Ask anyone who knows me, and they’ll tell you that I am probably one of the least patient people on the planet.  “Hurry up and GO” has been my life motto (or so it seems) until very recently.   Getting caught in traffic or waiting in line ups have never exactly been things that I have dealt well with. I have felt, especially over the last last couple of years, that the clock is always moving too fast…never enough time. “Faster…hurry…let’s go…..” I am learning, however, that faster is not ALWAYS better.  Usually…but not always:-)  Time is something that really is on our side, but only if we allow it to be.

After the disappointment of missing Longhorn 70.3 in Texas (not only for myself, but also for my dad who had to cancel his flight as he was going to come and watch the race) due to a strained tendon in my foot from an excessively tight peroneal muscle that finally said – NO MORE - I was definitely getting a bit nervous about Ironman Arizona which was to be my last race of 2009.  After resting my foot and getting laser therapy every couple of days, there was a point where I had to start running again to see if my foot would hold up for Arizona.  As it turns out, it was nearly healed…but not enough.  After easy three runs back it became inflammed again telling me that it was just not ready for all that training again.  It needed more rest to make a full recovery.  More rest?????  That means more TIME…and with Arizona only one months away I’m running out of TIME!!!!!!  Tick tock…tick tock …

After that run, I knew that if I was to race Arizona that I would possibly not finish the race and very likely re-injure my tendon – which are notoriously slow healers to begin with.   This was affirmed to me after seeing Dr. Chris Spooner (Melissa Spooner’s husband) who is not only a brilliant athlete and person, but a super naturopathic doctor as well. Having him affirm to me that risking racing Arizona was not a smart choice, and that there were many benefits to simply ending the season now (early November) to prepare fully for 2010 allowed me to finally get off the treadmill/roller coaster and allow the healing to truly happen.  Stop pushing, stop forcing…and allow your body to get what it needs.  Rest.

At first this was difficult for me to wrap my head around, but after a bit more time I realized that stopping and slowing down for a bit actually felt pretty good!  Getting lots of sleep, learning important details about nutritrion and how to now properly take care of my body with all the pounding I have and will continue to put it through (particularly after two solid injuries this season), working on the swim, and just having some time to absorb this new life has been the best thing that could have ever happened.  I have also learned that in order to truly make this sport (or any sport – or anything in life really) your focus, you must always think long term, and regardless of the short term situation…always keep your eye on the prize – as Scott likes to say!

So, you won’t see me at the start line in Arizona, but 2010 is coming up like a ball of sulphur, and instead of wishing time away, this time I am patiently preparing for my first season as a full-time pro, but for once…taking my time and doing it right.   Like I said in my last blog…the Stones really were right.

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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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I am kind of late with race report. I’ll try to make a long story short. Last few weeks were very busy with travel and hard acclimatization. Now I finally settled for several days in some phenomenal and beautiful place in Ukraine, calls Truskavets http://www.traveltoukraine.org/truskavets.htm

But before that was Ironman Florida, which was one of the best races for me this year. After I got injured in July I couldn’t get well from it for a couple months. That was a reason why I missed most of my running intervals last summer and also that’s why I didn’t finish in Kona. After Hawaii Ironman I took 1 week off from running. I also switched to a different running shoes. I got a pair of K-swiss and all three weeks before Ironman Florida I was tasting the same pair of shoes, trying to get use to them fast. I really didn’t know what to expect from the marathon run in Panama City. But also because of that I didn’t have pressure on myself, all my Ironman race usually depends on my run.

Friend of mine gave me a very good advice for my race and I stick to it. He reminded me that Ironman is a very long race and it can be a critical mistake to race it hard from the beginning. He also helped me to understand how to control the power on the bike: ” power is nothing without control :)))”
I felt actually better at the end of bike course and still had an energy to run, although I didn’t try to chase the girls ahead of me, by killing myself on the first miles of marathon, I just kept doing my race.
I was already happy about my Ironman when I was running on third position, when I herd that Bella Baylis is 1.5 min ahead, then 1 min. 10 sec., then 50 sec and still more than 5 ml. to go. And finally I saw her back and realized, that I have a chance to be on second place. But it wasn’t easy at all. I caught her and tried to run away a few times, but it was hard to drop her and we ran together until last 2 km. I’ve decided to give it all, all what had left… I did and I herd that she is one step behind, two steps, more, I didn’t look back until the finish line. I still didn’t win the Ironman, but I was happy about second place very much. And it was a good way to finish season 2009.

It was a long season and I was glad to have some rest and to do something different back home. Now it’s time to take care of my health, recover from the long year of racing and refill an energy for the next season. Two weeks rest!!!

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Not really but its really fun and im ejoying it more and more to just keep out of the road and still manage to log a hell of a workout.

last weekend it was a 3h race in a 5.5km circuit around a monestery. It was fun and really hard on the body, defenetely not used to MTB racing. I was rididng with the leader until the last lap where my back wheel broke, i passed the lap with 4 min to spare witch would mean an extra lap. that 4 min was enough to drop to 5th. Still a LOT of fun.

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I started my 2009 70.3 Championship journey with the standard flight delay out of JFK airport. Things quickly turned for the better, however, when I landed in Tampa. Timex teammates Bruce and Andrew picked me up in a shiny bright red mini-van, sweet! We then drove to the condo that Bruce had lined up for the weekend. The place was amazing! It even had its own elevator. With the lavish accomodations the pre-race was a very enjoyable experience.
Andrew, Bruce, and I ventured over to the pier Friday morning to do a short swim. We were greeted with rolling surf that made swimming an interesting adventure. It wasn’t anything outrageous, but there were some decent size rollers and it was almost impossible to get into any type of rhythm while swimming out into the surf. However, once we turned back towards shore, it was a completely different story as the waves made it feel like I had fins on. We finished up our swim and I was able to catch the Lifesport swim clinic. Lance Watson was going through several race tips to deal with the rough conditions. However, both our swim warm-up and the race tips turned out to be unnecessary as the swim was moved to the bay side of Clearwater. While the decision to move the swim did not make Bruce “the shark” Gennari happy, it made our race morning jog to the start only 400 meters.

The race morning went pretty smooth. Bruce and I headed down to the swim start and found the lines moving very quickly. I jumped right into line; got my Aquasphere Icon wetsuit zipped up, and quickly found myself on the timing dock about to jump into the water. There really wasn’t any time for pre-race nerves and I focused on trying to get a decent effort going. The remainder of the swim was pretty uneventful. With the time-trial start, I had no idea where I was in relation to the rest of my age group, so I just went as hard as I could. It was a time trial effort from beginning to end. I exited the water in 27:23, which placed me as the 93rd amateur. I quickly made my way through T1.
Once I got through T1, I was really excited to get on my Trek Equinox TTX. I had just come off of my best bike training heading into the race and I was very eager to see if it would pay off. I quickly dialed into my appropriate heart rate zone using my Timex Race trainer. My perceived effort felt about right and my power output was also coming back with good feedback from my Saris Powertap. The time trial start seemed to spread things out a bit to start the bike, although there were some tight roads for the first 5 miles. I managed to get the cleanest roads I’ve ever had in Clearwater and I was able to really focus on my own effort. I did hit two packs during the middle section of the ride, but I was fortunate enough to get through them quickly. My nutrition and electrolyte strategies were pretty aggressive as I took down almost 1,000 calories and about 16 Thermolytes. This strategy worked for me as I was able to keep my energy level high and I did not experience any cramping during the entire ride. In fact, this was my first race of the season that I was able to keep my heart rate average up in zone 3. I rolled into T2 with a 2:04:17 split and I had managed to move up to the 4th place amateur position starting the run.
Paul Regensburg, my coach, had asked me to build into my run effort. He wanted me to avoid the adrenaline rush of the first 400 meters out of transition. The plan was to find my cadence and build the effort similar to a progression run. I had done several progression runs in training and that practice was a great source for me during the race. As I was approaching the .5 mile marker, Daniel Fontana (2nd Place Overall), went blasting by me. It was a little shocking and I wondered if my legs were fatigued from the bike. Then I saw the third place bike pull up next to me. I awaited the inevitable pass of the next pro. I was starting to find a decent stride rate and beginning to feel comfortable. I ended up running next to the bike for the next 3 miles. As I approached the aid station around mile 5, Matt Reed came up on my shoulder. I asked him if he wanted to go in front to get his calories in. He said he was just trying to hold his place and he was hoping I could pace him in. I told him that would make my day if I could. I then proceeded to go a little above my comfort level for the next mile and a half. I was thrilled to be able to hold it together for that stretch, but I was a little concerned I might have exerted a bit too much energy. I decided to grab my first cola of the day at the next aid station. The simple sugars kicked in quickly and I was able to keep my form together. I ran the 10th mile in 5:30. However, that fluid stride began to get labored in the 11th mile as my pace dropped to 6:18. I then climbed back over the causeway for the last time. I attempted to carry the momentum from the downhill section of the bridge, but I was starting to fatigue and my 12th mile came in a little over 6 minutes. I saw Paul right after the mile marker and he gave me some nice encouragement to push into the finish. I allowed myself to glance at my overall time for the first time during the run. I saw 3:47 and change. I then realized that I had a chance to have a finish under 3:53. My form went completely out the window at this point. I gave it everything I had. I saw Lance Watson with about .5 mile to go and he yelled to sprint to the finish. I tried, although it certainly was not pretty. I crossed the line with a run PR of 1:16:55 and a total time of 3:52:50. I was completely ecstatic to find out that this placed me as the first M35-39 and 2nd amateur overall. I want to thank Team Timex, Lifesport, and all of our phenomenal sponsors for a tremendous year of support.

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