Ahh… I’m home!!! Home sweet home. I love coming home after a long trip on the road. It feels good to just plop on the bed, turn on the TV and/or surf the web. It feels good to know that I’m king of the castle and it’s ruled by me. That is until the prince and princess demand this that and the other thing. I guess it’s not really ruled by me, but it is a kingdom of relaxation and security. But what I do love the best… coming home after a day at the office.
It feels good to get home after a day at work. I look forward to it. I look forward to seeing my kids, even if their too busy to give papa a kiss. I look forward to checking the mail for my Netflix envelope. I look forward to night time when I can have a drink, watch the Lakers or write. I look forward to being myself, without putting on aires… This is me: slippers on, sitting on the bed with pajamas, relishing in the sounds of children screaming, a laptop on my lap as it should be, and a basketball game.
It lasts, maybe ten minutes. Then I’m at the beck and call of the kids, the wife, dinner, getting ready for bed and then… ahhh… the gym. Yes, the gym. Despite the lure of the bed, despite the appeal of a long night’s sleep or a DVD, the gym awaits. It’s tough, it takes a ton of effort, but if I’m going to finish that Triathlon on February 11th I better start working out. I haven’t been in the water since September 10th. That’s four months of non-triathlon specific workouts. Ugh.
Just like Coach Hacker, I’ll be working on my core with the fitness ball tonight. It’s my favorite workout.
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I’m doomed.
Or… Why, Papa… why?
Some of you may think an extra 150 meters isn’t that far. Well, that’s the extra distance I have to do in Venice Beach on September 10th for my “A” race of the year – The 2006 Kaiser Permanante Los Angeles Triathlon.
Coming off a VERY challenging and fear based swim at the Imperial Beach Triathlon on August 27, gave me only two weeks to focus on a longer swim at Venice Beach. Am I scared? Hell no. I’M PETRIFIED!!! That swim was only… ONLY… 500 meters.
How much longer is the LA Triathlon swim? 150 meters. It’s 650 total meters or almost half a mile swim. It probably will be more than half a mile as I’ll be to the outside of the mass start. There are over 1,000 competitors for this race. Will I be kicked? Probably. Will someone swim into me? Most likely. Will I survive? I better! And to add injury to injury, its the longest swim in a race that I’ve ever done! 150 meters MORE than the IB Triathlon swim. Scary, scary, shit!!!
Follow this with a 24 mile bike ride which is 14 miles longer than any other Triathlon Bike Ride I’ve done. End this with a 5K run which starts up a Hill called “Hill” street. I have my work cut out for me in just ten days time.
But I’m not concerned so much about surviving the extra mileage on the bike. Nor am I concerned about the pain in my legs as I fight through the run to the finish where my family will be cheering me on. I’m concerned about the swim. The dreaded swim.
This is what I’ve been training for since that day in November when Stephen, my 24hr fitness trainer asked, “Do you think you can ride a bike for 30 minutes?” Uh – yeah, I just need a bike. “Do you think you can run 3 miles?” I could probably do that tomorrow but it’d take me a while. “Do you think you can swim for 20 minutes?” Uh… I think so? And as he said a month later as I struggled with a 90 pound bench press… “You go through the pain now, so you don’t have to later.” Thanks, Stephen. You made more sense than you know.
I ran a 5K in December to prove that I could do three miles. I bought a bike and rode two laps around the Rose Bowl (6.2 miles) in 35 minutes. And I got into the pool. I had to relearn how to swim. I had to commit to swimming in the ocean. This is where all the doubts came to play. And the doubts still come into play and its eight… nine months later.
Lets put this in perspective.
In January my training totals were:
Swim: 1:43:46; 2,900 meters; 0:03:55 per 100 meters.
Bike: 2:21:33; 30.3 miles; 12.84 average mph
Run: 3:15:43; 17.2 miles; 0:11:22 per mile average
Here’s August so far:
Swim: 3:46:31; 6,200 meters; 0:03:39 per 100 meters.
Bike: 3:08:32; 53.6 miles; 17.06 average mph
Run: 8:48:20; 54.7 miles; 0:09:39 per mile average
Decent improvement in Bike going from 12.84 mph ave to 17.06 mph ave at the same distance. HUGE improvement in run going 17.2 miles a month to 54.7 miles a month with 6.2 miles more to go on August 31 with nearly decreasing a full minute in an average mile pace.
But swimming…
Two hours more this month, 300 more meters in distance and only a 16 second improvement at a 100 meters.
UH… I’m kinda not where I should be.
So why the HELL am I going to do this? Why did I do the swim last Sunday? The LA Tri will be THE LONGEST swim to-date. It will be THE TOUGHEST race to-date. It will be THE SCARIEST, MOST CHALLENGING THING I’LL CHOOSE TO DO to-date.
So why? This is way too far for me. This is WAY too challenging for me.
Jake told me he didn’t want me to do ‘this’ anymore [swim in the ocean]. I asked him why. He replied, “Because it’s scary.” And I told him that I have to. He asked again, ‘why’, as any kid would. I replied, “Because if I keep doing it it’ll get easier and easier and if it gets easier and easier then I won’t be as scared the next time and the next time.”
That is what I said. That is not how I felt. I still feel scared. I still feel unsure. I still feel like I might not make it through. And I asked myself the same question… “WHY?”
That’s when I came across this quote yesterday.
“Only those who risk going too far can possibly find out how far they can go.” - T.S. Elliot
Hmmm… I thought the 100 yard pool swim at my first Triathlon was challenging. I thought it was too far for only two months training. I questioned, “WHY?”.
On my next triathlon I did a 400 meter pool swim. The pool was deeper than the gym pool and the lanes were longer (50 meters). It freaked me out. I made it through. And knew I could do it again the next day and the next… this was in the pool. I wasn’t scared.
Then I jumped into the Lake at another Tri for a 400 yard swim. No waves. No riptide. No current. I suffered like I never suffered before. 400 yards PROVED to be too far. But if I had quit the swim I think I may have quit the sport. I barely made it and I questioned, “WHY?”
And here comes Imperial Beach. I was on the verge of backing out before even starting. I was already in the water before the race started and I was ready to just go home and sleep. I remember 100 meters into it thinking about religion and God. You’re at your absolute weakest when you do this - that’s what I believe. Which means, only 1/5 the way through the swim I was at my absolute weakest point and I still had 400 meters to go. I made it. And JACOB questioned, “WHY?”
James asked my sister why I had to always do these ‘extreme’ things.
Why?
Because I said I was going to do it. Because I want to do something not many people have done. Because this is a life-changing thing: a commitment, a goal.
Because I said it 9 months ago back on Dec 15, 2005 – “Ironman in 2007” -
2007… not realistic. But still a goal to…
BECOME AN IRONMAN!
I WILL SWIM 2.4 MILES, BIKE 112 MILES, AND RUN 26.2 MILES and say… I AM AN IRONMAN - ‘all in a day’s work!’
And I will get the M-DOT tattoo on my calf as the first tattoo I’ll ever get. It will symbolize EVERYTHING: the pain, the hardships, the suffering, the low points, the high points, the accomplishments and the question… “WHY?”
So on September 10th, 2006, another step will be made to get that tattoo. Another milestone in my life that I accomplished because I said I would accomplish it. Another answer to the question “Why?” and the next one will be further, maybe scarier but again…
“Because if I keep doing it it’ll get easier and easier and if it gets easier and easier then I won’t be as scared the next time and the next time.” - Father to son.
VENICE BEACH… BRING IT ON!
KONA, HAWAII… here I come… Someday… somehow.
“Only those who risk going too far can possibly find out how far they can go.” - T.S. Elliot
After this… too far may not be far enough.
JACOB – You are my inspiration.
BELLA – You are my love.
JESSICA - You are my motivation.
DONNA – You are my life.
This was in our local news cast last night so i looked it up. It happened in Colorado.
Woman On Mountain Bike Crashes Into Black Bear
DENVER Triathlete Sabrina Oei was speeding downhill at nearly 40 mph, cycling through the Colorado foothills, when a black bear brought her to a sudden, painful, stop.
Oei (pronounced “OU’-eee”) slammed broadside into the bear when it wandered onto the race course Sunday. She went airborne, then slid on her back across the pavement.
She wasn’t seriously injured and even finished the triathlon. The bear didn’t seem to be hurt, either, scampering back into the woods. But the unusual high-speed encounter is a dramatic example of what experts are seeing across the West as drought forces bears to forage farther for food while urban development pushes into formerly wild areas.
Oei said she was focusing on the paved trail in the Boulder Peak Triathlon, which draws more than 1,400 athletes to a course just three miles outside of Boulder. She spotted the bear out of the corner of her eye and knew in a flash she had no way to avoid it.
“It was just unbelievable,” Oei said Monday, recovering from scrapes and bruises. “In that moment you think, ‘I’m going to hit this bear.”‘
- MORE OF THE STORY -