Skip to main content

Olympic versus Sprint


St. George Triathlon 2010


Last weekend was my first olympic distance triathlon since September 2007. Wow. That is even longer than I thought. I did not race at all in 2008 because I was pregnant with Max who was born in August. I decided to take things easy in 2009 and focus on sprint distance triathlons. I was not sure how much training I would be able to get in having 2 little boys (and one ultramarathoning big boy) and how long it would take me to get back in shape.

After racing a few sprints, I realized that they are super fun! Here is what I love about them:

  • Being able to go all out from start to finish.
  • No pacing involved.
  • No need to worry about nutrition.
  • Short recovery.
  • None of that 2-loop-stuff.
  • Empty finish areas. This means lots of food and no wait for a massage. Most everyone else is still out on the course!
  • If you are the winner, you are actually the first one to cross the line. Olympic distance winners just get swallowed up in the sprint crowd.

This year it was time to change things up a bit. While I would love to stick with sprints, I really feel the urge to go a little longer again. The reason why I have a love/hate relationship with olympic triathlons is because they hurt. By the time you are hurting in a sprint, you are pretty much to the finish line. In an olympic tri you are almost going as hard as in a sprint, but for a lot longer. However, I am ready for the challenge! I think...



Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Camping Trip - Big Sur - CA

Andrew Molera State Park - our paradise for a week After it became clear that we would most likely be in Utah all summer, I got a bit antsy and really wanted to go on a family vacation. We went camping in Moab in March and it was great fun. Since I am not training or racing, we might as well go on a road trip to California and camp by the beach for a while! Easier said than done because, of course, we were way too late to get any decent spot anywhere along the coast. Everything bookable was booked. We did a bunch of research and found a little campground in Andrew Molera State Park  that fit our (very small) budget and was first-come first-served. Perfect! So we mapped out a plan, loaded up the car, and took off for 10 days!  Not exactly traveling lightly. That road bike (mine) was solely for commuting purposes.  Traveling from Provo up to Salt Lake City and then west on I-80, our first stop was Donner Lake up by Lake Tahoe/Truckee. I love Lake Tah...

I am so lucky

I feel the need to write. My thoughts are all jumbled. Can I make sense of them on paper? Writin g gives me perspective and makes it easier to let go. Last weekend I was very frustrated, mad, self-centered, unhappy , wallowing in self-pity. This weekend I was more balanced, a little more patient, trying to be less selfish, happy . How did it happen? I have had to deal with myself for almost 30 years now and, luckily, have figured out a few things on the way. Like how to feel at peace with myself , my family , my life . It shouldn't be complicated to be happy in my circumstances. I realize that. But sometimes it still is. Sometimes being a mom and wife doesn't come easy to me. Sometimes I think everyone would be better off if I wasn't a mom and wife. Sometimes I wish it was easier to just take off and do nothing but swimbikeruneatsleep for a week or two. It's not helping that my German teammates are doing just that. Right now. On a beautiful island. In the warm...

July - Goodbye Provo, Hello Cedar City

Rock Canyon Park. Our backyard in Provo. In LOVE!  The husband got a job !  As in: He finished his PhD!  Dissertation successfully defended and published! That is a big  HUGE deal.  5 years at NAU in Flagstaff and 1 year at his parents' and we are DONE.  We celebrated by camping at the beach in California . It was perfect.  We were REALLY hoping for a post-doc in Europe but it wasn't meant to be. We tried and we got very close but in the end we ran out of time (and money) and figured Cedar City, Utah wouldn't be a bad place for our family. We moved JUST in time for school to start mid-August (although we had been paying rent since July) because no matter how ready you are to move on and finally be on your own again, it's hard - very hard - to leave Utah Valley . Far from perfect, it's one of our favorite places on this earth!  at the tippy top of Freefall We had season passes to Seven Peaks Waterpark (because the...