What am I doing to myself?

Well my body just wasn't feeling right after being up for so many hours, then training so hard while up and then the two seven hour sleeps I took in twenty hours. By yesterday, Friday, I was still a bit loopy. Maybe thats why I did what I am doing.

I posted yesterday that a schedule change allowed me to go watch a local triathlon that at one time I had thought about doing. Heh, heh, heh, well if you have followed any of my previous posts, I am impulsive. I decided, after a call with my wife, at 10 o'clock Friday morning, to enter the Scottsdale Triathlon, which is Sunday at 7:45 am. Not a lot of heads up. But Mistress Carol is ever the encouraging wife and supportive of my fitness dreams.

I remind all of you this will be my first official triathlon. My wife did triathlons for years and I trained with her. I would actually do tricks with her, (all three events back, to back, to back, you sickos) and I went to every race. I have done health club tri's jumping from pool to stationary bike to treadmill. Life just always got in the way of entering one and it didn't bother me. I knew that this year was going to be the year...

One little, bitty, tiny snag. Even though its only a 300 yard swim, its not really something I do all at once in the pool. I am more the get in thirty minutes of laps with 10-15 seconds inbetween 50's or 75's. I didn't even know if I could pull 300 yards all at once. Well 8 minutes later I knew that with my last sucking breath and some breast strokes I could at least manage the distance without water wings.

Oh and one other thing, even though its only a 12 mile bike ride on city streets, I got rid of my Softride Roadwing last year and had not replaced it yet. I thought about how I can do the course on my 2005 mountain bike, named Black Bart, knobby tires and all, in around an hour. A 35 pound, full suspension mountain bike only goes so fast for so long.

And while I felt confident that I could swim in running shorts, to bike and run in wet shorts reminded me of oh too many times of chaffing. So I needed bike shorts. The last pair were respectfully discarded after years of service.

So I went to the best local Triathlon shop in the Valley, Tribe Multisport, and Kevin the owner hooked me up. I picked up a new pair of Pearl Izumi tri-shorts and he gave me a road bike for the race for free. What a guy! So bike problem is solved and with a carbon fiber rocket between my legs I would think I could hammer around 20 mph. That makes up hopefully fifteen minutes and have fresher legs for the 5k run.

As it stands this is the shortest sprint I have seen listed all year. Its also the most surprising, unprepared and undertrained I have ever been for any race. I was projecting an off-road tri in late April as my first this year. This now makes three races in three weekends; 8k, 1/2 marathon and now sprint tri.

After a dismal 2004 of entering only three races, 26.2, 5k, 10k, and spending six months in rehab, I have had a plan for 2005. My goal this year has been to run short courses with no lofty goals (i.e. no marathons or 1/2 IM with seige like training and recovery) I wanted to train hard, hit some choice races and not worry about recovery. The races would have a smaller impact on my overall hard training as opposed to trainng for one specific event. I just didn't think I would be racing so soon, I'm stil in my base phase.

Race #1, the 8k, was done on eight weeks training after 26 weeks rehab. The 1/2 marathon one week later and now this. I have put in only two hours of swimming in 2005 and 30 miles of mountain biking. Do I sound prepared for this?

What I do have on my side is perservance, atittude and heart. I won't quite. With my last gasping breath behind me I will drag myself 300 yards. With an exhausted cardiovascular system, on a bike I have never ridden, wearing new shorts for the first time, I will bike 12 miles; then on heavy, cramping legs I will stagger through T2 and run a 5k, the only thing I absolutely know I can do without drowning or crashing.

What I have missed most in the last few years is the complete abandonment of reason, to do any race I want to do. No ultimate challenge, no peak to look up at and scream, "On this date I will kick your ass!" I am doing this because it feels good to challenge my fitness, to dig deep and see what I am made of. Once a long time ago I was in a race and I was dragging. A guy I respected was on the side of the course and as I ran by he whispered five words, "Do you have the heart?", he said. Even though I barely heard them on that day, ever since then they hammer into my head like thunder whenever I am faced with physical challenge.

I have the heart of five men to finish this triathlon. Let's just hope it dosen't take six to finish it. .. then I'd have to kill someone and I never do that before high noon.