The New Year Post

Customized gift for our friends with their dog & her giraffe!

            Since the 5K in October, I have been focusing a lot on weight lifting, while still pressing on with the my weekly threshold run work (something I thought I was ready to drop for a few months at least and then didn't). I am looking forward to my own track season this year and I’m hoping that the work I am doing (especially with the work in the weight room and high bar pole vault drills) pays off. My swim has been pretty minimal and I have yet to venture back onto the bike. I have, however, been ice-skating a lot with the kids, and have taken up painting again! I used to do a lot of artwork in high school, and haven’t done a lot since then. I have really gotten into water coloring lately though, did a series for my youngest, a few gifts, and then turned out a recent favorite portrait. Do what you are passionate about, right?!

My most recent (& now favorite) painting

            My plans for this year include a LOT of pole vaulting, including the summer meets our Club hosts, Badger State Games Track, the River Vault, and this year I would also like to compete in the USATF Masters Outdoor Championships since it will be held in Iowa! Will I venture into the triathlon world again this year? I have been asking myself that a lot lately. I qualified for USAT Nationals, held in Cleveland in August, with my High Cliff Half victory last summer. If I race, it will be another one-and-done season with Nationals. The question is whether or not I have the motivation to put in the work to race it. I would want 6 months of training for it, so I would need to decide soon if I’m hopping back on that bike soon! I could also approach it like High Cliff, where I trained early on before deciding to fully commit or not.

            Looking further ahead, World’s are being held in Bermuda in 2021, which means racing Nationals next year in order to qualify, which means I would need to qualify prior to racing that as well. I could also shoot for World’s in Canada in 2020 as well. Or I could do none of that. I really love the way that triathlon training makes me feel. I also really LOVED World’s in Cozumel and everything that came with that experience. Triathlons can also give you really good perspective on life. I have reflected back on my High Cliff experience a LOT, and I think there are a lot of great takeaways from going through that. I love the challenge of it. The best things in life are the things that challenge us, excite us, and have the power to at times, even change us (sounds a lot like parenting!). That’s what I also love about pole vaulting and painting. 

So this year, find what challenges you, excites you, and has the power to change you. Happy New Year!