This story is not about a swim drill. This is my way of speeding through all the things I want to write to get caught up. Sometimes I feel like this blog is a good friend and I've got to catch her up on all the fun stuff that has happened in order to convey all the new stuff that's about to happen! So here we go......
Happy Place: in a Hammock outside our clinic classroom.
USAT TRIATHLON CLINIC Last October, right after my last race of the year and my 50th triathlon, Ace and I took a vacation/work trip to Hawaii! It was my first time there and I was spellbound. It was a combination of everything I love: ocean, adventure, relaxation, play and yes, triathlon. My primary intention for the trip was the USA Triathlon Level II Endurance coaching certification clinic. It felt like play to me. Even though we spent FAR too much time in inside, I relished every morsel of swimbikerun education that the Level III coaches fed to us.
I was in heaven. It was three days of high-level coaches teaching about long course triathlon. Plus, there were only 11 other coaches there for the clinic. It was a small group of talented, diverse and inspiring mentors for triathletes. There were presentations on nutrition, strength training, video analysis and athlete psychology on top of swimbikerun tips, techniques and theories.
My favorite part? The final presentations. Each of us was given a case study of an impossible athlete. My athlete was Stephanie and she was a piece of work. She wanted to do Ironman Chatty - but never take a day off. My presentation (which had to take into account all that we'd learned over three days) had to show how I could make that happen. In ten minutes or less. I pulled out all the stops, created a kick-ass slide show complete with a Wonder Woman slide and practiced in my off time! I will brag and say I got a huge round of applause, but it may have been because I was last and we were all ready to get out of there!
And go play.
Because, oh......did I mention that all of this was happening during the IRONMAN World Championships? More on that to come.........