2018 Season Recap

It is hard to believe that my 5th racing season has come to an end. At the same time, it is hard to believe that I have been racing for 5 seasons!

2018 certainly did not turn out the way that I envisioned for many reasons, and looking back I have several regrets. Early in the year I laid out several goals and stated that my focus for the year would be on racing short races and increasing speed while losing more weight (2018 Goals).

The off season got me off on the wrong foot for sure. The weather, including the winter that just wouldn't go away, was not good for training outside. I did well to keep up with my training inside but it quickly zapped my motivation. On top of that, I had a major goal of losing weight this year but I never actually laid out a plan to do that and instead ended up gaining about 15 - 20 lbs in the off season.

As February and March passed I found out that my "A" race for the year actually wasn't going to happen and this took the wind completely out of my sails. I sulked and pouted about the Des Moines Triathlon for far too long. I also found out that my goal of winning my age group in the Heart of America Series was in jeopardy after finding out that I wouldn't be able to race in 3 of the series races. My last race of 2017 was on Thanksgiving Day and my first race of 2018 wasn't until the end of April, which meant that I had 5 months between races which is a long time for me. I would love to say that I don't need to race to stay motivated but I think that this off season showed me that is not the case.

My first race of the year was the 5K at the Drake Relays Road Races. I knew that I wasn't in great shape going into the race and ended up being sick the week leading up to the race. Surprisingly I ran pretty well finishing with a time of 30:48, but didn't even come close to the 28:48 that I ran in November on a much more challenging course. Looking back, I don't know why that time and race made me so down, especially since it was still one of my better 5K times of the past 5 years.

A few weeks later I competed in my first triathlon of the year at Hickory Grove and the disappointment continued to build. I had only 1 open water swim and 3 outdoor bike rides logged for the year going into that race. In addition, I felt really out of shape and unprepared. Things didn't get better when I arrived at the race and realized that I forgot my race bib holder. My bike time was absolutely horrible for me, as I averaged 17.6 mph. Having my friend's Megan and Dan with me kept me from getting too frustrated with myself and I was hopeful that I could still turn things around with such a full season of races ahead of me. There was another silver lining from this race as well, I logged my 2nd fastest swim pace at 2:08/100 yards.

Crossing the finish line at Hickory Grove

With just 2 weeks before my next race, I was hoping to build on my swim success at the Pigman Sprint and hoped that more outdoor bike rides would improve my bike split as well. It turned out to be a horrible race day for me. Winds were high with gusts from 25-30 mph which resulted in another horrible bike split of 16.9 mph even though the bike course was extremely flat. Additionally, even though I felt good on the swim, I ended with my slowest pace ever in a race of 2:49/100 yards. I was able to end the race with a decent run time but once again I headed home very disappointed. 

Forcing a smile after finishing at the Pigman Sprint

Again I had only 2 weeks until my next race which left me scrambling to find things that I could fix with my training. After Hickory Grove I was hoping for improvement with each race, but as it was turning out I wasn't improving at all. At this point my confidence had taken quite a hit and I was spending a lot of time in my own head with a lot of negative self-talk. 

My motivation was at an all time low going into the Quad Cities triathlon on June 16th and I'm ashamed to admit that it was the first race that I nearly gave up. In fact, even though I didn't quit the race, I pretty much quit trying. After riding the bike as hard as I could, a horrible time got me down going into the run. That paired with an extremely hot and humid day resulted in stopping to walk less than 1/4 mile into the run. I walk/ran the rest of the race and ended up logging my worst overall race pace ever with the exception of the Legend 70 last September. 

Ready to head home after finishing the Quad Cities Triathlon

Disgusted is the only word that I can think of to describe my feelings after the QC Tri. Here I was, half way through the year and half way through my racing season and not only had I not improved, I was actually regressing. For the first time in the 4 years that I had been racing I actually was starting to question why I was even bothering to do this anymore. Half way through the year and I hadn't accomplished a single goal and it was beginning to seem that all of them might be out of reach.

2 weeks after the QC Tri, I woke up one morning with an injured back that got much worse over the next week. I did not train at all for over a week and had a much decreased load over the following month and a half. If you remember back to mid-July, I actually wrote a blog post about how much I hated 2018 (Writing off 2018). As it turns out, that back injury ended up being the turning point of my entire season. At the time it seemed like more bad luck, but it turned out to force me to re-evaluate a lot of things and acted like a reset button.

A lot went through my mind during the 4 weeks leading up to my next race. I was actually starting to think about what life would be like if I had to stop racing all together. I realized that I had been focusing on a lot of the "wrong" things and I had lost my reason for doing all of this. A trip out of town and family time gave me time to clear my head and remember that I'm really doing all of this for me to feel good about being me. I read back through all of my blog posts from the past few years and could feel the emotion coming through in my words and feel the accomplishment that I felt with each race and along each step of this journey. I wanted to be a better me and I wanted to inspire people.

The second weekend of July I was scheduled to do 2 races on back to back days. With my back still recovering and the lack of training time, I opted to do something that I have never done before, skip a race that I signed up for. I skipped the Accel Triathlon on Saturday and opted for the Des Moines Corporate Games triathlon on Sunday. Although humid, it was a pretty decent day for a race and with the help of Erin and my girls there to cheer me on, I ended up racing better than I had all year. I set a swim pace PR of 2:01/100 yards (nearly making my goal of breaking 2:00/100 yards) and I also managed to bike a much improved 18.4 mph pace.

Abs giving me a high five before the finish line

This race really did a lot for my confidence but I was still experiencing back pain and my weight was still an issue. The following Tuesday I scheduled a doctor appointment to check up on my back and ended up chatting with the physicians assistant for a couple of hours. I won't go into the details of what happened at that appointment as it is documented in a previous blog post, but I will say that the appointment was life changing for me. I joined Weight Watchers the next day and the weight loss success was nearly instantaneous. 

My back was recovering slowly but my fitness had certainly taken a hit due to the lack of training. On the 3rd weekend of July I was supposed to run a 10K at the Des Moines Corporate Games road races, but opted to race the 5K instead. I finished the race in 32:16 and was happy that I was able to run the entire way after having to walk portions of my last 2 races. Even better yet was that I did not experience any back pain during the race. 

At the last minute, I decided to sign up for the Des Moines Corporate Games cross country race the last weekend of July. I hadn't raced a cross country race since high school and I absolutely crushed the 4.4K course with a time of 27:01 which earned me a silver medal. I was finally starting to see some week over week improvement and my improved nutrition was having a really positive impact on my mood as well as my training. 

Racing well at the DSM Corporate Games Cross Country Race

 By this point I was logging a good number of miles running and having some decent training swims but I was still not back on the bike because it was the only thing still causing me back discomfort.  Early in August the Heart of America Triathlon Series standings came out and I was very surprised to see that I was in 4th place in my age group with only 1 race to go. I wasn't sure what to expect going into the Bluff Creek triathlon on the 3rd weekend of August but I was feeling pretty good and had lost about 18 lbs since beginning Weight Watchers. Needing to score a little over 600 points to take the series lead I was planning to race my heart out. My sister and nephew drove up to cheer me on and I always race better when family and friends are there watching. As it turns out I had a crazy good race which included a PR of 19.3 mph on the bike and a podium finish. I placed 3rd in the Clysdale division! 

Truly feeling at the top of my game after a strong
finish at Bluff Creek

At this point I was not experiencing any back pain while training and decided to go all in for my last triathlon of the year. I had 5 weeks to train and decided to try out a completely new training philosophy that I learned from the "IronFit" book that I had recently purchased and read. The workouts were time based instead of distance based and were performed based on heart rate zones. It took me a few weeks to get used to not worrying about pace while training but I started to notice that my workouts were feeling easier and I was recovering from workouts much more quickly. 

Shortly after Bluff Creek the final standings for the Heart of America Series came out and I ended up winning my division by scoring over 700 points at Bluff Creek! I beat out 106 other racers to take that crown and it qualified me for the Heart of America Series champions wave at the Cyman triathlon in September. 

It wasn't until the IMT DSM Monument Mile on September 20th that I realized just how effective the training was for me. On that night I managed to shatter my previous mile PR time by running a 7:51 mile and reaching my goal of a sub-8 minute mile this year! I felt so good coming off this race that I didn't even care how the Cyman triathlon turned out the following Sunday. Just 2 months prior I thought there was no way that I was going to reach any of my goals for the year and in less than a months time I met 2 of them!

I don't think I have ever gone into a race with as much confidence as I did the Cyman triathlon this year. I invited a bunch of friends and family out to watch me race and to celebrate my success with a cookout at our house after the race. 14 people came out to watch me race and several others joined us at the house afterwords. I even got a text message from my sister in KC before the race. The weather was perfect for racing and I knew that I was in the best shape that I have ever been going into a race. I stepped on the scale that morning to see a weight of 233 lbs, a weight that I haven't seen in 15+ years. 

I'm getting chills now just thinking about how well that race went. I managed to set a PR pace on the bike of 19.4 mph and followed that up with an all time 5K PR of 28:00. I didn't even come close to making it on the podium, but that didn't even phase me. I had just finished the best race of my life and I felt absolutely amazing. After this race, I am completely sold on this new training philosophy and look forward to fully implementing it next season. 

Looking great and finishing with a calm confidence

The outpouring of support that I received for that race also made a difference. For those that came out to watch me race, celebrate with me afterward, or provide positive thoughts or words I am absolutely grateful. There were many days this year that I was only able to get through with your love and support.  

Very supportive friends willing to get up early on a Sunday

The most supportive and loving family that I guy could ask for

Even Ellie came out to watch me race...and she
brought her mom

Making my parents proud

So you are probably wondering what is next for me, but I'm going to have to keep you in suspense for a little longer. I am still working on my schedule but will put out a post sometime soon with what my plans for 2019 are. I will tell you that there are some pretty big things in store for next year and my training schedule starts back up on Christmas Day. 

I am forcing myself to take the next 12.5 weeks off of scheduled training and enjoy the positive end to my season. I will still be working out plenty with a focus on walking and strength training but I am planning to try some new things as well. This will also allow me to enjoy my hunting season without worrying about fitting in certain workouts and will allow enjoying some extra family time around the holidays. 

Thank you all for following along this year!