For the LOVE of Triathlon

Like many things in life, you don't realize how much you really LOVE something until you go without it. After Ironman, there was a period of 7 days where I did nothing related to triathlon. It was kind of a good feeling I guess? I knew I had to rest my body and my mind so I made the most of that first saturday morning watching Giada and Ina and trying to just sit around. It drove me a little crazy as much as I longed for it for one full year. The next morning, I met my best friends and their kids for brunch at our signature good-old-days sunday funday place- Stanleys. It was UH-MAZING! It felt good to actually be home when they called with the invitation let alone be able to say, "I'm coming right over!"

Then came Monday. It was like I couldn't take it anymore. I went to the gym and ran on the treadmill for a glorious 35 minutes. I was in HEAVEN! I knew I was supposed to take a full 2 weeks off, but I was now bursting at the seams. In only a week's time, I could feel my pace and energy slow, but I felt great being back in it. Two days later I was in the pool. Another 2 days later I was riding 45 miles on the lakefront. It was a good ride with Erika and Akemi, but I was tired by the end and I was sore the next day. Just 2 weeks ago, I did Ironman. There was something unsettling about this to me.

During these same 2 weeks, Liz requested a review of races that I identified for 2011, so I tired to remind myself that I must listen to Liz and appreciate the gradual loss of fitness I am about to experience as an opportunity for growth come November 1 when 2011 training starts. That would include the first week off and 6 subsequent weeks of just playing around training and staying somewhat in control of my fitness.

To date, 6 1/2 weeks of those 7 weeks have passed. And, a loss of fitness has occured as Liz promised. However, for as much fitness was lost, twice as much desire to improve more this season has been gained. I kept up 3 weekly workouts with some pretty serious run splits and intensity training and can still go out and run an easy 10 miles without thinking twice as I did on Saturday. Tonight, I resumed Tuesday night swim practice at UIC with Sharone, our training center's owner. I am ready.

Not a lot of time has passed since Ironman and I realize I can't wait to get back into it- and, I know the committment involved won't end until this time next year once it starts again in 5 days. Triathlon has become my passion in life and I truly love it.

I also realized how much I much love triathlon when I made my biggest committment to date 3 weeks ago. I bought my Cervelo P2! It is so perfect and so fast. And, when I bought it, I knew it meant more than having a $3500 credit card bill to pay off.

It meant that I really love this sport and I'm serious about this next level of committment. At first, when I woke up the next day and saw it in my foyer I thought: HO-LY-SHIT. WHAT DID I DO! But, I knew I was ready for it. I could've charged it back in July and had to race the Steelhead Half Ironman and even Ironman in September. Some people don't understand why I just didn't buy it then if I was going to buy it now anyway.

I didn't deserve it then. Now, I know what it takes and I want to go there. I want to train this year 10 times harder than last year and I can say that because I know how much I love it. I needed to hear from Liz that going even further than I dreamed- trying to qualify for Nationals next year- actually is possible. I needed to survive Ironman and come out on the other end saying, "That was the best day of my life."

For whatever reason, there are a bunch of quotes lately about how much the average Ironman athlete's salary is and the answer is twice the amount of what I make. And, I could've told you that myself after I realized this past year of training, races, coaching and replacing shoes/goggles/swimsuits/tires/sportsbras/nutrition, etc totaled over $10,000. And, that was before the Cervelo.

So, I also realized how much I loved triathlon when I decided to get a second job to pay for it all. I just started on Saturday as a home health OT because RIC has now given me a 1.5% raise 3 years in a row and I simply cannot afford this anymore. Tonight, after working at RIC all day, I saw one of my new home health patients from 5-6pm, finally came home and made a quick salad with fresh breaded eggplant with basil in 25 minutes and then ran to swim practice on the other side of the city from 7:30-9pm.

So, when people ask me why do I do this, I say I do it for the love of triathlon. After a full days work at 2 jobs, I can't think of a better way to end my day than to drive 35 minutes to swim practice with our tough as nails triathlon club owner in a 50mph gusting storm at 7:30 at night.

And, I was lucky enough that he made me stay longer than everyone else to make a few additional improvements to my stroke.

Man, I LOVE IT!