What's to say about me:
Short version
retired middle distance runner, relatively new to triathlon, came to triathlon through injury (like so many others), never quite got rid of that competitive strain. That's the short version.
Longer version
In my first life, I used to be a middle distance runner. In my youth, I represented Germany in an international match over 800 m (one of my more horrendous races due to over motivation). My career as a runner was set back by various accidents at PE class and ruptured tendons and shattered cartilage. I always bounced back though, stronger and with more will power. On the back of a resurgence of my running career, I was offered a scholarship to go to Boston University and run for them. Being German, I first finished my apprenticeship and then went, which also gave me a good year to prepare. During that year, I improved my PB to 55.4 sec for 400m, 2.06 min for 800m and 4.36 for 1500m. At BU, I enjoyed an illustrious career with being part of the first women's team to ever qualify for the NCAA National Cross Country Championships and qualifying myself as an individual in the 800 m. I had 4 fantastic years there, where I started to enjoy longer distance running and loving cross country racing.
After graduating, I felt a bit burned out and apart from that, I was nearing 26 years and thought I'd better focus on a proper career and do the athletics on the side. So I turned more into a jogger, did some half marathons, worked for a bank in marketing and was quite happy being back in Germany. Eventually, I switched to a University in Germany to help build up an international mathematics programme, and through my then boyfriend started to ride a road bike. While working full-time, I did a Masters "on the side" and was lucky to have the support of my employer. From there, in a madcap idea, I applied for a PhD studentship at the University of Stirling and was lucky to be accepted.
Initially, I got involved in the athletics club there, running it for a short while and coaching. At some point, I started to be in severe pain when running and a scan and ultrasound showed, I had a massive heelspur that was poking my plantar. I had to stop running immediately otherwise, I would run the risk of my plantar rupturing. It was difficult, but I got myself a bike, and hooked up with the uni triathlon club.
I'm a terrible swimmer. At the beginning, I couldn't even do a length front crawl properly. But thanks to the patience of Blair Cartmell, I got my head round it and soon got more confident in the water. I also got in touch with Stirling Bike Club, to get some (actually a lot of) bike riding in. I discovered time trialling, and in my first attempt at 10 miles came back in 28 min.
After 8 months of no running, I was finally pain free and very slowly started to run again. 100m at a time. I set myself the goal to compete in the British Universities Sprint Triathlon Championships in May the following year, giving me about 6 months to get up to running 5km in one go. It was hard work and I had to be really careful with running. Only 2 sessions per week and nothing longer than 40 min. Throw in some swimming, cycling, a part-time job, studying for my PhD and giving tutorials. But I got there.
In May 2009, I did my first triathlon. The BUSA Sprint Champs and was hooked. I swam way better than expected, had a good time out on the bike, and instead of running an estimated 30 min, I ran 21.
Eventually, I moved to London for my new job and started training with the Wimbledon Windmilers. To keep me going. I've not done any more triathlons because I was busy finishing my PhD, and just helped the team in a few duathlons which I enjoyed tremendously. And then the competitive bug bit me again at the start of the season: London League and a go at the Olympic Distance. But I felt, that my training was a bit all over the shop, so I have recently enlisted the help of Will Usher and have been lucky to be able to train with the One Triathlon Squad. Will added a few races to my calendar, like the ETU qualifier for 2012 and another Olympic Distance to test the waters.
And then Alcatraz came along...
