30 Before 30: 1. Sign Up For A Triathlon

What a way to start my 30 Before 30! I went to the Zurich Ironman Triathlon website to sign up for a triathlon (don’t start freaking out, I certainly didn’t sign up for the Ironman… I was thinking more along the lines of a 1/4 or 1/8 Ironman…).

Lo and behold, there was no way for me to sign up so early for the 2014 competition! And I find that kind of hard to believe because normally the Swiss plan so far ahead, I was afraid I might only be able to get a spot for 2017 or later.

Nevertheless, motivated by the idea that I will be participating in a triathlon in the future, I decided to go for my first jog since giving birth. And, let’s be honest, basically my first jog since I found out I was pregnant. That puts me at right around 10-11 months since the last time I jogged. Yikes!! I decided to keep it easy for my first time and I ran 2 miles in 21 minutes. Not great but actually not nearly as bad as I thought it would be! Plus, Switzerland has a lot of hills – can we blame my time on that?? Either way, I felt good about it, especially after reading myself some motivational quotes.

 

Though I then did 10 push-ups and 10 crunches and thought I possibly might die so I decided to call it a day.

Ok yes, technically I didn’t actually do what I said I would do, which was to actually sign up for a triathlon. BUT, I did put the date in my calendar and I did start “training”, so I count that as a half-success. .5 down, 29.5 things to go!

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I’m taking on the quest to do 30 new things before I turn 30! Read my initial post to see the full list of things I want to do.

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3 Reasons I’m Training for a Triathlon

Yep, hell has most likely frozen over and possibly you’ve seen a pig flying by recently? Because I, the lazy/nonathletic/my favorite hobby is sleeping/really lazy person, am training for a triathlon!! I get that this a major shock for some of you to believe so I’ll wait here while you sit down and catch your breath. Waiting…

Ok, we’re all good? Great. Now don’t get crazy and think I’m doing an Ironman tri; I’ll be starting with an Olympic Distance. For all the non-tri folks (aka me last last month!), here’s the torture for which I’ve voluntary signed up to do:

1. First you swim 1.5km. Keep in mind the last time I had had swimming lessons was when I was 6.
2. Then you bike 40km. And the last time I had ridden a bike I think I was like…. 12?
3. THEN you run a 10k. AFTER swimming and biking. The last time I ran a 10k was… oh right, never. Nope, not even once. I’ve competed in two 5k runs in my life, can we count them together?

 So, what made me decide to do a triathlon? These three reasons:

1. During our honeymoon, Florian and I realized how much we loved being outdoors. We had way more fun camping in the middle of nowhere than staying at a swanky hotel in a swanky city (Stockholm, I’m referring to you!). I had been looking to discover some hobbies for my life in Switzerland and decided outdoor activities were perfect! And as soon as we came back, I started hiking the “mountain” behind our house (remember this post with all those pictures of me all sweaty at the top??) and loved it. I wanted more.

2. I got some great advice from Dan, my amazing friend Allie’s husband. This dude runs ultra-marathons up mountains and all that kind of kooky stuff. I begged him for the secret to liking running. I confided that I wanted to love running like real runners do, but unfortunately I really, really, really HATED it. And he told me something no other runner had ever said: Nobody runs because they like running while they do it. Wha?? Yep, turns out they love how they feel afterwards, and that I couldn’t argue with. I do like how I feel afterwards. And so, my love affair with exercise could begin because when I hated it, I finally understood that was normal and I was supposed and I was just supposed to suck it up and enjoy later.

Yep, we climbed all of that!!!

3. The timing of my trip to Croatia was incredible. Just as I was discovering I liked to do some exercise outdoors, in came Patrick the triathlon coach who convinced me and Marina that, with a little training, we could definitely cross that finish line! It didn’t hurt that Patrick taught us to swim and gave us an entire training plan to make it a realistic goal. And when Marina and I agreed to train together, even though we live halfway across the world, I loved the idea of being closer to one of my best friends and sharing something together. Then, as if that wasn’t international enough, we asked our friend Stephanie, who regularly competes in tris and currently lives in Tokyo, to motivate us and join our worldwide training! California to Holland to Switzerland to Japan. 

I’m sorta scared and overwhelmed with the training in the months ahead, but at the same time exhilarated and totally pumped. Apparently doing triathlons regularly is sorta a cult activity so pass me the Kool-aid!