Today I progressed from being a soulful runner to a hopeful triathlete. After much yearning and debating, and hoping and convincing, I signed up for the Go Girl Triathlon in Indy. For awhile I have been telling myself I’m going to tri a triathlon. Don’t get me wrong, I have the heart of a runner, but I feel the pull to tri something more. To push my body to do more. To build a base and tri for strength—of mind, of soul, of spirit, of heart. I have yet to run a full marathon simply because I have this hope of training with someone else. Those twenty mile training runs just do not sound appealing to attempt alone right now. And I’m holding out for the Nike Women’s Marathon (or the Dublin Marathon) as my first. Either of which I am bound and determined to get my mother to run with me. Plus, I’m hoping the constant rotation of exercise with a triathlon helps the hip heal…
Somehow I serendipitously stumbled across the information for this race and decided it was destiny. Or, it could just be the fact that it is close to home and easily affordable right now. Still. I feel it is my race. My eventual goal in life is to train for and complete the Irongirl Olympic distance triathlon in Vegas sometime (probably a few years from now), then a Half Ironman, and hopefully someday qualify for a full Ironman Tri.
For those who don’t know, there is a big difference in training and soul for these races. The Go Girl Tri is a sprint distance triathlon (the shortest tri distance and fastest growing race in the nation). I’ll be swimming 500 meters, biking 10 miles, and running 3.1 miles. And yes, that’s one right after the other and I’m hoping to complete it in the round abouts of an hour. The sprint is a really good distance to start with; however, I’m still going to need a lot of endurance—which is where my training comes in. [Riff: Olympic distance is 1.5 k swim, 40k bike, 10k run i.e. .9 mile, 24 miles, 6 mile; Iron man distance is 3.8k, 180k, 42k i.e. 2.4 mile, 112 miles, and a full marathon run-26.2 miles]. I am three weeks into endurance/heart rate based training where mostly my daily training is based on minutes, my total weekly on hours, and I’m pushing my cardio vascular levels. Not too hard, just to the point where I’m working hard and feeling strong. I give or take some speed work in all three areas, but I’m tri-ing not to bog myself down with specific workouts right now. My main goal is to finish the race and finish it strong and with a smile is what I’m going to do.
So yes, I am still runner and I will always be a runner—but for now, I’m seeing what opening myself can bring me. Maybe I can be a triathlete, even if I look like a fish out of water in the water. Swimming is NOT my strong point. I’ll never know unless I tri, and that’s exactly what I am doing.
My mother always said I was a strong willed child, here’s hoping that really it was just an Iron will.
“Think about the word 'amateur': It has its root in the Latin word 'amare', which means 'to love'--you do it for the love of the sport."
-Charles Carlson
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