Dynamic Balance

Yesterday the triathlon world was rocked by news that American pro Collin Chartier, last year's winner of IRONMAN Mont Tremblant and the PTO US Open, was suspended for 3 years after testing positive for EPO - arguably the biggest doping case in the sport's history. I do not know Collin personally. However, I looked to him as an example of a fellow pro who seemed to chip away year by year for multiple years and finally had his big breakthrough. Though he denies doping with EPO until November 2022, his admission that he has taken L-carnitine (a substance that disgraced track and field coach Alberto Salazar was rather enthusiastic about) for quite some time speaks to the fact that at best, he has been sitting in a grey area for a while, and his progression in the sport is not as it seems on the surface. What struck me most deeply about Collin's situation was his explanation that poor mental health as a result of going "all in, too much so" is ultimately what drove hi...

A few months ago, I made the decision to stop all structured training in an effort to regain my health. I've been struggling with Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport (RED-S) for over a year now, and after a lot of trial and error, it became clear that I needed more rest - mentally through less structured training, and physically through less training in general. Throughout this unstructured period, I have placed emphasis on moving my body in ways that bring me joy. Accordingly, I have freed myself up to try new things purely for enjoyment. This is in major contrast to the last four years of my career, during which enjoyment was tossed aside in favor of an "all-in" mindset and an all-consuming pursuit of success - and during which I operated under the idea that anything non-triathlon-specific would detract from my triathlon endeavors. But recently, through my efforts to combat burnout, I have realized that this is not the case at all. In fact, these non-triathlon-specific ...

  This is the story of how one promising young triathlete met an all-too-common fate, written by Kristen Seymour of Triathlete Magazine. Click here to read.

Sport is full of peaks and valleys, and recently, I have been navigating what feels like a vast valley in my career. A mere six weeks after leaving the full-time training environment that had been my home for four years, and just five weeks after moving back across the country to my true home, I raced at 70.3 Mont-Tremblant. Leading into the race, I had a gut feeling that I was pushing myself a bit too much to get to the start line. But I had already signed up, this race was on my bucket list, my training numbers looked good, and I was determined to make it there. Make it there I did – even after a comedy of errors leading up to race day, including delayed baggage and perpetual bike issues – but ultimately, Mont-Tremblant made it painfully clear that I needed to take a step back, give myself some grace, and allow my body and mind to recover from what was an extremely stressful period in my life. I never felt right on race day, and after faking my way through the swim in what felt like ...

Six weeks ago I crossed the finish line at the White Lake Half, securing my first win as a professional triathlete. This result looked great on paper – but a result never tells an athlete’s full story. I always imagined my first pro victory would be a momentous, emotional event, and this held true – but not in the way I had always pictured. What I experienced when I crossed the line was not an overflow of positive feelings, as one would expect. On the contrary: what I experienced was a complete feeling of demoralisation after what should have been one of the biggest accomplishments of my career to date, and an utter lack of enjoyment in any part of the 4 hours and 20 minutes I had just spent on the race course. I’ve had subpar races before, but this was different. Not only did I perform significantly below my capabilities, but I felt devoid of any fight. I had gone into the race with no excitement and no desire to be there, and after the fact, I was left with a sinking feeling that I n...

I opened my 2022 season at the White Lake Half in North Carolina on May 7, achieving my first win as a professional. While this was a huge benchmark and accomplishment in itself, the race left a lot to be desired. Read my full race recap on Tri247: https://www.tri247.com/triathlon-news/elite/ali-brauer-white-lake-triathlon-2022-report