As most of you know, shortly after qualifying for the 70.3 World Championships in June, I went down during an easy run and tore my Hamstring.  My first handful of races started out with a bang and I was set to have an awesome rest of the season… until.  I spent the rest of the summer learning how to run again (literally) and doing drills until I couldn’t see straight.  I would go out for runs with my girls and they would have to wait for ME, and encourage ME to keep going.  It was a long road to Clearwater knowing that the odds were against me in being able to complete 70.3 only 4 months post tear.  I would get really nervous for my run sessions, knowing I needed to have success building my mileage to be able to finish the day.  I’ll be honest, this is the hardest challenge I have ever had to overcome in my training.  There was one day where I thought… “I am working so hard, the progress is minimal if any, is this all worth it? I just might be done as a triathlete”.  Well, some one was looking out for me as I had a huge breakthrough run the next day which encouraged me to keep plugging away and reminded me of the passion I have for the sport.

About two weeks out to the race, I was looking back at my training.  I knew I had enough training under my belt to finish.. But considering the distance, and the volume/intensity I can tolerate for 70.3, the training was way down due to the responsiveness of my leg.  With all this and knowing the goal was to just ‘finish’ not ‘race’, I set some goals for myself.  1. Have a great time… ‘you’re racing again!’ 2. Run the whole run; pay no attention to pace. 3. Please oh please, let my body be able to come in under the 6 hr mark!

WOOT WOOT! I had a blast, I PR’d my swim and my Bike, and I ran the whole 13.1 miles which is the first time to cover that distance in 5 months (pre-injury). AND, I finished in 5:47:47.  All goals accomplished and then some!  I love Clearwater, and this race continues to be my favorite!  This was the perfect comeback race for me.  I have missed racing and getting out there again has fueled my motivation to continue to train hard through the winter months in regaining what was lost. www.tristafrancis.com

Enjoy your training =)

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