The dream for Triathlon continues.....

I will share more on this later, but as I've mentioned before, I've always been a pretty active guy.  However life "happened" and I allowed things to crowd in on a regular exercise routine.  In December of 2009 I hit 200 lbs (not a good thing unless I'm 6'2".....did I mention I'm about 5'7"?) which began my wake up call in the area of physical health.  Over the years, I've pretty consistently practiced what I've preached about regular exercise and a balanced diet with portion control.  As I've always said, "ERAE"...."Eat Right And Exercise".  Or as I later heard my dad say, "eat less, move more!".  With the reality of eating too much and not moving much at all ringing in my head and around my waist I hit Craigslist and found a couple of used roadbikes.  One for me and one for my lovely bride.  She got me a roller trainer and a pair of biking shorts (2 hilarious things to see in action on me!) for Christmas and I was off!  My first time out of the bedroom with the tight fitting shorts with my "muffin top" hanging over brought out a series of snorts and laughter from my teenage kids.  It was too cold to ride outside, so with the roller in a doorway to give me something to hang onto I started riding...15 minutes was all I could do the first time and it almost killed me!!!

I good friend of mine from church had done the Memphis in May triathlon with his son the year before and it hit me as a great opportunity to set a goal and hopefully have a challenging experience with one of my kids.  The sucker of the bunch was my youngest son Benjamin who already pretty athletic didn't need to train that much.  As soon as the weather was below freezing, I tried riding outside and then a few trial runs.  My first attempt at a 5k (3.1miles) was well over 40 minutes, with several "mall walkers" passing me along the way.  I didn't hit the pool at my neighbor's house until late April with ultimately 3-4 times swimming before the triathlon in May.  Ultimately, I survived the 400meter swim, 12-14 mile bike ride and 5k run and was hooked!!!  My son discovered that training in spite of being in good shape is really important as the swim almost killed him.  On the bike leg, 400 meters in, I came across a young lady who had already wiped out with a beautiful (and I'm sure expensive) tri bike laying to the side.  She was bloodied up from a large gash in her elbow.  The ER doctor in me would not allow a continued ride without stopping.  After rinsing her arm off with Gatorade and water....all we had with us until help arrived, I help some pressure and the bleeding slowed considerably.  With quite an injury, it's not surprising that she was crying.  What was surprising was they were not tears of fear or pain, but of all the training she had done only to wipe out this early in the race.  Shortly later, she came to the same realization for me and started pressuring me to leave her on the roadside.  She didn't want me to mess up my time for the race.  It was easy and funny to smile at her and say, "Lady, this is my first tri, so whatever time I finish is going to be my personal record!"  That slowed the tears some as we shared a laugh.  10 minutes later I was on the road getting passed like I was standing still by several riders.  Fortunately none of them were older than me (your age is written conveniently on your leg....I guess to make the body easier to identify should it be found dead or damaged....).  It was a joy to watch my son cross the finish line later.  It's a time we still laugh and talk about frequently.

Over the course of 4 months from Christmas 2009, I brought the diet under better control and started moving more....leading to a slow and steady loss of almost 25 pounds!  That's the good news.  The bad news....if you don't keep exercising and eating right, you'll go right back which is just about what happened around Thanksgiving 2010.  I've been slowly getting back on track, with an emphasis on the slowly part.  I was able to participate in the Natchez Trace sprint triathlon in March 2011 with similar distances only a longer swim of 550 yards.  That would be fine if one had trained, but I had not been in the water since October of 2010...almost 6 months!  Between that and swimming in 60 degree water, I was feeling rough.  I was late to register and thus 3rd from last getting in the water and next to last getting out.  Fortunately, I had biked and run some so I was able to reel in about 10-15 folks on the bike ride and another 5-7 on the run finishing 2nd in my age division.  That sounds great unless I tell you there were only 3 in my age division.  I was just glad to finish!!!  Much of that was do to the cheering of my kids and wife (we had come to Natchez Trace for the weekend camping as well).

As you can see from the finish line shot, I try to remain mature and distinguished at all times!

My goals for this year are at least one Olymic distance triathlon: 0.92 mile swim, 26 mile bike ride and 6.2 mile (10k) run.  Also, this year I have signed up for the St. Jude half marathon in December.  Hopefully you'll see some good headway as I prepare for these events.  I've never run that far before, so it will be an adventure.  Yesterday I swam a mile for the first time since I was 14.  Unfortunately, it was in a pool with several stops for respiratory distress!  It's certainly a different experience to do an open water swim, but you've got to start somewhere.

If you as a reader have never tried swimming, biking or running, I would highly recommend considering them as part of your exercise regimen.  Just please, please, please make sure your body is ready for the increase in activity if you're not already pretty active.  In later entries, I will discuss some ways to get started on a program if you don't already have one.  Hopefully the adventures of this short, fat (or fluffy) old doc will provide you some encouragement along the way!

I will close now so the wife and I can go for a bike ride in Jackson.  Good night!