So I've completed 5K's, a 10K, a couple of 1/2 marathons, several marathons, and 1 ultra marathon. I have done long distance cycling including a Century Ride in one day. So all of my friends have been encouraging me to do a triathlon. It seems like the next step, right? Ya.. about that. I have been telling everyone that the cycling and running would be the easy part. I would NEVER be able to swim...even for the sprint distance which is about 1/2 a mile.
Then of course, there is my back injury. I just saw my surgeon this week for a follow up appointment. We have agreed that I will do another 3-4 more weeks of Physical Therapy with some massage, electric shock treatment and stretching included. At the end of this round of PT, we will decide if surgery is needed. At this point, the 1 hour of bike riding I did made my back hurt, and I didn't even get in 12 miles. If I power walk on pavement, my back starts to hurt. Hours of belly dancing make my back hurt. Sitting watching TV makes my back hurt...sometimes bad enough to require pills. Dancing at the night club for an hour made my back hurt. So running? Ya, I am just not sure.
My friend Jeannine has been training for a spring distance marathon. She has been swimming and totally inspired me! She came to visit last weekend, and to keep up with her training, we went walking on the greenbelt and we went swimming at the YMCA and just before she left to drive back home, a walk around my neighborhood. I found out that I could swim the side stroke rather well and for much longer than I thought I could! It made me think that *maybe* a sprint distance triathlon would be possible!
Jeannine went home yesterday. An hour after she got home, she had a seizure, which she has never had before. Scared the crap out of everyone. So today, I went to the YMCA and went swimming and kept her in my heart. Today, I swam 1000 yards! A miles is 1750 yards! Crazy! That is longer than needed for a sprint distance triathlon. Yay! Who knew??!!!!
Now I am looking at a triathlon, but first, I gotta get this back of mine to agree to play nicely. But for now, I am just very grateful that swimming is allowing me to get some exercise in. The 1000 yards just barely got my heart rate up. I did it in just 35 minutes. So I guess I will add another 25 minutes to my swimming and see how that works for a cardio workout. Since I am only doing the side stroke, I do not think I am working that hard. But it feels good to be working out!
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