Another Dri-Tri Saturday (or Just Trying To Show Improvement)

I’ve done the Dri-Tri 4 times before the one I did this past weekend. 3 of those were individual ones and the most recent one was a relay where I did the rowing only. No matter if it’s an individual one or a relay, I want to do my best. I always want to see signs of improvement and proof that I am getting stronger and fitter.

It’s tough to do that because the Dri-Tri is different from regular classes. No matter how prepared I feel, I always feel a bit overwhelmed in the middle of the event. I do everything I can not to feel that way, but it was the same thing with the 5K races I did.

This time, I was feeling a bit uncertain about a lot of it. I hadn’t been doing as much treadmill work as I normally do and even though we had lots of rowing and even some endurance rowing I was still unsure about my rowing abilities. But no matter what, I knew that I would be able to do this and finish. It was only a question if I could PR on any part of it.

This was the first time I had the Dri-Tri at the Culver City location and I think that I was the only person in my heat who had done one before (this was the first Dri-Tri for the Culver City studio). Since I am there more often than the Brentwood studio, it was nice to have it at a studio I am used to going to 3 times a week. And I do think the room set-up there is a bit better for the event.

Before we got started, the coaches went over everything. It was the same as the other ones I did. We started with a 2000 meter row, then we had 300 body weight floor exercises (push-ups, squats, burpees, step ups, hop overs, and plank jacks) and then a 5K on the treadmill. There were some people in my heat doing the sprint Dri-Tri which means they did half of all the sections. But almost everyone was going to do the full one and the room was a mix of excitement and nerves.

When we started on the rower, I focused on not going too hard. Burning out on the rower is something I’ve done before and something I was scared to do again. My goal was to try to stay pretty steady with my pace the entire time and then pick it up for the last 200 or so meters. The rowers were set with our 500 meter split times so I was able to track that and try to do the math in my head if I was on pace or not. I knew I wanted to be under 9 minutes but I really to be under 8:45 to get a PR.

I was doing really great with being steady on the rower. Some of the coaches were complimenting me on how strong my form was. That was nice to hear because I know my form can get sloppy when I’m tired. I knew that I would likely be the last person off of the rower, so I didn’t focus on people around me. I was in my head a lot trying to distract myself at times and just time my pacing when I felt like I was going too hard. And for the last 200 meters, I towed really hard and went for it. I finished in 8:51 which was under my goal but not a PR. But I couldn’t focus too much on that because I needed to get to the floor work.

I took a moment to catch my breath and drink some water, but I tried to quickly get started with the push-ups. I wasn’t trying to compete and place, so I did them on my knees to make things a little easier for me. The squats were easy and fine for me. For the burpees I did my modified ones using the bench so I could hop back and forth instead of stepping my feet out. I can’t do step ups because of my hips so I did lunges instead (which is what I did every other time). And the hop overs and plank jacks were both easy enough to do, but still tough because I was tired.

The floor work is done as 2 rounds so once I finished the first round I took another break to catch my breath. The floor work has always been tough for me in the Dri-Tri, but getting to that halfway mark really helped this time. I knew what I had already done and what I still needed to do. And I was ready to go through it again. I was also keeping my eyes on the clock because I knew what time I needed to be on the treadmill by in order to be under my goal time.

For the past few Dri-Tris, I’ve wanted to do the treadmill work as a run/walk. Power walkers only do a 2.5K, so I have had the idea that I would do the 2.5K and record the time to compare it to my other Dri-Tris and then I’d continue on to do the full 5K and record that time too. I would love to have goal times for both. And that was my intention with this one. I told the coaches of my plan and they understood what I was hoping to do. So when I got on the treadmill I was optimistic that this would be the time that I did it.

Since my running has been very limited, the run/walk intervals I had in mind were not what I have done for 5Ks in the past. I was thinking about walking for 2 minutes and running for 30 seconds. If I felt good I could change it, but that seemed like a good plan to me. And I did do that to start out. I think starting with the walking was smart and allowed me to do the little bit of running. But I managed to do the intervals twice before I realized running just wasn’t going to be the right choice for me.

So I went down to my power walking speed and just kept going. I was still watching the clock and trying to do the math in my head if I was going to make it under my goal time. And I realized I would need to pick up the pace a bit to make it. So I did intervals similar to the run/walk one I had planned but just did it with increasing my power walking speed.

I knew it would be close and realized that I would need to run a little bit more to hit my goal. So for the last .1 of the 1.55 miles I did, I ran at my normal running speed. As much as I would have liked to have sprint, just running felt like a sprint at that point.

I didn’t really have a goal time in mind for the treadmill, just an overall goal time I was mindful of. I wanted to finish in under 50 minutes (I knew my PR was significantly faster than I could have gone so I didn’t even think about that time). And when I finished my 2.5K, I looked up at the clock and it said 49:08! It was such a relief to finish and to finish under the goal time. It was a bit frustrating to not PR in any section or overall, but I also know just completing it is more than many people do.

And there was no way I could keep going on the treadmill. I was done. My hips were killing me and I needed to recover. I didn’t even think twice about stopping and was so happy to be off the treadmill. I sat on the floor to stretch, drink water, and cheer on those who were still working on finishing.

I love that everyone stayed to cheer others on. It’s so supportive and I know if I was the last person on the treadmill I would feel better about it if I didn’t have to be alone. I finished toward the middle of the group so there were several people I got to cheer on. And watching them finish and be so proud of themselves was so great to watch.

And of course once we were all done we had to take a sweaty group photo.

All the coaches at all the Orangetheory locations I’ve been to have always been so supportive, but I felt like I got a bit of extra support this time. When I was on the rower, my foot straps were getting loose and that makes it harder to row. I didn’t want to stop rowing so I asked my coach Jenna to help me out. She didn’t hesitate for a second and got things much more secure for me so I could keep going. And when I was on the treadmill, my coach Hart came by to check in on me. I was struggling, but I asked him if he could help me refill my water bottle. I was out of water and didn’t want to have to get off the treadmill. Again, there was no hesitation to help out so that I could focus on finishing.

I’m guessing the next Dri-Tri will be in the spring since that is usually the timing of them. And as always I plan on doing that one and seeing what I can do. I really want to PR somewhere in the Dri-Tri and would seriously love to be able to do the full 5K. I know both things will require a lot of hard work and training on my part, but I want to see what I can do. And I love that I am so motivated to try! That’s not easy for me to want to do!

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