2008 - A Triathlon Odyssey
Exactly one year ago I spent the weekend volunteering at the Timberman triathlon and watching one of my athletes compete, and I decided that I would compete in the 2008 event.
At the time I barely knew how to swim anything other than dog paddle. I was not comfortable in the water. The longest swim I ever did last year was 18minutes in extremely shallow water.
Fast forward to January 2008 - I signed up for Timberman, despite being injured with an undiagnosed problem in my left hip and leg that made me unable to run or bike. I figured 8 months was enough time to get this thing fixed and ready to race. I knew in February that any hope of a cycling season salvation was done for me, but that I still had the chance to get fit for Timberman - a lot of fitness can be gained in the 6 weeks of not working that comprise the middle portion of my summer. In the back of my mind I had a goal of making the podium. I realize that is a lofty one, but I know where my strengths lie, and I thought that with the right training it could happen. Yeah I know - wanting top 3 in my first Timberman was a bit arrogant. But coming off a year of 2 first places in duathlons where I beat most men and a win in my first ever marathon, plus a legitimate finish in a cycling World Cup and my strongest time trial ever at Fitchburg gave me some confidence.
By springtime I was still barely running, and swimming was not happening at all because I never had time to get to the pool, and when I did go it was a fight for lanes and I was still not a competent enough swimmer to share a lane with 3 other people. I also was not really doing much bike racing due to severe lack of top end fitness, so my cycling was suffering as well. I decided to just do as many triathlons as I could to get better at things like transitions and pack swimming.
With a cycling season that was basically over before it started and virtually no running in my legs other than in triathlons, I came into summer with a bleak outlook. Sure, I had raced a few small local triathlons, but none of them had more than 400 competitors in them.
I had maybe 3 good weeks of training this summer, and none of them were even remotely close to each other. I did a high volume 20+ hour week on the bike before Fitchburg, then did my 65mile week of running at the end of July, then did a solid 9 days in August where I was actually doing all 3 events regularly. I started doing swim class once a week in late June and was making slow improvements in my swimming.
Last weekend I decided at the last minute to race another triathlon because I was getting antsy - I had not raced a Tri since mid July and I need to race regularly to feel human. So entered Witch City tri and finished 8th overall for women, 3rd in my age group. Sure, it was a half mile swim with only a 13mile bike and 3mile run - long swim coupled with shorter other legs does not favor me. But I knew that if I wanted to even be remotely competitive at Timberman, I would need to be faster than 8th overall in a Firm race.
Realizing that Timberman was not going to be a great race for me, I shifted my focus to my last planned race of the season in September, and wrote off my ‘home town’ event. I knew that Timberman was not going to be my A race this year. I was OK with that. Hey, it took the pressure off.
I then proceeded to not really taper at all for the race, and did a relatively high volume week that included a long/hard day on Wednesday before the race comprised of a 35mile moderately fast bike ride in the mid-morning followed by a fast 9mile run and a 2000 yard swim in the evening. Thursday was another hard bike ride of 40miles, and Friday I swam 18minutes at the venue in open water without my wetsuit.
I was not overly concerned with things like nutrition, hydration, or getting a good night sleep. Despite knowing I had to get up insanely early on race day, I still stayed up til 1am on Thursday night watching the women’s all around gymnastics final on live TV and then proceeded to sleep late on Friday, guaranteeing me a late night on Friday and a promise of little sleep as well.
Since I no longer really cared how my race went, it was simply another training day for me. I was not about to stop doing the things I enjoyed for a result that was not going to be there.