Lighten Up; it's Triathlon time!

Thursday, April 6, 2017

With most New Year’s Resolutions long forgotten, spring is the perfect time to make the transition to a healthier lifestyle with regular exercise, to try something new like a triathlon, or to plant that garden with high hopes of bountiful vegetables, which will be overrun by weeds by Memorial Day…wait, that’s my garden.

This week, more than 140 people are making the transition from scheduled team fitness classes and receiving points for their efforts to getting themselves to the YMCA in the wee hours of the morning on their own.

On Sunday, the Lighten Up McCook Team Challenge wrapped up with the final group workout.

For three months, 142 people on 18 teams have been weighing in on a weekly basis, attending team fitness class and fitting in extra workouts.

This translates into 216 extra fitness classes at the YMCA over the 12 weeks of the program for the fitness instructors and the participants. That is a lot of people through the front doors of the YMCA the first three months of the year.

The challenge was not just about weight-loss, although that was a factor.

In addition to dropping a total of 2,214 pounds, the group also lost more than 2,000 inches and earned points by attending fitness class.

The 2017 top individual finishers - based on points - were Lana Stewart, Glenda Ellerton and Tracy Burkey, who earned her finish the hard way…with a plank-off against Rick Haddix and Stacey Porter.

Congratulations to all those who made it to the end of the 2017 Lighten Up Team Challenge and we hope to see everyone next week and next month and next year still excited about walking through the front doors of the YMCA.

The arrival of spring also means the transition to the next sports season.

While the adults are wrapping up their indoor volleyball season and the kids are in the final few weeks outside on the soccer fields, softball sign-up has started for both adults and girls.

Registration forms have been sent home with all local girls and are also available at the YMCA, as well as online at mccookymca.org. Former softball captains should have received a registration form in the mail by now, but can also find them online or at the Y.

While I was able to predict that we would have snow on the first Saturday of soccer, I’m not making any forecasts for softball other than knowing that we will need that lightening predictor at more than one game this summer.

And speaking of transitions, the Republican River Fitness Series, which is a collaboration between the YMCA and Community Hospital, is hosting a “Triathlon Transition Training Session” Sunday.

If you have ever wondered what a triathlon involves or how you transition from swimming to biking to running or simply how to pull on wet socks after swimming (hint: you don’t wear socks), this training session is for you.

By the end, we hope you are excited about triathlons and end up with more answers than questions, although we learn something new every time we do a triathlon so that is a high bar to meet.

At 12:30 p.m., we will meet to set up a transition area in the lower level parking lot, on the southwest corner of the YMCA.

At 1 p.m., we head inside to do a mini-sprint triathlon, where you can swim or walk 2 laps in the swimming pool.

Then you will walk or run outside to your transition area and hop on your bike for two laps around the YMCA/MHS block, finishing with a run or walk once around the same block.

If you can’t make it this Sunday, we are planning at least two more training sessions between now and June 24, when we host Michelle’s Memorial Triathlon - the most recent addition to the RRFS schedule.

And if you don’t want to actually do the events Sunday, you are more than welcome than to just come and watch, although I can’t promise you won’t get “accidentally” wet or run over by a biker or runner during one of the transitions.

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    Thanks for the post!!

    -- Posted by MarkSlaughter on Fri, Apr 7, 2017, at 6:00 AM
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