2009 downs and ups (season review)

Friends,

I started writing this note while watching the 2009 Ironman Hawaii unfold yesterday. I thought this was quite an appropriate time and reminder as my season’s goal was to be there myself. However after a lot of thinking I feel it’s best to leave the Ironman until I can confidently race it and do well there. This race is not a nice nor financially wise one to “only” participate in. There are many nicer events around for that purpose! (though some even seem to go over there for eating contests!)

2009 season didn’t get a very good start as I got a stress fracture to my left shin in the fall last year. This put me off my legs for a couple months and I was only able to start running in December when visiting my parents in Brazil. In the early spring I suffered from more health issues and very low energy periods. To be honest I was scared I had chronic fatigue syndrome as I had been feeling very stale for a long time. However frequent blood tests didn’t reveal anything too serious, though the doc I was consulting really had no knowledge about athletes. In addition I was starting to feel strange hip and back pains probably owing to the crash I had in summer of 2008.

I am not a quitter however and I set myself the goal of qualifying for the Ironman Wold Championships. However with nearly all M-dot races selling out a year in advance one of the only opportunities to try qualify was to race at the Ironman 70.3 Hawaii on the Big Island. At least I was going to get some experience racing in the tough conditions the island offers.

In order to try cram some training in between heavy school schedules I lined myself two training camps: one in Spain and one in San Diego, CA in the states just prior to the Honu 70.3.

My camp in Spain got a very bad start as I hurt my knee and wasn’t able to do the training I wanted. When I came back home I had to take some time off from biking and running and things weren’t going well. Through in the overhyped swine flu that I got in my head, troubles with accommodations and huge stress at school and I was almost cancelling my trip to the US. Fortunately I had began working with MarkyV (coaching relationship ended after Honu 70.3 as the long-distance coaching didn't work for me), who had helped me improve on the swim and bike so I still had some confidence left when I finally left home for almost 2 months to an adventurous trip to the west coast USA.

Almost straight off the plane I raced in my first ever running race and ended winning the race with a CR. However my training in San Marcos near SD didn’t start and go as well as I had planned. In addition about a week before Honu 70.3 I started having issues with my shins and my nevous system was collapsing.

My trip to Hawaii was a great learning experience though my race was not what I wanted thanks to my shins hurting like nothing ever before during the run. I was however very pleased that I didn’t seem to crumble too badly in the wind and heat of Kona despite not being very fit. I only missed qualification for the Ironman by less than 2 minutes and the frustration and anger that followed didn’t do me any good!

When I returned to California I skipped my planned rest and just started training the house down. With the nice weather and cool people around to train and hang with things were going well and I was getting fitter but when I got back home to Finland at the end of June, the race, jetlag, environment change and training fatigue caught up very badly.

I felt totally spent and sick for about a month after which just before the half-iron nationals I hurt my knee and had to pull out of the race. Even more frustrating was the fact that I had to take time off running again. Also I wasn’t able to swim because I didn’t have a wetsuit, lakes were quite cold and pools in the summer were closed. I did increase my bike training however and that was good as I still had a race featuring a very tough bike course awaiting me at the end of September.

Somewhere along the way I just decided to take the risk and run through the runner’s knee issue I was having and I managed to get in a good three week training block before Elbaman 70.3. After all the struggle for a couple years I was pleased to finally have a good race although my run still wasn’t what it was 2 years ago. Though with so much time off running, a max of 2,5h of running in a week this year and the fact that only a few weeks before I was unable to even walk pain-free, a good run would have been a miracle.

So what did I learn this year? First of all there isn’t anything more important than staying healthy and injury-free. This will be my number one goal for the upcoming season. I have missed too much training and racing the past two years and I dearly need that training and racing!

Secondly anger as a training motivator is not a good one. It might work for a while but in the longer run it wears you down. Also building a plan for the year both racing and training wise is something I have to work on in the future.

Finally, despite all the issues (that are quite minor after all) I just have to be very thankful that I am able to do the sport I really love doing!

I would like to get this opportunity to thank my family, friends, sponsors and supporters for making it possible for me to race. Thtanks to Swimshop for awesome Blueseventy suits and other aquatic apparel, Intersport for crucial material support, R-kioski, Hattulan Apteekki and Apteekkiverkko for getting me to races, Kuvapalvelu and Olympus for photographic needs, SRM for making my bike training much more effective and Hämeenlinnan Kaupunkiuutiset for media support!

If anyone wants to join team Lionbeach for 2010 and beyond please do not hesitate to contact me. We will make something great happen together! As we saw in the race yesterday: nothing is impossible!

thanks for reading,

Jaakko