10 Reasons why Triathlon is a Pain in the A$$

I am enjoying Triathlon but boy is it a huge pain in the ass!

Here are ten reasons why:

1. Waking up at Ass O'Clock in the morning. Triathlons never start at a lovely 10 AM. No. They start friggen early which means that you need to be at transition and set up at the crack of dawn. It's dark and sometimes cold. If you are training for a bigger distance Ass O'clock in the morning time probably extends beyond race day and to your daily training days.

2. The Swim. Right off the bat you are likely finagling your way into something ghastly like a wetsuit  and then at ass o'clock in the morning you are throwing yourself into some sort of body of water. Sometimes it's a calm, temperate lake (lucky you!) and sometimes it's a smelly dirty pond or a cold choppy ocean. But often no matter what the water, you are getting kicked in the face or elbowed in the ribs by fellow triathletes. Joy.

cold, wet suit, ass o'clock in the morning. Don't let the smiles fool ya... ;)

3. The Stuff. Triathlon. Requires. Stuff. Lots and lots of stuff. you'll need a tri kit, wetsuit, swim goggles, swim cap, bike, bike helmet, USAT card (or one day pass)  running sneakers and that's the bare-bone minimum. As you grow with the sport your stuff will grow. You'll likely want a transition bag, clip in pedals and bike shoes, nutritional needs, tire changing kit, race belt, tri-training watch, gym membership (with access to pool), tri coach (or at least tri training plan), sports sunglasses, visor, you might want even want a fancy tri bike. This sport just requires crap-loads of stuff.

New "used" bike

4. Expense. Well, holy crap this is not a poor man's sport. Just take a look at number 3 and keep in mind I probably forgot a 100 things or so that you can buy in the quest of triathlon. The bike alone can set you back several hundred (on the cheap side) to several thousands of dollars. Combine that with the entry fees of the races, the wetsuit and the other gear and you'll soon be trying to figure out a way to pay for your new-found hobby too.

5. Getting your stuff there. So you live in Jersey and want to race in California. Good luck. In addition to the expense of the race fee, and your airline ticket and your hotel stay - you will have to haul your crap clear across the country. So get ready to pay for essentially the cost of another passenger to ship your bike (or rent a bike on location) at the nifty 'location' venue.

6. Nutrition. If you're aiming to conquer a half iron or full iron distance (70.3 or 140.6) you will have to figure out how to NAIL your nutrition. And what I mean by that is how much you should eat and drink on the bike and run. This is critical. Super critical. There is an art to this and it varies for each person. Not enough and you'll "bonk" bringing your epic day down to your shaky knees and have too much and you'll be visiting every port-potty along the way. It's a trying process to get this right and once you do you better make sure to have it/pray that you don't lose anything while biking.

7. The Bike. The bike is a pain in the ass. (I know, I know. The bike is likely your favorite part of triathlon but it is still a bit of a pain)  You have to transport it, you have to maintain it, you have to master it. You have to know mechanics like how to change a tire, you have to worry about distracted drivers and you have to always be on-guard to be safe.

8. The Hunger. I am always hungry. This is a pain in the ass (at least for me) if you're (like me) and trying to lose weight. Oh well. Pass me a sandwich.

9. The training time.  You will be always thinking about how and when you're going to get that training in. This gets worse as you go higher in race distance.

10. The Addiction! You will curse the expense and all the pain in the ass reasons that exist in triathlon yet find yourself somewhat obsessed and addicted to this sport!!

All kidding aside,  I am loving triathlon and am now obsessed. And if you can say that after all the good P.I.T.A. reasons to run in the opposite direction then you know you're on the right path... even if that path is at "Ass o'clock" in the morning ;)

Newbies, don't be afraid. Give it a tri.  The water feels great (I could be lying) but still... you'll never know if you don't jump in!

What makes triathlon a pain in the ass to you despite your love for the sport?

xo
Jen

Swim, Bike, Run, Sweat: My week of tri-ing new things

Credit

As many of you know, I've got this deep-down desire to get into triathlons eventually.

Even though up to this past week I hadn't been on a bike since I was 12 or really ever swum in any organized way. (I doubt that sitting pool side with a cocktail and splashing around to cool off counts.)

But yet, I'm oddly attracted to the idea of triathlons.

I was in LA last week working on some stuff with my business partner Angela. Angela has participated in a few smaller triathlons but has recently decided to go for a 70.3 at REV3 Maine in August so she's getting serious about training. She is even blogging about her journey and you can read about her progress at Another Hole in the Head.

Since she's training I thought I would tag along on some of the other triathlon activities that I don't usually get to do.

While I'm still not ready to fully commit (I still need to figure out logistics for training) I did enjoy my exploration of tri stuff this week.

SWIM:

Only in LA can you show up to an outdoor pool at 7PM on a Wednesday night and train in the middle of February. It was a little chilly outside (about 55 degrees) but the pool is heated so once in and swimming it was comfortable. I signed up for a free 1 class pass with SCAQ (Southern California Aquatics) for a swim clinic. We were greeted by a friendly guy named Clay. Clay asked about our experience (me: none, Angela, just a bit more) and he told us to get going.

He corrected technique, gave us tons of pointers and I felt like I learned a lot in a very short amount of time.

Clay was great but I had no idea how great this guy was until I looked him up. Clay is Clay Evans a former Olympian swimmer who had won a silver and bronze medal! WHAT!? In fact SCAQ is one of the largest Masters swimming programs in the country. Hey why not start at the top for my first lesson - huh?

Clay was great and gave us a ton of attention and coaching. I loved this guy and if (when) I live here and if (when) I'm making good money, I'm so joining SCAQ.

Bonus: the natural facelift the swim cap gives… 

Verdict: I can see myself liking swimming and I can see the awesome challenge it would be to get good at it. After 50 minutes though my calves cramped when I left the water! Not sure if that was a hydration thing, exertion thing or the fact that I wore flippers part of the time but that was unexpected. Luckily, the cramping was short lived.

BIKE:

Oy. For some reason it didn't occur to me that it might take a minute to get used to being on a bike again but I have to tell you that the first time in getting on a bike in more than 25 years was pretty nerve-wracking! I borrowed my friend Sara's mountain bike and I realized that I didn't even know how or why/when to switch gears! The last time I was on a bike it was my "Pink Thunder" Huffy and I used the 'ol pedal backwards to brake and the 'ol stand up and pedal my ass off to power up a hill.

Pink Thunder. Helluva bike probably not ideal for triathlon

Anyway, so we go to this bike path that runs along the "LA river" from Culver City to the beach. I started off super rocky and was a nervous wreck! I was gripping the handle bars for dear life and it took me a while to get in a groove and feel in control of the bike. I just kept reminding myself of the old ladies and crack heads I see in the park - if they could do it, I could friggen learn to ride a bike again.

Parts of the path is a little sketch and narrow and I had visions of falling into the concrete 'river.' As we were riding, Ang gave me a little lesson in gear shifting (Sara had tried to explain it before taking off but I couldn't remember what to do) and I eventually got acclimated. We rode about five miles out (it was gray and chilly - well, chilly for LA) and five miles back - about an hour, which I thought was good for the first attempt.

Verdict: While it took me a bit to warm up I all in all enjoyed biking. I may buy a cheap hybrid from Target for now just to keep riding and stuff. 

RUN:

I ran a half marathon this week. This is nothing new but I like the fact that I did all three things this week and thus the reason it's in this blog. You can read all about my race here.

Verdict: Running and I are still BFFs

SWEAT:

So you may know from this post that I've been recently giving yoga a try. I have cramping in my legs and very tight hamstrings and calves so my hope is that yoga will help those muscles out.  While here in LA, Angela thought it would be cool for us to check out Bikram. All I knew about Bikram was that the room is kept at a million degrees (104) and you do yoga moves. Um. I naturally have assumed for years that this would be a living hell that I would really hate.

First of all, we were late - LA traffic made going 6 miles into a near hour affair. So there's nothing better than charging into hot yoga late and as a newcomer, that got me even more nervous. Finally we were in and kinda settled - we missed the 'breathing' part, which was kind of OK with me because if it meant that I'd have to spend five less seconds in this fricken hot smelly room - great.

Within the first five minutes I went thru a bunch of emotions - one being, "wtf was I thinking?" and "Holy crap, how long do we do this for?" I really suck at all yoga - my flexibility is ass and even 'comfortable' poses for most (like sitting "Japanese" style or crossed leg, hurt. ) I never sweated like that before. But I did the best I could and by the end I actually found a very weird appreciation for it. Huh. Who knew? I would even go again. In hind-sight, I think I really liked it even.

Wiped out after Bikram but we loved the sign over our head

Angela has been having fun with her GoPro and I'm just learning how to edit (be kind - I have a lot to learn) but here's a little video journey of my week in swim, bike, run, sweat - don't know what happened to the quality when I converted it - I'm sure it doesn't have to look like that I'll figure it out eventually…

All in all it was a great week of fitness and business. I really liked delving into these other activities and hope to keep on doing it!!

What new things have you tried lately?

XO

Jen