Summer in Review

For the last three summers, I've been living in the world of recreational bicycling. I was doing this primarily for weight loss. Since I've started cycling, I've gone from a starting weight of 235lbs to 179lbs! I have a swimming background so I thought why not attempt to learn how to run and enjoy the world of triathlons.... note the use of the word "attempt".

So in late Sept of 07, I received a nice present to myself of a TT/Tri bike. So I set my sights on a local YMCA sprint triathlon (.5 mile swim, 12 mile bike, 3 mile run) and off I went....

2008 started just like any other with me putting in miles and miles on the bike. I enjoy riding and it has served me well in weight loss and overall fitness so I put off running and swimming. Deciding on when to start training the other two sports was difficult, but I thought if I gave myself 10 weeks to prepare, that would be enough. Since the race was short, this was plenty of time... or so I thought. I was bringing my running miles up, felt comfortable on the road, and even managed to do a brick workout. Then everything fell apart!

About 5 weeks before the race I was out on a ride with a friend when I had a mechanical and wrecked pretty bad. It was one of those crashes where everything feels ok at first then gets progressively worse. At first I felt fine, then I was a little sore, and then a little later I could hardly breath. In the accident, I landed on my side/back and must have broken a rib. GREAT!!!

So fast forward four weeks.... here I was, 1 week before the triathlon I had been looking forward to for almost a year, without any kind of physical exercise for a month. What to do? Suck it up and do it!!

Up Next... Race week report!