A birthday triathlon

I turned 39 the other day. Last year we were still figuring out what was wrong with my knee, the year before that I was sick, and the year before THAT I was taking it easy after gutting out a marathon through some SI joint weirdness and pain. So, I wanted to do something special this year.

I had seen on social media people doing their age in distance or minutes for swim, bike, and run and figured I could do that. I had to work on my actual birthday, so I split my “triathlon” into two days: 39 minutes of swimming and biking one day, and 39 minutes of running the next day (followed by about 39 minutes of cupcake eating, haha).

I am WAY out of swimming shape but I figured I could do drills for 39 minutes. I found myself heading back to the wall for the final time as my watch read 39 minutes and then… I couldn’t remember how to stop and save my workout! Luckily I was able to figure it out before the clock ticked over to 40 minutes. My cycling leg was pretty simple; I just hopped on the trainer and increased the resistance until I settled into something challenging yet sustainable. I cooled down with a few minutes left to go and wrapped up at 39 on the dot.

It was dark and wind chills were in the teens by the time I got home from work for my run the next day, so I just hopped on the treadmill for 39 minutes of running. This was the first time since my duathlon over Labor Day weekend that I didn’t take walk breaks! And everything felt fine, if not a little boring. I just settled in and watched some Orange is the New Black until the timer clocked in at 39 minutes exactly.

This was fun to do and not too challenging, and it felt like I was getting 39 off on the right foot. Maybe next year for the big 4-0 I’ll be up for swimming 4,000 meters, riding 40 miles, and running as fast as I can for 40 minutes. I have a year to train, right?