#nomoreaquabike : Kinetic Sprint Triathlon

Heading into my first triathlon (fully including the running) in about 4 years was a little nerve racking, but I knew from the block before leading up to it, I was well underway of being great out there. My block contained the start of hill bounders, a strength workout that involves bounding up a very large hill over and over again, longer runs and longer rides, and the start of open water swimming.

Lake Anna Field Trip

Swim: I remember there was a point not too long about where I doubted whether I would ever be "fast" again but I am happy to say that those doubts are gone. Granted I will never be swimmer "fast" again, but I am pulling some good solid steady and resistance workouts throughout the week. This block came with the start of open water swimming, something that I am not the biggest fan of. When I can see the bottom of the body of water I panic and when I can't see the bottom of the body of water, I panic, so it's really just a lose lose. Meghan and I told a tri field trip out to Lake Anna one Monday after work and it was our chance to acclimate to the water in which we would be swimming in and get comfortable. I for sure got more comfortable and successfully made it through the whole workout without any panic attacks!

Photo Credit: Coach

Bike: This block came with a lot of bonks and nutrition fails while determining what I could possibly eat that is safe and will fuel me well. Long rides got dangerously close to bonks until I stopped to get snickers bars and the revelation that I was out of neutral position. My long rides have been going okay. I say just okay because my biggest area for work-on is my cadence. Dan tells us that we have to keep a cadence of 90+rpms on the bike and my long rides have been averaging somewhere in the high 70rpms. Not great...and I have really been pushing and trying to fix that but Dan says it takes 1-2 weeks to become a thing. On the trainer I am able to hit that high cadence but when I hit the road I find that I simply cannot. It feels like, although my fit are clipped into the pedals, that if I spin my legs to that kind of cadence, they will slip off and I'll go flying. However, I will continue to work on it because I understand the importance of keeping a high cadence especially before a run and trying to get those run legs ready to rock. I've been doing my PPT hill sprints by myself the past few weeks, so having Meghan and Dan be there with me the last time before my race was great. I always love have company in workouts as they make them go by faster or create them to be more tolerable. Dan is teaching me a lot about my power wattage and what I need to try and hold. While focusing on power has allowed me to get more consistent and has stopped the crazy wattage of burning myself out. I feel that to be successful on the bike I have to focus on the triangle of factors: HR, cadence and power. It'll come along,

Run: I have to say how absolutely blown away I am of my progress made here during this block! In the early stages of training, I was high in doubts that I could ever really understand this whole zone thing and how going slow would actually turn into fast, but I'm a believer. I had a big breakthrough this block with all my runs, especially my long runs! I was finally able to take it out slow and descend my pace throughout and get progressively faster to the point of negative splitting my runs. I had one Sunday where I had long run, PPTs, long run. I was thinking that was pure madness and I was not looking forward to it, but I actually ended up loving it and had run a total of 11 miles that day: more than I had ever run prior which gave me a new sense of accomplishment. My run is coming along more and more everyday and I had a big revelation during this block: I actually enjoy and look forward to running, something I never thought I would say. When I thought triathlon, I always thought swim and bike (AWESOME) and run (torture), but now I can see all three sports together and as something I love doing. 

Knee: I would love to say that my knee has been great and hasn't been giving me problems, but everything cannot be great all the time. During my last long ride I developed this debilitating pain in my bad knee and after e-mailing Lori Strobl (my PT) about it, we determined I was out of neutral position which was in turn hurting my bike fit position, therefore the knee pain. I panicked, this was one week before my race, however, she let me know of things I had to do to get back into neutral and I was extra diligent about getting the work done to get my knee under control, and I think I did! 

Kinetic Sprint Triathlon: 1:30.31 

Pre-Race: Despite Coach's wishes, I was a sherpa cheerleader for Meghan and Dan's kinetic half race the day before my race. It was hot, it was long and it was not the great resting day before the race as he wanted me to have, however, I did everything in my power to make it restful. Instead of biking in between cheering locations, we drove. Instead of standing and cheering, we had lawn chairs, and when I got tired and hot, I hung up a hammock in the shade and took a nap. It was great and I felt that watching the race is what I needed to pump myself up before my race. 

Morning of, I got up, packed up the little I still had left, did some physical therapy and made breakfast. Food before my races are always a battle; I was able to get down three pancakes and 2 scrambled eggs while sipping Infinit. I packed up the car and off I went to the race site! 

Swim: 12:12 

Honestly, there was nothing about this swim that was good. The wind created for a very choppy water swim, which made it very hard to breathe and sight. I ended up going off course a  little as I just couldn't see anything over the waves from the wind and the safety boats taking people out of the water. Dan tells me to shut my legs down and have long catch-up strokes, but I felt like I needed a bit more kick to power over the waves. I was also supposed to find someone to swim with and draft off of. I clearly need to work on this more, because I let two white caps pass me and I ended up swimming solo overtop of people and getting kick every which way. 

I was so glad to get out of the water and make it to transition. 

T1: 2:26 

"Think slow, act fast" is Dan's mantra when it comes to transition. I tried this, but without the use of wetsuit strippers, the removal of my wetsuit was very challenging and I found myself falling to the group when I tried. After the lengthy process, I was able to quickly get what I needed and bolt out of there. 

Bike: 49:06

A sprint course bike is fast and short...two things I didn't really feel prepared for, but I tried to race it as close to Dan's race strategy as I could. In the past I have hammered up hills and taken the down hills as easy, but he wanted me to really watch my power and make sure that there were no massive spikes, which meant I would ride up hills going slow while getting passed by loads of people. It was definitely a course that I was not prepared for. I've been training flat courses, so my legs were in shock from the hills, but I did the best I could. About halfway through I did throw up. I wasn't sure whether it was from nutrition or the quantity of water that I had taken in from the swim.  Looking at the stats now, though, I see that I raced I pretty solid race despite the hills and how I felt. Cadence can for sure be higher, but at least I got it out of the 70s! Power was higher than my training rides and I didn't have any absurd spikes for the hills...

T2: 1:02 

Helmet and shoes off. Shoes and visor and race belt on and off I went. 

Run: 25:44

Mile 1: 8:43 

I got out of transition and up a giant hill I went. Since the bike was so cold and windy, I had no sensation of my feet or really my legs for that matter. I was vaguely aware that I was moving and I honestly thought I was going 10:00/mile pace up the hill. The top of the hill marked one mile and I was pleasantly surprised with how quick I ran. It didn't feel bad. I tried to zone out all of the junior and HPT Endorphin girls passing me. My old triathlon self would've wanted to catch up with them, but I wanted to stick with Dan's plan as much as I could, so I focused simply on me and what I had to accomplish on that run. 

Mile 2: 8:22 

This was the most flat the run course got and I finally regained some feeling in my legs. Dan said that he wanted me to take the water stops slower, but I didn't. I felt that if I were to take them slower or stop and get what I needed, I wouldn't start moving again. I made sure I shouted what I needed before I got there and the volunteers always got the water into my hand. I sipped a bit but it was more to flush my mouth out of the throw up taste. 

Mile 3: 7:45

I love me some down hills and this whole mile was downhill. I still took it in control not letting my legs get ahead of me but a nice and solid run. Before entering the woods to the finish line, I saw these two greyhound dogs that I had my eye on all day before and I shouted to the owners, "I love your dogs, they kept me company yesterday." The owners laughed and told me I had 800meters to the finish. I kicked it into turbo drive and passed 3 people in the woods before the finish line. Michael and Parker of Endorphin were running up along the path to cheer and they cheered for me and told me I looked great, so I pushed as much as I could with the finish line in sight. 

Overall: 2nd in 25-29

I'm not wildly happy with my swim and bike performance, but I am very pleased with my run. Dan says that if my run was that good, I raced well, but maybe I'm just too hard on myself having a great aquabike season last season. I got second in my age group, and was 36 seconds away from getting first. I was the 18th woman overall and 103 overall. I saw things that I can improve on and had some surprises along the way (such as my run). Regardless of how I thought I did, it was a great first race and put that competitiveness back in me for the rest of the season. I look forward to Eagleman and my first ever half in 4 weeks! I, of course, couldn't do any of this without my support of my training partners, family, and coach! More to learn, more to grow! Giddy up! 

Test Week: Anxiety, Sacrifices and Weddings

The week of any test or race is supposed to be filled with lots of rest, recovery and sleep, three things I did not receive at all. My 8K TT was scheduled for Sunday and I was leaving for Chicago, to be in my best friends wedding, on Thursday night. So while I tried my best to get the rest, recovery and sleep I needed before the weekend rolled around, the uncontrollables in life took over and made this week high in anxiety and stress, however, as seen by my test results, I think its safe to say that even with the uncontrollables, I was still able to throw down a great run. 

This week was all about making sacrifices, ("an act of giving up something valued for the sake of something else regarded as more important of worth"). This week's sacrifices were: 

1) Gave up my chance to swim in the gorgeous Northwestern University pool and dominate my 400 TT swim for the opportunity to have girl chat and cuddle time.

• I love my friends. I also love my sleep and my sport. But how often do I get to spend time with my friends who live hundreds of miles away from me? So although I was crabby because I was up so late, I welcomed the opportunity to talk with my friends, even if that meant I got 5 hours of sleep and no swim in a pretty and cold pool.

2) Gave up alcohol the weekend of my best friends wedding so that I could stay hydrated and attempt to keep HR down for my Test. 

Cutting of the cake 

• After seeing what happens to my HR after drinking alcohol, I opted to give up alcohol for the weekend for my race on Sunday. That meant I sacrificed toasting a beverage at my best friends wedding but left me drinking loads of water at the bar that night. 

3) Sleep. Coach probably hates me for this one because sleep is a principle that GRN MCHN athletes follow.

• I do everything in my power to get between 7.5-8.5 hours a night because with the amount of training I do, the nightly recovery is so important!! The first night I was in Chicago, I got 5 hours of sleep. The second night I got 6 hours, but thankfully on the night before my 8k I got 8, however, that's not the rest I needed going in this TT. 

So those are the sacrifices I've had to make this week, but what about the anxiety?

For those of you who don't know, I suffer from anxiety and unfortunately get anxiety attacks when my triggers make themselves known in my life. In the nine days leading up to my test, I had two anxiety attacks, something I rarely only ever have once every two months or so. When I have one of these attacks, it's debilitating and so emotionally and physically exhausting that I lose the much needed rest that comes with rest week. Thankfully I was able to take a personal day and make up for some of that much needed rest before heading to Chicago for the weekend. 

Shenanigans in the car before the wedding

Another aspect of the anxiety has been the elimination of all things lotion and body wash. As you are probably all well aware, I have tons of allergies, but all of which are food or medicine. The past two weeks, I have identified that I am allergic to something that I put on my skin whether be body wash or lotion. I have been reacting in forms of hives, so I have now eliminated all of it. 

So clearly the time leading up to my test was ROUGH! However, with the help of my sister-in-law, Cait, I was able to PR by 1 minute in my 8K. 

8K Test 

Opposed to starting the run in the morning, to simulate a typical race morning, I opted to sleep in and go to brunch with my family for my dad's birthday. I was scared to even eat at brunch because lately my stomach hasn't been agreeing with things I eat before runs, however, chowed down on half a salad and a full bag of pretzels. 
I did a solid 30-40 minutes of PT before going out and running. Cait and I ran out to the lake (a warmup of only 5 minutes) before starting the test. 

First Mile: 8:19 
Last test I took it out WAY too fast so I wanted to try and slow it down. I wouldn't of been able to on my own, but Cait kept telling met hat I was going faster than I thought and I had to slow down. I felt great, I could just go at that pace. 

Second Mile: 8:25
Still feeling great. Cait asked if I ever talk while I run. I laughed. No, when my HR at BSE, there is not a chance that I can talk. I can formulate words, but no sentences, so she did all the talking. Still feeling pretty good at this point. 

Third Mile: 8:33 
I knew I was slowing down because my Garmin bings every time I hit a mile, but I continued to push and get after all the people who were out running. I would pick a person out in the crowd ahead of me and tell myself to push until I got to that person, but once I got there, I would tell myself to push until the next person and so on. 

Fourth Mile: 8:47
All hell broke loose and my body hurt like hell. Dan tells me that if you don't hurt in an 8k, you're not doing it right, but this mile certainly proved that I was doing it right. It felt as though I had smashed into a brick wall and was failing to break through it. 

Fifth Mile: 8:24 
There was a blonde girl running probably 25 yards in front of me. I set my eyes on her. It was the last mile so I dug deep and I pushed through that brick wall and I caught that girl in the last 20 seconds of my run. 

Final Time: 42:38 
Overall, lightyears better than my last test and although I did't break the 8:00 barrier like in my last one, I can see tremendous progress and I can feel it, too! I paced it great, there were no dips in HR like last month and it was a well raced test. 

Final Thoughts:
My first race, although a sprint, is in less than a month and I am feeling pretty good! I'm feeling great about my run which I've never said before. I'll feel great about my swim once I can get myself into some open water and the bike will come with time. Dan continues to be really supportive and tough love like when I need him to be. Lately, it's been a lot of positive feedback, which honestly, I haven't been used to, but it motivates me to keep the great work up and strive to be better. 

I've finally reached build phase, and am already in shock with some of the workouts he has me doing but I know his methods will get me to good places, so keep on trusting, keep on believing and keep on pushing. I'm growing and loving the sport more and more everyday. 

This Week: Rollercoaster Ride

This week certainly came with it's own set of highs and low, just like my HR in my new set of HR zones for my runs. However, even with the highs and lows, some big progress in my training came, especially in my running.

Last week ended with this beauty coming in the mail. All American Aquabike. Although I was injured last season, I was still able to make the best of the situation and throw down great races every month. It taught me that I have the endurance, strength and mentality to push through all sorts of pain and accomplish great things. So I am very excited for this season and what lies ahead for my triathlon career.

Swimming
I reached a breaking point in my swimming this week, and not in a good way. When Dan went to look over my stats for the week, he saw what I had left him in my athlete notes. I was pissed and I was having very large doubts about whether my swimming was going to ever be good again. I have this bad habit of comparing myself with people, because a lot of times in my past I never felt that I was good enough and I would push harder to be better than my peers or my teammates. After my long pull set on Wednesday, I had a big wave of that again and compared myself to two extremely close people in my life. And I said "I suck at swimming."

I think everyone has stumbles and doubts in their training but it shows a lot about you in how you respond to those stumbles and I did not respond well. Dan responded in the way that he knows I will listen. Gotta love those tough love e-mails where I know he is probably as pissed as I am, but it got to me and I realized I need to do the same for swimming as I do for my bike and run: put my head down and just go. Really focus on what Dan wants me to accomplish during those sets and disregard my goals and my feelings. As Dan says, "Let me do the thinking."

My friend Aaron helps me a lot in all of my training, as well, even though he is in Boulder. I text him and rant all the time, and I am so thankful that I can do just that. He knows me really well and knows where my head is at in training and races and so he can link a situation back to something and have really good perspective on it. I told him what I had said about my swimming earlier this week and he provided some really great feedback regarding all of it.

I really am thankful for both of these men in my life -- my coach, Dan for yelling at me and making me see the big picture, and for Aaron who puts things into perspective and shares experiences. I'm sure that without either of them, I'd be a doubting, angry triathlete. No one wants that.

Biking

I can't tell you how excited I am for next block of cycling.  And you are probably all laughing at that comment, because that means I have PPT's, Tabatas and low cadence in Z2, but at least it's a bigger variety? Or maybe I'm excited and come the first week I'll regret that statement. Or maybe that it's just that I REALLY miss riding outside. I hate that its sunny and warm outside in the afternoons, but because of my chaotic schedule, I am riding indoors, on my trainer at 5:30am.

The trainer has certainly provided a good foundation, one that I am actually able to see, for my cycling and my HR. I am a lot more consistent on the bike with my HR than I was a few months ago, but I crave the opportunity to get back in the saddle on the road.

I think the biggest thing I miss though, is riding outside with Dan and the guys. That was my favorite part about my training last season. I was always the only girl but being the only girl pushed me to do better and push harder and keep up with all of them. I haven't had that opportunity yet, and I truly hope that I will be able to again soon.

Running 
I'm actually excited to run. Say what? Yes, I actually get excited to go run now because I am seeing that progress being made and not feeling the pain in my knee along with it. I started running hills this week which came with a lot of apprehension about my knee and my HR, but we saw HUGE progress along with it. And huge soreness in my calves. The below is a short run that I had during the week and didn't expect the large hill at the beginning but kept plodding along until I realized what I was doing was certainly not a plod, more a jog. Although still near the top of my Z1 (144) I was able to continue to desc my HR throughout the run.

Nutrition
I feel as though I am dying without sugar. When does this diet end? When I no longer ask that question...

I had a big hiccup in my diet regime, as pointed out by coach earlier this weekend. I love Larabars and I eat them all the time (because they are gf free and allergen free). I really like to eat them before and during rides but coach let me know earlier this weekend that that is BAD. Larabars pack a lot of fat which is bad during workouts and could be the cause of my GI problems on the run. So, I am saying goodbye to Larabars and am on the search for new quick and easy snacks for my workouts. And some of them may be the delicious looking recipes that Meghan keeps posting on Facebook!

Looking Onward
I'm feeling really great about my training and where I am at because I'm seeing progress and I'm one that needs to see to believe. Contrary to what coach believes, I trust his process more and more everyday, even when I do have doubts.

This week will hopefully provide some outdoor riding accompanied by being the only triathlete not running in the Monument 10k this Saturday. I'm gonna keep listening, keep eating good foods and keep pushing through!

Oh, and the countdown is on for my first half!!

End of Feb-March Block

It seems that I fell off the blogger train there, but what can I say? I've been busy! I just finished off another training block and entered into my final base phase. Dan tells me to enjoy this last block because things will begin to get harder and longer as I move to the build and loading phases of my training. So this Feb-March block that just ended was probably my most improved block thus far and the first time I could say that I truly trust the HR process.

The Bike
Thank goodness it is now nice enough and light enough to ride outside! My butt and legs thank spring time and daylight savings for that one. The trainer is good, but nothing beats riding outside. Two weeks ago I did my first long ride outside, for the first time in months, and it felt so good. I spent the first 45 minutes or so riding side by side with Meghan ensuring she was comfortable on her bike.
We broke up and I went at my own pace after that. I know that she really appreciated having me there and around in the case that anything were to happen, but I don't think she knows how much I appreciated her being there for me. It's sometimes hard for me to self-motivate when I am miles and miles away from home...I could simply slack off and try not as hard, but knowing that she was behind me and I was helping her, she helped me, if that makes sense. So thank you, Meghan, I'm glad it was a win win ride!

The frustrating thing about that ride though was not being able to dominate the hills like I have in the past. Hills have always been a strength for me but I couldn't make it up the hills even going a sad and depressing 9 mph. Other than the hills, I realized that I need to work on my overall consistency as seen below:

My heart rate is all over the place and it seemed very challenging to be even near the top of my zone. That also came along with my cadence, which I have always struggled with. Dan tells me a high cadence will help in the transition to the run. However, if you have ever seem me ride, you'll know that I'm more about high power and low cadence, so that's a big change. I know Dan hates that I even look at my speed, but I know that will come once my cadence and heart rate become consistent and I'll (hopefully) be more of a powerhouse on the bike than I was last year.

I'm very happy that I can take all my Garmin information and get both my feedback and "learning lessons" as well as Dan's expertise coaching advise on it. Having both I know what I did well and what I can continue to grow upon.

Swim
The transition from swimmier to triathlete is proving harder than I had originally thought. Changing something that is natural in my stroke is hard! Dan tells me that opposed to using my legs as propellers I need to use them as flotation devices. When I started college, I had a two beat kick and Dan, my college coach (yes same name as my current coach), worked very hard in getting me to a six beat kick. He worked so hard that its become like a foreign concept to me that I have to break it. Even when I think I'm not doing it, I am. It's very frustrating but something I continue to be aware of.  

My other frustration is my fading swimming shape. He understand this frustration, as he too, was a collegiate swimmer. He tells me my days of going fast in workouts is long over. My days of holding 1:02 on a set of 20x100s is gone. I'm building endurance to swim length but I did that in college. I trained endurance to swim fast. Now I'm training endurance and going the opposite of fast. My 400 time trial time has gotten progressively slower in the past four months. To see that, from a swimmer perspective is kind of heart breaking and so frustrating. We both agree that my swimming should be a strength in my triathlon and he says I'll get there, but get there by going in the reverse direction?

Nutrition

Part of this block involved the start of my newest diet with one of my co-workers, that of the no sugar diet. No added sugar, no candy, no fruit snacks...it's hard. We were both highly addicted to sugar and when you work in an environment like us, sugar is always present. It's challenging. I am allowed sugar when working out though, so I wouldn't completely shut down when training. This diet has certainly challenged me to eat healthier and eat a lot more natural sugar in the form of fruit. The office is now going to start the Whole 30 challenge, so I think I will continue on my no sugar for those 30 days because it is unrealistic for me to start the Whole 30 with so much more training ahead of me.

For those of you who judged my meal plan that I posted months ago, you should be pleased to hear that I eliminated the loads of cheese from my diet but still live by the high protein diet. It's amazing how much I eat, and how frequently I eat, but that's the lifestyle, I guess. I hear that if you are hungry, you are already behind. With me, it's a hard thing because I have already such a limited diet that my day consists of me eating all the time in order to keep up with my metabolism, but just another thing I know I have to work on.

Run
About five months ago I began my running process after taking nearly a year off due to injury. Before my injury I was holding 7:15-7:45 pace for 3 miles because that's the furthest distance I ever had run. When I got cleared to run, I thought that's what I was going to do, that's what I wanted to get back to. With the heart rate zones, I was running in the slowest possible way I could and holding 14:00/mile pace in order to stay in zone (which is slower than I walk). After getting scolded at time and time again by Dan, I finally got pissed off enough to actually say in zone (after numerous times of going outside zone).

After making a conscious effort every run to watch my heart rate and to breathe well while running, I was finally able to see improvements in both the distance and pace of my running. My long runs in this block became anywhere between 7 and 8 miles, the most I had ever run at one time. I now know what things make my body fall apart and my knee to begin hurting and I know how to fix my form to try and ease the pain if I ever get any. I think it was finally for this confidence that I was getting to be a stronger runner (and the help from my friend John, that I ran a pretty good 8k TT to finish out my block.

8k TT
I got up two hour before I had planned on beginning my run and had two scrambled eggs, many banana bites and a few sips of Infinit. It was the first time that I ate something that I didn't end up seeing again on my run, so that was a huge improvement.

I met John at St. Catherine's at 8:30 after I had done a 15 minute warm up, and we just went from there. I didn't think about pace, just thought about running and felt really good. Probably too fast if you look at the rest of my pacing. Really the first 3 felt great and then I hit the uphill and I kept screaming at John that I hate hills but I kept moving, never stopped, but you can see in my pace that was a hard hit of really slow running. At mile 4.64 I started getting my infamous side cramp that took me down last time and with that the IT triggered but was able to push through and finish strong ish. By looking at my HR the last few minutes, there is a mighty big dip which in turn means my pacing was way too fast the first few miles.

Coach says I shouldn't have even been in the 7 minutes for my first mile, but the next two things I need to work on are my pacing and hills. It was a definite improvement but still leaves room for lots more improvement.

Looking Forward
From my 8k TT came new HR zones, unfortunately. However, new HR zones is a good thing because it means I'm becoming more aerobic. I'm supposed to get used to my new zones in this next block before the really hard stuff begins, so I am learning how to run very slowly again while I incorporate hills in.

It's been a battle the last few months but I have definitely put my head down more and really focused on the process and now I can see results and I'm finally happy after I complete a workout instead of unhappy. It's the baby steps and having complete trust that your coach knows what is best for you, and this past block proved both of those things for me. This next block brings more craziness in my life as well as a weekend wedding in Chicago where I will be drafting one of my siblings to run my 8K TT with me along Shore Drive. It's gonna be a good month, I can feel it.

The Importance of Support

I recently started thinking about the importance of support in a sport and how that affects the athletes' mentality and performance. Being a swimmer I had that support. Being on a team with whom you were forced to spend mornings, evenings and weekends with training and racing created a swim family, a group of people who knew your goals, your strengths and weaknesses and the insane mind behind being a swimmer. That family grew as I shifted to college. Calvin provided not only a phenomenal swim family, but a swim family that grew in faith and were there for each other when you felt lost in the world. Even if you didn't think you had support from others, you always knew you had your swim family. Those support groups provided everything I needed to feel supported and loved in my journey of being a swimmer.

I think it's important to have support through everything you do and there have been numerous times in my life where I didn't feel that from people who are close to me. Some of them laughed in my face when I told them my goals for this summer and making my debut into the half ironman world. Some told me I was idiotic and should focus on the "more achievable" things like a sprint, because apparently that's all they think I can do in life. I'm hurt when those who I care about say those things to my face. Do you not believe in me or support my goals? Have I done something in my athletic career to make you think I don't have what it takes to be a long distance, endurance athlete? It's because of these people that make me the one who pushes and tries to be the best I can be. I want to prove to them that I can do something I set my mind to even when they doubt everything I do. They also make it so I need a strong a support system.

For me, I excel when I have a strong support system. If I have that, I feel like I can accomplish anything. So, let's talk about that triathlon support system:

Julie Patterson - Pro Triathlete, and amazing older (but smaller) sister. Growing up Julie was my inspiration into the triathlon world. I wanted nothing more to be her coach and made "Coach" and "Athlete" t-shirts that we wore to every race. I took her to the middle school, which I was attending at the time, and practiced transitions with her. I snuck in with her to just about every transition area for pre-race set-up and I tracked her, because I wanted to be her. I didn't start my triathlon career into late high school but I'll give it to her for starting the sport. So now that we are both actively involved in the triathlon world, she continues to support me and cheer for me and gives me little pointers. After she got married, she gifted me her old Endorphin Fitness tri kit which had her maiden name, my current last name, on the front. I proudly wore that and rocked her aero helmet art installation in all my races as well. Julie tells me that she is proud of me and pushes me and runs next to me during run tests. Julie is my primary support in the world of triathlon, and I want her, and all of you, to know how much she truly means to me :)

Elizabeth

Swimmer, wife, mom to two cats, and my distance freestyle buddy in college. However, all those titles don't do her justice. Elizabeth is a truly amazing individual and although we are separated by many states, we still stay in contact. College was rough, especially for me, and so became each others accountability partners and we remain that two years after college. I call her in the car to all my far away races and we chat about training and everything that is going on in life. She was interested in some triathlons, so I shared my knowledge, and we just talk. I have a lot of friends that I just talk to, however, Elizabeth knows me sometimes better than I know myself and she's my go to person for long drives to races. It helps to clear my mind when talking to her before a race.

Dan Szajta - I would certainly hope that my coach would provide me support and Dan certainly does. Through his experience and knowledge of the sport he is able to provide extensive support for me through training and races.

Meghan 

I am so blessed to have Meghan in my life. It was through Dan that I met her and we have become friends/training partners/"team"members. She supports me and motivates me through long rides and runs. She's the one I go to when I have frustrations or challenges in my training because I know a lot of the times, she's feeling the same way. Meghan has her amazing goal of Ironman Lake Placid which I fully support and hope that I can help her along the way, as well!


Endorphin Fitness 
Although I am no longer coached by Endorphin, I still live for the community that comes out of this amazing place. I am a coach and love what I do and love the chance to continue to train with, hang out with and spend time with amazing athletes who have great goals.

Aaron- So when this kid left RVA to go to Boulder, I was not pleased, but he continues to be a strong support and friend in my life. I'm sure he probably doesn't want to hear half the stuff I have to say, but he has been so helpful in all of my tech/bike/shop needs (although he no longer works at a shop). We chat about injuries which we both have and the insanity of his thought process of injuries and running....and, of course, food! He thinks he has allergies, I know I have allergies, so we support each other in our messed up food situations.



Rachel- (and the Nelson family) Incredibly blessed to have met this amazing athletic and Godly woman. We are so similar and like minded that it was an easy friendship to start. Having both been swimmers at Christian Colleges with the mindset of pushing ourselves to be the best, she continues to show support even with my changed mindset of that. Although she lives in Charlottesville now, we communicate daily and see each other when we can. The Nelson's provide me my family away from home. Holidays and weekends I'm invited over for food, fellowship and friends. This family provides so much support and caring towards me, I thank them everyday.

*This of course is not the extensive list, but the top 7 list* 

So, support, it's important for all aspects of life, especially triathlon and committing yourself to the roller coaster of emotions that comes with it. I am so incredibly blessed to have these phenomenal people in my life, as well as others, and hope we can continue to grow, challenge and support each other in the future.

*****

Last week I got back in the saddle after 5 days off from my wisdom teeth extraction. I was relieved to see that everything sprung right back with me after taking some time off, and the rest was appreciated (even though it was not addressed that way). I had an IT band scare. That's what happens when I don't do PT for 5 days...I thought I'd screwed myself over again, but Lori promised me it was simply because I hadn't been putting in the work, so I'm back to being fully committed. I never want to feel that pain again so will continue to do what I can to keep it away. 

It was an uneventful week other than that, but hope to continue to put in great work this week.

Goals for this week: 

1) PT everyday (+1 if I run that day) 

2) Re-learn how to swim without a 6 beat kick (which is a swimmer thing) 

A Letter to My Coach (Part 2)

Dear Coach,

I've been wanting to write this for awhile now, and I just didn't know how to phrase the things I wanted to say. Like my last post to you, I wanted to say thank you. I wanted to say thank you because a lot of times my gratitude for what you do for me is lost behind my stubbornness, my injuries and my exhaustion for workouts. This time around though I wanted to thank you for being patient as I adapt to new workout structure, new HR zones and a new form of trust.

I think in order for a relationship to work you have to have immense trust and great communication with that person. The same goes for being in a coach and athlete scenario. First off, the athlete has to trust the process. As you have heard and read, this has been hard for me. Trusting the process which is totally different than the process I had been training on for a year, is hard and frustrating. I didn't understand why you wanted me to run so slowly that I could walk faster. I didn't understand why I couldn't ride side by side with you on a long ride. I didn't understand a lot of things and for that reason, I was really unhappy. But, like a great coach, you began the process of teaching me the methods you believe and coach by, making it easier for me to understand the concepts behind slow running and not riding with the best training partner I've had (I'm still not exactly pleased about that). For you, it's about the HR and the effort you are putting in, not about the pace, and I've learned that if I stick with the HR, the speed will come. So, thank you for communicating with me about the process and keeping me accountable through it, even when I have ridiculous off the chart workouts...

The second part about trust is trusting your coach to know what is best for the athlete both in training and in how your body works. (For everyone who is reading this, you need to know what a phenomenal job Dan does of this). Back in the first month of us working together you pushed me and pushed me to go see Lori Strobl and get my knee fixed. You raved and raved about how spectacular she was and how I needed to go. So I went, and now, months later, I am running free of pain. When I had Achilles pain, you stopped me and we worked out what the pain could be and now I am pain free. Most recently, I had my wisdom teeth out and I have spent four days, as of right now, without anything training wise and you tell me we need to focus on me eating my regular diet and getting full mobility of my jaw back (because I can't open my mouth fully), before I started training anymore. Do I like this response, after I have been cooped up and snowed in to my house for the past four days? Hell no. However, you have yet to lead me astray in my world of injuries. Even though my mouth has nothing to do with workouts, it is still leaving my body in a compromised state and as I know from you, my health is my #1 priority So, I am listening to you and going to focus on my swollen cheek and stiff jaw (but I will still call my Dentist tomorrow morning).

Another part of this trust is sticking to the plan. As you know sometimes I "disregard" the workouts you have written for me, not because I don't feel like doing them, but because...I don't know. Honestly, I don't know the answer to that. In the pool I do it because I want to keep up and my swimmer mentality has trained me that if I do poorly in practice, I'll get bumped from that relay (which happened on a National qualifying relay). I push hard in swimming because that's what I know. In biking and running its gotten better. You've drilled it through my head enough times to know that I need to and when I see my heart rate spike in the slightest amount of see my cadence as being really slow, I'm scared I'm going to disappoint you. And, there is one thing I hate more than disappointing myself, and it's disappointing others.

So, Dan thank you. Thank you for being patient and for teaching me and for sending me those tough love e-mails and texts that scare me into doing what you have written. I'm seeing progress and improvement, although small. I now trust you and your process completely in my triathlon journey. That doesn't mean I'll stop asking you dumb questions, but it means I'll be less stubborn and less hard-headed. I'll put in the work because I know you've got my back.

I will say the one thing I hope we can communicate about my goals and how I truly am going to get down to running 8:00 miles or so. I want to talk to you about my fears and concerns because once you hear them I think you'll have a better understanding of why I push and have that competitiveness.

Thank you for continuing to put up with me and push me and motivate me. You as a coach and athlete inspire me to do great things in my triathlon career.

Thanks, coach!

Base-Recovery Week

I must say by the time base-recovery phase comes around I am loving it. I don't see how much training takes a toll on me until I get a rest day where I go to sleep at 8pm and sleep twelve hours. It's kind of magical how my legs come back and I don't feel so sluggish. This week only consisted of three workouts- Strength and Swim and a Z1 Short Run. Why not many workouts, you ask? Because I got my wisdom teeth taken out, of course!

However, I made a breakthrough with my runs last week (which I didn't post about), that I am very excited for. HR training is challenging and it has been very difficult and frustrating for me to learn, however with my first ever run above one hour last week taught me that I am headed towards the right direction, although still running very slowly.

Dan has been trying to teach me that you have to have this gradual rise in your heart rate opposed to being all over the place (which I had been). Below is of a run I did a month ago. My HR, as seem is all over the place, going up and down all the time.

This run below is my run from Sunday, my most successful HR progression to date. The two large spikes being my 30 second pick ups, which you see I maintained well after. I am learning and I am seeing the process. My biggest question is that of how do I negative split my runs like Meghan and Dan do, and also how do I go from running this slow to running fast, but that is all part of trusting the process even more. 

Wisdom Teeth Removal: 
Over the past couple of months I have had this horrible sensation that my wisdom teeth were coming through, and lone and behold, my top left tooth began breaking it's way through the gum, causing me much pain. I now understand why babies cry when they are teething...it hurts! I went to the dentist for a consultation a few weeks ago and we decided I was going to get it removed. Removal date: January 21, 2016--Base-Recovery Week. Perfect!


I wish I could tell you more about my surgery, but I remember taking my drugs before surgery, sitting down and getting a mask and being told to breathe, then sitting on my couch back at home. My roommate, Emily, says I was talking a lot in the car and was very excited about how many texts and phone calls I received, none of which I remember reading or texting back.

However, having a med student for a roommate is wonderful. She continues to take care of me and tell me when I can take the drugs, continue icing and to swish salt water...and tells me that I can't do anything active, which in turn is kind of great because we have about a foot of snow that needs shoveled and I have been exempted from it, but also means that I can't do workouts or my time trial tomorrow.


Pain Med Nightmares:
I give it the pain meds for these insane and very vivid dreams that I am having at night. Last night, was my first triathlon related nightmare. I was running a full distance ironman and the transition area was a nightmare...more like a maze. All my friends and teammates were finding the exit but I couldn't find my way out. I was stuck and I panicked. I think this dream might have something to do with the fact I am not allowed to work out until I am healed from this surgery. I have been wearing the same clothes since the snow started, and have been on the couch and on my bed the whole time. I am going stir crazy and the thought that everyone else is training while I am not is making my mind think I am going to be behind. But of course, like a good coach, Dan tells me "You're consistent enough. You'll be absolutely fine. Last thing you need is dry sockets."

Training will continue again after I am 'healed,' so once my chipmunk cheek is less swollen and I am able to dig my car out of the snow drift that is currently under, I will be back and working hard. For now, recovery shall continue.