August Newsletter
Greetings from Estonia!
Hi everyone! Well, a lot has changed since the last time I sent one of these letters out. I don’t doubt we are all still dealing with the effects of a world changed by COVID-19. I hope you’ve all been able to get through this period relatively unscathed.
Last time I sent one of these newsletters out, I was in peak form about to begin the Olympic Year! Very quickly when the first races started to be cancelled, our coach backed down on our training and we entered a “maintenance” phase as we waited to find out more clarity on the year. Shortly thereafter, with the announcement of the postponement of the Olympic Games, many of us departed from our training base in Portugal, to quarantine in our home environments.
As an Olympic hopeful athlete your life revolves around one particular year in the future. Carl, my family, close friends, past coaches, and my club have lived this journey viscerally, supporting me often without much in return. There have been financial sacrifices, moves across the world, Carl postponing his career to support me, my family accepting my incessant exercising and waking up the household on every vacation for the past 20 (!?) years.
As a good friend once said beautifully “When you train as an Olympian you give up everything for that one thing. When you retire, you give up that one thing for everything.” To get so close you can touch it, and then to have it ripped away has and continues to be difficult to deal with. That’s just the raw, honest truth.
I’ve taken this time to enjoy things outside of sport and filled my days with baking, gardening, a bit of programming and 3D printing (see pictures). Right now, I’m writing this letter from Estonia, where I’m training with a small subset of the Triathlon Squad.
As is the theme of this year, expect the unexpected 😎. European Championships has unfortunately been cancelled but I’m excited to announce that I will start my season this weekend (August 15th) at the Baltic Championships hosted in Riga, Latvia! The following weekend (August 23rd) I will get to compete head to head with 9 other women in the Super League Triathlon Arena Games in Rotterdam, Netherlands. It’s a COVID-friendly concept consisting of a 200 meter swim, 4km bike, 1km run BREAK; 4km bike, 1km run, 200 meter swim BREAK; 1km run, 200 meter swim, 4km bike. The swim is in a pool, the bike and run are held on a virtual platform called Zwift. It is the first competition of its kind, and the start list is strong! I’m very excited to get the chance to try out this format; it will be a good wakeup call!
Click the link below to see some more photos from the past few weeks!
Thanks for your support during these times! I wish you all continued good health.
Valerie Barthelemy