The Gun Show

In case you missed it despite my shameless bragging, last weekend I completed my first sprint triathlon. I spent several months swimming several times a week along with running several half marathons, buying a new house and basically upending my entire life.  Last weekend it all came to a head, but I really feel like I reached my goal before the race.

I love a challenge, and one of the things I most wanted to see how cross training would affect my body. When you really, REALLY love running, it's hard to motivate yourself to do anything else. There's no other form of exercise I'd rather do. I want to cross train, but I'd rather be running. Training for a triathlon forced me to get out of my comfort zone and cross train in ways I never would've done otherwise. Getting up 5:10 am and heading to the pool two days a week? That never would've happened without serious motivation.

While logging lots of early mornings at the pool I found my body changing and becoming leaner. My running times were insanely fast (for me). I broke my half marathon PR twice and took more than two minutes off my 5k PR. This happened while I was barely running otherwise and doing nothing different other than adding swimming and biking into my training repertoire.

While I generally found the swimming to be inconvenient, I love the results. I am in the best shape I've been in since my mid-20s, and I feel fantastic. One of my goals was to have arms as muscular as I did when I was 25, and I think I've gotten there (or at least I'm close).

My goal: my arms circa 2004. In this photo I'm encouraging my brother to win a karaoke contest.
2014: Imploring my dog to eat her dinner. (Also how much better are cameras in the last ten years?!?)
Initially I didn't think I'd keep swimming after the tri, but now I'm already looking forward to using swimming and biking as a way to help me shatter my PR in the New York Marathon in November. I'll at least take a little break (for sure long enough for another fun abdominal surgery in a few weeks). I know through this training process the kind of results my body is capable of achieving. It was awesome watching my body change and my confidence grow through this process. The triathlon was an incredible experience on so many levels. So now it looks like I need a new challenge. Any ideas?

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