70.3 World Championships Race Report

November 10^th, 2007

4:48.15– 32:47 Swim, 2:33 Bike, 1:37 Run

4th 20-24 Age Group

WARNING…All components of this race including the final weeks of preparation leading into it fall under the ‘Big Learning Experience’ category! And boy what a learning experience it was…

As a very new athlete in the sport with only 3 years under my belt, I had not actually completed an uninterrupted season of hard training and consistent racing until this year. My first year was pretty much a joke. I had never swam, bike or ran EVER in my life and pretty much just went with the flow and eventually found my true passion in life. My second year I went out a little too hard without much base and developed a giant stress fracture in my hip forcing me spend almost the entire race season aqua jogging in the pool! This year I had 2 main goals – the most important was to complete a full schedule and have an injury-free season and the second to finish top 3 in my age group at the 70.3 World Champs. Although goal one was a success, placing 4^th at Worlds was where the learning came into play.

What happened on race day? Unfortunately it was a combination of mental and physical burn out a few weeks prior to the big day. I began training quite hard in December and January and raced/trained straight through until October when I began feeling incredibly unmotivated, fatigued and uninterested in going hard. Since I had never gone that long before with consistent training, I hadn’t found my body’s limits and sadly hit the wall about 3 weeks before I was due to depart to Clearwater. Bummer. I knew the instant I was more excited to go skiing then go out for my favorite workouts in beautiful fall weather that something was up. I tried to push through the mental toughness but I kept finding myself breaking down and getting really upset for not knowing why I was feeling this way a few weeks before my biggest race of the season. I had a good chat with the coach and we agreed that beginning my taper a few weeks early would be a good idea and hopefully I would be really rested and pumped up to race. Although it sounded like a great idea, I still had a hard time getting those workouts in too and flew into Worlds very flat and highly unprepared. Lesson learned: NEED MID-SEASON BREAK!!!

When I toed the line the morning of the race, I was more relaxed than I had ever been before which is never a good sign for my super-agro-type A personality. It was a crappy feeling, but I knew right away that my heart just wasn’t into the race and that I was going to be out there just to enjoy the day. As the gun went off, I was so relaxed that I immediately fell into a great rhythm and joined the first swim pack. As we made the turn straight into the sun, I sighted the buoys on the opposite side and ended up swimming into the middle of the ‘rectangle’ and into a kayak who redirected me back on course. Oops. Coming out of the water I was a little irritated that I hadn’t put together one solid swim the entire year but knew I had improved greatly on the bike so it was time to go out and fly. Well, that’s what I thought at first until I realized my legs weren’t quite functioning the way they normally do. I just couldn’t turn over the pedal and was getting passed left and right. It was definitely tough to take, but instead of getting upset, I just kept chugging away knowing that it wasn’t my day. Getting off the bike was a great delight and I was very excited to head out for the run which is always my favorite event. Since I knew there wasn’t much hope to catch that place I was after, I just decided to cruise the half marathon and enjoy every minute of it. I crossed the finish line with emotions of frustration, irritation, disappointment, and joy. The race was finally over and it was the end of the year and I accomplished the number one goal of staying healthy without any injuries. Although I didn’t really ‘race’ what I had picked to be my ‘A’ race at the beginning of the year, it was okay. Nothing disastrous happened and I was able to spend some quality time with the Timex family and enjoy the rest of my trip with my mom who has been a huge supporter throughout my entire triathlon journey.

Thank you to everyone for all the encouragement and support during the 2007 season, I couldn’t have done it without you!