Tri Season 2014

I have been meaning to write this since IMLOU, I actually started it the week after but between getting back to training, kids, school and life in general the three line paragraph has been sitting on my computer to be finished.
I started this blog with the idea of being able to document my journey for my second IM, but I couldn't fathom the idea of updating a blog while I had so many other things to do. So instead I decided to write a brief summary of how my training/year leading up to IMLOU went, a mini-race report for IMLOU and an entry for the 7 weeks between IMLOU. Hopefully I can get all this done before Saturday (I wrote this while in Kona, before the race) so that I can wrap up my 2014 season blog with a RR for Kona.

I started the season with one main goal: IMLOU, I knew that LOU was going to be my A race and I knew I wanted to hire a coach to help me through this journey who had been successful at coaching the distance. I had talked to Matthew Rose in the past and I knew we'd work well together, if he took me.

The Dynamo family has been nothing but welcoming during this year, I know I could have not had the success I've had if it weren't for them.
I started working with Matthew in December while the school swim season was on, our first two months were an 'adaptation' period, but it wasn't until February that training really took off.

Matthew was phenomenal from day one, he always made sure that we prioritized what was important at the time. Always keeping in mind that once we got to June-July my training would pick up and I would have to spend some time away from the family. I had a couple of family trips and vacation scheduled and as much as I kept questioning the bad timing on all of these Matthew assure me that staying on the moment is what would carry me over the heavy training. So when I was on vacation with the family the focus was the family, having a good time and just training 'light' so that I could juggle the demands.

This put Sami in a predicament that he has never been before in, he had to take on the 'mommy' role. For anybody who knows well Sami, you know that this is a stretch for him, but he raised up to the challenge and I would say he even enjoyed it :).

I ran a couple of road races early on (Charles 10K and Atlanta half) and set a new PR on the half by 5 minutes.

Dynamo Crew at Charles Harris 10K

Matthew's support during that time was priceless, I went from 'lets see how I do this season', to 'I am a runner' which has always been my weakest leg on triathlons.  

Knoxville 70.3 is one of my favorite races, it was my first 70.3 back in 2010 and a great season opener in 2014.  Coming off Konxville I had a tough month, two school trips, one of them to Spain for 10 days and a week family vacation.  While in Spain we sold our house and I had three days to find a new house before our family trip. This was probably the toughest time of all, I felt as if we were close enough that I needed more training, but at the same time I couldn't take my bike nor did I have the time to put the volume I thought I needed. Matthew was there to assure me I would be ok, we had known about all this traveling since the beginning and once I got back the focus was on IMLOU until school started back up.

Kathryn, Erin & I during IMLOU camp

At the beginning of July we headed to Louisville for a training camp, it was an awesome experience. We were 6 Dynamo athletes, Brent Pease and Matthew, this was my first full Dynamo experience and it couldn't have gone any better. We worked hard but also had a blast. It is comforting to do a race where you have biked/ran the course and setting landmarks on race is a lot more doable.

Once we got back from training camp I spent the rest of the month of July packing the house and training, a week before school started we moved into the new house. As I write this I am realizing how crazy it sounds, but luckily I have a great support group behind me and somehow it all got done.

Before I knew it I was back in school and the big day was getting closer. Matthew decided to throw a local Olympic race in the mix two weeks before IMLOU, considering I dont have one fast twitch muscle in my entire body and I had been training for an IM, it went very well. The best part was my bike, I had the fastest bike split to date and I felt strong throughout. 

Coming off RBR (Richard B Russell Olympic race) I went straight into taper ... oh lovely taper,  what an emotional roller coaster! The only way to survive taper is by trusting your training and that I did100% but lets just say things were pretty tense :).