Tomorrow’s a big day. I'll be running my first official triathlon in Valparaiso, Indiana. It's a fairly short-distance race. I only have to do a: 1/4 mile swim 12.4 mile bike 3.1 mile run That's pretty doable, right? Sprint vs. Novice Technicalities Over the past few weeks, I’ve been referring this triathlon as a “sprint” triathlon”, but after doing some more research, I realized it really should be classified as a novice distance. The distances ...
Getting A Bike & Killing Off Excuses
Not My Bike Or My View :( I'm On A Bike! Good news! Exactly one week before my first real triathlon, I got a bike. Last minute, like always, I snagged this one from my brother when I was back up in Chicago for the weekend. He got it like 10 years ago back in high school and hasn't touched it since so I decided to steal it for next weekend. It's silver & blue, and is basically a super cool...mountain bike. Great for riding around as a kid, probalby ...
Early Morning Changes
It's 5:15. In the morning. Dang. This is probably the earliest post I've ever done at BIT. I am not a morning person. So why am I up? There's only one reason: to get better Ever since I quit LifeTime Fitness and joined my local community club (The Monon Center), I've had to adjust some of my workout habits. The Monon Center is better in almost every way possible: it's closer, it's cleaner, it's cheaper and it's less crowded, but the one thing ...
Screw It & Do It
[Photo Credit] One of the hardest things for me is being consistent in my workout routines. I find I have weeks where I can workout everyday, no problem. Then there are other weeks where I'm either busy, distracted, unmotivated or just annoyed where working out is a full-fledged struggle. I've talked about how dangerous inaction can be and since then [with the help of some of you], I've worked on developing a new mindset for my workouts that has helped ...
It’s Official [Sort Of]
It's official. I'm a triathlete. At least according the the USAT (USA Triathlon). I have the card to prove it. I paid the $39 and went ahead and did it. Honestly, I'm not sure exactly what membership gets me other than a card I get mailed to me that proves I'm a member and I don't have to pay a $10 one-day membership fee at every triathlon I sign up for. Essentially this means I have to do at least 4 triathlons this year, because I'll be danged if I ...
Dangerous Inaction
Last Thursday was a long day for me. I had networking events all day and was gone from 7am to 11pm or so. I came home exhausted and just wanted to sleep. I sat down at my computer and burned some time catching up on emails, facebook and twitter. I knew I needed to work out and at least get a short run in, but I kept putting it off and putting it off. I told myself I would do it in 5 minutes, then another 5 minutes, then another 5 minutes. Pretty soon ...
28 Seconds And The Difference Between a 10 Minute Mile and A 10 Minute Mile
Last week I was a little upset. I ran a 10 minutes mile and felt old. This week I ran a 10 minute mile and I was pumped. The difference? 28 seconds & 4 miles. I ran 9.4 miles and about died. That's literally the farthest I've ever run. It was a 10 minute mile too [okay, 9:58]. This time though, I was ecstatic rather than upset. Why is that? [Besides the face I may be bipolar]. Instead of focusing on the time it took me to accomplish the run, I ...