Dana Burland

I should voice-to-text this. It hurts to hold my arms up to type. Yesterday was the second of three winter indoor triathlons at my local YMCA. Where Jan’s goal was to have fun & complete it, yesterday I wanted to go farther in each leg. (This is structured so you swim/bike/run as much as you can in 15 min each.) And I mean, I did that, but also almost passed out in the process. The first half of the swim felt good but hard. When I checked the clock I realized I needed to keep on pace to better my distance. I was COOKED getting out of the water swimming 41.5 lengths in 15 min (up from 38.25 last month). Biking is my weakest leg. I took it easy at the Jan race, and have been doing more spin classes since then, but biking after that swim was so challenging. I completed 4.25 miles (just up from 4.2 in Jan). I was NOT well heading into the run. Thought about sitting it out. Thought about walking it. Thought about disappearing to a local diner for a stack of chocolate chip pancake...

Or alternatively titled: The Triathlon That Wasn’t Supposed to Be. We were supposed to be skiing up north, unfortunately missing the first of three monthly mini indoor triathlons at the YMCA. Instead it snowed with sub 0 temps for nearly 2 weeks, making a drive and ski up north too dangerous. Boy were we bummed to cancel our trip. BUT, a surprise weekend at home meant saying “yes” to a few things we turned down thinking we’d be out of town. Like A’s basketball game, where he spent the entire game GLUED defending his opponent, only occasionally breaking to butterfly swing his arms while running to the opposite side of the court. Six year olds playing sports are truly the best. Also: the indoor tri. At A’s basketball game, my brother and I realized we could and probably should try to sign up late to compete, or we’d regret it. About 16 hours before the event we were signed up and ready to go. Now… I’m not in shape for this. Because… Christmas cookies. The goal was to compete...