A Season of Fitness

Back in the summer months, Robbie made a committment to an 11-week training program to become a Sprint Triathlete and compete in a local competition in Denton. Because he was training so hard, he inspired me to also accomplish a fitness goal. While my goal was much smaller in scale compared to his 250 meter swim, 16 mile bike, and 3.1 mile run, we began cheering each other on. I've never really enjoyed running but decided I would run the Frisco Fun Run 5K and check off an item on my bucket list.

On October 16th, Robbie competed in the Monster Sprint Triathlon and beat all of his personal goals and training bests. I am so proud of him and how hard he worked to prepare for the competition.

Robbie's Results

Swim

For Robbie, the swim was by far the most disappointing part of the race.  All the participants got in a long line and entered the water one at time, with about 5 seconds in between each swimmer. They would swim down, touch the end, duck under the lane ropes, then swim back, duck under again, etc., making their way to the other end of the pool. Robbie looked great for the first 2 lengths—then disaster struck. He got caught up in a 3 person log jam and couldn’t get around the people in front of him. One of the people in front of him wasn’t even touching the wall at the end of each length—she was ducking under the ropes about 10 feet from the wall each time—which made it almost impossible for anyone to pass her. Then another guy in front of Robbie was doing a backstroke/doggie paddle hybrid. We could tell Robbie was frustrated, but thankfully he only lost about 1 minute of time.

Projected Swim (5:15). Actual Swim (5:51). Group Ranking (17 out of 21).

The Swimming Madness Begins! 

Robbie standing in the long line preparing!

Daddy's #1 Fan

The Long Anticipated Swim

Looking good so far!

Bike

Robbie decided to rent a road bike instead of using our cheap moutain bike, and he says it was the best decision he made.  He had biked the exact course with a mountain bike on two separate occasions and finished in 1 hr. 6 min. each time, so he was hoping to gain about 6 minutes with the road bike.  Later, he said he felt like he was flying out there and was able to pass people. He ended up saving more than his projected 6 minutes with the rented bike!

Projected Bike (1:04:00). Actual Bike (53:59). Group Ranking (6 out of 21).

Walking through the bike transition area

Taking off for the 16 mile bike ride!

"Go Daddy Go!"

Run

I was shocked by Robbie's run time.  I won't lie, the first time he passed us, I thought he was really struggling after going so hard at it on the bike. But, his time proved me wrong! It actually gave me hope for my upcoming 5K.

Projected Run (26:00). Actual Run (23:47). Group Ranking (11 out of 21).

Beginning Lap 2

Finishing Strong! 

Projected Overall (1:39:15). Actual Overall (1:26:49). Group Ranking (7 out of 21). 
Overall Ranking (83 out of 268).

The kids and I couldn't be more proud of him! It was fun to be out at the event to cheer him on in his transitions from swim to bike and bike to run.

Then on October 29th, I ran in the Gary Burns Fun Run in downtown Frisco, along with Robbie, his dad and brother. My goal was to finish the 3.1 miles running without walking and I'm proud to say I accomplished my goal while losing a few inches along the way. I finished in 32 minutes and I'm okay with that time considering the log jam at the beginning of the race. The week of the race we had sick kids, so I have to say it wasn't the easiest going into an early run on Saturday morning after a lack of sleep during the week. I have lots of respect for Mom's who train consistently to compete in events because sometimes being a Mom causes interruptions in a normal training schedule.

Robbie's company is sponsoring the White Rock Marathon at the beginning of December and he will be running the full 26.2 miles. He is still working hard in his training and I'm so very proud he is my husband. My fitness has transitioned to attending cardio classes while still running three times per week (what can I say, I liked the weight loss results even though I didn't care for the running).