USP Triathlon
This was an event sponsored by the Athletic Recreation Center (ARC) of my employer, University of the Sciences in Philadelphia. It consists of an 800m swim, 5 miles on a stationary bike, and 2 miles either around the indoor track or on a treadmill, with a 10-15 minute break in between events. The whole event is done inside the ARC and is in time trial format, meaning you schedule a time sometime during the course of this week to run the event individually with an ARC staff person supervising. I scheduled for today (Friday) to be one of the last to do it.
I entered somewhat ambivalently, but for two main reasons. First, I think participatory sports events like these are important for the university community, and insofar as my humble participation promotes this, I’m happy to oblige. The other reason was the hubris of seeing if I can whup on the undergrads, who are now literally half my age. The latter particularly intrigued me because, while I knew I had the running down, I had never before swam nor ridden any kind of bicycle for time. I had meant to practice some in the past weeks but, not surprisingly, did not get around to it.
I started with the event I was most uncomfortable with. Six laps in the pool, and I went out too fast, realized how winded I was and then focused on more efficient strokes for the remainder of the time. Efficiency here was somewhat of a joke as I kept my head above water the whole time and had no idea how to turn. Time for this leg was 5:36 (time to beat was about 4:45).
Stationary bike was next. Again, no idea what setting to put it on or what position was best to pedal from. Just started cranking and was quickly winded but kept going. Gluteous and quad muscles started burning by about mile 3 and I just kept pedaling through the damn thing. Finished this in 8:14, again about 45 seconds off the best time.
Since I was among the last participants I could look at the previous times and calculate that I needed to run the 2 miles in under 11:10 to win. Here’s the dilemma. The fastest the treadmill goes is 10 mph (6 minute mile), which would give me second place. Winning thus meant running 2 miles on the indoor track at a 5:35 pace – eminently doable for me, but requires making very sharp curves that put undue pressure on the inside leg, and particularly on knees already susceptible to IT band problems. Blowing away the competition might mean blowing out a knee.
What to do, what to do? Sun Tzu whispering in one ear to choose my battles wisely, Pre screaming in the other ear not to sacrifice “the gift”. Nigel Tuffnell was in there somewhere as well, saying all I had to do was turn the treadmill up to 11. Back and forth. Then I thought about the Cesar Rodney race and about Boston, and decided to abide by the constraints of technology and run the treadmill.
Looking back it was the right decision. It strikes me as egotistical to think I could just take up two events out of three and still win. Maybe next time I’ll work a little at them and if I win it will be more satisfying, and more deserved, and more realistic. Or maybe the ARC will get a faster treadmill.
I entered somewhat ambivalently, but for two main reasons. First, I think participatory sports events like these are important for the university community, and insofar as my humble participation promotes this, I’m happy to oblige. The other reason was the hubris of seeing if I can whup on the undergrads, who are now literally half my age. The latter particularly intrigued me because, while I knew I had the running down, I had never before swam nor ridden any kind of bicycle for time. I had meant to practice some in the past weeks but, not surprisingly, did not get around to it.
I started with the event I was most uncomfortable with. Six laps in the pool, and I went out too fast, realized how winded I was and then focused on more efficient strokes for the remainder of the time. Efficiency here was somewhat of a joke as I kept my head above water the whole time and had no idea how to turn. Time for this leg was 5:36 (time to beat was about 4:45).
Stationary bike was next. Again, no idea what setting to put it on or what position was best to pedal from. Just started cranking and was quickly winded but kept going. Gluteous and quad muscles started burning by about mile 3 and I just kept pedaling through the damn thing. Finished this in 8:14, again about 45 seconds off the best time.
Since I was among the last participants I could look at the previous times and calculate that I needed to run the 2 miles in under 11:10 to win. Here’s the dilemma. The fastest the treadmill goes is 10 mph (6 minute mile), which would give me second place. Winning thus meant running 2 miles on the indoor track at a 5:35 pace – eminently doable for me, but requires making very sharp curves that put undue pressure on the inside leg, and particularly on knees already susceptible to IT band problems. Blowing away the competition might mean blowing out a knee.
What to do, what to do? Sun Tzu whispering in one ear to choose my battles wisely, Pre screaming in the other ear not to sacrifice “the gift”. Nigel Tuffnell was in there somewhere as well, saying all I had to do was turn the treadmill up to 11. Back and forth. Then I thought about the Cesar Rodney race and about Boston, and decided to abide by the constraints of technology and run the treadmill.
Looking back it was the right decision. It strikes me as egotistical to think I could just take up two events out of three and still win. Maybe next time I’ll work a little at them and if I win it will be more satisfying, and more deserved, and more realistic. Or maybe the ARC will get a faster treadmill.
posted by seebo | 1:49 PM
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