Catching Up

It’s been a long time since I posted (a year!), but there have been big events, which has kept me too busy to keep up with the blog, but which I would also like to write about. Last year after Nationals, I thought I would take 2023 off from triathlon. I was discouraged by my results at Nationals (after all, even though I qualified for Team USA again, I didn’t have the time I wanted and didn’t make podium like the year prior). Then I did the Three Lakes triathlon and had a lot of fun, so I thought maybe I would just drop down to the Sprint distance at Nationals (once they finally announced that it would be returning to Milwaukee for another year). I love racing in Milwaukee. USAT does a great job hosting there, it’s in my own state, and from start to finish it’s a great course! So once the location was announced, I took the plunge and registered for the sprint distance for Nationals.

During the past year though, our family has undergone an immense number of changes. July of 2022, we got the phone call about a safe haven baby boy who was in need of a home. For those that don’t know much of our adoption journey, we actually applied for the domestic infant program through Lutheran Social Services (LSS) when Rowyn was about 6 months old. We knew that it could be a long process and a long wait. Four years later, we decided to transfer out of that program and into public adoption. This was a hard decision, but our children were getting a lot older, and with no end in sight for the waiting period, we thought we would go the route of a young child(ren) instead of a baby. After almost a year in that program, we go the phone call. Life really does change that fast. Wyatt was 3 days old already and was in the NICU in Marshfield. We visited him that night and brought him home at a week old! Who needs more than 4 days to get ready for a baby?! Never mind the fact that I had just cleaned out all of our baby stuff the weeks to months prior to this!

Wyatt was a huge blessing at a tough time in our lives. Throwing a baby into the mix at a time of transition and uncertainty definitely hasn’t been easy, but we are ever so grateful for him! We were at a time of job searching, the kids getting into swim club and hockey, and then finally moving this past winter. New schools, new jobs, an apartment, selling our dream house, and recently moving into a new house, we have been challenged in so many ways.

In the midst of this constant state of chaos, I also attempted to train for sprint Nationals. I lost our lake for swim training, but we bought season passes to the waterpark in town, so 0-2 times/week I would swim some quick laps there. I tried to get in 2 bike rides/week, and besides a couple 20-milers, they were mostly really short rides. Honestly, I don’t think I would have had the willpower or motivation to train for the Olympic distance this year. It has just been too much to take on. I am fortunate that I was able to get as much training in as I did. I like to do the distance workouts during the track season, which was super helpful for getting a good run base established early on at least. I typically kept up with 5 runs/week, which included 2 hard runs off the bike, a long run, and 2 other easy runs. The runs off the bike were often 2 miles hard. The fall-back goal was sub-7 pace, but I had some good ones that I averaged 6:43 and 6:41, so I thought I was capable of holding a decent pace on race day.

As if I didn’t have enough going on with all those other things, I also started a new Track Club and competed in 4 meets. That will be for later posts though, so I’ll be jumping around in the timeline a bit. Next up, I’ll share the blunders, mishaps, and victories that were sprint Nationals!