Challenge Pocono Olympic Distance

After only six short days I was back on the road for another race.  Typically I like my R&R so I wouldn’t set myself up like this but I knew I was doing a sprint the week before and a buddy gave me a code for 50% off this race so I went for it.

Going into this race I looked at the course map and thought eh it doesn’t look like there is too much elevation gain….boy was I wrong.

Let me start by saying this race used to be Rev3 and I did not do it then so I am not sure how it was handled by them.  In 2015 it was taken over by Challenge and so that is what my report/review will be of.  On to it…..

We got up there mid to late morning on Saturday and followed the GPS directions to the INN where transition was.  After packet pickup I started to look around for transition and couldn’t seem to locate it.  This is when I realized that transition and the finish where not in the same general area.  No big deal we asked for directions and jumped in the car.  As I headed to find transition there were no signs, indicators or people telling you where to go.  I just found myself wandering around.  As I turned around for the 3-4 time I passed a park entrance and figured this is where it must be so I turned in.  Half of the entrance was blocked so I needed to wait for cars to pull out so I could go in.  In the meantime a park ranger came by and told me I needed to turn around.  I figured there must be another entrance.  There wasn’t.  Clearly he didn’t know I was there to drop off my bike.  I turned in when he left and found transition ok.

Fast forward to race morning and I set up transition and was ready to roll.  We jumped in for the swim and the water felt great.  This was my first time swimming in open water where you could actually see!  Very nice course, until we hit a huge patch of river life and I freaked out.  The seaweed was so high you couldn’t really swim but there were rocks and sketchy bottom so you couldn’t stand up either.  I wish the RD or someone would have at least given us a heads up but I made the best of it.   Off on to the bike.  Now this bike course was like nothing I have done before.  You leave transition and you are almost immediately hit with a huge hill.  This hill was so steep I actually witnessed people fall because they could not go fast enough to keep their bike upright.  From there we went down an on to a road that was closed to traffic.  This road wasn’t closed because of the race though, the road was in such bad shape that cars were no longer permitted to use it, yet we were riding our bikes on it? I was not ok with this.  After that the course opened up and it was very nice. I was not too pleased with the decision to include this road but understand it may have been out of their control, either way I felt like I was placed in a rather unsafe situation. 

Off the bike and on to the run.  I made sure to take in some more nutrition on the bike because of my last olmypic mistake.  (You can read about that here).  On to the run and I took the first mile a little conservative.  Through the first 3-4 I was good.  It was mostly a trail/XC style run course, which was tough.  For whatever reason I lost it through the last few miles and I am hoping to correct this next season.  The run course was tough I will give it that but I still should have had a better performance. 

Coming down the finish I was just excited to be done for the day.  It was very hot out there and a tough course so it felt good to have it come to an end.  As I said before I was not stoked on my showing for this day and it was just a learning experience. 

One thing that was super rad about this race was that I met someone from Instagram who I have been following for some time now.  Shari Ann Nelson is such an awesome individual and I was happy to connect with her in the NormaTech tent.  She is so nice and friendly and I am glad we got a chance to chat.  Thanks for your advice and help! Check her out on facebook and Instagram!

I only have one race left for the season and I am starting to feel all of this training and racing.  Hopefully I can pull it together to go out and do it just one last time.

All for now, until next time

Keep FSU and Do It For Yourself

I don't post on here daily but feel free to find me else where!

One week...ONE WEEK!

It's Sunday, September the 8th and in exactly 7 days I will embark on the biggest journey of my entire life. Yesterday I woke up and and was just ecstatic, absolutely beside myself with excitement. I can't wait for next weekend. 

Last weekend when I was at the beach I had two great rides down there and I was super stoked on both of them. I can back on Monday and was ready to take on the week. Wednesday was open swim night with the Tri club. My last open water experience didn't go so hot and this time I was around a bunch of people from the club. I got there, blew up my buoys and waiting for the other coach to arrive. She got there, we went down the the waters edge and she swam the first mark out. She came back and and told me I needed to check the knot just to make sure... I slapped on my cap and goggles and started walking into the water. I took some deep breaths and tried to stay as calm as possible. I jumped off the bottom and took my first few strokes. I WAS DOING IT!! I was swimming like I was in the pool...nothing different. It was so awesome. 

We had such a great practice and I helped a few of the athletes with some starts and sprints and I was having such a great time. When I left I had such a boost in my confidence...the boost I needed for this weekend. 

When it comes to chasing your dreams there are times when you sometimes need to make sacrifices, you need to give things up or do things you don't want to do. When there is something that you want so bad, more than anything, you're going to have to do something you don't want to, I guarantee it. I am not going to sugar coat it, you just gotta suck it up and focus on what you could and will have at the end. Just keep that in your pocket. ;)

Just this past weekend all my friends got together. I was exhausted from training and had more training the next day. I knew if I went to have a drink with them, I wouldn't get up to train and I could afford that. So instead I sat at home. Finding this balance has been tough for me, I don't always choose to stay in, I do go out, I'm not a lame....well not totally at least. 

This is going to be the longest week ever and I can't wait for Friday afternoon to get here. I can't wait to get to my hotel, I can't wait to race and I can't wait to see everyone who comes to support me along the way. I wish that I could have every one of my readers there, every one of my followers and one person in particular who said they would be there....I have a feeling they won't be there though and that sucks. But I don't know that for sure...maybe they will, I will find out on race day. 

I am in the works of submitting my video for got chocolate milk team and I will need your help when I do. I will need every vote that I can get to help boost my video and spread the change that I want everyone to have!

Other than that I have a taper this week. My bike is in the shop getting tuned. I found out that it is actually a little too small. I need a longer stem but a workout from the race isn't the time to start messing with that. I have one last swim on Wednesday, maybe a light easy run on Thursday and sprinkle some transition practice in there when I get my bike back! Thank you all for your continued support, you're amazing quite frankly and I wouldn't be able to do it without you. Next post will be from Atlantic City NJ!!!!

All for now

Keep FSU and Do It For Yourself

Where have the days gone?

There was a time not long ago where I was so sure of everything. I knew where I was going what I was doing and why I was doing it. As I round the corner and see the finish line however the questions have begun to arise and my feet get colder by the day. 

Some times when something gets so close that you've wanted for so long, you start to find yourself questioning things. My race is right around the corner, I am about to start the fastest semester of my life and yet it feels like things are not right. Well in fact I know they are not right. 

There's been a number of things going on, pushing, pushing, pushing me right up against the wall. I can't exactly pin point what started it(that's a complete lie, I know preciously the who what when where why and how...down to the min) I am just not ready to come to grips with the fact that it actually happened...twice...  For whatever reason though it has me questioning the big things in my life right now. 

Is this tri, this race, this thing I've wanted for so long the right thing? Am I going to finish or will I freak out in the swim and not even come close? Will I let everyone down, including myself? Will I finish top 10 or will I just look like an idiot. Not only that but I've lost interest in training. I have to force myself into every session and I dread it. 

Along with losing interest in my race so rapidly I have lost interest in teaching. I now dread student teaching, something for which I've looked forward to. I am questioning if this is something I really want to do for the rest of my life. Am I going to be good at it? Will my students like me and enjoy class? 

I would challenge any of you reading this that training for a triathlon or any type of endurance race is 10% physical training and almost 90% mental. This training is taking a huge toll on me mentally and I really need to fight it and get back with it here soon. With student teaching starting next week I will not be able to train in the afternoon or middle of the day as I freely could before. I will have some very early mornings and some very long weekends. It's time to dig deep now, really deep and find out if this is what I really want. Along side training I need to dig deep and bust my tail during student teaching and get every ounce out of it that I can. Friends family and mentors are going to be an even bigger part now.  More than they ever were before. Wish me luck!

All for now

Keep FSU and Do It For Yourself