Saturday morning I woke up around 6:15am and looked out my front door and saw my car and the sidewalks were covered with ice and snow. I thought about going back to bed, and literally went into the kitchen to make coffee about 5 times before actually doing it, thinking each time I was crazy and should just go back to bed. But eventually, I made the coffee and breakfast, and got ready to head to Arlington for an 8 mile run. I would have gone back to bed if I didn't know that there were other people who would be running with me (and if I had time to fit in the run at any other point that day).
When I got to Arlington, there were about 20 other people who came out for the run. I ran the entire time with people, met other people doing Ironman Wisconsin or just trying to get in shape, and got to talk to someone who had done Wisconsin before and could give me great advice. It ended up being a fantastic run (although my quads are definitely sore today from the tentative steps on the ice).
Saturday and last Sunday have reminded me of how great it is to be on a team for training. I know I am a little bit crazy. Not many people can imagine running a 5k or half-marathon, let alone adding in swimming and biking. Most people cringe when I mention I went biking in the 30 degree weather (don't worry, I cringe too just thinking about it). Triathletes in general are a little bit odd. And the beauty of the Team is that when I am surrounded by them, it makes me feel completely normal. Just like when I am with Bike and Build people, spending all day in spandex and sleeping in churches is just the normal thing to do. That's why when I signed up for Wisconsin, my next move was to e-mail the Coach of Team Z and rejoin.
What is Team Z? Team Z is a triathlon team that started in Arlington but now have branches in Reston and Maryland. It has about 400 people, ranging from people who finish after the cutoff time for races to people who are on the podium for their age group at Kona (the Ironman world championship). The Team trains for several races throughout the year and the Coaches create 12 different training plans each month designed to help people meet their goals from sprints to Ironman. It is so inspiring to see people of all levels of athletic ability training for and successfully completing an Ironman. The coaches also run group workouts throughout the week and organize rides and runs on the Weekends. Aside from all the training, they also have a ton of social events as they really are a social triathlon Team.
I found them purely by chance but without the Team, I don't think I would have even be able to complete a sprint triathlon, let alone a half and full Ironman. I did Team in Training for my first marathon. Having that team was great, especially training over the winter where having a group of people to meet up with each Saturday morning dragged me out of bed, but I didn't get the social relationships out of it that I was hoping to. Once the event was over, I knew I would need to find something else because I absolutely HATE fundraising. It makes me really uncomfortable and I promised myself that after bike and build and team in training I would not sign up for anything else I have to fundraise for.
The week before the marathon I was googling triathlon teams in the area. I thought it would be cool to do one but I really needed help with the swim. I happened to stumble upon the website for Team Z and saw they were having an info session the week after the marathon. Then, during the marathon I spotted people with the Team Z shirts & confirmed that it was a legit group. The next week I went to an info session and found out that it was exactly what I was looking for and that summer was great training with them and making new friends with the same athletic mindset as me.
I fell out of the group after the race mainly due to my job getting crazy and the cold preventing me from getting out there. Then when I bought a house I realized I needed to cut costs and since I hadn't done anything Team Z related and didn't want to commit to both biking and running eah weekend, I quit the team. Unfortunately, this past summer was not the same without them. I missed getting out on my bike and being surrounded by like minded people. I signed up with a local running shop to train for the Marine Corps Marathon but it just wasn't the same.
I am excited to be back with the Team and to catch up with old friends. But I was also very excited that the bike this morning was cancelled (we're crazy, not stupid) so I got to sleep in. Unfortunately, after spending two hours this morning on my trainer I realized the cold is really not that bad after all.
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