Summer around the farm this year has generally been a boring place. The babies are all born, there are no major projects looming, and the animals are most content by spending their time munching on grass and soaking up the sunshine. Life has pretty much come to a slow crawl. Granted, there are always little things that need to be done: Hoof trimming, vaccinations, deworming, but these are quick things that only take a few hours here and there. *sigh* B-O-R-I-N-G... Now what do I do with my time?
And then it hit me...
Here's a novel idea!
Let's take a "Middle Aged" (*gulp* VILE words! My eyes are bleeding just from reading them!), "Lethargic", grossly "Overweight" (how come those two roll off the tongue so much easier than the first one!?) farm woman, that's never been into fitness, and turn her into a Triathlete!
Yes, you read that correctly... a Triathlete.
Is this even POSSIBLE? Maybe not by the average couch potato's standards, but my feeble mind seems to think so! And to top it off- Here's a kicker!
I'm not a runner. My only experience with running stems from a HS Health class where they take a non conditioned, typical lazy teenager, and out of the blue expect them to run laps around the school's track. I of course was "rebellious"- or unfit... (Tomato/Tamoto) and walked the entire mile completing it in roughly 25 minutes.
I'm not a Cyclist. My only experience with cycling comes from when I took it as a credit in a HS Gym class. To this day, I still remember that class! Because they were all cyclists, I was pretty much "dropped" (when you cannot keep pace- and they leave you in the dust!) in each and every class. I remember riding many lonely miles by myself back to school, hoping to get back before the start of my next class.
And then there is Swimming... The ONLY of the 3 disciplines I have any REAL experience with. All of my young life I was fortunate enough to grow up living a block away from the local city pool. I was a fish! I spent every waking minute in the water. Because I grew up by the city pool (which bordered on a lake), my parents insisted that I took a lifetime's worth of swimming lessons. (Well played Parents, well played...) Because I loved to swim SO much I went further with it taking course after course in Advanced Lifesaving. When I was a teenager I joined the YMCA's Swim Team. I swam competitively for a year or so. It was nothing to go 3 times a week to swim practice and lap swim for hours. It was easy to bang out 1500 meters of this stroke, or that stroke. But, my demise of competitive swimming came when I just couldn't take the chronic "Swimmer's Ear" infections that constantly plagued me. I never stopped swimming though. I went on to further my skills, (being an avid canoeist) and became cert. in advance canoe rescuing. In my adult hood I picked up the sport of diving becoming cert. in basic open water, advanced open water, ice diving, rescue diving, and completing all of the requirements to become a dive master.
ANYWAY, you get the point...
This little Triathlete "Spark" started on an ordinary day of going to my YMCA fitness classes. I saw a flyer on the counter advertising a self paced indoor/outdoor Ironman Triathlon. With a small fee of $25.00 you could choose to take on a half Ironman or a full Ironman, and if you completed it within the allotted time of 28 days, you received a T-shirt. And my mind went: "Hmmmmm...". I took the flyer home and contemplated a schedule to complete a FULL Ironman. A full Ironman consists of: 2.4 mile Swim, 115 mile Bike, and 26.2 mile Run. After a couple hours of plotting, I went to the Y, paid my money, and enrolled in the challenge. I was excited!! I couldn't wait for it to start!
Once it started I was off and running! (well, more like walk/running. lol!) I set a personal goal to complete this Ironman challenge at least 3 days ahead of the 28 day deadline. I had a plan that I had to stick to, and if I got behind just one day, it would be difficult to catch up. At the start of week 3, I had already completed the running portion. I had 6 laps left on my swimming portion (I would have finished them in my earlier lap swims- but I miscounted thinking I only needed 80 laps, not 86. Glad I caught that mistake!), and 46 miles left of my cycling (yup, I fell behind in cycling.)
My final push came the Monday of week 3. I decided to go "all or nothing" and finish my Ironman. I first took my usual morning hour long spin class (that knocked out 16 cycling miles). And then I got this big idea to take my mountain bike and go on a 30 mile road trek. After 3 total hours of cycling in one day, I had officially finished the bike portion of my Ironman. But I wasn't going to stop there! I still had those looming miscounted 6 laps of swimming left. WHY would I torture myself bike riding 45 miles in one day only to finish the next day?? THAT wasn't going to happen! Sooo off swimming I went. After my final lap, I stopped at the side of the pool and smiled brightly. I had actually finished a full Ironman! Even after such a grueling day of "self abuse" I quickly ran up the stairs to turn in my paperwork. I finished my Ironman 8 days ahead of closing, and 5 days ahead of my personal goal. There were less then 15 participants in that challenge, and less than half completed it. And I was of course one of the finishers. Finishing ahead of half of the finishers.
Once my self paced Ironman was over with I felt lost. I missed the mental push to be better. I missed the purpose of exercising.
Yes, I was still going to my Y classes 5 days a week, but I felt as if I needed a new challenge. I needed a never before tried, impossible feat, (for me) kind of a challenge.
And then I saw it.. The YMCA was hosting a Sprint Triathlon in mid July. This Sprint is smaller than a normal Sprint. It consists of a .8 mile swim, 13 mile bike, 2 mile run. What a PERFECT place for me to start!
The once small Spark had now started to smolder into a tiny fire.... and I caught the "Tri Bug".
The morning that I mentally decided that I was going to accept this new challenge, was actually pretty challenging in itself! I literally started BAWLING my eyes out the moment my brain quit debating and made the decision of "Yup, I'm going to do this". I was terrified! My mind was full of so many "what if's", and "how on earth", that I felt overwhelmed with emotion. Before falling into a pit of self doubt, I picked myself off my bed and got to work on planning. Fortunate for me, the internet is chalked full of information on beginner Triathlon training. And being the mental sponge I am I soaked it right up!
My first purchase was my Garmin 310xt heart rate monitor/trainer, and a foot pod accessory. I purchased this during my self paced Ironman, and frankly, it has been my best "friend" ever since. Next came 2 thick books on Triathlon training. (One of which I read almost to completion the first night I owned it!). After that came a new TYR lap suit (I was currently swimming in a goofy suit with a "skirt" on it- can we say DRAG? lol!), training fins, goggles, and swim cap. I was set!
-Or at least I THOUGHT.
I learned really quick that it doesn't matter what the book says about having fun, you cannot be a competitive cyclist with a mountain bike! I was working my tail off riding that bike to go basically nowhere fast. And to top it off, my bike had quite a few issues: Heavy as a house, gears that grind, and a back brake that drags. The fastest I could go was 12 mph (downhill, with the wind to my back! lol!)
I needed to go "Balls Deep" and find myself a road bike.
Bike shopping was an experience! I knew absolutely NOTHING about racing bikes. I had never rode on one, and just looking at the tiny skinny tires was daunting enough to make me run the other way! These bikes are so light weight that I can pick them up with just a few fingers, and I wondered how on earth this speck of a bike was going to be able to hold my...*ahem* "Mass". And then there is a little matter called "cost"! Holy cats! They just don't give these things away! I knew instantly that I wanted just an entry level road bike- because frankly, anything entry level was WAY better than the steal tank I was currently using!
After internet searches, hours spent reading customer reviews, trying different bikes, and being fitted,... I took out a small (yeah right!) loan and purchased a new Trek, Lexi. "She's" beautiful! White with blood red writing on the frame, and black handle bars. Unfortunately, it doesn't stop there... Next came new cycling clip in shoes, and new peddles to accommodate said shoes. And just when you THINK you have purchased everything, something else pops up to nickel your money away... A helmet being one of them. And the list still keeps growing. Next up for me will be gloves, replacement tubes in case I pop a tire, a way to inflate said tire.. blah, blah... Mind boggles at expenses!
All in all, the bike was the best investment I could have made! It is lightening fast! Much faster than I am comfortable with, and skillfully able to go at this level. But with time and practice, it too shall come.
Training, Training, Training!
I knew from reading that I wanted to incorporate swimming 2 x/wk, cycling 2x/wk, running 3x/wk (cause frankly, I suck), and weight lifting 2x/wk into my already seemingly bursting exercise schedule. After thinking myself into a migraine, I had a plan. I could fit in all of the above all while maintaining my indoor cycling schedule 2x/wk, zumba 2x/wk, and pilates once a week. My plan was to do all of the above, (in english that 's 2 hours a day) 6 days a week (one day of rest) with a 10% increase in my Tri Training each week, and the 4th week completely off.
So far, i'm on week 2 of my training and it has been going well. I'm learning what makes me "tick" and how to overcome mental weaknesses. Triathlon Training seems to be mainly about focusing on endurance, form, speed, and dealing with your inner demons. There always seems to be an inner voice that says "quit" or "can't" when things get tough. How you choose to deal with that voice is what makes you who you are. They do say that Triathletes are the most stubborn, compulsive people on earth- and I can see why!
I will not be setting any land speed records for my first Triathlon. Let's not forget the fact that I am toting 100lbs of extra body weight for this race. There will always be someone younger, leaner, and more skilled then me. But with a solid plan, consistent training, and an arsenal of knowledge... I no longer have that fear I had when I first committed myself. I know I can do this, the seed of self doubt is gone, and has now been replaced with being not just the "best that I can be" but "better than I could be".
I am finding that I really enjoy this sport. It's more then just swimming/biking/running. It's physical, it's mental, it's technical... It's me.
At this time, I am considering a second Triathlon this summer in August. This is a longer sprint: 1/2 mile swim, 20 mile bike, 3.1 mile run. I'm still on the fence about this one. If only I would have caught my Tri bug just a few months earlier, I wouldn't be having this debate. A few more weeks should tell me if I'm in the condition needed to complete a longer distance one this summer.
My goal is spend this summer into mid next summer doing Sprint distance Triathlons, next summer into the third year doing standard (Olympic) sized Tri.'s, and to complete my first FULL Ironman within the next 3-5 years.
There is no stopping me.... My fire is Ablaze!!!
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