Conquer Yourself

The Race Director said to "conquer yourself."
This is what the pre-conquer-yourself face looks like. 

Well, week 3 of IM training came and went and with it we had our first “big” measuring stick and one of our more challenging weeks of  “outside” influences.  The week started off hectic and found us both having to adjust our training due to outside circumstances.  Nikki works full time plus as a teacher and since classes has ended she spent some SERIOUS time grading papers and getting everything wrapped up for the school year.  Because of this she missed a few workouts and did a pretty good job of not stressing too much about it.  All the long days/nights of grading were not ideal for her as she had an Olympic distance triathlon on the schedule for the weekend. More on that in a bit.

I on the other hand spent a good portion of my week dealing with a self-inflicted stupidity injury.  Last weekend we both got in our first open water swims of the season, nothing intense, but enough to get the wetsuits on and give ‘em a go.  When I was almost done with my time in the water, I got out and wanted to practice a running beach start.  I wanted to document our semi-craziness of being in the lake so “early” in the season so I had Nik go a ways out to the side to get a picture or two.  In the interest of photographic excellence, I moved way over to the side of the beach forgetting that the sandy lake floor only stretched so far.  Long story made short, I stepped on a rock while running out and spent the better part of the week with a very sore and swollen foot.  While wondering if I had done some serious damage, I ended up missing some workouts or changing the intensity of them in order to not exact too much pain on the foot.  Happy ending for me as it seems to be all better now.  Lesson learned!

The other craziness of the week was a result of us (Nikki) having her first Olympic Tri in three years scheduled for the weekend.  Last fall, after learning we had gained entry to IMChoo we selected some races to do that would A) be a lot of fun and B) be great measuring sticks as to where we were at with our training.  The Buffalo Olympic Triathlon in Buffalo, MN was first on tap this year.  Trying to get through the week’s obligations and get all ready for a road trip on the weekend was interesting.  To top it off, Nik also raced the bike leg as part of a team for our local sprint triathlon on Saturday morning before we headed to paradise…better known to some as Minnesota.  I participated in this triathlon last year as a tune-up for IM 70.3 Kansas and LOVED it.  Minnesota does triathlon right.  No other way to put it.  If you want to race in a well organized, heavily participated, awesomely run event just head to the land of 10,000 triathlons….err lakes.  Anyway, here is my non-biased outsider race report of the race!!

The conditions: Rain. The family endured rain at home during the local (lesser) tri, and we continued to read the forecast for heavy rains and flash flood watches in the area of the (greater) Minnesota tri. The forecast did not disappoint. Rain fell until about 10 minutes before the swim start, abated for a while, and then returned.

The SWIM.  Neither of us like swimming.  We both struggle with it and spend countless hours trying to get better with seemingly little progress.  That said it is a necessary evil and we endure it with determination. As mentioned, we have only had one 20-30 minute open water swim session so far.  Race morning came and Nik was ready.  The swim went okay for her: some sighting issues that she is working on caused the swim to maybe be closer to a half-iron distance swim than an Olympic but she got it done!

The BIKE.  This was a great test for Nik. She had spent some time worried about where she was at with her biking speed/ability.  On a very wet course with quite a few rollers, she hammered out a respectable bike leg.  ‘Lil Red as we call her steed performed flawlessly, and 25 miles later a smiling Nikki came zipping into T2.

Everyone was glad Mom was done. 

The RUN.  Another great test as Nik had not spent much time doing any speedwork or race-paced running as of yet.  She had absolutely no idea what to expect coming off the bike, so this was a big time indicator of her training.  I have to be honest here.  She crushed it.  The shoes were smoking/begging for mercy.  With a big smile on her face as she ran by us I could tell that she was feeling good and moving fast.  At this point of the race the kids and I had to head back to the vehicle as the rain started up again.  Shortly hereafter a tired and conquering heroine came walking back to the vehicle, wheeling the trusty steed and leaning forward a little from the AWESOME finisher medal she had earned.

In summary:  The week/weekend was a family effort.  Nik did the racing, but it took all of us, kiddos included to make it a successful and enjoyable weekend.  We both are feeling pretty good about where we are at with our training at this point in the game.  Yes, we have work to do but there always will be.  We have learned over the years of participating in this sport that it isn’t about speed or competition or time.  For us it is ALL about conquering ourselves. 

Next week will hopefully have the regular composer back in the saddle.  Another big week of training lies ahead and we can’t wait to see what adventures it will bring along with it!  Until next time- train safe and train smart!!

Nikki's Note: Jason forgot to mention we celebrated our fifteenth wedding anniversary in the midst of the busy training (and injury-recovery) week. Mr. Wonderful and I checked out the local scenery Troxell style: with me running 10+ miles and him playing mule, carrying water and other necessities on the bike. Fifteen years ago I never would've imagined we'd be celebrating any anniversaries in this fashion. I wouldn't have it any other way. I can't imagine what we'll be doing in another fifteen years. I love this guy.