Simply Stu Triathlon Relay Team!!!

Today, on my 76th day of no running, I became a (partial) triathlete! Yep, look out ShirleyPerly! Ha -- as if! She did inspire me to try to do the Simply Stu Triathlon, though. So THANK YOU friend!

However, the past few weeks/months have not led to me becoming a master swimmer (because we all know by now that I can not run...) In fact, I have yet to touch the water... just due to knowing down deep that as little activity as possible is best for my torn tendon. So, I had some anxiety going into this virtual event weekend. The amazing Maddy suggested that we form a relay team, since she already had a 10K on her schedule. Together we hornswaggled Petra to do the swim! Thus, Team 330 was born (as we are 3 chicks in our 30's -- ha!)

Petra swam 1500 meters in 40 minutes. WOW! She became our elite swimmer due to a knee injury. And Maddy (the injury-free lucky one!) almost set a new 10K PR at 58:17 in the Florida heat. I attended a wedding and had some other things to tend to on Saturday, so I opted to do my ride on Sunday. I decided to bike 13.1 miles since the farthest I had ever gone previously was 12 miles.

And then the rain came...

Rain does not photograph well, FYI.

It stormed throughout the night and was forecasted to rain all day. Oh no! I certainly was not going to get out in that... so an indoor ride was in order. I opted to take the easy route and do it at the gym, as silly me thought the recumbent bike there would be a bit easier on the derriere than Daisy on the bike trainer. Au contraire...

So I put on my new Simply Stu t-shirt and Chasen put 330 on my arm (actually my shoulder, as he feared it would take days to come off, and at least this way I could disguise it if need be).

Go get 'em, Tiger!

Next he put on Eye Of The Tiger (no joke) and I gave him my best Bruce Springsteen pose as I was just about ready to go.

If I ever run a marathon in New Jersey, I am wearing a denim jacket and red bandanna!

So I got to the gym with a fully-loaded ipod. Fortunately, the two treadmill-goers in front of me had both TV's on enjoyable programs. I got started. Well guess what -- riding the recumbent bike for 10-20 minutes prior to personal training sessions is NOTHING like riding it for over an hour. OUCH!

There's the derriere torturer, complete will all my triathlon fixins (water bottle, phone, ipod, keys).

The machine easily lets you go 20 minutes (programming beyond that seems to take a phd, so I went with it). Here's how it went:

1st 20 minutes -- 3.8 miles.

2nd 20 minutes -- 7.7 miles (gaining speed!)

3rd 20 minutes -- 11.5 miles.

I finished the 13.1 miles in 1:07:52!!! (11.58 miles per hour average)

Not a bad pic, considering I took it myself with my camera phone while I was pedaling.

Like Jade Lady, I think I like these virtual races! I can do them at my leisure. However, there is a certain wonderful element that one misses out on when there is no finish line to cross -- but oh well. I feel like I am a part of something very big -- and that is great! And how many people wearing walking boots can say that they were part of a triathlon relay team?!?

Next year I aim to do the whole shebang!