Hello

Yet another attempt at a blog and perhaps I'll stick with it this time.

A year ago a friend and I agreed to do a local triathlon that was to be held in June. My previous experience in endurance sports included one half-marathon and a full marathon. The previous fall I trained for my second half-marathon race but came down with a severe case of ITBS syndrome and had to stop running for close to a month. Believe it or not, being unable to run actually drove me crazy. Never in a million years would I thought I'd say that.

With my run training I always knew that I wasn't doing enough cross-training, like swimming or biking, to help avoid such injuries. I figured that a triathlon was just what I needed.

What I didn't expect was that I would come rather obsessed with the sport. Now, I don't know the ins-and-outs of training but I'm quickly learning. Through combing websites I've found that most endurance athletes are obsessive-complusive. Triathletes also seem to be a helpful bunch and it seems quite easy to find answers to whatever questions you might have.

When I started I really didn't know how to swim efficiently. The first trip to the pool was a real eye opener and I thought I would never be able to swim properly. I couldn't swim 50 meters without having to stop! Thanks to youtube I found some drills that improved my stroke and it wasn't soon before I stopped looking like someone was strangling an ostrich in the pool.

The next step was getting a bike and I just went for the entry level Trek road bike. It's nothing spectacular but it only cost me $500 and I feel like I've already got my monies worth.

Last summer I competed in my first triathlon in Glade Spring, WV and had a great experience. I got a little freaked during the swim portion, which isn't uncommon. But once I got on my bike my training paid off and all I did was pass my competitors. Thanks to a strong run I ended up finishing third in my age group.

This year I'm planning to compete in at least two triathlons, Smith Mountain Lake Sprint and the Lake Logan International. I'm also planning to do a second marathon in December.

With this blog I'll attempt to chronicle my training as well as provide any insights into the sport. I'm still very new to this and by no means an expert, but I did sleep at a Holiday Inn Express last night. Actually, I was at home with my patient wife, two snoring dogs, and a cat with claws that would make Wolverine proud.

With that out of the way I'll discuss my training today. I'm in the third week of the intro phase of a training plan I stumbled upon last year. Since I travel a lot with my job it forces me to jumble my workouts. I had to swim three consecutive days this week and this morning I had to cut it short in order to leave on time for my current trip. All I did were drills I learned from a recent swim lesson (more on that later). Just 1000 yards and I feel like my stroke is improving. Now, it's on to some sleepies...