“Where there’s a will there’s a way”, great quote, but only
applicable if your body is fully functional. After this weekend I have had to
face the sad reality that the effects from my heatstroke and seizures in Dallas
last year truly are long term and are showing no sign of leaving. Because of
this setback I am unable to compete at the majority of the high level ITU
races, and am not capable of racing for my country at the 2016 Rio Olympics. It
is with a heavy heart that I am announcing a semi-retirement from Triathlon.
After my recovery from Dallas, I had an awesome end to the
season with a podium at every race, highlighted by finishing in 3rd
place at ITU Tongyeong World Cup. With training and racing going so well, I
truly believed that I was all better and I was back on track to complete my
goals. Turns out this was not the case.
My base training was incredible this year. I had never been
so consistent in training and had never seen such good run data in my whole
career as a triathlete. I thought for sure this was my year to move up the
ranks and represent the USA at the highest level. It was a huge shock when I
raced my first race in Mooloolaba and I rode terribly, and ran even worse! I
felt completely flat and my entire body was locked up and I could barely get my
body to the finish. My heart rate was fine, but my muscles were on lock down.
Because my training had been going so well, I immediately attributed this
feeling to the long travel, and poor lead up to the race. Joel and I discussed
a slight alteration of training for my race the next weekend in New Plymouth
and we built into the race to try to gain back some of the lost fitness. I
actually raced fairly well (this was a cold race) given the three weeks prior
had brought my fitness level down to about 75%, but I was still nowhere near
where I should have been. I got to our training base in New Zealand and had a
fantastic build up for WTS Gold Coast. But same thing as Mooloolaba, about
8-10min in on the bike and my body completely locked up on me. I tried pushing
through it as hard as I could and ended up straining my adductor during the
ride and had to pull out of the race. I had no idea why my quad just locked up
on me. It didn’t make sense, I had no answers. Still at this point I did not
associate any of my poor race results with the heat, I just assumed they were
frustrating one-off things.
After Gold Coast I flew to Clermont, FL to get in some hot
training in preparation of our Continental champs in Monterrey, Mexico. The
weekend before Monterrey I decided to race St. Anthony’s Triathlon since it was
just a quick 2hr drive from Clermont, it had a pro prize purse, and it was a
low key non draft race that would ideally help me find the love of the sport
again after being overly disappointed with the start of my season. I borrowed a
TT bike and was really excited to show off my fitness in a different
environment, but once again, 8-10 minutes in on the bike I had absolutely
nothing. I was riding 50 watts (15%) bellow my normal race power and it felt like death. I
barely made it through the ride, but I was telling myself the run would be
great, and I left T2 with a smile! About 2k into the run it was all I could do
to not start walking. I felt like I was one giant piece of lead. After about
6k, I started to get the shivers and I got goosebumps (which when it’s hot is
never good) and had to slow down a bit more to regain composure as I just
continued my slog jog to the finish line.
After this race it was finally clear to me that it wasn’t
travel, it wasn’t fatigue, it wasn’t the wrong taper, it was the heat that was
taking its toll on me. All the races I performed well at last year were in colder climates, and because I was performing well I thought my body was fine. But it is
extremely clear now that my body will never recover and will never be able to
race in the heat again. It now has a protective mechanism ingrained in it that
does not allow me to function when it feels the slightest bit of heat.
I had done sauna training, acclimatization, ice vest,
cooling my core, scrubbing my skin, hyper electrolyte hydration, everything in
my power to ensure the best result – but sadly this preparation hasn’t changed
the programming in my body. Post race I have NEVER felt so sore from head to
toe. The physical and emotional pain that I felt during and after each of these
races is more than I can explain. It is enough to make me give up a dream that
I’ve had for the last 11 years (first with swimming, then with triathlon) and
actually feel “comfortable” about it.
I’m calling this a semi-retirement because I’m still going
to have some heat testing done, and I am going to continue to race cold
weather races - but as of now my life is taking on a new path, with new goals.
