Nationals: Cleveland Adventures

I definitely haven't given this trip the attention it deserves, as a lot of incredible moments came out of Cleveland. From the food, to the road trip memories, how I grew as an athlete, and where it is taking me - here’s to taking a moment to give it the needed attention. Further, how it's opened doors for much more to follow.

Each shot depicts an aspect of the race and adventure. A mix of the science in sport that I geek over, race results (plain and simple), but also the pure stream of thoughts that flow.

Cleveland - Nationals - 8.10.18 - 8.12.18

racing

The Swim

Let's fast forward past the moment when there was an E.coli outbreak and the swim almost didn’t happen, to the unbelievable morning sunrise and Lake Erie swim. For some reason when it comes to the swim, it's hard for me to get up and go, or really judge my pace. I'm used to the black line and going all out…and that's far from the case in open water. Usually, people get super intense, warm up and sprint. Usually, I like to do the opposite of what everyone else does. This means taking it easy and bringing it home. When it comes to triathlons, so much of it feels like fun rather than racing, so a major area of improvement learning how to switch gears (as opposed to admiring the sunrise, not wearing a wetsuit, making friends, and barely getting to the starting line in time). This was one hell of a wonderful swim (and that's probably not what I should walk away saying…so there was more left in the tank here). Considering this is my strength, I realized that I need to race this harder.

Time: 26:24/100yd

Pace: 1:23

Place: 5th in AG, 22 Gender, 123 Overall

The Bike

Now, a week before this race I bought and was fitted for a new bike (s/o to Rocktown for whipping this up quick and being one hell of a help still!). So this was the first time I really got to whip her out….and the feeling was nothing short of what I imagine flying feels like. For the first time, I wasn't the one getting passed by everyone. That was quite the feeling. Coming right off doing the Half, this felt like a piece of cake. Hit my targets, never went as fast, and nothing feels more liberating than riding your bike on the highway with 4 wide-open lanes of road to yourself. Win: first time averaging +20 mph and not getting by everyone!

Time: 1:10:17

Pace: 21.22 mph

Place: 8th AG, 75 Gender, 503 Overall

The Run

This hurt. I thought I bonked. I truly thought I had hit my end here. I spotted a disappointing pace on the watch and that was the last time I looked at it the rest of the race. I was thirsty. Feeling the heat. Overcome with depletion. There were these 2 massive hills on the loops and I savage mode went into full swing. This is testament to how important it is to not match physiological sensations to performance because little did I know that I was holding my fastest pace to date.

Time: 42:57

Pace: 6:54/mi

Place: 7th AG, 58 Gender, 428 Overall

Beet Jar - Juice Bar and Takeaway

Didn’t just stop here once, ..not twice..but three times. The first time I spotted this while dropping Kelsey off at a coffee shop to get work done. This “chicken” sandwich hit the freakin spot after the drive. Highly recommend their energy balls too.

Tommy's Restaurant

Walked to dinner here to shake out the legs and get a solid meal after vicariously living through Kelsey’s HH drink specials. This place had an overwhelmingly elaborate vegan menu. Here we settled on something that I would never make on my own - a spinach pie with mushrooms, v cheese, falafel and sesame sauce. Followed by a tofu “tuna” salad.

Cleveland Vegan

The ultimate WINNER of the trip. I’m convinced this is the most extravagant, made from scratch, organic, high quality plant-based menu out there. I still dream about this. Two three-course meal was the chosen post race fuel.

Cleveland Vegan - PB Milkshake

This. Post 2 3-course meals, but this was a nonnegotiable.

Masthead Brewery

Pre award ceremony fun

Nuevo

No better way to top off a day than with margs, bottomless chips and salsa, and all the mexi food to the perfect waterfront sunset.

The Glamorous Accumulated Leftovers.

Needless to say.

Air BnB Din Spot

Backyard best enjoyed with copious leftovers

FOOD

Most of this trip revolved around the poppin' vegan scene (who would have guessed!?). Needless to say, I think my performance in food selections overshadowed my racing. The pictures/comments say it best.

Winners: 

• Cleveland Vegan

• Beet Jar

FUN

All around, I walked away asking myself, how can I do this all the time? Experience this world through triathlons, my plate, meeting new friends, and exploring with great company. So effortlessly living out my lifestyle of swimming, biking, running, sustainable living, nutrition, health, science, entrepreneurship. It's all coming together so organically as I continue simply training, improving myself, sharing my ideas and skills, and getting after life with no reservations.

Overall: 5ht place in the US for the Female 20-24 category. Left with lots to improve on, zest for this life, valuable learnings, and a major itch for more.

Next stop: Switzerland. To be honest, not sure how this whole thing works but evidently a top 18 finish secures you a spot on Team USA for World’s. I’m just out here doing what I love and making it happen. 

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Recaps, Reflections, Realizations: Processed throughout the race of triathlon and life (Rev 3 Half: Williamsburg/RVA Adventures)

There's been a lot of time spent putting in the work. This isn't always documented.

Part of me adores documenting the process and derives immense much joy from sharing the beauty of those moments.

Part of me loves the process so much, I want to BE in it. Not sharing, simply being. IMMERSING. 100%. Because of the life it gives me. I soak it in, am one with that, as it feeds my soul, rather than capturing it all.

Then there's the part of me that loves the opportunity for education. The knowing of the value to my experiences and sharing; the rigor and education I've dedicated to areas; the platforms enabling me the ability to empower communities, connect with others, mutually raise each other. There's a balance to it right? I've never really been the best at that (I've accepted I'm better at the extremes…but even the extremes balance one another out). Slight tangent. Continue on. *so that's something maybe that will be eventually shared - the programming, the scheduling, the growth, the knowledge, the intention, the journey…but that's not what I'm going for now*

What I want to share now:

My dad told me this story from when I was young - for some reason it's stuck. I was probably about four. We had the dishwasher repairman over, and doing the only thing I know how to do, I went over to strike up conversation and show him my Barbie.

"Oh my daughter has lots of those too!" His comment left me in shock.

Unaware of my possibilities, I ask what any other child living under a rock would - "You mean, you can have more than one Barbie??!"

Somehow, up to this point, I was unaware of all that could be, yet entirely content with what I did possess. Still, I had no idea what was possible. A simple conversation, and I was soon awakened - the possibility of more than I had ever realized.

Last weekend - I had a Barbie moment. Let me get to that later

(TL;DR: scroll to the bottom)

I'm still on a race high.

Training and competing leaves me elated, ecstatic, my thoughts come quickly and together, there's this energy in my veins where I effortlessly create, everything flows and connects. It's the most euphoric feeling. This mind-body-soul-energy alignment.

It's not always this way - to reach these points comes with it emotions, injuries, disappointment, pain, commitment, but damn that's what makes it so sweet. I've learned to embrace it all, feeling gratitude to experience the spectrum of putting your heart into something.

Short and sweet race recap: (skip if sports are of no interest)

• Simply put, I signed up for the half ironman in the winter because I felt like I needed to be a better person. I'm all-around more focused, excited, energized, and harder working when I'm committed to an athletic pursuit. It was time to light my ass on fire. I had a nice rest and I was ready for the next project (usually my intellectual creation is followed by athletic goals). This then translates to other areas of my life (for another time - further reasoning of why I train/race).
• Most of all, while physically I went into this at a great place - not racing to finish, but to actually do business - I was naive as anything. That's the best part about it... I didn't really know what to expect or what my goals should be, I had areas to improve and "beginners mindset", but that's the adventure/keeping the fun in it (honestly, I still don't know a lot)
• I had some pretty severe knee pain that was bumming me out going into this..so there was that fear I'd be in agony for 70 miles...fear that I put in all this work to be not be able to give it my best..which all-around hurts. Up until every component of the race I was unsure what would this would entail, and so fortunately I was able to put that behind me and leave nothing undone without pain being an inhibitor. 
• Focus #1: I knew I wanted to have a balance between being super competitive, but having fun. Putting everything into it, but being relaxed. Not take myself too seriously, but also doing business. 
• (the lesser) Focus #2: Let's be real. There were splits I wanted, numbers to hit, places to get. 
• Swim: Expected it to be a lazy river as the current would carry me to shore. Well, the current changed and we ended up fighting our entire way. Warm as hell - 85 degree. Open water was freeing, freaky and fabulous. Watch clocked a 1:14 swim, which felt smooth and putting me first out of the water for women and 4th overall (but that means nothing, as swim-wins never win). 
• Bike - Unreal ride through the plantations and farms of Williamsburg. Finally hit the numbers I wanted. Usually get smothered - which wasn't as bad as usual so that was nice. Couldn’t wait to get my ass off the bike and hit the run. (Huge area of improvement and now I'm itching for a new bike hehe)
• Run - Felt like I was flying. Fueled like a maniac - drinking at every mile, salt, Gu's every 4 mi, serious flooding of nutrients as I wasn't about to let that be my breaking point. Max and average HR within 10 bpm. Super steady, went my 1/2 marathon PR (~7:50 pace). Realized how much I missed the hell out of racing, kept great pace, and was impressed how much I could do without music.
• Traveled alone, made some cool buds, a nice little adventure (and racecation in RVA with Kase!)
• Recovered incredibly fast: account that to foam rolling, stretching, napping, Normatek and Chipolte. Back in the game by Tuesday. 
• Ignorance is damn bliss. 
• I went into this race asking two things of myself: give it my best and stay positive. And damn if nothing else, I would be happy if I accomplished those two things. The balance between being competitive and giving my all, but staying lighthearted and fun has been a personal focus of mine - to not take things too seriously. Needless to say, I did just that.

Now, getting to the sweet point of all the "OH HELL YES":

I really took this past year of life on a whim, yet very intentionally. So much (too much) time was spent (...ok still is) dwelling on making sure that there was a purpose to every action. So many wtf moments…where I was just moving in directions of where I felt pulled, but didn't have a plan. This often results in guilt for lacking purpose…as I wasn't doing everything I could to better the world and do my best..like I was possibly wasting my time.

Looking back though, this wasn't wasted and I was preparing myself for better (and I know I'd feel this way in hindsight..but I couldn't help it at the time). It's hard to know the output, but I've really become OK and trusting of uncertainty. 

Do I wish I was a little less hard on myself - yes. But would I have made it here if I wasn't?

Do I sometimes wish I wasn't so hungry to hustle - yes. But this previous break of "hustling" like I usually do was experimenting with balance, learning how to be "off" and growing differently.

Things started mattering to me that didn't before - rest, down time, time with friends, pausing, doing less. 

So organically though, everything unfolds perfectly and continues to compound on my passions - truly a testament of going after what you love with 100% heart and conviction, knowing when to let things come, but putting in that WERK in every way. While I'm never certain what the future holds or what's next, I know for damn sure I'm going to keep following those tugs, as it always leads to living the fullest experiences of life and serving others. At this moment, there's this indomitable belief that these experiences will continue to build on each other.

In the purest sense - I'm going after what I love and it's led to developing my lifestyle - as I go in every direction so fully and deeply, and racing being one part of that. I'm excited to unravel this more. 

Now, as I promised - the return of the "Barbie moment":

Well...Nationals BABY! It just so happened that Rev3 Williamsburg was a regional qualifier for Nationals this year - and snagging a first place age group finish happened to score myself a spot.

The beautiful naivety of it all. So here I am 2.5 weeks out equally excited to keep training and programming as much as I am about the food scene in Cleveland. Traveling, racing, and getting after something. The best part - until this point, like when I was four, I didn't even realize all of this was "a thing".

…it made me think..what else is out there I'm not doing or I haven't pursued because I didn't "realize it was a thing"?

So here I am, not waiting to be shown and told what's possible - but making all I want "a thing". Mostly, because everything I've desired in life has consisted of "things" that don't yet exist. Barriers broken. 

ap

Th[reecap]

I practice writing daily - both as an exercise of clarity, skill acquisition, and peace of mind - however I struggle between regularly sharing for two reasons. 

1. Why do I care for other people to know what's up?

2. Who am I to put thoughts into the heads of others? 

For two weeks I did thorough reflecting on my intentions of blogging. Trying to first get my thoughts together myself - I hadn't yet found a deep enough reason to share with others my experiences. When publishing what I write, I first ask the above questions. What value am I adding? A laugh? A "lesson" (and more, who am I to provide that?)? I've come to the conclusion while I always hope to benefit others somehow...the purpose of my actions are not always what they seem. After much reflection, I realized it's not the daily occurrences which I care to have others knowing and taking interest. Rather, it's the documentation and value in the process which I'll accumulatively display. 

Article by article - I don't believe to be spreading anything too life altering - but more it's the compilation of documents piecing together a story that is valuable. The underlying path of connectivity and understanding the journey is where magic's found. With that being said - here I am. To display start to finish how things happen. 

These may come in the form of weekly recaps, sporadic stories, or anything that had a great influence in my day that I get a chance to reflect and digest in writing.  While writing also provides structure, forced thought refinement and a personal challenge to stretch my interests in the form of creative expression - I have even more of a reason to finally share :)

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Weekly recaps are the goal. However, in the midst of simply reflecting, enjoying the experiences and diving head first into these new adventures...I'm now forced to consolidate three weeks of a vast ranges of 'happenings' to one post. Hence the title " 'three' cap" . To spare a life story I'll group it into the highlights. 

1. The (not so) Solo Salem Adventures

2. The ('dorm'et) food

3. And The "Wait. I'm here for school" / "I'm a grown up now"side

1.

As the wise motor scooter rental man from Key West once said

"GET LOST" - so that I did. 

I'm a firm believe there's no better way to familiarize yourself with an area than to workout in it. The majority of my adventures are in the form of fitness - finding trails, gardens, neat hidden gems (usually pools but they're lacking in that department). For the most part I set forth solo. Don't let that deceive you into thinking I'm walking a lonely life here. From stepping foot on campus not knowing a soul, I've made at least 20+ friends this past week in the class...that's not considering the community brunch conversations, dorm neighbors, karaoke bar duet partners, and those daily meaningful interactions with others while enjoying weekend trail walks. While setting out alone, I never cease to become surrounded by and interact with the neatest individuals.

2.

You can learn a lot about a town by your Costco trip. And having to fit all your groceries on your bike. 

To sum up my dorm food experience in three words: Winter Training Trip

...but for three weeks...and I only have to eat like 1/5 as much....and I don't have the option to ride in the van to Whole Foods or Jamba Juice or have the luxury of a seafood dinner.

1. First off...the obvious - resources. What do I have to cook with? A pan and tuberware. One spoon, knife and fork. 

2. What will rot first - Obv gonna use up hard boiled eggs for the first source of protein over beans because I don't want my new roommate to hate me for making the dorm smell like rotten shit. 

3. VARIETY - Am I getting dem veggies? Has every meal been heavily grains or am I including lots of foods and colors? Has each meal looked the same each day or am I keeping it fun? This can get hard when you have to fit everything into a backpack....but #firstworldprobz amiright? 

4. Workouts and demands - How active am I? What am I doing? What's my goal of that workout...do I want to eat before or not, what will I need after/am I doubling in the day?

5. Can I switch things up? For example - the same ingredients made to make overnight oats can also make me a smoothie - gotta keep things interesting and find new way to combine ingredients into a masterpiece. 

These were just a few of my thoughts when surviving the born-again dorm life. What goes through someone else's mind depends on their goals and preferences - i.e. others prefer Bojangles er'day or a meal plan - that's cool too...my goal was just to make sure I am eating a well balanced diet that will fuel me steadily throughout the day and save some dat $$$.

Nonetheless - I don't mindlessly go about my eating. Sometimes even more so than eating (hard to believe right) I enjoy the creativity and the challenge of using what I have to make a new dish...and making sure I am giving my body what it needs. Subjective, but I base this on how I perform and feel. Full enough? Lacking energy? Thinking fast? Recovering?

3.

As I formally hung up my new white blazer - the realization hit me hard - I can now officially deem myself "professional".

A close second to learning basic accounting in 48 hours - making it an entire day without spilling anything on my pristinely white jacket was my greatest business school accomplishment to date.

Tomato soup, bird shit...it always seems to find a way. This feat is nothing short of a turning point in my life and should receive the deserved attention. Having recently graduated from daily yoga pants, I understand why people dress up. It makes one come off looking like they have their shit together. In the 'world of business' that's looked at as a good thing. But let's be real here...it's all an act and no one knows what they are doing. Despite the drastic adjustment, I've found the whole 'putting real clothes together' thing to be surprisingly quite fun. There's a chance to inject some personality through the expression of style (a new phenomena for me). While I'm certainly not wishing spilt coffee on my clothes or to walk into class with bird shit upon me - we are all human and I don't think one should compromise that in the world of business for the sense of feeling "professional" and looking like we are "suppose to".

If that wasn't a true testament of my business growth...I did actually learn a lot. Four classes in three weeks - Excel (side note: Everything I ever 'knew' about Excel was wrong - and I was finally taught the right way. Freakin' beautiful. I can see myself getting addicted to making some kick as worksheets. There's something engaging about trying to create worksheets in the most efficient manner by applying shortcuts, and seeing the ease and creating perfect readability that get's me real excited), Math Fundamentals, Accounting and Microeconomics. It was challenging but in a 'totally do-able' way. Most importantly..I nailed the three week routine..it went something like this: 

Move in the morn (run/bike/yoga/track/etc), get ready (takes 15 mins courtesy of short hair and night-before preparation), walk to school, eat breakfast and drink coffee while writing, read the news/Wall Street Journal (because you know...I'm an educated, grown-up, business woman), either do personal work or review notes from the previous day for about an hour...then head to class from 9AM-4PM, lift...HAVE TO MOVE BECAUSE I SIT IN CLASS ALL DAY AND IT EATS ME ALIVE, study, eat (this week watch Olympic Trials, read, REPEAT. 

All there is to look forward to next week:

Settling into the new crib with Hayley, make 150+ new friends...experiencing the excitement of the first day of Kindergarten all over again, house design (!!!), reading the new books for class (finally...an excuse to buy these much longed personal development books...not the so much looking forward to the $800 accounting book), adventures with my new partner and crime roomie before we officially start school on Thursday (I foresee lots of yoga, wine, workouts, and interesting stories). Happy Fourth!