A Look Back & A Look Ahead

The downtime came to a close today and as I begin focusing on 2009, I thought I should take some time to write about my first year of triathlons. Mainly because I know a lot of you are in similar boats, and also because it'll be nice to look back on next year (when hopefully I've made some drastic improvements!).

I've thought of many different ways to format this post, but I think the most effective would be to pin-point the things that had a big effect on my year and how I will implement what I learned from them in 2009.

Swimming
Last August I told Jordan that I didn't want to buy the annual pass for the Lakewood rec centers because I didn't think I would swim 50 times over the course of the year to make it worth it. I was a little off. I ended up swimming quite a bit, but still not much compared to what Jordan put in. The pass (which I obviously ended up buying) was more than worth it. I joined DU Masters right after Christmas and swam with them throughout the spring. Although flip turns still take a lot of concentration, my swimming has come a long way. In 2006 I did Boulder Peak off of cross-country training, just for kicks. I swam 32:10. This year, I swam 23:10. Coming out of the water in the game is key. Swimming is the foundation that the whole race is built upon. Remember those asics ads that said, "Running makes you a better...runner." well it seems we can say the same for swimming. Which is why...

2009: Swimming, and lots of it! I'm very pumped to be training with Riptide and I know that everyday will be a complete sufferfest. I will be giving off a lovely chlorine odor all winter long, and I'm really happy about it.

The Boston Marathon
Yes, it was a ton of fun and I am very glad I did it, if for no other reason than being able to spend some time with all of my BU friends again, but it really didn't help me as a triathlete. 10k at the end of a race might have felt a bit shorter than going at it totally from my 800m background, but that's really where the benefits end. I didn't feel like I was at the the time, but I totally rushed my recovery. Even though I felt fine, deep down things weren't quite right. I raced a sprint tri on May 11, less than 3 weeks after Boston. Then 2 weeks after that my first Xterra. Then, in June I raced every single week. One stupid move after another and I felt completely spent going in to July when I wanted to race my best. Not too shocking that it didn't happen.

2009: No marathons, or even 1/2 marathons. Maybe a 5k or 10k. That's it.

Iron
I'm not talking Arnold-style, I haven't touched a dumbbell in.......let's just say well over a year. I'm talking about our good friend, Fe, and our fo, anemia. I've had chronic anemia since my freshman year of college and I've never seen my serum ferritin over 18 (normal range is 12-150, but anything under 25 is considered low for a female endurance athlete, especially one living at altitude). In the beginning of July I was down to 14. After feeling crappy in training I decided to actually take the iron supplements I had been prescribed (I hate pills). I became religious about it. Every night, 2 Ferrousols, a multi-vitamin, and a bit of OJ to wash it all down. I started it about 2 weeks before Chicago. I don't think it's by coincidence that I raced well there. For the first time in a very long time my red blood cells were carrying the amount of oxygen to my muscles they were supposed to. Granted, I cut my training back a lot at the same time, but the iron definitely helped.

2009: Obviously, continue with the supplemental iron and don't get lazy about it.

Laiiiid-back
I was an obsessive runner and made an otherwise simple sport into a complex mess by over-thinking every little thing. I got a bit better about it my senior year of college and tried to carry that mentality forward this past year. I cracked a few times on occassion, but overall think I did a pretty good job of keeping it all in perspective. It's sport. It's what I do for fun. Yea, I'd like to be good at it, but the only time I am in control of that is when I am training and racing. I approached this year as a break from track for the first time in 9 years and to thwart any burnout that might have occurred from the aforementioned 9 years and it worked like a gem. My best races this year were when I was really busy with the business and didn't think much about training or racing, I just went out and did it.

2009: I'm going to take it a bit more seriously, but my overall outlook will be the same. I'm getting more involved with graphic and web design (and yea, I know I desparately need to update this thing to reflect that). Between designing, MileHighAthletic, and bikeBounce, I'll have a good portion on my plate year-round.