My Plunge into the World of Multi-sport

This will be my first post with me bringing in other passions in my life to be apart of my tech aspects of this blog. So, I have always been a runner. I was a sprinter and jumper in high school, and then short distance in college (non-competitive). I started training for farther distances after I graduated. However, I went through a few years of accidents, illness, and injuries. I gained a ton of weight and basically had to start from scratch, but with a lot more roadblocks. I first tried a bunch of weight loss programs, one of which was successful while I was doing it, but like all diet programs, nothing sticks once you stop. Therefore, I decided to change my lifestyle all-together. With a new job came a company that embraced being fit and active. They sponsor many local races and have an awesome culture.

One of the events they sponsor is the Philadelphia Triathlon, now called the TriRock Philadelphia. I honestly had never heard of triathlons before working at this company, and had already started training to run Broad Street and Philly Half Marathon. So, a lot of my coworkers were talking about doing the triathlon (in 2012) and asked if I was going to do it. I said sure...what is it? So, I find there are 2 distances for this specific race; Sprint and Olympic. Being the competitive-natured person I am, I was like, no way would I do the Sprint, it's so short it sounds way too easy and then there would be people who did the Olympic...I couldn't have that. So, with no swimming experience or road biking experience, I started training less than 6 months before the race.

For anyone who isn't familiar, a Sprint Triathlon is 750m swim (0.47 mi), then 20km bike (12.4 mi), and then 5k run (3.1 mi). An Olympic distance is double that; 1.5km swim (0.93 mi), then 40km bike (24.8 mi), and then 10k run (6.2 mi).

Swimming for the pre-beginner

So, aside from some swim lessons when I was about 6, I have never really swam. Sure, I had gone in a pool and the ocean, but never swam. I went to LA Fitness, hopped in, and swam 1 length (25 yards) and thought I was going to die. I was out of breath in 25 yards. I was DOOMED! No worries. I scoured the web for a beginner training plan. Since I also was going to be doing a half marathon and a 10 mile run, I had to blend that training schedule with the triathlon training. I made it work and began training. I swam 3 times a week, and my goal was just to keep being able to swim longer without being so winded. I started by swimming 2 lengths (1 lap or 50 yards), then taking a 2 minute rest, then repeating this for an hour. I would build by first decreasing my breaks by 30 seconds each session, if I could. Once I got down to 30 seconds and felt I could go more, I increased the laps and then went back up to 2 minute breaks. I kept doing this until I could swim a full mile with no breaks.

Road biking for the beginner

As a kid, I was really into mountain biking. When I started training, I figured the bike leg would be easiest, as I used to bike at least 30 miles a day during summers when I was a kid...how hard could that be. What a fool I was. Due to the time of year and the fact I had no bike, and not biked in over 10 years, I started training at the gym on a Spin bike. I attended a Spin class and I thought I was going to die. It was so hard. But hey, I used to bike, I just needed time to get used to this. So, I went 3 times a week to Spin class. I improved quickly and by the time of the race, I was easily doing 25-30 mph, which included power hills (resistance of 18-22) for a large duration of my spin session. Each session I would usually go at least 20-35 miles.

I didn't even buy a bike until about 2 months before the race. I got fitted for my bike, got the rest of my gear, and then tried to go out for a ride. Almost fell over trying to get on the bike. To make matters worse, I could barely stay on the bike; I couldn't handle turns well and hills were terrifying. So, my first time out, I get to a big hill and decided I wasn't going to attempt it, so I tried turning around just like I would have on a mountain bike (turned handle bars). Bad news; that is not how turning works on a road bike, so I fell HARD. Whatever, I was embarrassed but humbled and knew I could improve. So, the next time I went out I got 2 charlie horses and also fell again. The next 2 times I would get multiple charlie horses and fall each time. So, my bike from what I expected to be my best segment to my worst. The moral of the story is get in your hours on a road bike, or use a hybrid for your first few races.

Running for all levels

As I noted already, I have been a runner my whole life. After college I got into longer distance running. Before getting into multi-sports but after my various injuries from car accidents, I was able to handle running up to a half marathon distance, 13.1 miles. Did that help me at all for my introduction into multi-sports? No, not really.

The only benefit I had was my endurance and experience. Aside from that, I had no idea how challenging going from biking then immediately running would be. My legs were in such shock the first time I collapsed as I started running; and lucky me, this was on a treadmill, so I had a huge audience to witness my fall. Oh well, I picked myself back up and got used to it. It's amazing that all of my running training didn't mean squat for endurance. I would have never thought swimming then biking would take so much energy out of me, that my run would feel almost impossible.

Thanks to many brick workouts, however, I was able to overcome all obstacles. For anyone not familiar, a brick workout is one cardio activity followed immediately by another. For example, after swimming at the gym, I dry off, put on some biking gear, and hop on a spin bike. Or, after biking outside, when I finish, I toss on my running shoes and immediately go for a run.

So my entry in multi-sports was a bumpy ride, but I learned a lot about the sport and myself during the journey, and am completely hooked now!