I had always been addicted so some sort of training regime; in my teens it was riding my heavy mountain bike around the hilly neighbourhood and taking great pride that boys walked up hills I rode up, or in my late teens my gym class addiction that had my friends and I at the gym morning and night (probably in secret competition with each other over who did the most classes per week). Running only came about in my early 20s when I was planning to backpack indefinitely around the Americas and I knew I couldn’t be paying casual gym class fees in every city I visited. So I took up running; I have no idea how far I ran or how fast as I never owned a Garmin, it was for the love. I ran around New York City, Toronto, Calgary, The Blue Ridge mountains in North Carolina, Miami, Mexico and Guatemala to name a few.
Many years later back in Australia I was still running, just casually, sometimes more than others, sometimes not much at all. Until late 2013 I noticed, as you do, I had gotten a little lazy and a bit podgy around the belly. I was looking for some new motivation! I stumbled upon Running Mums Australia Facebook page, and this is where my life took a turn for the better and my bank account took a turn for the worse. This page was full of inspirational ladies running anything from 5km to 160km races! I was mind blown, I was immediately motivated to run, and run hard and long. Over the next 12 months I built up my running and bought my first Garmin and did one or two half marathons in that time. At the beginning of 2015 I saw the signs for the Elite Energy Triathlon in my home town of Wollongong. That looked interesting I thought and looked it up on the internet. There was an event called a Try-a-Tri; it was free, and you could use any bike and the distances were quite achievable too. So before you know it I was signed up for Try-a-Tri with that same heavy mountain bike I used to ride around my neighbourhood. The main thing that worried me was the swim. I hadn’t really swum as an adult, so I was nervous about that, and growing up in the country I didn’t really like the ocean. The only thing that calmed me with the swim was that it was in the safety of Wollongong Harbour. Phew. Then started the ‘quick! I need to learn to swim 200 metres in 10 weeks’ training program. I was hopeless at swimming (well actually, I still am!) but I plugged away, I watched YouTube videos of how to swim properly and was just trying to make the distance needed for the day. I googled how to train for a triathlon, I’m pretty sure I even did some brick sessions in that 10 week “training program”. I bought a “Liv” tri suit off Ebay as they seemed to be the things that one wore when taking part in a triathlon. I also did a triathlon skills short course in this time to learn about transitions and some bike skills. To this day, many races later I still use some of these transition techniques I was taught in this short course.
On the day I asked my family and brothers family to come watch, I thought this was a huge thing I was doing and at the time it was! I got to registration super early to get all my gear in transition and mentally prep.
I watched the time like a hawk to make sure I didn’t miss race start. All the new triathletes taking part in the Try-a-Tri were on the sand to take part in their first triathlon. It was very short distances but it was something I had never done.
Being the over-confident personality I was, I hadn’t really thought of any parts of the triathlon I would not be able to do, the main concern was having the transition down pat and actually completing the whole event, NOT last. Before I knew it, the gun was going for the swim start. I knew this was my worst leg and had planned to just get out of people’s way and get back to the sand as quick as possible. The swim was only 200m and I remember hating it! I was thinking wow, this is different to pool swimming, what have I got myself into, why do people do this? All was fine though I completed the swim with just a few knocks and kicks which I now realise is totally acceptable after doing many triathlons. I made it into transition and put my shoes on and grabbed my helmet and I was off. I had my big cumbersome mountain bike remember; I was going nowhere quick. But I didn’t care, I was in heaven! Riding my bike, I didn’t care it was the oldest bike out there or the heaviest or the ugliest, I was riding I was happy. The bike leg was uneventful but memorable, I remember riding past my family and waving, feeling like the fit one of the family! Haha. Into transition again to move onto the run, I actually remembered to remove my helmet which was one of my fears – running with my helmet on.. I think the run was only 2kms but by gosh did I love it. Hi fiving Miss 7. Running where I train and where I live and run every day, it was so enjoyable. Crossing that finish line on that day was amazing. It was my new love. It was where the birth of my triathlon addiction began. I crossed that line and met up with family and remember saying “that is the best combination of 3 sports!” haha.. and that’s where it all began. I have gone on to complete 1 Ironman, 4 Half Ironman, and many Olympic distance. I have never competed in a sprint or enticer event. I have goals of more Ironman and hopefully 2020 Ultraman. Triathlon has been a blessing in my life and provided me stress relief and an out from the regular grind. I have met so many people through it and will continue to give my time to the local triathlon club to help the sport in any way.