Prepare, Perform, Analyze and Move On

Right smack in the middle of my off-season, I am sitting on a plane heading south to visit my grandparents. Doris & Leon are 88 and 90 years old and still consider this little triathlon-life I have carved out a little silly. They still ask if I am going to win and then always say it is okay when I don’t. I will always be their little “Fally Wally,” for being clumsy when I was 4.

2009 was my worst season I have ever had. I was constantly battling illness, was spread very thin between work, life & training and never had that big breakthrough I have consistently had over the years. On top of all this, I was ready to race in Mid-July at the Amica Providence 70.3, then had to cancel my race plans to attend a funeral of a close friend’s mother. Missing an “A” race is always hard, but going was the only choice I had, and I would do it again the situation came up.

Finally, I did get to my first race in Late-July. First, I made a bad equipment choice, going with an unvented aero-helmet. Next, I lost my nutrition bottle in the first few miles of the bike and decided to keep going. Finally, I cramped up quite bad on the run and lost about 3 minutes until a fellow racer gave me a few salt tablets. Then, I re-focused for a late-September Half-Iron race. Again, I was stretched thin and got sick multiple times. By the time the race came around, I just wanted the season to be over, which happened about 3 miles into the run. My first DNF...

Fast forward to sitting on this flight about an hour from my Ft. Lauderdale destination, I am finally excited to begin training again next week. After the DNF, I thought a lot about the season. I realized I had viewed that Half-Iron as the single race that could make up for the bad season. When I got sick, I still had high expectations and then when I failed, I began to question why I want to put myself through such misery.

Immediately after the race, I sold my Cervelo P3, I buried my wetsuit in the closet and avoided the running shoes. A few weeks later, I built my cyclocross bike and started riding on some fire trails. After about 30 days of riding, I was beginning to get my fire back. I fell in love with being in the woods an being on my bike again. Although, I am in the off-season, I felt re-invigorated and started riding the ‘cross bike about 10 hours a week. Nothing hard, just a lot of fun.

After a couple of days visiting my Grandparents in Florida and hearing how “great and wonderful” I am and how they are looking forward to seeing me win every race I enter next year. After that, how can I not be motivated to get into the pool on Monday!