If you fall… Get back up!

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*guest post at Team NOW

Hello NOW friends!

Yesterday I was up near Los Angeles for a cross country race. It was my first meet of the season so I was really excited. When we arrived, my coach told me he bumped me up to the next age division for some extra competition. Yeah! I love the challenge of chasing more people so this was great news.

The 2-mile course had all the cool things I love about cross country: hills, stones, gravel, cement, dirt, and tree roots. As always, I studied the course and started my pre-race preparation routine.

Before any race or stressful event (like a test!) I always go through some exercises in my mind that help me remain calm. I think about times when I was at my extreme personal best and I try to relive everything about those moments. What was I feeling? How was I breathing? What were the sights, sounds, and smells? I can’t explain what it does to me except that I get into a feeling that is like relaxed intensity. My shoulders and fists are not tight. My breathing is deep and controlled. I am calm, but I am also really focused and ready for battle!

At the starting line, I had a clear vision of what was going to happen. After the horn sounded, everything went as it did in my head. I was in the lead group feeling strong and controlled. I kept about 3 strides distance behind the leader the entire first half, noticing and respecting his pace. I didn’t know if I would be able to pass him but I believed I could and I was certainly going to go for it at the right time!

That was the plan.

However, somewhere closer to the end I came to a sharp turn on the gravel. I lost my footing and slipped and fell.. hard. Even though I’d seen and heard stories of other people falling during races, that was the first time it had ever happened to me. It all happened so quickly that before I could think about it, I was already up again and running.

When I visualize my races, I never imagine falling or anything else that I don’t want to happen. I only imagine flawless races where everything that is in my control goes exactly as planned. There is nothing I can do about things that are out of my control and so I don’t spend any time worrying about those things. When I fell, the only thing I knew to do was to run because that was the original plan and giving up is never an option.

I’m grateful for the experience and I can’t wait to tear up the trails again!

Until next time,

 

 

 

Pacific Coast Triathlon

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*guest post at Team NOW

This past Sunday I was in Laguna Niguel at Crystal Cove Park for the Pacific Coast Triathlon. It was the SoCal Youth Tri Series Championship race featuring slightly longer distances (which I love!)

The weather was great and I had a blast. The swim is my least favorite part because people are always bumping you and kicking because there are so many people bunched up together trying to get through the water. I just try to remain calm and do my best to manage not to get kicked in the face 🙂 This distance was very manageable at 300 yards.

The swim to bike transition was interesting. It was a pretty long and steep hill – I’d say at least 200m. I was probably the 8th or 9th swimmer out of the water, but I powered up to T1 and I think I was 2nd or 3rd entering the bike portion.

The bike had some big hills! It was 6 miles. By the time I reached the U-turn, I believe I was in the lead overall. There weren’t anymore youth athletes ahead of me and I started to catch some adults from the previous wave.

A smooth T2 led to the run which is my favorite part. I felt strong and enjoyed the mile and a half to the end. I pushed as though I were in last place and was happy to see my family at the finish line.

Based on my points earned in the entire series, I also captured the series championship. I am really excited about this because there is an organization (Medals 4 Mettle) which gives triathlon and marathon medals to patients who are fighting for their lives. I will be donating my medal and hope it will lift someone’s spirits even if it’s just a little.

Thanks for reading, NOW Friends!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Someone I watch and learn from..

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*guest post at Team NOW

Hello Friends!

My parents have always taught me to surround myself with positive people who inspire me. So I try to hang around people I admire. These people are friends, family members, authors, speakers, professional athletes, etc. I “hang around” them by spending time with them, reading their books, listening to them speak, or watching their videos.

Heather Jackson is one of these people. She’s a professional triathlete and a local hero of mine. Even though I only met her once, I do continue to read about her in news articles and follow her progress as a competitor.

This picture was taken earlier this year in May during a local triathlon we were both competing in. She spent a bit of time talking with me. I appreciated how encouraging she was and I also enjoyed watching her win the next morning.

This week I read an article about Heather on Triathlete.com. It talked about how she is competing in the Ironman World Championship 70.3 in Las Vegas this Sunday. I read that she has been doing some really intense training in Colorado for the past month to prepare. She seems super focused. I was surprised to read she lost 20 pounds in order to improve her run time. I also liked reading about how she’s been working on her mental training. Sometimes it seems like you can be the best athlete, but if you don’t believe you can do it, you can easily be beaten by other people who may not be as fast or as strong as you, but have a stronger mind. Even professionals continue to work on these skills.

I am so excited to see how her race goes on Sunday. I have also been doing a lot of cross-training and will be competing in a Socal Series Championship Triathlon on the same morning. I’m looking forward to the race and I definitely plan to go all out like Heather on race day!

Until next time, have an awesome weekend!

 

 

 

 

Triathletes ROCK.

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Last weekend, I met a super cool, very inspiring, and incredible triathlete named John Hatala. He is a retired Marine who competes in various triathlons including IronMan and XTerra races. Since I love competing in triathlons, I was so excited to be able to ask Mr. Hatala questions about training, races, and expert tips.

I learned that he is the 2011 Western Region XTerra Champion. I had never heard of the XTerra races, and as he talked about them, my eyes got bigger and bigger. It’s basically an OFF-ROAD TRIATHLON where the run and bike is OFF-ROAD. That means like dirt, rocks, streams, and mountains.. and a DIRT BIKE! So cool.

I had no idea there were such competitions and now I have it on my list of things I want to do when I am old enough. Mr. Hatala had all kinds of stories from his experiences that really showed how brave and dedicated he is to the sport and to always improving.

He is a bike enthusiast so I learned about the importance of bike maintenance, weight considerations, and training methods. He talked about the importance of monitoring his heart rate during training so he could improve the efficiency of his heart muscle for endurance. He talked about pacing, nutrition, pre-race preparation.. so many things.

One time during a triathlon, he said he had a panic attack during the first few minutes of the swim. The water was freezing cold and it sort of took his breath away. He had pre-race nerves and when he entered the water, he found that he simply couldn’t move. So he floated onto his back and just slowly waved his arms back and forth to stay afloat until the panic attack went away and he was able to turn over and start swimming. I thought this was really amazing because he is a well-trained athlete and I learned that something like that can happen to anyone at anytime.

I was most grateful that he would take an hour and a half out of his weekend to talk and share tips with me. He said that triathletes as a community are pretty laid-back and enjoy a sense of comraderie(sp?). Just by sitting with me, I felt like I got to experience a piece of that community! Thank you, Mr. Hatala!!!!