Well, it’s the middle of July… and it feels like Summer is finally here!
My first Triathlon is just seven weeks from today! Yikes!!!
Yep, that’s it. I’ve said it. I’m doing my very first Triathlon. So there.
I’ve been watching it for years and every time I tell myself I should do it too!
Never worry about the fact that I don’t run or swim! But I’ve been biking
seriously for over twenty years… that will make up for it, right?
How hard can it be, right? If all of “those” people can do it..
And it’s just that very sense of ignorant confidence that’s going to kill me!

So I signed up for the Chicago Triathlon way back in January…
just under the deadline & cost-saving for early registration. People tried to
convince me to do the “Sprint Distance’ Triathlon for my first one ever. It’s about
half the distance for each activity. But if you’ve ever met me, you know that I’m
kind of an all-or-nothing kind of guy. I may think about something for a long time,
consider, reconsider and over-think a few times… but once I decide – I’m in!
And if you’re not going to do the FULL Triathlon… why bother?!

As luck would have it…
without changing any part of my workout routine, I got a case of “self-diagnosed”
plantar fasciitis in my left foot. So there I was… all excited to get started & invigorate
my workout with my new goal in sight… and then I can’t even walk normally?!
What!!!… are you kidding me? Really???

After two months of keeping off my foot, letting it heal & rest, the plantar fasciitis
finally left and I slowly got back to working out. And although it’s still not “perfect,”
I’m trying to push myself towards my Triathlon goal. Excited, but cautious.
So now I’m back biking… and back to Step classes… and getting back into shape.

And then I started jogging. I bought new running shoes – my first ever!
And went for my first run and did an easy 2.5 miles. And I thought… pretty good
for never running before, huh? Again… ignorant confidence.

I’ve done the same route a couple times and e-mailed an old friend who is a marathon
runner and also training for her triathlon. I jokingly told her I just need to run that
same 2.5-mile route four times in a row to get to my Triathlon 10-mile distance!
She wrote back and told me the Triathlon is 10 kilometers, not 10 miles!!!
So that’s just around 6.5 miles… not bad if I can do 2.5 on my first time out!
Ignorant confidence.

I’ve run a few more times… in fact, just the other night I went for my longest run yet…
7.2 miles! I felt pretty good. Just bored. You know that “runner’s high” they all talk
about?… we’ll, I haven’t gotten to that yet. But if I can run 7.2 miles with seven weeks
to go… why worry?! I’ve got ignorant confidence!

So my plan has been to add jogging for the month of June, and then add swimming
during the month of July… and put them all together during August. The Chicago
Triathlon is not until the last Sunday of August… so I’m pretty sure I’m right on track.
I’ve just got to be able to survive a 1-mile swim, a 25-mile bike and a 6.5 mile run.
All back to back… non-stop… how hard can that be, right?!… ignorant confidence!

Today… after I played all day at Step Class, and then biking along the lakefront…
I went out and bought my first wetsuit so I have no excuse but to get started on
the swimming portion. Maybe tomorrow morning?

So that’s where I’m at… ignorantly confident.
And looking forward to my first Triathlon.
Hopefully, one more thing checked off the Bucket List… if I survive!