Vaya Con Dios Triathlon (1985-2015)
Triathlon died for me in August of 2015. I rolled my ankle during a run and suffered a fairly serious ankle injury where I damaged two tendons (1). Being the smart, knowledgeable athlete I was with years of experience, I of course waited 5 months until I saw a doctor. After six months of rehab, I regained enough strength, mobility and stability that I could walk, bike and play golf (1A) without a ton of problems. What I can’t do, and believe me I’ve tried, is run. The Doc has recommended I don’t do it and quite frankly, I’m physically unable to do so (2).
I came back from a ride a couple of days ago and told my wife that I was now at peace with my triathlon “career” ending. I pulled off my black mourning suit (2) and mentioned that enough time had passed for me to accept the inevitable.
Like many of you, I discovered triathlon through World Wide of Sports. I was instantly hooked on this event and looked forward to seeing it broadcast on a yearly basis. My triathlon career started out on an auspicious note as I won the first triathlon I ever entered way back in 1985. It was a local race organized by my high school swim coach (4). There were maybe 2 dozen people in the entire race. We swam at the local YWCA (5) and biked and ran around the streets of my hometown of Summit, NJ. There were no volunteers, aid stations or officials on motorcycles. If I remember correctly, a police officer was going around the streets tearing down the signs telling the racers which way to go. It was totally up to you to remember the correct route. It was boat loads of fun. I even made the local paper (6). I should have stopped then because I would never again reach such dizzying heights of glory.
I was a swimmer growing up. Good enough to make Y Nationals in high school and swim for my college team (7). But not good enough that you wanted me anywhere near the pool when it counted. I like to consider myself the Mark Sanchez or Geno Smith of my college team. Good for entertainment purposes – But don’t actually let me swim when it counted (8). Swimming took precedence in those days but that is the background I come from.
Once college was over, I became much more interested in those two great pursuits of young men everywhere – booze and women. Probably in that order. So my triathlon career consisted of about three races total by 1989. It would be another 10 years or so before I entered another one.
By the time I reached my mid-thirties I once again entered the triathlon fray. By then, I was married and had two Rugrats and was in dire need of alone time. Plus, it kept me in relatively good shape. Thus began phase two of my triathlon odyssey where for the next 15 years or so I began to relearn and experience the sport I had discovered as a kid.
The truth is, I was an incredibly mediocre triathlete. To keep my bad Jets quarterback analogy going, I was the Tim Tebow of Triathletes. I could still swim, could bike a little bit, but could not run a lick. Oddly enough, I probably enjoyed the run training and biking the most. I’d had enough of swimming. Most memories of that involved a lot of pain. I did like beating most of the other poor saps in the swimming portion of races, only to see those same folks blow by me later on during the run.
I didn’t do Ironman. I didn’t fly to races. I didn’t even buy a triathlon bike (9). I did have a good solid road bike and I stuck to local races within an hour or two drive. They were community races. I wasn’t really seeking out the huge event TRI’s. I was the average weekend warrior. My wife (10) and boys (11) would follow along and cheer their Dad on when they were younger. I didn’t have “TRI” Friends. I was just an average guy doing his thing who enjoyed the whole triathlon lifestyle.
Interestingly enough, while I was never particularly good myself, I did touch the feet quite literally of those who were not just good but world class. I swam with Dede Griesbauer back in the 1980’s and ran across her a couple of times during her Triathlon career. I consider it an honor to be shredded by her in the pool. About ten years ago during the winter and spring months, I swam with noted Coach and author Don Fink (12). One year we had the great triathlete Spencer Smith with us in the lane. That was fun.
Like many of you, I became somewhat obsessed with the sport. I read the books, I bought the magazines, bought a training plan or two, and looked at Slowtwitch on a daily basis. Even contributed once in a while (12A). I watched the yearly broadcast on NBC of the Ironman (13) and still do. I used to make these grand spreadsheets detailing my workouts for 3 to 4 months in advance. Unlike many here however, I rarely followed those grand plans and just tried to get out there and swim, bike and run when I could.
So life went on. Some years I geared up and got 2-3 races in which was a good year. Other years, I petered out before June before I even got a race in. Most years, I was pretty happy to get a race or two done. I had good years and not so good years. Most of the races I went to were always well organized and fun. The Skylands Triathlon (14) with its killer bike climb was an early memorable one. I did a couple of Philly TRI’s – Two of which I had the dumb luck to do when the swim was cancelled. I liked that race quite a bit. I did a couple of local races down in and around Long Beach Island, NJ, my home away from home. Always great to race where you love to be. Most of the time I would swim well, bike ok, and die on the run. Life was good. I didn’t mind. I just enjoyed competing against the clock. I did seem to pick races that were hot and humid. A bad combination for me. I suppose picking races in June, July and August in the northeast kind of made that likely now that I think about it.
2015 was a good Triathlon year for me. It had started out a bit slow training wise, but I geared up as the weather got warmer I was feeling pretty good about myself. I lost 20 pounds of cheap beer gut and holiday food love handles that I had put on and was feeling tan, ready and rested. I trimmed the enormous amount of hair I had acquired over the years on my arms, legs and back (15) and I had a nice early race in June down on LBI. I outsprinted a guy by a couple of seconds for the coveted 3rd place 45-49 (16) age group category certificate and 10% discount coupon.
The big race for me that year was the Atlantic City Triathlon. I ended up doing quite well for me (17) and I was really happy about the whole experience. It was one of the better races I had in probably 10 years. I went and played golf with my buddies a couple of days later on our annual golf trip and had a great time. Life was good. About 10 days after the TRI I decided to go for an easy run and that was all she wrote. I stepped off a sidewalk onto the road and rolled the ankle. Funny enough, thinking back, I think I had already damaged the ankle. It hurt quite a bit during my last race on the run and I do remember the ankle not being quite right in the weeks leading up to the race.
I leave with no regrets. It was a good run. As I told my wife yesterday, it took a little bit of mourning to get past it, and I was feeling a tad melancholy, but I have moved on.
Maybe I’ll bike a century next year as I try something new.
Actually, I hope my golf game improves enough so I can start taking money consistently from my buddies. That would be a win-win.
Cheers.
(1) The more serious tear was the Posterior Tib tendon.
(1A) My golf game is great now. Shot a 77 earlier this summer. And I barely cheated.
(2) Unless you’re a medical doctor I don’t want to hear your heroic recovery tale from a similar injury. I’ll just get aggravated. If you are a medical doctor, and you can tell me how you can heroically rescue my ankle – I’m all ears.
(3) Black bibs and black Under Armour fitted t-shirt. Standard biking gear for me.
(4) Shout out to David Pease. A true original. A huge influence on my coaching and teaching career. He used to bike to school when it was below freezing. Completely and totally nuts. But I loved him to death.
(5). They used to have a canoe (?!) at that pool. It was not unheard of to ride that thing before coach showed up for morning practice.
(6) Thanks to my Mom for making those scrapbooks. I have proof!
(7) For the record, best times in Yards: 100 Free 48.70 100 Fly 54.39 100 Breast 100.70. Does this count as a backdoor brag? It still kills me that I never broke a minute in the 100 Breast.
(8) Once at a meet in college, I was on the blocks getting ready for a relay. It was a flat metal block that was wet. My teammate comes in and I try to take off but my feet slip and I fall right on top of him. Once I finished I got out of the water and drop kicked a pull buoy half way down the pool. My teammates were in hysterics. My coach not so much. It was my own personal butt-fumble.
(9) I’ve always wanted one, but have never pulled the trigger. I was doing mostly 1-2 races a year and didn’t think it was worth it.
(10) A note about the wife. I wish I could say she was the super-fit, granola eating, supermodel sex goddess that it seems everyone on Slowtwitch is married to. She’s not. But she did buy us a Beach House on the Jersey Shore. Let me repeat, my wife bought us a beach house. (Backdoor brag #2). So “F OFF” to the rest of you.
(11) A short rant here. I never had my boys cross the finish line with me. I can’t understand that. They didn’t sacrifice the extra McD’s cheeseburger or give up drinking beer for a whole week before a race. Those little bastards were not crossing the line with me. I put in the work, not them!
(12) Don used to love having us swim 300’s and 400’ ALL. THE. TIME. Ever heard of 50’s Don? Or 75’s? How about 100’s? Great dude though. I thoroughly enjoyed my short but fun time with him. As an aside, I think someday I could write a book detailing how “You too can do a triathlon on only 1500 meters a day doing nothing but 25’s and 50’s!!!!”
(12A) Apparently, I’ve posted 80 times to Slowtwitch since I’ve been registered in 2005. Including the infamous “Strange Denizens of the Pool” thread. I even ventured into the Lavender Room and all its craziness. I still miss when it was called Tibbs Lavender room. One last note. I have a personal over/under of 10 responses to this posting. I find it endlessly amusing that I was a bit of a thread killer – I would post something and the thread would either die or I would get no response. I loved it. Honestly. It would crack me up. I’m quite convinced this might, might get a little bit of attention for an hour or two and then quietly disappear down the rabbit hole of slowtwitch.
(13) Big fan of Al Trautwig. My favorite NBC telecast was the year they used music from Explosions in the Sky. That’s how I discovered them. Great band.
(14) I like to think I’m a mellow person. But I’m really not. Two times I can think of where I yelled at other racers about putting their bikes in the wrong spot on the rack and mine had been moved. Turns out, I was completely in the wrong. This was one of those races. That’s typical of my kind of luck. I did apologize and humble myself later on. I seem to do that a lot….
(15) A job my wife just loves to do. I keep the vomit bag nice and close just in case.
(16) If I remember correctly, the first two guys in my age group were 1 & 2 overall, so I was really 5th. But I’ll take it.
(17). Because I know certain Slowtwitchers can act like Sherlock Holmes going after Moriarty, here is the results link. I was 89th in the Olympic TRI.
http://allsportsevents.com/...sults::1474302440035