January 3, 2015 and I’m up at 5:45 on a Sunday morning to put myself through an hour of torture. Why? Why not?! It was LifeTime Fitness’ Commitment Day, and indoor triathlons (and other endurance events at some locations) were held around the country to get new and experienced triathletes excited about a new year and new goals. In Colorado, events were held in Parker, Westminster, and Colorado Springs, and all three locations were sold out.These races are geared towards everyone from the seasoned Ironman athlete to the first-timer. At check in I chatted with Neal Oseland, an extremely experienced IRONMAN triathlete. This was his first time doing this event. As I was getting ready to leave, I spoke with two women for whom this was their first triathlon. They seemed a little anxious as they were getting ready to swim, and mentioned that they didn’t really swim much. At all.
That begged the question of what got them to sign up, and when I asked, they pointed to each other to “assign the blame.” The gesture was quickly qualified with them saying it seemed like something different and fun to try. I wasn’t able to stick around for their race – I do hope they enjoyed the event!
The indoor triathlons is in a simple format: 10min swim, 30 min bike, 20 min run. Transitions are 10 minutes for swim to bike and 5 minutes for bike to run. Everyone in each wave starts each segment at the same time (so if you are late, you will be behind!) The total distance from each timed segment is recorded by the cheerful and supportive volunteers.
For me, this indoor triathlon was a great early season benchmark, and also a time to reconnect with triathlete friends, and meet some new athletes. Keep an eye out for future events at indoortri.com. If you want to test the waters of a triathlon, or just get in a good training day, these LifeTime fitness indoor triathlons are a great and inexpensive opportunity for perhaps some new bragging rights.
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