Orange Theory Regional Dri Triathlon
So, The place I work out at offered to enter us into their regional competition about 2-3 weeks ago with the intention of having 3 of us represent the gym in a gathering of all the gyms in the area (guys and girls). I accepted, as I am a sucker for free things and competition. The prize was $150, which isn't crazy, but the event wasn't very long so I thought it was worth it to try.
The "race": So, for this triathlon, you complete a 2000m row, followed by 300 repetitions of 6 different exercises (squats, plank jacks, burpees, push-ups, jump-overs, and jump-ups), and follow that with a treadmill 5k at 1.0 incline.
Preparation: I've put in about two weeks of preparation, mostly on the floor stuff, but I suppose about 5-6 sessions on the rower, all over 2000m and most being 4000m or more. I did do one rowing workout with 500m intervals. My running has been good speed-wise, but my mileage is a bit down- although that usually doesn't hurt on a 5k. However, I was a little worried since it would be 15+ minutes before I'd get to the 5k portion, and it's not like I'd be fresh...
Goal- I was shooting for a sub-30 minute overall effort, and first place. I particularly wanted to represent my gym location well since I was invited to the regional event, startso I thought that would be a cool thing they could brag about.
The race: Well, I went super controlled on the rower- maybe a bit too conservative here to be honest. I hit the 5:50 mark on the rower and the first male finished his last stroke-he was also from my gym, so that was a pretty cool feeling. Over the course of the next 40 seconds or so, three more guys finished before me and headed to the weight floor, and then I finally finished and jogged to join them.
I was feeling fine and my heartrate was not bad- I could tell the guys before me absolutely worked harder than I had on the rower, so I figured this was an important spot to catch them all. I jumped right into the pushups and moved right along through the first 150 reps on the weight floor. You basically repeat the order again and complete a second round. I think I maybe took a second or two of rest while pursuading my arms to keep doing pushups- man, the last 5 were a bit brutal. Once I got through those I knew I would make it fine, so I moved my thought process to bringing down my heart rate and relaxing. Two of the coaches from my gym were there, and they were trying to help me in any way possible if I needed anything. Funny enough, the only issue I had was I was too sweaty at times to hold a bunch of the positions, so I was thankful to be handed my towel. Jenni (from my gym) finished first- unbelievably, she caught up, passed us all, and finished about 40 seconds quicker than all of us. Legitimately, she did every rep, she was just that good. As I was finishing my last 5 reps, the leade guy off the rower (also from my gym) finished. I was a bit worried. I know he was a terrific runner, so if he got to the treadmill well, it could be legitimately over for winning this thing (more on that in a moment.)
I bolted to the treadmill- feeling incredibly wobbily from the reps and the rower-, mashed the 12mph button as fast as possible, and upped the incline- fortunately, you get about 10 seconds before it's up to speed, so I got a couple of seconds for a breather!
Here's why I could have been in trouble- the treadmills only go to 12mph! So if he was at 12 and ran it for the duration, there was literally no way I could catch him. At the 1 minute mark I glanced over to his treadmill which was a couple down from my row and not only was he not at 12, but he had just lowered it down to a 9.0! I caught him right about here distance-wise as well. By 90 seconds in I was absolutely gassed however. By 2:00 minutes in at 12mph, I thought there was no chance I could run a 5k at that pace. My heart rate just felt way too high when I started, my legs were so wobbily from the weight room and row, and my form was still a bit out of control.
I had a choice- I could lower it and catch my breath and shoot it back up or I could keep suffering. The choice was easy. At this point, there were about 30 people lined up behind us all on the treadmill line watching everyone as well as about 12 coaches. I saw them all whispering and pointing at my screen. I knew I had started this thing expecting to go 12 the whole time. I decided to just go for it- stay at 12 and be confident, focus on good form, focus on smooth knee drive, and relax the breathing and get a good breathing pattern. At 5:00 in, I felt so much better. At 10:00 I knew I had it. At 12:00 I could have increase the incline just because(but why bother?! They said 1.0 was good, so that's on them!). At 15:00, I felt like I could easily hold that for another mile. At 15:30 I smashed the stop button, finishing in 30 minutes and 20 seconds and first place overall. I did miss half of my goal, but that's okay. I was really proud to persevere. I always thought I give in too easily, but today- today I didn't. I had every reason to slow that thing down, catch my breath from the floor/rowing stuff, and then bring it back up- but I just decided to persevere. I really was impressed with my ethic today.
Afterwards, we took some pictures, announced the winners, and had some drinks. Definitely was a cool experience and I would do it again.
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