Tri Hard, Win Easy

Some mornings I hit snooze four times, rush to my first workout in a daze, and get ready for work with a knot in my stomach because I know it’s going to be a stressful day. Most days I don’t actually pack a lunch - usually just some assortment of whatever fruits and vegetables are in the fridge. 

People might see the podium photo on Facebook and think that it’s cool, and they’d like to do it too if they just had the time. What they don’t know - is that I don’t have the time either. But I find it somewhere: it’s in the 5 am wake ups, the lunch breaks skipped to run, the late nights at work to avoid rush hour traffic. 

The success in sport comes at a cost though. Training costs me over two hours a day, every day. It costs tears, lost sleep, fights with my fiance, half-assed meals. I don’t go to happy hour, hang out with friends, watch tv, or read before going to bed. 

This year, I told myself I would win a triathlon. In three years, I want to be a professional triathlete.

And this year, training has been especially tough. I’m still getting the sessions done - but it’s in between commuting from NH to Boston, working long days, coaching my own athletes, and trying to get enough sleep.

A lot of my teammates are already pro triathletes, and right now, they’re all living together for the summer and training full time - living the dream. It’s been a mental challenge knowing that they, and so many other athletes like them, are focusing all of their efforts on training, and are pulling further and further ahead of where I am in triathlon.

The biggest challenge isn’t training or time, it’s the comparisons. I get stuck thinking that I’m not hitting the same power or paces as the other girls, or that I haven’t been in the sport for as long as they have.