Missing In Action

It has come to my attention that folks have wondered at my absence. I apologize for that. Life has a habit of injecting it’s way into some tight spots… like my free time. A new schedule at work and the start of a new semester has almost eliminated my ability to train. I could conceivably fit in seven training sessions in each week, but after starting work at 6 a.m and hitting the sack at 11 p.m. after classes all week, I’m exhausted. Have faith, though, that I will bounce back. I mean, I did spend $500 on my entrance into Ironman CdA next June! I had better get a move on because I fear that all of my fitness has abandoned me, though the weight certainly hasn’t!

Triathletes Bare It All

Athletes that compete in triathlons or any multisport event represent a small percentage of the World’s population. Many of us are probably considered by other non-athletes as curious: we get up in the wee hours of the morning, we come to work smelling like chlorine, we speak of foreign acronyms and abbreviations, and as Tracy Korn observed in her blog Through th3 Wall, we obsess over data in order to determine our success or failure. This behavior is weird to normal (lazy) people. I just became a part of this monster called triathlon, but already my coworkers and friends consider it a major part of my lifestyle. What can I say? I made a commitment.

Interestingly enough, I’ve found a curious little niche of triathletes. Maybe.

August 11, 2007 will see the inaugural Bare Hare Sprint Triathlon taking place within the luscious confines of the Bar-S Ranch. My very first reaction was a schoolboy giggle, as I pictured the sport’s most beautiful women competing. And then reality set in and my mind shot off out of control. I wondered, “Is this some kind of circus?” “How many triathletes are actually going to compete, or will it just be the residents doing their thing?” “Is it really that different from an underwear run or a naked mile?” “Would I?” I haven’t really come to a decision as of yet.

The swim would be no big deal, most of us have probably skinny dipped at some point. But the bike could be bad news in a lot of wrong ways and the run would just be a whole lotta floppin’ goin’ on. I know, I know, I read the part about ‘clothing optional’ too,  but would YOU sign up for something like this and NOT do it nude? I’m just not one for games like JTT, it’s all or nothing for me. It’s just too easy to sign up and run it Faris-style.

So, to those of you that go through with this race, let us know how it goes. But know this, I think you’re curious.

Why Ironman? Here’s why.

When I considered what it was that I wanted to accomplish when entering the multisport world of triathlon, the very first thing that came to mind was Ironman. That may seem obvious to some and not so much to others, but it seemed to be the only option for me because it was the very first race I’d heard about or seen as a child. I was old enough when I first saw athletes competing in Kona to understand the distance and the difficulty, but naive enough to think, “I want to do that!” I guess late childhood slash early adolescence represents a period in life where fantasies blend with ambitions and youth start to shape their own reality. Ironman stayed in the recesses for me.

Fast forward to college. I’ve spent some time in the Marine Corps Reserve, been deployed, worked several jobs, and managed to finish two years of school. Triathlon started to rear it’s head again. I wanted to start swimming, the Marine Corps had me running, so all I needed was a bike. For financial reasons, I started spinning classes and earned the snickers from folks at the gym when I walked past wearing lycra. I didn’t mind it so much; I had already discovered I didn’t have the taint of steel I thought I might. That went on for about a month and then school started, I pledged a fraternity and you can use your imagination about the rest of the semester. Triathlon was again filed away… until last year.

I’d been in the Marines for almost five years and seen active duty for about half of that. I found myself sitting in Iraq again, but this time the place is hooked up. When we came in from missions, we find awesome chow and a PX. Sweet! Lo and behold, Triathlete Magazine is sitting on the shelf (and it’s the swimsuit edition, bonus!) so I buy it. We headed back to our FOB, I read it, I loved it. Each month I tried to get the newest edition. During any free time, I surfed the web searching for triathlon related content, and again I started to imagine myself competing in a triathlon.

Maybe it was the distance and separation from normalcy and I needed an anchor to keep sane, but I really wanted to do this and my childhood fantasy became the obsession of my free time. By the time I got home in October of 2006, the triathlon season was almost done but I wanted to start my workup. As a lot of you know, Camp Pendleton is an amazing location and I was sitting in Del Mar, just off the shore. I was running daily, working in runs around Oceanside Harbor and the Del Mar Beach. I started swimming again in the 14 Area pool. I went to Nytro and shopped for bikes. (Note: Nytro hosted a release party for the Felt DA and B2 and I won a Zipp transition bag!) North County is probably the most fitness-minded community I’ve come across and it’s addictive! I faced two challenges, though: an injury I sustained in an IED blast impeded my workouts and I started doing the drinking thing…every night. So I was pretty much building myself up during the day in order to undo myself at night in the bars but, hey, it’s “Esprit de Corps,” right? And San Diego can definitely party. I left active duty and returned home to Arizona. I tried school again, but that didn’t work out, then I slipped into a very lazy routine: go to work, come home, play video games, drink beer, go to sleep, wake up and repeat.

I really don’t know what it was that snapped me out of that funk, but it was enough to get a grip. My friends were riding mountian bikes, so I bought a Specialized Rockhopper. Soon, I was riding as much as I could and wanting more. I seriously reduced the beer intake. I got a new job that I didn’t despise. My girlfriend and I were going strong and saying “I love you.” Life was good. So I said, (pardon me) “Fuck it!” I got rid of my stocks, paid my bills, jumped back into the pool, bought a tri bike and life continues to improve exponentially. It’s a nice high.

So here I am, chronicling my success and failure while I attempt to finally compete in a Ironman triathlon. I’ve signed up for Coeur d’Alene 2008 mostly because of family in the Spokane area and I remember summers spent at the lakes in Idaho. It’s probably good that I combine childhood memories with childhood fantasies. Some have asked why not Ironman Arizona? Honestly, I’ve considered doing both; two months might be enough time for a recovery, short build, and taper, but I doubt it. It’d be nice to do the hometown race in order to pop my cherry, though. We will see. Until then, I’m feeling my way through workouts I loosely describe as a “base-building” and having one helluva time enjoying life.

Thanks for stopping by.