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08/19/2006: "You Gotta Tri"
For me to start working out daily, I need an incentive. I need something to really push me through the workouts and the early mornings when I would rather lay in bed. Obviously, getting fit will lead to improved health and that is a strong incentive for me. But I am competitive and need a competition to build towards. The last time I came close to working out this hard was in high school and college and there was always a race to build towards. So I have decided to sign up for a few triathlons. Thanks (I think) to my buddy Tim Landeck who has inspired me and will join me.
Triathlons come in three flavors: Sprint, Olympic Distance and Ironman. I don’t plan on ever trying to compete in the Ironman distance. Any race where the final third is a marathon is just plain crazy. On September 10th, I will do the Pacific Grove Tri. I figure to do the sprint distance which is a ¼ mile swim, 12.5 mile bike and a 2 mile run. On September 24th, I will tackle the Santa Cruz Sentinel Triathlon Olympic distance which is a 1 mile ocean swim, a 25 mile bike and a 6.2 mile run. This one is almost one month away and looming large. Everyday that I am out on the road I think about what it will take to finish this at a level that I will be happy with. The problem is, the only reference I have to endurance competition was in my 20’s. I guess I need to re-adjust my expectations on what this 46 year-old body can do. I am also a little late in deciding to do this as I only started training recently. Should be interesting.
Anyway, I talked about taking back control of my body. This is the best way I know how and it does feel good (and soar). Naturally, I am also hoping that the daily gasp for air is disrupting my lung tumors and that getting this fit will push my immune system into overdrive. If not, trust that I am going down swinging!
