A couple minutes into the cycling workout I was thinking to myself “this is easy. Is this all it takes to be in a triathlon?” Seconds later, Aaron Krager, the Public Relations chair for the UD Triathlon Club called out to the bikers, “Warm up’s over!!!!” Then, the 40 people around me took off at a fast pace. If they were real bikes, I would be in last place.
After about 20 minutes my legs began to give out and I needed to get some water. I’m going to be honest, I went to get water like ten times just to get a break from cycling. I’m sure everyone else in the room noticed. This is just a taste of what it would be like to be on the Club Triathlon team.
It was intense, not gonna lie, but that wasn’t even the toughest part. A few times, we would stand up and cycle and I didn’t know the meaning of “leg day” at the gym until that moment. My legs felt like they were going to explode. But, it was interesting. In a triathlon, it’s not all about speed, it’s about endurance. And endurance is something I most definitely lack as I was already out of breath five minutes in. And I thought this was going to be easy???? Training for a triathlon, really????
“The majority of training is just volume training,” Krager said. “You show up and do low intensity for a long time because it’s an endurance event.”
It didn’t feel very low intensity for myself. Maybe that because I was the only one wearing jeans which was not a good move. I would have had a lot more flexibility if I wore shorts, like everyone else. But, I also didn’t come to practice expecting I would join in. Once I got there I thought it would be super weird if I just stood around watching everyone for the whole hour, so I decided to hop on a bike. I thought people would be thinking “who is that random guy watching our practice? He’s pretty creepy”. It’s the same way I felt when going to the Women’s club soccer tournament a few weekends ago. Do I sit with the team to get a better understanding or do I sit on the sideline and go to them after? These are the integral questions to ask for any sports reporter.
Me in the middle of triathlon practice
I was actually going to do another leg workout at the gym afterward, but there was no need once I finished cycling. According to Aaron, cycling is the easiest of all three triathlon sports which also includes running and swimming. I definitely wanna go on a run with the team. I’ll keep my expectations low in terms of being able to keep up.
I’m glad I gave it a shot though because as a non athlete, I don’t see the hard work athletes put into their sport every single day. All the work is done when no one’s watching. It’s something to appreciate and when you realize that they are doing this for a club sport, where they have to pay to play, it’s even more intriguing. When I have interviewed club athletes, they have mostly all said that they don’t mind not being able to earn a scholarship as long as they can play their sport. I find that very fascinating. That’s the real love of the game right there.