The roller coaster of 2018

Hey team, I’m not even going to start with the now expected apology for lack of posts. This blog post includes mostly racing talk and a few life updates as we get to the start the year. This year has been one with highs and lows but as I enter 2019, I couldn’t be more excited about the things ahead.

I’m going to start with my 2018 race year. For triathlon, this was not really my year. A combination of a lack of quality fitness, a disjointed and poorly planned out race schedule and the lack of a visa that would allow me to re-enter the country precluded my participation in Ironman Mont Tremblant. I raced a couple of early season triathlons, DNF’d (did not finish) at Ratsnake, but still placed at Cooperstown and Keuka Lake. These races all felt very much steeped in stress. Some relationship issues affected my performances especially the first two of these races and looking back, it should not be discounted how much emotional stress can screw up performance. I raced Musselman which is a 70.3 (half ironman distance: 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike and 13.1 mile run) and although I completed it, my fitness let me down. I did PR (set a personal record) on the bike but walked way too much of the run. The plan was to race Mont Tremblant Ironman but to do that, I needed to have a visa and it failed to arrive in time…thank you Immigration and Customs!

Musselman: A hot and difficult 70.3

So that was triathlon. Not the best year. Next we move onto a new sport for me, Cyclocross. Cyclocross is a kind of bike race where you have 30-60 minutes of racing loops of what’s probably best described as a bike obstacle course. It’s really fun and incredibly hard work. Usually 45 minutes of all out intensity so great for building fitness. I’ve added a few photos to give you an idea. The season for cyclocross runs from September to November, and this really marks a great improvements to my training consistency and quality. This will be something I return to each fall going forward. Its so fun!

Cyclocross: Its a blast!

So I alluded to some relationship issues, and after struggling throughout the year, Jay and I broke up at the end of the summer. This relationship overall had a pretty negative effect on my racing and ended up causing me far more stress than happiness. One of the reasons I feel so optimistic about 2019 is the removal of this negativity and stress.

Important relationship lesson learned here

In October I completed an awesome race called Ironcross and this really feels like it marks the beginning of things really going right. This race was a 60 ish mile off road bike race with 7000 ft of climbing. It was a tough one but turned out to be a big confidence boost. I’m lucky to have been “taken in” by a family who do this crazy stuff all the time.

At the finish line of Ironcross. These guys all raced but are much faster than me so they were all warm and dry by the time they saw me. Left to right: Toby, Adam, Me, Kristen.

So I’ll finish up there and promise to keep up with more this year. I’m so grateful to enter 2019 in the place that I am. I’m happy and excited for the crazy stuff I have planned for this year.

Happy new year!