Cranberry YMCA hosts annual indoor triathlon
CRANBERRY TWP — The Rose E. Schneider Family YMCA was set aside on Sunday morning, Feb. 16, for its annual indoor triathlon.
Competitors of all ages tested their physical skill in three phases — swimming, biking and running, in that order, all on the YMCA’s own equipment.
“They have to swim in the pool in the lap lane, they have to bike on our indoor cycle bikes and they have to run either on the track or on the treadmill,” said event organizer Kathy Hensler, healthy living director at the YMCA.
All adults — those 12 and older — had 60 minutes to complete as many miles as possible while swimming, biking and running. Ten minutes were allotted for swimming, 30 for biking and 20 for running. Competitors younger than 12 years old had 35 minutes to rack up miles — 10 minutes for swimming, 15 for biking and 10 for running.
“They'll get points based on how many miles they complete on the bike, how many miles they complete on the treadmill or on the track, and then they'll get points depending on how many laps they swim in the pool,” Hensler said. “They'll have a volunteer with them, helping them count their laps and making sure they count their miles and record the results.”
The fact that the triathlon was entirely indoors may have been a blessing, as the weather over Cranberry was soggy with rain on Sunday morning. Still, competitors such as Eric Swanson were damp with sweat when they finished their runs.
“It's nice to challenge yourself now and again,” Swanson said. “I'm not a very good swimmer. So, I like to try and improve at it.”
By contrast, fellow competitor Melanie Good said her hardest leg of the three was biking.
“It's the longest, and psychologically you have to just keep powering through,” Good said. “I did 8 1/2 miles on that.”
