The Aftermath...

So the past week I have “fallen off the wagon” and enjoyed every bit of it!! I am trying to climb back on the wagon, but it might take some time!

Saturday night after the race, I found myself enjoying the Company of Team Timex (their hotel was one mile away from ours) nacho’s and some mmmm, mmmm good martini’s!!! Let’s say I slept very well that night. One of the highlights of the night was reconnecting with one of my previous track/cross country team mates from back in the day at U of A. Kyle Marcotte is an awesome athlete and a really nice guy!!....I think I even caught myself reverting to the “eh” during our conversations!

As you can see from the pics above, I did acquire a number of "war wounds from the race!"

Gregory and I decided to take my poor beat up body and down-in-the-dumps self to La Jolla on Sunday after the race. It was just the right medicine for me! A stroll along the cove, a great brunch with wine!! And a trip to the candy store (See pic…perfect post race recovery). Then we were off to Carlsbad to meet with Stacey, Eric, and the rest of the family who were awesome hosts. We stayed with them our first night in CA and they were gracious enough to store my bike box and other necessities until the storm settled. That visit lead to more wine consumption; not a bad Sunday!!

onday was the worst “body-wise” as I was super sore!! The day consisted of washing laundry at the hotel (I did not want my race stuff to get up and walk away on it’s own!) and relocating to L.A. as we had work-related appt’s scheduled at UCLA through the week. But, I am not writing to talk about work, so I will mention some of the cool things I got to do.

1. Walk/Shuffle along Venice Beach: Awesome! Absolutely awesome. And the local coffee shop that made me a Latte with the strength to fuel a rocket made my day!
2. The UCLA Gift Store: Thankfully Gregory took away all my money before I entered the store. I found 25 cents in my pocket and bought a See’s Candy Sucker.
3. Malibu: Dukes has some great drinks!! We were able to have dinner with a great friend at their place overlooking the ocean. What an unreal experience!!
4. 3rd Street: Fun atmosphere…pretty much an upscale Pearl Street but with more silicone and designer labels.
5. Hollywood/Beverly Hills etc..: Cool to look at but wwaaaaayyy to much money for my taste!
6. Time with the Hubby: This made my week! It has been a long time since I have had time with Gregory without training getting in the way. It opened my eyes a bunch to what is MOST important to me and how good I have it. I have a husband that supports me 100% no matter what the outcome.

We flew back to beautiful Boulder on Thursday and caught up on the work, laundry, unpacking etc… and all I could think about is “what a roller coaster” The reality sinks in of what you just did, the time preparing for it and the outcome. I don’t have to say much when people ask me how it went as tears often well up in my eyes. It is such a disappointment for me, but such a wonderful stepping stone for me to move up on. Oceanside will be a landmark in my journey to obtain the goals I want in triathlon. I have a list of things I need to address before I move on to the next race/challenge and things I need to owe up to as to why this race did not go as planned…that will be my next blog entry!

One thing throughout this that is consistent and I owe huge thanks too is my coach. Wolfgang knows me and when I met with him on Friday to discuss the race, not much had to be said. I said it sucked and he said it sucked…well, not all of it. The bike was atrocious!! Given my ability and training we both agreed that I was behind my capable time by 15-20 minutes!! That is just sad, and embarrassing on my part. Good news is that my swim was solid and the run was solid; the run was still VERY slow but solid considering the bike and how my legs felt. Most important to me out of our whole conversation is that my coach was disappointed, which means he really believes I can do it..that is huge to me, because you always have people who will BS you and tell you that you are good and can reach such and such goals without ever knowing you. Wolfgang will never do that, he will give it to you straight, and I can deal with that. He is the first one to compliment me when I am doing well (gasp!! Wolfgang gives out compliments…no way!!) and tell me when I am doing really bad…and that is what I consider a good coach.

So why was I a mess after weeks and weeks of solid training and proper training…it comes down to me and not paying attention to my body as well as many issues I was not aware off throughout my training and the race. This is a whole different issue that I would like to address in another post (don’t worry; I won’t wait a week to post it!). But in the mean time, shouts out to my friends checking in on me and following the athlete tracker. I really appreciate your emails!!! Also, to my local gals who are helping piece me back together although they might not know it; thanks Kristin, Heather, Jenni and Laura.