It's been awhile

      Alot has happened recently, but to make sure that this doesn't get too long, I'll just hit some of the highlights.  To start, yesterday was the last day of teacher work week at school.  That means I'm officially done for the summer...yay!!! I am looking forward to some extra free time.  The thing I am most looking forward to is spending some time with my sisters and their families, I don't get to do that enough.
      Training has been going good.  The biggest thing right now is getting reacclimated to the heat.  It's amazing how much the sun drains you.  I have to be more cognizant of how much I'm drinking and I have to put in a little more thought when it comes to planning when I'm going to do my training sessions. I was able to get some new pedals for my bike which I was pretty excited about.  I had a little bit of a frustrating time getting them "broken in" but it was worth it...I love them. 
       A few weeks ago, I was able to help out at one of Multisport Performance Institute's day camps.  It was a pretty full day, from 7am-3pm, where we covered everything.  The day included an open water swim, a bike ride with some intervals thrown in, some really good lectures on everything from wellness, to recovery and nutrition, and ended with a short run.  I had a lot of fun and got alot out of it myself.  Something I would really recommend for any locals who are getting into the sport.
      One pretty exciting thing that happened earlier this week was I got my first sponsorship check.  My sponsor was the Santa Rosa Island Triathlon (SRITRI).  Part of their mission is to support young triathletes as they try to develop their talents and when I told them about my upcoming championship races, they jumped at the chance to help out...too cool.  The SRITRI was actually the first triathlon I ever did and I have done it every year since then.  It's local which is great, but it is also one of the nicest venues and one of the most well organized races that I have been a part of.  I can't wait to race it this year and Matt has also committed to doing it.  It'll be his first, can't wait.  I can't thank them enough for their support.

Receiving the check

      
         My next race is a week from tomorrow in Fairhope, AL, so be looking for the race report not long after.  I have also added a tool where you can subscribe to my blog if you want.  There is a box in the upper right corner where you enter in your email address and you'll be notified each time I post something new.  Hope everyone enjoys their holiday weekend! Oh yeah, and I have to mention, it's Matt's last weekend in his twenties. He turns 30 on the 31st...getting old huh :-)
    

Change of Plans

           As those of you who have been following me for awhile know, I have been planning to compete in the USA Triathlon World Championship race in Beijing, China in September.  However, as things often do, my plans have changed.  I recently competed in the St Anthony's Triathlon and ended up qualifying for the Hy Vee championship race in Des Moines, IA.  The Hy Vee championship is supposed to be one of the most competitive age group races in the US if not the world.  When I found out I qualified, I was really excited, but at the same time anxious because I knew I couldn't do it and race in Beijing (the races are only a week apart).  So, after much thought, discussion, and prayer, I have decided to choose the Hy Vee Championship race. 
        There were several factors that went into my decision.  First of all racing in Iowa versus racing in China will be much cheaper and much simpler logistically.  Secondly, because it is alot cheaper I will also be able to travel up to Vermont to compete at the Age Group Nationals race to try to earn a spot at next year's world championship.  It wasn't an easy to decision to give up the chance to be part of Team USA and the incredible experience that would have been, but I feel like I'm taking the path that God wants me to and I'm excited to see where it leads.  
        I will continue to keep you updated with my training, racing, and life happenings if you are interested, just at a different address.  The new blog site is mytritales.blogspot.com. 

CAF camp

    I had an awesome opportunity this past weekend to help out with a triathlon camp that was being put on by the Challenged Athletes Foundation (CAF).  CAF does a few camps every year and my coaches at Multisport Performance were  asked to host the east coast camp.  I had been looking forward to it for awhile and it did not disappoint.  CAF is a foundation that works with parathletes, which are athletes who have some kind of physical disability, whether it be some type of amputation, paralysis, vision impairment, etc.  They host camps and clinics for the athletes, provide grants for them to be able to get equipment such as a bike, provide grants that pay for the athletes to attend the clinics, among a host of other services.    

    The camp was held at the Portifino Island Resort which is a beautiful facility, right on the water and  perfect for this type of event.  There were about 25 athletes from all over that participted, 6 or 7 coaches that flew in from around the country, and a few mentor athletes that attended.  The athletes were split up into three groups based on their disability.  One group consisted of the below the knee amputees and arm amputees, one group included the folks in a wheelchair, and the last group was the above the knee amputees. 

      Friday was more of a technical day with three different sessions.  In one session, the athletes had a gait analysis done where their running gait was analyzed by one of the top triathlon coaches to see if there was any room for improvement in their technique or efficiency.  In another session, the athletes were properly fit onto their bikes and taught the difference between the geometry of a road and triathlon bike.  The third session was done in the pool.  Each athlete was given a videotaped analysis of their stroke and went through about an hour of drills and coaching.



Gait Analysis



     Saturday was a day to put to practice what they had learned the day before.  First thing in the morning, we did an open water swim in the bay.  Some of the athletes had never even been in open water before, but everyone seemed to enjoy the experience.  After swimming, we took them over to the track for drills and a short workout.  The athletes were glad to get a break after that session for lunch.  It was pretty hot and they had worked hard.  The last thing we did that afternoon was go for a bike ride.  We rode about 30 miles and the scenery was beautiful, the water was crystal clear.  We couldn't have planned better weather for the camp. 

     I was so inspired by the athletes that attended this camp.  I think the funnest part for me was just being able to hang out with them and getting to know them.  Hearing some of the their stories and the things that they have endured really put some things into perspective for me.  I can't think of much to complain about after being around these guys.  These people hve been through  and overcome more than I can even imagine and yet they have incredible attitudes. 

     There were a couple of mentor athletes there who I also spent some time with.  These were world class parathletes who had competed in the paralympics and numerous world championships.  Just to hear them talk about the races and various competitions that they have competed in as a parathlete was breathtaking.  They don't make any excuses, train just as hard as anyone else, and have accomplished incredible things.

St Anthony's Triathlon

   This weekend I was able to travel down to St Petersburg, FL and compete at the St Anthony's Triathlon, one of the premier Olympic distance races in the US.  It consists of a 1.5k swim (.94 mi), 40k bike (24.8 mi), and 10k run (6.2mi).  It is a regional championship race that boasts of strong competition and a ton of participants, this year there were 4000.  It is also part of a series of races called the 5150 series which offers  more prize money for professionals than any other races.  Yesterday the top pros earned $10,000 each, not bad for less than 2 hours of work :-).

    Me and Matt left on Saturday morning to make the 7 1/2 hour drive down to St Pete and arrived there around 4:30pm.  We went straight to packet pick-up and then to check my bike into transition.  Alot of the bigger races they make you check in your bike the night before.  I kind of like it because I don't have to worry about toting it around with me all evening.  Once my bike was checked in we visited the fairly large expo that was going on, then went to find something to eat.  After dinner, we drove the bike course so I could get an idea of what it was like as I had never done the race before.  After this race and my experience at Bold Eagle, I have realized how important it is to be familiar with the course prior to the race.

     Sunday morning, we got up around 5:20, I had my usual pre-race breakfast, and we headed over to the race venue.  You could feel the excitement in the air as 4000 people were busy setting up their transition areas and getting ready to race.

Pro men on the start line

     When I got to transition, I heard an announcement that the swim had been shortened from 1500m to 1000m because of the strong wind that was stirring up the water.  They decided to actually move the location of the swim away from the pier and seawall.  I wasn't too upset, I was just glad to hear that they didn't cancel the swim altogether. 

    Once my transition was setup, I headed over to the swim start.  I was in the seventh wave of the morning, so didn't have to wait too long to start which was nice, the last wave didn't get to start until two hours after me.  I got to watch the pros start which was pretty cool.  There was a field of about 70 top tier pros including some of our former Olympians and 2012 Olympic hopefuls.. 

One of our former Olympians, 2012 hopeful, and eventual winner of this race

         We had a beach start for the swim, which means we ran into the water from the sand.  This was one of the roughest swims I've ever done.  Mostly because the crowd never really seemed to thin out so it was hard to get into a rhythm.  Typically it'll be rough, with people hitting, kicking, running into you for the first 200 yards or so and then clear up, but this time it was like that the majority of the way.  Due to the change in the swim location, once we got out of the water we had about a 1/3 mile run up to the transition area.



My swim wave about to start



Coming out of the swim



      The bike course was pancake flat, but it was pretty windy which slowed us down a little.  There was one part of the course that I was definitely grateful that I had seen the day before.  We went through a neighborhood on a golf course that had several very large speed bumps and I saw at least three accidents that occurred because of them. Probably people with their head down, not expecting them.  One looked really bad, there was a lady sprawled out on the road, not moving much, with a puddle of blood by her face (there was an ambulance there).  

        Once onto the run, it was getting pretty hot and there wasn't much shade on the course.  My legs felt pretty good though, and I wanted to leave it all out on the course, not hold anything back.  One of my mantras throughout the race was "don't wait," as in don't wait until later to push hard.  It paid off and I actually ended up running a personal best for the 10k, 41:06, which was the 10th fastest run split for the women (not including the pros).



Finish chute



     

         I ended up finishing 5/104 in my age group and 45/994 women overall.  I was pretty happy with that as my goal had been to be in the top ten of my age group.  I also ended up qualifying for the championship race of the 5150 series which is supposed to be the most competitive race in the US, if not in the world.  The only drawback, is that it's the weekend before Beijing and it wouldn't be possible to do both.  I have two weeks to make a decision, so I will be doing alot of praying over the next few days.  Feel free to throw any advice my way :-)  Overall, this was a well worthwhile experience.  I have wanted to do this race for a long time and it didn't disappoint, going above and beyond my expectations of how a race should be run.