What I Learned From the Kinetic Half

It’s been a busy 11 days since the Kinetic Half, but in the back of my head I know I’ve been mulling over my lessons learned from last weekend. So that I don’t forget, I know I need to write them down and re-visit them later this summer.

1. Early season long-course isn’t for me. As much as I love the heat, I hate the cold even more and just don’t do enough training during the winter to be ready for long endurance events that early in the year. Also, not having time to acclimatize to the warmth sucks and makes me like the heat a lot less than I normally do.

2. Train more during the off season. Duh. I’ve now got all the cold weather gear that a girl could need – so absolutely zero excuses not to get my butt out the door on the bike or in my running shoes on just about any day of the year.

3. Don’t forget to practice your nutrition. As a corollary to not doing enough long rides, that also meant I didn’t get to practice my race nutrition.

4. Remember that it’s okay to pee on the bike. I probably lost 3 or 4 minutes because for some reason I felt the need to get off my bike and find a bush rather than just going on the fly.

4. On the plus side, I learned that even in my dark places, I can still recognize those times as simply temporary darkness rather than true failure. In this way, I can hopefully remember that I can pull myself through to the other side rather than giving in and living with a DNF. The body can do more than the mind thinks it can.

5. Get a swim coach or start attending masters swim sessions. I’ve made improvements on my own, and I have much greater comfort in open water. But I’m still way too slow, and I don’t think I’ll improve any further without a coach to help my technique.

6. Relying on the strength of others can be huge in a tough situation. Stuart’s presence meant the world to me, as did the cheering and support of other spectators and athletes. But even those friends and family not there were part of my motivation. Bringing to mind specific names and faces, and knowing that these were people cheering for me, or just people I’d have to face with either success or failure, was a huge part of my ability to keep moving.

In the midst of the race, I was questioning the whys. But less than two weeks later, as I look at the tan lines and watch the final bits of chafing fade, I’m thinking back nostalgically to it and looking forward to the next one!