Then COVID19 closed my pools and it was too cold to swim outside for months.
I'm exactly back where I was last summer...Damnit and eff it all.
My favorite tri (Tri Indy) just opened up for registration and it's in 2.5 weeks. I know I will not finish under 1.5 hours so I'm debating if I want to do it at all. I did sign up for one in Aug. (the final Eagle Creek Series one) and for some reason I'm OK not beating that time. But Tri Indy - that will just crush me if I do badly. I don't know what the difference is other than it will be my 3rd time doing it and I feel like I should be better by this time. I have the best suit so transitions should be faster. My cycling is ever-so-slightly faster but that really depends on the day. My swim is exactly where it was last year so forget making any progress there...And just like last year, as I make progress on the bike I lose progress on the run to the point where I feel like I'm dying most runs and today I was so damn slow the 3rd mile was 10:59! WTF?!?! I've never been THAT slow!
I am not sure what is holding me back b/c last week I announced to the Atomic Betty world that my new goal this year, instead of beating time, was to just have a lot of fun. So why can't I feel like Tri Indy will be fun? I love swimming in the canal! The bike and run are mostly flat so easier than Eagle Creek. I really think it's just my damn mental game.
And this is literally one of the worst blog posts I've written. It's just all about me and my messed up mind when it comes to competition! So sorry...of course, since very few people actually read my blog, maybe I'm not sorry, haha!
If you've read this far, thank you! I hope you see that if you're struggling w/ your mental game, you are not alone. BTW, if you are mentally struggling with anything, please call your doctor or health care provider. And if you are contemplating suicide, please, please call 800-273-TALK(8255)
***********************************************************************************OH WOW, I can't believe I didn't publish this! I started it back in July (weirdly it says it was published July 9th but I don't think I actually published it...Anyway! here is the final word on how my Tri season went:
So back when I wrote this I was feeling defeated about Tri Indy. Since then I randomly decided to do a tri in June at Eagle Creek. Now I never do the June race b/c it's usually too cold but 2 things prompted me to give this one a try #1 - the weather had been in the high 80's and I LOVE warmer weather! and #2, I won a wetsuit last off-season and figured the water would be wetsuit legal (it usually is in June) and what a better way to try out a wetsuit in a race than a race I had never done before and didn't care about the results.
Here's where it gets fun! Morning of the race I am all packed with my gear including my wetsuit. I'm so excited to have a fun race and wear a wetsuit! I show up and find out the water temp is 80...um what?! That's 2 degrees warmer than wetsuit legal!! So now I have lost half the reason I'm doing this race, but so have a lot of Atomic Betties and I'm only training for more sprint tri's whereas they are training for Oly and Ironman distances.
OK this was going to be a quick blog update which has quickly turned long! I ended up getting 5th or 6th in that race.
But the point of this blog is Tri Indy. So...I show up at Tri Indy having trained the previous week in 90+ degree temps. I was loving it and hoping my nerves didn't get the best of me during this race. The day before the weather just dropped in temp and I didn't know how that would effect the water temps. The canal is not deep or wide so I figured whatever the temp had been (76!) would have warmed up all week. So I didn't bring my wetsuit...And Murphy's Law holds true all the time. It was fucking wetsuit legal!!! But I hadn't brought mine I guess I was going to freeze and my dream of Top 4 would not happen this year.
*** Since I clearly can't finish this blog (it's now Jan. 1st, 2022!) I'll cut to the chase -
The water did NOT feel warm at all but I was not the only person wetsuit-less so that made me feel a bit better. Plus, I had brought clothing options for after the swim including longer socks if needed, pants if needed, and a long sleeve shirt. I figured I'd see how I felt after the swim, not worry about transition time, and just get it done! Here's how it ended:
CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?!?!?! I wanted a Top 5 and finished 3rd!!!!!!!!!!! I also beat my previous time and finished under an hour and a half! I won that sweet pint glass you see and a bottle opener, to boot! (And you can see I decided just to go with the long socks. This was a great decision b/c so many people called out to me during and after the race that it was extra motivating. I love the Tri community!)
So, I went on to do the Aug. Eagle Creek sprint tri and I finished 2nd in my age group! This lovely and tough lady beat me by about 10 minutes, which is pretty much the average for how much she's beat me in the past. I'm totally OK with that b/c that's a lot of time to take off!
And that was how my Tri season ended for 2021. I did get a bid for Nationals and chose not to go for a variety of reasons. But after these two amazing finishes, if I get a bid next year (and I should), I am going! :)
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