Race Coverage

"I Did My Best to Recommit"...

Friday, 03 June 2022 00:10

By Dani Treise

First race of the year- check!

Chattanooga North American 70.3 Championship - Lots to say and lessons learned, but overall I’m proud of how I managed the adversity of day.

Swim: I was aggressive at the start (something that doesn’t come naturally!) took some risks and came super close to making a better pack than usual! I’ve been getting more consistent in the water and am excited making progress each race.

Bike: I have done a ton of work on pushing strong power the aero position in the past few months and started the ride feeling pretty good. But about 12 miles into the 56-mile ride, I got slapped with my first ever penalty – 5 minutes for drafting.

I was trying SO hard to stay legal distance back, but a lapse of attention must have allowed me drift a bit too close. After the ref gave me the news, I immediately dropped a good amount back and ended up alone with my thoughts for the rest of the ride. But my goal for the ride was to stay super focused and positive, so here was my opportunity I thought! I did my best to recommit to the effort and keep my mind out of the negative – but wow was this tough! But I did way better than I have doing this in the past, so small win here....

Run: After 5 minutes on the side of the road watching 5 girls go past me, I was a bit low on the mood elevator, but the opportunity to run always lifts my spirits.

Especially after not being able to run recovering from injury, it’s never taken for granted! I got going and just focused on enjoying myself. I didn’t look at my watch once the entire run and focused on each mile and the person I dedicated each one to. Keeping my mind in the positive was the goal and when I still had pretty good energy the last few miles, I was so happy to have made the choice to show up, put in the effort, and continue what I started.

Even if placing wasn’t where I wanted it to be, I can only get there one step at a time and I’m grateful I was able to take a lot of learnings (like what 12 meters looks like) to move on to the next!

HUGE thanks to all my supporters!

1: @averilewis 2: @nordicaphotography 3: @evolvedathlete 5: @meganwehrer