Try, At Last, Triathlon!

Picked up a couple of books on the sport, which was timely and greatly refreshing. It was nice to read Scott Tinley, whose first books on the sport I bought while in Hawaii back in 1987, and it was sometime in 1985 when I first thought about how cool the sport seemed. But it will be Mark Finch's book with Scott Tinley's generous account of Dave Scott and Mark Allen which really inspires and got all the heat back into my bones again. I read through the drills again, and will have to go through the detailed preparation chapters to pick out those great insights. The other book, "Starting Out Triathlon" by Paul Huddle and Roch Frey that has incredible tips in very concise and readable format. Of course, I finally got into the sport last year, and made it within top ten of my category for the Olympic Duathlon in my very first attempt, even at a Long Slow Pace. Because you can only be a "newbie" once, I can't say that this is all completely new. But I only did the Half Standard Triathlon, and even then, got disqualified because of a miscount on the bike leg. What I would love to achieve this year is doing well as a newbie for the Olympic Standard, which I was prepared for last year but missed the race registration. Reading it all afresh is a terrific thing to do, too. You gain a better understanding when you have the experience in the pocket. Now, I bought and given away a few triathlon books, so that explains why I have had to get these books again in my hands for re-read and re-contemplation. Of course the pictures inspire, but the best part is finding out that some of the basic exercises eg. chin-ups, training concepts eg. transition exercises, correct use of jargon, and use of accessories like pull buoys etc. are precisely recommended because they do work. Perhaps I read it before but until you get a great deal more experience speaking with the real Ironmen and enthusiasts, listening to their tips and applying them at your next training session, and working some things our yourself, then you realise that you may have missed out a lot from the first read. Nutrition for me is probably now the most critical, as I haven't been too good about my diet as a way of life, and habit, to put it mildly! Anyway, this is the week to start making it all come on back together again. I miss my training partner, really. There are fantastic comments Mike Finch makes about starting out, and one of the first things he says is that it is important to get a training partner to inspire you and motivate you to get out of bed and sweat it out with him, because it also takes out the drudgery of training, while if he's perfect, sets the bar high enough for the both of you to push each other and become excellent in the sport. So, at least that part of my own experience is vindicated, and you can't ever be too grateful when you have had a great partner when starting out as I did back then. But now, it's a solo trip, and all those beer talk about friendship and support, well, is a heap of cheap talk mates give each other. Can't wait for the week ahead to see how my commitment goes. The weather has turned and we get the regular afternoon Sumatras now, which bring in alot of thunder and lightning, and bursts of monsoon showers daily. Well, better to be weather proof. That's the theory. But this sort of humidity gets straight to the bones and before you know it, you are down nursing a horrid flu or rhinitis of sorts.