Wow, so I remember my first triathlon and remember how incredibly nervous I was and how much I was dreading getting in that water and being surrounded by all these people who looked like they knew what they were doing. Most of these people had wet suits or shorty suits or triathlon outfits, I showed up in a swim suit and a full suspension mountain bike. I soon and very quickly learned that a mountain bike for a road race is NOT the way to go.
As my friend and I were standing on beach getting ready to head into the goose poo filled lake, the announcer had some words of encouragement. "If this is your first triathlon, congratulations. This will be the only first one you do and you will always remember it. There will be more first in terms of different races and courses but this, right now is going to stick with you for the rest of your life. Once you cross that finish line, the empowering feeling you will have knowing you have accomplished this feat will stick with you for the rest of your life." She didn't know how true that was. I have since participated in 4 triathlons, all varying in length and course styles, but the announcer was right, that first one was the one that set the path for me wanting to push the limits of my athleticism.
Now most people hear triathlon and think, "wow I could never do one of those," but you know I thought I was one of those people too. Growing up in Colorado I didn't swim much, besides recreationally as a kid and jumping off a cliff and swimming back to the shore, I mean in the mountains there really isn't much swimming that doesn't require a really, really thick wet suit. The concept of swimming is and still remains a foreign sport to me. For this reason alone I didn't think I could to a triathlon, let alone the fact that I had never run more than maybe a couple of miles at a time in my life, most of these races are at least 3.2 miles long if not more.
When I moved to California and didn't have any mountains to play on I took up running, I say took up but it was more like how far can I really run. I think I made it up to 4 miles in one run. I was impressed with myself. So after all this running I called a friend who also moved to Cali from Colorado and asked if she wanted to do the triathlons with me. Her response was, "I haven't done one since high school and I haven't trained, but sure why not." My response was, "I've never done of and haven't trained either so what the hell, what do we have to lose?"
So off we went to the first triathlon, untrained but not completely out of shape. Now her and I have always been friendly competitors, never one to try and out do the other, but you know, a little friendly competition to push you harder never hurts your time. We both showed up with mountain bikes and the bare essentials, helmet, swim suit, goggles, swim cap, running shoes and water. Looking around we realized that we definitely should have maybe brought a little more. A road bike for one, a wet suit maybe, the water wasn't that cold, maybe a padded pair of bike shorts or anything that would have made us look a little more like we knew what we were doing.
I'm going to skip the whole race part mostly because after getting in kicked, pulled, hit, run into and swallowing more lake water than I care to elaborate on, the race itself was WAY easier than I though it was going to be. Again a road bike would have been much, much,much better but we both finished and in respectable times seeing as we did this straight off the couch.
After congratulating ourselves and getting our share of free swag and free massages we immediately signed up for one two weeks later. We were hooked.
I left California and moved back to Colorado where I was uncertain if I would continue my triathlon pursuits but sure enough I found that this state is a Mecca of triathlons. I only managed to get in one the first year I moved back but I did also pick one of the hardest ones in the state to do, sprint wise. I choose the Leadville Tri it High which was a sprint triathlon, meaning short distances, but Leadville is at 10,000ft above sea level. A sever lack of oxygen is what makes this race so hard. This was the first one I had done by myself, I knew no one and was really worried that I would drown in the pool or do something stupid because I had no friend to support me. I did choose the WAY wrong time category to place myself in for the swim. I should have know that I couldn't swim 500 meters in under 10 minutes at 10,000ft, who I was I kidding, it took me like 12 or more, I was the last one out of my lane and delayed the race by at least a couple of minutes, my bad.
But, again, once I crossed that finish line I felt so proud of myself. Turns out that I placed 3rd in my age group, not bad for, again, doing it off the couch. Since then I have been hooked. This winter I injured my knee and was unable to ski or do much of anything for the better part of 5 months, so I was very unsure if I was going to be able to do anything this summer. Having gone through some physical therapy and "taking it easy" my knee felt 100% again. I soon got back into my normal routine, but this year it has included mostly rock climbing and teaching boot camp classes at the gym. After going back and forth and back and forth about if I wanted to do any races this summer, I finally settled on one in Avon; a fund raiser for a friend of some friends killed in a car wreck two years ago. "Perfect, I'm in."
The day before the race I kept going back and forth in my mind, "do I do this or not, yes-no-yes-no???" Finally I thought, "you know what do you have to lose, you didn't train, you bought a bike soley do race on and you'll get to see your friends, just do it it's not like I'm going to win." So I packed the mini van and headed out to race. I think the only thing, again, that made me hesitate is swimming. I hate swimming. I rented a wet suit for this one, I've never been in wet suit nor put one on. I now know what a sausage feels like. As I made my way up to the lake and got it I realized that I was going to be very happy that I had one on. As I dove in and began my swim I started to feel really trapped, like I have this giant rubber suit on that feels like it's tightening around my neck, I'm getting hit and pulled and pushed and oh my god I can't do this (I'd been in the water for 30 seconds). I immediately flipped on my back and decided I was going to do the whole race using the back stroke. I could at least see and breath rather than swallow water and not see where I was going.
Again, I am going to skip the race details, but finishing this one actually made me feel really really good. I had pushed myself to my athletic limits, conquered the water (now I need to conquer the wet suit) and finished in a respectable time and place. Being 30 really puts me in a much harder age bracket. I think that when women turn 32 something either clicks in their head and they become some kind of super human triathlon being or they really really really have nothing better to do than train for these because every woman that wins is in their mid to late 30's or even 40's and this race was no exception. The winning woman was 42, 42!!!
So with this race behind me, I am now looking for the next one to conquer. I suppose I could train for them but you know I thinks it's way more fun to do it off the couch, it shows me that all the playing I do really does keep me in shape and allow me to push myself harder and harder when I really want to.
As my friend and I were standing on beach getting ready to head into the goose poo filled lake, the announcer had some words of encouragement. "If this is your first triathlon, congratulations. This will be the only first one you do and you will always remember it. There will be more first in terms of different races and courses but this, right now is going to stick with you for the rest of your life. Once you cross that finish line, the empowering feeling you will have knowing you have accomplished this feat will stick with you for the rest of your life." She didn't know how true that was. I have since participated in 4 triathlons, all varying in length and course styles, but the announcer was right, that first one was the one that set the path for me wanting to push the limits of my athleticism.
Now most people hear triathlon and think, "wow I could never do one of those," but you know I thought I was one of those people too. Growing up in Colorado I didn't swim much, besides recreationally as a kid and jumping off a cliff and swimming back to the shore, I mean in the mountains there really isn't much swimming that doesn't require a really, really thick wet suit. The concept of swimming is and still remains a foreign sport to me. For this reason alone I didn't think I could to a triathlon, let alone the fact that I had never run more than maybe a couple of miles at a time in my life, most of these races are at least 3.2 miles long if not more.
When I moved to California and didn't have any mountains to play on I took up running, I say took up but it was more like how far can I really run. I think I made it up to 4 miles in one run. I was impressed with myself. So after all this running I called a friend who also moved to Cali from Colorado and asked if she wanted to do the triathlons with me. Her response was, "I haven't done one since high school and I haven't trained, but sure why not." My response was, "I've never done of and haven't trained either so what the hell, what do we have to lose?"
So off we went to the first triathlon, untrained but not completely out of shape. Now her and I have always been friendly competitors, never one to try and out do the other, but you know, a little friendly competition to push you harder never hurts your time. We both showed up with mountain bikes and the bare essentials, helmet, swim suit, goggles, swim cap, running shoes and water. Looking around we realized that we definitely should have maybe brought a little more. A road bike for one, a wet suit maybe, the water wasn't that cold, maybe a padded pair of bike shorts or anything that would have made us look a little more like we knew what we were doing.
I'm going to skip the whole race part mostly because after getting in kicked, pulled, hit, run into and swallowing more lake water than I care to elaborate on, the race itself was WAY easier than I though it was going to be. Again a road bike would have been much, much,much better but we both finished and in respectable times seeing as we did this straight off the couch.
After congratulating ourselves and getting our share of free swag and free massages we immediately signed up for one two weeks later. We were hooked.
I left California and moved back to Colorado where I was uncertain if I would continue my triathlon pursuits but sure enough I found that this state is a Mecca of triathlons. I only managed to get in one the first year I moved back but I did also pick one of the hardest ones in the state to do, sprint wise. I choose the Leadville Tri it High which was a sprint triathlon, meaning short distances, but Leadville is at 10,000ft above sea level. A sever lack of oxygen is what makes this race so hard. This was the first one I had done by myself, I knew no one and was really worried that I would drown in the pool or do something stupid because I had no friend to support me. I did choose the WAY wrong time category to place myself in for the swim. I should have know that I couldn't swim 500 meters in under 10 minutes at 10,000ft, who I was I kidding, it took me like 12 or more, I was the last one out of my lane and delayed the race by at least a couple of minutes, my bad.
But, again, once I crossed that finish line I felt so proud of myself. Turns out that I placed 3rd in my age group, not bad for, again, doing it off the couch. Since then I have been hooked. This winter I injured my knee and was unable to ski or do much of anything for the better part of 5 months, so I was very unsure if I was going to be able to do anything this summer. Having gone through some physical therapy and "taking it easy" my knee felt 100% again. I soon got back into my normal routine, but this year it has included mostly rock climbing and teaching boot camp classes at the gym. After going back and forth and back and forth about if I wanted to do any races this summer, I finally settled on one in Avon; a fund raiser for a friend of some friends killed in a car wreck two years ago. "Perfect, I'm in."
The day before the race I kept going back and forth in my mind, "do I do this or not, yes-no-yes-no???" Finally I thought, "you know what do you have to lose, you didn't train, you bought a bike soley do race on and you'll get to see your friends, just do it it's not like I'm going to win." So I packed the mini van and headed out to race. I think the only thing, again, that made me hesitate is swimming. I hate swimming. I rented a wet suit for this one, I've never been in wet suit nor put one on. I now know what a sausage feels like. As I made my way up to the lake and got it I realized that I was going to be very happy that I had one on. As I dove in and began my swim I started to feel really trapped, like I have this giant rubber suit on that feels like it's tightening around my neck, I'm getting hit and pulled and pushed and oh my god I can't do this (I'd been in the water for 30 seconds). I immediately flipped on my back and decided I was going to do the whole race using the back stroke. I could at least see and breath rather than swallow water and not see where I was going.
Again, I am going to skip the race details, but finishing this one actually made me feel really really good. I had pushed myself to my athletic limits, conquered the water (now I need to conquer the wet suit) and finished in a respectable time and place. Being 30 really puts me in a much harder age bracket. I think that when women turn 32 something either clicks in their head and they become some kind of super human triathlon being or they really really really have nothing better to do than train for these because every woman that wins is in their mid to late 30's or even 40's and this race was no exception. The winning woman was 42, 42!!!
So with this race behind me, I am now looking for the next one to conquer. I suppose I could train for them but you know I thinks it's way more fun to do it off the couch, it shows me that all the playing I do really does keep me in shape and allow me to push myself harder and harder when I really want to.
I can appreciate the comment about the mountain bike in a road race. All I have is a mountain bike right now, but it's been a good challenge to try and keep up with the road bikers. But, man, I would really like a road bike! :) I think it must feel like riding on wind by comparison.
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