I've always wanted to do a triathlon.
I came close once, a friend and I started training for it. We never got around to signing up, and eventually we stopped training altogether. I did continue with fitness sessions to this day (I enjoy my boot camp classes), but never to the extent I needed to maintain a level of fitness worthy completing a tri.
After meeting Mario, I decided to revisit the dream. He loves triathlons and has completed a fair few (the numbers run into double digits) so he motivated me to give it a go. A quick message to my friend and she agreed to it as well.
3 months later and here I am, preparing for it.
It's a sprint distance, so not as far as a regular triathlon. It consists of:
- 400m swim
- 14km bike ride
- 4km run
I'm nervous, really nervous. I haven't trained as much as I should. I really let the ball drop over Christmas in a major way. I went for a run Monday night and could barely make 2km without getting a stitch, and that's worrying.
At the moment in attempt to catch up (cramming was also my style in high school, I see no reason to change now) I'm training twice a day with the exception of Wednesday night and Sunday night. My routine this week so far has been:
- Monday: boot camp at 6am (1 hour session), walk/run with friend at night
- Tuesday: boot camp in the morning (half hour session), long walk at night (stretch out sore muscles)
- Wednesday: 1km swim at the pool, 400m timed (9mins 52, I'm disappointed because I know I can do better than that), rest at night
Tomorrow morning I have another half hour session of boot camp, I will try to get in a run at lunch or immediately after work (we have friends coming for dinner tomorrow night so pushed for time to get home). Friday morning I have my hour long session of boot camp, but then have dinner organised so this time it's going to be tough to fit in a second session, and it's looking like I will be having lunch out with a couple of girlfriends of mine. Saturday morning I will be swimming and cycling with my friend I'm doing the tri with.
My stupidly busy weeks are exactly the reason why I implemented “Wind Down Wednesday” (WDW) in my 52 in 52, it's all too easy for my week to become booked up with social activities. We were lucky to have a quiet start to the week this week actually – it was blissful! Next week I have a friend coming for dinner on the Wednesday night, which means “Wind Down Wednesday” will actually be Tuesday night that week (special event dinner so Mario and I both agreed to move the WDW evening. At the moment the rest of the nights are free…I think.
The boot camps on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday are regular items, and the swimming on Wednesday was something that Mario and I introduced last year (although we skipped it a bit too often for my liking). It's really only the after work activities and ramping up my running schedule that is any different to my usual training routine. I will hopefully find that the more I swim the better I will become with my running too, because I will naturally breathe better. My cardio is by far my biggest worry about the triathlon. I know I will make the distances, it's just a matter of how fast (I really don't want to have to walk).
I've also recently given up eating sweet foods (unless natural sweeteners like honey and maple syrup are used instead, but even then I'm trying to limit my intake). Yet another 52 in 52 item underway. As a result, my diet is quite good at the moment, and my energy levels have gone up too. It's great not getting the evil 3pm slump at work.
So here goes to the next few weeks. I daresay I will lose all the Christmas food-related kilos that I put on, and a bit more. AFter all, if I'm going to be making my debut in some lycra I want to make sure I have a bit of a hot butt!
Because that's what competing in a triathlon is all about right?
I'll keep you posted on my training progress. Wish me luck!