Dynamic Balance

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

As I crossed the finish line for my first major podium finish after a wet and wild day at IRONMAN 70.3 Memphis last October, I was flooded with multiple emotions. The major one: relief. Then, fleeting happiness. And finally, dissatisfaction with a side of embarrassment. In an event that was broadcast live on IRONMAN NOW for thousands to see - I, a rookie long course pro, was not afraid to stick my nose in the middle of a race with two of the best female triathletes in the world: Ellie Salthouse and Jackie Hering. I exited the swim with Ellie and traded pulls with Jackie during the second half of the bike before finishing third on the day. To the vast majority of those watching the live stream, I was a complete nobody, likely performing above anyone’s expectations for someone who, up to this point, had flown completely under the radar. But the result never tells the full story, and what people couldn’t see on screen is the two years of relentless hard work I put in on the swim and bike ...

Stepping up to the 70.3 distance fresh off my latest injury earlier this year, I faced many unknowns. How would I fare against the best triathletes in the world at a completely new distance? Would I be able to get through the year injury free? And most importantly: Would I accomplish enough to justify continuing to pursue a professional triathlon career after two years of injury and disappointment? My podium finish at IRONMAN 70.3 Memphis in early October, as well as other solid results earlier in the season, answered most of these questions loud and clear. Thus, going into IRONMAN 70.3 Indian Wells on December 5, I had very little left to prove to myself (or anyone else, for that matter).  Before 2021, my racing resume featured a whopping six ITU starts. This year alone, I started six races before Indian Wells - something I never would have thought possible coming off two years of injury. I had never raced this much or this late in the season, and after a season that had already e...

Now that I have officially announced my intention to pursue a professional triathlon career beginning in 2018 (click here for the announcement if you haven't seen it already), an interesting question remains. This all happened so quickly - how did I even get here? How does one become a professional triathlete? There are many answers to this question, but my road to a professional triathlon career was quite unconventional. I wasn't introduced to the sport by parents or relatives earlier in life, nor was I recruited by USAT by virtue of being an excellent collegiate swimmer or runner. In fact, my collegiate athletic career - particularly on the running side - was quite underwhelming (more on that later). Until August 2016, I hadn't touched a bike since age 13. And for goodness' sake, I didn't even know that most bike tires have tubes in them until I bought my first TT bike. So really, how did I even get here? To begin answering this question, we must travel ba...

In August 2016, I entered CU Boulder as a burned out Applied Math PhD student looking for a change in direction. After seven months spent in limbo between graduate programs, I received my official offer of admission from the Mechanical Engineering PhD program in March 2017. I felt like I had finally found my place in a new program with a new advisor (He Who Must Not Be Named) and I accepted the offer immediately. Although I was a bit nervous to join an engineering department because I've never considered myself an engineer (I'm a mathematician!), I was excited to begin studies in a more focused environment where I could work on problems with direct, tangible, real-world applications. I began research with You Know Who (hereafter YKW) over the summer and everything went well. After a brief adjustment period in which all I did was lit review (which is never much fun for me), I was motivated, enjoying the project, and produced enough work to become first author of a journal arti...