Ironman Augusta 70.3 - 67 Days to go

Great day... Started off w/ a 23 km bike ride in the early morning mist. It was cool, quiet, and pretty as the sun began to rise. This afternoon, I went for a swim and did 1900M, which is the 1.2 Mile distance of the Ironman Augusta 70.3. I did it in 45:23, which translates to a 1000M time of 23:54. My time is consistently improving bit by bit.

I've been thinking a bit about my first triathlon and thought I'd share some about that. I was 21 years old and the year was 1984. At my Mom's encouragement, I had gotten into bicycling and was spending a lot of time at OutSpokin' Bicycle Shop in Columbia, SC. OutSpokin' is a great shop and would sponsor some cool riders to come into town. Anyway, John Howard was visiting and the 1984 Summer Olympics were on. I have some faint memories of us watching some of the Olympics with him and he had a funny look on his face during the televised cycling. He'd competed in the Olympics in 1968, 1972, 1976, and had made the 1980 team which didn't get to compete due to the boycott of the Moscow games. He had won the Hawaii Ironman in 1981 and would go on to set a world speed record of 152 MPH on a bike in 1985.

Anyway, that weekend a group of us were going to do a sprint triathlon. It was the "Lake City Tobacco Festival Triathlon"! Isn't that classic? We went down the day before the race, carbo loaded with spagetti, and attended the pre-race meeting. Isn't that funny they had a pre-race meeting for a sprint? Remember, these triathlon things were pretty new, especially in the countryside of South Carolina. John Howard decided to do it for fun but not compete for the prizes.

Saturday morning, I was in the next to last heat to hit the pool. I came out last in my heat and headed out to my bike. It was an old Raleigh racing frame from the late sixties that I had configured with parts from the used parts bin at OutSpokin'. I was quickly passed by the last heat racers and started my run as the last competitor running the course. As a safety measure, the race organizers had an ambulance following the field and it was right on my heels. Several times I wanted to stop during the run and walk for a minute but I was sure that the ambulance guys would make me hop in... so I kept running. As I saw the crowds and the finish line a few hundred yards ahead, a funny thought crossed my mind and I picked up a couple of tobacco leaves from the side of the road where they had fallen off the tobacco trucks. I raised them high as I crossed the finish line of the Lake City Tobacco Festival Triathlon and the crowd cheered me like I'd won. John Howard was there. He had finished first but didn't let it count. He and the official winner greeted me and if I remember right there was some cold Coors beer for us all.

Over the years I moved away from fitness and gained pounds. By 44 years old, I had ballooned to 359 pounds. When I started losing the weight, my first goal was to run a triathlon again. Eight months later I weighed 244 pounds and organized a sprint triathlon in Chiang Rai, Thailand, where I was living. There were eleven of us racing and I came in 6th... It's my best finish yet!

On September 27th, at 46 years old, I'll jump in the water with 3200+ other competitors to run the Ironman Augusta 70.3. I'll celebrate the weight lost and the fitness gained. I'll celebrate health and triathlon. I'll celebrate life.

It's great to be back in the game!

A Different Holiday

Here's a picture of me windsurfing today... Yes, you heard right... windsurfing!

Cindy and I are celebrating our 20th anniversary. We were able to book a really wonderful week at a resort called Laguna Beach Resort in Phuket, Thailand. It reminds me a lot of the Hilton Waikaloa, on the Big Island of Hawaii. There's beautiful landscaping, attentive staff, and something I never noticed before... lots of exercise options! This morning, Cindy and I went on a one hour bike ride at 8 am (free), did aqua aerobics at 11 am(free), and then I went windsurfing this afternoon at 3 pm (free). Apparently, other resorts that we've been to before have this kind of thing going on... we just never noticed. Now that we're fitness focused, it's like a smorgabord of fun activities just waiting for us to choose. Every day we're planning the next and what activities we're going to do.

Tomorrow is a long run, then water aerobics, then Thai boxing! Cindy and I are having a blast and what a great way to celebrate 20 years together in marriage!

2022 is Pretty Cool!

Yesterday, after my workout posting on SparkPeople, my minutes of exercise this month crossed the 2000 minute mark!



That's pretty sweet... It's amazing that once you start tracking your work, over time it really accumulates. Another example is that the other day I was having a slow day on the bicycle and got a little frustrated. As I turned into our neighborhood I flipped through the bike computer and it was just crossing the 1000 km mark after being reset a couple of months ago.

It's easy to get discouraged or lose focus on a rough day, but by consistent and long term effort, we reach amazing heights!

Headin' down the road!

I just got back from one of my fastest bike rides in awhile. I was reading someone's blog the other day about increasing their run time by doing 2 minute intervals of speed and recovery. I thought I'd apply it to my bike ride today. I would do 2 minutes between 22 km/h and 27 km/hr and then increase the speed to 27 km to 33 km. Each time I did the sprint, I had to "kiss" 33 km/hr before I could settle into the 2 minutes between 27 and 33.

On most bike rides I average around 23 km/hr. A couple of months ago I did a metric century (100 km) and averaged 25 km/hr which was incredible for me. Today, over the hour ride I averaged 27 km/hr which is one of my highest continuous speeds ever. That translates to 16.75 miles per hour.

That's pretty smokin' on a mountain bike!

It's amazing to think that 8 months ago a 5 km ride at 10 km/hr was a big stretch and exhausting! I've been marveling today at how incredible God made the human body. For my body to be able to transform from a couch potato to an athletic form over an eight month span is amazing!