A real update.

After about 2 months of general life upheaval, things are starting to settle down. There are still some things that will take some getting used to, but in general, adjusting to life outside the bubble of Manhattan has been quite easy. I went from a cave of an office to an awesome light, filled tree-top view, I doubled my living space (and gained a quite handsome new roommate), and am absolutely obsessed to finally have central air conditioning and a dishwasher back in my life.

In the past two months, my training has taken a hit. I had a stupid bike crash in early June (read: Sarah alone on street at 5:45 am meets parked car), flatted at Rev3, and never really recovered (physically and mentally) before DC Tri. I raced on tired, painful legs, and was happy but discouraged and sad after my performance. It's a weird combo; I was actually elated when I got my results, seeing my swim time and bike performance based on how I felt. But the more I thought about it, analyzed the results, and thought about how incredibly horrible the run felt, I know something was 'off'. I am not sure if I was a bit over-trained/burned out, the bike crash jarred my body more than I realized, or basically overwhelmed with life in general, but I needed to step away.

I had a week of work/play in Chicago, went on long walks by the beach (lake), got my ass handed to me by my college roommate at her Masters team (she coached, and laughed as I struggled to keep up). When I returned in NYC, I decided to replace slow, painful, emotionally draining 30 minute runs with super-intense Boot Camp for July. It was amazing. I am so sad to have found it only a month before I moved - it was one of the best and most demanding workouts I have ever done, and showed me that despite being able to bang out a triathlon, I may just be the weakest person alive.

I also promised myself that for my last few weeks in NYC, I wouldn't choose training over enjoying myself. And enjoy myself I did. I left feeling comfortable and confident in my decision to move, and happy to know that NYC is only a few hours away.

So now I here I am. And settling in. And feeling awesome. My motivation has returned and I'm feeling good. My run is slowly coming back to me, I have the desire for hill repeats, long runs and 5am wake up calls. I am taking advantage of exploring my new neighborhood, learning new bike routes, meeting new people (slowly but surely!) and finding new training partners (hopefully!).

I am excited for my race next weekend. I think I have realistic expectations for the outcome, something I think maybe I didn't have going into DC Tri. I want to just enjoy the process. It's a smaller race, my man is coming to cheer, oh, and I have some fancy new wheels that will be making their debut, thanks to an overly generous going away present from my NYC teammates and friends...so freaking excited (and they got me clinchers, so the 'I was riding tubulars and didn't have a spare excuse is no longer valid)