Thought it might be interesting to hear from the women on this board about what drives them to compete in triathlons.
At 42, I grew up in a pre-Title IX era where the sports heroines we had were mostly figure skaters and gymnasts (and tennis players: remember Bill Jean King??). A troubled and troublesome kid, I didn't start exercising until my early 20s, when I was battling being too fat and sick all the time. I started with aerobics, complete with leg-warmers, ripped sweatshirts and those ridiculous circular arm movements we used to do (?!). It was all about losing weight for me.
Then two things happened: 1) Pumping Iron II (The Women) and 2) Jacquie Phelan (who I am now fortunate to know). Both bodybuilding and mountain biking were things I wanted to try. That led to road biking, marathoning, rowing crew... The leap into the pool and triathlon after all those years of strength and cardio conditioning was a natural progression.
Unfortunately, I really can't swim, but I do have a great time in races. I haven't been overweight for almost 20 years now and somewhere along the way it became fun to train for performance and to be part of these fun events. Now I'm racing bikes and it's fantastic to see SO many women out there!!
Why do you do it???
Leigh
At 42, I grew up in a pre-Title IX era where the sports heroines we had were mostly figure skaters and gymnasts (and tennis players: remember Bill Jean King??). A troubled and troublesome kid, I didn't start exercising until my early 20s, when I was battling being too fat and sick all the time. I started with aerobics, complete with leg-warmers, ripped sweatshirts and those ridiculous circular arm movements we used to do (?!). It was all about losing weight for me.
Then two things happened: 1) Pumping Iron II (The Women) and 2) Jacquie Phelan (who I am now fortunate to know). Both bodybuilding and mountain biking were things I wanted to try. That led to road biking, marathoning, rowing crew... The leap into the pool and triathlon after all those years of strength and cardio conditioning was a natural progression.
Unfortunately, I really can't swim, but I do have a great time in races. I haven't been overweight for almost 20 years now and somewhere along the way it became fun to train for performance and to be part of these fun events. Now I'm racing bikes and it's fantastic to see SO many women out there!!
Why do you do it???
Leigh