…it’s the only sound I hear as I move through the water, my head completely submerged, cutting serenely like a needle through butter, my heartbeat climbing higher and higher. I force my body to rotate back and forth faster, which makes my arms stroke at a higher rate and press against the water harder. I feel a burn in my arms and shoulders as my breath quickens and I try to maintain my already high pace. In response to my coach yelling at the begining of the lap “Dave, swim faster…PUSH”, I ignore the discomfort in my lungs, the oxygen quickly draining from my system. My mind starts telling me to back off, but I quell the thought viciously as I quickly survey my condition and determine that it is only discomfort I feel and not a flame out. I calm down and relax more, which lowers my heart rate and I stroke even faster, striving for the end of the lap…or in my mind’s eye, the finish line….
Beat..beat..beat..beat…
Countdown to Ironman: 5.5 weeks….

For a triathlete, being sick really sucks.
We have a race coming up and we can’t get out there to train. How will we know if we will be at our best if we don’t stick to the training plan and not miss a single workout?
So I managed to catch this cold/allergy thing that’s floating around. Great. No training until it blows over. And yes, I know that with me hacking up phlegm it’s probably not a good idea to workout, breathe heavily, and suck back into my lungs all that phlegm.
Ick. Makes me sick just thinking about it. Guess I’ll watch TV instead.

About a year before I started racing triathlons in May 2002 (with Team in Training), triathlon racing was already on the upswing especially in the Bay Area.
Why did this happen? My thought was that there were so many people out of work post-internet bubble and when you get a whole bunch of competitive, motivated people with nothing to do, you need to funnel that energy somewhere. At least, they picked something healthy to do like triathlons, versus drinking or partying all day and night. And then, once your friends start doing it, you naturally want to do whatever your friends are doing.
So here’s the kicker. Why do people really train triathlons? Probably the most ridiculous reason I found where some of these women who were only hanging out with the tri-clubs to get a boyfriend.
OK so finding a mate ain’t the easiest thing to do. At least a triathlon racing boyfriend or girlfriend would have an awesome bod so that’s cool. Not many fat people racing that’s for sure! But it also reminds me of so many instances that I’ve seen in the past where people used to work out intensely while they were single. This was an attempt to make themselves as attractive physically as possible so that the opposite sex would like what they saw. As soon as they met someone, the working out slacked off and stopped completely when marriage hit.
Shouldn’t we workout for the betterment of ourselves and to keep and lead healthy lifestyles? In satisfying externalities like “my girlfriend will leave me if I’m fat” is not a good way to go. In fact, driving a lot of your life by what other people think isn’t necessarily that healthy. You’ll always be trying to please someone else when the only person you should be pleasing is yourself. Driving by internal evaluation means you have a consistent person to please and that’s yourself. Trying to please others all the time is a moving target and might not be the best thing in the world for you.
So why do I race triathlons? I’d like to say I have tons of women jupming on me but I’m afraid that hasn’t happened yet… Actually, I train and race because:
1. It keeps me sane. I’ve been through a lot of things in my personal and professional life in recent years. The exercise, focus, and achievement has kept me motivated and not depressed. It is the one area of my life where I have been consistently growing and improving over the last few years.
2. It keeps me healthy. I used to lift weights but never seemed to be able to get those last pounds off. Training for Ironman basically wicked off the last bits of fat off my body like nothing else. Although, now I am a skinny little runt!
3. It keeps me learning. Swimming, biking, and running were more technical than I thought. There are so many details to each of these three disciplines that revamping and learning new actions has been a real joy. I love learning and definitely as I improve in each of these 3 areas, I feel that I am changing and growing as an individual.
These 3 reasons keep me training – I intend for it to become a lifelong pursuit…

I just spent 5.5 hours on the bike. And it must have been 40 degrees when I started at 9am and by the time I was done I was pretty frozen. How dedicated I am! …Or crazy…
I was totally amazed at the number of runner out there wearing nothing but a t-shirt and shorts. There is absolutely no way I would have run in weather like that. My skinny little bod would have gone into hypothermia!
Countdown: 6 weeks to Ironman New Zealand!

Mike McCormack has been instrumental in getting me to perform better than ever before. I highly recommend his training at M2: Triathloncoach.com.
His general philosophy is one of quality versus quantity, and judicious use of periodization and interval training to improve fitness and performance. Amazingly, most of his bike training is indoors on a computrainer which allows controlled and measurable improvement, versus junk miles on the road. Even the treadmill is a useful tool to train hills versus finding the exact right hills to run up and down outside.
Given that it’s winter in northern California, this is critical to have training resources indoors, especially given the monsoons that we’ve been experiencing lately.

In 2002, I got into triathlons with Team in Training. Since then I have been racing continuously every year.
What a necessary component in my life! Going through all my life changes, I needed a way to release stress and to be able to “void” my brain for long periods of time.
Training was perfect for that. It let me blow off steam, keep healthy, and to rest my brain from all the crap that was going through it every day.
It also was very different than the weight lifting I used to do. Doing one type of training was getting monotonous, however much I did like weight training.
But getting into swimming, biking and running really allowed me to discover many new things about me and my body.
First, each one of these sports is highly technical…more technical than I thought. Yeah we can all go out there and thrash around in the water, pedal, or just jog. But what I didn’t know was that there are highly evolved ways of doing all three of these sports to maximize performance and minimize injury.
Learning these new skills has been a fantastic experience! It really stressed my brain and my nervous system in different ways! And it made a huge difference in how fast I was moving in all three sports! I was really impressed by how much science has gone into all of these.
Way back when I started running, I really messed up my knees. But now looking back, I could see how screwy my running was, and how the technology, ie. my sneakers, were so primitive compared to now.
Second, it really tested my body. Not having been athletic in my youth, I had to reactivate all these muscles that have lain dormant for..oh…about 30+ years now. Now they are getting awakened and I am doing things I never thought I could do physically.
But also, there have been many doubters in my life with respect to athletics. They have constantly said, “Don’t hurt yourself, you might get hurt, better not overdo it, you’re older now…gotta watch out…” I say “fuck em” because I’m swimming, biking, and running faster than ever before and I’m heading for Ironman New Zealand in March this year and with little or no injury at all.
Watch out world, countdown to Ironman T-7 weeks!