Nation’s Escape Triathlon
- Sep, 09 2018
- Washington D.C.
- Canceled
- No comments
As I type this blog now, I am headed to DC to race my fourth Escape Series race for the year (including Escape from Alcatraz). Hard to believe that it’s already September and my 2018 season is winding down. Sitting down and having time to reflect and write a blog these days is a rare opportunity. I am sure those of you with a toddler on the go can relate! Thinking back to last April when I began my race season, in some ways it seems like ages ago because of how much the kids have changed since then. Connor has grown up so much since last spring; he’s learned to walk (although now can run!) and learning so many new words every day. And he is usually sleeping though the night now! My sweet baby has turned into such a busy, sweet and fun loving toddler. Caroline has grown up so much as well as she is now a Kindergartner and getting busy with her own activities like soccer, swimming and show choir.
It’s an unknown how the remainder of my season will play out, but I am proud of my racing results thus far. I have raced in six races this year (second at the first race and won the last five). Last winter, there were many days I thought should the towel and retire as it was just a hard adjustment training on little sleep and training in cold, wintry days. Back then I told myself to simply focus on the goals and the tasks for that day and not think too far in the future. I would simply just focus on how I felt that day, or that workout and adjust as needed. This year, I have only focused on one race at a time. My mantra this year has been to try and do as little “work” (training) as possible in order to maximize my fitness for race day. I try to get in my key workouts each week, but I also try to avoid going to the deep well in training. I figure that I can save some of the extra reserves for race day. Cutting back on some training volume has given me more energy for my kids and also overall happier. After giving birth to Caroline, I felt that I had something to prove, that I had to show that I could return to racing after a baby and still be the same athlete I was before. This left me with the notion that I had to train harder and train even more intensely. Although I probably had the best training of my career in the couple of years after she was born, I also had some of my worst injuries. I had some great races, but had to miss out on some key races and training due to illness and injury. Looking back, I feel that I was pushing to envelope too hard and too often.
After having Connor, I didn’t feel like I needed to prove anything. I was much more flexible with my training schedule and not sure how my training would translate in my racing results. I let that pressure within myself let go a bit. I still had that competitive fire to compete the very best on race day, but I also was wanting to have more balance in my training. I didn’t need to compete X amount of hard bike/runs/and swims a week. Maybe this week I will only hit one hard run and that’s ok. I’m training hard, but saving energy to have that family balance and I am 100% ok with that.
This year, I have had some of my lowest weekly volumes in my swimming and running. I may not have quite the top end speed of my ITU days, but most importantly, I am really listening to my body when I am feeling tired and when I feel a tweak coming on in my training that I need to adjust. I joke that I don’t really need to do an easy third workout of the day since I spend all afternoon and evening chasing my little boy around and playing with my daughter, but it’s really true. What I do now in-between workouts looks very different now than it did 15, 10 or 6 years ago. These days though, what I do in between workouts may sometimes feel hard, but it’s so much more fun and very rewarding.
All year I have been thinking back and forth in my mind, “Should I try and Ironman?” Most of my racing this year has been close to home for several reasons. Traveling a far distance is tough on the body. I was never very good with jet lag in the past. Also, I like racing close to home because I can be away for just a couple of days and then be back with the kids. If a race is within driving distance, than the kids can come along with me! Emotionally, I feel like I haven’t been able to handle being away from the kids longer than three or four days and a long travel trip would be require being away for at least a week. With as many Olympic distance non drafting opportunities as there were four years ago, I naturally looked at longer distance racing as an option. I am now at the later stages of my career and thinking about what do I want to accomplish as I finish out my career. This year there are new qualifying procedures for 70.3 and Ironman racing (winning an Ironman qualifies you for the World Championships). I qualified for the 2019 70.3 World Championships last month by winning Ironman 70.3 Steelhead and looking at possibly trying to qualify for the Ironman World Champs next month in Louisville. As I head into this race; I won’t be overcooked. I may lack some experience at this distance and stepping into some uncharted waters for myself. There are many unknowns about this distance that can only be answered and achieved by toeing the line and stepping up to race.
With the seventh race of the year of my season being cancelled, I am headed to what is likely the final race of the year. I have a month to go to include some solid training into my schedule before my final 2018 race. September is one of my favorite times of the year to train. Typically the humidity drops, but the days are still warm and the leaves haven’t fallen yet. Best wishes to everyone with their end of season racing and training. Don’t forget to enjoy the journey.
Blog take two! Yesterday I wrote this blog headed to DC and now I am continuing with a race update headed home from DC the next day! Unfortunately, due to weather, the Escape Nations Triathlon was cancelled. There was some flooding on the course and with more rain to come in the morning, the organizers decided it would be in the best interest of the athletes to cancel the event as per safety concerns. This morning the swim portion of the race was cancelled, followed by a full race cancellation this afternoon.
Looking at the extended forecast early in the week, Nate and I contemplated cancelling our flights and hotel reservation for fear of a race cancellation. We have been in this business for quite some time and I just had a feeling in my gut it may be cancelled. I was looking at the weather that was headed towards DC and I was certain it would be a duathlon, but thought there was a chance we may still race. We figured that we would be more disappointed if we didn’t go and there was a race, so off we went.
Last night there was heavy rain and thunderstorms for several hours. Light rain continued today and heavy rain was in the forecast for the morning. This system is remnants of a tropical storms over the Gulf that affected much of the country. Unfortunately, the prize money was not split amongst the professional athletes (which is what normally happens in most races when a race is cancelled to help cover the cost of travel). Being a big city race, this was an expensive travel cost for my family which was a big reason why we were tempted to cancel the trip earlier in the week in case the race were to be cancelled. Nate and I can joke in the future years how much fun we had on our one day, $2,500.00 date to DC!
Once I heard the race was cancelled, we headed back to the hotel, changed our flights and got on an evening flight back to St. Louis. It will be nice to spend Sunday home with the family and then it will be back to hard training Monday. I won’t need a few extra days recovery as I normally do, so back to training it will be.
