Kona Inspiration

Last week I was glued to Kona coverage leading up to the race and finally all day on Saturday watching the race unfold. I think social media has done so much for the sport of triathlon. It's allowed us to kind of live all of these pros and age groupers experiences on the big island and provide countless inspiration for those that weren't there. By the time the race came I was so pumped to watch it after following all the coverage all week, I was telling Amy that this is better than the Superbowl!

Needless to say I was even more intrigued this year. I want to get there next year and I'm going to be making huge sacrifices to do whatever it takes to qualify in 2014. For the most part each athlete that qualified  paid their dues to get there. For most qualifiers, triathlon isn't just a hobby they do for fun. It is taken very serious and they breathe and live triathlon every single day of the year for the ultimate experience. A ticket to Kona. You could almost see it in everyone's eyes there. The energy, excitement and pride of making it there and racing. It truly is an incredible accomplishment and I thank everyone that shared their experiences (especially teammates) with us that didn't race because you created new dreams and goals and inspiration that will fuel us for 2014!

[caption id="attachment_2375" align="alignright" width="225"] Swam a few times in my custom Wattie Ink Blueseventy Helix to get back used to swimming in a wetsuit![/caption]

The World Championships aside, I've been trying to get ready for my last race of the season. Soma 70.3 is this Sunday in Tempe, AZ. After a week off of unstructured training from Worlds I ran into some calf issues a few weeks later that left me without running for a week and then recently some wrist pain (self-inflicted ha) that kept me from swimming and riding outside. Needless to say, my focus was Worlds and even though I'm excited to race this weekend, the focus hasn't been where it should've been when I'm trying to race well and PR. Who knows - going into this race with zero expectations and well rested may leave me with a great race?

I am going to approach this race (and future races) differently though. Vegas was the first race I've actually "raced" a 70.3. I've always been so concerned with pacing in the past and a lot of that was from fear of cramping (and for good reason). Now that I've got my cramping and nutrition nailed for the most part, I'm just going to hit it hard for the entire 4.5 hours like I did in Vegas. No gradual builds or specific pacing - just race hard the entire time staying as taut (swim) as possible, aero (bike) as possible and holding form (run) until I cross that finish line. Flanny and I are also going to experiment with taking down more liquid calories. In the past I've always taken in most of my calories via solids and although they settle fine, they definitely make things more difficult to take in enough calories (especially on the run). Wish me luck, Amy should be tweeting out updates as usual throughout the race.

Here's pictures of some fun over the past few weeks. Bare with me on the formatting, still trying to work out all of the bugs on this site before January, thanks for reading!

[gallery columns="2" ids="2382,2383,2384,2385"]

 

Thank You

So I've had tremendous feedback from the new website/blog and I appreciate all of your kind words and support. You never know what kind of response you may get when your audience is a bunch of Type A triathletes. There are a few things I want everyone to know. First is, I am not getting paid from Lava Magazine. Why would I spend so much time and not get paid? Well a few things...I've chosen not to "monetize" this site and have a bunch of Google ad's plastered everywhere. Instead I set up a donate page if you so desire to help me alongside my journey. And I'm also going to open up the site to sponsors that want to get in front of the Lava audience (only sponsors that don't conflict with Wattie's). I'm being realistic when I say I may need more than just Coeur d'Alene for a shot at Kona next year. There are some 70.3's out there that give Kona slots too but I can't get to them without any type of support system.

However, the real core reason why I am doing this is - I want to give back to the sport in some way and I'm hoping that I can open the eyes of some people (including myself...ha) of what it takes to get to Kona if you don't have the 20+ hours/week to train. My coach really has the answers, I'm just here to tell the world what I'm doing in every single training session, diet, recovery, how I'm feeling and be REAL about other life stressors that everyone has and how I balance them alongside family and career. I'm going to blog each week and then at the end of each month I'll do a recap from which Lava Magazine will publish on their site starting in January of 2014. Until then, I plan on blogging every Tuesday leading up about my "off season" plans, my final race of the season (more on that in a bit) and all the fun family activities, craft beer and events that go along with the holiday season.

About four hours after crossing the line at the Ironman 70.3 World Championships I had a beer in hand and was discussing with my coach that I think I wanted to race another 70.3 to end the season. Maybe it was the one beer; the alcohol quickly working through my system after a race that made me forget how much I just suffered - but I still had a bit of hunger to race fast. Vegas by no means was a course to PR on. I haven't gone faster than I did after IM Oceanside in March all year and even though I always harp about how times don't matter in long course, no matter how hard us triathletes try - chasing times is fun. So I'm about 1.5 weeks from packing my bags to head out to Soma 70.3 in Tempe, AZ for the third year in a row. I don't know what it is about this course but I struggle with it. This year I plan on conquering it and stealing a PR from it. Then I'll have something to chew on all winter. Whether it be bitter or sweet - the race will give me a reason to wake up early, run or ride an extra mile or swim 500 more yards. I left WC's still hungry and I'm hoping this satisfies me for the long lonely winter that awaits me where I set the foundation for my 2014 season, My Kona Journey.

Thanks again for reading and I love all of your feedback/comments and questions! Feel free to "share" "like" "thumbs up" etc below. Trying to get this site exposed as much as possible leading up to January!

If you're at Kona right now, don't miss this party! Even more reason to qualify next year!