I was born in 1982, and have always been very active. My evenings as a youth were filled with hockey, volleyball, lacrosse, basketball and, well, any other sport I could get my hands on. Despite being as active as I was, I was always on the heavy side. Being heavy didn't really hold me back; I still managed to play junior hockey and compete in the national lacrosse program. But, while in university and college, my weight started to creep up to a dangerous level; before I knew what happend, I was tipping the scale at 265 pounds.
I hadn't noticed the weight pack on, but I did notice that my confidence was severely lacking and, I wasn't the first, second or third option for the opposite sex.
My drive to lose the weight was completely motivated by attracting the ladies. I cut carbs and calories and hit the weights hard. About a year later, I was down to 205; I was able to bench close to 300 pounds, curl 70s and leg press close to 1000. I still had some softness around the mid section, but for the most part I was solid.
My time in the gym reaquanted me with a bunch of guys I went to high school with; we were essentially a bunch of educated meat heads focused on having fun and meeting girls. By this time, I was 24, still hovering around a very strong 205 and feeling very lost. I had no challenge, nothing that was pushing me to change, grow, adapt and evolve into the man I was meant to be. So I cut the weight lifting; I realized it was out of pure vanity and had nothing to do with my long term life goals. I started running; my great addiction!!!
I don't know how I missed out on running competetively in high school; all the signs were there. The school track coach was always begging me to represent the school in the 3000 and 5000m runs. I never knew why he was so persistant, but looking back, I am sure it had to do with me smashing fittness test scores every year.
Anyway, its 2006, I am 24 and now running. Without doing as much as 20 miles a week, I decided to run in my first marathon; it was hell, but I managed a 3:57. Considering I really didn't train and still a meat headed 205 pounds, I look back now and realize that my time was respectable.
Over the next three years, I ran to maintain my health. I ran in the local marathon every year, but still was doing running half fast. In 2010, I decided to log some serious miles; by September, 2010, I was logging roughly 60 miles a week. My PRs were as follows:
5k - 19:00
10k - 40:15
1/2 - 1:31:14
Full - 3:48
Prior to 2010, I had no clue what my fastest 5k, 10k or 1/2 were. The only comparison I have is the following:
Marathon - previous best time was 3:57 in 2007
1/2 - First 1/2 that year I did in 1:37
10k - First 10k of the year I did in 42:40
5k - First 5k of the year I did in 21:45
So there were some gains, and I am sure that I could have improved my times, but just running was a drag for me. To get better at marathons, I had to throw down almost a 20 mile run a week. So I kind of let running go. Oh, and I was still hovering around 200 pounds.
Its now 2011, a friend (we'll call him Charles) and I are discussing triathlons. Charles is a former university swimmer trying to grow his business by networking. After a couple weeks of working on tempo runs with Charles, he does his first 10k race; he did well, and really enjoyed the atmosphere, but admits that any greater distance of races have no appeal to him.
A couple weeks after the 10k race, Charles became the proud owner of a vintage (1998) Specialized (I have no clue the model). With his bike, and my commuter Norco VSX (its definately not meant for racing), Charles and I half heartedly go out to a local pak and do a mock sprint triathlon. The mock was a blast!!! It was tough, but not the same grind that straight running is. Charles did his first sprint a couple weeks later and finished with a 1:23. After looking over the splits from the race, we see plenty of areas to improve on.
Two weeks after the Sprint Charles did, we both enetered in a foilman race. Charles made significant improvements, while I came away with frustration. On each leg of the race, I had serious issues. On the swim, I found it very difficult to to keep a straight line; I probably added an extra 200m just from not spotting. So ontop of swimming a very innefficient line, I was swimming with pointed toes, which means flexed calf muscles. On the last leg of the swim I had planned to leave it all in the water; however, my calfs had another idea. A short while into my last leg my flexed calves started to severely cramp. The cramp in my right leg subsided, but I completely lost all use of my left leg for the remainder of the swim.
So I finally finished what should have been a 950m swim in 21 minutes and hobbled to my bike. To reduce my transition time, I decided to not wear socks. Just an FYI, I had been training with socks on.
I felt fresh on the bike, which was very encouraging. The first half of the bike distance was up a gradual 100m elevation into a 30kph wind. As I mentioned, I was using was a hybrid commuter bike. In training, I was able to hold down 30kph over 30km with ease. So, despite using a non-road bike, I managed to stay close to the top 20 pack. As we turned around for our glorious downhill ride with the wind at our backs, I shifted my gears only to hear a terrible grinding; my front deraileur wasn't pushing my chain to give me my top ring of gears. I did the best I could, but could only manage to hold 40kph; the top 20 pack left me in their dust.
When I arrived at the transition zone, I was determined to post a sub 44 minute 10.5km. The first three km were great; my pace was hovering around four minute per km. Shortly after the third km, the leg cramps came back with a vengence. I was left with the ability to hobble, and nothing more. After 54 minutes, I finished the run. My finish time for the foilman was 2:24.
I left the race with so much to think about, but not just that; I was hooked. From here on out, I was a triathalete. I wanted nothing more than to be the best, and, at the age of 28, I was starting from the back of the pack.
