Cheering is fun too

On Labor Day, we had a chance to go cheer on our friends M and G while they were doing their first sprint tri. Looking back a couple of months ago, we got them hooked shortly after we came back from our Ironman. M had mentioned that she had started running but we think they got to consider doing tris after talking more and more about it to us. We helped them go and check out bikes, talked them through the basics, helped them work on a training plan that was doable, and then they signed up for their first tri.

G coming into T2

G after a fast T2, getting on his 5K

Their first tri was the Blackland Sprint Tri. They were a bit nervous that week, asking the normal questions and we helped them plan the race, and help calm their nerves. They were ready and wanted to have fun. We had told them we were going to cheer them on during the race, so we planned to get there for the start, but a storm rolled in so it pushed us back a bit as we had to drive about 30 miles to get to Plano, TX. We had calculated their times and figured we would catch them coming into T2. We actually had a good place as we set up right at the dismount line. We got to see others before them come in and cheer everyone on. We saw G and M and then headed to catch them at the exit of T2. they looked great and seemed to be enjoying the race. We headed to chase them on the run. While we were waiting, we were able to see a few of our Instagram and Twitter friends and that was cool too, to get to cheer so many awesome people on our rest day :)

All smiles from M, it must have been a good ride :)

it wasn't too bad, she was still smiling 

Cheering made us think about our beginnings, also made us think of why we do this, which is one of the big reasons of this blog. We remembered how our first race was, our nerves, excitement and all the different emotions that go along with simply racing. Now, even though we have moved to longer distances and we have gotten more experienced, we haven't forgotten that we do this for other reasons. First and foremost it's to have fun, we push our bodies and want to do well, but we want to have fun. Although at times, pain comes with racing, the feeling of accomplishment at the end is amazing! We also do it because we want to become better individuals and better as a team. Team Res-Puli that is!  We've grown so much as individuals, not only physically through this process, but also mentally. We are tougher mentally, which makes us better on the personal and professional fronts. As a team, being a couple that tris has taught us so much, tri-ing as a couple, being married, pushing each other, building a stronger relationship, and having fun together. 

So while we had a lot of fun cheering and had a great time seeing M and G become part of the triathlete world and being proud of them, we also had a chance to look back and think about our tri life. We think that we'll be triing for a while, we love it, enjoy it and best of all... we still have FUN!!. 

  

That's it for now... our next post will be probably be after we take on Trifecta for the 2nd time. Should be a fun race.

How it all got started

We had been thinking about the idea of getting into triathlons for a while now. It's been maybe since last summer that we started, but when we started doing some swimming along with our normal bike riding it got extremely hot and we just gave up on it. Not having a set schedule or workplan really didn't help the cause. 

We started looking for clubs but came to find out that not only were the clubs super expensive, but they seemed a bit more competitive than what we really wanted. We wanted to do this for fun and were not really looking to be pros by any means. We have full-time jobs and lives, and didn't want to get consumed by the sport(s). We came across IronTex, e-mailed Coach Mike and he e-mailed us back. After a quick phone call, all he said is come out and join us for a run this Saturday. So we did, luckily for us the meet point was near the house, waking up at 6:30am on a Saturday in February was not really our idea of how to spend a cold day, but we wanted to give it a shot. 

So we went to our first group workout, it was an hour run, and then a swim at the pool. Granted we had been running a little but not for an hour, we pushed and tried to keep up with the group. It was funny to see those training for the half IM or the full IM passing us by like we were walking, but we didn't walk (maybe a little). We put in maybe 4 or 5 miles in that hour, we were feeling good. Then we were off to the pool. Coach simply told us get in and show me what you got. Then he started to correct our styles. An eye opener for the two of us, as we knew we needed help but there was a lot of work. Swam for about 40-60 minutes with the group. 

Everyone was super nice and we felt very comfortable with everyone. Coach said at the end: "see you in the morning, bring your bikes." Res and I were of course tired and hungry after the workout but we were ready for the next day.