A letter to beginners

One of the girls in a group I train with quite often, has told me a few times that she really enjoyed my Early Days blog post. So much so, that she has recommended other beginner triathletes read it. At masters swim the other day, she asked if I could write a letter to beginners. I thought it was a fantastic idea! So here goes

Dear beginner triathletes,
I am so glad you have decided to take on the sport of triathlon! It will be a fun and crazy journey, probably with some sweat and tears and maybe even a little blood (hopefully no blood), but also with laughter, happy tears and some amazing people. I began my triathlon journey in 2005 with my first sprint triathlon, and if I had known all the amazing things it would bring into my life, I would have started much sooner. Lining up to register for my first triathlon, I confessed to the guy in front of me that I really didn't know how to set my stuff up or what to do. He was very nice, brought me to the transition area and helped me organize my gear. After we parted ways he commented that I would pick things up each race I did and that I would learn along the way. He was so right! Even still, every race, and often every workout, are learning experiences and I am gradually discovering little tricks that work well for me. That brings me to my first piece of advice:

1. Learn as much as you can! That's not to say that you need to use every bit of information you learn. Look at what other people do, read articles, watch how others train, race, set up their gear etc. Take all of this in, and then see what parts of it work well for you. When I first started racing, I wanted nice clean feet in my cycling shoes. I saw someone put out a little dish of water to dip their feet in and then wipe them off on their towel. I thought hmmm that's a nifty idea, but then I modified it to work for me. I'm a clutz and would knock over said dish of water so I used to keep a bottle of water at my T1 to rinse my feet. Now I'm in too much of a hurry so it's often dirty feet into the cycling shoes. That brings me to my next piece of advice:

2. Experiment! Take everything you've learned and start to experiment. Experimenting is going to be the only way you figure out what works for you. Maybe your best training bud swears by this particular type of shorts, but then you go and run in them and find out you hate them. Even my husband and I don't have the same type of training, we don't always use the same gear, and our pre, during and post workout/race nutrition is very different. One of the funniest examples, is that I can eat bananas before workouts but not apples. Brian can eat apples before, but not bananas. Most of this experimenting should be done during all sorts of workouts, but you can also experiment and learn during your races (though maybe not an A race). If you've been trying something new in workouts and its working well, take it to a less important race and test it out. Sometimes the race environment, speed and adrenaline in your system can change how things work.

3. Enjoy the entire experience. This seems like a given right? We wouldn't be doing it if we didn't enjoy it. I'm talking about enjoying everything though, the good, the bad and the ugly. You go out for a run with a group you love, in beautiful weather and you nail your workout. That's a pretty easy experience to enjoy. Learning to enjoy the days when you can't hit your splits, the weather is miserable, and you're all by yourself, that's tough. When it gets tough, remember how fortunate (dare I say blessed Real Starky?! :P) you are to be out there. Not everyone gets to be out testing their limits every day. One of my favorite run workout memories, was a long run with my good running buddy Meghan. We met at the park and it was already down pouring and cold. We gave each other weak smiles and figured we'd just get it done and the coffee after would be worth it. On the run back to our cars, we were soaked to the bone. We had long past given up trying to avoid puddles and some were halfway up our shins. As we plodded along in silence, every once in awhile one of us would let out a little giggle. After a couple minutes this became just full on laughing. We just had to laugh at how ridiculous it was. Afterwards, the coffee tasted even better than usual, and I felt just a little bit tougher. Sometimes the tough workouts become the ones you're most proud of, and those are the workouts you remember getting through on race day when it gets tough. I could have stayed home that day, but it's become one of my favorite memories with Meghan. Side note, finding awesome training buddies helps you get through those tough days. I could give you countless other examples of workouts I didn't want to do, that now stick out in my mind as being awesome, but I guess we'll just have to get coffee someday for that. Enjoy the process, sometimes it will surprise you.

Make the best of a "bad" day

4. Be positive. This is kind of similar to #3, but deserves its own little blurb. It sounds corny, but believe in yourself and what you're capable of. Celebrate your accomplishments, whether that be a good workout or a good race. I don't generally post about my workouts on social media (just my own thing), so my friend Meghan and I have a deal. We are allowed to brag to each other. If I have an awesome run workout and I just have to tell someone, I'll call her up, or I'll come home and tell my husband all about it. When you have a bad day, remind yourself that it happens, it's ok, what did you learn and the next one will be better. I've always said my best training buddies are the ones that celebrate my good days with me, but are also the type of people I can have bad days around. Be positive towards other people. I really believe that by encouraging others you in turn will also be encouraged. You never know just how much an encouraging message, smile or cheer will help someone. Several of the pro women and friends have offered encouraging words to me and it has really helped me, especially when things are getting tough, or not going well. Don't let anything bring you down. I have found that probably 95% of the people I've met in the triathlon community have been awesome, cool, fun, nice people. However, there are always a few that might get you down. Sometimes they can even be downright mean, which I have never really understood. The key is to not let them drag you down. I remember I was upset once about something someone had said about me behind my back and I was complaining about it to my coach. I said "I know I shouldn't be upset about this." She answered "ok that's great that you recognize that, but now we need to work on you not actually being upset about it." She also said "you need to realize that when someone says something to put you down, it has absolutely nothing to do with you, and everything to do with them being insecure." That really hit home, and I realized that not only was I no longer going to let those people get to me, but I wasn't going to sink to that level either. It's a work in progress, but a task I'm really committed to working on.

5. Meet awesome people, talk to everyone. This sport and community has some truly amazing people in it. I could give you so many examples of people we've met over the years that have stayed with us but I'll just give you a few. I got in line to check in at my first Ironman, and the line was about 3 hours long. Standing behind me was a group of Canadian triathletes, and we started chatting. I was all by myself since Brian and a friend wouldn't get there until the next day. They invited me to sit with them at the dinner. I though, yeah I'll never be able to find them. They found me in line that night and invited me over to their table. We high fived on the race course, and Brian, Lawrence and I sat with them for the awards. That was in 2010. They are still great friends of ours and we have been able to get together with them at many races since then. The girl that won my age group that year in Florida had also won our age group at a 70.3 I did earlier that year (we were 1-2 at both races, she bested me both times). I found her on Facebook after, and we are also still friends. The next year Brian and I were getting ready to ride with a group and I noticed a guy by his car in the parking lot also getting ready to ride. I nudged Brian and said, hey I think that's Matt Long. I had just finished reading his book The Long Run (go get it, excellent book). Brian rode with him and the three of us chatted afterwards. Matt then invited Brian to his house to do a training camp in Lake Placid (Brian was racing the Ironman that year and Matt had done it twice). Brian went to the camp, met my now coach at Matt's house and we are still friends with Matt, and obviously my coach and I are still together. I'm telling you all these stories, because it barely scratches the surface with all the people we've met and are now friends with because of triathlon. We have gotten involved with some great local groups, and we are also part of national groups because of Zoot. We've met people from all over the US and all over the world. My advice to you is talk to people, meet people, train with groups, and find awesome training partners. Some of my closest friends are my training buddies.

6. Make your weakness your strength. In grade school and high school, I struggled in math classes. Math was always my lowest grade, I didn't enjoy it, but I knew if I wanted to be a scientist then math was a necessary evil. During high school, I was griping to my dad how hard math was and that I wasn't very good at it. He responded simply "Rachel, you have to turn your worst subject into your best subject. At first I rolled my eyes, as teenagers often do, and then I decided he was right. I began really working on bringing my math grade up. And look at me now, my research involves a fair amount of engineering, which often means math, and I actually enjoy it! In regards to triathlon, I have been really working on my swim, which often means going outside of my comfort zone. I remember one of my first masters swims, I swam with super fast Phil. I came back and wrote in Training Peaks, "got my butt kicked by Phil." Well next week, in my workout plan, coach had written "swim with Phil again!" Go outside your comfort zone, improve your weaknesses and when it gets tough just tell yourself "challenge accepted!"

7. I think I already said this one, but I'm gonna say it again because it's so important. Have fun!!! Enjoy every sore muscle, early morning and crazy weather day because it's pretty awesome that we're able to do this. You're not going to wake up every day being psyched about 6am masters swim, or a rainy run, but just remind yourself, this is awesome and the coffee will taste even better after. Enjoy the people you meet and the experiences you have, and relish every sore muscle because it means you're getting stronger.

Hope you have the greatest triathlon experience :)

Rachel