Well, maybe not all the very beginning because technically I tried triathlon as a kid, but since I’m back to seriously training for a half Ironman triathlon, I thought I could share a bit more about my adult history with the sport before I talk about what’s in store for the beginning of this year.
Living in Northern Virginia, I’ve been lucky enough to live in a community that priorities fitness and has lots of groups that put on local events. In 2012 I had been running for a few years with training programs through my local run store and had joined a local run group. I wasn’t fast by any stretch of the imagination, but I wasn’t running consistently.
Some of the run group regulars were also triathletes and they started talking about the upcoming local sprint triathlon. This was a 750m outdoor pool swim, 14 mile bike, and 5K run. We lived right by the venue and I realized I’d actually seen the event happening the prior year. I had missed the signups but the runners connected me with the race directors who were more than happy to get me in to a drop slot and before you knew it I was in.
I started training but my fitness wasn’t bike fitness was really lacking and didn’t know much about how to train and recover. I was also a single mom of a young child so figuring out childcare, making time to train, and having the funds to purchase a bike and gear was tough. But I did it and on the day, with friends I had made long the way cheering me on. I finished my first sprint Tri in 1:54:49, an hour slower than the front of the pack but 30 min faster than the very back. I was hooked.
The same group put on an Olympic distance Triathlon several months later and soon I was signed up for that and training for the 1500m open lake swim, 25 mile bike, and 10k run. It was even harder than just the mileage increase as this course had more hills. I struggled through it and finished this in 3:57:53, again an hour slower and 30 min faster that the rest.
From there I was hooked and over the course of several years I competed in several more sprint and Olympic distance triathlons. Each time, I’d get a little bit faster in the swim, a little bit smoother at the transition, a little bit better at going from biking to running But O was still slow. From there I decided to focus on running, particularly half marathons, and just did the two other sports as cross training. Eventually I would try to tackle a marathon but end up injured and stoped racing all together.
Last year, I again started to run again. Slowly and painfully. from the beginning all over again. I also increased my hiking, averaging one a week, including a month of walking the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage across Spain. I slowly worked through cramping feet and calves, painful heel blisters and shin splints, lots of weak muscles on my legs and my core, and chronic knee pain. B
y the end of 2024, my aerobic fitness wasn’t great but it was returning, my legs no longer felt like lead and I could run/walk several miles with only minimal cramping that would go away once I warmed up. I was ready to start some structured training so I set myself a go to finish a half marathons in 16 week.
From there, it was perhaps inevitable that I soon had a full year of triathlon training mapped out with the 10 month goal of finishing a half Ironman, a distance I’ve never attempted before. I’ve got plenty of time ahead of me but this is going to take commitment, perseverance, and a lot of grit day after day to get there from here. I can’t wait!
