Living Deliberately Strategy: Triathlon 30 Nov 2007 03:58 pm
Living Deliberately Strategy: Complete My First Triathlon, and a new blog direction
I get a lot of advice on how to manage this blog. With nearly 7,000 readers per month, I take it’s direction pretty seriously, especially now that blogging has spun off into a business for me. One common suggestion is that this blog, while it started as a very personal site, needs to become less so. I have always felt that a good 90% of me remains behind a veil and that while this blog documents a journey, it only shows a fragment with it’s limited capacity. The very best of public sites will never penetrate the innermost of someone. Still, the “characters” in the story of the journey are part of it’s fabric and provide a valuable context for the information. It would be nice to retain that through any redirection.
I’ve decided to simply follow my gut, pay attention to my keywords, and answer the primary question, “What if you wanted to change your life?”. Because on any life journey there ARE things we all want to change and it’s my approach to break it down into steps that get me to my destination. It’s my intention with the blog to stay true to that break-down, effort, and ultimately, accomplishment.
So this post is a “first” of sorts. I’ve made myself a list of goals, some of them old and some of them new, some of them a mere refinement of something that lain dormant. I am calling them my “Living Deliberately Goals”, which will then have Strategies, and I’ll revisit my progress along each one. Maybe readers will want to come along for the ride and maybe they won’t; the sharing will be genuine yet focused.
So without further wordiness……
My Living Deliberately Goal: Complete My First Triathlon.
Why: I enjoy being athletic but want to do more and need a focused way to do it. It involves three things I’m interested in doing well: running, swimming, and cycling. The image of crossing the finish line is a fun idea and makes me feel strong. My inner-competitiveness wants to see if I can actually pull it off.
What I don’t care about: Speed: I don’t care to do it quickly…I just want to finish. Doing an Ironman: there are three levels of Triathlon from what I’ve read, and I just want to do the “sprint” level. How long it takes me to accomplish it: there is expense involved, training needed, and timing issues…it may take me a long time to get this one crossed off and I’m not going to let that stop me from starting.
Obstacles to overcome: I have no bike, nor have I ridden in a long time! And never on the road! I have crappy running shoes! I swim so badly that a swim coach once pointed to me in the next lane and told his swimmers NOT to swim like me! I do run, but it’s only 3/4 of the distance needed for a sprint-triathlon. Money: bikes, suits, shoes all cost money I don’t have right now. I currently live in a place where there are no indoor pools, no bike lanes, and no good places to run. Today I ran with a dog who tripped me on a busy road, skinning my shoulder, knee, and palm. So on the road to crossing off obstacles we can start with: NO DOGS who get distracted with birds. I also soon will be moving to a place that at least possesses an indoor pool, bike lanes, and running paths. Accessing them will be a different story, but first things first ;-).
Goal this week: LEARN!!! I have some research to do. I need to find some people in the “know” who’ve done this before. And I need to get my run/walk up to 3.5 miles, which will take longer than a week (it’s currently at 2 miles). I also want to investigate to see if there is a sprint-level triathlon available in the next year for me to target, sort of in pencil, to see if I can make it by then.
on 01 Dec 2007 at 8:22 am 1.Lissa said …
Congratulations, Tia, this is an awesome goal!
I don’t know much about triathalons or training for them, but I do know of a resource that might help you with the preparation/cost. Many charities partner with the organizers of endurance events (NYC and Chicago Marathons, etc) and have auto-entry programs which include waived fees, discounts on equipment through particular stores, all-inclusive training programs and group fun runs, etc; in exchange, the participant agrees to fundraise a set amount for the charity (most are in the realm of $2500.00). I’m just starting to get involved in the American Cancer Society’s Charity Runner program, and I know that the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society is heavily involved in a number of endurance activities. That route might be worth looking into — with 7,000 readers, I’m sure you’d have no trouble hitting the fundraising stride!
Also, if you want to focus on goals and ways of achieving them, I highly recommend the website http://www.43things.com. It’s a way for people to track things that they want to do, hook up with others who have the same goals, post notes about plans and progress, and give and receive cheering feedback. There are some really serious goals, some insanely frivolous goals, and some middling degrees — my own list is here if you want to check out the site: http://www.43things.com/person/melisseus.
Good luck!
on 01 Dec 2007 at 3:13 pm 2.Beth said …
Tia…great goal. Bill did his first triathlon this year, after several adventure races. He fell in love with adventure racing and sort of went into the traithlon backwards….as training for his adventure racing! There are also off-road type triathlons (adventure races without much navigation) that are short, if you prefer your running/cycling and swimming in the great outdoors rather than roads/pools. I’d also recommend Team in Training (the Lymphoma Society’s training program). It raises money and awareness for Leukemia/lymphoma, plus they provide all the training and camaraderie you could want.