Learning to live with myself, part 1

It has been a while since my last post because I was on a trip, so I will divide my news in two parts. I have learned a lot about myself playing hard over these last weeks, and this actually came adequately as end-of-year reflection.

On 11/30/08 I raced the Turkey Tri (0.5M swim, 14M bike, 4.5M run), in commemoration of Thanksgiving and Triathlon season finale. I neglected swimming and cycling for a while, and I knew I would pay a price for that. My prediction was a finish in 1h50min, without knowing the course.

Bonelli Park is a beautiful place, with mountains at sight, a big central lake, and a lot of green. But the water was dark and cold, the bike course is moderately hilly, and the run path is narrow. That together with my unpreparedness brought a weird result to a beautiful day and a beautiful course. If you can believe, the race organization did not track transition times, even using chips. So my times were: swim 28:31, bike 56:35, run 40:31, finish 2:05:37.

During the swim I had shortness of breath, probably a mix of cold water, bad technique and panic, and I needed to float for about three minutes.
The first buoy was very far from the start, and all swimmers had navigation problems. On top of that, many experienced triathletes had the impression that the course was longer than 0.5 mile. At T1 I checked my time, and then I started a personal race against the clock. The bike leg was exciting, with many turns and rolling hills, my first using cyclocomputer. From that I know my bike time was 49 min, with probably T1 5:35min and T2 2 min. My legs complained a little on the run course, but I still could have a relative catch-up. I placed overall 318/601, and age group 54/76.

I paid the price for not being prepared, and I will have to live with that. But within a context of Half-Ironman training for next season, this showed me this is the time to stop racing for fun and curiosity, to know courses and have experience, and start objectively racing, with defined training plan, goals and purpose. I already know I can do it and finish it, even without preparation, but it is time to train against myself. I am always very enthusiastic and hungry for new experiences, bright characteristics of Aries natives, but hard-headed and hard to adhere to hard long and steady plans.

Now it is time to be a grown-up triathlete and focus my time and energy.

Next races: Big Cat Challenge 12-hour Ultramarathon (12/27/08), Surf City USA Marathon (02/01/09), 27th Annual Avia Wildflower Triathlon Long Course (05/02/09), Vineman Ironman 70.3 (07/19/09).

Hero of the week: Manny Pacquiao, who won against the odds and the media, making history starting a new era in boxing.

Quote of the week: “The day the child realizes that all adults are imperfect, he becomes an adolescent; the day he forgives them, he becomes an adult; the day he forgives himself, he becomes wise.” Alden Nowlan.

Holy Water and multiple blessings

Finally rain came to California, watering the plants and cleaning the air. Now it does feel like Fall and Thanksgiving week.

But I'd like to talk about other waters. Last week I returned to swimming training, after a month off, because of trips, marathon training and recovery, and cold nights. It was like a rebirth, or a baptism, if you like. Streaming through the swimming pool, I experienced the same joy I felt when I was able to swim 200 meters without stop for the first time. This is what I live for. That night I dreamt I was flying.

As expected, Brian did better than expected. He finished Ironman Arizona in 10:09:48 (overall 171/2300, age group 23/201). As I said before: this guy is living the dream! Congratulations!

Talking about heroes, Dean Karnazes has started his journey on The Last Desert, an ultramarathon in Antarctica, seeking to be the first to complete all four deserts in a year (Atacama, Gobi, Sahara and Antarctica).

Talking about blessings, I just bought a my first cycling computer. This is my first step to start flying on the bike. Last weekend I had my last ride without it, and of course I forgot my watch. During the same ride I had my first flat; I estimate I was back on the course in eight minutes, approximately.

Still talking about blessings, the controversy is on about swimming speedsuits. USA Swimming has proposed new swimsuit regulation, coming together to the concerns about technological "doping". This questions all world records achieved during last Olympics, and probably will turn them unreachable. It will be interesting to see what will be the final solution.

This is Thanksgiving Day, and here I register my humble gratitude for all the joy and happiness achieved this year. This weekend I will compete in the Turkey Tri, my fourth sprint triathlon. This year I became a triathlete, and through triathlon I was able to make a myriad of new friends, have multiple additional reasons to smile every day, and have found new goals in my life.

Thank God, this year has been a year of hard work, and that is why I play hard. Next week I am traveling to San Francisco, and I will take opportunity to run my first trail race, in The North Face Endurance Challenge. Because the trail course involves ascent of more than 900 feet, I will run the half-marathon, instead of the 50K or 50M courses. But do not worry: to extend my limits I have registered for the Big Cat Challenge 2008, a 12-hour ultramarathon.

Next races: Turkey Tri (11/30/08), The North Face Endurance Challenge Half-Marathon (12/06/08), Big Cat Challenge 12-hour Ultramaraton (12/27/08), Surf City USA Marathon (02/01/09), Vineman Ironman 70.3 (07/19/09).

Hero of the week: Brian Melekian. Every week he shows me new possibilities, new goals, new dreams.

Quote of the week: "Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever." Mahatma Gandhi.

Healthy thoughts

I just briefly mentioned on previous post another reason to dislike New York: the large amount of people smoking over you. Probably this is just an impression resultant of so many people crowding Manhattan, but the fact is I am not as exposed to cigarette smoking here in LA. Even worse: for the whole 26.2 miles of the New York City Marathon I had at least ten times smokers throwing their air pollutants over the runners; approximately at mile 25 there was a guy smoking cigars at the race course! Maybe I am being too sharp, but that came to me as a disrespect to all runners, not to mention public health.

Talking about health, the day before New York City Marathon I had a trauma to my right shin caused by my luggage, and that created a very painful shin splint, felt only after the race, until two days ago. For the first five days after the race I could not walk properly, and only now I have stretched enough and recovered my balance. A wonderful realization was to learn that exercise accelerated my recovery, through spinning and treadmill training, avoiding excessive load on the legs. It is always nice to see that my body takes better care of itself than I do.

Mental health was another issue this week. The concerns of being injured, together with pain at every step lasting more than three days threatened my sanity. My plans on running Pasadena Marathon this weekend were put aside, even because the race was sold out while I waited to register after my recovery was evident. The urge to sit and plan my next year schedule has started to cause me nightmares, and this probably will make me busy next weekend. Only the idea of a new sprint triathlon in two weeks (the Turkey Tri) and Vineman Ironman 70.3 on next July can make me forget my current frustrations and push me forward.

Talking about happiness, the current streak of victories of the Trojans and the NY Giants have an important role, but what fills my soul and blows my mind is Brian Melekian and his journey to Ironman Arizona. To read the posts on his blog is always inspiring, even though his numbers show me I still have a lot of work to do. Now he just launched his online coaching website. It is an honor to know he reads my blog. For all these next days and during the race on November 23rd you can bet all my good thoughts and strong energy will be with him.

Feeling well again comes together with the joys of the Holidays, and the hope of an even better year. Tomorrow I will participate for the second time in Run for Her, a 5K race to raise awareness and funds to support ovarian cancer research, as part of my sprint triathlon training. I have started again to be able to plan ahead and project goals, and this is my healthiest state of mind.

Next races: Run for Her 5K (11/16/08), Turkey Tri (11/30/08), Surf City USA Marathon (02/01/09), Vineman Ironman 70.3 (07/19/09).

Hero of the week: Lance Armstrong. He is the inevitable hero; well-accomplished, gifted and well-spoken. Above any criticism and all the media, he is able to catch the public attention to important issues and his cause. He managed to be a landmark to whom athletes compare themselves, for better or worse...

Quote of the week: “If you leave the smallest corner of your head vacant for a moment, other people's opinions will rush in from all quarters”

George Bernard Shaw.