September 04, 2015

No Stranger to Comebacks

September 04, 2015/ Emily Sherrard

I am no stranger to comebacks, as I have been coming from behind since day one. I was born nearly two months early and needed the help of a ventilator to breathe, and was hooked-up to all sorts of lines and tubes during my 5 week stay in the Neonatal ICU. I do not remember a time where I was lagging in reaching my developmental milestones, and some of my earliest grade school memories are of me beating almost all of the boys in the mile run during gym class in the first grade. I think I made quite a comeback from being the 3lb newborn to being a standout high school runner, a Division I athlete, and now a professional triathlete.

August 17, 2015

Life Transitions

August 17, 2015/ Emily Sherrard

I wish I could be writing a race report or a training update or a story with a happy ending, instead of a tale of heartbreak and sorrow. In contrast to 2014, a year that exceeded expectations, 2015 has been a year of disappointment as I watched my dreams seemingly fade away. It can often be said that ‘things get worse before they get better,’ and unfortunately this aphorism has come true and I find myself stuck in a transition; and not the scenario of my recurring nightmare of literally being stuck in T1 or T2.

May 01, 2015

Looking Back and Moving Forward

May 01, 2015/ Emily Sherrard

This weekend is a rather significant weekend in the history of the second coming of my athletic career. After college I swore off training and racing; feeling disappointed by the short-comings of my collegiate athletic campaign and burnt out after battling through injuries my junior and senior year, I deemed exercise as a way to stay in shape and fill up my free time after work versus a means to getting into peak physical form for competition. All that changed when I started medical school in the fall of 2011. I would struggle going from class to the library without a time to decompress and recharge in between. So I did what I had done my whole life and I ran after school.

April 06, 2015

Burying My Fears

April 06, 2015/ Emily Sherrard

I am going to be honest, I am terrified. I am terrified to be making the jump to the next level having done so little training. I am nervous to be starting my season months from now when everyone else has several races under their belts and completed loads more training than I have. I am scared that I won't get my fitness back. I panic every morning before I get out of bed not knowing what the first few steps are going to feel like and if the stiffness and soreness in my knee is going to linger and I will practically be crippled after a day of rounding in the hospital. I go to bed each night with the worry that the little training I did was too much and I will be set back 3 weeks in my recovery.

March 10, 2015

Heart over Head

March 10, 2015/ Emily Sherrard

Warning: this post will be filled with some heart-felt sentiments that may lack rationality and factual backing. If you are the type of person who lives their life on the basis of proofs and actualities, you may find this post nauseating. I also must disclose my conflict of interest: I am a female pro triathlete. Now, this post is not intended to persuade you to believe in or support the movement of #50WomentoKona, rather I wanted to share why I feel, in the most emotional of senses, there should be an equal allocation of spots for professional triathletes at the 70.3 and Ironman World Championships.

February 13, 2015

14 Things that I Love Besides Swimming, Biking, and Running

February 13, 2015/ Emily Sherrard

In celebration of Valentine's Day here are fourteen things that I love, not related to triathlon.

In no particular order:

1. Chocolate in most any form, but especially plain and simple dark chocolate. I also love chocolate cake, chocolate milk, chocolate brownies, chocolate sauce, chocolate covered almonds, chocolate pudding, and etcetera. Although one exception, I like vanilla ice cream better than chocolate ice cream.

January 29, 2015

The Bright Side of Injury

January 29, 2015/ Emily Sherrard

Through the depths of frustration, anguish, and the depressive state that I sometimes find myself in secondary to a deficiency of endorphins, I have found a silver lining. After spending the better part of the off-season struggling with an injury (then illness, then injury, and then yet another injury), I have resolved to not let it drag me down, instead it is an opportunity. And no, not an opportunity to spend my Saturday nights at the bars and become a slothful couch potato, but instead I have a chance to take a step back and get in touch with my body in new ways that do not involve putting it through the rigors of intense training.

January 23, 2015

Injured, now what?

January 23, 2015/ Emily Sherrard

Even if you do not say it aloud, these words most certainly cross your mind when that little twinge becomes a nag that then becomes a pain in the you know what, literally and/or figuratively: “I am injured, so now what?” An injury, especially for someone who relies on daily exercise to feed their endorphin addiction, is a life altering experience. It takes you out of your routine; it robs you of your outlet for stress relief and sends you spiraling into a state of despair. You become envious of others who are working out and training for races. When you hit rock bottom you are laying on the coach stuffing your face thinking you should just retire now, no one will notice.

January 12, 2015

My Latest Endeavor: Whole30

January 12, 2015/ Emily Sherrard

On Monday January 5, 2015 I started Whole30. When I explained what it was to my family and close friends, I could tell by the looks on their faces they were thinking “As if Emily wasn’t crazy enough.” You may have heard about this Paleo-esque diet (for lack of a better term, I dislike the “d” word). It is really Paleo on steroids, as is not only eliminates gluten, but there are no grains, period. In addition it excludes sugar, soy, dairy, legumes, and alcohol. In the spirit of Whole 30, you are also supposed to limit snacking and there is no re-creation of things like muffins or pancakes with Whole 30 approved ingredients. Holy wow! This is definitely going to be a challenge.

December 30, 2014

Why Go Pro?

December 30, 2014/ Emily Sherrard

Why go pro? A good question, particularly at a time when there seems to be dwindling support of professionals in the sport by one of the largest and arguably most influential brands in triathlon, Ironman. While the announcement of professional prize purses at Challenge races brightened my day, I am not in it for the money (or the fame). Of course I would love to earn a paycheck by doing what I love-one of the reasons I am going into medicine-but I know as a professional triathlete you don’t just get a paycheck by showing up to work. With the restructuring of prize money and some companies pulling back on their financial support of professional athletes, cash is going to be a lot harder to come by, especially as a first year pro.

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