Developing Real Grit

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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 the longest 26 minutes of my life, I completely fell apart. An hour into the bike – usually one of my biggest weapons – I bled time as my body and mind screamed at me to stop. Tears seeped from my eyes as I rolled back toward the resort, where I would be close enough to transition to walk my bike back. Dismounting right below a packed grandstand at the beginning of Chemin Duplessis was one of the most humiliating experiences of my life, but it was the right decision. ...

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