Why Tri?

In July I'll be attempting my first Half Ironman. Why? I really don't know. I guess I just like to challenge myself and it should add a new dimension to my training. I know I'm not going to earn a 70.3 qualify spot because my cycling is mediocre at best as I hope to be able to average 20mph, and my running has never been fast enough to even be considered running. Hell, I'd rather swim the 13.1 miles...as long as I could wear my wetsuit.

Tough to say why I'm doing this. I guess I just like to do things that not everyone else is doing. Sure there's thousands of people across the country who do triathlons of various distances every year but that's just a small percentage of the population. I've only done sprint ones and it seems like an hour is just a waste of time. Guess I'm just looking for a longer competition. I don't have anything to prove at this point, and it's not like anyone has ever said to me "you couldn't do a half ironman". I managed to get through college swimming just fine, maybe a little on the heavy side for a Division I swimmer (okay sometimes a lot on the heavy side) but I ended up with a swimming career I could be proud of.

After ballooning up to just over 220 lbs shortly after college my old coach always told me I've got to keep the upper body up. I've always tried but I guess I didn't try hard enough because yummy food always found its way to my belly. I guess part of why I'm doing this is to keep the upper body up, while I get to treat myself to some of the foods I love.

My quest to get in shape started about 18 months ago when I started training hard for Masters World Championships. If I didn't have a supportive wife who was very understanding for all the times my alarm went off at 5:10AM so I could get to the pool then I'd probably be about 300 lbs by now. Since I was training with Mike who had to open the pool so we could swim I could never sleep in or miss workout. Just couldn't do that to my workout partner. Once last spring rolled around we added a lot of cycling into the training mix. Cycling can be so much more fun than swimming because things are actually happening around you. You're not just staring at a black line like you do in the pool. If you did that you'd probably crash pretty hard. Good thing there aren't black lines on the road to stare at. So last June my friend Jason challenged me to show up and race the Webster Lake triathlon. After a few days of talking trash I decided I'd go even though I hadn't ran in over two years. It turned out to be just a crappy day. Woke up at 4:00AM to get out there drove there in the pouring rain. Stood around and froze for a while then raced on my road bike. The race was actually fun and I did enjoy it. Jason and I finished with nearly identical times despite going in different waves so now I have competition and more reason to train.

Once again I let Jason talk me into a race. St. Anthony's in FL at the end of April. My first Olympic distance race. At first I was thinking 6.2 miles would be long. Now that I've signed up for Vineman I'm feeling much better about the 6.2 miles. I know I can make it, I just want to be able to do it as fast as I possibly can. So now that I've signed up for Vineman 70.3 my old coach Matt has signed up as well. He's done the race before and he's going to kick my ass pretty good. Since he's racing it and he's got experience he'll be a great source of guidance on my training.

So I guess this blog is to hold myself accountable. Log my training so I don't slack off. Maybe even get advice from other athletes who have raced this distance or longer. Who knows maybe someone will actually like the workouts I do and want to try them for themselves.

If you're a serious triathlete and you wanted Vineman2007 as part of your URL, I apologize it got taken by a hack swimmer.

Happy Training!