Triathlon

Well, the day is almost here. This Sunday, June 17 at 7:00 am, I will be participating in my first-ever triathlon.

The “Tri-to-Win” sprint triathlon is happening in Carroll County, MD and consists of a 400 meter swim, 14 mile bike, and 3+ mile run. The event benefits the Joanna M. Nicolay Melanoma Foundation, the voice of melanoma prevention, detection, care and cure. If you would like to make a donation, you can do so here - http://www.active.com/donate/tri-to-win/cwalbert.

As part of my training, I have been swimming, biking and running somewhat regularly since January. Running has been my most consistent piece and I feel very confident in that, even though it’s the final leg of the race. The swim is pretty short, so that should be fine too. The real wild card is the 14-mile bike. I did ride 15 miles the week before last, but that was on a stationary bike at the gym.

I just bought an actual bike on Sunday. The thing is, it’s not a normal road bike like everyone else will have; it’s a fixed gear. This means that when everyone else is coasting down a hill, I’ll still be pedaling. And when everyone else shifts to easy gear to go up a hill, I’ll still be working hard.

Like I said, my running has been pretty consistent. I’ve been using the Nike Plus tool and web application. This is one of the coolest inventions, and has been really helpful with training. Basically how it works is you have a sensor in the bottom of your shoe that communicates with your iPod. It measures your speed, distance, pace, etc. Once you’re finished the run, you plug your iPod into your computer and the data transfers to www.nikeplus.com.

My goal for this triathlon is really just to finish the race. I’m sure it will be a really good experience and great to see my training pay off, hopefully.

Wish me luck.