My Athletic Story
This is not another story about an insanely talented person getting off the couch and discovering quick success.
Some achievements
1991 Texas State Champion (Bastrop, Texas) Orienteering Elite
2005 World Masters Games (Edmonton, Canada) 11th
place, Orienteering W40-44
2018 US National Championships (Sarasota, Florida) 8th
place Triathlon Draft Legal Sprint W60-64
2019 Swedish National Championships (Uppsala, Sweden) 2nd
place, Triathlon Olympic W60-64
2019 Swedish National Championships (Linköping, Sweden) 2nd
place, Triathlon Sprint W60-64
2019 World Championships (Lausanne, Switzerland) 28th
place, Triathlon Sprint W60-64 Team USA
2019 US National Championships (Tempe, Arizona) 4th
place, Triathlon, Draft Legal Sprint W60-64
2021 TX Ironman 70.3 (Galveston, TX) 7th place, Triathlon, W60-64
2021 US National Championships (Tempe, Arizona) 4th place, Triathlon, Draft Legal Sprint W60-64
2022 US National Championships (Irving, Texas) 7th place, Draft Legal Sprint W60-64
2022 US National Championships (Irving, Texas) 3rd place, Triathlon, Mixed Relay Sprint
2022 World Championships (Montreal, Canada) 28th place, Triathlon Sprint W60-64 Team USA
2022 World Championships (Montreal, Canada) 7th place, Triathlon, Mixed Relay Sprint Team USA 60+
2022 Rock n Roll (San Antonio, Texas) 1st place, Running, 10k, W60-64
2023 Vasaloppet, (Mora, Sweden) cross-country skiing, 90k, completed
2023 US National Championships (Irving, Texas) 2nd place, Triathlon Super sprint W65-69
2023 US National Championships (Irving, Texas, 4th place, Triathlon, Draft Legal Spring W65-69
2023 US National Championsips (Irving, Texas), 3rd place, Triathlon Mixed Relay Sprint, 60+
I am not one of the very best triathletes in my age group, but I have gone further than I thought possible. How did it happen? Not quickly.
I have been active in endurance sports, on and off since youth. I did not go from the couch to the national team in less than a year. I have a sporting background, but at a lower level.
I have a bad memory doing track and field at school when I was about 13 years old. I really wanted to be good, but was beaten by everyone in every discipline, except by one or two girls that really did not try. I realized I loved doing sport, but I was frustrated by losing badly against people who were not putting in much effort.
Hardly a future national team
member.
Where it started
My brother got me started in orienteering at age 13. This is a big sport in Nordic countries and competition is fierce. Orienteering is an endurance activity, often lasting more than an hour in difficult terrains. The map reading element gave me the competitive break I needed to have at least some success. I also competed in trail and cross-country running and cross-country skiing.
I really wanted to be good, and I was willing to do the work. This was in the 1980’s, and the message was: you can achieve anything if you try hard enough, more and longer, harder and harder. That is what I did, I started to train harder and harder. I improved a lot, but also a lot less than others that trained less than me. I trained very hard for about 10 years, but had lengthy interruptions from overtraining injuries, which eventually lead to knee and foot operations. Despite a huge commitment, I had limited successes at competitions, but I did become strong.
These 10 years were hard, both
mentally and physically and I learned a lot about training, psychology, and
myself. I had no important results or medals, but I was proud of my athletic
journey, and I felt accomplished. I knew where I came from physically and I knew
what I had put in and how much I had progressed. Still, medals and recognition
would have been nice, but it never happened.
Forks in the road
Going nowhere in sports, I really
needed to focus more on my education and working career and at age 25, I took a
conscious decision to give up on elite sport. I studied and
worked, got married and over the years, I had three children. When I was 33
years old and still in reasonable shape, I found myself in Texas and won the
State Championship in Orienteering. (Competition standard was not anything like
in Sweden). The year after, our family moved to Venezuela for work. Training
effectively stopped for the 10 years we lived there, except that I occasionally
could swim a few laps in a pool. As I could not crawl, I did a breaststroke.
The joy of Master's competitions
In 2002, we moved to Nova Scotia, Canada. I took up my interest in orienteering again, but as a busy mother and professional, it was at recreational level. World Masters Games were held in Edmonton in 2005 and I decided to challenge myself by signing up for the orienteering event. Weary of previous disappointments with competitions, and with new aches and pains, including a slipped disc, I decided that the goal was to enjoy participating and not be injured. Therefore, I trained only about three times a week on average and very short distance/time at that. Quality over quantity. With this attitude, I still had success and I was satisfied with an 11th place in my age group at the World Masters Games. Could I have placed higher with more training? It is an irrelevant question as my body was not ready for more at the time.
Getting a road bike
Another job change brought me and my family back to Texas. In the office, there was a lot of buzz about the MS150 charity bike ride from Houston to Austin, about 180 miles over 2 days. I wanted to do it, but could I? I was over 50 years old… maybe it was too hard for me? Seeing my small frame and stature, my coworkers indicated as much. Their dismissive attitude made me angry, and I signed up.
I was secretly worried about the
undertaking. In January 2010, I invested heavily in my first road bike as I
knew I needed every advantage I could get. I had to learn to ride safely with
my feet clipped to the pedals, but soon I started serious endurance
training. Road biking gave me a second
life in sport, it has speed, even for old ladies like me!
Coming back
My old competitive spirit returned and using all my previous experience, I prepared well for the charity event with a combination of strength, distance and sprint training. The ride was a blast, and I was surprised how fast I did it. I was the first woman in our team over the finish line (at age 52) and many younger guys were surprised that I was ahead of them. To be fair, it is a ride where most people do not aim for speed, but still, some of us do....
I then made it a yearly goal to participate in the MS150 charity bike ride which I did seven times. During these years, I also started to do 5k fun runs and learned to swim crawl. I had setbacks, mostly from infections, a slipped disc and severe sciatica that had me hospitalized at one point. A reminder of the importance of moderation, at work and in training.
I always wanted to do a triathlon
For most of my life, I did not have the resources to think about triathlons. Now I did. My work was increasingly not satisfying and in April 2018, I took the plunge and retired at age 60. Now I could train every day, alternating swimming, biking and running. I signed up for my first sprint triathlon in May 2018.
I was nervous, preparing diligently by taking a beginner’s clinic, entered the practice swim and scoped the course. I ended up in 4th place in my age group behind some good triathletes that had placed high on the US National Championship the year before. It felt like a success, and I was hooked! My biggest surprise was that I was a decent swimmer, it was the discipline where I had the least experience.
Getting into cold water
Thinking more of experiences than results, I entered Vansbrosimningen in Sweden, one of the largest open water swims in the world, taking place in cold rivers with part of the course against the current. Buying a wet suit was stressful, these things are tight! First time in cold water, I got a crick in my neck. Knowing this was a serious challenge, I had signed up for half-distance only (1500m), but I was worried and practiced diligently in a lake.
Day of the swim in early July came with good weather and I focused on an even pace and reaching the finish line. With no differentiating age groups or gender in the results, surprisingly, I was in the top 15% of the total field.
The next year, I did the full 3000m course and also swam a race across the Arctic Circle in northern Sweden.
Swim the Arctic, crossing the Arctic circle, Torne River July 2019
Getting serious
Three months after my first triathlon, I tried a second, which I won. By now, I had increased my training and I knew I could perform decently. On the competition calendar, one large event remained for the year, draft legal sprint US National Championship in Florida. I figured that by next year the competition would be restricted and I would not qualify, so this was my one chance to compete against the best age group triathletes in the country.
Hurricane Michael happened and caused travel difficulties, but I made it. The swim was canceled, oh no, we had to do two runs. Before start, I felt out of place and hoped to hide my modest ability amongst the even older participants. Some of the best athletes did not make it to Florida and I placed 8th in my age group, less than 7 minutes from the winner. This result was way above my expectations, even for a diluted field. In late October I had an email I never expected: Congratulations, you have qualified for Team USA in draft legal age group Sprint Triathlon World Championships 2019.
Another perspective
Wow, I am not used to this. The late success in my athletic life is unexpected but very welcome, and of course I took my spot and went to the World Championships in Lausanne, Switzerland. It was a dream come true to be part of the national team. I prepared well using what I had learned about training over the years and I came to Switzerland feeling strong and confident. I had a great race without mistakes and placed 28th, above my expectations.
Looking back, I can see that my experiences over the years helped. The fundamentals have not changed, I will never be as fast as the very best, but going forward, I intend to be the best athlete I can be and enjoying it.
I have better results now than when I was younger because I have found a sport that better suits my talent and of course, competition is less hard in the older age groups. But the major reason is that I know how to train effectively.
As an older athlete, hardly anybody cares where I place and to complete a race is enough to be accomplished. The unrealistic pressure for medals and record times is off. I can enjoy just participating and competing against myself.
Lausanne, World Championships 2019
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