General Discussion Introduce Yourself!!! » Almost 55 and Tri-ing Rss Feed  
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2013-12-17 5:24 PM


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Subject: Almost 55 and Tri-ing
Hello fellow newbies,

I'm a relatively new runner, bought a lovely-enough LIV/Giant bike after a Duathlon last year (one Du on a hybrid bike was enough), and am determined to learn proper swimming. So I signed up for a Sprint Tri! I had intended to aim for a Tri this fall but liked my running coaches so much it made sense to commit to running—I'm glad I did as I had never run 13.1 continuous miles in all of my 54 years until last June and feel it's built a good foundation.

My goals for 2014

-- sign up for the O-town Triathlon Club on my 55th birthday. (Next month!)
-- complete the 3 half marathons I've signed up for in 2014; match my flat-course PR on a course with hills. (Still slow as molasses but who cares.)
-- start learning how to swim well in advance of the October 2014 Sprint Tri I've signed up for; my Tri is in the ocean, a cold ocean.
-- build upper body strength by swimming; lift my own darned SUP board onto my CRV w/o hubby's help because I'm building upper body strength through swimming! (Thus allowing me at least one am or pm SUP sesh per week.)
-- embrace early morning training!
-- resume gluten free eating and lose the 11 pounds that crept up while I wasn't paying attention.
-- take the Metabolic Efficiency test.

If you're on Daily Mile please feel free to friend me. As beginners we all need as much encouragement as we can get!


2013-12-18 5:01 AM
in reply to: lucyland

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Subject: RE: Almost 55 and Tri-ing

Welcome Lucyland!   As an older lady myself, I'm happy to welcome you to BT.  You'll find helpful folks and an unlimited resource for all your questions on swimming/biking/running and a whole lot more.    I love your goals - keep at them.   It seems since you SUP that you're at least comfortable in and around the water so I'm not sure if your swimming goal is to learn to swim faster or if you truly don't know how to swim freestyle.  Whatever way it is, I recommend getting started on that right away.   Happy early 55th Birthday!  

2013-12-31 10:28 PM
in reply to: lucyland

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Subject: RE: Almost 55 and Tri-ing
Congrats on your progress so far. After reading your post I'm wondering if I should be looking for a good running coach. I really need to improve my running fitness in 2014.

Since your Sprint is in the ocean you should start swimming PDQ. Your Tri Club will be a great resource for advice on open water swimming (OWS) and you'll need to get yourself to the point of being comfortable in the water - don't wait and get some coaching as well.

If you haven't looked at the mentor groups I highly recommend joining one for support and encouragement. I know there is a group for beginners that looked good and there are lots of others just look for a group with similar goals as your own.

You'll find 55 is young. I swim with a group and I'm one of the younger ones at 63. Plus in August this year I raced in a bike portion of Challenge Penticton and I couldn't catch up to Sister Madonna Buder and she was 83 at the time...and she signed up to do the bike again in 2014. (Google her - an amazing triathlete).

For more inspiration I recommend reading race reports here - especially for any races you'd like to do and also consider volunteering to help at triathlons.

Good luck and have fun.
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