Back to Reality... Well, Kind of...

Home again. Back to work, coaching, and my dirty house. And my cranky cat who is by no means pleased that I abandoned him for the weekend. But wait - before things can settle down, I have to make a quick trip to Mexico City!

One of my very best friends in the world is getting married south of the border this weekend, so I'm already packing my bags again to leave tomorrow night. Oh, normalcy... I know you really do exist... someday we will meet again... Needless to say, this will make my first week of training for Beijing somewhat complicated.

I met with my coach, Aaron, today to talk about the coming year. Obviously, my ultimate focus is Beijing, and everything else will sort of be centering around that. With the goal of being competitive at an international level in mind, Aaron asked me to make certain commitments, which I will share with you here:

Starting today:

1. CONSISTENCY - No more excuses and no more missed workouts
2. Daily/weekly feedback and heart rate files - HR files I'm going to start after Mexico
3. Join the local Masters swim team

Starting in January:

1. Two races a month or one race/one one-on-one camp a month - basically two weekends of pain every four weeks
2. Move up to the Platinum plan - I should have done it a long time ago anyways
3. Log my nutrition - UGGGH this will be the toughest thing

So now I have the plan, and all I have to do is follow it - good thing I have a totally bizarre weekend to get me started! But then again, that's my life, so it's probably appropriate.

Adios, amigos!

Lesson #1: It Ain't About Feelings

After all my smack talking and over-the-top confidence about yesterday's race - I sucked. Let's all say it with an Ahmed accent: "When you do good, you do good - when you suck, YOU suck." And boy did I suck. We are talking epic, mind-blowing suckiness. I'm not posting splits - you can look them up if you like - because after this blog, this race is over, done, and I'm not thinking about it again. But before I close the topic entirely, let's review the timeline of suckiness, just for kicks.

I should interject here and mention that I still qualified for Beiking - I just had a crappy race. Just in case you were wondering.

So, timeline of suckiness, here we go:

All of 2009 and 2010 - inconsistent training, lots and lots of it, and insufficient recovery (not a great basis for spectacular athletic performance). Plenty of decent showings in local races, but not a lot of real improvement.

1 week before USAT 2010 Sprint National Championship - I decide I am going to kick ass at this race. I'm almost cocky about it. Danger, Will Robinson!

Day before the race - I feel pretty good, though a bit nervous, and I think I might be ready to really beat up on some people tomorrow. Ignoring the doubt creeping in.

Race morning (here's where it get's fun)
-Arrive at the race site about a half hour later than I would have liked
-My mp3 with my pump-me-up music has decided not to work
-I realize my back brake is rubbing
-We have a 1/2 mile walk just to get to transition
-Takes 10 minutes just to figure out how to get around all of USAT's barriers to get to the bike mechanics - finally I awkwardly jump a barrier, no pictures, sorry
-I'm more nervous than I've been since my very first triathlon years ago - freaking out
-Finally get into transition
-Get down to the swim start and finally figure out the swim course
-Get in water, warm up
-Start
-Have a sucky, SUCKY swim, no draft, ridiculously slow, no where even near the pack
-Get out thinking this is a really bad way to start a race, I need to swim more...
-Finally get on the bike (my part of transition is already empty of course)
-It's starting to rain, lovely
-My quad muscles start to seize up within the first mile of the course
-I can't even see anyone from my age group
-My chain falls off, so I have to stop and put that back on
-Back on the bike
-Still not catching ANYBODY
-Starting to get a little depressed here...
-1 mile left and it starts to POUR, hard, stinging, blinding rain - SO AWESOME!
-NOT
-Finally dismount (I did that right at least)
-Start the run
-My shoes are squeaky from sitting out in the rain
-My legs are done
-And... where is everyone in my age group?! Do I really suck that much?!
-Apparently, yes
-I start to feel a little weepy
-But I keep going
-Where are those 6:40 miles today?
-Finally, FINALLY the finish line
-Please everyone, look away, this is too shameful
-I walk straight away from the crowd because I have to collect myself before I do something embarrassing like throw down my water bottle, or cry
-Please just don't let me have gotten last
-11th - oh thank god
-We have to ride our bikes back to the car up a giant freaking hill IN THE RAIN, then go back for the awards
-It starts to rain harder
-Cold
-Wet
-Generally miserable
-And it's actually more pleasant to run back to the car than to walk, because we're so far away and we're freezing
-I've never been more happy to see dry clothes in my entire life

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how I qualified for Beijing 2011.

So the lesson - don't trust your feelings, because they'll tell you you're gonna do awesome when really, you're just gonna suck. From now on, I trust my training and I trust the plan. That's it. I'm done being cocky, and I'm done placing any significance on how I place at local races because they really just don't count.

Lesson learned.

Until next time, compadres.

11 Hours to Go

I have just had the most relaxing day I've had in probably over a year. I ignored my work emails. I watched college football. I got up and ate breakfast - and then went back to bed. I had easy swim, bike, and run workouts where I was supposed to go slow. I read a book. I had a delicious dinner. And I will be asleep by 10:00. Can I have an A race every week, please?

I am ready for tomorrow. I don't know why, but I feel absurdly confident about this race. For no real reason, I know that I am going to wake up tomorrow and, barring external circumstances outside of my control, have one of the best races of my life. I haven't felt this kind of fierce confidence in almost two years, since before I had mono and had to kind of sidetrack my life a little bit. I've missed feeling this way. I'm still a little anxious - after all, my competitors are still mostly an unknown element - but I know I can suck it up and do what I have to do.

James and I are now in the process of putting stickers all over everything we'll be racing with tomorrow. No one to put the supporter stickers on this time, but I know I have lots of people out there supporting me even though they couldn't be here this weekend. Thanks to all of you for encouraging and being there for me. I wouldn't be here if it weren't for my friends and family. James is about to take an ice bath, and I am about to put on my pj's and climb in bed - it won't take me long to black out tonight. Tomorrow is going to be a long day, as we'll be heading out of 'Bamy as soon as the awards ceremony is over and we can claim our spots for Beijing - ETA for Denton, TX is around 10:00 PM.

Don't forget to check back for pictures of the winning victory dance - the mashed potato - tomorrow or Monday. I promise not to disappoint - my dancing is well worth documenting, I assure you all. I'll get a video if that's possible.

Good night, friends.

Tomorrow, Tomorrow!

...we leave for Alabama! Bright and early in the morning - after UNT's open water practice, of course. Then we'll settle in and enjoy our 12 hour drive... Question - should "12 hour drive" and "enjoy" really be allowed in the same sentence? We'll get into old 'Bamy around ten or eleven (at night, obviously), and crash. I'll be skipping the race the following morning - I'd like to watch some of my friends compete, but I know I need to save my energy and my focus for Sunday's event. I'm going to cozy up in the hotel room with a couple of books and that continental breakfast they promise, with breaks to answer some of the 200-odd emails I've gotten regarding the Stonebridge races this weekend.

Today was another wild day - par for the course for pre-race week. Added to that, Ali's birthday party was today, and Staci had to not only handle race logistics, but also the giant bounce-house-slide-combo set up in the backyard. She's basically my hero. Somehow, everything that needed to get done got done and after delivering 20 boxes of swag to RBM for tomorrow's packet pickup, I was free to come home and visit my favorite guy (you all know who he is), cuddle with Chuck, and actually start packing. Just an average day in the life of a Playtri coach!

Now it's most definitely time for sleep - another early morning tomorrow!

Three Days...

Let the countdown begin! Sprint Nationals is this Sunday - just three days away. Guess what else is this weekend - just guess. That's right, the Playtri RBM Stonebridge Ranch Triathlon! Which means that we are all running around like chickens with our heads cut off trying to make sure everything is ready to go, starting with packet pickup today in Fort Worth. The week before putting on any race is going to be stressful - period. There's always a million last minute things to do, emails to send, things to pick up... and of course doing all of this right before an A race is maybe not exactly ideal. But that's life.

So, of course, my taper has been all over the place this week - I'm getting workouts when and where I can. This morning I snuck in a swim after coaching the UNT triathletes' track practice, though I'm now going to be 30 minutes late to work which means 30 minutes less to do the one million aforementioned last minute things. Now Chuck is watching me type this as I wait for the water to heat up so I can wash off the chlorine and hit the road. He actually has his back turned towards me for the most part - he probably knows I'm leaving him for the weekend. Not to mention that we had exceptionally little cuddle time this morning. So he just gives me the occasional, disdainful over-the-shoulder glance. He's such a cat.

Alright, water is heated, time to start the day. Chuck says I should start by giving him more food. Until next time, amigos...

Qualified Before the Qualifier...

This first post is coming about 5 days sooner than expected. You see, the USA qualifier for the 2011 ITU Sprint World Championship (the 2010 USAT Sprint National Championship) isn't until this Sunday. However, due to an unexpected turn of events, it seems that all I have to do to qualify at this point is 1) show up and 2) finish the race. For whatever reason, women ages 25-29 decided they weren't really interested in this event, and only 14 registered, and since there are 18 qualifying spots for Beijing in each age group... well... you do the math. Oh, and registration is closed.

So, here I am, realizing a bit prematurely that I'll be taking a little trip to the far east next year. It's exciting, but also a bit terrifying. I think I'd feel better if I were actually having to win the spot, because I'd feel more like I earned my way - then I'd know I was good enough to be racing at that level. As it is...

But anyways, I'm going to do my very best to prepare to kick butt over in Beijing, starting with the Championship this weekend. If I don't podium, I better know the reason why - since I've already qualified, this is the only real "win" available, and it's always nice to win. As long as my bike doesn't have a bad day (as it did at the Avia Austin Tri) and I don't let my head get in the way, I think I might just have an exceptionally good race. According to my sports psychologist/counselor (her name is Karen and she works with the acrobatic and combat sports at the OTC - you will probably read a lot about her here), I just have to focus on my plan for the race, and stop stressing about the fact that my house is a disaster and I have 200 unread messages in my inbox. Because those things really aren't important - right? I'm also supposed to go in planning to win (see above), because that's what winners do. And I want to be a winner. Yay.

However, first, I have two more days of work and one looooong drive to Tuscaloosa. So I'm off to pick up t-shirts and stuff packets for the Stonebridge Ranch Triathlon this weekend, and then on to the monthly Playtri coaches meeting, where Ahmed will bestow his infinite wisdom upon us. And remind us to pass out more flyers.

So, here's to the beginning of a what will hopefully be an exceptionally good year of training, racing, and showing the world (literally) just what I can do...