Triathlon Training Sans Gym

It's late February and while the month is usually a trim time financially for my family, self-employment income ebbs and flows, this year trim would be a welcomed luxury. The result of going bare bones on our family budget is sacrificing my gym membership. Discontinuing my visits to they gym means discontinuing regular access to a pool and warm place to run in 12 degree weather.  It also means tapping the creative, frugal part of my brain to find a way to continue training without those luxuries.



Swimming will be the hardest.  I need to get back in the pool. It is by far my weakest area of swim-bike-run. It is also the most mentally intimidating. If I over exert while running. I fall down.  If I over exert while biking, I fall down. If I over exert while swimming, I drown! Mentally intimidating. I'm a strong swimmer, always have been, but the swim leg of a tri is a mental hurdle for me. I'll get over it with enough focus and practice. Which leads me to wonder where I am going to practice.  I do not own a wet suit, yet. Even if I did it isn't sensible to swim in a lake or river in a Pennsylvania winter. I do know of a few high schools and colleges with indoor pools.  Doing some digging some of those schools open their pools to the public at certain times for a small fee. The high school I graduated from does this. It is only once a week I'd be able to train for swimming but it is better than not at all. It also provides my three stir crazy kids the opportunity to expend some pent up energy. They can splash and play during family free swim while I count laps and practice stroke technique. It's a win all around.

Being able to train for the bike segment of a tri is easier than the swim portion.  Although I am wimpy about riding outside in freezing weather I am willing to ride in weather above 40 degrees.  Since we are approaching March the promise of warmer weather is beautiful. But, since March comes in like a lion I needed a back up plan too. My father, who is part of why I started cycling in the first place along with Supportive Husband Guy, had an indoor bike trainer he was no longer using. I was able to borrow this trainer and have Supportive Husband Guy set up one of my bikes in our living room. It is not designer decor but it is functional and out of the way.

Running will mean simply sucking it up. I hate running in the cold. I'd rather run in 110 degree heat and humidity than below freezing temps. I just do not like it. However, I am willing to suck it up for my health. With enough layers I can and will make this work. I am trying out a few new routes to run so I can focus on time and distance. My previous routes were too stop and go to give me any real indication of speed. One of the new routes only has one road crossing for miles. The first time I ran it I felt like I was having a horrible, slow, ugly run. When I checked my RunKeeper I saw it was one of my fastest runs in months.

Triathlon training without a gym membership: get creative, ask around for equipment, and suck it up.

What are some frugal ways you've found to keep fitness in the budget? How do you train without a gym membership?