These are famous last words you'll hear me recount occasionally, similar to "I will never run a marathon because I think running 26.2 miles on purpose is crazy." I run my first marathon on June 8th at the San Diego Rock n' Roll Marathon...a race my Twitter acquaintance, running fanatic, and junk food critic chicrunner (chicrunner.com) refuses to run because of the uphill at Hwy 163.
So back around Halloween 2009 a good friend of mine suggested I borrow his 10-year old aluminum Cannondale to ride with the other guys in the neighborhood the next Sunday. I spent $200 buying sufficient clothing and gear to find out if I'd like to road bike...that's how I pretty much try all my hobbies. The next morning we rode 32 miles with one steep climb and several rolling hills down PCH coming back through Laguna Cyn. I was hooked. A few weeks later, after much research, deliberation and patience even, I bought my first road bike: a Specialized Roubaix-Expert with full Ultegra components (and got a sweet deal Thanksgiving Eve from the good folks at surfcitycyclery.com). I still haven't named my bike, but I will. We're that close.
She sleeps in the garage.My swim start was easy: goggles, swim jammers (no speedos) and ear plugs. Our community has 2 of 5 pools with lane lines and a 78 degree temperature, which will soon turn out to be a terrible thing. 6 a.m. 500 yds. 40 minutes. Low impact aerobic exercise with another good friend (and my traveling "sportraiture" Photog agphotography.com) followed by a jacuzzi and some fantasy football chat. I'm now a 3-endurance sport enthusiast.
As is my tendency, I immediately Googled triathlons, sprint, olympic, half, and IM. Scratch IM (See above re why someone would ever run 26.2 miles and add a 2.4 mi. swim and 104 mi. bike ride). A colleague of mine had already created a FB group for sprints, but I felt like I could easily race a sprint and would end up with that same anti-climaticism I experienced a the AFC. So, I opted to find the first Olympic distance race, and found the Toyota Desert Tri in La Quinta. 3/4 mi. swim, 24 mi. cycle, 10K run. Easy enough but also respectable enough if I race it and do well. But I had just come off the heels of my second "yawn" half marathon in Long Beach and thought that maybe I would feel better about it if I put a long swim and cycle before it. So I researched Half IMs and settled on Vineman in July. Like I said in my previous blog, I didn't respect the triathlon...at the time.
Anyway, my topic is "Why Triathlons?" I don't know. I grew up with baseball and soccer, and experimented with X-Country and Track in high school. I spent most of my teen years and early 20s mastering doubles volleyball and relegating myself to the beer-swilling slo-pitch softball leagues while also weight lifting and doing enough cardio to cover centerfield and beat the throw from 3rd to 1st. This lasted off and on into my early 30s with a stint of Tae Kwon Do as I built my law career and played Super Dad to my awesome son and daughter. When my son was 6 he declared he wanted to learn to snowboard over skiing when it was time to hit the snow. I was happy to switch from the sticks to the board and, by the middle of the 2nd run was S-turning better than the friend teaching me. All I can say is that snowboarding in powder to me is like surfing in the ocean is to most surfers...can't explain it, but it's nirvana.
Anyway, at the end of 2007 I had spent the next 1 1/2 years changing my diet, dropping 20 lbs. in about 3 months and maintaining it, all without changing my once/week saturday workout/run/sport (the secret was decreased sugar intake). I learned more about healthy choices and maintaining them and felt good about myself. I made it a point to make sure I was passing on my improved health knowledge to my kids and it easily became a way of life.
I started to run seriously again in March 2009 after I found myself needing to clear my head daily. I ran...a lot. So much that I decided to have a goal. That and my alternative rock music blaring in my iPod with my Nike+ helped me clear my head. The AFC in August took forever to get here, but I needed to manage 9 and 10 mile runs when I hated more than 2 miles, especially on the "dreadmill." As much as I say the AFC was anti-climactic, the training for it was addicting. I had so many positive reinforcements from it -both internally and externally- that I don't believe I will ever stop training until a doctor, or coroner, tells me I can't anymore.
So why triathlons? Maybe it's my A.D.D. and the fact that I enjoy the variety of different endurance sports on an almost daily basis. It may be because I don't see a real cycling race alternative and I really do enjoy mashin' the pedals. All I know is that I have joined the ranks of a few thousand people who enjoy the swim, bike, run format. I'm still signed up for some running races and group cycling events, but these are a means to an end...solid performance in my triathlon events.
I will say that there probably is no such thing as a "perfect triathlon" performance, so I know part of me enjoys the chase. And if it takes a lifetime to race that perfect --or near perfect-- race, I'm happy for the journey. I've already gained so much and I've made some great acquaintances along the way. In fact, if you're not on Dailymile.com, I recommend it. It's like Facebook for endurance athletes and chock full of cool people who love to encourage you.
Happy training,
Bill
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