Boomers Legacy - a spin-a-thon

A few weeks ago, I was told that the Navy Tridents Triathlon Club was putting a team into a spin-a-thon to raise funds for Boomer's Legacy and to honor our service personnel who have given their lives in service.  Before I did anything, I had to find out more about the fund. 

Boomer’s Legacy was created in the memory of Corporal Andrew “Boomer” Eykelenboom with the job of continuing to help people, as he helped, while deployed as a Medical Technician in the Canadian Forces.

Boomer Rides and spin-a-thons provide an important opportunity to spread awareness and honor  the sacrifices made by Canadian Forces members. You can find out more information by following this link: 
Boomer's Legacy 

February 28th rolled around quickly and it was time to ride so to speak.  Our spin-a-thon was a 24 hour spin with team members taking a shift.  My shift was from 2:00 - 3:30 am.  To make it more fun, I thought I'd do a run and then go to my regular swim workout after my spin shift.  It made the early morning kind of a mixed up triathlon.

On the way the gym - hydrating with a Tim's coffee

I never set my alarm to wake up at midnight before, but there is a first for everything.  Of course, I slept through my alarm and was rushing to get to the gym on time.

Notice that there wasn't enough time to brush my hair, but I did find the time to stop at Tim's and get a coffee.  I know that coffee is one of the worst drinks for hydration purposes, but falling asleep and taking a header off the spin bike isn't an ideal situation either.

To be honest, my hair usually looks bad.  It can best be described as having a mind of its own.  Swimming three days a week doesn't help the hair situation much.

Kasia, our team organizer, and me before my ride.

When I got to the gym, the music was blaring and about twenty people on bikes were givin'er.  Our team organizer was there to get me registered and set to go.  She was at the gym the entire twenty-four hours and was a real trouper at keeping everyone up and organized.

So I got onto the bike and relieved my teammate. I decided to take a photo every 30 minutes or so to document the degradation. 

The spin was pretty much the same as all indoor cycling.  It takes a while to get into a groove but once you do, it's pretty smooth and you just have to worry about boredom.  The music was loud and there were enough people around to keep my mind occupied.  Right around the 45 minute mark the spin became work.  

2:30 am

3:00 am - The smile is a bit of a grimmace

 At around three in the morning I noticed something wrong with one of my pedals.  When I stood up, there was a knocking noise and after I sat down the pedal seemed a bit wobbly.  The pedal was working itself loose.  

I jumped off the bike, grabbed a spare bike and climbed on that one.  I think the little break helped and mentally I knew I only had thirty minutes till I was done.  My relief rider arrived and so did my running buddy.  The company made the last stretch easy.

Getting ready for an hour run at 3:30 am.

I handed off to the next rider, got the bike adjusted for her and then I was off for some running.  

Tim was remarkably bright for waking up that early.  He was committed to the run as he got up early to run before his turn spinning.  I was already at the gym and was sort of killing time between the bike and swim which was later in the morning.

There was an old wooden track that is above the gym floor.  You can see the other spinners behind us.  I think they are more in focus than we are, but what can you do with a selfie. 

It was hard to tell how long the track is.  There was a sign that said 15.5 laps was 1.5 miles which means nothing to me.  After I got home, I sat down with a calculator and figured the track is about 155 meters long.  

We had a social run and chatted the entire time and had no idea how many laps we ran.  We ran for about an hour.  After Tim ran, his turn spinning started and I ran with Stacy.  I only had about 10 minutes or so running with her before my legs started to cramp up.  Time to stretch!

The three stooges ready for a swim.

Before I knew it, 6:00 am rolled around and it was time to head to swim.  Luckily, the pool is in the same building as the gym.  

This was the hardest swim I've ever had.  My arms were tired for some reason and I can only figure that all the blood was in my legs.  

The 600 meter warm-up was ok, but as soon as I got into the main set of 8 x 100, I really felt bad.  Legs were cramping, and everything generally hurt.  I couldn't hold my base pace so I decided to just get through it.  

I also decided that there was a good reason that the swim is first in all triathlon races.  I toughed out the hour swim, but didn't feel good in the water at all.

All in all the spin-a-thon was fun, it was for a good cause, and I was able to work an over-night workout into the event.  I did take the day off work and had a little nap after I got home.  The day was pretty normal and had a fantastic sleep that night.

Steven

PS - All three of the swim stooges made it to our Saturday morning spin and core workout.