With May right around the corner, and early Spring flowers in bloom, I'm due for a reset and reevaluation of my goals and plans. What made me realize this was my first Triathlon this past weekend...ok Mini Triathlon. To be honest, I'm a runner. Really I'm an aspiring runner. Nothing exceptional, but I manage to put one foot in front of the other at a faster than walking pace. So, when a coworker asked if I wanted to do a mini Triathlon with him I hesitated. After failing to get anyone else to sign up I agreed to do it. The reason for my hesitation wasnt a concern for the endurance, this was a mini afterall, but the "tri" part...specifically the swimming. 300yrds in the pool. Heck thats only 12 lengths, just 6 laps, nevermind the fact that I can barely swim. Ok, so I can swim. I can jump off the diving board or go down a waterslide and swim to the edge. That's about it, or at least as far as I've ever really gone. I think this lack of ability comes from my 5' nothing Mother who always said she had no need to be in water over her head. This lead to me not learning how to swim until into my early teens, and even then, I only learned by reading the Boy Scout Handbook and practicing in a 4' above ground pool in our backyard. 300 yards may not be much to a seasoned swimmer but to me it was the hardest part of this event. 10 miles on a spin bike, fine. 5k run, warmup run. But that short swim? I may drown. On race day I entered the water nearly last so as to not slow other swimmers down. 9:35 mintes later I dragged myself out of the pool after finishing the longest swim of my life without stopping for more than a few seconds. A quick transition and gear change and I was on the spin bike. In true spin bike form the event organizers had the misic pumping. It was then that I realized nobody appeared to be having fun. My buddy was a few minutes ahead of me coming out of the pool, so I settled in to a 120RPM pace for the next 10 virtual miles. As tunes blasted I tried to catch up to my friend while doing a little spin bike dance/sing along...alone. Just over 18 minutes later I finished my 10 miles still trailing my pal, but feeling good, and in a good rhythm. I should probably mention now that I'm a learning barefoot runner. I am also a fan and affiliate of Xero Shoes. I slipped on my Venture minimalist sandals after the swim, and rode the bike with them on. The plan was to run with them on. During the transition, or maybe the bike section, my straps shifted. Shortly after starting my run I noticed they were riding in an uncomfortable way. I've logged a number of miles including a 6 mile run a week before this event. So I could tell right away that they needed to be adjusted. Just barely a half mile in I'm running ideas through my head. I could stop and adjust, possibly more than once. I could try to finish as is. I could finish barefoot even though 2 miles is the farthest I've gone sans shoes. The course was 3 miles through the beautiful University of Northern Iowa campus. On a cool April morning I kicked off my sandals and ran my first 5k barefoot. At the end of the day I finished in about 1 hour 9 minutes. I never did catch my friend, who I thought I would crush as soon as I got out of the water, but I also didnt sink to the bottom of the pool. After the race was over my pal said, "You know what kind of athlete you are? A Tri-athlete!" I guess I am, which brings me back to my point. I need to reset my goals so that I'm not defined as just a runner but rather someone capable of takeing on anything. I'll keep on running, but maybe now I'll be more of a try-athlete.
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AuthorCharlie is the voice behind Judo No Seito but this is bigger than one man... ArchivesCategories |