believe that they keep us from settling, becoming complacent in addition to helping fight burnout, fatigue and depression. When you have something to strive for you have a greater sense of purpose and a sense of accountability. Goals don’t have to be earth-shattering conquests, though they can be. In reality however, goals should be small, attainable, practical ambitions that can be accomplished with “ease” (more or less). Collectively a bunch of sequential small goals can then build up into what would on its own be perceived as an “astronomical” aim.

Many have probably heard of the S.M.A.R.T acronym for setting goals. However for those who haven’t here’s a quick rundown on how this “tool” helps make goal setting a little less daunting an exercise.

 S: specific – setting specific aims keeps efforts clear, focused and unambiguous.

When setting specific goals use who, what, where, why and when.

 M: measurable – having an ability to measure a goal helps you know when you

have accomplished it. Being able to answer how many, how much or how will I know when it is attained in a quantifiable manner is key here.

 A: attainable – attainable keeps things realistic, it may stretch the individuals ability

but is it not so far out of reach that it would be like banging your head against a wall. If you can set up an appropriate sequence of steps to pursue something then it is attainable.

 R: relevant – Is the goal worthwhile? Appropriate? You may need support in

            pursuing the goal; is it something that confidants will/can help you achieve?

 T: timely – what is the time frame given to accomplish the goal?   Deadlines typically

                                                                                          help keep your efforts moving forward.

 

With all that said, here is my list of goals for 2014 as an example.

1. Earn Pro Card via top 3 amateur finish at qualifying race
2. Sub 2:16 Olympic race
3. Olympic swim portion: 21min
4. Olympic bike portion: 1:08
5. Olympic run portion: 37min
6. Sub 5hr 70.3 race
7. Once Pro Card is earned, top15 finish at first pro race
   • Collectively these all aid in the development of my athletic career and are measures of my progress and ability.
8. Have a girls night once a week
9. Introduce myself to someone new at Master’s swim/group rides each week
   • These two goals are to help me be more outgoing, develop a network, stay plugged into the community, and generally make friends as I have a tendency to be extremely shy in group settings.

10. Earn a raise at my current place of employment though exemplary performance by the businesses’ standards.

11. Sell $300 worth of pottery on website (in development!), through word of mouth, and possibly art fairs.

• A little extra income can always help!

You are capable of more than you know. Choose a goal that seems right for you and strive to be the best, however hard the path. Aim high. Behave honorably. Prepare to be alone at times, and to endure failure. Persist! The world needs all you can give.

E. O. Wilson

On The Move

Last winter in Salt Lake I was sick from November through February battling sinus infections, respiratory infections and who knows what else. I attributed most of illnesses with the smog that settles in the city during the winter and made a vow that I would not spend another winter in that toxic environment.  As the year progressed and I grew stronger in triathlons I knew that a drastic change was needed in order to take my abilities to the next level.

After a lot of contemplation I took the plunge, packed up my car and headed south. All I had was my gear, clothes and the destination of Albuquerque, New Mexico where the weather was warmer, the air was cleaner, cost of living was cheaper and my teammate Alex was located (yay! A training buddy!).

I arrived in Albuquerque the night of January 17^th.  Now, I have a history of being a pretty timid and introverted individual. I knew that for this move to be successful I really needed to push myself out of my comfort zone and put myself out there by meeting people and getting plugged into the community as fast as possible.

The next morning I worked a UNM indoor track meet, where one of the coaches recognized me from when I ran for the University of Toledo, apparently he was the head coach of The University of Miami Ohio Women’s Track team back when I ran. Small world!! Since then, I’ve joined the Master’s swim team, met the Black Dog Triathlon club and the Chasing3 team. I’ve started strength training with Elevate PHW, yoga at Sani yoga, pottery at the UNM pottery studio (thanks to my best friend for the membership!) and have connected with friends of friends from Salt Lake. I’ve been able to train outside under clear blue skies almost everyday and have yet to wake up with a hacking cough. For the first time since I started this sport 12 months ago I’ve started to see consistency in my training, suddenly big training weeks seem “easy” and manageable.

I may have only been here a week and a half so far and am still in the “honeymoon phase” of life with Albuquerque but I am pretty excited about what all life has to offer down here and am looking forward to seeing how this upcoming season will unfold. Thus far I think it’s going to be a great year!

Never Quit, Never Give Up and Always Keep Reaching for the Stars!

Mind Over Matter

 

In the months leading up to Ironman Arizona things hadn’t developed as originally planned. Following my race in September I had been struggling with some IT band issues and a bit of end of the season burnout which caused me to dial back on training and re-think race goals.

 Upon arriving in Tempe I met up with my X2PERFORMANCE teammates, my friends JC and Haylee and my coach Trista Francis. Trista and I talked about race plans, nutrition and surveyed the course. I wasn’t all that nervous or excited really, it was the last race of the season and I was going into it just to participate. I didn’t think I really had a shot of anything “great” because my training had been so limited leading up to the race.

Race morning:

I was instructed to start on the front line. That was cool and all until you think about how you have 3,000 people behind you. If you are slow to start you are going to get pummeled. That is exactly what happened too… video footage showed that although I thought I was whipping my arms around at lightning speed I looked like I was in slow motion compared to the rest of the field. As I began to get pummeled I obviously started to panic. So I stopped and floated as the masses swarmed around me. Regaining composure I worked my way out of the main stream and started swimming again. From that point on the rest of the swim went well and I came out of the water in 1:04.

 

I was psyched with the swim and quickly preceded to the bike. I’m not the strongest cyclist and anticipated a fairly long day on the bike. People of all shapes, sizes and ages passed me as I had expected. However I stayed true to my plan and spun away; slowly but surely clipping off the miles. About 50 miles in my IT bands started to hurt.  The nagging pain began to wear on me so I set my goals smaller “just get to the next mile marker” I’d tell myself and then extend the goal out to the next marker. I continually reminded myself that I was just participating in this race, so whatever the results may be it was no big deal. I didn’t have much hope for my run coming off the bike due to the knee pain but had already mentally prepared for that scenario as well.

 

Onto the run. The IT band pain seemed to dissipate at first, so I plugged away with a goal of running for an hour which was my longest training run leading into the race. When I made it an hour my next goal was to make it to the half marathon marker based off the longest distance I had run all season. By the time I was approaching the 13mile mark my knees were screaming. I wanted to walk and was planning on it when my coach screamed “you’re in 7^th and can catch 5^th!” My first thought was “you’re kidding me”. I evaluated the pain in my knees and thought “ok, let’s give this a try” I kept running and by the time I passed my coach again I was in 5^th. This time she yelled “if you maintain this pace you’ll hold 5^th”. Well now I’m in a pickle. I’m 16 miles into this race, my knees are screaming and I don’t want to loose my position. I went back to my tactic of promising myself I would walk at the next mile marker but then when I’d reach that marker I’d extend my goal out another mile. I was running on guts and fear. I had no idea how much longer my body would allow me to keep moving and I had no idea where 6^th place was. I bit my lip and kept going, praying I’d make it to the end. Finally I saw mile marker 25. Upon seeing mile marker 25, I was all smiles, I knew I could make it to the end and was going to hold 5^th. I crossed the line in 10:52:31, a 3 hour PR in and of itself.

 

I guess the take-home message of this race was that. With a flexible mindset and some good ‘ol guts and determination you can overcome any adversity and find yourself accomplishing more than you ever dreamed possible.

Special thanks to X2PERFORMANCE, iTz Multisport and my boyfriend. Without your support and guidance none of this would have been possible. Thank you for making this first season more amazing then I could have ever dreamed.