A Tri-filled Christmas

My family is obviously catching on that this "triathlon thing" is pretty serious to me. I got some great gifts. The first and most important thing I needed was a new pair of true running shoes. Sara got me a gift certificate to a running store in town. She also got me a subscription to what is becoming my new favorite magazine - Triathlete. My dad got me another extremely valuable training tool - a Heart Rate Monitor with GPS. As I have progressed in my training, I have found most athletes attempt to keep their heart rates in certain areas on certain days. The Garmin will definite help me keep track of this.

Training has been going pretty well. I have taken off a few days during the holidays. After my run of just under 7 miles today, I jumped on the scale to see how much weight I had actually gained during the past week or so and I was happy to see that my training is starting to pay off - I have lost about 4 pounds. I currently weigh 185. My goal is 170-175 by race time. My theory is the less I weigh, the less I have to carry for 70 miles. I also ran on Friday. I had to try out my HRM. It was a short run of only 2.5 miles. My previous training was Christmas Eve. I did about 4.5 miles. As you can see I am really working on my running. My biking has been coming along pretty well too. I had to order another wheel since I now have my trainer. -It is strictly for convenience and not having to take the trainer tire off every time. I have been on the bike about five times now. Each time riding around an hour. I would get in around 20 miles each time.

Work is getting interesting and not in a good way. Unfortunately I am seeing less and less golfers. Hopefully this will change soon. I need people playing so I can continue to have a job. There is only one thing I will not sacrifice for training and that is my family. I know they will always be there for me regardless. I am not saying that I will sacrifice my job for training, but would reschedule my training for a different time if I need to. We'll keep our fingers crossed and see what happens.

Things will just keep moving along one foot at a time.

They are the reason I think.........

My training is going pretty well. I decided to take the day off to prepare for a longer run tomorrow. I'm looking at eight miles or so. I'm starting to look ahead to prepare for a ten mile run in the next couple weeks. I'm excited just thinking about it. That will be a major milestone for me. I plan to get up at sunrise, pack a lunch, and try to make it back before sunset. Sounds like a stretch, but I think I can do it!!!

With the addition of the bike trainer to my training routine, I feel like I am getting stronger. I pedal the entire time without stopping (lately one hour). Normal outdoor rides consist of starting and stopping, occasionally coasting on the downhills, but the way I figure it ~ what am I on? It's a trainer! That means pedal. Coasting will not make me stronger. When on the trainer, I throw in the Ironman World Championships that took place on December 13 in Kona. I watch it to see the amateurs, not the professionals. For the pros, triathlon is their job. They are expected to do well. The amateurs on the other hand are just regular people. They all have different, everyday jobs, but they all have one thing in common ~ they have all made the decision to commit a small portion of their life to achieve something that will stick with them forever - to be an Ironman. Once Bill Reilly says those famous words "You are an Ironman", that is something nobody can ever take that away from you. You will always be an Ironman. The people that do the race have amazing stories~ seventy year old men and women, people with life threatening diseases, people missing portions of their bodies, to name a few. There are times that I have to actually slow down my pace when I see some of the people racing because it is so moving to see these people achieve their goals. They are the reason I think "If they have the heart to do this given their circumstances, why can't I? There is no excuse good enough to justify why I shouldn't do this."

No more excuses about missing a day...

Here it is, my new toy. The Kurt Kinetic Road Machine. I ordered the trainer on Monday and got it on Wednesday and jumped right on it. I did two quick workouts. It will take some getting used to. I need to get a "trainer tire" for my bike as little pieces of my current road tire are shooting all over wall behind me. I will say - it is boring. I need to find something to make the time go by a little faster. Unfortunately I don't watch much TV. Maybe I'll have to buy a couple Ironman DVD's to keep my focus on my end goal.

GOT IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I ran my personal best distance ever and continuous time running!!! I ran 9.25 miles. I had to check the calendar when I finished to make sure it was still Monday because it felt like it took me a full day to finish, but I did it in 1 hr 32 minutes. I really tried to slow down my pace to make it the full 9 miles and it worked! I will say, the last hill about killed me! Woo hoo!! Now it's time to inhale my Peanut Butter and Banana sandwiches, stretch some more, take and shower, then a nap!

Going for my PR today

I have had a headache for the past three days that just wouldn't quit. It has finally subsided. I am feeling pretty good today and going for my pr for distance running. I'm going for 9 miles. Rode for the first time in a couple weeks yesterday. Made it just under 20 miles. I just could not take it with my helmet on and my head pounding.

I've been able to train pretty regularly the past week or so and am looking to keep it up. I think I might buy a bike trainer today. It was really cold riding yesterday, especially on the downhills. My cyclometer showed me getting up to 38 mph on a couple downhill sections! What a windchill!!!

Typical winter holiday training

My training has been kind of sporadic lately. I have not missed consecutive days, but have taken some days off in between sessions. I finally finished putting down the tile in my laundry room that I have been working on since May. It is a killer on the hamstrings!!! I actually had to take off a day here and there because they were so tight. The bike has been my weakest and most under trained area. Since it rained on Monday, I was not able to get in a ride. I am looking to get a trainer to allow me to work inside during inclement weather. I have a pretty strong lower body so I don't think I'll miss too much by limiting my biking for now. My main area of concentration right now is swimming. I have been working quite a bit on my breathing technique. I have developed some left shoulder pain since I only breath on the right side. After doing some research, I found that alternating my breathing should help this. After working on it during my past two swim sessions, I am getting more comfortable with it. During my second session, my swim times have actually decreased, but I feel expend more energy while getting used to it. My last session was 1500m in 27 minutes. Not too bad. As far as running goes, I am looking for a good half marathon plan. I am going to try to work out doing a half marry race in February in Myrtle Beach. The course is flat and should be a good test for my first race. My runs have been pretty good. I am looking to increase my frequency. My past few runs included Monday (an easy 4 miles in 40 minutes) and Thanksgiving day I ran about 6 1/2 miles. Both felt pretty good. No real issues. Sunday or Monday I might shoot for another 8 mile day. Things are looking good. Sometimes it is difficult to stay motivated since my "A" race is 10 months away. I have to keep the long term goal in the back of my mind and the short term goals as my main focus. Let's go run!!

Great workout!

After a 26+ mile ride yesterday, I did a nice longggggggggggggggg run today. It is longest I have ever finished outside. I made it eight miles!! I even feel so good that I am thinking about getting in an afternoon swim. Then again, maybe not. Working on the tile in the laundry room might make the wife happy.

My Charity is..........

Today was my run day. It went pretty good, but it was hard. When I began, it was 35 degrees with a 15 mph wind with 25 mph gusts. When I was going into the wind, it felt like I was standing still and when it was with me it felt like someone was just pushing on my back forcing me to go faster. When you run long distances, you really have quite a bit of time to think about things and I had sometime lately to think about my charity.

The charity I have chosen is one that I feel I owe something to. I have chosen the First Tee of Greenville. (www.thefirstteegreenville.org) Being a golf professional, I have been given many great opportunities through the game of golf. I have met some great people that have influenced my life both professionally and personally. For this, I feel I owe the game. This game puts food on my table and fulfillment in my heart. In one way or another, golf will always be a part of my life. I want to be able to give a potential young golfer, the same opportunity to embrace the game as I have. Unfortunately, there are junior golfers who never get that exposure to the game that I had at a young age. For many, it is their location and others it is purely financial. The First Tee of Greenville is established in the downtown area of Greenville. Thus practically bringing the game to the kids. It is just my small way to give back to something that is special to me.

In mentioning my idea to just a couple people the idea has been overwhelmingly positive with each willing to make generous contributions.

Longest swim ever!

Did my swim workout today and made it 2800 meters, (112 laps). Stopping only once to readjust my watch that was coming off. Longest yet!

I decided to do something different and rode my mountain bike in Dupont National Forest for 1 hour with my buddy Bob. Unfortunately darkness took over so we had to cut our ride short at about 10 miles. Good times though. I forgot how different it is going from a roadie to a mountain bike.

Good ride yesterday and fun today!!

I had a pretty good ride yesterday. I made it 26.5 miles. That is my longest ride so far and still had some energy in the tank, but did not want to push it because I am meeting a buddy of mine today to get back to my roots and go mountain biking. The plan is to do 10-20 miles today after a swim.

Just as in a previous post, I still can't figure out how on an out and back ride, the wind can be in your face in both directions. After being in the Upstate of SC for the past 12 years, you would think I would be able to figure it out, but no such luck. I will say, my route is pretty scenic. I get to ride through the GSP airport and through the BMW manufacturing plant roads. I get to see all the new vehicles in production at this plant. Pretty neat.

I'm looking forward to this mountain bike ride today. It will be my second ride since my Xterra tri back in May. I'm not sure if I should be thankful for doing the Xterra or mad. It was my first tri and people say they are addictive and boy are they. If I didn't do that one, I might not be writing about my half ironman training today. At the same time, I might not be broke either!

Running is.....................

I tried to title this entry as "running is .....". Still can't do it. The third word is supposed to be fun. Unfortunately I can not put fun and the "other word" in the same sentence. My running has surprised me lately. I have been putting in about 10-15 miles per week. My pace averages 7-8 minutes per mile. I don't know how, but that is really fast for me! I was hoping to keep it under 10 minutes per mile and bring in home in 2-2.5 hours during my race. Sunday I ran 6 miles in 42 minutes. For me that is blazing. Today I ran 5.25 in 41 minutes. I was a little more tired today and could tell when I got outside that it wasn't going to be as good.

Monday was a very interesting day on the bike. I rode around 18 miles, but tried to stay in my aerobars as much as possible. This lead me to find my two weakest muscles in my entire body~ my neck and my hip flexors. My neck is still sore! I still need to find a good place to ride in town with little traffic and no dogs to chase me and chew on my heels as I am riding. Since I have hired another assistant pro at work, I can take off on Sundays. Sunday morning is typically a great time to ride since there are less vehicles on the road. I am going to try to make that my "long ride day" and try some different routes.

My hockey days are over~ for now at least. We lost 3-2 in our league championship game in overtime. Actually I am thinking about giving it up to focus more on my tri -training. After a good run or ride, it takes so much out of my legs, I just won't have the energy to play in a hockey game later in the day; not to mention the risk of injury. It's not an easy decision. I have been playing for the last ten years, with many of the same guys. We'll see. I have until January to make that decision. Running is ffffffffffffff. Damn it!

Good week

I had what felt like an unproductive week, but am starting to see after analyzing my performances they really weren't that bad. Tuesday I decided to kind of punish myself. My gym workout consisted of some leg strengthening by biking, running, weight training. I started with the stationary bike and did hill work keeping myself in the saddle. How bout that? I'm starting to sound like a biker. I used to say seat. When I think of saddle, I think of horses, but that's what they call it. The hills were moderate and gave my quads a real good burn. It felt great. After about 10 miles of this, I switched to the treadmill. I decided that since I could still walk after the bike, I would try some incline work while running. Here was my workout:

1 mile: incline @ 5.0, speed @ 5 mph
1.5 mile: incline @ 1.0, speed @ 7.0 mph
2.0 mile: incline @5.5, speed @ 6.0 mph
2.5 mile: incline @ 0.0, speed @ 7.5 mph
2.75 mile: incline @ 5.5, speed @ 6.5 mph
3.0 Cool Down

Yes, it was hard. Yes it burned. The problem was that when I finished, I still had some energy and decided to punish myself more by doing some squats. I like doing these on a half swiss ball. I'm not sure what they are called. This helps with my balance and core and leg strength. I also hold a 20 lb medicine ball straight out in front while doing them. When I finished, my last set, my legs felt like Jello. That told me to call it a night.

Wednesday was a great run day. I ran around my neighborhood and did just under 5 miles. My time was 39 minutes. I was pretty happy with that considering it is all hills. I'm going to do the same run today.

Friday was a great swim day. I made it 2500 meters (100 laps) in 50 minutes. That is my long swim so far. This puts me 600 meters over my HIM distance. My goal is to reach 3500 meters by April and then work on decreasing my time.

The next few days should be good training days. My plan is to swim more tomorrow morning and play in my hockey game tomorrow night. We are playing in our league championship. - Go Redliners! Monday will be a bike day. I'm looking for 30-35 miles with a 1-2 mile run following.

Time to throw on the running shoes.

Ready to get back at it

After a long week at work, I am ready to get back to some good workouts. I finally was able to hire some to work for me to take some of the load off me. I did two workouts to say I did and keep my routine going on Wednesday and Thursday. Wednesday was a swim day. Again due to time constraints, I was only able to do about 1.5K. This feels like a pretty good distance to just to say I got in the pool. My next swim will be tomorrow and will really start to increase my distances. I am looking to get my base to 2K and do 2.5K to 3.5K on a regular basis.

My run Wednesday was not very exciting. It was a treadmill run for only 25 minutes. I did get in 3 miles. My speed has been increasing without getting fatigued as easily. That was another workout that to keep my routine as opposed to trying to break any records.

Last night I had a hockey game - part of my cross training. We won our game, but I was really tired. With a golf tournament over the weekend and up working open to close Friday and Saturday, I had little energy to play my best, but gave what I had. We play in our championship game for the "title" next Sunday at 6:15. That might be my last game until January as my league will be taking a month or so off. I may continue to play one day a week, but not sure. I have been invited to play with a group of guys who are really way above my level. - Most of them played professionally or for a highly ranked college team, but they are a great group of guys.

Today I have a doctor's appointment to check out a foot issue I have been having for the past couple years. So far, I have been been dealing with it, but feel it is time to get it taken care of. It feels like there might be a bone chip in there. I'm not looking forward to it. If there is a chip that needs to be removed, I'm going to have to tell my doc to wait until after my hockey game next week. I guess my swim times will be get much better since I won't be on my feet for a few weeks.

Windy day in the Upstate

Had a great workout today. Weather is kind of crazy. Winds are blowing around 20 with gusts to 30 and it is currently our high temp for the day of 50. That's cold for Oct. in SC. Anyway, being my day off, I wanted to ride my bike because I have more time than other days. I was a little hesitant at first because I want to get used to my aerobars, but don't really feel safe with the wind blowing hard, but rode anyway. Did not use the aeros much - really only on the wider sections of the road. I'm thinking about calling the National Weather Service on this one, because I can't figure out how the wind was in my face in both directions of my out and back ride. I made it 20 miles. Almost all was into the wind. My legs probably got the workout of 25- 30 miles. I feel like I am getting stronger. When I reached the 17 mile point, I felt so good, I decided to make this a "brick" workout. A brick is two events back to back. After returning from my 20 mile ride, I traded my bike shoes for my running shoes and ran 3.1 miles. Somehow I had my fastest 5K time ever. I did the run in 24 minutes. Just as the ride, the run was into the wind, but it felt like it started to die down near the end. After a good stretch, I felt pretty good and happy with my accomplishments today. My goal is to be able to do some bricks up to a 45 mile bike and 10 mile run before I start to taper for my big race in Sept.

Blah day

Even though I had absolutely no desire or energy, I decided to go for a swim last night. I was freezing on the pool deck. So much so, my teeth were chattering so hard, I thought they were going to crack!! I jumped in pretty quickly hoping they might have turned the heat up a little, but did not. I got even colder. It was the cold that goes straight into you chest and makes your body shake. Brrr. I discovered that chattering teeth are not good for aerodynamics while swimming!! Just in case you were wondering. I was this way for the first 100 meters, then I finally warmed up. For the first 500, I had another bad case of swim technique analysis. I needed to just go swim!! I know how. (And actually pretty well.) Finally I began to concentrate on what is in front of me and began to go pretty good. I did the second 500 in about 8 minutes and finished pretty strong with the last 500. A total of 1500m. Nothing great, but nothing terrible, but again, I made the effort to go.

Today was more my cross training day. I had a fun hockey game. It was our final game of our regular season. (kind of a short one this time). We won and wrapped up first place in our league. I had a goal and an assist. This league is really above my ability, but the guys are a lot of fun and help to improve my skills. I would say most of the guys played in levels from high school to professional hockey. Most being the higher. A couple of the guys and myself are talking about putting together a team in a slightly lower division where we can play against different players and score more goals.

I found my weakest "tri" muscles are my hip flexors and really need to work on them. Hockey is great for that and it is also good for my aerobic conditioning. I always tell people to imagine skating with all the equipment on, put on an extra 25 lbs on your body and run as fast as you can for 2 minutes at a time. Rest for 2-3 minutes and do it again for 60 minutes. Great workout. Good times. Maybe a little swim again tomorrow.

Woo Hoo to me!!!!

I decided to ditch the swim today and get some redemption for my terrible run yesterday. I ran and ran and ran today. It was the longest I have ever run at one time. I ran 8 miles! My previous long run was 7 miles. My goal was to run for 60 minutes. (At my pace that was 6 miles.) I blew it out of the water by running for 1 hr. and 20 min. I really feel I could have gone further, but I had to go to work and did not want to injure myself. After my workout, driving to work I had a funny thought. It was "I did eight miles today which means I only had five miles to finish!" Again, I said "Only five miles". On my normal run days, I do around four, so I'm still trying to figure out where the "only five miles" came from. To look at it optimistically, I did more than half of the run. I've only been able to say that one other time since I've started my training.

I noticed I've dropped two pounds since the last time I weighed myself. I currently weigh 186 lbs. In the next few months, I will really concentrate on the nutrition side. I want to get my race weight to 170-175 lbs. That will come. I'm slowly loosing weight and have not really changed my eating habits much. Although I haven't lost much weight since I've started, I have noticed my clothes are fitting a little more loosely.

Another realization today was that when trying to do an excessive workout, I really need to fuel myself up before exercising. Yesterday, I did not eat anything and found quickly that my body can't run on just Starbucks. Today I ate a Cliff Bar before and soon after and was able to sustain my energy for my entire workout. Needless to say, I am pretty pumped about my performance today and can't wait to get back at it tomrrow.

Woo Hoo to me!!

More tough days - hope it's the end of them!!

Tough workouts over the past two days. On Wednesday, swimming which is my easiest part was hard. I had been reading through tri forums regarding swim technique and mine went to pot!! Swimming from one side of the lane to the other, crossing my arms when reaching - all not good. I did make it 1450 meters. I was hoping to get up to another 2K day. It just didn't happen. My goal is to work up to 3K to 4K before tapering for my HIM. One thing I did notice was how sore my neck is from using my aerobars on my bike. It makes since that being very hunched over with your head up to watch the road in front for an hour will make your neck sore. I was thinking it might not be that bad considering I wear a helmet when play hockey (to keep my chicklets), but hopefully my neck is not at that angle in a hockey game.

Did my treadmill run today. Was looking to do five miles, but only got in four. I had limited time, but still should have kept on going to the fifth. I think all my work lately is catching up to me. If I need to, I might lower the speed, but increase the time. I am tired even before I begin my workout. I am happy I went today. I really did not feel like it, but did it anyway. That's a plus. Next week, I am going to start my outdoor running. SportsClub is a nice place and all, but I need a change of scenery. Tuesday will be a definite ride day. I can't wait to get back on my bike again. It was a blast last time. I'm looking for 25 miles with a one mile run to follow. Friday will be a swim and run. The weather is supposed to be horrible, so I'll just stay inside.

Why?

Even after an 18 mile ride, I did go to the gym to run. I did a short 3 mile trip, but got in some good stretching before and after. It felt great. I can't explain why I am getting into triathlon so much but I found this posted earlier this evening and it pretty much summed it up for me:



It’s not easy to explain what the attraction to this sport is. It hurts, it takes up my free time, and it’s expensive. As I plan my next race, I am beginning to realize it’s not about the race. It’s not about swimming, biking, or running. It’s about discovering my limits and finding out how strong I am. It just so happens that triathlon is a great way to do this.

First ride on "new bike"

After several days of having my nose to the grindstone, "non tri" workouts, and fulfilling social obligations (aka a wedding), I have resumed my workouts. This is my first workout since Thursday. In the meantime I have done a little "crosstraining". Friday and Saturday were rest days for me. Sunday I played in a pretty intense hockey game. The pace was fast and really got the blood flowing and Monday, I played 18 holes of tournament golf. The golf tournament was a charity event I signed up for several months ago. I knew it would be a long day and would not be able to get in a good workout, so I decided to walk the entire time. (Six hours, only sitting down once). Not a get your pulse going workout, but I was pretty tired at the end of the day. Besides, I needed a little energy to stay awake to watch what I thought would be a lackluster Patriots - Broncos MNF game. To my surprise, the Pats dominated the entire game from start to finish. Way to go Matt Cassell and the entire defense!!

On Thursday, I was fitted for my bike and had some aerobars installed. I was very anxious to see how a road bike modified to a tri bike felt. Either way, it was going to be completely different from my mountain bike I am used to. When I ride a mountain bike, I feel like I ride through or over anything. The front shocks absorb most of the vibrations from the rocks and roots and even small trees and branches you encounter when on the trails. I learned today that a road bike is completely different. It weighs almost half the amount of a mtn bike. You feel every bump in the road even if you can't see it coming. As I said earlier, my road bike has been modified to setup more like a tri bike. Until Thursday, I had absolutely no idea what that meant. The difference is the the way your body is positioned on the bike. A tri bike has the seatpost almost completely vertical, whereas a road bike has a little backwards lean. This is to really put an emphasis on working the front of your legs (quads) vs. the back (hamstrings). This allows you to save your hammy's for the run later. I can now speak from experience today: THIS IS TRUE! My quads feel like they are on fire! For only my second time ever on a road bike I feel I did well. I was able to ride 18 miles and decided to call it quits because I really did not want to get lost or because it was an "out and back" I did not want to make it out and have Sara come get me on her way home because I could not make it back. That would have been a little embarrassing. Even though my legs are pretty fatigued, I am contemplating a short run or even an easy treadmill run to reacquaint myself with Sportsclub. Everything I have read says not to push yourself too hard at first, but it is just so much fun!! What a great sport. I love being a triathlete.

Half Ironman to raise money

In addition to completing my first HIM, I have been tossing around the idea of tying it in with a fundraiser to help raise money for a special group. I was thinking about a dollar amount per mile. Although it might be a small amount, I don't think anyone would turn down any type of monetary donation. The race will be a total of 70 miles, therefore a $1/ mile will equate to a $70 donation. I have been thinking of different groups in the Greenville area. So far I have come up with a couple:





The First Tee (http://www.thefirstteegreenville.org/)

Greenville Humane Society (http://www.greenvillehumane.com/)

The MAC Foundation (http://www.themacfoundation.com/)

The Boys Home of the South (http://www.boyshomeofthesouth.com/)

Longest swim yet !!!

If anybody can overcome adversity, it is the Red Sox and they proved it last night. Down 7-0 in the 7th inning and coming back to pull it out. Great to see. Beckett is on the mound tonight. Hopefully it is the "old" Josh Beckett. Not the Beckett of 2008.



I did my long swim today. I made it 2100 meters. -My longest so far. It took me just over 50 minutes to swim 84 laps in the pool. The race will only be 1930 meters, so I am already beyond the distance. It was not easy. Between my hockey game last night and working as much as I have been, I am beginning to feel fatigued quite early during each training session. It takes me a while to get going, but once I do I am fine. My trouble is at the end of the day, I have nothing left. My typical bedtime before training and working so much was around 11-11:30. Now I am lucky to see 10:30.



I took another step towards getting where I want to be equipment-wise yesterday. I was fitted for my bike, had aerobars installed, and met someone to ride with who's office is right behind my "office". I am assuming the bike portion will be will be my most difficult part due to my inexperience with road bikes. It will take some serious practice. Luckily I will be doing two or three other tri's before Augusta. I've been training now for seven weeks and look forward to every workout. My long distances so far are: swim: 2100 meters, bike: 20 miles, run: 6 miles.



I have found a great website for triathletes: beginnertriathlete.com. The forums are invaluable to a newbie like myself. The members on the site can answer any question about anything relating to tri's. It even has a section to log each workout daily, monthly, and yearly. I have been using this to help monitor my progress.

What normal people do this?

My name is Chris. I am a pretty normal guy looking to do something a normal person wouldn't do- a long distance triathlon. My background is pretty straightforward. I played all sports growing up. Football, baseball, golf, ice hockey. You name it. I did it. There is only one I did not do. That was run. My thinking was "I have a car. Why run?" Actually I did track in high school, but I threw the javelin. Virtually no running involved. This was the case for the first 30 years and 9 months of my life. In July of 2006 my father had taken up running to kill time while working in Florence, Italy and had enjoyed it so much, he decided to sign up for a marathon. In December of 2007 he completed the Kiawah Island Marathon in 4 hours and 41 minutes. He spent countless hours pounding the pavement around Greenville county. He made the decision to put forth the effort to train and exert himself well beyond what most "normal" people would even consider. I was in awe. I was so proud of him. Several weeks later, I came across the taping of the Ironman Championships in Kona. Story after story after story was shown to demonstrate that if you put your mind to something you can do. There were people on there completing a full Ironman (2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, and 26.2 miles) with a leg missing, a life threatening disease, etc. Things that should have made these people go sit in a room somewhere and feel bad for themselves, wasting their lives away. Instead, they made the decision to do something extraordinary. - To do an Ironman. After watching this, my first thought was "I'm doing a triathlon." I was so inspired by these amazing people. I still watch the video of "Blazeman", Jon Blais at least once a week. I get chills every time. In the You Tube search, type in Blazeman and watch Jon's video or type Sara Reinertsen to watch her amazing story.

I followed through with my emotions. By January, I signed up for Xterra Uwharrie. Xterra is a different kind of tri. It consists of a 1500 meter swim, a 30K mountain bike, and a 10 trail run. I trained, but later found out that it was not enough. It took a while, but I finished.















My first triathlon was under my belt. On the way home, my dad asked how I felt. I told him I was sore. I had a headache. My leg was bleeding. I was starving. It could not get much worse. Why in the world would someone sign up for one of those things? Once I got home, I pretty much went straight to bed. I was physically and emotionally drained. I had enough for one day. The next morning I woke up around 8:00 am. By 8:15, I had found another tri. The Greenville Sprint Tri. I had to ask myself if I was either numb, dreaming or dead? Why would I even consider another one? I don't know, but I signed up two weeks later. I was in for August.

August came and went and I finished my second tri. I did it in 1 hr 58 minutes. I had hoped for 1 hr 30 min., but I got a flat and had no repair kit. After looking at my time, if I wouldn't have had to walk for 40 minutes, that would have put me in 12 minutes better than I had hoped for. Not bad for two weeks of training and 0 times riding a road bike.

Just as with the Xterra, the next morning, I was looking for another tri. This time, I know why I was looking the first time~ It was a freaking blast!!! I watched Blazeman's video and came across what I had been waiting for: Ironman Augusta 70.3. (1.2 mile open water swim, 56 mile bike and 13.1 mile (1/2 marathon) run). I don't have the time to train for the full IM, so 1/2 will do for now. I made the commitment. I joined a gym that had a 25 meter pool, spinning classes (for the winter), and plenty of treadmills (for the winter). Since the event is a little pricey, I have yet to register, but do watch the entries carefully to ensure I don't miss out. I will be in Augusta, GA racing in an Ironman 70.3 in September of 2009 racing on inspiration and motivation from my father, Joe, my wife Sara and the others who said "I will do this".