Thursday, May 24, 2012
Intro
I've finally decided to boldly go where so many have already gone before me and create a blog, partially about me, well, ok, mostly about me, but while I can't promise to always be funny, witty, and informative, I do hope to make this a collection full of links to other funny witty and informative things...
So, about me, in a nutshell... since the main focus is multisport, we'll start there... it all began at age 4, when my parents put me on the Sea Hawks swim team... I was more of a mascot really, barely making it down the pool, but I still remember the raucous cheers as I would finally doggy paddle my way to the end. Fast forward to age 8, turns out I sucked at just about every sport my parents tried to put me in, gymnastics, ballet, soccer, softball, and, well, any sport with a ball really, I was just really ... not good at any of them. Being that I was hyperactive, they had to find something to keep me focused, or maybe entertained, or maybe just out of their hair, but whatever the reason, I began my swimming "career" at that point. Fast forward to age 12, I finally got my 1st AA time in swimming, and finally didn't suck at something! Fast forward to age 16, after hours and hours and hours in the pool, swimming 9 practices per week (that means sometimes twice a day) I was pretty burnt out. 16 is right about the age where you have to really start focusing if you want to make the team in college. Instead, my focus waned, but this is where the multisport comes in, I started running track and cross country. While I wasn't great, I was decent, and the 2nd fastest female distance runner at my high school.
In college I did manage to walk on to the swim team my freshman year, but the next year I got cut. So I quit swimming for the time being and ended up running most days since I was an ROTC cadet and it was part of our Physical Training (PT) regimen. Once again, I was the 2nd fastest female in the program. My senior year I did go to one meeting for the JMU triathlon club, but as I did not have a bike, I never did actually join or start training with them. Fast forward a few more years, somewhere around age 24, I had started swimming again and was still running and as a member of the Army National Guard, and I applied to be on the Army Reserve Pentathlon team. The Reserve pentathlon was a bit different than the one you see in the Olympics, no horses or fencing. The 5 events consisted of Rifle shooting, Pistol shooting, a Land Obstacle Course, Water Obstacle course, and Orienteering (running around in the woods with a map and compass looking for points). I made the team, headed to Ft. Sam and had an awesome time training for 3 weeks, and headed up to Vermont to compete against the Canadian team, but we didn't actually get to go to Greece for the World competition as there was a terrorist threat. Being that I wasn't the most awesome shooter when it came to pistol, I wouldn't have made the team that went to Greece anyway. The next year my evil Battalion Commander wouldn't let me go to the competition, and never did give me a reason other that "I just don't feel you should go", and thus ended my short stint in Military Pentathlon.
In the meantime, Triathlon was growing more and more popular and became an Olympic sport. I was interested, and wanted to try one, but there was still that issue of not having a bike. Why didn't I go out and buy one you ask? It's complicated, but mostly had to do with the fact that my ex-husband controlled the finances. Fortunately, he's now an ex. Ladies don't ever let this happen to you! So many years wasted...
Fast forward several years, to age 30. Divorced (i.e. free) and able to control my own destiny, I was in a masters swim program, that like many nowadays, had a fair number of triathletes. I marveled at those that had done an Ironman, a whole Ironman! While 2.4 miles of swimming isn't much of a challenge for someone who spent most of their life as a swimmer, but I couldn't imagine riding an entire 112 miles, and then running a marathon! I told them they were crazy and I'd never do one... never say never. One of the 2 Ironwomen I met had a bike she was looking to sell, so I bought it from her at the very next practice and started training. Fortunately, within that next year I ran into one of my old high school friends who just happened to manage a bike shop (which is also how I met my current husband http://peteridesbikes.blogspot.com/) and with a little help from him and the folks in the DC Tri Club I was on my way!
I can still recall how at my first sprint Tri, I watched the folks doing the Olympic distance and though, OMG, I can't believe they are going twice as far! They're crazy! Funny how your perception of "far" changes between that first sprint and your first ironman... since that first sprint, I can't even recall how many sprint and oly distance races I've done. With only 1 Ironman and 4 half IMs, I can count those on 1 hand. I suspect I will one day lose track of the 70.3 distance races as well, but I still haven't forgotten the pain of the Ironman, and that was 2 years ago! Not sure anyone ever loses track of the number of those...
I recall the first Sprint Tri I ever won, the Dewey Beach Tri, back in 2008. How I miss that race. Unfortunately, it always seems to fall on drill weekend. While I've improved since then, the number of speedy women seems to increase tenfold every year. To date, that is still my only overall win. I've won my age group many times, and I've come in Top 3 overall on a few occasions, but that remains the only Tri I could say I was first overall. I was a member of the DC Tri Club Elite Team in 2010 and a member of the Air Force (I switched branches of the military in 2004) Triathlon team in 2010 and 2011 (still waiting to hear back but I think I made it this year as well). I'm currently a member of the Bike Doctor cycling team as well, although much like my early swimming days, I seem to be more like a mascot, as the only woman currently racing on the team (although there is one other who may make her comeback this summer :).
So far so good this season, but it's still early. I got 2nd in my Category (ok, it's Cat 4 which is the lowest one) at the Dismal Dash 40K TT and went a personal best time. Then I got 1st Cat 4 in the 12mi Conquer the Canal TT, and 1st Cat 4 at the Langley Criterium. I've done one Tri so far, the Chasing Chickens Sprint Tri, and was the 3rd overall female. Oh, and I did a 5k run on base and got 1st, but seeing as how that was just a fun run and wasn't a chip timed event, I'm not sure that one counts :) Thanks to my coach Ken Lundgren http://www.eliteendurance.com/About.aspx for putting up with me so far this season, let's hope I've followed his plan closely enough to produce some more good results!
More to come....
So, about me, in a nutshell... since the main focus is multisport, we'll start there... it all began at age 4, when my parents put me on the Sea Hawks swim team... I was more of a mascot really, barely making it down the pool, but I still remember the raucous cheers as I would finally doggy paddle my way to the end. Fast forward to age 8, turns out I sucked at just about every sport my parents tried to put me in, gymnastics, ballet, soccer, softball, and, well, any sport with a ball really, I was just really ... not good at any of them. Being that I was hyperactive, they had to find something to keep me focused, or maybe entertained, or maybe just out of their hair, but whatever the reason, I began my swimming "career" at that point. Fast forward to age 12, I finally got my 1st AA time in swimming, and finally didn't suck at something! Fast forward to age 16, after hours and hours and hours in the pool, swimming 9 practices per week (that means sometimes twice a day) I was pretty burnt out. 16 is right about the age where you have to really start focusing if you want to make the team in college. Instead, my focus waned, but this is where the multisport comes in, I started running track and cross country. While I wasn't great, I was decent, and the 2nd fastest female distance runner at my high school.
In college I did manage to walk on to the swim team my freshman year, but the next year I got cut. So I quit swimming for the time being and ended up running most days since I was an ROTC cadet and it was part of our Physical Training (PT) regimen. Once again, I was the 2nd fastest female in the program. My senior year I did go to one meeting for the JMU triathlon club, but as I did not have a bike, I never did actually join or start training with them. Fast forward a few more years, somewhere around age 24, I had started swimming again and was still running and as a member of the Army National Guard, and I applied to be on the Army Reserve Pentathlon team. The Reserve pentathlon was a bit different than the one you see in the Olympics, no horses or fencing. The 5 events consisted of Rifle shooting, Pistol shooting, a Land Obstacle Course, Water Obstacle course, and Orienteering (running around in the woods with a map and compass looking for points). I made the team, headed to Ft. Sam and had an awesome time training for 3 weeks, and headed up to Vermont to compete against the Canadian team, but we didn't actually get to go to Greece for the World competition as there was a terrorist threat. Being that I wasn't the most awesome shooter when it came to pistol, I wouldn't have made the team that went to Greece anyway. The next year my evil Battalion Commander wouldn't let me go to the competition, and never did give me a reason other that "I just don't feel you should go", and thus ended my short stint in Military Pentathlon.
In the meantime, Triathlon was growing more and more popular and became an Olympic sport. I was interested, and wanted to try one, but there was still that issue of not having a bike. Why didn't I go out and buy one you ask? It's complicated, but mostly had to do with the fact that my ex-husband controlled the finances. Fortunately, he's now an ex. Ladies don't ever let this happen to you! So many years wasted...
Fast forward several years, to age 30. Divorced (i.e. free) and able to control my own destiny, I was in a masters swim program, that like many nowadays, had a fair number of triathletes. I marveled at those that had done an Ironman, a whole Ironman! While 2.4 miles of swimming isn't much of a challenge for someone who spent most of their life as a swimmer, but I couldn't imagine riding an entire 112 miles, and then running a marathon! I told them they were crazy and I'd never do one... never say never. One of the 2 Ironwomen I met had a bike she was looking to sell, so I bought it from her at the very next practice and started training. Fortunately, within that next year I ran into one of my old high school friends who just happened to manage a bike shop (which is also how I met my current husband http://peteridesbikes.blogspot.com/) and with a little help from him and the folks in the DC Tri Club I was on my way!
I can still recall how at my first sprint Tri, I watched the folks doing the Olympic distance and though, OMG, I can't believe they are going twice as far! They're crazy! Funny how your perception of "far" changes between that first sprint and your first ironman... since that first sprint, I can't even recall how many sprint and oly distance races I've done. With only 1 Ironman and 4 half IMs, I can count those on 1 hand. I suspect I will one day lose track of the 70.3 distance races as well, but I still haven't forgotten the pain of the Ironman, and that was 2 years ago! Not sure anyone ever loses track of the number of those...
I recall the first Sprint Tri I ever won, the Dewey Beach Tri, back in 2008. How I miss that race. Unfortunately, it always seems to fall on drill weekend. While I've improved since then, the number of speedy women seems to increase tenfold every year. To date, that is still my only overall win. I've won my age group many times, and I've come in Top 3 overall on a few occasions, but that remains the only Tri I could say I was first overall. I was a member of the DC Tri Club Elite Team in 2010 and a member of the Air Force (I switched branches of the military in 2004) Triathlon team in 2010 and 2011 (still waiting to hear back but I think I made it this year as well). I'm currently a member of the Bike Doctor cycling team as well, although much like my early swimming days, I seem to be more like a mascot, as the only woman currently racing on the team (although there is one other who may make her comeback this summer :).
So far so good this season, but it's still early. I got 2nd in my Category (ok, it's Cat 4 which is the lowest one) at the Dismal Dash 40K TT and went a personal best time. Then I got 1st Cat 4 in the 12mi Conquer the Canal TT, and 1st Cat 4 at the Langley Criterium. I've done one Tri so far, the Chasing Chickens Sprint Tri, and was the 3rd overall female. Oh, and I did a 5k run on base and got 1st, but seeing as how that was just a fun run and wasn't a chip timed event, I'm not sure that one counts :) Thanks to my coach Ken Lundgren http://www.eliteendurance.com/About.aspx for putting up with me so far this season, let's hope I've followed his plan closely enough to produce some more good results!
More to come....
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