Emily Sherald is our athlete feature this week! Emily has been training with EF since January of 2019, and in that time she’s made huge progress and completed her first big goal of racing her first 70.3 race!
Emily comes to triathlon from running, with some background in swimming growing up. After several years of training for running races, she was looking to add swimming back into the mix. To this end, she signed up for the swim leg of a relay triathlon. Unfortunately, the swim was cancelled, so that left her at the race watching all the other triathletes and starting to imagine what it would be like to do a full triathlon herself. Within a month, she had purchased a bike, and not long after, finished her first sprint tri!
The sense of community is what helps push Emily farther in both training and racing. In her experiences with triathlon, she’s been encouraged so much by her teammates and the support of the community around her. It’s what excites her most about racing- being in the midst of an environment that’s eager to cheer, support, offer advice, and encourage everyone in their pursuit of the sport.
Emily has worked hard over the last several months to get ready for her first big race- Ironman 70.3 in Williamsburg. She was discouraged in the winter by an injury that kept her from training to the degree she wanted to. However, with help from teammates and working closely with coach Erin, Emily was able to get the training she needed to in for an awesome race.
The group program at EF has been a huge support for Emily and helped get ready in the best way possible. She said that she couldn’t imagine training for such a huge event without company. The jokes, smiles, words of encouragement, and the wisdom of past experiences from others helps her train her best. Additionally, it helps her push through when the workouts get hard. She said she was even surprised by how fun speed work can be in the group setting!
Emily crushed her goal of the 70.3 distance earlier this month. She said that she had a great time racing with so many friends and teammates, and that it felt good to be part of such a big event. Thanks to her training and coaching, she felt well prepared, and was able to take it all in and enjoy the experience. Congrats Emily! We can’t wait to see what you do next.
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