Only Runners Finish Triathlons!
Even though I swam competitively in my youth, for me, before triathlons, there was running. I love swimming. I love cycling. I like most sports, but for me, running was the real challenge.
The average male runs a mile between eight and ten minutes.
Not too long after my 30th birthday, I read an article that said the average man's mile time was between eight and ten minutes. I thought to myself, "I am more than average," I bet I could run a mile in less than eight minutes. My mile time-without training--was about nine minutes. A nine-minute mile may not have been too bad for a beginner, but I felt I had to be a little better than the average male.
Having a mile time faster than 8 minutes per mile was my one of my goals. Soon after running and timing my first mile, I decided that running a mile in less than eight minutes wasn't enough of a goal--I needed to complete a triathlon. I decided I needed to complete an Olympic Distance triathlon.
Now that I think about it.
Looking back at my triathlon training experience reminds me how much I learned about my body and fitness in the process. One thing about pursuing triathlons is that, depending on your strategy, you enrich your relationship with your body and your fitness ability many times over. I had to master at least six disciplines: running, swimming, cycling, weight training, rest, and nutrition. Drafting a work and social life even around one of those disciplines could understandably be a chore in itself.
For me, my learning experience with the run turned out to have the most significant learning curve. There are so many aspects about running that I am still learning to this day--many years after the face. While there are still things I am learning about swimming and cycling, running practice and theory seems to be an inexhaustible aspect of triathlon training.
Back to the running!
So, without any training, before my first timed mile run, I mapped out a mile course in my neighborhood--on the city streets in a quiet part of the city, I was surprised to find that the city planners crafted the blocks perfectly. I was able to choose a course where I could run one-third of a mile before I had to turn. I would run 1/3 of a mile directly westward, the next 1/3 of the mile, south then another 1/3 of a mile westbound to the half-way point. I would then take a right turn (northward) for next 1/3rd of the mile take another right turn (eastward) to complete the next third of the mile, cross a cross-street then continue straight for the last third of the mile.
It wasn't too long before into my running experience before I realized how vital role that course would play in helping me get my mile time in under six minutes. I could easily mold my fitness level by measuring each third of the mile. If I needed more speed or more endurance, I could choose specific drills or exercises to improve that part of my mile time. It wasn't too long before I was consistently completing each third of the mile between 55 and 60 seconds. It wasn't too long after before I was finishing my first Olympic distance triathlon in under 3 hours, and it all started with running.
The average male runs a mile between eight and ten minutes.
Not too long after my 30th birthday, I read an article that said the average man's mile time was between eight and ten minutes. I thought to myself, "I am more than average," I bet I could run a mile in less than eight minutes. My mile time-without training--was about nine minutes. A nine-minute mile may not have been too bad for a beginner, but I felt I had to be a little better than the average male.
Having a mile time faster than 8 minutes per mile was my one of my goals. Soon after running and timing my first mile, I decided that running a mile in less than eight minutes wasn't enough of a goal--I needed to complete a triathlon. I decided I needed to complete an Olympic Distance triathlon.
Now that I think about it.
Looking back at my triathlon training experience reminds me how much I learned about my body and fitness in the process. One thing about pursuing triathlons is that, depending on your strategy, you enrich your relationship with your body and your fitness ability many times over. I had to master at least six disciplines: running, swimming, cycling, weight training, rest, and nutrition. Drafting a work and social life even around one of those disciplines could understandably be a chore in itself.
For me, my learning experience with the run turned out to have the most significant learning curve. There are so many aspects about running that I am still learning to this day--many years after the face. While there are still things I am learning about swimming and cycling, running practice and theory seems to be an inexhaustible aspect of triathlon training.
Back to the running!
So, without any training, before my first timed mile run, I mapped out a mile course in my neighborhood--on the city streets in a quiet part of the city, I was surprised to find that the city planners crafted the blocks perfectly. I was able to choose a course where I could run one-third of a mile before I had to turn. I would run 1/3 of a mile directly westward, the next 1/3 of the mile, south then another 1/3 of a mile westbound to the half-way point. I would then take a right turn (northward) for next 1/3rd of the mile take another right turn (eastward) to complete the next third of the mile, cross a cross-street then continue straight for the last third of the mile.
It wasn't too long before into my running experience before I realized how vital role that course would play in helping me get my mile time in under six minutes. I could easily mold my fitness level by measuring each third of the mile. If I needed more speed or more endurance, I could choose specific drills or exercises to improve that part of my mile time. It wasn't too long before I was consistently completing each third of the mile between 55 and 60 seconds. It wasn't too long after before I was finishing my first Olympic distance triathlon in under 3 hours, and it all started with running.