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This past weekend I did a Triathlon. I’m training to do a Half Ironman in September, and there are three triathlons I’m doing this summer as preparation. I’ve been having some shoulder issues from distance swimming but thankfully I had enough to get me through last Saturday. In general, open water swimming is the big challenge for me. I need to work on “sighting,” and a couple other strokes to adapt to rough waters. I joined a masters swim class at the nearby YMCA to help in my training.
Basically, if I can do a triathlon anyone can who really wants to. It is demanding, but do-able with proper training. I took up cycling and swimming just in the last year or so, and figured it out. There is a learning curve, but it’s not brain surgery either. The bike I used in Saturday’s triathlon is a used bike that was given to me.
That’s a pic of my bike in the “transition area.” Doing triathlons has had a significant impact on strengthening me physically, mentally, and spiritually. The challenge of competing and stretching yourself, the friends you make in the tri community, and the places and experiences you have a long the way are a few reasons why I’m glad I do them. There are different ways I relate the sport to my life as a whole and my spirituality. My wife and daughter are involved in most of the endurance events I do, which often involves visiting and exploring new places. A triathlon I’m doing in August is at one of our favorite state parks in Tennessee.
Many people in endurance sports compete with a purpose, like Team in Training or Lance Armstrong’s foundation. As added motivation, I do each event with someone particular in mind. For example, in May I did a Century (100-mile) bike ride event, and I rode in memory of Miles Levin, a teenage boy I got to know a few weeks before his death.
If you are interested in exploring triathlons, some helpful ideas would be:
go see a triathlon near you (check listings on active.com)
explore BeginningTriathlete.com
check out the Complete Idiots Guide
My shoulder is still a problem, and so I’m going to focus on biking and running, and hopefully give the other time to heal. Over-training can sometimes be a problem for me, and I conveniently blame it on being OC. Oh well. Okay, time to ice the shoulder and apply the IB-Relief and Arnica.
Happy swimming, biking,and running!
June 10th, 2008 at 8:28 am
Very proud of you for finishing Jim! I’ll have to shoot you an email about that IB-relief cream you’re talking about. My wife ran a marathon in November, but it messed up her ITB something fierce…it’s been a struggle for her to run again. yeah, anyway, keep us in the loop on the rest of your training this summer.
June 10th, 2008 at 8:44 am
First of all, congrats on completing your triathlon! You will have to come to Ridgeland, MS sometime and compete in the Heatwave Classic. It was held this past weekend as well, but runners come from everywhere to compete.
Secondly, I hate, hate that phrase: If I can do it, anybody can do it. Well, not really.
June 10th, 2008 at 9:05 am
Way to go, Jim! (And I thought a triathalon was a competitive eating event at the Old Country Buffet– Salad, Main Course, and Dessert bars.
June 10th, 2008 at 9:19 am
yeah, the “anyone can do it” is a bit over used. it fits pretty well in this case from the standpoint that i really don’t consider myself to have many prior advantages. i don’t have a very good body frame for running, and never swam or biked previously in my life. basically i was eating Little Debbie Zebra Cakes on the couch and decided to go for it.
June 19th, 2008 at 1:25 pm
[...] subscribe to our RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!So…Larry’s running and Jim wants me to Swim, Bike, Run and I just can’t handle the pressure of not being enough like the cool kids. So I’m [...]
September 12th, 2008 at 10:44 am
[...] whole sordid tale here (you can read it in-depth here). But I will post the inevitably embarrassing Half-Naked Jim Palmer (TM) photo of me in a swim cap and a tiny swimsuit, just because isn’t that what we do [...]