I was going to write a post like this anyway, but a friend asked me to talk about some specific things relating to the month I spent competing in Europe. Now that I've had a few days at home to get caught up on stuff and I just got my first workout done I have a few minutes to sit and write! What I'd like to address is not only the aspect of racing, but logistics, entry, travel, logistics, all that fun stuff!
Dave and I decided to go race in Europe well before I knew I was going to be racing the 50K in Rome. Had we known I would race in Rome it probably would've changed some of what/how I raced, but probably not the trip in general. Our plan initially was to race Naumburg, Germany and La Coruna, Spain. A race was added between those, but I'll get to that. First I'll talk about the actual racing.
First the actual racing. I am of course sooooo thankful that USATF sends teams to international competitions. But in some ways they put a lot of pressure on us. There's definitely a feeling of, "you're getting this trip, so we expect you to race the best race of your life." Or "if we don't do well enough then we may not have teams funded anymore." That's a lot of pressure. We don't have a ton of development opportunities. There's Pan Am Cup on the odd years and World Team Championships on the even years. The juniors have Can/Am, which is awesome. But only once a year do we travel a great distance and have to be prepared to race.
Before Rome we got there plenty early to get used to the time change, which was spectacular. But there was a lot of worry/fear about us going out and doing things. There was concern that we would go out and do tourist things and wear ourselves out. If we had a big race in the US the week before the race would probably be a taper week (I'd hope) but everyone would still be working or going to school or doing most of what they'd usually do. I'd be working outside, probably getting the garden going, basically being active. Now you take us part way around the world and put us in a hotel. Now we're sitting around for the large majority of the day. Our bodies don't know how to deal with that! I went out and did tourist things because I felt like I knew my body and knew what it could take. I knew that going out and walking around can really wear on you and knew how much I could do. And I felt like I was well rested for my race. Some of the team got sick, and part of me wonders if it's not because of the forced inactivity. I know for myself if I just sort of shut down completely my body says, oh, hey, yeah, a break, I have been tired, I guess I can be sick now. It's happened multiple times in my life. That's another reason I wanted to make sure I kept moving around and doing stuff and keeping busy.
Then there's the excitement of being in such an amazing event. For most of us it's the biggest event we've ever been at. And we all have times we're chasing, standards we want to hit. So there's the pressure we put on ourselves and the pressure put on us from above. This is not a recipe for success. And then there's the awe factor. When I race in the US I know my competition. I know who's capable of what, I know them as people. I'm surrounded by amazing competition in the US, but when I get to Europe then.... holy crap! It's Ines Henriques!!! Holy Crap it's Neringa!!! All these amazing women I've looked up to. Or for me in Rome this time it was a little different since I was racing 50K, but still, holy crap! I'm on the course with Jared Tallent!!!!! What I noticed in Naumburg and La Coruna, was that while they were amazing international competitions, it felt to me that, for the people there (not me) it was how I feel about a national race. They're there racing the people they're used to racing and seeing all the time. They're still racing their hearts out, but there's not the awe factor. In some ways it's "just another race." Don't get me wrong, they were racing like crazy. But for Dave and I we went into the races thinking "We are racing in Europe, we must race the hardest possible! We must get a PB!!! We must prove something!" And while when I race in the US I still want to race my best (of course!) it's not the same type of pressure.
Okay, so what am I trying to say.... To become good international competitors we need to race internationally! To put it into musical terms, if you want to be good at sight reading you need to sight read! And, more appropriately, if you want to be comfortable performing you need to perform! Also, the more you get up in front of a group and speak publically the better you'll get at it. I think it's the same for racing. Once we can get past the, holy crap! I'm racing against xxx.... we can really focus on racing.
And I just want to be really clear, I'm not excusing any perceived "poor" performances. I'm trying to give reasons (different than excuses) and ways to improve in the future. If we want to be better on an international stage we need to be used to racing on the international stage. It needs to become "just another race." You need to be used to spending four days before the race in a hotel. You need to be used to eating different kinds of food. When I race in the US I know I can always find something I want to eat. I know chain restaurants where I can get something I know what it is. All of those "little" things that make a difference. That each one thing may not be a big deal, but add all of them up and it's a huge thing.
For getting to Rome, that was taken care of by USATF. They got us (us as in Team USA) and dealt with hotels. My own personal plans started May 9, the day after the race. I decided to spend a few more days in Rome, so I could see a few more sights, and I really wanted to take a day trip to Mt. Vesuvius and Pompeii. They were both amazing and I'm so glad I went! Also, having to walk up a mountain after a 50K helped keep me moving. Even being sore after a 50K I was able to walk up faster than all of the tourists that were heading up the mountain. So that was cool. Being a professional musician it was hard for me to pass up the opportunity to spend a few days in Vienna, so I did that. Which was awesome! Then I spent about 5-6 days in Budapest with my friend. She was kind enough to let me stay with her and go visit her parents in the country, so those were days I didn't have to worry about paying for hotels. We had a wonderful time, and it was great to have someone to walk with as I was getting back to seeing if I'd be able to race the back half of the month.
The fun began when I met Dave in Germany. Naumburg is a fantastic race. Susi Metzner does a fantastic job of organizing a top quality race. Entry is easy, basically letting Susi know you want to race. They have protocols for high-level athletes, that if you're under a certain time standard they give you free room and board, which is really nice. We did not meet those criteria so we rented an apartment about 200 meters from the course which was amazing. That way we could cook and relax. They also facilitate pickup from the airport, so that makes travel to Naumburg much easier. The course is fantastic, with wide turns, especially on one end where it goes around a roundabout. The majority of the course is tree lined and thus in the shade. We happened to be there on a day where it was brutally hot, but they had plenty of water/sponges for everyone. It's part of a sports weekend, with lots of events of all sorts, so there are lots of spectators and excitement around the event. Naumburg draws in some really quality athletes, so just about everyone has someone they can walk with. I highly recommend racing Naumburg if you're looking for a fast time.
La Coruna was very easy to enter. Dave basically sent an email to the race director and said we'd like to race. Piece of cake. We didn't get any help with transport or rooms, but it was very easy to figure out on our own. The bus from the airport into town is easy (and cheap) and the host hotel was a very good price. We did have a few times where we asked a question of the race director and never got a response (ex: we didn't know when/where packet pickup was, it wasn't published that we could find) but I was able to FB message friend who was racing and they told me. The course there is very flat. I thought there were a decent amount of rough patches in the road. And since a downpour happened right before the race there were puddle all over and it was hard to tell what was under the water. La Coruna brought in a ton of amazing athletes, in some ways it felt like a mini world cup! They have the Spanish Master's championships before the race, as well as the kids races. So there were lots of spectators and people on the streets, it was very festive.
In between the races I was trying to figure out what to do, and my friend Anett told me about a race she was doing in Belgium. It was a European meet, but I thought it might not hurt to contact them to see if we could race. it was a 5,000 on the track as part of a full track meet. The race director was very welcoming and told us we could come and gave us two nights of hotel rooms and transportation to the airport, and we won prize money! They were helpful and friendly and seemed very excited that we were there.
For Americans wanting to go to Europe to race, I say go for it! (and for other countries too, obviously) Everyone seems so happy to have a variety of countries and athletes represented. While I do think I'm decent at travel arrangements (let me know if you want to know allllll the arrangements I had to make!) it was nothing that the average person couldn't do. And there are so many walkers out there that will help you with getting things figured out.
Hopefully this all makes some sense. I feel like it's all a little disjointed in my mind, so who knows how it ended up on the page. So feel free to ask questions!!!! Let's start a discussion on how we can all improve!
Also, if you haven't checked it out before, take a look at my AthleteBiz page! You can go to Running Warehouse and buy awesome stuff and I get paid a small percentage. Help fund my goals for the next four years! (more on what those are in a post coming soon).
https://www.athletebiz.us/athletes/erin-taylor-talcott/store
Thanks and keep training!
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