Planning for your 2008 triathlon season?

Humbly submitted by Cheryl Iseberg....

On the heels of a fantastic discussion last week from our very own Dr. Phil (Spencer) on the subject of Off Season Training, (ladies I know we all wear Spencer Chiropractic nicely on the back of our bike shorts but I feel like I “cover” him the best) I found myself with one race left to go this year, looking forward to next year and thinking about my 2008 goals (ok after some downtime from training and a few drinks poolside).

As I started to ponder this thought, two things came to mind, one something our fearless leader Ms. Swedberg said to me at Maui training camp this year and the other coming from a book I just finished reading called “Racing the Sunset” by Scott Tinley who is a 2 time Ironman World Champion. So let’s cover these two topics.

After a day of running, swimming, biking or something, Ms. Swedberg and I found ourselves in my local Maui coffee shop. A shop I have been in a thousand times before. I see that a person in front of us has made eye contact with us and keeps looking back at us. Perhaps it was our stunning beauty that was hard to resist but I think it was probably the Ironman CDA finisher hats instead. Patty strikes up a conversation with this young man that lasted at least 15 minutes. I found it interesting how easily she connected with this young soul and asked her about it. She told me “everyone has a story” and that she enjoyed finding out what that was for people she encountered. This young man certainly had a story and not an easy one for us to comprehend. He was a former junior champion in cycling that crashed badly when he was on the National team racing in Mexico. He now rode his bike as a courier for restaurants in Maui and was homeless. I find myself “seeing” him all the time while on the island where before, I am not sure I would have noticed him. That was his “everybody has a story”.

The second topic is ST’s book. Scott writes for Triathlete magazine and you will always find his commentary on the last page of the magazine. I am a total fan and the first thing I do when I receive my monthly magazine is to turn to the last page to see what ST has to say. I learned of ST’s book from another article recently in Triathlete magazine from Shawn Skeene, someone who I talked to before Ironman CDA who wrote up an interview with me on Ironmanlive before the race. I immediately rushed out to my local bookstore (ok, went to BN.com and ordered online) and read the book in 2 days. The subject is about professional athletes and the struggle they face on how and when to retire. Scott has spent a great deal of time researching and talking with former pro athletes from baseball, football, basketball, hockey, and triathlon about their experiences.

In his book he talks about us not choosing sport but sport possibly choosing us. How professional athletes in all respects don’t know how to “retire” from the only thing they know or re-enter a normal life. I found his book fascinating and it got me thinking about a lot of things – mainly what it is that defines me.

What defines me? Triathlon, Ironman (are they different?), business owner, animal lover, friend, card carrying OCD member, or someone with MS?

What I decided on first was Ironman because it ultimately was something that I had sought since 1982 and watching Julie Moss. It literally was a dream of a lifetime that came true. So I wondered if Ironman is what defines me – what will I do without it? Will I continue my journey as a 5 time, 10 time, 20 time Ironman? Will I be the next Sister Madonna racing into my 80’s? The bigger question was not how many Ironmans but what if I couldn’t do what I loved? Scott talks about professional athletes not knowing when or how to retire. Do age-groupers have that same issue?

We all do not have the genetics that Sister Madonna has so statistics will tell us that most of us will not be racing for the next 40 years. That in the simple breakdown of our bodies over time. So what will sideline us from our future triathlon or Ironman experiences? Will it be because it is no longer a passion, or because of injury, or in my case will the disease that hangs on the outer edge in my brain someone change and STOP me?

Many of you are aware that the day before IM Canada this year I got ill and wasn’t able to race. Once we were able to get my bike out of transition and load it to drive 7 hours back to Washington, we were faced with driving on the only road out of town where all the athletes were on the course. The several hours in the truck passing athletes who were doing “my” race was one of the hardest things I have ever had to watch. The quiet tears while watching others doing what they loved as you watched unable to do the same thing was overwhelming. That was my first glimpse of perhaps not being able to do the thing I love the most.

So what do these two topics mean for your 2008 race plans? Instead of pulling out the race calendar and looking at all potential races you can do next year, sit down and do two things first. One, write 3 or 4 things down that define who you are. Then write a few paragraphs on ‘your story”. Sit and look at both of those things and I think you will find your 2008 goals might magically appear to you without much reference to the race calendar or your race/PR Excel spreadsheet.
I will see you all at the races in 2008 and hopefully proudly wearing Phil on my ass – err Spencer Chiropractic on my shorts.