Several years ago my sister participated in a triathlon and I witnessed firsthand the benefit of participating in this project. (Mostly because I helped her write the essay required for her college class detailing the event.) More recently, I joined a country club swimming pool and have seen how this hobby has changed my life. To further motivate myself I decided to join a triathlon and document my journey here. Many of my readers know by now that I struggle with mental health challenges and associated medical issues such as obesity, migraines and chronic sinusitis. I hope that participating in this event will help me overcoming my health challenges and that documenting my journey will inspire others and prove that individuals with mental illness can accomplish goals and deserve to enjoy life.
My first step was to search for Triathlon websites and organizations in Israel. 7/14/2018
http://www.triathlon.org.il/
The soonest upcoming event will take place September 21st 2018.
July 30, 2018 Update
Several days ago I met a woman while leaving the swimming pool who had participated in several triathlons. She informed me that the shortest event involves a minimum of 750 meters in the ocean. This is roughly 30 times the length of the pool I train in. For the purpose of this journal one lap will be one times the length of the pool, not back and forth. Another thing she pointed out to me is that in addition to not being able to stop for a minute and hold onto the wall in between laps, swimming in the ocean means swimming against a much higher resistance and overcoming the pull of the current.
Today I decided to start small and swim 30 laps, I then took a short break, and swam another 30 laps. In total that is 25 meters * 60 = 1,500 meters. I timed myself for the second set: my time was under 36 minutes.
My next goal is to swim 120 laps in one session, get myself to 30 laps in under 25 minutes and eventually to add weights to increase endurance and ability to overcome resistance of the current; probably 5 lb on each hand and leg.
