A new outlook..

Hello!

I recently got back from Tucson, AZ where the CU Tri team had a training camp during Spring Break. The Buffs dominated in Lake Havasu at our Regional meet winning both the men's and women's divisions. We went down to Tucson after for a few hard days of training at sea level (YAY!) and we all had a great time. The sun was shining, it was warm, and we enjoyed pushing each other with a little extra oxygen. My favorite part of the trip was climbing Mt. Lemmon, which was about 25 miles up from the base, and a little over a 5 hour ride total to and from our hotel. It was an epic day for sure.

Being in Tucson was great for me, and I had my first few hard sessions back after being in the hospital. The first week in Boulder I eased back into training and just did some very easy swimming, biking and running. I was very happy to be feeling good training in AZ and I know that having my teammates by my side definitely helped me get back into things and deal with the pain from working hard. I was nervous for my first few hard workouts back, because I wasn't sure how my fitness would be after sitting in a hospital bed for awhile. However, I was very pleased with my training in AZ and will give everything I have on race day in a two weeks.

I spoke with my Mom about Collegiate Nationals yesterday for awhile. After discussing the race with her, I realized that this setback I have had has really changed my outlook quite a bit. Usually, I experience incredible nerves and tension going into a race, especially Collegiate Nationals because I feel like I am racing for individuals outside of myself- my team! Sure, I am still nervous for April 9th, but I am SO happy to be healthy and SO happy to be racing. Besides, I won't be alone out there on race day in Alabama- I've got the incredible Buffs!

Go CU! 11 days!

Jessica

Health Comes First

Hello to my followers-

Wow! What a couple of weeks it has been.

Two weeks ago, I felt fantastic and training was going better than ever. I was extremely excited about how I was feeling during training sessions, was eating well, recovering well and overall, anticipating a fun trip to Lake Havasu for the first race of 2011. The start to my racing season has now been pushed back a bit. About a week ago I went into the ER with incredible fatigue and memory loss, and a couple of hospital visits later they found abnormalities on an MRI in the parietal lobe of my brain. The doctors believe that I caught a virus that caused post infectious inflammation on my nerves, muscles and a spot in my brain.

This was a lot to take in and I experienced an array of emotions. Initially, what crossed my mind was when I could get back to training again, or if I would be able to race this upcoming weekend. How incredibly naive of me to be thinking of that, I know! But over the course of a few days in the hospital, I was able to evaluate just how important my health is above everything. Triathlon will always be here, so for now I am taking care of myself and easing back into things. Like I have always said, I want to be doing this sport forever, so however long it takes to get healthy is how long it will have to be.

Stay healthy and be happy!

Jessica