I wanted to introduce myself by telling you about a journey I started in January 2009 that has completely changed my life.
When I started this journey I weighed 270lbs, and even for a girl who’s 5′11, that’s a lot of weight to carry around - but I hadn’t always been that way. All through High School and University I’d been very active but when I started working full time, I stopped swimming, stopped walking to school, stopped doing anything more than sitting at a desk. I didn’t even notice at first that I was putting on weight. When my clothing started to get tight I assumed things had shrunk in the wash - I was so blind to what was healthy the alarm bells never went off. Now, more than 10 years later, and significantly unhappy in my appearance and health I knew I had to do something. Something positive for me.
My first step was finding a gym that I felt comfortable at, and knew I was going to continue going to - I wound up finding a gym at the top of my road that specialized in personal training. This was an excellent choice for me as the guilt of not having done anything for a week and going back to see a trainer after that would be too much for me. I knew that this was going to keep me honest. Those first couple weeks of workouts were some of the most gruelling and painful weeks I’ve ever had, and to top it all off one of the first things my trainer did with me was a body evaluation and fitness test. With measurements, fat fold tests, flexibility tests, strength tests and of course, the 12 minute run - while I say run, at this point in time I was lucky if I could run for 30 seconds, let alone 12 minutes. I would watch other people run and wonder how it was they managed to just keep going like that - any more than a minute and everything in me hurt, my lungs felt like they were going to explode, my shins were screaming at me. How did I get like this, and how was I going to get back from this? I got an e-mail the next day from my trainer - he knew I saw those numbers on that page, and of course he knew what was going through my head. He gave me some great encouragement, and he was right, I had already taken that first step.
Over the next few months I continued to work hard, I was in the gym 4-5 times a week, I had a training plan and I was sticking to it. I was already starting to feel better, even though there wasn’t a lot of weight coming off. My next fitness evaluation rolled around 3 months later, and while I’d only lost 10lbs, my body composition had completely changed, I’d replaced so much fat with lean muscle, and I was stronger - and that 12 minute run? I still couldn’t run the whole thing, but I only took a couple minutes walking break in the middle - this was still super tough, but I was getting fitter!
Up until this time I’d not focused on my diet a lot - I was trying to eat what I thought was healthy, but I wasn’t reading labels and counting calories. I realized if I really wanted to drop this weight I was going to have to start thinking about what I was putting in. I was already using a heart rate monitor to see what I was burning at the gym, and now I started counting what I was eating. I had a huge wake-up call on portion sizes first - what I thought was a healthy bowl of cereal in the morning was 3-4 times the serving size I should have been having! Within a week or two of watching my calorie intake carefully I was finally dropping weight.
When I was a kid, and on the swim team at my local pool, one of the lifeguards and coaches there took part in triathlons through the summer. I used to see him training for the races, and I’d see him after a race coming back with his numbers marked all over him. I really looked up to him, and thought that a triathlon was something I’d always want to try - but I never got any further than that - the run always scared me. I swam like a fish all through my childhood, and living out in the country I rode a bike everywhere - even the 20km into the city for my lifeguarding summer job when I was old enough - but I never learnt to run. All through my childhood I was the last one walking in on the Canada Fitness testing. All this was changing now though, I was starting to run, and not only was I running, but I actually liked it. By June of 2009 I’d dropped 30lbs from my starting weight, and I knew I was ready for a challenge. I’d been eyeing up a triathlon series in my area that ran try-a-tri races. There was one on Toronto Island in August with a 400m swim, 10k bike and 2.5k run. 2.5k was going to be a challenge for me, but I thought I’d be able to make a go of it, so I entered myself. I had a laugh filling in the registration when I put myself in the Athena class seeing the weight range started at 160lbs - this was even below my ideal goal weight! All that was left to do now was start training - oh, and buy a bike…
I wound up finding an old road bike in a garage sale by chance one day as I was coming home from the gym - it’s tires were completely flat, and it had certainly done some time, but at $20 I couldn’t go too far wrong - it only needed to hold up for this one race while I decided if this triathlon business was really for me or not! I found a wave pool that offered a lane swim with the waves on. I knew my swimming was still strong, but I’d never swam in open water, and this seemed like a safe place to start. The bike training went well also, I’d not ridden in quite a while, but well, it was just like riding a bike! I continued with my running training, but certainly out of the 3 it was still my least favourite. I knew I needed to dedicate a lot of time to improving my run though, so I persevered. I set out a training calendar for myself, and even worked in some brick workouts. I submerged myself into as much triathlon information as I could find. I read recounts from other people on how their races went, I watched youtube videos on how to set up your transition area and go through the transitions, I asked questions on forums about what you’re supposed to wear, and how do women handle swimming in sports bras!?! I would run through in my head at night while trying to fall asleep exactly how my transition was going to go, and everything that I was going to have to pack in my bag. I was getting nervous about the race as the day drew nearer, but quite excited as well. I knew I could do this. One of the final checkboxes on what I was going to need for the race was something to wear. I’d read some girls just do the race in a swimsuit, but I’m not one of those girls, there was no way that was going to happen. I went in search of a trisuit. I tried on several different suits, but wound up falling in love with one particular brand - a brand I’d never heard of before, but it just fit and looked good. Of course this was Sugoi stuff I was trying on, and I wound up with a separate tri-short and top. I was ready for this race.
There’s a whole story about how the race went down, but aside from a slight mishap coming out of T1 getting on the bike (bike met ground, and I nearly went with it!), the race went really well. Even though the run at the end was tough, I persevered. When I saw the results go up I nearly fell over - I’d done well -really well! In my age and weight class I’d come in 5th - and overall I was in the top half of competitors. Me, the girl that only started going to the gym 7 months prior to the race had placed in the top half of finishers. What an amazing high, what an amazing sport - what an incredibly expensive bike I’m going to have to go out and invest in now… I’m wholly and completely hooked.
In transition 1 - the swim went well, onto the bike!
Finishing the Toronto Island Try-a-tri
Looking at that same triathlon series for next year, it’s certainly going to be more than one triathlon for me next year - I want to do the sprint triathlons next - but I have a goal. That try-a-tri on Toronto Island, I’m going to do it again, and this time I’m going to be the one walking away with a medal for my age group.
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