Join us for "30 for 30" in March

Webb: We want to invite you, all of you, especially those of you who do little to no exercise, to join us in something we are calling “30 for 30”: 30 minutes of exercise for 30 days in March. You decide what your exercise(s) will be. It can be walking, Jazzercise, badminton. Whatever you want or whatever combination of exercises you want. The point is to be active for at least 30 minutes each day. Yeah, yeah we know March has 31 days. You get one day you can skip. Choose wisely.

If you don’t exercise much and have an active job, (e.g., construction, daycare or chasing your own kids around the house) we want you to do an additional 30 minutes. It will be 30 minutes of activity for you. Find the time and own it.

This idea is the confluence of two non-related, coincidental events. The first was listening to an interview on the “Zen and the Art of Triathlon” podcast between Brett and Coach Mike Ricci. The other was watching the following “visual lecture” on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=aUaInS6HIGo#! 

It is well-worth your time to watch the lecture. You’ll not labor through it. In fact, we think you’ll find it rather eye-opening in its simplistic approach to a better quality of life no matter your age or current mental or physical health. As s species, our own cleverness and ingenuity has tricked us into forgetting that being active is in our DNA and to deny that leads to and/or complicates things like depression and diabetes. But here is the thing, you don’t need to run marathons - 30 minutes of walking will probably do just fine.

For our fellow triathletes, you probably know that you are supposed to devote some significant time in the off-season or base phase to focus on your weakness. Our weakness is swimming. In the podcast, Coach Ricci talks about the improvement his athletes see when he tells them to swim for 30 consecutive days. It is about frequency, consistency, adaptation, muscle memory and some other things we don’t understand. The big picture is: Get in the water! That is what Elle and I are going to do. For you swimmers-turned-triathletes, get on the bike or in your running shoes. And of course, be smart. Thirty consecutive days can lead to overuse injuries. We plan to spend 30 minutes in the pool about five days a week with only two days that will be longer or intense. Part of getting faster is not injuring yourself.

The team at the finish line of Ragnar del Sol 2011

As usual, we'll try to post our workout experiences often. We want you to join us. So please feel free to comment and tell us what you did and how you are doing. 

Elle: What he said.

Also, we're heading out to Phoenix this week for Ragnar del Sol, which starts on Friday morning and goes until we've covered the 200 miles from Wickenburg to Tempe, Arizona, which will be sometime on Saturday. 

• 12 team members
• 200 miles
• 2 vans
• countless peanut butter pretzels. 

Hilarity is sure to ensue. Stay tuned...