How You Know You've Arrived As A Triathlete.

How do you know you've arrived in the world of triathlon?

• 3 podium finishes(including 1st, 2nd and 3rd place) at Ironman?
• No
• Being ranked 12th in the world for Kona points?
•  Nope.
• Being a highly respected competitor always known to give it her all no matter the circumstances?
• Not even close.

You know you have arrived in the triathlon world when the Slowtwitch trolls start in on you.

Now if you not familiar with Slowtwitch it is a site dedicated to everything triathlon. It has a lot of good info about races, training etc. All in all it is a fairly good site. However there is a sinister underbelly(or I suspect an over- sized potbelly trying to fit, unsuccessfully into spandex) that does nothing besides ridicule posts and making snarky, and inconsiderate, comments. Trolls.


A Slow Twitch Troll

These trolls are less like those cute little long haired troll dolls and more akin to the trolls from Lord of the Rings albeit with a ubiquitous triathlon race top on.

They troll the forums finding topics to lambaste and ridicule all the while maintaining a hazy air of anonymity. To paraphrase Brad Pitt from Se7en, they likely sit in their own feces masturbating to triathlon magazine.

Wow! I must really be upset to compare a harmless yet annoying peanut gallery to the serial killing Kevin Spacey. And I am.

What are they making fun of her for? Her running stride? Stature? No worse than that. One of her friends wanted to help support her trip to Kona and maybe allow her to get out there early enough to actually acclimate. That friend  set up a Go Fund Me account to help raise some money for Am. Another one of her friends, naively, but good intentionally posted it to Slowtwitch. And then the trouble began. Which wouldn't have been an issue except that Amber read about it and all of the nasty comments these trolls were making.

Seriously? Bad mouth Amber? Stupid, stupid trolls!

She called me crying while I was in Jackson Hole and it took all my energy not to write scathing responses to each and every troll response out there. Serenity now...

I get it. If you cannot be good at something tear down everything good around you. But Amber? There is nothing bad to say about her either on or off the field(or whatever turf you describe triathlon). My hope is that all these negative comments just add fuel to the fire and get her even more stoked to kick some butt at Kona and in the 2015 triathlon season.

And trolls beware: While she's not apt to slap your asses as she passes your slow over-indulged asses she may hurt you made deeply as she cheers you on as you finish despite the fact she may have, herself, finished several hours earlier.

Up Next: Hopefully no more hurtful comments on Slowtwitch and six weeks of intense training for Amber.