Learning to Test Your Limits
It is the end of the summer and I have a lot to reflect on. I can’t believe I raced 6 times over the last 3 months. 5 out of the 6 races were races I had previously competed in. It was very fun to go back and see how far I have come since I have started. Of course I am grateful to have the career that I do to be able to focus on training and racing all summer. I am also fortunate that Cade continued to go to daycare 3 days a week so that I could get the longer training sessions in on those days and enjoy the weekends with my family. It also helped me to be more present when I spent time with Cade on the days he wasn’t at daycare.
Leading into the “racing season”, my “preseason” was pretty inexistent. I end the school year coaching soccer and that mix with trying to train is always tough. This year, having a one year old, was a whole new smack in the face. I was exhausted with the energy I was putting into soccer and my job that at the end of the day, I just wanted to go home and hang out with my family. I don’t regret any of my choices… except maybe skipping ALL of my swims… (oopsi).
Literally no swims from March until the first race in May. Lots of red in training peaks...
Below are the stats from my races to compare this summer to the first time I raced these races. Click on the link of the race to read the race recap for each of the races.
Race #1: J-Hawk Early Bird Sprint Triathlon (UWW)- May 6
This 15 minute improvement since having Cade last year makes me super happy :) (AND the bike was harder this year!)
I am so pleased to see improvement in each area (besides the swim). Through the experience I have gained I have been able to get much better at transitions. I lost a lot of races due to a slower swim time. If I can continue to improve in all of these areas and really focus on the swim, I think I can be a contender for an overall win in some of these smaller races some day.
This summer I have been humbled by the talent in this area, not just in my super competitive age group, but amongst all these bada$$ women putting it all out there. Being an athlete my whole life, being competitive has always come naturally to me. I never had to try too hard. Don’t get me wrong, I try and I push myself, but being involved in a team sport my whole life, it’s different. I was typically the kid who was at the top of the running drills. It hurt, but I got it done. Now, being in an individual sport, I realize the hurt and the push is a much different beast. It has helped me grow and gain confidence I never realized I could have. In previous blogs I have written about how much I want to get better and do well and get the times I want. I have also let the fear of failure or the pain hold me back. After completing my first 70.3 4.5 months post partum last year, I realized I am capable of a lot more than I ever imagined. This summer I took what I learned from that experience and grew a lot as a competitor. I am much more aware of what is going on at races now. I have a focus and a drive to get things done. There is still room to grow in this area, but I believe this summer I made huge gains in this department.
Here are my top 8 takeaways:
1. Don’t overdo it.
Yes, I should have done more when it came to that “preseason” training, however, I think the majority of my training this time around was very smart. When my workouts said “Easy”, I appreciated those easy days and almost never used data on those days. I let my body recovery and soak in the work that I was putting in on those quality workout days. The only race I signed up for way in advance was Muncie. Every other race I did, I registered for the week of. I feel like this gave me the opportunity to check how I was feeling, to know I was going in completely healthy and to know that I had the fire and desire to truly want to do the race. In the past when I have signed up way in advance, it always seemed like injuries would sneak up and then I’d still feel pressure to race because I had already spent the money to register.
I think by taking it easy on the easy days also helped keep me strong and not increase the risk of developing some kind of overuse injury.
The last piece to this, is Cade. Instead of focusing all my energy to training, I get to focus energy to Cade and Matt. I think this has been a huge shift in who I am as an athlete. There is so much more to life than just training and competing. When you can have a balance in your life, I think that really reflects in the competitions.
2. Are you Ready?
I was listening to a podcast this summer. The athlete was talking about their coach asking them if they were ready before a competition. The athlete’s response was, “I feel blah blah blah”. The coach cuts them off and says, “No, I didn’t ask you how you feel. I asked you if you are ready”. This resonated a lot with me. On race morning or the day before, I tend to focus on how I feel. I feel tired, or worried, nervous, etc. Instead, I need to focus on the fact that I put in all the work. The training is done. My body is completely ready for the race that is ahead. Let it be and fall into place. Let my body do the work that it is prepared to do no matter how I “feel” in the moment.
3. It will hurt.
There was another podcast I had listened to that was talking about the mental side of sport and how our bodies are much more capable than our minds allow it to be. I need to remember before and during the race that it is supposed to hurt in order to see improvement. If it doesn’t hurt or feel uncomfortable in some way, I probably need to go just a bit harder. This constant reminder helps me be mentally ready to push myself to my limits.
4. No one gives a sh*t.
Another podcast (I love when I get to listen to podcasts, can you tell?) was asking a professional athlete if they get nervous before events. The athlete responded something like, well, I used to and then I realized no one gives a shit how I do and it really doesn’t matter. In the end, it really doesn’t matter. Yes, it is nice when people pat you on the back for a job well done. As humans, we love to be recognized, it gives us validation, purpose. But I’ve realized, no matter how fast or slow you do something, if you are doing something not many other people do/have done, they will give you that small pat on the back anyway and move on. I have to refocus on why I am doing it. So that leads me to:
5. Remember your why.
I am doing it to see how fast I can be. I want to know, what is my actual potential? What am I capable of? During this summer of races, I had to keep telling myself it’s about how fast I can go during each event. Swim fast. Bike faster. Run the fastest. It was as simple as that every race. Yes, I was considering the competition at times, but that wasn’t my main focus. I needed to prove to myself I could go faster.
6. There is always someone faster.
This summer I got the real taste of my new age group and how amazing this group of women is. In 3 of the races I was top 5 overall (3rd overall for 2 of them) but 2nd age group in all of 3. My half ironman I was 6th age group and 1st, 2nd, 3rd went 2,3,4 overall. That’s nuts!
I really want an overall win one day. I was hoping that I would get that overall win at HolidayMan, but I was 12 seconds away from reaching that goal. I would have been happy to take that win, but I also would have felt like it wasn’t earned, because I know these other girls in my age group are SO fast that if some of them were there, they would have blown me out of the water. It’s not just my age group, there are lots of super experienced athletes that are just unbelievable. The woman at HolidayMan who beat me was 45. My coach beats me and she’s in that same age group. This just reminds me to refocus on the previous point of remember your why. I want to see what my best is. I told one of my soccer players who had just done her first triathlon that we do this for the competition to make us better. Chase that person in front of you to pull you to your best.
7. Why not me?
My coach gave me a good pep talk before my Half Ironman at Muncie. She said, “why not you?” I had looked at that list of athletes in my age group prior to the race. In my race plan to my coach, I kind of threw up my hands and said, well there is absolutely no way I am placing because of the girls racing who are consistently 20+ minutes faster than I am. I really wanted to break 5 in this race and place 5th as well. In Half Ironman, 5th place is a podium finish. 5th place has slipped through my hands a few times in the past. After seeing the girls who were racing, I thought I would be lucky to get 7th or 8th at best.
Once my coach had said, “why not you?” it stuck. The weather was going to be hot. When you have different variables like heat, anything is possible. Even Matt was reminding me that I do well in the heat. So that started to become my mantra, before and during the race. She had told me not to feel bad for myself which I think I tend to do. This usually ends up with me taking myself out of the competition. Any negative thoughts I had, I brushed them off quickly and would say, why not me?
This summer, I showed myself that I can keep pushing harder to see how fast I can go. And I can be at the top of this crazy awesome age group with more work, mentally and physically.
8. Keep the focus on all the good.
Smile! During the race, crack a smile. In the book Calm the F*ck Down and Rise to the occasion, they did a study that showed those who smiled, or had positive thoughts did better. After a race, I dwell on what could have been and what ifs. I still do, but I believe I am getting much better at pushing it to the side and celebrating the good things. Did I get an overall win this summer? Nope. Did I get that 5th place finish at a half ironman event? Nope again. But I did some awesome things that I am super proud of myself for. You know what I did do? I finished 6 races healthy and happy. I improved practically in every area in each race (the exception being my swim). When I crossed that finish line at Muncie and saw under the 5 hour mark, I was ecstatic. I kept telling Matt, I freaking did it! Even after a “preseason” of not much training, I have broken the barriers in many aspects of my abilities and I am truly proud of that. It makes me excited with more focus and practice, what else I am capable of. So it’s time to reward myself with some R&R and family time before testing my limits some more.
As always, thank you for all the support! I am so grateful for the support team I have. I wouldn't be able to do this without them. First and foremost, my hubby who is always putting my happiness first.
And of course, my coach who continues to guide my journey to reaching my goals.
And thank you to everyone who has given me that small pat on the back and cared to read about my experiences. It does mean a lot to me, thank you!
