Read, Train, Supplement: My Triathlon!

While I have only completed two Olympic distance triathlons (so far), somehow I feel like I have done a lot more. If anything, I should have the fondest of memories of the same period from all of the 5K races that I completed as warm-ups to the yearly triathlons.

At one point in my life, I made it a goal to complete a triathlon. I have always been athletic, and I always looked up to endurance athletes. I have always maintained a lot of respect for endurance athletes--mostly runners and cyclists and Olympic swimmers. I swam competitively in middle school and high school and thought that completing a triathlon would be a fantastic goal.

Read!
Before I decided to complete a triathlon, I had exhausted my local library's section on triathlon history and training. The library closest to me at the time only had three books, and it seems that authors of two of the books knew each other because many of the events and training theories and methodologies were the same. At the time I read the books, completing a triathlon was the furthest thing from my mind. I was just interested in learning about triathlons. It wasn't until at least three or four years later when I decided to start training for my first triathlon.

Train!
I started pursuing this goal of completing my first triathlon by obtaining a gym membership. I got an exercise program tailored to my goals: three days of weight training--one day for upper body muscles, one day for abs, one day for legs. I also got to use treadmills and found them to be great for speed training.

I got my first bike--a Schwinn dual-suspension mountain bike 18-months before my first triathlon. It was heavy, but I did not know any different. The first few training rides I did were hill rides. I had an apartment close to a hilly part of town, and I would train on them daily. I would concentrate on aggressively attacking the first third of a hill. Usually, I would go so hard that the remaining two-thirds of the effort would be ridiculously easy.

It was about five months before I got my first road bike. It was the beginning of the cycling season-where it was consistently above 40-degrees outside. I remember having a lot of enthusiasm for cycling. In no time, I was riding with a local cycling club. From Monday through Friday I was riding 20 miles per day with the club and between 40 and 80 miles every Saturday and Sunday. Up to about 260 miles per week; something that I could have never imagined myself doing even a year prior.

Bypass the agony!
Riding with the cycling club was a fantastic experience. I soon discovered that all the hill training I did and the resistance training I did gave me a significant edge over most of the other club riders that probably didn't put in equal amounts of time in the gym. I was excellent at riding hills. I can remember our ride leader trying to convince me to slow down as we were going up hills and consistently my reply was "Why should I prolong the agony?".

Supplement.
In addition to learning about cycling and resistance training, I also learned a lot about running. I learned that my cycling and swimming training supplemented my running training. I also grew to understand how various weight training strategies worked well to enhance my running training. Eventually, through experimentation, I progressed to running a sub 5:30-minute mile. I grew so fond of running, that even though I was training for an Olympic distance triathlon that occurred towards the end of the season, I often found my triathlon season sprinkled with 5Ks where I often placed in my age-group.

If there is one benefit that I get from having saved my race bibs, it is that I can remind myself that even though I only attempted a few triathlons, I entered a lot of smaller races and had a lot of fun in the process.

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