When it comes to racing and triathlon in particular, this sport is not a solitary one for me but a team game. From the training partners who keep pushing me to go faster, my competitors who set the bar high and make me want to beat them, and most importantly those at home who come to the races to support me and cheer me on. As many of you know Team Spencer will be adding a new member this July. This newest little addition to the team will have the biggest impact yet on when, if, and where I will be racing for the foreseeable future.
Since starting in the sport Amy and I have always sat down in early January and mapped out my season. She has just as much say as to where and when I race as I do and I wouldn’t have it any other way. Without her support both on and off the race course none of what I do would mean very much. In 4 years I have raced over 60 different events from 5K’s to Ironmans and she has been at nearly all of them. The few she has missed, I found myself on the podium each time (maybe she should stay home…hmmm) and truthfully it just didn’t have the same feeling. Sure it was great to do well in the race but without someone there to cheer you on it certainly wasn’t as enjoyable.
Now Team Spencer will have a new voice when it comes to racing, and I couldn’t be happier. I am excited for the challenge of starting a family all the while continuing to do something I love in the process. A huge part of being successful in triathlon is having a healthy life balance. Managing our new life with this sport will certainly be the hardest challenge yet, but it is something I am looking forward to. Deep down we all race for selfish reasons, however having those two girls with me will make all the hard work and sacrifice worth it.
Baby Spencer maybe quiet right now but she already has made her first statement when it comes to my race schedule. As many of you know I was registered to race Ironman Lake Placid on July 28th, however with a due date of July 17th the newest member of the team had other plans. While I love and can be borderline obsessed with this sport, I still have my priorities straight and I am pretty sure Amy doesn’t want to give birth in the transition tent of an Ironman. So once the race was off the schedule I looked elsewhere for an Ironman that fit the schedule. Amy made it clear that if I wanted to race post baby she would support me. However like I said, my priorities are in order and I didn’t want to have any added stress in the first few months.
I did however find a Ironman that was 3 weeks prior to the due date and was close (Lake George) enough to be reasonable. Well as the training and subsequent planning took shape it became apparent that logistically this just wasn’t a good fit for the team once again. The beauty of having endless support at home means making these decisions are easy. I know my wife and had I truly wanted to do either of these races bad enough we would have made it work. That is why the Team works. I support her and she supports me and without saying much we trust each other to make the right decisions at the right times.
After a very easy decision to step away from the Iron distance for this season and maybe next as well I am excited to focus on the half iron distance, and try my hand at qualifying for the 70.3 world championships. This will be no easy task and knowing that I don’t excel at one particular sport over another I will have to put together a solid race across all 3 sports. Never one to lack confidence I know I can do it and am willing to take the steps necessary to achieve that goal. Excited is not even a strong enough word to describe how pumped I am to push my self at this distance and see how fast I can go. I feel I am capable of having enough speed to qualify for 70.3 worlds now (whereas I am not nearly fast enough at 140.6) and that has reinvigorated my training. So with Team Spencer on board and on the way, the new schedule locked in (for now) and my training being pushed to new levels I can’t wait to see what happens.
