After the Patriots Half I was treated to some very helpful medical intervention. A few days later it dawned on me that it didn’t cost a dime yet made the rest of the trip/day/weekend enormously better. Traveling home in a cramped-up ball would have been no fun for anyone.

I tracked down the folks who provided the EMS support for race day and sent them a donation and hand-written note of gratitude. The amount is pretty paltry, and I’d like to do more, but I feel good that I at least did something and recognized the help that they provide. I appreciated the personalized note back, “we’re glad we fixed your cramping problem“!!

I’d like to do more but right now it seems like the only person we know making money is our mechanic, thanks in large part to us. If you can believe it, over the last week, we have had to have BOTH cars (van and truck) towed and BOTH needed a fuel pump. How’s that for luck?! Good that race season is over and we can sit home and spend no money. But I digress.

Thanks to all the EMTs and EMS personnel who stand ready to save lives and put so many of us back together after we tear ourselves down.

A few weeks ago my friends and I had a conversation about how easy it is to get caught up in numbers particularly during race season – pace, splits, and rankings – and compare ourselves to others and to our own past performances. It’s all too easy to let numbers dictate whether we feel a workout or race was successful. 

It’s important to remember that numbers provide useful feedback but they are essentially measures of output, dependent on a multitude of inputs. If we look at the factors that contribute to the output, we can identify many other ways of measuring success and progress.

Here are some inputs that can influence our performance on swim/bike/run during training or a race:

• race strategy
• swim/bike/run skills
• training consistency
• training quality
• anxiety/fear
• congestion (in transition, on swim and bike)
• mechanical issues
• pre-race/pre-workout nutrition
• in-race/in-workout fueling
• personal physiology (which changes day to day)
• state of mind
• stress levels (family, work)
• fatigue
• travel-related issues
• phase of training cycle
• ability to cope with unforseen circumstances 
• terrain
• weather

The list of inputs can be used to identify opportunities for improvement. This allows us alternative ways to define success. I’ll share some of my own examples.
 
If I look at my swim pace in races this year, I could get discouraged. Despite speedier swimming in the pool, my swim times in races have not shown the improvement I might… Read the rest

I’m packing food and equipment, getting ready to leave for the Luray races after lunch. Yikes, it’s really here!! I’m taking things one day and one race at a time.

This week we got the official schedule for the Endurance Films Racing Team at USAT Age Group Nationals so that is suddenly feeling very real. Among the events, it includes plans for a group ride and group swim. I am glad that I will be scheduled and busy while I am there. One of our sponsors, Jack Kane Custom Bikes, is creating a custom Endurance Films Racing Team bike to be unveiled at the race. It reminds me of the bike version of Orange County Choppers.

I’m not the only busy family member. Robert and the kids have been camping at the New River with friends all week, and I’ve been dropping in on them for the afternoons. They will get back Sunday, as will I, and then the house will become laundry/muck-out central. Monday is meet the teacher night for both kids and they start school Wednesday. Spencer will be going to the middle school and that means the kids will be on two different schedules. Annd then I leave on Thursday for Age Group Nationals (talk about mom guilt!). My bike is going up with one family, I am flying one-way to Burlington, and then I am driving back with two girls from the area.

A little craziness is good for us all once in… Read the rest

Dear Me,

You’re four days out from the Luray Double, eleven days from Nationals, and it’s been seven weeks since your last race. You needed that solid training block but you know it’s always tough when you haven’t raced in a while. It’s only natural to start to wonder if you still have IT. You know…the heart, the ability to suffer, the desire to push hard and want it.

Well, you do.

You’ve shown it in your training. You’ve gutted out threshold intervals in the pool, on the bike, and on the roads. You were afraid of the two miles at sub-6:50 pace but you did it…twice. You weren’t sure you could do the swim laps on 50s cycles but you did. You hammered up Harding on the bike and jacked your heart rate up into a new zone. And on your little “aerobic ride” yesterday you just couldn’t resist blowing past the poor guy up ahead of you, could you? Felt good, huh?

Yes, you’ve got IT!

Coach Jim knows how to get the best out of you and he put together training plans that let you discover for yourself what you can do. You are gaining speed and strength. Think of the PRs on the bear squat and H squat that you hit with Kurt.

You’ve given your best to each and every workout, you’ve been fueling well, and resting and recovering. You have addressed physical issues… Read the rest

This blog started over three years ago when I was 25 pounds heavier, out of shape, and identifying most strongly with a shapeless blob. I had two small kids and had just finished a PhD which meant wayyy too much sitting-around computer time. So the blog was was appropriately named Unblobbing and it was begun the very day I stepped into the gym.

The title morphed to Unblobbed when I had reached some some weight loss and running goals and when I was confident this lifestyle change had stuck for good.  This title doesn’t feel right anymore.

Unblobbed was when I was on the defensive, battling the demons of bad food choices and TV time.  Now I’m on the offensive, looking for ways to push the capabilities of this mind and this body.

So I’m changing the name to Cort the Sport.

Growing up, my dad called me Cort the Sport. I was sporty, well sort of, settling into competitive riding as my sport of choice – hunters, equitation, and eventing. Except I never really felt like a sport. But just as I can now confidently lay claim to “athlete” I finally feel like I have become “Cort the Sport”. (Incidentally, my bike, Teddy Roo, is also named for my dad!)

The web address will remain unchanged to preserve old links and ties.  Cort the Sport will continue on looking for crazy new adventures in triathlon, running, lifting. My goal remains the same — to… Read the rest

For every triathlon-related expense, there will be an equal (or larger) unexpected home-related expense. 

Almost immediately after purchasing the beloved Teddy Roo (used, mind you) the twelve-year-old van proceeded to fall apart, suffering multiple-organ failure, and requiring a cash infusion greater than the cost of the bike. (Yes, dad, this is the last time, I promise I will consider getting another vehicle...) The car is back in the shop as I write this.

Almost immediately after registering for a slew of summer races that would all conveniently appear on a single credit card statement, the outside air handler on our home AC unit went.

I’d better not even consider anything really extravagant like race wheels….then we’d probably need a new roof!

Toilet positioned conveniently adjacent to porch!