Well I’ve Done It.

I signed up for a triathlon. I am immediately scared. Not for the fitness elements. I can do all that. It’s the technical stuff I’m worried about. Having the gear down. Knowing the rules. The transitions. Bike maintenance. I don’t know how to change a tire, etc.. Luckily, I have lots of friends who have done triathlons, and so I’ll have good information going in. And BB can teach me how to change bike tires.

I signed up for the New Jersey State Triathlon, in Princeton. It’s a tiny bit short compared with other Olympic-length triathlons. There’s no official distance, I don’t think, but the sport seems to be settling on the 1.5km swim, 40km bike, 10km run. The NJST has a 37km bike but is otherwise the same.

Of those distances, the 1.5km swim (a little short of a mile), is far and away the most daunting. I’ve recently ridden more than 37km on the bike, and should be able to do it in less than two hours with no trouble. I routinely run further than 10km, basically every weekend. (For the metric impaired, 37km is about 23 miles, and 10km is about 6.2 miles.)

From what I’ve been told, an Olympic triathlon is somewhere between half-marathon and full-marathon effort level. But it takes a lot out of a lot more of your body than running does. Most people are most challenged by the swim, and I respect that. I need to find a pool and start swimming. And do a couple of open-water swims as well.

But I was born in the water. I literally cannot remember a time I couldn’t swim. I’m not fast, but I’m comfortable, and I’m a strong swimmer. I know swimming in a crowd will be different, and swimming in a lake will be different from swimming in a pool. But I’m confident in the water and while I’m a bit anxious, I’m not afraid.

I don’t know if I’ll like the triathlon. And even if I do, it’ll never be an event that will be my standard event. The half-marathon will remain my go-to race. I just love it. But this is a fitness challenge that I want to set for myself. I’d like, maybe, one day, to do a half-Ironman. It appeals to me emotionally.

But I can imagine a world where I do one triathlon, and one full marathon (this year we’re running the Philadelphia marathon), each year. And then 3-5 half-marathons. That keeps me running, keeps me collecting medals, and keeps me healthy and moving forward. And prioritizes the best thing about the racing: running with BB.

So. I’m way out of my comfort zone with this. But I like the idea of the challenge. Who knows. Maybe I’ll hate it. Maybe I’ll love it. Maybe I’ll fold up and crash and not be able to do it. But I’ll find out, rather than just dreaming about it.