I wasn’t going to say to much yet, but things change and it only makes sense to clarify.
Thursday March 6th I signed up to train for an indoor triathlon. It’s been over a year since I did the biathlon and I’m excited to expand my goals and achievements with this new one.
And rather than jumping in cold, I also signed up for 4 weeks of training. Which is a good thing and bad thing.
The training is pretty basic 20 minutes on the treadmill and bike – in whatever order you wish – followed by 20 minutes in the pool. (While the actual tri will be pool, bike, treadmill, it just makes sense to have the pool last for the training part.)
So we go as far as we can in 20 minutes on each section, then switch.
The next day, we do it again, and we try and beat the previous day’s time. We take one day off a week, but otherwise we train everyday.
Needless to say it’s been painful, exhausting, thrilling and scary all at the same time.
Because of my weight, running is really hard on my knees, and just really hard in general. My left knee has been in pain essentially from day 2 of starting this process. Now before y’all freak, it’s getting better and stronger, and it’s the dull ache of exercise, not the sharp pain of injury.
I’m focusing now on leveling the endurance of each ‘leg’.
I’m pretty strong at the swimming part, having done so much swimming in the last 12 weeks. The bike isn’t terrible, but it’s not weight bearing so I can manage it, and the run/walk on the treadmill is dreadful. So mentally I’m trying to pull some of the energy from the swim and add it to the treadmill. So rather than holding back on the treadmill so I can meet my previous targets on the bike or in the pool, I’m giving it all I can on the treadmill and then bike and letting the swim be whatever that is.
I’m not a sprinter, never have been. Childhood asthma didn’t help with prolonged running etc, I’m sort of a wishy washy medium at things. So this 20-20-20 is really pushing me as it’s really a sprint to get the distance in.
It’s been rough, I will tell you that. I’ve been popping pain pills like crazy and I haven’t slept well since I started this. Quitting has never crossed my mind, I’m too determined for that, but there are days I truly HATE doing it.
But I keep telling myself it will balance out, I will get stronger, I will achieve what I hope to achieve.
Every once in a while, you have to push yourself. I think if the training was more than a month, I wouldn’t have the mental strength to focus on it. It also takes 2 hours out of the day by the time you head to the gym and then leave, it’s always pretty much a 2 hour commitment.
There are 5 of us doing the training, 3 women, 2 men. We’ve bonded and are a team, happened almost instantly. All of us are struggling with our own battles to do this event, and what is fantastic is we’re all weak and strong in different areas. This enables us to support each other and borrow from each other when we need it most. No one person is perfect and top dog.
We push each other, not against each other, but towards our own goals. We celebrate when we achieve our own benchmarks. Sure we’re a little competitive, but we’re humans too.
Shannon, our trainer, keeps us motivated and as we work our butts off, she seems surprised at our dedication and focus. But as I said, we gelled as a team pretty quickly.
This effort has slowed the 100 mile challenge considerably, but that’s ok too. I’m getting close to doing 1/2 a mile in the 20 minutes so after I finish the 20 minute sprint, I finish out the 1/2 mile. This enables that challenge to continue, just slower. I do full miles the day we meet with Shannon as the training is at night and I tend to go to the gym in the morning. So instead of doing 6 miles a week, all things being equal, I’m doing 4.
