Today I turned 45! In my head I am sure I am still 25. Anyway, you know what this means...new AGE GROUP! So how does a girl celebrate such an important milestone? With the multisport approach x 45: a 4500 yard swim, 45 pull ups, and a 45 mile bike ride. The last three years I have done age x 135 lb sumo deadlifts (1 set) - here's last year's 44 x 135. I knew I wanted to change it up this year and it ended up expanding into multiple events over multiple days. It's only fair since my kids' birthdays have expanded into week+ long events!!
Event 1 - 4500 yard swim (Sunday March 18)
My husband said I was doing my "
long range torpedo impression." Cute.
For some of you, 4500 in the pool is a regular thing. But my time-crunched life, my swims are smashed into a narrow window between when the pool opens on weekday mornings and when I need to get home to get kid #2 organized and off to school. I like to hit 2500y. This day I had no such constraints. 4500 yards = 2.56 miles = 90 laps. Given my admitted inability to sustain focus long enough to count laps reliably beyond about....oh...say 3 of them, you may be wondering how I successfully counted to such a large double-digit number? I lapped my watch in increments of 500y, knowing each would come in around 9 minutes at a relaxed pace. I'd never really done much beyond 3000 yards. I went at an easy "forever" pace but wondered if "forever" might hit before 4500 or not. Happily, it did not! I took a quick drink break at 1500 and 3000 but all the 500s hit within 10s of 9 minutes for a total of around 1:21. I was surprised how quickly it went by and how good I felt afterward.
Event 2 - 45 Pull Ups (Tuesday, March 20)
I've always loved doing pull ups and they are a staple for me in the gym. Great for the lats but even better for just feeling strong and capable!
It took me 7 sets (12, 8, 6, 6, 6, 4, 3) and about 10 minutes to do them all with about 45s rest between sets. All in all, not bad considering I'd had a swim this morning too that included a set with paddles, taxing the lats some. But with the power of the
pink lifting straps, all things are possible! It was good to have a bit of help and extra motivation from
Kurt -- rep 26 was a perfect example, haha! After this we went through a back and bicep workout: one-arm dumbbell rows, seated rows, face pulls (rear delts), cable ez bar curls, shrugs, and alternate dumbell curls.
Event 3 - 45 mile bike ride (Thursday, March 22 - Bday!)
It was a gorgeous day in the 70's and I took the morning off of work. I'd gotten the bike back the day before from Steve at
Just the Right Gear with the new "
Merry Birthday" wheels (
Christmas and Birthday gift from my dear husband!) on, new chain, and new cassette. I headed out on a route that I had only done a modified version of once before so parts were fairly new to me. On a loop of just three country roads, I got most of the 45 miles in so I only had to add a short spur onto the end. I'd forgotten just how nice this bike is to ride; I'd been on my road bike for the last few months so to switch to the tri bike and ride with the race wheels for the first time was just a great treat! I enjoyed every mile of that ride!