Having a lot of children has been interesting. On the one hand, I remember so many moments from the first years of motherhood like they just happened a few weeks ago. I remember how I felt about being responsible for such a tiny little being – the joys, the stresses and worries.

And then somehow it was seventeen years later, and there are six more beings, some of them not so tiny anymore. And I am still myself…but also so different from who I was then. I’ve been taught by countless new experiences that I couldn’t have anticipated.

Can anyone relate?

In a way it feels like there have been different dimensions of myself over the last 38 years. Each postpartum period, in particular, has been a new beginning. There’s continuity, but there’s also a fresh start. It’s painful, beautiful, and pretty hard to explain.

But I digress. What inspired the above reflection on the dimensions of time and space and how they relate to having babies was actually something quite simple: I just finished my first month of training for the next item on my postpartum bucket list! I’m pretty excited about it.

What is a postpartum bucket list? Just what it sounds like! It’s a list of things I’ve always wanted to do but have gotten delayed from doing because another baby comes along. That sounds like a complaint, but it’s not! Just a reality.

There are a few different postpartum bucket list categories, but the one that I’ve been most excited to get back to is my fitness bucket. I’ve done a lot of different activities after the last six kids — CrossFit, weightlifting, spinning, Highland dance, running, yoga, kettlebell workouts, etc. But there’s one thing I’ve wanted to do that always seemed just beyond my reach: running a sprint triathlon.

A sprint triathlon is just what is sounds like: a mini triathlon. The one I am planning to do next year is a .25 mile swim, 10 mile bike, and 5k run, which is a little shorter than other sprint triathlons. That’s just fine with me.

Why a sprint triathlon? A few reasons:

• First, the idea of doing those three basic activities – running, biking, and swimming – is so simple and appealing to me. I like simplicity.
• Second, I think if I can get fit enough to complete this shortened tri, I’ll have made a great postpartum recovery.
• It’s going to be beautiful and fun! The race is being held at our family’s favorite beach, and the swim will be in the Gulf of Mexico. How cool is that!
• And last, it’s a great challenge. I’m not a strong swimmer or biker, and I’m excited to grow in these areas.

I first added this item to my postpartum bucket list five kids ago, but I’ve never been able to commit to it for a simple reason: I know, without any doubt, that I simply will not drive to the gym to train for it. You see, I’m a bit of a homebody. It’s hard enough for me to convince myself to drive to the grocery store. I’m definitely not going to drive to the gym five days per week to put myself through a very difficult training program.

Well, all that changed this past January. We moved into a house that is a five-minute walk from an amazing rec center. Not only is it a great facility, but the price is an absolute bargain. And so I decided after Lavran was born this past March that this was the time.

I am going to complete a sprint triathlon in 2025.

And best of all, my two teenage daughters have decided to do it with me!

I am happy to report that yesterday marked the end of the fourth week of training. If you can do something for a whole month, surely you can do it for a year, right?

Here’s the things I’m proudest of accomplishing this month:

• I can now swim 600m without taking breaks longer than 30 seconds (I could not do this in the beginning!)
• I’ve started to enjoy my hour-long bike rides
• I’m conditioned enough to run 20 minutes without stopping (this week I’ll be trying for 30!)
• My abdominal separation is almost completely closed, which is faster than any of my other kids (I attribute this to the swimming and cycling, which are great gentle core workouts)

If you’ve stumbled upon this post because you’re also thinking about doing a sprint tri, please reach out! Here’s a link to the plan I’m using. I’ve been repeating each week once in order to build a solid base without overtraining, and that’s been a pretty sustainable approach so far. Currently I am on week 3, and hope to finish the plan before Christmas.

Who knows, maybe I could do a full triathlon before the next baby comes along!

If you have any tips for me, please share them below! I’m totally new to this and am eager to keep it up. I’ll share my progress after month two is complete!