USAT Long Course National Championships ~ my qualification for the World Championships
All it takes is a lot of patience, practice, smart preparation, a good strategy, a good nutrition plan, an intelligent coach and an athlete who listens and executes. Patience : 3 1/2 years since I completed a major race (4th at the Collegiate Nationals in 2012) without any pain in my abdominal muscles (see: New 2015 season. Shaping up, building up and racing pain-free ) Practice : I never stopped working out during the past 3 years. I couldn't run for two years but I biked a lot and worked religiously on my swim! Smart preparation : We only had 8 weeks. I lacked running volume and we increased the mileage very slowly but steadily up to one week before the race. Because we did not do any running intervals, all the intensities (endurance threshold, aerobic/anaerobic and VO2 max workouts) were done in the water (swimming). Good strategy : My racing plan was very specific: do your best in the swim, take it out a little slower and negative split on the bike.