Another day, another first tri….

After hearing encouragement from a couple of triathletes, including Shelly Campbell, to check out the Heart of Texas series of triathlons I signed up for their next event, which is this coming Sunday morning. I really don’t know what to expect, though here is what the organizers have to say:


“This 25th annual event is held in a 50 meter outdoor pool. 300 meter swim. 10mi bike on loop course, 2 miles out & back run on rolling hills.”

For now, I am simply looking for a taste of the triathlon experience. As I have mentioned previously, I am one who needs an event ahead of me. There needs to be a carrot on the end of that stick. Anyone wanting more information about the Heart of Texas series can check out their modest website. (http://www.runawayclub.com/Heart_of_Texas_Series/hotseries.htm)

Mother Nature has been tough on us lately. Of course, she rained out the CapTexTri on Memorial Day. In case you haven’t heard, that event is not being rescheduled. This really doesn’t surprise me. I am sure it takes a full year to organize such a big event. Permits have to be obtained, volunteers arranged, etc. We must all just move ahead, bringing me back to the ornery nature of Ma Nature of late. The weather has been oppressively humid and this in turn keeps temperatures up in general, especially preventing any effective overnight cooling. It has taken some hard will on my part to finally commit to running in those conditions, but I am glad I have finally said to myself to cut out the excuses and just do it. A six mile plus run last night, in the wee hours, was good for my psyche.

The heat and humidity is not so much a factor in the indoor pool where I have been swimming, so I have been pretty good at putting in the laps. Tonight, for whatever reason, they had taken up the lane dividers in the pool. Having the water pretty much to myself, I was able to swim circles rather than laps. This gave me a different feel in the water, rather than the somewhat monotonous 50 meter laps back and forth.

Another new element in my workout routine is stair climbing. I work on the 8th floor of a 10 story building. I can usually find a 15-20 minute slot in my workplace schedule for slipping into the stairwell for a short but intense workout. It really is a nice addition to the polite running, biking, swimming routine, a sort of blue collar workout since it requires no equipment or club memberships. It’s got me thinking now about entering the annual stair-climb at the Tower of the Americas. I believe there are 900 and some odd steps in the Tower climb. Heck! It’s just another challenge.

I thought about this, the stair climbing, when I read Nathan Cone’s recently posted comments about trying to squeeze in time for fitness while juggling the responsibility of being the father of two children. Nathan mentioned he climbs the stairs rather than taking the elevator, and my hat is off to him. Many ignore the obvious opportunities to piece together a workout. I’m reminded of Tim Derk’s plan to do 10 thousand pushups this year by doing 10 pushups every time he goes to the copy machine at the Spurs office. In the end, it’s all about inventing ways to get it done. Now, Nathan, are you taking those stairs two at a time?