Some Important Reminders... Canoe Creek Sprint Tri

After Lake Placid I spent a few days crying in my Cheerios. I was not feeling very "cherry" to say the least.  I'm a generally happy and optimistic person.  It takes a lot to get me down.  For a few days, LP really did.  I talked to my friends.. that helped.  I read the comments on Facebook...that helped.  I read the comments on this last blog.. that helped too.  I talked to my coach a couple times.. that helped even more.  He said he's never really seen a bike file so "off".  Yep, that doesn't surprise me!  

I didn't need validation, I know my day was off and it was off from the beginning.  Better that way then having it fall apart somewhere on the run due to bad execution.  Honestly, I'd rather have what happened (whatever combo of crap it was!).  

Two days of doing nothing, three of active recovery and eating lots of sweets and drinking wine while watching chick flicks and staying up late while working extra hard on coaching / nutrition during the day and I was starting to feel like myself again.  I love training.  Without it, my day feels a little.. well.. lost and haphazard.  I spent a few days feeling like a fish out of water from Friday through Sunday.  I did things I never do (like clean my car and organize my gym bag!).  

By Sunday, I'd just about had it.  It was a nice week, but man, I missed my life!  It is my life you know.. this routine, this schedule.  It's busy and it's crazy and sometimes it's a bit much but all in all it's so much better than any alternative for me right now and it was a very important reminder that I don't do this just to prove something on race day, I do it because I love the process.. the journey!  

By Tuesday Coach Jesse  said we need to find a race and we need to find one NOW for THIS weekend!  A local sprint would do.  Well, that would have been great if there were any local sprints in Pittsburgh.  For the upcoming weekend the closest thing I could find was 2.5 hours away.  Ok, if that's what he wanted, then that's what the man wanted.... seedy hotel booked and I was off driving on Friday after a week of light training to race the Canoe Creek Sprint Triathlon (800m swim, 13 mile bike, 3.1 mile run).  

I hadn't done much planning in terms of the week so before I knew it was time to pack the bag and race!  You don't need NEARLY as much for a sprint and man was that packing nice comparatively!  I made a quick call on my drive to Krista, my good friend from college cross-country days who lived about 30 mins away from the race.  I almost didn't call because of the short notice, but I did anyway and I was so glad!!  She and her husband Tim, Mom Delorous, and their three children Ella, Eve and Elise were all there at the starting line to cheer me on!  She's 32 weeks pregnant with little Timothy and seeing her & the family was just so good for my soul!  

 They were there cheering me on as I came out in my BlueSeventy wetsuit from the 800meter swim.  I really have to do better with learning how to get out of it though. I had to lose at least 40 seconds just trying to get it off (probably all the time I made up in the swim by having it on!).  It was just fun to be out there again competing. 

Out of T1 I decided to keep the shoes on the bike and practice getting into them in a low stress environment!  What did I have to lose!  I knew there were other faster swimmer ladies in front of me to catch, but honestly today was only about me and racing HARD as hard as I could manage!  The goal.. kill myself on the bike for all 13 miles!  Don't let the heart rate fall and just keep pushing, pushing, pushing!  I caught a girl or two within the first 2-3 miles and then didn't see any other females close by so I just focused on keeping the heat on and getting my fluid in! 

Finally I saw a motorcycle ahead hanging with a biker around mile 8 or 9.  Really!?  Could that be the first women.. with a MOTORCYCLE in a local sprint.  Dang it.. I've always wanted a motorcycle!  I am SO THERE!  My heart rate was waaayyy up there, but I didn't care.  It was only a sprint right!!  It was fun to be competitive and race hard!  I caught her and another guy along with her and couldn't shake either of them.  No worries, it will all come down to the run and that my friends, is just fine with me.

Heading out of T2 I made a quick transition and felt like I wanted to puke, which is fairly normal for a sprint I think!  I haven't done one in years so I can't remember much except that this run was going to hurt, bad!  Krista and everyone was there cheering and it was just so exciting to see them!

I'd like to say I felt great and had a great run.  How I felt was out of shape to be trying to run 6:17 for that first mile and I knew there was no way I could keep it up, but I'll be danged if I wasn't going to go down trying!  I saw the second place girl at the 1.5 mile turn around and knew she couldn't catch me most likely.  It was a good hard effort throughout and that was what we wanted.

I was also reminded of how much my friends mean to me and how they are always there when I need them, like Krista and Jocelyn, my family, my other friends, my blogger and Facebook friends.. it's a good life and there is nothing to be sad about.  Should everyone be so lucky as to have the friends I do and be this blessed to get to do what I love no matter how it goes!

It was a great day to be out there and I met many other athletes doing their first sprint.  I never mentioned that I do this pretty seriously now, doesn't matter, I was even asked if this was my first triathlon.. "nope, it isn't!" I replied, but I do remember my first and it was just as fun and exciting as Saturday.  It just never gets old does it??!

Thanks to all my sponsors, my coach Jesse  / QT2 for getting me back out there and to my great charity team Ballou Skies!  You'll notice I have a brand new way of reaching my goal!  Check it out!  I'd like to raise $1000 by Cedar Point (Sept 9th) for Ballou Skies.  I have $100 to start with in the kitty!  Please help if you can by DONATING HERE and putting my name in the form!  Thank you in advance for your help in reaching this important goal!!!

See you out there my friends!  I'm back to training and ready to get back after it to compete in Rev 3 Cedar Point Full!!  I can't wait!