The past year feels like a blur.
In 2014 I was the President of the Tucson Tri Girls and was knee deep in the triathlon community all the time, yet, I was very removed from triathlon. I was working to help maintain the club and build a triathlon community but I was quickly losing interest. It isn't that I don't love multi-sport. I do love the exhilaration of finishing an endurance event. I just found something that works better for my goals.
Back in October of 2013 I starting lifting weights and building my strength. I knew my core was weak but I figured I must be physically strong to be able to swim, bike and run for hours. I could not have been more wrong. I was very fit but I was not strong. I started to discover all my inefficiencies and imbalances and I started to discover that I was built to lift heavy things.
The beautiful thing is that by building general strength and working through imbalances, I started to see real improvement in my endurance training. My run got fast and is still improving. My swim got stronger without a lot of time in the pool. My bike still kind of stinks because of a nagging back injury so I pretty much left that sport behind. Maybe I will get back to it.
By the Spring I was actually placing in my age group at local 5k events. The beautiful part is that I wasn't increasing my run training. My speed came from the efficiency I had gained through strength training.
I almost attempted an Olympic distance triathlon in May. My hip/back did not allow me to train or gain much confidence on my bike and I had a total mental/anxiety breakdown and left the event before I even started. My faith in triathlon was waning.
Over the summer, I participated in the City of Tucson Aquathlon series. I was running consistently as I was training for a late summer half marathon but my swimming was limited to once a week. My swim times were faster than they ever were when I training multiple times a week. It was like magic. I placed 3rd in my age group for the series.
My husband and I "trained" for the America's City Half Marathon in August in San Diego. This was the first half marathon or running race I ever raced back in 2002. Back in 2002 I had an awesome experience. I was excited to go away with my husband and run in cool, beautiful San Diego. Ha! It was a miserable race. I went out too fast and it was so damn hot. Running in a heat wave is no fun even if you are running along the ocean. I was dying by the 10k mark and hobbled to the end just praying to finish.
This is my cheesy, thank God it is over smile. It was long day of trying to rehydrate and put the event into perspective. In the end, I just chalked it up to experience and an affirmation that you get what you trained for. I trained to run on flat course and this course was very, very hilly. Did I mention it was also very hot.
I signed up for spring tri just to prove to myself that I was actually a triathlete. It was a great event. The course was gorgeous and the event was well run. It was very, very small and I enjoyed it thoroughly. I didn't win anything for my (lack of) speed but I felt so happy to cross the finish line.
The very best part of this race was putting on the tri kit that I wore at Tri Rock San Diego and seeing the very significant difference in my size.
I am no longer on the TTG board and my triathlon future is in limbo. I know for sure that I love everything triathlon did for me. It helped me out of depression and gave me confidence in myself. It led me to some of my favorite people and best friends. Thanks to triathlon I am on my way to making a career of something I love to do.
Onward!
