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STAMFORD, Conn. Some three months after giving birth to triplets, Stamford's Megan Kelly lead Connecticut women finishers in the U.S. Triathlon Age Group championships earlier this month in Burlington, Vt.
"When I found out I was pregnant, I wanted to have some sort of goal,'' said Kelly, who delivered her babies on May 2. "I wanted to do something I knew I could manage. It gave me an incentive to get back into shape."
Kelly was on bed rest from the 20th week of her pregnancy. Six weeks after the birth of boys Calder and Campbell and daughter Evelyn, she resumed workouts. "I had five-minute runs and lots of walks with the babies,'' Kelly said. "I slowly worked my way up to 35 minutes." Her long bike ride before the race was for 90 minutes the week before the competition.
"I think that's when I felt confident that I could finish,'' Kelly said. "I just wanted to have fun. It was nice to be out there and be able to enjoy it, especially after being bed-ridden for 13 weeks."
Kelly, a former swimmer at Greenwich High School and the University of California at Santa Barbara, is no stranger to triathlons. She was runner-up at the Greenwich Cup in 2009 and 2010 and won the Mossman Sprint Triathlon and Lake Waramaug Sprint in previous years. She also helped coach swimmers training for triathlons at TARGETRAINING in Westport.
She felt her best discipline at the nationals was running. "I've been swimming my whole life,'' she said. "Since I've had the babies, I've forgotten how to swim. Because I was able to walk so much, I was able to get into running shape. Normally I would swim every day. I think that's where my confidence was lacking."
A pulled hamstring three weeks after resuming training hampered her comeback. "My only goal was to finish,'' she said. "When I was out there, there were some people walking. I said 'Come on guys, I just had triplets. You can do this!' ''
What do you think of Kelly's performance so soon after having triplets? Start the discussion below!
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