Some background first. I moved back to Colorado from DC more than a year ago. At the time, I had still fully intended to train for Ironman Canada, and I even hired a coach. I threw myself right into training, which was easier to fit in than it had been in DC since I didn't have a full time job at first.
At some point, though, I realized that I just wasn't having fun doing it anymore. I had moved away from all my tri friends in DC, which were the main reason I had signed up for Ironman in the first place. Suddenly, my training mostly consisted of going on rides by myself and doing long fartleks on the treadmill in a mountain rec center after I was exhausted from skiing all day. I had left DC because my mental and physical well-being were not in the best place, but I wasn't necessarily getting better. Training had always made me put those things on the back burner to worry about them later. And I had signed up for the Ironman because I had thought it would be fun, and because, hey, everyone else seemed to be signing up for one.
Basically, I realized at some point that I was doing the Ironman for the wrong reasons, and I had gotten pretty burned out after training really hard for a few years straight. So I decided to take some time off. After all, triathlon would always be there.
After I decided to take a season off, I didn't stop working out; far from it. I skiied, I ran, I hiked. I joined a Master's swimteam and swam harder than I had since high school. It was really fun to concentrate on my favorite sport of the three for a while, in fact.
However, I suddenly found myself with way, way more time than I had ever had before. I ended up quitting the ski instructor job due to problems with the management, and then I couldn't get a job for a long time-- until November, when I finally got a full time paralegal gig at a firm in downtown Denver.
So what did I do with all that time? Well, among other things, I started writing fiction. I realized after not too long that I absolutely love writing. It's become my new favorite hobby, and I'm hoping that one day I can make it into my career.
In general, my mental balance has gotten loads better since I returned to Colorado and took some time off. I have accepted some things about myself (and especially my body) that had always brought me down mentally and physically. It took a lot of hard work and patience with myself, but I finally feel ready to do tris again.
My friend Sarah, the girl who had gotten me to sign up for IM CA, had been telling me to join her tri team for ages. A couple of months ago, I finally looked into it. After all, the reason I really loved tris was because I loved the sense of community and the friendships I had made while I was on DC tri. I'm sure triathlon wouldn't have been as fun for me from the get-go if I'd never met all the amazing people on that team. So I joined Tribella, a smallish all-female team based in Denver. And let me tell you, I LOVE it so far. I'm super stoked for my coach, and the women all seem really friendly while also being very encouraging.
I'll post my race schedule in the coming days, but basically I'm doing a couple OWS races, a couple Olys, and a 70.3 in August (non mdot race, since I waited too long to decide if I wanted to do it). But yeah. I'm back. WOOT!
(first group ride with Tribella)
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