I won my first National Championship! Last Sunday I participated in the USA Triathlon Long Course National Championships at the Daytona International Speedway competing in the Duathlon consisting of a 5k run – 56-mile bike – 13.1 mile (1/2 marathon) run. This was my third time competing at this distance in a National Championship and after two – 2nd place finishes, I earned my first Gold Medal on this day (in any distance). It was an emotional finish attaining a goal that could never come…
This is the story of the lead up to the race. The race day experience can be found here.
It’s been a year full of extreme highs and extreme lows. I have to say I never stopped fighting after my extreme lows. They were motivation to see what I could do next and gave me that chip on my shoulder I love to have…not the extreme lows (ha!) but they fuel me to get better.
After injuring my knee three weeks before the Olympic Distance National Championship in the summer, I had an absolute failure of a race. I had my docs and therapists get me back in shape where I rebounded to have a spectacular World Championship in the same distance two months later with my body being a – just in time delivery. I was motivated like hell to respond at that World Championship.
On the evening of October 11, I went out for an easy recovery ride when I slipped on a patch of gravel and sand and the next thing I knew, I had paramedics over top me as I laid flat on my back. I have no memory of going down and up to the point I saw the gentleman helping me. I do remember hearing a smash which was my head and helmet hitting the concrete. I was knocked unconscious for several minutes. They took me to the hospital for a ct-scan of my head which cleared of any brain bleed or skull fracture. While I was laying in the emergency room, I felt my wrist which was bloody and bruised beginning to build with discomfort. It was broken…
As I sat on the bed talking with my sister, Jamie, it was sinking in I may be in jeopardy of racing at the National Championship nine weeks later. Besides the wrist being broken, I was more concerned about the concussion I endured which was two years after my last significant one. I know I can’t take many more of these blows. I remember Jamie and I talking and I finally got to the point of saying, I will figure something out to try to train, and if I can race I will. I knew what to look for concerning my head from prior treatments and recovery. I would build back slowly while it healed and hoped it would respond, or I would pull out. I was told I would get the cast off my wrist in time so that wasn’t a concern.
I determined I would train solely on the bicycle trainer when I could train again and brought the trainer and bike to the Safety Harbor Pier countless times over the two months so I could be outside. I struggle being inside on the trainer so that would give me something to look forward to and enjoy our beautiful harbor area. I slowly built up my workouts and heartrate that my head could handle to a point where I was committed to racing unless I had a setback. With one week prior to the race, I cleared vertigo symptoms almost completely that had spiked in the two weeks preceding. I also had the cast removed so that was solved…I thought.
With just over a week to the race I took my bike to San Antonio (FL) for my first ride on two wheels since the accident. It was incredible to be doing my thing again. This location is my favorite place for a hard ride as it is quite challenging with the hills, and I get to ride through farmland that is a mental getaway. The first hour I was a bit apprehensive feeling very robotic going up and down on the handlebars, being a bit cautious around turns, and going downhill. That changed after hour one. I got lost in the sense I was doing my thing again…I was working hard and not thinking of the accident as the apprehension left me. One thing I learned was drinking…I use my right (broken) hand to squeeze the bottles so that was something I would work on getting more comfortable for the race.
Two days later I raced a 5k exactly one week before the race. I needed to see how my head would respond to a race pace, and it also served to get my head into a game day experience. It helped so much. It was great to be around a race energy again dealing with the preparation and nervous energy to the start line. The first run at Nationals was a 5k so this served the perfect simulation. I planned on running at the pace for the following week and I ended up racing just faster than that. I hit my goal while feeling good doing it. I worked, but not to the extreme and I passed the head test during and after the race which was the most critical aspect of the day. This was uplifting heading into taper week ahead of the big day.
As I reflected back on the two months since the accident, I felt incredibly grateful and fortunate I got myself ready to be able to simply race. Riding and running with the cast on and figuring out head symptoms as I went along seemed like a long journey. I don’t take any of this for granted and know it could end any moment. I cherish the training, the people, and racing. Now I was ready to race my ass off!
On to race day…A National Championship can be found here. My Vlog of the National Championship is here.
Blog Photo:
- Top Left – I was sitting up and had my temporary cast on…
- Bottom Left – The wrist looked bad but my head felt worse…
- Top Right – My trainer set up at the Safety Harbor Pier…lots of miles down there including 80-, 85-, and 90-mile efforts
- Bottom Right – The scene of the accident a few days later…the tracks of the ambulance behind me on the grass and the gravel sand patch below me…
The Healthy Giraffe 
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