Its been a while! First off, I wanted to thank everyone for helping make 2015 a pretty great triathlon season. Despite the Achilles issue, infrequent training due to traveling, and just a crazy year in general I think it ended on a high note with a 3rd place Age Group finish at the National Long-Course Championship at Redman this year with my first Half Ironman. It was a humbling experience for sure, especially the run where I really wish my running shape was where it was normally to really do what I think I can do. Sigh...live and learn! I was excited about my bike though, and thanks to Brian, my teammates in the Bicycle League of Norman, Schlegel Bicycles and STOKE I really upped my skill set with that discipline. Cat Isom really helped a lot too with helping me stay in shape and work on my imbalances with all the traveling, and Mark Brown for helping me address my structural issues so I could train without getting re-injured. I wouldn't have made it to the starting line without everyone's help. Thank you.
Which brings me to this coming year, 2016. In full disclosure, I had planned on worlds this year was going to really be my last hurrah. At least for a few years, while I focus on my research goals since it was getting too difficult to maintain my research goals and train at the level I wanted to. I'm not a fan of doing things half-ass, and it truly was getting to the point where, as the old saying goes: "the jack of all trades is the master of none".
Honestly at in my 30's I had no idea I would really like triathlon as much as I do, and be as successful as I have been. I made the decision way back when in college while I was still
running DI track and cross country, that sports was not going to take
the place of my career goals. So I put running and other sports on the backburner through graduate school and my 20s, when I could really have made a go for it. And, even if I did, I don't think I would have been happy since I will be doing science my whole life, and my job is one-of-a-kind.
I thought I would train this year for Worlds like never before, to really rock the race and really go out with a bang. However, fate intervened when the largest conference of my field, the International Entomological Society, Entomological Society of America, and Entomological Collections Network decided to move their conference from the traditional week in November to the same weekend in September as Worlds in OKC. There is a direct conflict, especially since I'm the VP of the Entomological Collections Network, and in charge of site logistics. I literally cannot be in two places at once on Friday and Saturday, and I will have to go to Orlando, Florida for the conference instead.
Further, I have written a grant to do fieldwork in the Philippines three times this year for 3 week trips, and if awarded I will be internationally traveling during my training season. Not to mention in the Spring/Summer for the Linda Roadside Skipper Grant, and a week in July for ExplorOlogy in Black Mesa. I just can't bring a bike to the Philippines, or find a pool in the deserts of Black Mesa. My creative tool kit to somehow train through all my traveling in the past has hit its limit when trying to train for a 4.5k swim, 86mile bike, and 18mile run.
So, after all this blabbing, what does this all mean? Well, it means I'm likely not going to be doing Worlds in September, which is crushing to me. I might dabble a bit in duathlons and some short aquathlons this year, but I'm going to be more involved with the administrative side of triathlon as VP of TriOKC and helping out STOKE. I'm also going to make a go of really doing some base running again this year; its the one sport I can do while still traveling as much as I plan on this year and I haven't had a solid year of running in a while. I'll also be biking and swimming some when I'm home, but obviously not enough that I'm comfortable to toe another half Ironman.
