"Power of Practice"

When I committed to my summer graduate school internship as the coach of Washington, DC youth triathlon camp ACHIEVE, I never imagined that the athletes—aged 9-14—would not know how to swim or bike. During the first week of camp, I was approached by a mother who asked if we had any remaining spots for her son, Brown. Even though we were virtually full, I said he could join us.  I just couldn’t turn down a child looking for an opportunity to be active and learn triathlon.

Little did I know that 9 year old Brown had never been on a bike or in a pool. With a lot of one-on-one coaching, Brown quickly learned to bike within the first 2 weeks. It was thrilling to watch a once timid young boy pedal fearlessly around a single lane bike path full of other novice cyclists.

Swimming was a different story.  Without a coach by his side, Brown was terrified of the water.  He would surely drown in any depth of water due to complete panic while unsupervised.  The coaching staff had 6 weeks to work with Brown to get him swimming in time for the final camper triathlon. Each day, Brown improved and his comfort level in the water increased. It wasn’t until the last week of camp where Brown would let go of a coach and swim on his own.

It was amazing and inspiring to witness a boy who had just learned to swim complete 2 full lengths in the pool, bike 3 miles and run 1 mile. He completed the kids triathlon all by himself.  Learning a new skill or sport can be challenging and at the same time frightening. Practice along with determination can lead you to your destination…the finish line!

"The Back 9"

This past weekend I had the pleasure of watching one of the greatest golfers of all time compete at the AT&T Nationals tournament—Tiger.  As an athlete, I find it thrilling to watch one of the best in the sport in person.  I went to Congressional Country Club in DC with my friend Tyler who has played and taught golf almost his entire life. Even among the huge crowds, Tyler was able to direct me to Tiger’s locations, and I even had clear views of his shots. 

I recently read about Tiger’s training regimen, which includes running and various cross-training exercise modalities.  It’s clear that he is in phenomenal shape just by looking at the bulging veins in his forearms.  However, as I walked the course, I couldn’t help but notice the many out-of-shape onlookers struggling to follow their favorite players. Watching a golf tournament requires a lot of walking—on uneven surfaces, up and down hills, and through crowds.  

As I approached the driving range I overheard a young man say to his friend, “You want to go to the back 9?  I can’t do the back 9.” This man was severely overweight.  Unfortunately, despite the fact that his friend wanted to watch Tiger on the last 9 holes, he himself could not physically do it. It struck me that the majority of people in the US will never be as skilled as Tiger.  However, each one of us has the ability to treat our bodies well enough to be in physical shape to watch Tiger in person—on all 18 holes.

Columbia Triathlon

May 17th, 2009

As I sat in the first day of classes this spring semester in San Diego, I took note of my final exams dates. This year, they happened to fall during the week after the Columbia triathlon held in my home state, Maryland. As panic set in that I wouldn’t be able to participate despite already registering, I decided to attempt to shift all my finals a week early. With a little leg work and the relaxed SoCal attitude, I was able to reschedule my exams around the race.  

I landed home in Maryland on Thursday evening with a few days to adjust to the time change and assemble the bike for race day. At this point I felt very overwhelmed and not thrilled I had switched my exams, rushed home and was racing in two days. At Saturday’s check-in, I had my bike looked over by the Elite team and was relieved that it wasn’t damaged in transit and I had assembled it correctly. 

The forecast for race day was morning rain—not ideal for a hilly Columbia bike course.   Since I haven’t seen rain in nearly four months, I was a bit nervous and disappointed. I awoke race morning to dry roads and hoped the rain would hold off at least until I finished the bike leg. I arrived at the venue at 5:30 am, and was bursting with energy, excitement and anticipation.  I assembled my transition area, which takes me no more than 5 minutes—my days of stressing over transition area perfection are over. 

I made it over to the lake and ready for the 6:50 AM swim start. I completed in the Open category, which began 5 minutes after the Professionals. The water temperature felt great compared to the ice of the Pacific Ocean. The countdown began and my race was off without a drop of rain. The swim felt overly crowded in the first 500 meters, but eventually thinned our time. It’s always shocking how you have an entire lake yet everyone swims on top of one another.

I was out of the water and on land running towards the transition area when I saw my Dad in the crowd cheering.  I was happy he listened to my Mom and figured out how to maneuver his first triathlon solo. Almost as soon as I jumped on my bike, the skies opened up and started raining. It felt as if I biked the entire 26 miles in rain. I was surprised by my lack of nerves as I maneuvered windy downhill turns on slick roads. I felt solid on the bike—my legs felt strong with very little fatigue, and I was confident that I would be able to run a successful 10K when I got off the bike.

Once the run started and I began the first hill, I knew it would be a challenging 6.2 miles. This season I have limited my regular road running and have focused on speed workouts on the track. I was mistaken to think that running over hills would be easy since I could bike them easily.  Wow, how I was wrong! I gasped for air as I tackled every hill, and reminded myself to relax and take one step at a time. The only mechanical mishap occurred about 1 ½ into the run when my shoe came untied. I stopped to fix the laces and began running again, and they quickly began untied.  I stopped this time, really tied my shoe, and ran the rest of the race all laced up.

As I approached the finish line and glanced up at the clock, I was shocked with my time. With the weather conditions and how I felt on the hills I thought there was no possible way I would be faster than last year. I finished 2 minutes faster, with a huge smile, because I could finally breathe again. The biggest thing that I took away from this race is the importance of preparation for exactly what I will attempt to do. Lacing up my shoes correctly the night before and training on hills may actually have saved me a lot of time and pain in the end. Prepare for what you have set forth to accomplish and you will be that much more successful in the end!

"Ski Girlies"

Studying the field of exercise and nutrition, I am reminded every day of the increase of Americans’ inactivity.  There is an epic number of overweight and obese people in our country. This past weekend I had the opportunity to take a trip to Park City, Utah to ski with three fabulous friends and was exposed to a population in tune with health and fitness!

Shannon is a new Utah ski-season resident, Helene is a forty something self-described desk jockey who hadn’t skied in 12 years and Virginia is a 12 year old ice-skater and lacrosse star who has only skied once before. I hadn’t seen snow in 3 years—the last time was during a ski vacation in Colorado. Needless to say, the 3 of us out-of-towners were quite rusty. Even putting on all of our clothing and equipment and hiking up to the lift was a challenge!  We were all a bit timid during our first day on the slopes, but with some miles under our skis and some much needed equipment and clothing changes, day two was a huge improvement.

Shannon is a speed demon, and with a few months of powder under her new stylish skis, she has become a natural. Virginia caught on lightening fast and was the daredevil of the group, she tried to find every incline, jump and off course tree lined path on the mountain. Helene likes controlled fluid lines and took her time taking in the sport and not rushing progression. By day two, her muscles had adjusted to the movement and she no longer needed Stein Eriksen Lodge breaks. I am somewhere in between.  My skiing goal is to stay in control and avoid injury.

With positive attitudes and continuous encouragement, the four of us girls were able to enjoy a fabulous yet challenging sport as a group. There are very few sports in which four people with varying skill levels can stick together and all have an amazing experience. We, along with hundreds of spring-breakers and locals, enjoyed the beautiful snow covered trails, fresh Utah air and wonderful hospitality of Deer Valley employees. It was amazing for me to see the number of athletic adults and children taking part in such a rigorous sport—and loving every minute of it.