I have been humbled many times. This race was a new experience for me. I have had some amazing break throughs in the last few weeks with my running and biking. I have run mile repeats on the treadmill at 5:40 pace (for me that is great) and been on the track a few too many times. I truly can say that I gave everything I had in my body yesterday and there was nothing left. The problem was, was that there wasn't much there to start with. After talking to my coach I realized that when you achieve great breakthroughs it takes alot of time to recover from the new thresholds that you pushed yourself through.
From the start of the swim at Pigman I was completely out of breath. I actually felt like I was hyperventilating. I couldn't even catch my breath a little. It was totally ridiculous. I wasn't going anywhere and was breathing as if I was swimming like an Olympian! Running into transition I thought I was going to throw up I was still breathing so hard. It never ended the entire race. My quads even throbbed on the bike like I had done an IM the day before. I was breathing so hard on the run my mouth couldn't have been any more open to catch oxygen. I could have swallowed a bird that flew by. It was just crazy. I knew how fast I had been training and I was racing at a pace that I do on moderate days. I finished the race fairly disappointed in my place and time. But NOT disappointed in how I pushed myself. I never gave up even though I knew I had dug a huge whole these past few weeks and now was paying for it. Barb didn't taper me for this race at all and I thought it wasn't a big deal. Now I know how I respond to no taper. Not so well:) Lessened learned. After crossing the finish line the girl that won Cathy (very nice Minnesota girl) said to me ,"you have bigger fish to fry." She was right and it made me feel better in a strange way. Every race can't be great. You learn from your training and hopefully all the pieces fall together on your A race days. That was a C race for me. And I need to realize when I race a C race that I am not rested and the result might not be what I want but the big fish races will be what I have trained for!
This coming weekend is the Naperville Womens Triathlon (www.uswts.com). I LOVE this race. It was the first triathlon I ever did and is in my hometown. I am resting for this sucker! Plus tons of clients and friends are there to all have a good time! Can't wait to see everyone!
Monday, June 8, 2009
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
Hey coach - great job. As always you are an inspiration to me when I can see how well you do, and how hard you push yourself, even when you aren't feeling the best. As always, you rock.
But lets think about a little taper for me for my next couple of races. You already yell at me for training to hard!
Really great job Jen. You should be proud.
Hey we all have races like this! CY is a fab athlete - you will rest and feel good for Naperville! And, Jenny J-P who got 2nd, she was out my Tucson camp in March and I was AMAZED at how easy she made the camp look!!! I agree with CY: You have bigger fish to fry. ONWARD is what I always say. I know how you feel...I felt the same way after galena.
Good luck this weekend!
You are an inspiration to me everyday too! I always tell myself this might be hard but it's nuthin' compared to what my coach is doing.
I love Naperville women's tri also!! I'm really disappointed that I will miss it completely this year. I've been studying the roads for it and noticing all the bumps and construction. I hope they finish that rickert intersection in time. I will give you all my extra energy while I'm sleeping on the plane to Japan.
I guess wearing the same clothes as Memphis in May didnt do he trick. Maybe I should go back to wearing that old baseball hat.
I am beyond impressed that you can run 5:40 miles on the treadmill and not fall off!!! Sorry to hear that your recent race wasn't what you expected. Good luck this weekend. I may spectate at the Philly tri since I will be recovering from CDA....and if I am there I will be screaming your name!
Post a Comment