Man in the Arena

First Time for Everything: 100 Miles or 30 Minutes

Jesse@Active — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 00:10:11 GMT

Summer time is Do Stuff time. It's always been that way, but for a guy with a full time job, I feel like I'm back in college again -- no time to just sit around.

After a mile swim last Saturday morning at La Jolla Shores, Airey, Emmy and I drove up to Cuyamaca State Park to catch Toby running his first-ever 100-mile race. It was nothing short of inspirational.

We caught Toby at a checkpoint 62+ miles into the race.

He jogged in looking strong, sat in his aid station throne and wolfed down some watermelon, Fig Newtons, root beer and a Snickers bar. Then he was off. His crew had the drill down pat. You can read his race report here (and see a pic of my weekend mustache!).

Sunday, Airey and I drove to Chula Vista for the 3rd Avenue Grand Prix. I signed up for the Category 5 race and under Airy-wan Kenobi's tutelage, gave my first-ever criterium a go! Crit racing is fast and furious. I made some rookie mistakes and eventually fell off the pack. However, I was able to stay close enough to the group -- me and another guy took turns drafting off one another -- to finish the whole race. It lasted about 30 minutes going around a .8-mile course that included a u-turn(!).

I had a ton of fun and learned a lot about cornering, pack riding, sprinting and racing in general. I definitely want to add a couple more crits to my race calendar.

Next up is the Battle at Midway on Saturday, June 15 in and around Midway, Utah. Emmy and I are flying to Salt Lake City tonight, then spending a couple of nights at Snowbird resort after the race.

We had a heckuva time packing our bikes last night. I managed to open a deep "do you think you need stitches?" kind of cut on my knuckle on my right hand, and we're still not sure we'll ship them. The expense that Jet Blue will charge us, not to mention the risk to the spokes, might make it worth renting bikes at the venue. Not a great idea, but we'll see. With water temps in the low 50's, I'll probably be glad to jump on a tricycle at that point.

Oh, and I still owe a wrap-up on Wildflower (one of the best races I've ever done).

Becoming an Overachiever

Jesse@Active — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 07:22:19 GMT

I recently posted a review of Overachiever's Diary, a new book by Louis Tharp. The book is comprised of emails and practice outlines Tharp, as swim coach for the West Point Triathlon Club, sent to his cadets. While the review hits upon the major points of my feelings toward Overachiever's Diary, a few things have stuck with me since I published the article.

I realize now that as I was reading it, I was slowly being humbled. It's not that I think I'm such a great swimmer, but that I always figured I had hit my peak in college and that was that.

Tharp writes on page 196: "Your potential for continuous improvement is decreased when your pacing is erratic because you use too much energy."

That hit me where I was living, swimming wise.

As a 50 and 100 freestyler, my pacing was always "as fast as possible but don't die" and my energy output was "as much as possible but don't die." Needless to say, I tended to die at the end of a 100.

Reading how Tharp challenges his cadets-some good swimmers, others not as good but getting better-to latch on to their potential and continually improve did more for me than any How-to-Swim book ever could. It made me realize that even now, without being an in-season swimmer, I can still work to become faster.

As a budding triathlete, I usually see myself as a swimmer who then bikes and runs. I constantly try to be one of the leaders of my wave out of the water because that's where I think I belong. The problem has always been, however, that I'd be pretty beat going into T1. If the jog to the transition area was longer than 100 yards, I'd be toast before I even hopped on the bike.

Tharp explains that good triathletes know how to pace themselves to swim fast while using as little energy as possible. He then explains the how and why of doing exactly that. Most importantly, however, he reiterates something that should be pretty obvious: It's a triathlon. Not a swimming race. Just because I'm nearing shore doesn't mean I need to give it all I got. I don't need to be first, fifth or tenth out of the water. Again, brings me back to the humble-thing.

One more thing...another part of the book I loved was his section titled: Where Are Your Toys Henry Ford? There's a line in there, "Toys are aquatic crack," that made me laugh out loud. Tharp's view is that certain swimming equipment-pull buoys, kick boards, find-are used as crutches rather than as aids to become better. It definitely gave me something to thing about.

I plan to return to this book in June or so, when I'm in the middle of the summer tri season but before the open water swims of I Saw, I Swam, I Swimmed Again. I recognize that its value isn't so much in simply teaching me how to swim, but in preparing me to become a swimmer who is constantly improving.

Casualty of a Canceled Race

Jesse@Active — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 00:03:00 GMT

The SoCal wildfires claimed another victim this past weekend--the San Diego Triathlon Challenge. The half-Iron distance race was canceled mainly due to the poor air quality that has lingered in the San Diego area since the recent fires burned throughout the county. The race organizers were also hesitant to use city facilities, including police and emergency personnel, so soon after they were pushed to their limit while fighting the fires.

The SDTC is the main fundraiser for the Challenged Athletes Foundation, which benefits physically challenged athletes with equipment, coaching and race expenses. While volunteering for it last year I was struck with how much the idea of supporting the cause was interwoven into the fabric of the race. The challenged athletes competing were continuous sources of inspiration for fans, race volunteers and athletes.

Often, races will support a cause or organization, but these beneficiaries sometimes seem secondary to the competition. Unlike walks for breast cancer or the March of Dimes, most long-distance races tend to be focused on the actual race rather than the people it's trying to help. The SDTC was as much about supporting the Challenged Athletes Foundation as it was about providing a great venue for a half-Ironman.

The organization itself experienced a significant setback about a month ago when a fire burned a good amount of race-day equipment at the CAF warehouse and offices. It was a huge blow to the race organizers, but with the help of willing volunteers and donors, they were set to hold the 2007 edition. Until the wildfires.

Canceled races mean dashed hopes and unfulfilled seasons for many. They also hurt the goals of fundraising organizations that rely heavily on being present in people’s minds when they think about where to donate time and money. Here’s hoping 2008 will be a great bounce-back year for the Challenged Athletes Foundation and the many remarkable athletes it benefits.