BlogMarch 9, 2009 Lifetime Fitness Triathlon... Since deciding to focus on the Lifetime Fitness Triathlon series (Minneapolis, NYC, Chicago, LA, Dallas) I decided it was time to participate in a Lifetime Fitness indoor triathlon. I signed up for the Lifetime event at Scottsdale this past weekend and competed alone (one remaining athlete, in the final wave) against the clock. The format of these races is a 10 minute swim in a meter pool for time, then you have ten minutes to get to the spin bike. Onto the bike, how far can you pedal in 30 minutes, then a five minute transition over to the treadmills where you run as far as you can in twenty minutes. I asked if I could adjust the grade to a downhill, they said NO! The swim was a lot of fun, my friend Daniel Brienza swam next to me a lane over every other fifty to give me something to pace off of. I wore my new X-Terra Velocity speedsuit for the first time, it was very tight, but thankfully very FAST too! I was able to hold a 1:12/100 meter pace for the ten minutes, this translates to a 1:04 per hundred pace yards. I covered almost exactly 33.5 lengths in the 25 meter pool. Having all ready done an hour run and a 4000 yard swim workout earlier in the day, I drew two conclusions from this swim... First, I like my new speedsuit! Secondly, the work I've been putting in over the winter in the water is paying off! The transition was easy, my slowest ever! Ten minutes was nice to change into some regular clothes and go hit the spin bikes. They were all set-up the same but unfortunately the only way to go faster was to pedal faster, distance was distance, there was no way to shift! I ended up pedalling very high RPM's for the thirty minutes, covering 20 miles. This translates to a 40mph bike ride, of course it's an unrealistic distance to cover, but I literally spun my legs off for the half hour! Quick now, five minute transition to the treadmill. I had my new Spira racing flats (contrary to what some believe, these are NOT illegal!) and I drank a bottle of water preparing for my 20 minute run on the treadmill. My Cal State sleeveless soccer jersey was soaked through by now so I had to run shirtless for the twenty minutes, my apologies if I scared anyone over there! Starting the run my legs felt heavy from the 30 minutes of hard riding but I quickly settled into a 12mph pace (exactly 5:00 minute mile) and tried to stay steady. About five minutes in, I couldn't hold it and went down to 11.6 for a few minutes, then back to 12.5mph for the final few minutes giving it all I had! In the end, I made it 3.84 miles which equated to a 5:10 mile pace for the twenty minutes. This was good for me for March, having to run alone and knowing how hard I spun on the bike. There ya have it, my first ever Lifetime Fitness Indoor Triathlon. I think there's one at the Tempe Lifetime Fitness later this month. I may do it, just to see if I improve in the controlled environment. These are good events for anyone who has any interest in triathlon. Of the one hundred or so people at the event I did, many had never done a triathlon but I watched many catch the bug over the course of their hour! For me, I've been a pro for eight years but even so I was able to push pretty hard and get a great workout. Any other pros out there want to give it a go? Let me know if you beat 33.5 laps, 40mph, 3.84 miles, make me step up next time! Cheers, Lewis « Back to Blogs |
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