about triathlons — what I learned

I will say this about tris: you get a lot of cool photos. (Marshfield-Duxbury 2014)

If you read my first post about my BLSx2 swim this summer, you may be wondering how I got to that point. How did I end up in the middle of a six-hour swim in Boston Harbor? The short answer is “one thing led to another.” The long answer begins below. (It only begins below because, well, it’s a very long answer.)

First, without diving into my lifelong swim story here, let me explain how I got into marathon swimming in the first place. Believing that after swimming for four years in college I had probably peaked in the pool (I hadn’t, but that’s a story for another time), I wanted to try some other things. In August 2013, I competed in my first triathlon—the sprint-distance (ish) Sharon Triathlon. It was a 0.5 mile swim, a 12.4 mile bike, and a 4.4 mile run, and it was fun! I enjoyed the physical challenge as well as the social aspect: a few of my friends from college invited me to be on their team, TriTechElite.

Still having fun. (Marshfield-Duxbury 2014)

Since Sharon was close to the end of the season, it was the only tri I did that year. In the offseason, I kept swimming with my Masters team and did a variety of biking, running, and strength training to get ready for a full season of triathlon. The next summer I completed 5 sprints, 1 Olympic, and 2 relays (strangely, as the cyclist in one and the runner in the other). I got faster as the season progressed, but most of my individual races consisted of a top-tier swim followed by mediocre bikes and runs during which I got passed by seemingly everyone.

Age group podium (2/20) and sweet team jacket! (Sharon 2015)

I kept training for tris, but for the 2015 season decided to mix up my event lineup. I did 3 sprint tris, 2 Olympic tris, 3 open water swims, and even ran a half-marathon. (To see if I’d want to do a half ironman; it went super well, but no way!) My biking and running continue to improve; I was now a decent age group triathlete and sometimes made the podium for my age group. I was having fun but felt I had reached a decision point: I could focus on my biking and running to become more a competitive triathlete, or I could move towards open water swimming. I liked tris, but I liked swimming more. Frequently, my training plan would call for running or cycling, but I usually wanted to go to swim practice instead.

So, it turned out to be an easy choice. I could (and did and do) run and bike as cross-training, without worrying about competing, and have fun doing it. To open water I went.