There has been major radio silence over here, though I know a lot of people have stuck with reading my infrequent posts courtesy of Google Analytics. Thanks for reading, as always. And I love getting emails from you about posts, too! I try to respond honestly and rapidly – my email is at the right.
I’m so far behind – haven’t even gotten through Mauritius and the Seychelles, much less a trip to Joshua Tree and two different weekends at the beach. I’m getting there, promise. But traveling and blogging has taken a back seat lately to a (sort of) new obsession: triathlons. You know, those things were you swim, then bike, then run? Yea, that.
It started innocently enough, in this post: Turning 30.
Last year, I did my first triathlon in April. I started with an Olympic Distance, because I was a long-time swimmer, and figured…well, why not?! (For those of you who aren’t multisport nuts, that’s a 1500m swim, 40k bike, and 10k run). I had just purchased my first bike in December. I had never swum in open water until the day of the triathlon (folks, do as I say, not as I do…probably don’t do that). But it went well. Really well. So I signed up for another.
And another.
And another.
Seven races later (with 5 age-group podium finishes), the 2016 season was over and I was gunning for 2017. With big goals.
[Side note: I hate goals. Goals and I have never gotten along. Since I was 8 I refused to make goals. So triathlons have at least improved my attitude about that, I guess!]
Somewhere between last April and today, a lot changed. Sure, we had some travel planned, but suddenly I was forming travel plans around my triathlon training schedule. I’ve gotten an awesome coach (an expensive but extremely worthy investment). I was finding public pools to swim in when we went to California, and hauling my bike to North Carolina for a training ride the day after the wedding. I spend more time on TrainingPeaks than I do stalking new flights (TrainingPeaks is like a fancy workout tracking tool great for multisport).
I’ve fallen down the rabbit hole and I can’t get up! But let’s be honest…I’m not trying…
I have three ‘goal’ races on the calendar this year, and finally feel like I’m getting the hang of training, which has pretty much taken over my day-to-day life. Just ask my dear husband, who now not only owns a bike, he even did his very first tri race in April of this year! In all seriousness, though, his support is key and I’m thankful he’s joining me for some training.
So off I go to Williamsburg, VA in July, for my first shot at the half-ironman distance (70.3 miles), to Omaha, NE in August for the USA Triathlon National Age Group Championships, which I qualified for both this year and last year, and finally–fingers still crossed–to Cambridge, MD, for 140.6. That’s a full Ironman…in October: 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, and 26.2 mile run.
While I’ll still be traveling this year, it now is mostly for triathlons until the triathlon season is over. I’m super excited about racing this year (and just got a new tri bike!), and I’m sure I’ll need/want a super big vacation if theracethatshallnotbenamed goes off as planned in October. I’m not sure where all this will lead, but I’m happy I’ve gotten this far.
Thanks for bearing with me & I promise to try to get back on a regular posting schedule.
