How it started... How to become a Triathlete

I was listening to Mike Reilly's podcast with Triathlon Taren the other day and it had me reminiscing on how it started for me, 10 years ago. In the podcast Taren remembers asking a friend how to become a triathlete. The answer... "sign up for a race and do it."

In 2012 that is just what I did. I had just started running 5ks in 2011 to keep up with my 10 year old who had found a love of running. I did NOT love running... but I had always enjoyed swimming and biking as a kid. So, when the instructor of my morning spin class started talking about a local sprint triathlon I was intrigued. Without doing any real "training plan," I found an indoor triathlon to sign up for and I did it! With that, on March 4th 2012, I became a triathlete... and I was HOOKED!!

On May 26th, 2012 I participated in my first outdoor triathlon. It was a sprint distance race at Island Lake in Michigan. I had used a 6 week training plan I found at https://trinewbies.com/ and felt pretty good going into the day, but when I showed up to transition that morning I must have looked terrified. There was an older gentlemen racking his bike across from me. He saw my fear and said, "do you know what they call the last person to cross the finish line?" I looked up at him with huge, scared eyes but before I could say something akward he said, "A TRIATHLETE!" That was exactly what I needed to hear. I was not there to impress anyone or win. I just wanted to be proud of myself for doing what I set out to do, and even if I was the last one to cross the finish line I would accomplish that! I was a triahtlete! This was also my first taste of the amazing community that comes with this sport. I never got that athlete's name, but I did see him several times on the course that day and we exchanged big smiles each time!

In 2012 I went on to do 3 more sprint races and my first Olympic Distance in my hometown, where I got third in my age group with my family there to watch.

How to become a triathlete? Sign up for a race and do it! You don't need a fancy bike, special shoes, coaches, wetsuits, etc. Those things will come with time. Every person on that course was a rookie once. So pick your race! Sign up! And get ready for an amazing experience with amazing people!

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