I can honestly say I’ve never been bitten by the “workout bug” before.   I played sports from the time I was 4 through the end of high school, but I always hated the working out part of it.  I hated lifting weights.  I hated drills and most of all…I HATED running.   However, when I was a little kid, my two favorite things were to ride my bike around the neighborhood and go swimming.  I swam on the swim team at Morris Park for years….my wonderful mother took me to swim practice at 7am on many cold summer mornings.  (Yes, 65 degrees is a very cold temperature for getting in an outdoor pool…even if it is heated!) I was never very fast, but I loved it.  I loved the practice and I loved the meets and I loved those strange times when I would be one of 3 people in my heat and I would actually win a ribbon.

Fast forward about 15 years.   I see the sign at the Y for the Triathlon with the training program.  $20.  8 weeks.  8 weeks to build up to a 10 minute swim, 20 minute bike (spin) and 15 minute run.  I thought, yeah I think I can do that.

The first couple weeks were awful.  I was exhausted after the swim, my butt hurt from the spin bike and I couldn’t run more than 3 minutes at a time.  But I’ve really been working hard to get to the gym 1-2 additional times per week since I started.  I’m finding that I see the people in my Tri class working out too when I’m there.  Most of them are moms who have to work out at odd hours to get it in just like me.  It was starting to be….oddly…fun.

Last night at my training, we swam for 35 minutes, spinned (spun?) for 25 and then did a 15 minute run.  And I did it.  ALL.  I did have a bit of a leg cramp on the run, so I stopped and stretched, but I completed my 15 minutes.  According to my handy dandy Polar heart rate monitor, I burned 860 calories in the 1:15 and 35% of that was fat.  Wow.  I was so energized!

Next week is the last training session and the Triathlon is on the 15th of March.  I will be really sad to see it end.  I love the camaraderie of the workouts.  The instructors are so nice and fun and I’ve made some nice gym friends with a couple of the girls in the class.  It’s been such a challenge, but I am so proud of the advances I’ve made in just a few weeks.

I shouldn’t be surprised.  After all, I loved bike rides and swim team as a kid.  The running is the biggest challenge for me, but I’m getting there.