Pinch me, I must be dreaming – It’s official! I’ve started my training for the ITU (International Triathlon Union) World Championships for Sprint Draft Legal Race in Cozumel Mexico, September 15, 2016

This level of competition is all new for me, as I’ve never competed at Worlds’ or even Nationals’ (even though I’ve qualified many times). For whatever reason, it wasn’t important to me to travel and compete at this level until now. I’m not sure why at the age of 45, but I am choosing to go for it! This race is totally different as it is a draft legal race on the bike, which makes it a completely different type of triathlon than the way I have been competing for 20 years. I’ve only done 1 draft legal race which is when I qualified by the skin of my teeth. I started in first out of the water and ended up 9th across the finish line. With almost zero training going into that race, my friends talked me into competing because all I had to do was get top 10 in my age group. I said I think I can do that even though it was only a few weeks after my retinal re-attachment surgery (read that story here).

So, this is real, I am going to Cozumel in a few weeks (EEK!) and I have been training pretty seriously. I have also never talked about my own personal racing as I am always focused on helping my athletes. So this is new for me as well. I decided I’m going to share my journey with whoever is interested in reading along. So, if that’s you, I will be sharing a personal blog every week or so about how my training is going and all the ups and downs of managing life, my daughter, the training and all the stuff in between!

In my first post about my journey, I wanted to specifically thank my sponsors without whom this journey would be much more challenging. Triathlon may seem like an individual sport but that is far from the truth on many levels.

So, thanks to Body Health and my favorite product of theirs called  Perfect Amino, which I cannot live without my daily 10- they completely allow me to recover and hang on to the muscle that I seem to burn so easily when training hard. I’ll explain more about how I use them in a nutrition post coming up soon (use our promo code for a 10% discount when purchasing if you want to try them, FULLCIRCLE).

Thanks to TEAM Footworks, where I have been shopping for running shoes and accessories for the last 20 years. If they don’t have it they will get it. I love Laurie, JP, Ralph and the team there, they are knowledgeable and very helpful (mention Full Circle for the best pricing).

Thanks to my amazing client Audrey Ross who I admire greatly as a successful business woman,  entrepreneur, athlete and friend who owns Miami Real Estate for supporting me on this journey.

Thanks to All 4 Cycling  and all the team at their 2 stores. I needed a new road bike to be able to compete at this race and I am ecstatic about the TREK I got. Simply put, it is the Rolls Royce of bikes for me; Look for a great post about the details of this bike coming up (mention Full Circle for the best pricing when shopping at All 4 Cycling).

Thanks to Riplaces my favorite elastic laces on the market today! I use them in my running shoes and Vibrams (use our promo code Fullcircle for 10% off your purchases).

I am filled with gratitude by all the people and companies supporting me on this journey; MOM, thanks for the plane ticket.  Marc Pro – I use this thing everyday (use our promo code FULLCIRCLE for 5% off).  doTerra Essential Oils a large part of my daily health and wellness routine.

Also, a big thanks to my Full Circle Team, my coaches, In Balance Physical Therapy, The Stretching Company, Partners in Health and the multitude of fellow athletes, friends, family and colleagues wishing me well and supporting me along the way.

On top of it all, I feel super excited for this to be happening during an Olympic year and with the USA women’s triathlon team having a chance to win GOLD at the Olympics; It’s both inspiring and motivating.

Thanks for reading and wishing you well,

Erinne