Believe
New Website
June 5, 2013For some reason….. linking the link to the new website here isn’t working. While I figure that out….. please copy and paste this to find us:
THANK YOU!
Trust
May 28, 2013On Sunday I rode with Les, from Tryon bikes. He turned out to be a terrific riding partner, one of the best in fact. A former mountain biker turned roadie… just a few months out of surgery, building his mileage.
When people ask me what pace I am riding, I never know. I stick to my HR zones as they need to be that day. Sunday it was a simple zone 1 long ride. It was beautiful out. Sun, some wind, and good company. We looped back to Mendon to join up with the final Tour de Cure ride and I got to ride with those folks for a few miles too.
It’s been awesome to watch these folks build up their mileage since December. I love watching people achieve new distances, things they didn’t think were possible. The excitement on their faces…. that’s what I am here for in the first place. As we rode I felt at peace. I wasn’t chasing any particular speed, just my own HR zone. Fueling like I know how, loving every minute of those five hours.
It’s taken me the better part of the last 6 months to build my health back. It’s been a long road. I haven’t talked about what happened…. I might never. It was a deliberately small group of people who helped me through it, who carried me to be honest. Who let me have moments of frustration and anger. Who walked me through the small stepping-stones of coming back.
I didn’t plan for all of it to happen this way. It just kind of did. I have never been through anything like that before, and it caused me to get really…. really comfortable with being uncomfortable. It was beyond getting comfortable at a hard effort or with the fatigue of training. That… is actually now the easy part. When I am sore I relish in the feeling of being able. I never have the feeling of “UGH, I don’t want to do this session.” because I have been in the position where I wished for that kind of pain.
What it took to get from there to here was a tremendous amount of trust. I was in uncharted territory as far as training went. There was a lot of “Should we even be doing this.” and then a lot of “I am not sure, but let’s move forward anyway.” Training became the way for me to heal and get through more than it was about physiologically becoming stronger.
The stronger part has been happening in the process.
It’s funny because I don’t really look at paces or power. I keep a loose eye on all of that. I am present only in the process to be honest. I know the rest will come with time. I was in a position where I could not dictate the timeline of when my body would respond. I knew it would be slower than usual. So I let go and I leaned into it. I leaned on the few people who were in the know. And we just kept moving forward.
Something really magical has happened in this process. I had never lost the joy of training through all of this…. I have always looked at my athleticism as a gift. But now there is more than joy in training. There is absolute happiness. Yet I had never lost the love.
It’s like I have been born again so to speak. The gift of being an athlete feels more like a gift. It’s absolutely beautiful to me.
When everything came down last year I went through a period of “why me.” And as I stand over on this side of it I think “Thank God it was me.” Because I can handle hard things. I can handle a rocking boat. I can not be shaken by a diagnosis and I can keep moving forward.
There was a substantial wind coming from all directions this past weekend. Actually that’s been the theme of late. I love the wind to be absolutely honest with you. It teaches you not to fight, but to relax. It teaches you that if you tense up and white knuckle the handlebars that you are one step away from getting knocked down.
The wind teaches you trust. Lean in….. relax…. trust that it will hold you up. Trust that you don’t know where the end of the wind lies but know that it will. And then another gust will come and you have to relax even more.
Wind is metaphorical. At least for my life. When that big gust comes you just have to take it. Smile. Keep moving forward through it. Trust that it won’t hurt you and if it does hurt you there will be people around you to help you get back up. Never fight that wind, because it will fight you back and it will win. Wind is bigger. Wind is stronger. You have to learn to roll with it and how to accept it while continuing to move forward.
As I rolled into the driveway I again had that feeling of 100% gratitude. It was a hard journey. Not one that I could have learned anywhere else, from anyone else. If there is one thing I am good at it’s paving my own way…. with a lot of help from a few people I can trust with my life. It’s been a long and strange road….. but it’s taught me so much. It’s taught me a lot about trust. Trust in the process, trust in myself and trust in the universe.
And it’s something I will never be able to teach.
Strassburg Sock Keuka Lake Triathlon: pre race extravaganza!
May 25, 2013Memorial Day weekend kicks things off around here. For me it’s the last weekend of being at home. Our summer is filled to the brim with travel. Between race announcing, coaching and racing myself there is something every weekend. I love it. What I love is that we do this as a family. The races I announce, Curt races, Luc is part of the Score-This race crew and then he races.
It’s like a family picnic each weekend when I am with the Score-This Crew. Are we close? We’ve all known one another since before 1999. We’ve raced together, gone to one another’s weddings, gone to funerals together, watched one another’s children grow. You name it, we’ve done it. … we are a close bunch. That’s what makes these weekends so special.
Here is myself, Rich and Jeremy at Lake Placid
Here is what we have coming up for you this week, it’s going to be wicked busy and ultra fun!
Strassburg Sock Keuka Lake Triathlon pre race webinar, presented by Towpath Bike Shop:
- Wednesday 8pm. Free. Click here to register.
- Join me for an in depth review of the course, all distances, all races), the flow of race day and everything you will need to know for a successful race.
FREE CLINICS on Saturday at the Strassburg Sock Keuka Lake Triathlon
We have a GREAT series of FREE clinics happening on Saturday before the race! Check them out!
- 2:00-2:45pm Clinic – RUN SMART running analysis– TBD Hall/ Room TBD
- 3:00-3:45pm Clinic – Training with Technology presented by Endurance Factor – TBD Hall/ Room TBD
- 4:00-4:45pm Clinic – How to maximize your transition presented by Mary Eggers from QT2 Systems
- 5:00-5:45pm Clinic – First Timers Clinic – What you need to know for your race present by Curt Eggers and Brian Emelson from Towpath Bike
- 4:30, 5:30, 6:30pm Clinic – How to fix a flat – The WEED Physical Arts Building presented by Towpath Bike (packet pick up area)
What I love about this race is exactly what I stated above. It’s like coming to a family picnic. Not only with the Score-This crew… but with all of the people I get to see. I am of course your race announcer, and it’s such an honor to be able to announce for you in the morning and bring you through that finish line. It’s one of those things… I can’t believe I get to do!
Giddy up friends….. it’s time to race!!!!
choked up
May 24, 2013I have to be honest, I’ve been choked up most of the week. The trial for the two…. for lack of a better word…. individuals…. drunk drivers who killed out friend Heather Boyum last summer. Click here to refresh the story.
I need to thank Victoria Freile, reporter for our local paper, for her minute by minute updating of the trial via Twitter. For all of us this has been hard. Every day we think about her. Now her family and those who were there, have to relive this nightmare. Victoria has allowed us to follow along when we can’t otherwise (and shouldn’t otherwise) be in that courtroom. Thank you Victoria.
Heather’s family and friends need your prayers and support right now. More than ever.
I think about her every single day. I think about her when I am out riding. I still can’t believe this happened. We are a community that is still in mourning. We will be forever. Her family….. I just don’t understand why children had to lose their mother. A husband had to lose his wife. Why. Why.
It’s that feeling of when will this pass…. and I hope it never does.
Heather you are so missed. So celebrated. And you live on in each and every one of us.
For the first time… possibly ever…. I can’t even write more than this. We just miss you so much.
The final push
May 18, 2013I woke up early this morning … to sit on the back deck with a cup of coffee. I wanted to listen to the birds. That’s one of my favorite things about the morning. I love when the world is quiet like this.
It’s the end of recovery week and the beginning of the final push towards Ironman. I have reflected a lot upon the journey of the past year. Actually the past few years. What I have been through…. how I have come out of it…. where I am today. As I make my way towards my last Ironman (not last triathlon, it will be 70.3 and shorter) I am savoring every moment of it.
I love it.
There is a fine between passion and obsession when it comes to myself and this sport. I have been in the throws of obsession. When a missed ride would throw me for a loop, or not hitting XX pace for XX miles would cause me great worry. That’s long…. long gone. What drives me is the passion I have for not so much this sport per se….. but for the ability of even being an athlete.
I have been an athlete all my life. I grew up at morning swim practices. I grew up performing in front of large crowds. In some way shape or form I have been able to use the gift of being an athlete… the gift of movement… the gift of health….. to navigate my way through life. I know too many people who want to be able to DO….. and simply can’t. Because their body, for whatever reason won’t allow them.
I have lost my health twice and trust me….. I don’t take it for granted. It my worst problem today is that I miss a run or that I go slow…. it’s still a good day. Every single morning I give thanks for the steps I get to take. For the hours I get to spend on a bike, for the ability to cruise through the water. To pick up heavy things (—> heavy for me… and this is a new talent).
What drives me is not panic. Not insecurity. Not fear.
What drives me is again…. passion.
If there is any obsession here it’s the obsession of movement. The obsession for the feel of the wind in my hair. The obsession for what I get to see while I am out on my bike. What I have been through has caused the obsession for paces and mileage and weekly hours to vanish. Every step I take is a step forward. Every stroke I swim is a stroke towards. It’s never missed it’s only gained. If it’s missed there is always tomorrow.
It’s a good place to be. A good stage of my athletic life. It makes training and competing… happier. More fulfilling. More meaningful. I have to do things that have meaning. I can’t just grind in the face of the grind….. just because.
This Ironman has a lot of meaning for me. Why I am here in the first place. What I lost, then gained. The fact that it’s a literal family effort. Every day I thank my lucky stars for that. Trust me that this is so much richer and experience than not knowing why you are out there and being out there empty.
In three weeks I am headed to Mont Tremblant with a couple of friends. It’s one of those training weekends that we will each do our own thing yet we are up there together. In these scenarios I am not one for doing everything as a group, like in a camp situation. My goal is to be on the course and soak up the amazing beautiful scenery. I know how I pace Ironman. I know how I fuel Ironman. I don’t need to connect with the logistics or the details. I need to connect with the big picture. I need to feel the town. I need to feel the roads. I need to see the culture and the beauty of what will be around me.
In these types of training weekends I am very relaxed and very casual. I like going with good friends because I want to savor the experience. Years later you look back on these types of weekends as a “remember in Mont Tremblant when….”.
In these types of training weekends we have our own agenda. I have to be in charge of nothing. I like to lay back and relax and get to know what I am there to get to know. It has nothing to do with paces and wattage and nutrition. I know all that. I have all that down.
I am there to connect. To enjoy. To create what I need to create so that when I come back for Ironman…. it’s like I have a secret. And the only one who knows, who cares….. is me.
I am standing on the edge of this final push feeling very happy. Very rested. Very content. There are some wonderfully hard and longer days ahead and I look to them with hope. Last year at this time I was not in this place. I was at the beginning. And while there is no end to where I am going…. right here is the most amazing place.
On recovery
May 17, 2013Recovery week. Something I have talked about many…. many times before. Something I have emphasized the importance and necessity of time and time again. Something I too…. am not great at. Until it gets put into perspective. Upon the realization that there are three recovery weeks between now and Ironman…. suddenly I got as serious as I should be about them.
As athletes training through blocks we expect that through the weeks we get faster. That things get better. That’s not really the case. As we travel through a block and the training stress increases (through volume and / or intensity) we accumulate and carry around fatigue. It’s like adding a drag suit in the water. The intervals we hit more often than not….. get harder to hit, take more effort, and in a training block that can feel discouraging.
That’s what happens when you look at the small picture. Step back. Look at the aerial view. We have to shed that fatigue and allow physiological change to happen (it takes longer than 7 days for adaptation to occur). That typically happens on race day. Mentally that can be hard to accept, especially when we are tired.
What happens when it counts…. is what counts. Expecting to see improvements in day-to-day training metrics is setting oneself up for emotional failure. That insecurity leads to our favorite social media posts, bragging about miles ridden, hours trained… etc. Instead….. have quiet confidence in what you do rather than looking for “wow, you’re amazing.”. Insecurity is a dangerous poison. That poison is what keeps us from realizing our true potential, and is the number one culprit in screwing up our recovery weeks.
“Jane rode 200 miles in 2 days…… oh god! So must I.”
Let Jane be Jane. Focus on YOU.
Recovery weeks are about shedding fatigue and allowing the adaptation to happen, so we can accept a bigger training load going forward. Here are my top recovery tricks:
1. Nutrition: I eat as nutritiously as possible (and I never… EVER said I was perfect!). By getting in the good stuff you feed your body what it needs to allow recovery and adaptation to occur.
2. Sleep: I am normally a good sleeper but I try to get a little more. Sleep is when a lot of healing takes place.
3. Massage: I get a massage from Kara at Midtown Athletic Club (she’s the best).
4. I cut volume and intensity: by 50-55%. Try as we might to place a magic number and % on the “right” amount of recovery….. the right amount truly depends on what you have done previously and what stressors are present in your daily life. Life logistics are one of the most important pieces of adding training load in my opinion…… and a facet that gets ignored most often.
Recovery can be difficult if you allow ego and insecurity get a hold of you. Those two things cause doubt and doubt leads to ignoring recovery…. which leads to 15 other issues. Trust your plan and trust yourself.
As you know…. my husband has taken the reins as my coach… and I couldn’t be happier with how it is going. I map out my training. I look at the data…. he keeps his eye on the big picture. What he’s done mostly is schedule in rest. There is no one I trust more than him…. and the partnership is going beautifully.
Wish I would have thought of this a few years ago!
Having that mentor or coach….. helps when you are trying to achieve something big. It helps to have someone to bounce ideas off of. It helps when that person truly understands this sport from the inside out. It helps when this person put a ring on your finger 13 years ago too!!!! As I head to this last Ironman (not my last triathlon…… in 2014 I will be focusing on the 70.3 distance, FINALLY) it feels special.
In my opinion….. even though I too have a hard time with it sometimes….. recovery is critical. Allow recovery and adaptation to occur, the next time you get to a starting line…. you’ll be rested, recovered and ready.
Mary Eggers 
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