The Goddess of War

As the new year approaches I find myself doing the same thing many people do this time, resolving to lose weight.  I had lost about 9 pounds and got to a good weight (for me) during my first Triathlon season.  But just like many other people out there, during my off season, when the workouts aren't as strenous and no races are on the calendar, well...I put weight back on.  I'm not built like most triathletes that you seen on TV in the Kona coverage.  They all look leggy and lean.  I was blessed with short legs and my father's family genes, of whom the term "lean" would never apply.  I have fought weight issues my entire life which is part of my motivation for trying to stay as active as I can - maybe to counter balance any damage I do via my food intake.

I had the idea of today's blog entry in my head, but I never thought  it would apply to me (again).  If you are into mythology, perhaps you have heard the name Athena before.  Athena is the "goddess of war" whose companion was the goddess of victory, Nike (how cool right?).  How does this relate to Triathlons you ask?  Well, USA triathlon has a category of race participants called "Athena Division".  However, it's USAT's nice way of defining a division for...'the big girls'.  The Athena division is for women over 150 pounds.   Not exactly the vision of the Goddess of War I've had in my head.  But, if I entered a Tri tomorrow, I'd be in the Athena division.  Bummer.  I know I'll be much faster and less prone to injury if I get back to racing weight again.

So an early goal of my renewed training is to put Athena permanently in the rear view mirror and just be a plain old 'age grouper'.  They say nutrition is the 4th element of the triathlon, so it goes into my training plan.  We'll talk more about this in future posts.

Any Athena's out there?

Hello World

Wow, so here I am world.  Telling the entire Internet world that I am going to make a run at an ironman.  I can remember for years gone back, watching coverage of Kona, not having any idea about it's importance in the triathlon world.  I just thought it was cool - little did I know years later, I would have already done two "sprint" triathlons and i'm now hooked.  I dont' think of myself as a runner or a cyclist or a swimmer.  I'm someone, just like many of you, who likes to do active things and likes to keep challenging myself.  I'll tell you more about me and who I am over the next few posts. 

I'm not quite sure how this will all go; how often I'll post.  I don't intend to bore you with the everyday monotony of my training unless something interesting happens.  I also have plans to keep track of all the expenses of training, gear and supplements thought that might be interesting to keep a tally - that could be a scary number.

Reading this blog will be a long term commitment- I'm guessing 18 months until I'll be ready. 

So there- it's out there.  Now everyone knows.  No looking back now...