Throughout this training, both of us had so many people say, "Wow, that sounds so fun, I've always wanted to do a Triathlon!" And I am here to tell you friends - you can indeed do a triathlon. I thought I'd hop on here and give you this Newb's tips on being a Triathlon Newb. Starting is the hardest part! But here's some information that will make it more digestible and hopefully less intimidating:

The biggest road block that I hear people talk about with triathlons is that they don't have the right gear. But here's the thing - you don't need a ton of fancy gear to do a triathlon. Sure, when you make certain goals for yourself it helps to have better gear, and yeah, that dude in a slick Tri suit with a TT bike is probably going to cycle faster than you, but if you just want to DO one - you likely can largely do it with the gear you have around you. Bikes are maybe the biggest gear question mark, but we'll get to that later.

Swimming:

Cezanne and I trained open water only. Mostly because COVID had closed all of the pools down, but also because we loved exploring. We trained in our swimsuits, goggles, a swim cap and a swim buoy. During the cold months (October thru May-ish) we swam with wetsuits. The best piece of gear I purchased by far for this training was that buoy, just because it gives me so much more confidence swimming open water. I primarily use it to keep boaters from hitting me since it is an obvious visual signal (though we did have one time where we had to yell at a jet-skier to keep them from hitting us...) but I also use it as flotation in case anything goes wrong. I don't like to be the person suggesting that people buy gear just because I say so, but if you are going to swim open water, I'd suggest getting a buoy as a safety precaution. And heck, only being $20-30, I'd say it is well worth it for the peace of mind. Mine even has the ability to carry stuff, which I use for longer swims where I want to bracket for bailing! This way, I can have my shoes in my buoy and walk back to my starting point if needed.

My other open-water training tip is to ideally swim with another person! This not only makes you easier to see in the water (because there's more of you), but it also gives you a safety buffer in case anything goes wrong.

Ultimately, I do want to note here, if you have access to a pool to do lap swims, this is going to be more beneficial for training purposes! Just in the same way you gain strength and technique faster while gym climbing over outdoor climbing. Starting in a pool is also a good way to gain confidence for the open water.

Cycling:

Being a runner at heart, cycling honestly has never been my favorite, just because all of the gear is sort of overwhelming! However, during my race, I think this was the leg I had the most fun in. The thing that really gets me about cycling is that it is the one sport of the three where it really does make you faster if you can spend more money on a bike. Which I really dislike. However, like most expensive sports, there's a lot of options out there.

Ultimately, if you already have a road bike, I'd say, ride that for your first go at a tri! Bikes can be super fancy, but they don't need to be. The bike I had before I trained for this happened to be an old hybrid gravel bike, and I had been wanting to upgrade anyway. I found a cheap tri bike off Craigslist (no, somehow that isn't an oxymoron), and I loved my little Cervélo!

In training for the cycling portion, Cezanne and I did most of our rides along Lake Washington Blvd. which was GORGEOUS. Never got tired of that. We also did some rides along the Cedar River Trail, and out to Alki Beach. King County has a ton of great bike paths though, and there is a lot more to explore! (Hello Burke Gillman, Sammamish River Trail, the Interurban, and the Chief Sealth!)

Running:

Okay, so I've been a runner in some capacity since I was like 6 years old, and as a sport, I genuinely love it. But these. six. miles... were some of the lowest of my life. I had pushed really hard in the swimming and cycling legs, and as I was runnning out of the transition trying to gag down bites of a Cliff bar (why did I choose this as my mid-race food?!) I realized it was going to be a mentaly hard six miles. The course was a flat, straight, sunny out-and-back course, and by this time of the morning, temps were already in the mid 80's, creeping up to 90's. I'm a heat-weenie, so those temps aren't my cuppa tea, especially on a course like that.

Exhausted and hungry, I went back in my head to a time when I was feeling this way before to try to remember techniques I used. Right away my run on the Loowit Trail popped in my head. "If I could run the Loowit, I can do this." And just like I did on the Loowit, "I know what 6 miles feels like," I said in my head, and once I had ran another mile, "I know what 5 feels like... 4.. 3..." until I saw the finish line. Once the finish line was in site, I didn't hold back. What was there to loose?! I crossed the finish line with pure joy, gave Dan a big hug, and with complete exhaustion sighed, "That was really hard".