“I have a lawyer friend who was way behind where you are and is now doing triathlon. She’s at the back, and she warns the kayak supporters that “this might be awhile”, but she usually makes it out of the water before the cutoff. She is regarded by her law school classmates as the person LEAST likely to do anything athletic. She’s thin, but not athletic. She has loved doing it and has a lot of self- confidence from it.”
That is so cool. She sounds pretty athletic now, doing triathlons!
I figure I might be able to make up for poor swimming a bit in the run. I used to be able to do 5K distances in 20 min, but getting in that kind of shape again would be a major goal in itself. I need to get over fear and discomfort in the water first, which is probably the toughest thing. That, and giving up chocolate chip cookies. And wine. No—I take that back, if I have to give up wine, then what’s the point?
Bus, Colman Pool is the best saltwater pool in Seattle. Getting to Lincoln Park from the Eastside is a royal pain though. Oh, and it is only open in the summer.
Swimming in open water is what’s keeping me from doing a triathlon. I’ve been swimming for years, started running a couple years ago and that’s going well – biking would be my slow leg. I love biking, but I’m very slow and have a real problem going up any sort of incline. If I could do the swimming part in a pool, I’d consider doing a triathlon.
Romani, I’m amazed how fast you’ve declined. The fact that you need a walker – you’re just too young for that! I really am sorry that you are going through this and I wishing that you go into remission and get your life back.
“Bus, Colman Pool is the best saltwater pool in Seattle. Getting to Lincoln Park from the Eastside is a royal pain though. Oh, and it is only open in the summer.”
Way too far. But I thought that the Gold’s gym one in Redmond was the only one. Interesting, maybe I should check further. Edit to add, upon further checking, there is a gym about 10 minutes from me with a saltwater pool, with swimming lessons and masters programs available to the public!! Now I have no excuse.
“Swimming in open water is what’s keeping me from doing a triathlon. I’ve been swimming for years, started running a couple years ago and that’s going well – biking would be my slow leg. I love biking, but I’m very slow and have a real problem going up any sort of incline. If I could do the swimming part in a pool, I’d consider doing a triathlon.”
I’ve heard of indoor triathlons, though I don’t know how common they are.
To be fair, the walker is only on my very worst days. The problem is that it’s attacking my knees, hips, and lower back. So it’s more a matter of where the pain is rather than the pain itself (if that makes sense).
I’ve had knee problems most of my post-childhood life so it’s not the first time I’ve needed help walking. But in the past, it was always crutches and they’re just not cutting it this time.
A few weeks ago I had Knee Bursitis (a sac in my knee is inflamed) and apparently it can be a common complication with RA, especially RA of the knees. I’m using the walker partially as a precaution because it really, really hurt lol.
The CCer-provided knee brace is definitely helping
An indoor tri might be a great way to start! Wonder if you can do a tri on one of those recumbent bikes. Probably not if you want a decent time, though! They are probably easier on your back.
After Ohio posted about his indoor tri, I searched my area – nothing came up. Of course, this is the wrong time to look – I imagine they are more prevalent in the winter. A 10K race I did a couple years ago was organized by a group that sponsors a lot of triathlons and does triathlon trainings – I’m on their mailing list, and I’ve never seen an indoor tri mentioned.
Here is a link to some indoor triathlons. I did a search for Seattle on another site, and found one that was in Feb, and one in May. Not a large number, but some, at least. I wonder if it’s one of those deals where you have to search hard to find them.
Bus driver - if you were a runner you shouldn’t have any problem with a tri. If you are thin, a wetsuit or rubber suit is going to help your swimming a lot. I get a 20% improvement with it. It makes you more buoyant and keeps your body on top of the water. Getting the wetsuit off was the most difficult challenge I had.
I’ve only done 2 indoor triathlons. The biggest transition for me in going outdoors will be with the open water swim. You don’t have a wall to push off every 50 meters.
You can make up a lot of ground on the bike and run. Seems like runners have the upper hand when it comes to the tri.
Open water swimming is tough. People hit you, kick you in the face and swim over you. It’s hard to get your bearings and stay on course. It takes a lot of practice. When I was doing triathlon I lived in Texas and our lakes were really nasty. I swam through icky weeds and exited the lakes in gross squishy mud. Next week my son is doing Puerto Rico half ironman. He lost a lot of swimming time due to his broken hand, so his swim won’t be that strong. Cycling is very important in triathlon, and it was my weakest event because I was afraid of crashing if I went too fast. I passed a lot of people on the run, though.
I think a wetsuit would be great. I get cold easily and could use all the buoyancy I can get. I wonder if there is something you can put on your body to make the wetsuit come off easier.
Open water swimming sounds terrifying. One of the pieces of advice she gives you is to swim to the side immediately, so people don’t swim over you. That sounds quite awful, and I was thinking, well maybe they will let the super slow people start in the back. Since they’re all chipped, it shouldn’t matter when you start.
Did my fellow Fitbiters (at least for the Charge HR) do the update that was released this week yet? One of the “bugs” it is suppose to fix is inflated flights of stairs counts.
I’m trying to updatenow, but not sure if the update is going to go through…ugh!
I did the update, abasket - I had my phone plugged in as well as the Fitbit while it was updating. I wasn’t having a problem with inflated stair counts but it went through with no problems.
I spoke to soon - all updated - it was just taking awhile! I did not have either plugged in but had my Fitbit right next to my phone.
The updates are suppose to include:
VERSION 18.122
This release provides bug fixes and stability improvements.
We began rolling out this release on March 8, 2016 and all customers can expect to receive it within a few days.
VERSION 18.102
This release provides the following new features and improvements:
SmartTrack™ is now available to automatically track your exercise.
We’ve enhanced our PurePulse™ heart-rate technology. Now when you activate exercise mode, you’ll have even better heart-rate tracking during certain high-intensity workouts like Zumba® or bootcamp classes.
Quick View is improved.
Step data is now counted towards challenges even when your tracker has very low battery.
It also provides minor bug and security fixes.
VERSION 18.84
This release provides the following new features and improvements:
With Quick View, you don’t need a free hand to check the time on your Fitbit Charge HR™. Instead of pressing the button, just turn your wrist towards you and the time will appear for a few seconds. You can enable Quick View under Settings > Devices on your Fitbit.com dash.If you find that your battery is draining too quickly, turn off Quick View.
User-added image
Immediately get summary data about your workouts instead of waiting to sync your tracker. Now when you turn exercise mode off, your workout’s elapsed time scrolls across the tracker’s screen for about four seconds. After the elapsed time, the following summary stats appear in turn:
Average heart rate
Calories burned
Steps taken
Distance covered
Floors climbed
If you miss the summary, you can always check your web (Fitbit.com) or mobile dashboard after syncing to see all your historical data.
You can now tap your screen once to advance to the next screen.
When charging your tracker, you’ll now see the current battery level.
You no longer need to press the button to see your goal celebration. When you reach your fitness goal, your tracker will celebrate immediately.
This release resolves the following issues:
High floor counts have been fixed. Some customers reported artificially inflated floor counts.
All exercise records now appear on the Activities page. Some customers reported being unable to find historical activities.
Trackers no longer restart unexpectedly. Some customers reported trackers restarting during setup or while enabling call notifications.
VERSION 18.64
Implemented general stability improvements.
Resolved an issue where exercise mode was working only intermittently.
4.7 Florida miles for a 37 mile week. Finally hit a better weekly total for the first time since mid February. Bad blister on left ring toe from beach walking, I guess. I am liking the Nike Epics.
So for me the update was noted on my phone screen on the Fitbit app when I opened it - I actually took my Fitbit off my wrist and set it literally on top of my phone - it took a good 5-10 minutes. You will eventually see your Fitbit light up on the “screen” and show the progress of the update.
Also, in addition to indoor tris to start, think about all female tris. The crowd is gentler. If you get kicked in the swim, the woman who did might stop and tell you “I am sorry; are you okay?” They also have so called swim angels, folks who are in the water with kayaks or SUPs to reassure you that you will be okay if you freak out. You can take a moment and hang on a kayak until you feel ready to go on.
