I remember in my early high school years thinking about how cool it would be to complete a triathlon at some point in my life. I don’t remember what sparked my interest and there was no real reason behind it besides the simple fact that it seemed like a cool thing to accomplish in life. I never really thought about it much until my first couple years in college when I realized that I enjoyed taking on physical challenges and pushing my physical limits. As I studied outdoor education in college I found personal challenge in backpacking up and down mountains for several days with a 40 lb pack on my back and taking only what you really need for the journey. I enjoyed kayaking and guiding rafts down class three and four rapids, mountain biking technical trails and learning how to perform rescues in winter traveling conditions. These were all very specific challenges that taught me a lot about my own fears, joys, limitations and strengths. I’ve always been a self-competitor and seeker of pushing myself to discover the line between pushing too hard and remaining on the healthy edge of my limits.
I remember getting into running a bit in college for our PE workouts. We would go for runs in the wide open Prairie fields on a straight road where the horizon line eventually swallowed the pavement in the distance. I remember running (only a mile or so out) and wondering how far I could run into the horizon before I would hit my limit and decide to stop (Forest Gump style). I never tried it of course. I remember running my first 5k race in Calgary, Alberta, in December, in -20 C and thinking to myself how crazy runners were to call this fun. It was miserably cold with every breath I took and my legs cramped instantly from the cold. Yet for some reason I still sort of enjoyed it deep down. During this period of time though, I developed a mild case of shin splints and decided I didn’t really enjoy running all that much, and hung up my running shoes from that point on. It wasn’t until I moved to Truckee (a few year after college) and really started to enjoy cycling, and then getting into swimming after becoming a lifeguard, that I started to think about the challenge of doing a triathlon. The one thing that I couldn’t get past in my mind is how much I dreaded the thought of running for more than a few miles at a time, let alone after swimming and biking! Being anemic my whole life was another physical and mental battle. With low levels of hemoglobin in my blood I definitely battle a tired and limited body when it comes to sustained, strenuous activity. Despite the physical and mental battles, there still remained a level of mystery in what it would be like to complete a triathlon. But for now I put that thought on the back shelf.
Cycling brought forth many new challenges that I took on in the first few years of being in Truckee, beginning the summer of 2007, when I purchased my first road bike. I enjoyed pushing myself to new levels on the bike by seeking to improve my ability to ride up Old 40 (a 3 mi, 1,200’ climb up a mountain pass), ride the 72 miles around Lake Tahoe, and complete my first century. I also accomplished a long time goal of riding a section of the Big Sur coastline south of my hometown of Monterey in October of 2009. These were all amazing experiences that I enjoyed over the course of a few years and never really thought about doing when I first got into cycling. When I looked at the progress and accomplishments I reached in cycling and how my body always (slowly, but surely) recovered from these physical challenges I began to open my mind to explore further what my body and mind was capable of.
This past fall (2011) was when I realized I could probably complete an olympic distance triathlon. It came about randomly one afternoon when I went on a mountain bike ride on the Emigrant Trail (rode about 12 miles) and then decided to go to the pool and swim, mainly to cool off and shower. After turning a simple swim into a mile workout, I decided I’d already done a bike and swim, why not go for a run and make it a triathlon that day. So I did. I ran 3 miles around my neighborhood in Glenshire (off the couch, with no previous run training) and completed my first, unofficial, “sprint” triathlon. I was obviously sore the next few days! It was a good feeling though to look back on the day and the fact that I was able to take part in three different sports back to back. There was a feeling of accomplishment that made me made me start to consider again the possibility of completing a longer distance triathlon.
Over the next few weeks, I looked up different triathlons online and talked to a few people and the Donner Lake Triathlon came to my attention. After browsing the website and looking at the course maps I was definitely intimidated by the distance and terrain yet curious as to whether or not this was something I could do. The question wasn’t could I swim a mile in a 66-degree open water lake, bike 24 miles with 2,500’ elevation gain, and then run 6.5 miles in the heat around Donner Lake with rolling hills at the end ... but a question of could I do it and still maintain a level of health and joy through it all. After a couple months of talking about wanting to do it and saying I’d do it, I was encouraged to just go for it. I knew I wouldn’t actually do it unless I physically paid the $100 registration fee as motivation to not back out. So I did. I finally decided to commit to participating in the Donner Lake Olympic DistanceTriathlon. Let the fun begin.
I knew the run would be the hardest for me so I decided to start there in my training. I can remember sometime in January running my first mile, breathing heavy, my legs hurting and thinking to myself ... this is miserable, what am I getting myself into!? How on earth would I run 6.5 miles let alone do it after swimming 1 mile and biking 24! This should be interesting. But over the course of the month, buying a good pair of running shoes, focusing on form over speed and taking it slow, I began to see definite improvements. After a training run of only a couple miles one day there was a definite flip of the switch in my mind toward running. I remember thinking to myself ... “I don’t think I’ll ever LOVE running, but I can definitely enjoy this at times.”
I did my research and found some training plans to help me get in shape for the race over a 16 week period of time. As I sat down with the workout schedule and my work schedule before me, I was definitely overwhelmed with how much time and discipline would be required to train for this triathlon to even reach a moderate level of preparedness for it. But I was committed and I was ready to take it one week at a time. And that’s exactly how I had to do all my training. Because of the inconsistency of my work schedule and my other commitments several nights of the week, I literally sat down on Saturday afternoons to plan out what the next week would look like for being able to build my workouts and still attend and pour into the people and events going on around me. Another challenging twist to this 16 week training plan was training for a 100 mile bike ride I do every year with Young Life that fell in the 6th week of my training at the end of April. Cycling workouts obviously took over for a few weeks before that and at week 7, after the century ride, I had to take a rest and start over again especially with building up my running back to a good base of a few miles at a time.
Training was going well. I was enjoying the discipline of knowing what workouts I would do each week and looking forward to them ... and also having to push myself through ones that I wasn’t as excited for. When dealing with a body that is always weak and tired, I found that the key component in my training was not so much sticking hard to the plan but listening to my body and knowing when to rest and when to push harder. It was interesting to see how my body adapted at times and pushed harder than I thought it was capable of, and at other times how it shut down and hit the wall sooner than I thought. The hardest part of my training was allowing my body to get what it needed to maintain health and not pushing it to the point of counter-productivity in making progress in its abilities to complete the distances required to complete the triathlon. I had to be really careful in how much I was working my body.
At week 9 after landing hard on my foot while rock climbing and then doing a big run (without realizing my foot was injured), I developed a painful injury in the outside arch of my foot. This forced me to take a week off from any impact training on my foot. Then at the end of week 10, I hit a huge mental and physical wall in my training. I was simply tired and started to lose sight of why I was doing it all. So I stopped. I took several days off from activity and just rested. This was really healthy for me. I came back stronger and more excited for the triathlon again. Knowing my body and the fact that I wasn’t concerned about how fast I could finish the triathlon released me from a lot of pressure to complete every workout I had scheduled. I felt no real guilt or worry in missing a workout here or there or even going to hang out with a friend instead of doing the planned workout. For me it wasn’t about my performance but more about the discipline of completing a big challenge and allowing others to join me in the journey. For a sport that is very individualistic I tried my best to create community in my training and conversations about the triathlon. It’s funny how just signing up to do a triathlon opened up so many doors in creating relationships with new people and sparked in me a deeper interest in learning about health and fitness. This reality above the thought of just completing a triathlon brought the most satisfaction.
After completing 76 hours and over 540 miles worth of training over the 16 weeks, I arrived at the taper week before the triathlon. This was mentally one of the hardest weeks of the journey. In conversations with different people who knew I would be doing the triathlon there was a lot of passively communicated pressure to perform and go out and push hard to place well. I kept getting frustrated in my mind with these people as I struggled to communicate to them that I didn’t care about these things. The only person I was doing this triathlon for was myself. I didn’t care where I placed or who I beat, I simply wanted to go out there and finish and have fun and do it with other people alongside me. I didn’t sleep well that week as my mind just wouldn’t shut off. There was a level of uncertainty in my mind as to how all the parts would work together, if I thought through everything I needed to in preparation for my transitions, if I had all my gear tuned up, etc. I also struggled to fight off the pressures of people expecting me to perform. I went down that road a few times and found myself calculating and processing through how fast I might be able to finish. I didn’t like it. I created all this extra pressure on myself because of other people’s expectations. The day before the triathlon however, I let it all go. I came to a point of release in my mind that let go of any pressure to perform and simply remembered why I wanted to do it in the first place. I just wanted to have fun doing the sports I enjoy and seek to push myself physically and mentally with this challenge. I got the most restful 7 hours of sleep the night before my triathlon and woke up at 4:30am with a deep level of excitement for what I was about to do that day.
I arrived at 5:30am to the West End Beach parking lot and began the set up process with a non-anxious heart and mind. It was a good feeling. I set up my transition area with my bike and all my gear laid out in its organized fashion for quick transitions between events. I remember pausing to eat a banana and found myself staring at the sun rising over a very calm and peaceful Donner Lake, and feeling very calm and peaceful myself. I was getting excited to be swimming in that scenery in just over an hour. A friend spotted me and came over to chat. As we were talking he asked if I was doing the sprint or olympic distance. When he found out I was doing the olympic he seemed surprised by how calm I appeared compared to the majority of people rustling around the transition areas setting up their stuff in full on go mode for this race. It was quite the sight really. I remember just looking around and feeling so separated from the crowd of people and simply focused on having a good time and making the most of every minute of it. It was neat to run into several people I knew through the pool, fitness center, old friends and just people I met in the community as we all trained for this event. We all exchanged encouragements and excitement for one another.
With only a half hour to go till my wave start time for the swim I suited up in my wetsuit and started to head to the shoreline to get in a warm up swim. My friend Lisa arrived to watch the swim and start of the bike, take photos and be an encouragement. I also ran into all my co-workers who would be out in the water on paddle boards lifeguarding the swim. It was nearing go time. As the event officially began with the sprint race starting first and then the waves of men heading out for the olympic distance, I found my place in the small sea of baby blue caps and got ready to let the fun begin!
With the official “GO” from the announcer we were off. I found my spot off to the right of the main pack and tried to get into a mellow swimming rhythm. All I could focus on was how much I was enjoying it already. As I swam I would sight every 8-10 strokes and was surprised at how fast the first buoy was coming up in the distance. As I swam by the lifeguards on the paddle boards I made it a point to lift my head and shout a quick hello to my boss and co-workers. They laughed and shouted encouragements as I swam by them. I was able to keep a relaxed rhythm and was really enjoying the swim. I felt my body gliding through the water and as I lifted my head out of the water for every breath I took in the amazing scenery of the mountains surrounding the lake. I was in a joyful rhythm. As I got out of the water after the first lap and did the beach run to begin lap #2 of the swim course I looked at my watch and was surprised by how quickly I completed that first lap without even feeling like I was pushing that hard. This encouraged me to push it a little harder on the second lap and see if I could finish the mile swim in under 35 min. (my usual time in the pool). I still made it a point to say hi to all the lifeguards on the second lap as well. As I came out of the water I looked down and saw that only 32 min. had elapsed since I started! I was feeling very fresh still.
I peeled my wetsuit halfway off and removed my cap and goggles on the run into the transition area. A surge of adrenaline ran through me in excitement for the transition and going straight into a bike ride up Old 40. After only two and a half minutes of entering the transition area I was jogging my bike out to the road. At the exit gate I recognized one of the volunteers as a guy I worked with at Sugar Bowl a few years back and greeted him with a hello. I hopped on my bike with a smile and mentally prepared myself for 3 miles straight uphill with no warm up.
Between the cool breeze hitting my still dripping wet body and the adrenaline pumping through me I was off to a great start on the climb. I felt strong and fresh and was enjoying the scenery up the pass. If not for the dramatic mountains and looking down at the lake below that I had just swam a mile in, this climb would be much harder mentally to endure. But never once did I experience a lack of joy in climbing 1,200 feet in 3.1 miles. With simple hellos, cracking jokes and short conversations with people around me (most of them passing me by) I slowly made my way to the top. There’s nothing more humbling than seeing the number 61 (the racers age) on the back of an old man’s calf as he cruised past me on the hill. I just smiled and enjoyed the fact that old guys could maintain a great level of fitness at their age. As I glanced at my bike computer from time to time, I was noticing that I was making faster time up the hill than normal. The bit of the self-competitive side in me came out and I decided to push a little harder. As I rounded the turn to the Rainbow bridge with about a 1/2 mile to go to the top I realized that a new personal record up Old 40 was definitely in sight! I went for it. I upped my cadence and focused on full circle pedaling and found myself with another surge of adrenaline to make it to the top without expending too much precious energy for the long road ahead. In a standing position off the saddle pumping the last hundred yards I was stoked to look down and see that I had just set a new personal best of 33 minutes to the top.
As I recovered from the climb and made it through the rolling terrain over the next three miles I prepared my mind for the exhilarating six mile descent down toward Rainbow lodge. As I flew down the road, I passed by the Young Life Mountain Lodge and smiled and thought back to my first road ride five years ago on this very stretch of road where I first got into cycling. And now here I was hitting top speeds of 40 mph and loving every minute of it. It was hard not to smile but I did my best to contain the joy as the bugs and wind in the mouth at these speeds are not very enjoyable! As I passed by people on their way back up the hill in the opposite direction they were smiling as they could sense the pure enjoyment I was experiencing on the way downhill. I would shout encouragements as I went by and they would shout them back. At a little over 12 miles I found myself at the turnaround and again mentally prepared myself for the long and slow climb back to the top.
A couple miles in I was starting to feel pretty tired. As is the case in any challenging physical activity, my mind was willing and ready to keep pushing but my body just couldn’t keep up. I slowed down a bit and focused on maintaining a pedaling effort that was effective but also thinking about saving my legs for the long run ahead. As I passed the Summit General Store I was encouraged by the home owners sitting in lawn chairs still encouraging us folks who were towards the back of the pack. I always appreciate encouragement in events like this and those who stick it out to encourage even the very last person taking on the challenge.
As I reached the top of old 40 and got excited for the technical 3 mile descent I realized again that I could beat my previous training record for the bike course if I made it down the hill in a decent time. With the pack very thinned out I didn’t fear having other cyclists around me so I went for it and enjoyed the fastest descent down old 40 I’ve ever done. I was feeling confident and focused on each turn and enjoying the wind cooling me off. It felt good to break the speed limit on my bike as well, good thing there were no cops around!
Coming into the transition area I was feeling the fatigue in my body and started to prepare myself for the 6.5 mile run ahead of me in the heat. With a quick change of the shoes, clipping my race belt on and drenching my entire head and upper body with a water bottle, I was off on the run. After only a couple minutes of getting off my bike seat I found myself putting one foot in front of the other as my body transitioned to a different sport using already tired muscles. As I looked at my watch on the start of the run, I already realized that if I kept a slow and steady pace I would have plenty of time to finish in my goal of 4 hours or less. My new challenge was whether or not I could do it in 3:45. This was my motivation to keep trudging on but also to make sure I didn’t push too hard and exhaust my body to the point of having to slow down too much.
At every mile or so there were aid stations and I was very grateful for these people, they were my saviors on the run. As the temperatures were getting warmer, I was glad I carried a gatorade bottle with me so that I could use those little cups of ice cold water they provide to simply dump straight on my head to cool me off. And they did, every mile I looked forward to those cold little cups to keep my body from overheating, which it tends to do easily when its working hard. I remember at mile 4.5, after the long, steep climb out of Donner State Park on the south side of the lake, seeing that aid station and thinking this must be a little snap shot of heaven. I grabbed two cups of ice cold water and dumped them on my head, face, and down my race suit. I literally let out a loud woooo of refreshment and the aid people just laughed at how excited I was to receive cold water.
Besides the cold water, the views were also incredible on this run. I enjoyed looking up to the mountains and watching people having fun out on the lake with each stride I took. I still enjoyed cracking jokes with people along the way and just seeing life happen all around me as I was in the middle of my own personal challenge. It was kind of surreal. My body was hot and tired and mentally I had to keep pushing on but I was also enjoying being in a relaxed state of mind as I ran. At mile 5, the last aid station, I dumped more water on my head and thanked the volunteers for what they were doing. I was encouraged as one of the volunteers commented on how good I looked. I smiled as I actually did feel pretty good and mentally energized at this point in the race considering the amount of work my body had done the last three and a half hours straight.
For the last 2 miles of the race I had been pacing about 100 yards behind a lady in front of me with no real interest in trying to catch her or get in front of her. As I drew closer to the end and started to hear the music and announcers back at the beach I tapped into my reserve energy tank and began picking up my pace a bit. As I came down the last hill and rounded the corner to the last 1/4 mile of run back to West End Beach I flipped on the turbo switch. Looking at my watch and realizing I could finish in under 3:50 and overtake the lady in front of me (not to mention the pure excitement of finishing my first triathlon) was more than enough motivation to start sprinting toward the finish line.
As I entered the park gate and ran down the fenced off course and crossed the finish line there was nothing but smiles on my face, obviously. After 3 hours, 49 minutes and 27 seconds of physical exertion on the course, I was greeted by young kids placing a finisher medal around my neck and to me that felt just as good as if I had won the entire race. I was completely satisfied with how the day went. From the 4:30 am wake up, to the meeting and greeting in the transition area with friends, the swim, the bike, the run, and all the memories created in between, I crossed that finish line perfectly content.
So, here I am a couple weeks later writing about the journey and it has been a neat process of seeing what I learned through it all. For the first week following the triathlon the question I was asked most by people was, “What’s next?” Again in my mind I was a bit frustrated by these questions as I simply replied, “vacation.” I kept joking with people that I was going to take a vacation from exercise and had no real plans for my next triathlon. From the very beginning, I wasn’t interested in becoming an intense triathlete and I’m still not. I’m not planning my next big race or hitting the gym to keep going in strict training. For me that’s not what this was about. I spent four and a half months of life pouring into training for this triathlon for the purpose of going out there and completing it to the best of my ability and to enjoy it, and that’s what I did. Now I rest. I plan to go back to pursuing and enjoying all the other things I love to do like spending time with people, going rock climbing, rollerblading, playing frisbee and whatever else I find myself wanting to explore next. I have definitely walked away with a renewed appreciation and enjoyment for swimming, biking, and running and plan to continue to enjoy these activities, but they are not the focus. My triathlon journey was a season of hard work and self-discovery but it was just a season. Although I would love to participate in more triathlons in the future (especially the shorter sprint courses), I don’t plan on jumping back into another season of training just yet.
In my triathlon journey I came to learn more first hand that the human body can endure a great deal, it’s just a matter of the amount of sacrifice it takes to get through it and the amount of time you’re willing to spend recovering from it. For me, I enjoyed the training process. For those four and a half months of life that I sacrificed time and energy that I could have poured into other interests I look back with no regrets. I did my best to maintain my priorities of being in community with my friends and church body as well as develop many new relationships through the process. I discovered that I am capable of more than I thought I could accomplish physically. This triathlon was the hardest physical challenge I’ve ever completed. After finishing the triathlon my body was definitely depleted of energy for several days but the body recovers and I am left with a great experience overall. I’m very grateful for the people who helped me and encouraged me along the way and I’ll never forget the memories of my first triathlon in one of the most beautiful places on earth that I also get to call my home. And to answer the question, “what’s next?,” that everyone keeps asking, I’d have to answer that a half marathon just might be what’s next. It seems very intimidating and painful but there’s a strangely familiar curiosity in my mind that wonders what it would be like to run 13.1 miles! But we’ll save that for another time. For now, it’s “vacation” time.
