Last fall I was reading the comments in my favorite parenting-plus-a-lot-of-other-stuff blogs, sfgate.com's "The Poop." Someone mentioned the Mermaid Triathlon and its distances, and it was a total "WHOA!!!" moment for me. Who hasn't heard (and felt daunted by the mere idea) of the Ironman? But I had there were shorter-distance triathlons! (I guess that happens to a body when one has been spudding out on couch+car seat+office chair for 13 years.) I don't know if I'd ever become a long-distance runner, but I do love biking and swimming...so I started thinking, "Hmmm...maybe I should try a sprint triathlon sometime."
Well, you know where that kind of thinking leads a girl leading the "opposite" life: it's been the "
plate of shrimp " thing in action again. I keep finding articles about triathlons: at first I was finding those sites by searching, but now I'm finding them in my random readings. For example, two bloggers I read regularly,
Lori ("Finding Radiance") and
Christie ("Baby Tea Leaves") , recently posted about training for triathlons. Then, today...Zen Habits had an article, "
A Guide to Starting Out in Triathlon ". (In other words, sprint tri's are going to be the new 5K.)
I know what some of you out there are thinking: "That's all very nice, Pubsgal. So when are you going to sign up for one?"
Hem...haw....Good question. Frankly, I'm also nervous/scared as well as excited by the idea. Not quite as nervous as I'd be at the idea of sky diving, but it's up there. But I have done a few things to move along the path- Ordered a brightly-colored swim cap.
- Ordered vision-correcting swim goggles. Tried them out this past weekend and they work great!
- Read enough online to whet my curiosity, and to get me a bit nervous.
- Planted the seed of the idea with my family.
What I feel like I need to do to get ready- Watch a triathlon. I had thought to try out a just-announced local one in June, but it's the same weekend as my kids' dance recital, and that tends to be very labor-intensive for the dancers' parents. So I might just be watching that one...or maybe, just do it and muddle through it?
- Get more information about transitioning. What goes into this phase of the triathlon?
- Figure out how to get over the swim fear factor. Even though I've always loved swimming, and I float really easily, I'm a bit apprehensive about the whole idea of open water swimming and swimming in a race context--all that thrashing about of other people makes me nervous.
- Get family buy-in. In other words, figure out how to train and race without feeling like I was abandoning my family. As being the career half of a career/at-home parent dynamic duo, I'm already absent during the weekdays at work. Evenings and weekends are the only break-time my partner gets. I think the training is probably doable, but just need to figure out a doable event.
- Modify my training. I already do my main working out in the morning or at lunch time, and I can run a 5K. So I think it would be a matter of figuring out how to best work in the swimming and biking portion of the training. Biking is doable, since the gym has spin classes and exercise bikes, and I have a bike and an exercise bike at home. Fitting in swimming is the challenge, since the gym does not have a pool. There is a pool about 3 miles from my workplace that's open year-round and has lap swimming in the morning and afternoons. I could probably fit in 1 bike/swim per week in the morning before work during the school year, and 2-3 during the summer. Doing this, I could probably be ready for a triathlon in September 2009.
Will Pubsgal "just Tri it" in 2009? I think you already know the answer to that one. Stay tuned.... (And any good links, tips, etc. greatly appreciated!)
Well, you know where that kind of thinking leads a girl leading the "opposite" life: it's been the " plate of shrimp " thing in action again. I keep finding articles about triathlons: at first I was finding those sites by searching, but now I'm finding them in my random readings. For example, two bloggers I read regularly, Lori ("Finding Radiance") and Christie ("Baby Tea Leaves") , recently posted about training for triathlons. Then, today...Zen Habits had an article, " A Guide to Starting Out in Triathlon ". (In other words, sprint tri's are going to be the new 5K.)
I know what some of you out there are thinking: "That's all very nice, Pubsgal. So when are you going to sign up for one?"
Hem...haw....Good question. Frankly, I'm also nervous/scared as well as excited by the idea. Not quite as nervous as I'd be at the idea of sky diving, but it's up there. But I have done a few things to move along the path- Ordered a brightly-colored swim cap.
- Ordered vision-correcting swim goggles. Tried them out this past weekend and they work great!
- Read enough online to whet my curiosity, and to get me a bit nervous.
- Planted the seed of the idea with my family.
What I feel like I need to do to get ready- Watch a triathlon. I had thought to try out a just-announced local one in June, but it's the same weekend as my kids' dance recital, and that tends to be very labor-intensive for the dancers' parents. So I might just be watching that one...or maybe, just do it and muddle through it?
- Get more information about transitioning. What goes into this phase of the triathlon?
- Figure out how to get over the swim fear factor. Even though I've always loved swimming, and I float really easily, I'm a bit apprehensive about the whole idea of open water swimming and swimming in a race context--all that thrashing about of other people makes me nervous.
- Get family buy-in. In other words, figure out how to train and race without feeling like I was abandoning my family. As being the career half of a career/at-home parent dynamic duo, I'm already absent during the weekdays at work. Evenings and weekends are the only break-time my partner gets. I think the training is probably doable, but just need to figure out a doable event.
- Modify my training. I already do my main working out in the morning or at lunch time, and I can run a 5K. So I think it would be a matter of figuring out how to best work in the swimming and biking portion of the training. Biking is doable, since the gym has spin classes and exercise bikes, and I have a bike and an exercise bike at home. Fitting in swimming is the challenge, since the gym does not have a pool. There is a pool about 3 miles from my workplace that's open year-round and has lap swimming in the morning and afternoons. I could probably fit in 1 bike/swim per week in the morning before work during the school year, and 2-3 during the summer. Doing this, I could probably be ready for a triathlon in September 2009.
Will Pubsgal "just Tri it" in 2009? I think you already know the answer to that one. Stay tuned.... (And any good links, tips, etc. greatly appreciated!)