Lindsey Jerdonek

“The Training Diaries” is a periodic series of posts by Lindsey Jerdonek, a DC Tri Club member, and third-year professional triathlete. In January 2012 Lindsey quit her day job and made the move to racing as a full-time pro triathlete. This is her fifth entry in the series where she looks back at this in the last year and identifies some things that were missing in her path to consistent high-performance.

“The Training Diaries” is a periodic series of posts by Lindsey Jerdonek, a DC Tri Club member, and third-year professional triathlete. In January 2012 Lindsey quit her day job and made the move to racing as a full-time pro triathlete. You can follow Lindsey’s Blog where she documents this new endeavor or follow her on twitter.

The triathlon season is coming to a close, which is too bad because I am only getting started!! I last reported on my humbling race result at the San Diego ITU World Triathlon Series. Things have been on the up and up since then. I finished 8th at the ITU World Cup race in Edmonton this summer and placed 10th in the Cancun World Cup over the weekend. You can watch a four-minute recap video from the race at here.

I have had some good results this season, though it hasn’t been the breakout season that I expected to have since leaving my job. My run is the sport that needs the most work and I missed out on a base building period with my calf/plantar fascia injuries. Wahhhh. I started the season in meager shape and far above race weight, and my results showed. Even with building fitness throughout this season, regaining my confidence has been the biggest challenge. One of the Snapple guys, Sean Ward, can attest to the amount of smack talk I am capable of spouting off when I’m on my game. Over the past couple months, I have been thinking of how I can get back to the consistent high-performance I’ve experienced before.

Looking back at when I was working last year, I have identified things I did right then that have been missing this year.

Getting up and “going to work”: For the first half of the year, I tended to fart around on my computer with mindless web browsing in the morning. Meanwhile, the rest of the world gets up and goes to work. After making this revelation in the middle of the summer, I started doing that, too. Wake up. Eat. Train.

Having a long block of uninterrupted training: This February I moved to Florida then drove to California during the spring, spending time training in San Francisco and San Diego. All the moving around was exhausting! I got sick during the cross-country drive, and by the time I made it to California, I needed several days to recover. For 2013, I’m planning to stay in one place for the base building period. In 2011, I had four months of uninterrupted training going into the Columbia triathlon (which I won). I never missed workouts. It is no surprise that I went in prepared and fit.

Routine: I lack the routine and structure that you are forced to have when working during the day. Staying on task is a work in progress for me and since I only report to myself, holding myself accountable hasn’t been easy. Throughout this season, I have been building in routines to remove the decision-making process (like no computer in the morning).

A swim group: I miss the camaraderie of the Saturday morning swim group at Wilson HS and having people in the pool who push me! I swim a lot with my boyfriend these days, but he is much faster than me, so I tend to curse him in the pool. When I hunker down for the base period (most likely in Clermont, FL), I will join a masters group to improve the quality of my swims.

Making money: I am looking forward to making a living in the sport one day instead of watching the balance in my checking account fall precipitously. I know that making it in the sport can be done, it just takes time and doing the right things right!

Thanks for reading and I hope that you have all accomplished your triathlon goals for the year. In my next edition of training diaries, I’ll touch on the off-season.