A belated Happy New Year to everyone! The year is off to a great start here at Coeur Sports and we're excited to share it with all of you. Over the next couple of months, you're going to see some great new gear and some really cool new initiatives coming out of our little office here in sunny Santa Monica, California.
One of the things you'll notice will be related to our blog. Some of you may know this but we're huge fans of literature. In other words, we all Love to read! In our opinion, few things top good writing and (to quote the literary icon known as Deadpool) the true heroes of any good movie or t.v. show are truly the writers! In fact, our Founder Kebby was an English Major and one of her favorite hang outs is a local literary themed café called Literati.
Literati is home base for many writers in Santa Monica
So, that's why we worked up the nerve and reached out to a couple of our favorite people who write professionally and asked them to guest post for us throughout the year.
The first post comes from an absolutely amazing individual. She humbly states that she has always had more enthusiasm than skill when it comes to triathlon -- but that doesn't keep her from giving it her all, even if that means she's more likely to be found laughing with friends in the beer garden after a race than winning her age group. She's certified as a USAT Level 1 Coach as well as an Adult Learn-to-Swim instructor, and you might recognize her (or her writing) from her website, FitBottomedGirls.com.
She resides in Sarasota, FL, with her rescue dogs, her cat, and her husband. When she's not writing or training, you can probably find her stand up paddleboarding, catching sunset at the beach, or dancing inappropriately.
Ladies and gentleman...please give a warm (digital) round of applause and welcome to Kristen Seymour!
We hope you enjoy her post as much as we did!
Triathletes vs. Winter Storms
By Kristen Seymour
As triathletes, we have a well-deserved reputation for being friendly with discomfort. It’s not that we like chafing, per se – we just accept it as a more or less inevitable side effect of our sport. (You know, unless you’re wearing Coeur shorts, of course – no angry kitty in that case!)
So, honestly, when a winter storm with a description like “bomb cyclone” comes along, you’d think we’d be all in, right? It’s like the triathlete version of nasty weather – it’s an overachiever accomplishing an advanced degree of difficulty.
Except … no. This weather – this bomb cyclone – has even thrown many of the most determined athletes for a loop. There’s uncomfortably cold, and there’s kinda dangerous but manageable, and then there’s snowpocalypse. We’ve been wading through what feels like weeks of the latter – and, frankly, it’s driving a few of us slightly nuts.
Okay, okay, more nuts than usual – because triathletes aren’t exactly like normal people. But you know that. You are one. And while you might be “normal” around your other triathlon-loving pals, compare your idea of a fun Saturday morning (like a 4-hour bike ride) to non-triathletes’ plans (sleeping in and sipping on some coffee before joining you – 10 minutes late – for a post-workout brunch).
Dealing with inclement weather is no exception. Regular folks wrap up in fuzzy sweaters and thick blankets to sip wine by the fireplace. They browse travel sites for deals on flights to tropical getaways. They slather on thick balms and hand creams to sooth their dry cracked skin.
Triathletes? We’re more likely to don every piece of warm workout gear we own (and place some next-day delivery orders for more) before attempting to brave the elements because, god forbid we skip a run (although we have been known to down a shot of Fireball halfway through. As one of my running buddies said, “It warms you from the inside!”). We scour race websites, dreaming of the perfect tri – in a warm locale. We slather Body Glide all over the dry areas because, well, you know you have tubes stashed all over the house. Handy!
But when the weather forces a triathlete inside – and not just inside, but housebound – we’re bound to go through a process that looks remarkably like the stages of grief.
- Denial: “It can’t be as cold as they say,” you tell yourself as you throw on a couple of extra layers, open the door and all liquid in your body immediately freezes. “Okay,” you say. “Another layer it is.”
- Common activities at this stage: Googling “How to modify a -30 degree sleeping bag into a track suit,” and obsessively checking the weather forecast while muttering to oneself, “There’s no way that’s right.” Spoiler: It’s right.
- Anger: “How could this happen while I’m building my base?” you scream out the door into the swirling vortex of snow and sadness. Your tears of fury freeze and drop like tiny pebbles – tiny, angry pebbles – into the snow at your feet.
- Common activities at this stage: Fuming while sitting in front of the TV with your wheel and a tire lever, practicing taking your tube off and putting it back on.
- Bargaining: At this point, you’d give up your last gel to get in an outdoor workout – and let the triathlete gods know. When you think back to those halcyon days of outdoor swims and sunscreen, you can’t believe you took them for granted.
- Common activities at this stage: You make deals, like, “If this weather will just ease up enough for me to get out, I will never skip a key workout again. I’ll never complain about a saddle sore. And I’ll definitely never bitch about having to wake up before the sun to get in my run before it’s too hot – never!” Another spoiler: You will totally complain about all of this and more.
- Depression: It hits you that you can’t change the weather – and you feel like it’ll never end. What does sun on your sweaty skin feel like? You honestly can’t remember and you’re sure you’ll never experience it again.
- Common activities at this stage: Stuffing your face like you’re tapering for Ironman and violently drawing Xs on your calendar as each day – and each unfinished outdoor workout – passes.
- Acceptance: One morning, you wake up and even though it’s still snowing and colder than a blast from your C02 cartridge outside, you feel … better. It’s not like you can’t do anything – you have a bike trainer ready to go, you could get to the gym to run on the treadmill. You’re a triathlete, dammit. You don’t give up when things don’t go your way. You’ve been kicked in the face in the ocean, suffered blisters bigger than a baby’s fist – and you’ve still crossed the finish line. You’ve got this!
- Common activities during this stage: Binging on shows from the relative discomfort of your bike seat and delighting everyone in your house by turning your living room into a makeshift training facility. “It’s only temporary,” you say. “Plus, do you know how many miles you can get in on a trainer while watching the whole first season of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel?”
Just remember that this weather will certainly pass – for real. But in the meantime, if you nail the sleeping bag modification, share your technique, will ya?
Be sure to check out Kristen's site Fit Bottomed Girls