An
Exercise in Exercise
(My mini-triathlon)
This
past weekend, my two sisters (Sue and Lauren) and I, along with about 60 other
people, participated in a mini-triathlon in Duncan Oklahoma. I’ve always been a pretty decent athlete, and
I typically enjoy exercise, so this seemed like a good way to start the
year. For those who don’t know what a
mini-triathlon includes (I didn’t until lately), it involves a 300 meter swim,
an 8 miles bike ride, and a 5k run. As
this event is all done inside, February
is a good time for it. This one was
hosted in Duncan’s Simmons Center, which is a nice facility.
Sue,
my sister from Amarillo, had done a mini-triathlon last year, and enjoyed the
event. She challenged (my sister)
Lauren, and (my brother) Andrew, and I to join here this year. As I was a pretty good swimmer (many, many)
years ago, and I still work out with both spinning classes and running, I
thought that I would be able to pull this off.
After the first of the year, I started serious training in each event,
and worked on building up my endurance for the combo of the three. I’ll briefly discuss each event, and my
training regime.
The
race started at 6:30 AM, so Sue, Lauren and I met at Lauren’s house in
Chickasha on Saturday night for carb-loading.
We had spaghetti, salad, and Jell-O with blueberries, for dessert.
I
was an Oklahoma state champion in swimming way back in 1976. Back in “the day”, I could swim 100m in just
under a minute. I was definitely a
sprinter, meaning that I would fade fast as the distance increased. The swim was a 300m swim, snake-style, up and
down the pool for 6 laps (or 12 lengths).
For training, I swam 500-660m two-three times a week, since
January. I hoped that I would be able to
do the 300m in about 6 minutes, and I did really well, finishing in 5 minutes
and 20 seconds. This was the strong suit
of my race. In-fact, only one swimmer
beat my time, and he was 19 years old.
As pleased as I was with my own performance, I was awed by
Lauren’s. She finished just a few
seconds behind me, and if it weren’t for the trouble she had getting out of the
pool, she might have beaten me!
The
biking was done on a stationary bike, for 8 miles. To train, I attended spinning classes, about
once a week, in which you ride the bike anywhere from 8-15 miles in under an
hour. I had hoped to do this 8 mile ride
in about 20 minutes, as I was pedaling at low resistance. I did get a bit of a cramp in one calf about
halfway through, but still finished in a decent split of 22 minutes for the 8
mile ride. The transition time between
the swim and bike was about 5 minutes, but I started breathing hard after only
a mile or so. I jumped off the bike
dripping sweat, but I did get to drink down a Gatorade before moving to the
run. Sue had a nice run on her bike,
beating a number of competitors.
Last
on the list was the run. It’s a 5k, or
3.1 mile route on an indoor running track.
I do not like to run, period. I
do not like to train to run, double period.
Last year, I ran two 5K races, one as part of the Memorial Marathon
relay and one as part of the Turkey Trot.
Both of these were outdoors, with hills, and unpredictable weather. What’s to complain about running on a nice,
smooth, indoor, level track, right?
Still, I died! After swimming and
biking, my legs were worn out after only a mile or so. I ran this 5k in just under 31 minutes. My split time for the Memorial Marathon
(outdoors, in weather) was 29:57, so considering that I had already done the
swim and bike, I should be happy with the 31 minute time. But I know that I was really tired, and I had
to walk a few of the 33 laps around the track.
I was ever so glad when the race was over!
In
all, I accomplished my goal of beating a one hour time, by finishing in 58
minutes and 20 seconds! Woohoo! I was also lucky enough to win first place in
my age group, so I got a gold medal. Had
I been 55 years old, instead of 54, I would have finished third in my age group!
I was very proud of my sisters too.
Sue finished first in here age group, and Lauren finished second in
hers. I think we all agreed that the
woman who beat Lauren was really a robot.
In all, it was a fun experience and I’m glad we did it together. Whether I’m crazy enough to ever do it again
is debatable! We’ll see
So
you know what I did on my weekend. What
did you do on yours?
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