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Summer Rappaport

Just Keep Going

By InnerVoice

December 7^th, 2018

Not what i had expected

I started as a swimmer when I was 9. During my freshman year at Villanova, I was looking for a new challenge during the off-season, so I decided to sign up for a 10-mile road race. After seeing my time, my swim coach encouraged me to talk to the track coach about walking on to the track team. I made the standards and ran cross country and track for two and a half years. I was part of a cross country team that finished 3rd at the NCAA Championships. Running came pretty naturally to me. My biggest issue was that I had swimmer's joints, so my ankles were really unstable.

I would fall a lot, especially in cross-country where you’re running on an uneven trail.

It took me a couple of years to strengthen my muscles and bones and break out of the injury cycle from going from swimming to running.

My swim coach had done a couple of triathlons and got me in touch with the recruiter for USA Triathlon’s collegiate recruitment program. I was supposed to go back to Villanova for a fifth year and stay in that program, but I ended up leaving after completing my fourth year and earning my Bachelor’s degree. I was pretty ready to move on and take on something different. It was definitely not what I expected to happen when I arrived at Villanova as a swimmer.

Independent

I feel like my parents really worked hard to make sure that I was independent, which has served me well as I moved from Denver to Philadelphia for college, and then to different places as a triathlete. We talk every day, which makes it easier to be away from them. I would say that the hardest part at the moment is being away from my husband. We’re both based in San Diego, but I’m on the road about 5 months of the year. It’s nice when he can join me, but he has a full-time job and does age group triathlons. We try to set a time every day that we can talk. With time zones and travel it doesn’t always work, but we try to keep that consistency. We really think that communication is key, so we always try to be in touch with each other (especially in the lead up to our wedding last month).

I did a lot of wedding planning in the first half of the season. We were only engaged in January, but there’s only about a three week window where a professional triathlete can get married, so we wanted to do it this year. We’re planning to do our honeymoon next November in New Zealand, which is one of my favourite places that I’ve raced. I’ve only been to New Plymouth, which hosted a World Cup race, so I’m really excited to get to go and see some different places and actually see the country properly.

Competitive

I think one of my biggest strengths is my swim. I feel like I have pretty good instincts in the water, and when I’ve had my best races, I’ve been patient but very aggressive in the swim.

One of the things I like about draft-legal racing is the head-to-head aspect. You’re always right next to your competitors battling it out.

That’s something that I’m really passionate about.

I think my competitiveness is mostly in sport, but I can get wound up over silly things like board games. I think my husband is pretty competitive as well, so when we get going at Scrabble it can be pretty funny.

Focus on that exact moment

Earlier in the year, I arrived at the ITU race in Leeds to discover that the airline had smashed my bike. It took a few days to source a replacement, and I didn't do a good job of rebounding mentally from the stress and frustration that accompanied the incident. I never fully got into a race mindset, and Leeds is probably the toughest course on the circuit, so I feel like I showed up to an event where you need an A+ mindset with a C- mindset.

After Leeds, I was fortunate enough to be able to spend the week training in Brussels (45 min from Antwerp) with my training partner, Claire Michel. Brussels is Claire’s hometown, and it’s always a little bit easier to enjoy a place and understand and embrace the culture when you have a little local knowledge. I spent the week riding on some amazing roads, eating homemade meals with food straight from the local farmer's market, and just resetting in a way that I wouldn't have had the opportunity to do in a hotel room. I was able to bounce back after Leeds and win a week later in Antwerp, which helped boost my confidence. It was a reminder of what the right mindset can do in terms of performance.

Overall, I’ve had a series of pretty bad races this year where I’ve reacted poorly, but there have been times where I’ve been able to dig myself out by refocusing. Something that helps me in races is being about to focus on what I’m doing in that exact moment - that pedal stroke, that run step, that swim stroke. It’s about not getting even one second ahead of myself. In hindsight, my worst races have been the ones where I’m thinking ahead, worrying about someone who’s up ahead. I’ve started working with a mental coach on that side of things, and I would say the hardest part of that process is being able to integrate it under stress. I mean, it's easy to work on some of the strategies in training, but in high-pressure situations, I think that it really needs to be ingrained time and time again. Like anything, you need to do it over an extended period for it to come naturally.

But I truly think mental training is something that will help me in the long-term.

“My goal for 2019 is to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics. I think everybody has their eyes set on the Tokyo test event, which is the third weekend in August next year.”

Power in the group

When I started working with my coach, Paulo Sousa, in 2014 and for the first two seasons I trained with The Triathlon Squad there was only one other woman who raced ITU. This meant a lot of time training by myself until we gained a full squad of women for the 2017 season. Having training partners is beneficial for many reasons. When you have a big group of training partners, somebody is always on, so there is still somebody to push you in every discipline. More importantly, you can learn something from every single person that you train with. Each athlete has their own strengths and story that they can contribute, which helps build a strong group.

The other part of my team are my parents, who have been incredibly supportive of me since the start of my athletic career. Until I left for college, my parents didn't miss a single swim meet, and they still made it to all of my major competitions when I was in college. Their unconditional support of me, whether I was setting a personal best or placing last, encouraged me to continue pursuing sport through the rough times and led me to become the resilient competitor I am now.

Just Keep Going

Though I am an extremely self-motivated athlete, I admittedly draw a lot of inspiration from seeing competitors and athletes in other sports overcome challenges. When I was a younger athlete, I believed that successful athletes simply didn't have any challenges to overcome at the time of their success. Now that I am an elite athlete I know/have personally seen what other athletes have accomplished during periods of difficulty in their life/career. It serves as a reminder that no matter how difficult things are, there is a light at the end that is reachable.

The biggest thing I've learned about myself since starting my professional career five years ago is that I'm extremely resilient. I've had injuries, illnesses, terrible seasons, and thought about quitting triathlon more times than I can count. I'm still here, still competing because I want to see what I can accomplish.

The only way to do that is to keep going.

Footnotes

Words by Summer Rappaport, Photos by Matt Clark and Cody Mann and Summer, Edited by Cody Royle, Published by Travis McKenzie, Copyright NTSQ Sports Group Inc.

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FootNotes

Words by Summer Rappaport, Photos by Matt Clark and Cody Mann and Summer, Edited by Cody Royle, Published by Travis McKenzie, Copyright NTSQ Sports Group Inc.

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