I was on Facebook the other day, when I noticed my friend Meg sent me a link.  Meg and I belong to the Des Mooines Tri club, and she is one heck of an athlete.  I clicked on the link, and it was an invitation to compete in the second annual Turkey Tri45.  This is a Fun Event where athletes of all skill levels get together to burn off a few extra calories that we may have amassed duing Thanksgiving.  I immediately signed up, and told Meg thank you for thinking of me.

The rules were simple enough: it’s a fun event where you keep track of your own mileage, and it works on the honor system.  We swim in an indoor pool (it is Iowa after all) for 45 minutes, then you have 15 minutes to get ready to meet in the Spin room.  We start together for 45 minutes of spinning, and then change and either run on the track for 45 minutes, or if it’s nice outside (it was cold, but dry) we run 5.5 miles outdoors.  So it’s somewhere between a sprint and an Olympic distance triathlon.

I have to give a shout out to Troy Thompson for creating this event, and for getting everything organized. It was a fun time, and I got a chance to meet a lot of great people; from ultramarathoners and Ironmen, to people who were scared of swimming!  After the event, about a dozen of us went out to breakfast and shared our stories.  I cannot wait to do this again, and when I spoke to Troy, it sounds like the event is growing.  The first year there was approximately 10-12 people.  This year there were over 30!  And this is invitation only!  Troy said to go ahead and invite people, as they will figure out how to deal with more competitors.

I was able to get a few prizes as giveaways, as it was mentioned on the tri’s Facebook page, and other people got items to give as well.  We even got gift bags with goodies inside!  And this was a free event!  It was amazing to see everyone working together to make this a successful and fun event.  

You have to hear the National Anthem. What an incredible voice!

 

 
Here is the recap:  We chose a swim lane to start (I chose the slower lane) and we had 45 minutes to swim as much as we could.  We had 5 in our lane, and while you would think that 5 people circle swimming would be a recipe for disaster, it was not.  No one overran the other, and people would wait at the end and let you pass if they were slower.  I ended up with 1725 yards in 45 minutes, which I was quite happy with.  Then it was off to dry off and change for the spin class.

   
 
The spin classroom was full!  And by that I mean every spin bike, and one bike on a trainer was in use.  It was an incredible sight!  Troy played Pandora radio while we passed a video camera around.  There was even a contest for a $25 gift card to see who could get the highest RPM in one minute.  I thought I did well with 180 RPM, but the winner was the one who hit 216 RPM!  Amazing!!   I ended up with 15 miles in 45 minutes, and was averaging 20 mph.  I was very happy with that!

 
Then we changed again and met outside for our run.  All paces were welcome, and it was a nice route with a few challenging hills. I ran with my friend Maria, and my new friend Debbie, and we chatted throughout the 5.8 mile cold run.  I mentor new runners with Maria at Fleet Feet Sports Des Moines, and it was nice to run along side her once again.  Before we knew it, we were back at Prarrie Life Fitness, where we started. We had a finishing time of 1:07:55.

 
We went inside to get warm, and prizes were given out.  I think everyone went home with something, which was great to see. Then we loaded all our gear and headed out to breakfast.  Trust me, after all that exercise, I was hungry.  One of the group was kind enough to pick up the entire breakfast tab!  What an amazing day, with a great group of people supporting one another and doing what we love…triathlon!

  
I cannot wait for this event to come around next year!  It was a wonderful day all around.
Live healthy, be happy!

Travis