Season wrap up

"Well this is a lot less fun to write then a post-race victory report!" [1]  sounds familiar?

Season started early in February and after some hard training races, got a runner up place at first National Triathlon Championship Series (NTCS) early May, indicating what could be a pretty awesome season. Training went well and I was feeling motivated and confident.

Unexpectedly, in early June, I lost the person who coached me for the last three and half years. To top it off, my bike was crashed in a plane flight, two weeks before second NTCS. "I tryed to be optimistic and positive as that was all I could do at that point, but in the back of my mind I was terrified" [1] and facing depression.

As the vast majority of Portuguese athletes, I am not sponsored by any bicycle brand or store. The Airline Company was refusing to pay the damage caused making me loose important bike workouts. Help came one week before second NCTS, when a good friend of mine lent me his bike. Still, I was stressing all week about not being ready and had no desire to race.

Nevertheless I managed to get at start line. Race itself couldn't have gone worse. I was about four minutes back out of the water, but I reminded myself how last times I catched leading females on the bike, so I pushed hard. Wrong move! My legs had gone somewhere else and I was getting dropped by everyone. After a while, pulling over seemed the most reasonable decision to make.

I put my head down for one week and prayed for some light at the end of the tunel. After, "I jammed in as much training as possible, hoping that somehow everything would come together in time" [1] for Ourém Duathlon (qualification race to World Duathlon Championships). With one week to adapt to my friend's bike I raced to win and thought I had a pretty good chance to go to World Duathlon Championships in September. Wrong again! I was not called for it...

I started feeling some pain in my back and right hip after the race in Ourém, but didn't think much of it. I did some massage and stretching along with pain medication to keep it under control. I trained for the rest of the month with the pain not going away, but not getting any worse. 

In August, Belgium former International athlete, Jeroen Maetens, accepted the challenge to coach me and I headed Brussels to meet and work with him. From the start he was there 100% for me and brought me hope and motivation. He helped me found the perfect bike and things were finally coming together. I began to believe I could be back in shape by September. "However my body had other plans, and I went through a difficult 3 weeks of highs and lows" [1], and still had an increasing pain in my back to deal with.

I returned Portugal to race in National Duathlon Championship despite knowing I wasn't in best shape. Winning was hard and by the end of the race, my back pain was unbearable and I couldn't ignore it any longer, so I decided I would get medical diagnosis and treatment.

I had less than a week before the big test - 3 NCTS race, when I did a CT Scan and was properly medicated. By the end of the week I could run and bike pain-free, so racing on sunday at full speed was a realistic possibility, at least in my mind! The truth is, coming into the most competitive national race of the year injured and mentally unprepared is a bad idea. Still, I wanted to give it a shot as all my friends were there to watch and scream for me. I had my mom's bracelet, and I knew she was sending good vibrations even though she couldn't be present, so nothing could go wrong right?

Unfortunately a flat tyre ended up my hopes and the race was over for me...On one hand I had realistic chance of finishing on the podium at National Championship, so it was with great frustration and sadness I ended up the season.

This week CT Scan result confirmed an L4 L5 disc protrusion and L5 S1 radiculopathy. I wasn't mentally prepared for this upcoming and remembered all the times my body was telling me that it needed a break. Doctors tell me I won't be able to race again at top level, and since i'm depending on National Health Service, I'm afraid of facing a long healling process that may not produce the results I hope - cure. I'm needing a leap of faith!

I'm taking a few days off to clear my head, decide what to do next and set my priorities. This feels like a big deal today but you know, everybody experiences blips on the road, so I'm pretty sure resiliency will be the key.

Before I go, I want to thank to some very important people who supported and cherished me all season: My sponsors Vitargo (Stefan Bengtsson) and Aqualoja (Vitor Cunha). Elena Kraeva, my swim coach at CIMM, Jeroen Maetens, my Coach at MG-Sports, Ezequiel Monteiro, owner of the bike, and of course Carlos, my patient and understanding boyfriend. My family and my friends, I love you folks.

Filipa




[1] http://paulafindlay.blogspot.com/