Karen Lipinsky
April 9, 2010
Our magnificent nutritionist and CDE, Marcey, has asked us all to think about goals that we have for the season. I’ve given this a lot of thought, and have come up with the following. These will need some refining, but I can continue to work on them…
1. The Branson 70.3
My big goal race this year is the 70.3 in Branson, MO on my birthday in September. Because who doesn’t want to go to Branson, MO for her 45th birthday? I want to have a good day, which will necessitate a ton of training and preparation. Right now, I’ll measure success as having a smile on my face at the end of the race. Perhaps closer to the race I’ll come up with time goals.
2. Getting stronger on the bike
Last year, of necessity, I worked most on my swimming. Although there’s plenty of room for improvement in all three sports (and the transitions – good lord, the transitions), I want to work the most on my biking this year. There are a few reasons for this: biking is the ‘easiest’ in many ways – it’s easy to eat and drink during it, and my heart rate isn’t as crazy as when running. It’s also something I can do with others, as I have friends who road bike, not to mention my partner, who’s always up for a ride. And too, like I said, it would be nice to be a little quicker for this, the longest section of a triathlon. For the time being, I’ll say that being ‘faster’ is what I’m aiming for, and I’ll narrow that down later.
3. Mindful workouts
Sometimes I’m in a mindset of just getting through my prescribed workouts, and I’ve been quite diligent in achieving that goal. This season, though, I want to be mindful of the purpose or focus of each workout, and keep that in mind each day that I’m training. While I might be chatting with training partners on some of my runs and rides, I want to be aware of the workout’s purpose and working toward it throughout the session.
4. Dialing in the diabetes
If you read my blog entries last year, you heard various woes about blood sugar problems during races and rehearsals. I will painstakingly continue to build on last year’s data to dial in what works for me. I recently got a continuous glucose monitor, and I will resist the impulse to throw it out the window when it gives me bad data and instead work to get the best data I can from it. Hopefully as a result of these efforts my numbers will improve during races. I’d love to see what I could do without my blood sugar bouncing all around.
5. Attitude of gratitude
My final goal is definitely not very measurable, but to paraphrase a Supreme Court justice, I’ll know it when I see it:
I am (we all are) so very lucky to be able to do this. Yes, it’s hard, but isn’t it fantastic that we’re asking our bodies to perform in these ways, and they’re doing it? I wasn’t any kind of athlete earlier in life; how nice to explore and expand my physical limits in this way. How nice to have the time and energy to do this. How nice to have the sunshine and mountains as my backdrop, to have training partners who will discuss the intricacies of transition setup without perishing of boredom, to have the equipment and tools and coaches and medical staff to go about this smartly. How wonderful to have this team for its support, especially with the diabetes. I am so fortunate, and it may not always be so, and I want to be aware and grateful.
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