Welcome!

Hello all! Let me introduce myself and Front Crawl Back.

My name is Ruth and, for the purposes of this blog, you need to know two things about me:

(1) I am a chiropractic assistant at Hering Chiropractic in New Brighton, MN, and
(2) I have very recently decided to train for a triathlon next summer!

Here's the back story: Over the past summer and fall, I trained for the Medtronic Twin Cities 2010 10-Mile race with a group of friends. This was my first time training for an event like this, my first big race, my first time running more than a few miles at a time. Regular chiropractic adjustments were a major part of keeping me injury-free throughout that training. (I'll share more about that another day!)

After that race early in October, I somehow found myself interested in doing a triathlon! How this happened, I may never know. Nonetheless, I'm looking at participating in a sprint triathlon late next summer (exact details forthcoming), which generally means something around a one-mile swim, twelve- to fifteen-mile bike ride, and six-mile run.

Um, yikes.

Running? Check. TC10Mile, baby. Biking? I bike to work every day. Not great at it, but I can get myself from Point A to Point B. But... swimming?

I don't swim.

I won't get into all the details right now (stay tuned!) but swimming is just not my cup of tea. It scares me. I'm bad at it. Ugh.

And that brings us to this blog. I have a couple of motivations here: First, I want to chronicle my experience training for a triathlon, especially what I anticipate will be a lengthy journey with swimming. Second, I want to focus on chiropractic as an important part of my training--helping me not only to swim, bike, and run without injury but also to function at my full capacity. Third, I want to bring you into this process with me.

Those of you with several Iron Man triathlons under your belts: Well, you're maybe a little crazy. But also, good for you, and please--share your knowledge! Let us know what works for you and what doesn't. Those of you who are just starting walking a few times a week for exercise, let this encourage you to keep going, to try something new, to push yourself! If nothing else, be entertained by my experience. I'll share tips that I find, so feel free to ask if you're wondering about some specific part of my training--or your own--or about how chiropractic fits in or really anything at all. I'd like this blog to be something of a forum of shared experience, so please join me!