Fun Day at a Triathlon Clinic

I just got back from a women's triathlon clinic put on by Ultramax events and I am SO PSYCHED to continue training for my first race! There were approximately 25 women there of various ages and physical abilities all with the goal of completing their triathlons. The three coaches there were women affiliated with Joe Friel's Training Bible program and they were very enthusiastic ambassadors for the sport. The most impressive thing to me was that they have all completed Ironman distance events, all are married, and two have young children. When I heard them describing how they get their training in, including 4:30 a.m. rise times, quick runs whenever someone was around to watch the kids, and hours on the indoor bike trainer it quickly made me feel ashamed at my "I'm too tired" and "I don't have time" excuses. Let's face it , I work and that's about it. In theory, I have tons of time to train, hell I could be training 20 hours a week if I just got off my butt, turned off the TV and quit surfing the internet. This day really made me WANT to be a triathlete, made me crave the accomplishment of finishing a race, made me want to be a stronger woman. Now I just need to challenge that desire into consistent training!!

Another aspect of the day was the chance to see other people's nifty gear. I'm now coveting a road bike (will my '99 Kona mountain bike really get me through?) and fancy race clothes (I'd be so much faster in a cool pair of tri shorts) and kick ass athletic looking sunglasses. Of course, my budget is limited so I'll need to decide what I really need as opposed to want. Of course I did do twenty hours of overtime this week ... I was going to put it all on my credit card debt but maybe I can put $200 away in my "road bike" fund. Enough overtime shifts and maybe I can have a shiny new bike before my race in July. Think of how fast I'll be! I'll actually want to get on my bike! After tri season, I can train for charity bike rides - I could do good for humanity!! (If you haven't noticed I'm really good at this rationalization thing .. it's a forte of mine :)

Of course before I even worry about getting a bike, I need to start consistently training. So far I've run twice this week and completed one strength session (I hate lunges and squats!). Tomorrow I'm going to swim and bike so that way I can say I got all three sports in this week. Next week I need to really commit to my training plan and stop making excuses. I need to stop wasting the time and actually find the time. I finally believe that I can do it, and it's a pretty exciting feeling!