You CAN if ... you think you can!

If you think you are beaten, you are,
If you think you dare not, you don't.
If you like to win, but you think you can't,
It is almost certain you won't.

If you think you'll lose, you're lost,
For out in the world we find,
Success begins with a fellow's will.
It's all in the state of mind.

If you think you are outclassed, you are,
You've got to think high to rise,
You've got to be sure of yourself before
You can ever win a prize.

Life's battles don't always go
To the stronger or faster man.
But soon or late the man who wins,
Is the man who thinks he can.

~ C. W. Longenecker

TNT Tri Latta

I am soo proud of my TNT crew. They have worked so hard, been so dedicated, had such wonderful spirits, & been so enthusiastic about Team in Training. I truly has been a delight to coach them.

This past Sunday was their big TNT race. At the last minuet Jonathan was able to join the 3 girls to complete our TNT Upstate chapter. Nicole had gotten special permission to come and watch, so she & I left G'ville around 3:45am Sunday morning and headed up to Charlotte. Thank goodness the race started at 6:30, because it was already very hot and humid quite early on. We got there to see the girls finishing up in TA and getting ready to head down to the water. They were all so anxious & it was so cute. Boy, they sure have come a long way from that first long bike ride we did together & I made them all try a gel! One by one the all popped up over the hill from the water and into transition they ran. We were so relieved to see them all get out of the water. Especially w/o any PFD's =). They all put up fantastic efforts & their times & their smiles at the end showed it.

TEAM: Train, Endure, Achieve, Matter

Jennie, Lynne, Jan, Jonathan: They all showed what the true meaning of TEAM is. They worked together & conquered fears. And, through the $ they raised for TNT they have changed the lives of countless numbers of cancer patients and their familes.

Great job guys. You are amazing!

Lessons from Macon 70.3

This was my 4th 70.3 distance & it was the longest one yet. It might not have turned out quite how I had wanted, but it was still a good day.

Every-time you go out and train or race you learn something. Something about yourself. Something about your nutritional needs, quality of training, ability to push your body physically & mentally... and the list could go on and on. I learned that I can push myself farther than I ever would have dreamed of 2 years ago.

The mind is such a powerful tool. With a strong mind you can accomplish insurmountable feats. A strong mind is far more important than a strong body. What? Yes, it is. The mind can push the body so much farther than what it would normally be able to handle, where as the body cannot push the mind beyond what it thinks it can do. Training the mind is a very important part of an athletes training & should not be neglected. How do you get a strong mind. Well, for one it's a slow process. Some people will go and get coaches to help w/ the cognitive side of training, while others will go get books. Even if you don't do that, it is important to surround yourself w/a supportive group of family and friends.

Another very important way to build that mental strength is by consistently getting your physical workouts in. Put trust in what your coach tells you to do. Believe that the program they have given you will work for you. Keep an open line of communications w/ them so they know how to adjust it. And then, stick w/ that program. Consistently. This will give you the day to day confidence that come race day you can do the distance. You can finish the race. And, you can do it well. If you second guess yourself, your ability, your coach, your training program ... you will crush your mental strength & you will not perform at your full potential.

Coliseum's Rock 'N RollMan 70.3 "MACON"

I think Jeff and I are the bringers of bad luck when it comes to traffic. We scooted out of Gville around 1pm Friday & we had till 7:30 to get to Macon and get our bikes checked into transition ... plenty of time, right? Well, not so much. We made it but after a few accidents & idiots going incredibly slow from the torrential down poors we made it there. When I pulled my bike out of the car I hit the Polar sensor on my front fork & popped it off. I had to find zip ties to fix it. Grrreat. After the 10mi easy ride I went to the Expo and got some zip ties from the great Roswell Bicycles. Thanks guys you are the best. If you are ever need a good bike fit they do a fantastic job, & are definitely worth the drive. Last year I took my bike down there & they worked wonders on my fit!

Macon is know for being a torture fest & it definitely lived up to the tradition. Because of it, Jeff & I had joked that we were going to go out and party Friday night & then sleep in and "accidentally" miss the race. We didn't b/c we knew we would have had our butts majorly kicked by a pregnant lady when we got back home. =) I tell you what. It is so nice not having to mess w/ a bike the morning of a race. Although, I was quite eager to get to my bike to check & see if my tires blew since I forgot to let air out. They were fine. Before the race I finally meet up w/ all the crew. It was good to see so many familiar faces. Just knowing you are not completely out there all by yourself is nice.

SWIM: Felt Amazing! It was a run in start & I wasn't quite as close to the water line as I would have liked, but it was fine. I just prepared myself for getting kicked alot. I really felt amazing in the water. Found my grove early & was able to keep it & push. Ended up drafting off the someone for a little bit before hitting the first turn. Then we started hitting all the slower guys and there were lots of people to pass. I just LOVE passing people!!! I made that last turn back to shore & about half way back the athletes doing the sprint joined up w/ us. Some of those poor people doing the sprint were struggling that last little bit & I was passing them like the were sitting still ... it was sooo fun!! I hit the sand & took up a good run pace up the huge hill to transition. There were no wetsuits this year so that helped. Turns out I knocked a few minutes off my swim time from last year!

BIKE:It took a little while to get my bike legs but by a mile in i felt normal. 5mi mark - I'm already a little sluggish. What's going on? Where is my power? By the first bottle exchange (mi15) I knew it wasn't going to be a pretty day. I already felt extremely tired. Sarah, just push through it. Come on. (I talk to myself when I have issues!) The middle portion didn't seem horrible, but I started calculating my time & I was definitely slower than I should have been or wanted to have been. I hit 18mi left on the bike & my mind starts playing w/ me. You're already slower than you should be. There's no way you are going to make your goal. Just stop. It's all I could do to keep my legs pedaling. Should I stop. I still have to run after this. How am I going to do that? Well, I kept going. I pushed through it. It hurt. It really hurt, but I was not going to get a DNF on my record.

T2: I ran my bike to my spot & then I stood there. Again, my mind telling me to quit. By now my mind and body are already spent & I start crying - i'm not really a crying person, but i cried, then I put my running shoes on, visor on, & started running.

RUN: Not much to say. It was extremely rough. The aid stations were about every 1.5-1.75mi & when it is so hot & muggy that is really too far. (I heard someone later say that it probably felt like 100degrees, but real temp was mid to upper 90's w/ extreme humidity.) By this point my body had stopped sweating & I had chill bumps. Seriously Sarah, what are you doing? - I'm going to finish! Finishing was my goal by this point & that's what I did. When I got to the finish line there was Jeff hollering at me. When I saw him & that finish line I started crying again. I was so drained.

Jeff had an awesome day. He ended up PRing for this course! At least one person, out of the hundreds that did it, had a good day! I am so thankful for the great friends I have - for sticking w/ me during the great times & the not so great times. Thanks to my sponsors for their support & especially for the new special sponsor for this race, Tim & Allyson. I couldn't have done it w/o their support. Thanks guys.

Clemson Sprint Triathlon - 5.15.10

Alarm goes off & I lay in the bed. "Do I really have to get up? I don't want to do this." Well, I got up. I had to. One of my TNT athletes, Jennie, was doing this as her 1st tri ... so I better be there! This is the 4th triathlon of the season for me & ready or not here it comes.

It was great seeing all the familiar faces ... & meeting some new ones too! Everyone comes out to this race. Lots of hammer heads here. Well, while I'm there setting up my TA, talking w/ all my friends, stretching & then hearing the pre-race music blaring I finally started to get excited about the race. I think Karma was right. There is a different vibe at the races when Nicole isn't there. And, I can't wait for her to be back, even if it's just to cheer.

SWIM: Another floating start. My strategy for these is this: I wait about waist deep, while everyone else is already treading water. Once Jeremy says we have 1min until we start. THEN, I swim to the front of the group. They probably all hate me, but I always find an open slot & then I haven't waisted energy treading water for 3min. And, then I get some "quite time" as I stand there all by myself to get syched up. It works for me.

I wasn't sure who was racing in my age group, but because it was CLEMSON I was afraid the competition would be stiff. I pushed hard on the swim. Went a little wide going out & coming back in, but once I hit the sand I took off running up the big hill. It is so fun to hear people yell "Go Sarah!" There seemed to be quite a few there that knew me. I was able to pass about 4 or 5 people as I ran into TA. Both transitions were fast for me. I didn't fall over trying to put my shoes on or anything!

BIKE: The bike was rolling hills. It was a fun course until I lost my chain going up a hill. Call it operator error. Normally you can ease it back on .. not this time. I ended up having to get off my bike, using both hands, struggled, but finally got it back on. Oh, and guess what other issues I had? That's right, GI issues. I've really got to figure this puking issue out. "Oh well, keep going" I told myself. I needed to make up some time after all that, so I cranked it out. At the last turn onto the main road our bike lane got smaller & we had to go pratically one by one. These 2 crazy guys infront of me slowed way down. Grant it, it was a sharp turn, but hello ... we are racing here. I ended up yelling at them "keep moving!!" And, of course beat them into T2.

T2 was awesome! 41sec thank you very much! =)

RUN: On to the run. Ah, the run again? It was not fun, but I got through it. It was an out and back, that had a couple really long hills and then one real nasty uphill.

Jeff & I hung around just incase. Turns out I got 2nd in my AG! WooHoo! Then it was off for another 40mi bike ride. Jeff only made a few wrong turns. Just in case we had gotten lost (he doesn't have the best track record) I took extra liquid! Woa budy! There are lots of hills in Clemson, the sun was HOT, and that new TriSports.com uniform is cut more than my normal tops. Lets just say I got crispy!

Lake Murray Sprint Triathlon - 5.9.10

Major props to Al at Go Tri Sports for the free race entry.

Jeff ended up signing up for this race too, so we both crashed at Nicole's Saturday night & then drove down Sunday morning ... very early! I sware we were almost the 1st eople there at TA. At least we got our t-shirts! I had no idea who was here & racing in my age group. But, I did see Ashley before the swim & found out we were still in the same age group. So I knew at least 1 person was going to give me a run for my money.

SWIM: It was a floating start. When the gun went off it felt like that commercial about clean water. You know, the one where the water is drained out of the tank and all the gold fish are floundering around. There wasn't enough water for all of us. I got kicked so hard, I just knwe if it had been any harder my arm would have broken!

BIKE: The bike was rolling hills. Lots of hills. I had GI issues again. Not sure what's going on w/ that, but just kept going. I pushed as hard as I could, both up & down the hills. Last year I made the mistake of not pedaling down the hills. I fixed that for this year ... much be

tter! As I crossed the final bridge coming back into TA, I saw/heard Joe cheering me on. I knew this meant his wife Ashley was still behind me.

RUN: I got through T2 & took off on the run. Thankfully I couldn't feel my feet.

(I've been suffering from tendonitis in my left foot/ankle & haven't been able to do my training runs per Drs orders.) I tried to run smart. Bypassed the 1st aid station. Then I saw Ashley at the 1st turn around. She wasn't too far behind me. At this point I felt like I had a target on my back, so I kept pushing. Second turn around comes & there she is. Didn't look like she had gained any on me. But, now I could feel my foot & I was really hurting. My pace slowed. I turned a corner & there was Joe hollering for me. Right after I passed him, I heard him start cheering on Ashley. Oh boy! We probably had about 1/4mi left & there she was, running next to me. We crossed the bridge together & then hit the grass. I let her get about a foot or two ahead of me. Then, we hit the long parking lot to the finish line. When my feet hit that asphalt I gave it everything I had left. Sprinted until it was over.

Turns out I sprinted in to get 3rd in my age group. This was the 1st race I felt like I really pushed through some mental & physical barriers. I was thrilled with 3rd place.

Jeff had a great race too & we got to go home celebrating!

Team in Training (TNT)

I've got 3 female participants this season that are training for the Tri Latta sprint triathlon. The have been so dedicated & enthusiastic about training & raising $$ for LLS.

This past Saturday I took Jennie & Lynne out

for our normal group ride. We started from t

he YMCA downtown & headed out of town. We just s

o happened to make it to the base of Paris MTN & I said "hey girls, are you ready for some climbing?" They looked @ me kinda like "ok" & s

miled. Neither of them have ever driven up the mountain,s o they didn't even know to dread it! They did FANTASTIC!!

Watching athletes push through barriers & conquer obstacles that one seemed unobtainable ... it made my week!