So the other day I’m trying on a wet suit I was hoping to borrow from a friend for Sunday’s Boulder Peak Triathlon — my first tri after 13 marathons and countless road races going back to the era when Frank Shorter, Bill Rodgers and Grete Waitz were racing.
I awkwardly squeezed myself into the tight neoprene membrane in the men’s room of a Lakewood office building, walked out and sensed my friend waiting in the hallway was trying not to laugh.
“OK,” she said sensitively, “that’s on backwards.”
That was just one of the many lessons I have learned preparing for Sunday’s Olympic distance race, which involves a 1,500-meter swim in Boulder Reservoir, a 26-mile bike ride and a 10-kilometer run. The zipper, it turns out, goes in the back. My friend also explained it’s helpful to spray your arms with Pam before putting the thing on. Seriously.
Probably the best lesson I’ve learned is that, as passionate as I am about running, I really enjoy triathlon training. Even the swimming.
Ever since I replaced my 20-year-old Schwinn with a decent road bike four years ago, it probably was inevitable that the idea of triathlon eventually would draw me in. Every year I enjoy riding more and more. I bought the bike because at my age — 52 at the time — I thought replacing some running miles with time on the bike would make me a better runner. It probably did, but soon I realized I was riding just because I enjoyed it.
Around last Thanksgiving, I started thinking seriously about trying a tri. Having world- class events and dozens of elite competitors just up the road in Boulder was compelling, and it felt like the right time for me to try it. I was already running and riding a lot. All I needed to do was add swimming.
I figured I could get the same endorphin high from a three-hour triathlon as a marathon, with a lot less wear and tear on the body.
On Dec. 10, during one of our bitter cold snaps that dreary month, I began goal-based swim training for the first time since I was on the swim team in high school. The first few swims were harder than I expected, but soon I was able to swim a mile comfortably.
I didn’t hire a coach, and I didn’t follow a training program in a book. I went by hunches and kept it simple:
• Swim a mile Mondays and Thursdays.
• Run long on the weekend, run intervals on Tuesdays and tempo runs on Fridays. Sometimes instead of a tempo run, I’d do a 5-mile time trial in Red Rocks Park, running up the amphitheatre steps on mile 4.
• Take one long bike ride on the weekend (usually with a time-trial ascent of Lookout Mountain included) and a hard spin class on Thursdays and commute by bike whenever possible.
It was incredibly rewarding to see my times get significantly faster on the bike and in the pool, even as my running times improved at a much more modest pace, and that made a triathlon even more alluring. Age is taking a toll on my running — this year I ran the Bolder Boulder three seconds faster than last year and considered it a major triumph — but I believe I can improve a lot more on the bike and in the pool.
It’s a thrill to ride up Lookout a minute or two faster than you did last week. Or to ride from Bergen Park to Echo Lake via Squaw Pass for the first time of the season and do it 20 minutes faster than last summer’s best time.
I sense that cross-training is really good for me at my age. I’ve eliminated the slow miles of my “easy” running days and replaced them with riding and swimming. I’m only running three days a week, but they’re quality workouts. I feel fully recovered from one run when I do the next, because the riding and/or swimming I did between runs was easier on my body.
I still consider myself a runner, first and foremost, and I have four of my favorite events coming in August: The Evergreen Town Race 10K, the Pearl Street Mile in Boulder, the Georgetown-Idaho Springs Half Marathon and the Colorado Relay.
I have joked to running friends that I have gone over to “the dark side” by taking up the triathlon, but in reality, it’s been fun training for something new and different. It’s fun to face the unknown, to feel like I did before my first marathon.
I have a feeling my first triathlon won’t be my last. And maybe next time I won’t have to borrow a wet suit.
