The Wanderer

Hello friends. We’re back for another week of triathlon training. And this one was the best week yet.

Some of you might remember from episode 1 that I mentioned being caught between the desire to run a sprint triathlon and an olympic triathlon. While I think the sprint race is definitely a more approachable beginning to my triathlete journey, there is something about the olympic distance that garners my attention. At the beginning of this journey I had over 5 months of training ahead of me to prepare for the triathlon, and now, over 1 month in, I felt it was time to challenge myself.

The past month of training has been more intense than I have ever experienced. Regular weight training brings its own challenges and its own goals, but they are not as distinct as cardio goals. Repping a bench press PR is cool and all but at the end of the day weight training is just that. Training. But this race is what that training has led to. It’s a distinct achievable goal that in many ways I’ve worked towards for the better part of my adult life. Having 3 distinct sources of cardio means that every week I am chasing 3 separate goals, 3 challenges, 3 opportunities to prove myself. The motivation this race brings puts every workout, every sprint, every stride into perspective, a part of a greater challenge. Every day I show up and finish a workout I’m visibly one step closer to my goals, and one day closer to my race. This supersedes the need to be healthy or happy, I am now fueled on pride and power.

And now as I reach the 1 month milestone, I wanted to see how far I was to achieving my goal. I wanted to run a sprint triathlon.

About a month ago I signed up for a 3.5 mile run through work. I then proceeded to completely forget that I had signed up until last week, when I had gotten an email providing details about a race the coming Thursday. Yes you heard that right. Well 3.5 miles was nothing in particular, just the week before I had ran 4.5 in my training regiment, but the fact that this was an actual race put some added pressure. I gave myself the goal to run this race at my percieved race pace for the sprint. My goal for the sprint was to run the 5k in under 30 minutes, just a little under a 10 minute mile. This isn’t fast for most, but for me it would be the fastest I had ran thus far. I figured if I could do 3.5 miles in 35 minutes or less, I could probably do a 5k in under 30 minutes on triathlon day.

Monday was as always a full body day. I trained relatively hard, focusing on heavy weights for low reps. I knew this week was going to be rough so I took Monday one workout at a time.

Tuesday I hit the bikes. My friend Satvik wanted to hang out and lift today, and he was thinking chest day. Usually I do chest and running, but I had the 3.5 mile run on Thursday, so I opted for a morning bike ride. I hit 16 miles at a 3:45/mi pace, completing the 16 miles in just under an hour. A few hours later I’m back at the gym working out with Satvik, hitting a heavy chest day. I max out on bench (240lb for 1!) and then hit a lighter split for the rest of the workout. A great workout with great company.

Wednesday was a swim day. My legs were exhausted from the long bike the day before, and I didn’t want to push myself before a long run, so I ended up skipping legs this week. I more than made it up on the swim, doing an interesting split to work on my race pace and my sprints all at once. I first swam 200m @ 4:00 minutes, then 100m @ 2:00, and finally 2x50m @ 1:00. For those who aren’t privy to swimming, what I usually do is I’ll give myself a specific amount of time to finish a swim, and any time remaining is rest. So for example I’ll give myself 2 minutes to complete a 100m swim. I’ll usually finish the swim in under 1:30, giving me 30 seconds of rest. This way I’m always giving myself grace on my swims. Either I go fast and get rest, or I go slower and push through to the next swim. It’s a technique I learnt as a high school swimmer and it’s done me well since. Either way, I ended up doing 5 sets of that, putting my total at 2.5km with a warmup and warmdown. This was the distance of the half iron man, and it was a huge accomplishment for me to be able to complete a swim like this. I now feel confident in my swimming ability for the triathlon.

And then finally Thursday comes around.

I was racing with some coworkers who said they were going to pace around a 30 minute finish, about 9 minutes per mile. A very large part of me wanted to run with them. A much larger part of me said it would never happen, they were just too fast and I was too slow. The ever present battle between my perception and my reality rages on. I went into the race with this goal in mind, removing the rest of the world from my field of view and focusing solely on my self and my goal.

The first mile goes by and I’m keeping close to the rest of my team. The windy city is earning its name 10 fold as the cool wind gusts from any angle it can find. I was cold before the run but now almost 10 minutes later I feel strong. I finish the first mile in 9:50. Right on pace.

Mile 2 was tough. The wind got the better of me for a moment and my hat flew off. In the process of retrieving my cap I lost sight of my work friends as they turn a corner and disappear into the crowd. The rest of the mile was playing catchup, running faster but still controlled. My legs start to fatigue from the training earlier this week, but my mind is singularly focused. I finish mile 2 in 9:30.

Mile 3 my legs start to cramp up. We enter the fumigated lower wacker drive, running through pot holes and covering our noses from the smell of the urban. The team is in sight now, but my legs are quickly running out of steam. I think back to my training, slowing my pace slightly and focusing solely on my breathing. My pace suffers but my legs slowly gain strength as we turn out of the tunnel and enter the final leg of the race. I finish mile 3 in 10:15, still on track.

The last 0.5 miles of the race felt stronger than ever. Recovery had worked like a dream, and I found pace like never before. The team was turning the final corner and I was only half a minute away. My pace and my heartbeat quickens as I make the final turn and see the finish line. I finish the race in 34:14, my last mile pace at a staggering 9:15.

Goal achieved.

This week I had swam 2.5km, biked 20 miles, and ran 3.5 miles, a total well over the sprint race. Sure I didn’t do them next to each other, and yes that will be much harder, but this week was proof that I can do the sprint race and more. The deadline was coming up to sign up for a race, and maybe it was the hubris a training regiment like this brings, maybe it was the high of achieving a goal, or maybe it was reality finally winning, but I did not sign up for the sprint race.

I signed up for the olympic triathlon.

1.5km swimming, 40km biking, and 10km running. August 24th, just 15 weeks away.

I guess this series needs a new name.