As I mentioned yesterday, I did the Dri-Tri at Orangetheory this past Saturday. I have wanted to do the Dri-Tri a couple of times before, but they have always been on days that I couldn’t do it for one reason or another. I don’t do a ton of fitness events (mainly just my 5Ks), so to have something to train for and challenge myself with sounded awesome to me.
All the coaches at Orangetheory have been upfront about what exactly the Dri-Tri is. It’s a 2,000 meter row, 300 body weight exercises, and a 5K. For power walkers, you only have to do a half 5K but everything else is the same. And I’ve done all of those elements before. Technically I don’t know if I’ve ever done 300 body weight exercises in a row, but I figured that since it should take me a similar amount of time to finish as it takes to do a class it wouldn’t be that much worse than a class. I’ve done a 2,000 meter row and I’ve done a 5K (and I only had to do half of one), so I wasn’t too worried. But of course, the nerves just got worse every day leading up to the Dri-Tri.
The day of the event, I had to work in the morning (my heat wasn’t until 1:45pm) and I had found the perfect shirt to wear earlier that week.
There’s actually a workout shirt sold by Old Navy that has my word of the year on it! So of course I had to get it and I figured the Dri-Tri was the perfect opportunity to wear it!
When I got to Orangetheory that afternoon, they had our names on the treadmills and floor stations so there was no confusion on where we needed to go (and I was glad that I got one of my favorite treadmills). There were 12 of us in the heat (they have to keep it small so we all have our own stations) and we started with a group stretch and instructions on how the event would go. We had all the floor work demoed for us and there was only 1 thing that I couldn’t do because of my hip. I got my alternative given to me before we started so I felt pretty ready to go when we were going to start as a group.
Our first event was the 2,000 meter row. I’ve done that distance a couple of times in the past and I know that I can do it in under 10 minutes. But 10 minutes on the row is a long time and I knew it was going to be tough to get through it. I didn’t pay attention to the clock or the distance countdown and just looked at the treadmill in front of me and tried to get into a different head space. People were done with their rows starting at about 6 minutes in and I just kept trying to focus on not stopping. I’m happy to say that I only had to stop one time (the straps for my feet were getting loose so I had to stop and tighten them). And even though I was the last person off of the rower by about a minute and it took me over 10 minutes to get it done, I did it and was happy to say good riddance to the rower for the day.
I knew the floor work wasn’t going to be easy, but I really wasn’t prepared for how tough it was going to be for me. The floor work consisted of pushups (I did mine on my knees), burpees, step ups (I did lunges instead), hop overs, plank jacks, and squats. Each thing was a lot of reps (I think the smallest number was 20) and after we did the cycle one time we had to go back to the beginning and do it again to make it 300 body weight exercises. The pushups were fine and the squats were tough but not unbearable. But the burpees were pretty bad. My hips were starting to lock up and I was feeling a bit dizzy from going from standing to on the ground a lot. But I took breaks when I needed them and once I made it through the first round I knew I was half way through the floor.
The second round on the floor felt like it took so much longer than the first, but I also knew where I was going to hurt and I took a few more water breaks (and catching my breath breaks) than I did the first time. By the time I had finished it and moved on to the treadmill, I was one of the last people on the floor and I felt like I had already done more than a normal class. But I knew I still had 1.55 miles to go on the treadmill and the sooner I started it the sooner I would finish!
The treadmill sucked. There’s no other way to say it. It was pretty awful. My hips were in so much pain and I knew that there was a good chance this would happen. After doing floor work, my hips don’t always seem to be right so walking can hurt. But since I had to do things in the order of the Dri-Tri, I had to do the treadmill last. I originally thought I’d try to start the treadmill at 3.5 miles an hour, but after less than a minute I realized that was not a good plan. I pretty much did the entire 1.55 miles at 3.4 miles an hour and 6% incline. I had to take breaks every .1 miles or so to press on my hips (that helps to relive the pain), drink some water, and catch my breath.
After being on the treadmill for a few minutes, the first Dri-Tri finisher finished their 5K. People started to finish pretty close together and I was maybe only halfway through my 1.55 miles. By the time I was getting close to the end of my treadmill time, there were only 3 of us left (I was the only power walker in the entire group). I finished by 1.55 miles in a little more than 27 minutes and as soon as I was done I was ready to sit on the treadmill to rest. I knew I couldn’t do that so I stood up and worked on catching my breath and drinking more water. Eventually I sat down on a rower I watched everyone else finish.
My time for the event ended up being 52:40, which is much better than the hour I was expecting it to take me. I really had no clue how long I had been working when I was done (there was a clock on the heart rate screen but I forgot to look when I finished). I knew that it was under an hour, but I had no idea I could have done it in under 53 minutes. That’s pretty amazing and I think it’s a good time for my first every Dri-Tri.
We all waited for the last people to finish their 5Ks on the treadmill and it was really great to cheer everyone on. At every stage we were being cheered on and when we were on the treadmills everyone was cheering for each person (it’s not easy to cheer on the rowers or floor). And as the last person was finishing their run, we were all clapping and cheering for them and they had such a huge smile on their face as they finished. It was such a wonderfully supportive room and I feel so lucky that I got to be a part of that experience.
They try to do the Dri-Tris at Orangetheory 2 or 3 times a year, so hopefully this is just the first of many for me. As long as I don’t have a conflict that I can’t get out of, I know I’ll be at the next one. It’s a struggle and challenge to do, but I like having things to work toward and now I just want to beat my time of 52:40 so I can say I have a PR!
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