That cliché "New Year, New Me" post!

How is January nearly over already?! I am about 24 days late with a “New Year, New Me” kind of post, but hey, I’m still sneaking it in before February!

So much has changed within the past month. New year, new coach, new goals, new sponsors, new job… basically, lots of “new.” In the latter part of 2017 I was losing motivation to train...for many reasons. I was frustrated by how long it was taking to regain fitness coming back from my knee injury, I kept eating too many cookies rationalizing that it was “the holidays,” and I honestly didn’t know what inspired me to wake up early and train anymore. Sleeping in was becoming habitual, and without direction (or fitness) in training, I was more and more discouraged to do anything.

Just before the New Year I met with Julie Dibens. I brought her some of my Grandma’s cookies in a ploy to potentially ask her to be my coach. I had spoken with some some other truly incredible and intelligent coaches during my hunt, but something about Julie just gave me this feeling like she was the right match for me. She was willing to take me on as an athlete and help me get back on track!

January 1st rolled around and Day 1 of training began. It hurt. Like, a lot. In fact, the first two weeks of training were a struggle. I felt slow in every sport. I started using power again on the bike. During my first ride with power I nearly got off the trainer and cried as my 4-minute intervals were SO HARD...at what used to be 50 watts less than my FTP (read: "power you can sustain for 1 hour all-out time trial").

However, the most important thing was that Julie gave me a reason to keep getting up every morning and doing the work. I was back on track, just focused on taking each day at a time. Now, after a few weeks of consistent training, everything is hurting less and I’m going faster. I’m motivated and back into the grind. I have a race schedule lined up that I am actually excited about! Sometimes all it takes is suffering through those first few weeks back to training knowing that everything will come around soon enough and also a goal you are driven to chase!

What will the first event of the year be you ask?
​Tony and I will be racing the Fat Bike World Championships this weekend in Crested Butte, CO! I am fighting off a bit of a cold at the moment but I can't wait to go play in the snow on my Fatback Corvus Bike!! 
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I hope everyone's 2018 is off to a wonderful start! I wish you all the best this year, whether that means in sport, work, family, etc :)