It Takes a Village

How do I get so lucky?

I know people who say triathlon ruins your social life, but for me it's been the opposite---my social life has gotten even richer in the process. Over and over, people step up to offer encouragement, support, love, expertise, and kindness. Yesterday at the pool, an Ironman acquaintance happened by and watched me swim a bit and offered pointers; another long-time acquaintance gave me props for how fit I'm looking and promptly tried to recruit me into a week-long charity bike trip; today, I recieved another three-week plan from Ironwoman-to-be M, and a voicemail from Patti asking what she could do as I wind down to Devil's Lake: massage? dinner? what supportive acts do novice tri-athletes need? It would seem that the universe is giving it all to me, already (except, perhaps for sleep). I didn't expect working toward this goal to enrich my life in these ways, and am delighted by this abundance of encouragement and support. This could be such a lonely thing without it---doable, but far less fun.

Yesterday I swam a nice quarter mile and then some, followed by a three mile treadmill run---two miles at a 10 minute mile pace and one at a 9:30 pace, then worked late into the night. Today, I'm sore in several sites of historical injury and maybe a spot or two with potential for a new sprain or strain. I swam tonight in a 50 meter pool, nontheless, and then worked some more---no second work out, though, thinking catching up on sleep is a priority in order to engage full steam ahead with the new workout plan tomorrow. Liminal periods---the moments before a transition in status--are always tricky, fraught with the potential for things to go wacky. I know I need to be vigilent now---not get lazy or discouraged and not injure myself by pushing beyond reason. Perhaps this is the art of the thing.

THERE IS A TRI GODDESS & HER NAME IS KIM

Yesterday was a good day. Back at the pool, I slithered in and began swimming, hoping to determine if the long swim the day before was a fluke or some sort of breakthrough. Much to my amazement, I was able to swim 3/4 of a mile with no warm- up and no break, save the long breath on the turn at the end of each 25 meters. If I can do this a third time tomorrow, I will believe that progress has indeed been made. Obviously, it isn't about an overnight improvement in conditioning, but about a mental shift...and about slowing down...and about letting go of the breathing-every-three for the moment. I'm okay with that...going the distance is the thing.

It was also a good day because of some great information I recieved earlier from an acquaintance, Kim, who is doing Devil's Lake and did it last year as well: that horrible serpentine uphill that I've been practicing in the park all summer before the big hill on highway DL *isn't actually on the race course!* Providing me with this information, and saying to me that once I'd broken through the previous swim barrier things would all get easier, elevates Kim to the triathlon pantheon for me.

My friend Nora J. also called and gave me props for the work I've done and results I've been getting. She reminded me that the event will be fun, that people go faster during a race, and that there will be people to chat with and to give encouragement to each other during the event. She speaks from the experience of marathons. Chatting with both Kim and Nora and some other people in the mix helped remind me to take a light-hearted approach...the training is sometimes hard and daunting, and it's therefore easy to get pulled away from the levity of the situation.

Today was a difficult day logistically, and I'm using that as a sign that it's a good day to rest; I will get back onto the intensive plan tomorrow. It's three weeks until Devil's Lake; I'm starting to think about the post-event soiree, as well as what I want to do activity-wise through the Wisconsin winter...back to t'ai chi? back to martial arts? back to violin lessons? all of the above plus swimming, running, and indoor biking? a spring bike trip in Europe? i'm thinking i will sell the 2200 soon after DL and have a bike custom built for next season. if i spend next summer in Hawaii, the new bike will get to travel. when i was a teenager, my Ovation Legend travelled with me; as a 40-something, it will be a bike. There's something funny in that.

Oh: on the analytical front...NJ thinks so many BB's are attracted to triathlon b/c of the cross-training. One more angle to contemplate.

Our Lunatic of the Lake

With a few days' stretch of vacation ahead of her, our slow, fat, triathlete packed up the tent and headed to Devil's Lake, only to land there in the midst of, well, a storm front. Timing was good for setting up the tent, but an exciting evening of meterological mayhem ensued. My training plan was complicated by the discovery that I'd left my front bike wheel in the living room. Subconscious need to avoid that hill on HW DL? Higher power enforcing a recovery week? Just the usual absent-minded professor syndrome? Whatever: I tried to adapt the Plan as best possible. Took a run in high humidity Wednesday afternoon (Tuesday had been a swim workout, a run effort that was too challenging, and a bike ride with Monica~ a pleasure, as always...), and just as I got a camp fire going, the rain and the sirens and the park rangers announcing the rain and the lightening they thought we might not be noticing broke loose. The guys on the radio said to stay away from windows, but it wasn't clear whether that meant it was better to be in windowless tents than in cars...What's any of this have to do with triathlon training? Not much, except that it made it clear to me that I don't want to spend the night before the Devil's Lake Challenge in a tent at Devil's Lake. The next morning, when I went for a "swim," the water was cold and choppy; I was the only lunatic in the lake, which kind of made me proud, and kind of made me wonder how far down the rabbit hole I've gone. Most importantly, it also made me wonder whether I'll need a wetsuit a month from now. My most impressive timed segment during this two-day adventure was a twelve-minute striking of camp when thunder started to roll again the following day...time to get back to the predictable environment of the gym.

The truth is also that after the swim practice, during which I again came up short, and a hard slow run/walk around the DL run course, I wondered again whether I really can be ready for this. It's some days easier to see how far there is to go than to see how far I've come. I also have the feeling some days that the moments in which I am most tempted to give up are the moments in which I am closest to having some kind of breakthrough. For example, my swimming is so inadequate and so far below the benchmarks so chronically...and yet, it was better in the lake yesterday than it had been 10 days before. Even so, I was pretty discouraged. So, today at the pool, I was at it again...starting slow, feeling challenged. Eventually, I worked up to a 150 yard freestyle, then took a two minute rest. Then I swam another 50 yards and took a rest. Then I decided to try another 150. And suddenly, it was fine. I swam the 150, then 200, then 300, then 500, then 600, and stopped just because, even though I could have kept going. What up w'dat? I think my form wasn't great, and the pace was slow, but somehow I did it, just when I was feeling like it was the impossible dream. Can it be repeated consistently? What are the elements that let it come together? I think they were: 1) going slowly; 2) thinking about things besides swimming; 3) allowing myself to give up on the bi-lateral/breathing every three for awhile; 4) kicking less; 5) warming up a long, long time.

A little more than three weeks away is kind of a dangerous time, I believe...I'm more tempted to be lax w/my diet, more prone to be discouraged and doubtful...I suspect that these are typical liminal temptations, and maybe the aftermath of two hard weeks of training. My plan is simply to stay the course and see what happens. Walk the walk/swim the swim/bike the bike/run the run and the feeling will follow, as they say.

The author of the DL6WTP suggests it'stime for a couple of rest days in a row. That worries me. Will I become a slacker? I know it's not logical, and that rest is as important as everything else in this process. I'm discovering that it may be the hardest discipline for me, after all.

Two Weeks Down, Four to Go

Much to my delight, I've made it through the first two weeks of the Triathlete-Approved Devil's Lake Training Plan, far enough into the regimen to have earned myself a "recovery week." I enjoy the idea of having earned this reward, just as the idea of a reward of 15 seconds of rest at the end of 50 meters of swimming has helped me to feel that I am earning the right to breathe. Hmmmmm. Pretty heavy, I suppose, but it certainly has inspired my gratitude toward the person who wrote scheduled rests into the plan.

How is it going? Just like social science, in which the results are always mixed, I'm getting mixed results from my efforts on the DL6WTP; my running time, speed, and endurance are all coming along better than I ever could have imagined. Twice this week, I "ran" 45 minutes straight through---the pace was slow, but it felt good to just be able to go that long, and I ran three eleven minute miles on the treadmill, with short breaks in between, with no problem. I think it's fair to say that I've never been in better shape in my life, using this as a measure. Biking is okay, though I seem to have less steam on the bike than earlier in the summer, and had some misunderstanding of some of the instructions for the bike workouts. And I miss riding for longer times, though the Plan has me riding with greater intensity---I think. Still, I did one 40-mile loop of the Ironman Wisconsin course last weekend, meeting the goal of being able to do that by summer's end (thanks to Margo for letting me shadow her on a fraction of her long ride ~ those ironpeople are amazing). There's still work to be done to manage the Devil's Lake hills, nonetheless. It's the swimming that's *still* the biggest challenge, and which I nearly allowed to reduce me to tears during a lesson on Wednesday this week. Maybe teary salt in the water would help my buoyancy! I've been in the water three times since, analyzing the problems, trying methodically to re-train myself out of some inefficient habits, and trying to transform the despair that has begun to automatically clench my innards as I turn onto the road toward the pool--new since Wednesday. For reasons I don't quite understand, I was on the edge of tears again last night in the locker room even after making progress on my stroke during a late night swim. I think it's in a better place now than on Wednesday, however, and that's good: it's four weeks to the Devil's Lake Challenge. I'll keep working on it.

Although I'm feeling a bit emotionally stretched at the moment, I'm also feeling very rich in friends these days, related to this adventure: Margo has written and then revised the training plan and given me careful, doable, thoughtful swim lessons, shared several bike rides with me, and always been kind and encouraging; Meghan came with me today for an open water swim and shared the expertise she developed from years of teaching swim team kids on Lake Champlain; Monica has always been a great sport and great mentor on my bike outings; and Mark has volunteered to consult with me about how to further kick my aerobic capacity up a notch. It takes a village of people with alliterative names, apparently, to get one slow, fat, triathlete up to speed. I'm also feeling amused and lucky to be starting triathlon training now. Although most people are "peaking" at about my age, I really can only get better, at least for the next couple of years, given where I've started! Right?

Wishes Come True

Wasn't I just saying I needed an organized countdown training plan to meet the Devil? Little did I know that putting the wish into the cybersphere would somehow magically make it happen. My triathlete friend came to dinner Sunday night and brought with her a bag of spinach and a six-week personalized plan---what a fine dinner guest! I'm definitely going to need the spinach to fuel my way through The Plan. The plan is challenging. It involves fewer bike hours than I've been putting in across a typical week, but greater distances in the swim and the run. It began Monday with a "rest day." Yesterday, there was running three miles on the treadmill and spending 1000 meters in the pool. The run went well. The swim gave evidence of basically three areas in which I need to improve: kicking, arm strokes, and breathing. Oh, yeah, and putting on the cap. Other than that, it was good, and I loved swimming with the previously mentioned fins. If swimming can feel that good, I'm definitely gonna learn to swim. I hope I can do that in six weeks! In the meanwhile, I should contemplate what else I should post as a wish in cyberia, since this one has become material so quickly. Hmmm...let's start with a week's biking vacation somewhere breathtakingly luscious this fall.

SWIM WITH FINS

I came home Thursday night to discover swim fins on my porch...a gentle hint from a friend kind enough to "re-teach" me to swim. Never a person to look gift fins in the mouth, I took them to the pool Saturday afternoon after my Devil's Lake bike ride, and took them for a spin. At first, I thought I'd sink. But then, something happened...25 yards or so into the first drill, I was actually moving forward in the water fast enough that I could see the scenery changing (usually I'm going so slowly that I barely notice). What a joy! I also realized I was paying so much attention to the fins that I couldn't concentrate on how hard it is to breathe---breathing was easy. Is this what swimming is really like? If so, definitely worth doing. I've been in the pool twice since, and both times, it's been great to swim with fins. Too bad that's not the event I'm preparing for! When I take the fins off, I'm back to my old slow kick. Obviously, I need to grow webbing between now and September 17.

T(RIATHLON) Minus SIX WEEKS & COUNTING

AUGUST ALREADY?

How do people have time to work and to train and to blog?

Since last posting, I've had a chance to observe another triathlon, to think more about the tri phenomenon, and to continue my preparations for the mythically difficult Devil's Lake Challenge. On the micro-level, I've made some progress, in terms of medical metrics---down 30 pounds, with a dramatic drop in a lot of the measures that have concerned me; "normal" on these fronts for the first time ever is a better victory in the bigger picture than a strong finish at Devil's Lake would be. And: the social support from the quarters that offer it has been very rewarding. STILL: I'm feeling under-prepared for DL and fussing about that. It's clear it's time to set up a serious, well-planned training regimen for the next six weeks, and that there's a lot to do. I'm re-learning how to swim---triathlon is a humbling sport---far behind on the run, and the last time I went to DL to do the bike course, I ended up "pushing bike" on more than one hill. So, there's both skills work and aerobic work that needs to come together in these six weeks. Figuring out how to get a good night's sleep and really assessing what I need to be eating would be good, too. I'm not sure I have to train harder, but I am sure I have to train smarter. Actually, I do think I have to train harder. Aside from the fractured ankle, I've been pretty easy on myself so far---good for keeping myself amused and in having fun with this, but perhaps not as productive as I could be. Time to push into some pain, I suspect.

At the macro level, I continue to contemplate the economics and class issues related to triathlon, as well as the racial stratification enacted by the sport. I've begun to wonder if it would have less appeal to whites if more people of color participated. In one particularly cynical moment, I began to wonder about the possibility that triathlon is a kind of athletic gated community; I mean, does the expense of the sport, along with its self-indulgent and individualizing characteristics, function to exclude athletes who, if present, would quickly make a strong showing? Does the expense work to limit the pool of competitors in ways that benefit whites---not just socially but athletically? Is this the same as other sports that historically excluded people of color---like tennis and golf? And how is it different? One doesn't have to be a member of The Club, officially, anyway, to swim, bike, and run, but the label status and high end gear can certainly function as membership fees.

On the up side, I can see for myself how/why triathloning has a lot of appeal besides its social homogeneity. It builds on pastimes that were easy and fun and associated with freedom for me as a kid; it gets people in our nature-deficit-disordered society outside to swim, bike, and run; it combines an interesting mix of autonomy and personal achievement with community---and that community---obsessive compulsive as it may be--is nonetheless in some ways radically resistant to this culture's pressure to be inactive, unfit, and resigned to poor health, and/or to the medical management of illnesses that can be treated or prevented through diet and exercise (which, of course, have unfortunately become consumer commodities themselves). So, while I'm developing a more deeply critical sociological analysis of what's going on here, I'm not ready to argue that triathloning or triathlon competitions are *only* problematic. Like most stories, this one is mixed. I *am* thinking it might be interesting to start a project to promote the inclusion of people from more diverse backgrounds in the sport, however. Given the out-of-control rates of metabolic disorder in communities of color, the accessibility of swimming, biking, and running on at least an introductory level, and the impact this can have on all of the precursors of diabetes, hypertension and heart disease (cholesterol, high BP, high triglycerides--the central characteristics of metabolic disorder), it could prove as effective and as fun a bait-and-switch into better health for others as it has so far been for me.

Maybe I'll think more about that tomorrow, when I'm at Devil's Lake at the crack of dawn trying to figure out a strategy for getting up that hill on County DL that doesn't involve pushing the bike.