Guess what was going on at my gym this morning? The modern pentathlon!
You are probably thinking, “What the heck is a pentathlon?†At the least, that’s what I thought when I took a peek into the pool and saw a bunch of banners and swimmers. I asked a volunteer, and she explained that the pentathlon combines five sports: shooting, running, swimming, riding, and fencing.
Apparently, the pentathlon event that was taking place at my pool this morning was part of the WORLD CUP SERIES! Pretty neat.
Some pentathlon facts:
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Except for the fencing competition, athletes don’t directly compete against one another. Rankings are based on score per event.
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The swim is a 200 meter freestyle race.
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The horseback portion consists of show jumping over a 350 – 450 meter course with 12 – 15 obstacles. Athletes don’t get to bring their own horse – they are paired with a horse 20 minutes before the event.
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The shooting portion involves using a 4.5 mm air pistol and standing 10 meters away from a stationary target.
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The run is a 3 KM cross-country race.
Exciting stuff. Meanwhile, I simply did 20 minutes on the elliptical and lifted weights. Booooring.
Eats, eats, eats. Granola, Greek yogurt, and a banana.
And post-workout, a sunflower butter, soy milk, raspberry, and protein powder smoothie. Good stuff.
If you have to combine any 5 activities in a pentathlon, what would it be? My race would be a run, swim, bike, speed reading, and blogging race. 
Hmm, probably bake, eat, run, eat baked leftovers, read 🙂