The magical rule of 3s

A friend of mine recently reintroduced me to the Rule of 3 in her Fabulous Flirty Newsletter and I've been pondering the idea ever since. There are many theories and studies as to why we respond so favorably to number threes but, as my friend pointed out, even from a simple perspective, threes are used so widely throughout some of the most memorable works from our childhood that it’s likely that we are preconditioned to respond favorably to elements grouped in threes.

For my training, I've decided to draw inspiration from a few well-known quotes (notice the 3's): I will pour my “Blood, sweat and tears” into training and strengthening my "Mind, body and spirit" improving myself by always having "Faith, Hope and Charity" present in my life so that come May 1st, I can stand proudly and say "I came, I saw, I conquered."

Well today, I officially became a triathlete in training taking on my third, and most feared sport - cycling. I've told many of you that I haven't really ridden a bicycle since 1983 when I used to ride my bike 3 miles to school and then home again. I have been having a little difficulty with wrapping my head around the idea of training to ride 56 miles now 27 years later!

Back then I had a 10-speed bike and only used the most difficult gear all the time. Now I have 20+ gears and need to use them all! The shifting gears aren't even in the same place that I'm used to! Back then I rode with tennis shoes or barefoot, now I am expected to lock my feet to the pedals?! Back then I had tires that are 2x the size of what I'm riding on now, and if I get a flat I have to change it myself? I can't just call Triple A?

I realize that this is me and my well-defined comfort zone taking a stand! While my heart loves the idea of trying something new and fantastic, my practical head is still working to catch up, get on the same page, go along for the ride. I'm looking forward to exercising my heart and my head and hopefully getting them on a similar pace so that in the future, when my heart says "Let's go off in this fantastic new direction!" my head will agree with a hearty "Why not?!"

It took me a while to find a bicycle, partially because I was intimidated by making the right choice after our day trip to the bike shop. The other reason was I'm sure I was trying to postpone the inevitable just a bit. As our training progressed, and people were moving on ahead in that area, I realized that I had to bite the bullet, take the plunge and get back into the saddle - in other words, get a bicycle!

Last week was supposed to be my first ride, I did the ritualistic stay up late the night before and worry about it. Then when it poured all over Saturday, the ride was cancelled.

Sunday, when the sun revived the weekend, I took the kids for a ride on the bicycle. We have a few blocks between our house and the bike path so we walked to the path and took off riding! About a block from our destination, Lauren's training wheel fell off and that was potentially going to be the end of it all, or the beginning of a really long walk home. Fortunately we stopped at a friend's house, they tightened up a few things and we were on our way. For my second time out, I decided to leave the kids at home, and successfully rode about 3 miles on my own (on really flat tires as it turns out) but I was building my confidence and hoping that the third time would be a charm at the Rose Bowl (where 1 lap equals approximately 3 miles).

So then, as I'm leaving work Friday, I ask my fantastic campaign manager just how far we were going and she said, "Oh, only like 6 laps!" I immediately calculated in my head 3+3+3+3+3+3 = 18 miles for my first ride?! Sore padded butt, says what?! I immediately made a stop at the bike shop just 3 minutes before it closed and grabbed the first pair of padded shorts I could find. Then I was heading to a holiday party where I was considering drinking enough to take my mind off of it and to get me to actually sleep the night before my first ride! I stopped after 3... just kidding, 1 drink and called it an early night.

I got to practice early and was met by a helpful mentor who already tried to get my tools ready for learning how to change tires, my coach checked out the fit and felt that the bike was a good size for me and shortly my friends started arriving. Jen S. showed me her impressive bruise from a mid-week ride, which gave me a whole new set of goosebumps, but I was able to let that go because I knew I wasn't clipping in this week. I decided to make it my goal to get around the Rose Bowl 1 time and then anything after that would be gravy!

We went out for our first time around and I was still playing with the gears trying to learn which way they all work, trying to avoid oncoming foot traffic and trying to not hit sand. The route we ride around the Rose Bowl is slow steady ascent on the start then coming around to the back side where it's all downhill and fun from there! After successfully completing my first lap, we regrouped to practice changing tires. I felt like we were on the Amazing Race because we were told if we didn't do it ourselves at least once, we would not be allowed to continue our practice. I was so excited to change the front tire successfully and get back out there on the bike! If my energy could hold up, this would be great!

As I headed back out for my 2nd lap, we were doing pedaling drills alternating between legs, and then riding hard. Then we were supposed to do 2 laps hard (which means maximum exertion). I automatically felt myself protesting "How many times do I need to tell people that I only have 2 speeds, stop and go?" Then I realized as I was out on the course, that I have 3 speeds! Stop, Go, and Variable (anything that falls between Stop and Go). I've noticed it in running, I don't do as many walk intervals, I just slow down, I've noticed it in swimming, and today I found it in cycling.

After the drill lap and 2 hard laps, we took another break to try to change the rear tires (the one attached to the 8-gear wheel). By now, my legs had black marks on them, my hands looked like I was tuning engines, not changing tires, but I love getting dirty (stay tuned for a mud run post in June) and was ready for my last 2 laps!

The first one back out (fifth actual lap) I definitely started feeling it, and noticed that on the slight hills, I'd go from really fast to almost stopping because my legs didn't have the muscle in each rotation like they did the first 4 laps. When what to my wandering eyes should appear but CJ the singing elf (from work) and in his hand, a cold beer (no kidding, parts of that were a wishful hallucination). When I heard his "Hey-ya!" I got an extra boost of energy and continued that by sharing "Go Team!" with other TNTers along the course!

About 1/2 way around my last lap as I turned the corner into the downhill I got really pumped that I was actually going to complete the 18 miles! That is not only the longest I've ever ridden, it's almost 1/3 of the distance I'll have to ride on event day, and yay! I didn't fall!

Needless to say, I'm loving 3's today! I'm a big believer in the 3rd time being a charm, the magic of 3's, and am even willing to celebrate by not just giving second chances, but third chances now for my kids! I can't wait now to do three sports! So bring it on, double dog dare me (or should it be triple dog dare me?) and hit me with your best shot!