August in Review & Patience

August was indeed a hot month!

Traveled to Colorado Springs for the Youth/Junior Elite National Championship. I delivered a talk to parents and young athletes on pre race/ race day nutrition targeting youth and junior racers. It was held at the Olympic Training Center and was well attended. At the race, it was nice to see athletes from the Florida region holding their own with some of the best youngsters in the nation.

A big job well done goes out to Taylor Scott in the Youth Elite race. She sure looked good and made big improvements from her initial showing in 2008. We are already looking forward to 2010 where she'll move up into the Junior Elite race.

After COS, I got to come back and get in a little Kona training before I jetted back off to Tuscaloosa Alabama for Age Group Nationals and Elite Nationals. USAT was kind enough to arrange for me to give a talk to participants on Racing in the Heat. Even though the race conditions turned out a bit milder than forcasted, post race participants told me that the information they received was most helpful. I always love to hear when practical suggestions whether it be training, racing or nutrition related work out!

This is the first time I have been to AG/Elite nationals and I must say USAT did a first class job with the event. The race venue proved to be spectator and athlete friendly as well as provide a challenging course. In the AG race, I am pleased to announce that a young lady I have been working with managed to finish 2nd Overall. I mentioned Lindsay W in a previous post and this in fact was her 1st Olympic distance race and her 2nd triathlon, ever. Now granted Lindsay is a uber fast swimmer right out of the box and also has a huge aerobic engine. Just give us a little time and I think your going to see this shining little star shoot on up :-) 2010 watch out for Lindsay!

In the Elite race, it was great to watch Kevin C line up to race for the Elite National title. His form and fitness has been getting better as the year progressed but as with any athlete there are hiccups in race results. One week prior to Nationals, Kevin got a chance to race in the London WCS race. Unfortunately, a poor swim position heading into T1 and the insurmountable gap to the main field on the bike caused a very hard decision to pull out of the race. The athletes that know me well know, I HATE to see a DNF!
A DNF in my opinion is only acceptable if a) an injury causes the athlete not to be able to physically continue b) continuing to race jeopardizes the athlete's health/safety or other racers safety c) total mechanical failure. A DNF because the race is not going the athlete's way I view (and always will view) as a cop out....sounds harsh but that's how I feel. With that said, in this particular case, I do/did agree with Kevin's decision to pull out of the bike prior to the run in order to "save" the legs for Tuscaloosa ( the National Championship) which was the next weekend.

So to Tuscaloosa, Kevin had a great swim! Front pack position and out on to the bike with the top contenders. On the bike, he worked hard and held strong going into T2. From there it was kind of anticlimactic. Kevin has a fast run but I could tell from his gait and running form after that first lap that this was not going to be his best day. The guys in front of him (1st Charbot,2nd ODonnell, 3rd Reed and 4th Fretta) just had a bit more in the tank. Kevin finished 5th for the day and earned a 3rd OV finish in the 2012 Elite Series which was a nice pay day for him. Overall, the result was good but truth be told we both know there is so much more there. More lessons learned and certainly will not make the same mistakes leading up to this race next year.

This weekend Kevin has the honor of joining 5 other US athletes ( Shoemaker, Reed, Charbot, Fretta, Dye) racing in the Gold Coast ITU World Championship Series finale. Here's to a strong performance for the USA athletes!!

My final athlete shout out for August goes to Chuck and Jessica Kemeny. Both made it to the start line of Ironman Louisville and earned their FIRST Ironman badges of honor. I have coached a lot of folks to Ironman but this husband and wife team impressed the heck out of me with how they balanced training ( LOTS of trainer time), work, each other and most importantly time with there kids. That deserves a special medal in its self.

Chuck, I am proud to announce got to claim his Kona GOLDEN ticket with a finish time of 9:41:35 in the ultra competitive AG of 30-34!!!

This was great news for me because he now knows he is going to have to wait for me at the finish in Hawaii! Heck, I even invited him to join me on my jog/shuffle/walk along the Queen K but something tells me he'll be showered and have eaten a good dinner with Jess and the kids by the time I am done! Anyway, Mahalo Chuck and Jess for being patient and trusting me to help you achieve your goal. Kona is going to be a blast!!!

So to round it all out, my Kona training. Well, the good news is I have some good mileage on the bike and my endurance for the swim should be enough to get me by mid pack, I hope. The run, as suspected, it will be a walk mostly. I have starting running a little this past week ( and it does feel good) but after going to the follow up doctor appointment today and looking at the MRI from 5 weeks ago, I know I am not 100%. Even though I don't have pain I know if push it I will certainly set myself back further. Just gotta be patient....that's my theme thru 10-10.

"The two most powerful warriors are patience and time"- L.N. Tolstoy

"Patience and fortitude conquer all things" R.W. Emerson

"Endurance is patience concentrated"T Carlyle

"The key to everything is patience. You get the chicken by hatching the egg, not by smashing it." A.H. Gasgow

September is going to be a good month too. Its my birthday month for one! But even more exciting is the Augusta 70.3 race. Got a bunch of folks racing and I am even planning on going to watch/stalk/bark orders/ cheer those who have been foolish enough to let me torture them to get ready for the day! I am going to have my high end mountian bike, the Mt. Shasta, is up there so I can be out and about....so looking forward to it.

Until next post, will keep the tweets alive!

~Jennifer