A 'mini' Triathlon

So I have decided that I need a new challenge. Something to work towards, a goal that motivates me. But what to do? The obvious choice would have been another long running event but there are two issues with that. Firstly, my physio therapist kind of advised against it until all my back and knee issues are really healed and secondly, it seems a little bit boring. I feel like I need something new.

The other day I saw a flyer for the Contract TriWomen Series.

This is series of ‘mini’ triathlons just for fun (there is not 1^st, 2^nd, ... price it’s all just about participating). And as the name already suggests, it’s just for women (probably because men couldn't do something like this just for fun and would turn it into a competition anyway). While triathlon can refer to pretty much any combination of any three sports, this is the most common sequence with swimming, biking, and running. Triathlons vary in distances, the most famous is probably the Ironman (3.86 km swim, 180.25 km bike and 42.195 km run) – no worries, I have no intention to do an Ironman anytime soon ;-)

The contact TriWomen races are much, much shorter. The one I’m looking at right now would be something around 300meter swim, 10km bike and 3km run (the exact distance haven’t been confirmed yet). While I can do the biking and running part (separately) relatively comfortable right now the 300meter swimming is a bit more of a challenge. While I learnt to swim as a kid and did some regular swimming classes when I was younger, I haven’t really done any swimming in more than 10 years. My gym as a small 25meter pool and last weekend I went just to find out if I can still swim at all. Good news is I still know how to do it. The bad news is that I was puffing hard after about 100meter ;-) I might have been able to swim 300meter (in a ‘my life depends on it’ situation) but no way could I’ve done a 10km bike AND a 3km run afterwards.

So a ‘mini’ triathlon seems like a perfect challenge at this time. It’s definitely not gonna be easy but it is totally doable. It’s not a huge challenge like the half marathon last year but it is a goal and it does require regular training.

The event I’m looking at right now is on the 9^th of April which gives me 9 weeks to get ready.

Yeah, so that’s my new challenge ;-)

The next step now is to figure out how to train for a triathlon – will keep you posted.

Oh, and if you want to find out more about the Contact TriWomen Series you can visit their website http://www.tri.co.nz/.