First Tri Club Meeting

I don't why I get this way, but meeting new people is a seriously scary thing for me, especially when I'm new to a group of a people.  My desire to do a triathlon started when a few of my friends back in LA started doing them.  These same friends used to call me crazy for doing marathons and are now training of Ironmans, or in Beth's case, became an Ironman finisher last November and is basically a triathlon goddess.   Super inspiring!

While I'm NOT going out for an Ironman which is 2.4 mile swim, a 112 mile bike and a marathon (26.2 miles), I do think Sprint triathlons look fun.  In a Sprint, I would only be doing a 750m swim, 20km bike and 5km run.  Comparing the two, I would be looking at a 16 hour finish (if I'm lucky) in and Ironman and about a 1 hour 45 minute finish on the Sprint.

Since I have no idea what I'm doing when it comes to triathlons, I joined a triathlon club.   The first meeting was last night.  As I walked through the doors of Landis Cyclery,  I could feel my heart banging in my chest.  New situations scare me, particularly social situations.  The meeting had already started because I was about 15 minutes late.  I walk to the counter where I see a very tall man with a triathlon race shirt, sorting through nametags.  Since I registered fairly recently, there was no nametag yet for me.  He wrote my name on a post-it, stuck it on a lanyard and I wore that around my neck.

I found an empty chair in the back and slipped in quietly.  One of the club officers was discussing an upcoming triathlon in Mexico that many club members were competing in.  Next, the guest speaker.  Mackensie Madison is a professional triathlete and a coach.  She came in 7th for the Women in Ironman Arizona last year.  Her talk revolved around training for cycling during the off season.  She gave a few good workouts for cyclists.  I don't consider myself a cyclist yet, and she used some terms I'm not familiar with yet, such as the number of watts you should be hitting and your threshold.

At the end of the meeting, everyone put their nametags in a box for a raffle drawing.  Pretty sweet prizes.  $50 gift certificates to the running store, gift certificates for massages.  I didn't win anything, because I don't win at raffles (and I'm really hoping for the fates to prove me wrong on that one!  C'mon fates, do your thing!)

I slipped out at the end of the meeting without talking to anybody.  I know!  I'm ridiculous!  Give me time. I plan to go to few group workouts to get to know people.  I have no trouble introducing myself when I am running beside somebody, sweating and wearing workout gear.  Something about the social setting just unnerves me.