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06-22-06, 01:36 AM
Last year, a friend (I'll refer to him as "Goliath") and I decided to start doing triathlons. Because we both were turning 40, we thought that it was a good time to start paying a little more attention to being healthy. Goliath and I have known each other since high school, and although we're close, we're pretty competitive with one another - which is a good thing, since we push each other and in the process, we both get better.
Anyway, last year we did 2 races together. He beat me on the first race and I beat him in the second race. But whenever we talked about the second race, he never failed to bring up the fact that he lost his contact lens during the swim. The implication in his remark was that had it not been for losing his contact lens, he would have beaten me. :mad:
So this year, we signed up for the North Shore Triathlon in Mokuleia, Hawaii. It's a sprint race - 500m swim, 10 mile bike and 3 mile run. I started training like a madman, averaging about 8-10 hours/week training from early March until the race in May. I knew I had to work hard because I'm not as physically gifted as he is. I'm 5'7" with very short legs. He's 6'4 with really long arms and legs. I was determined to slay the giant!:)
As our training progressed, I noticed his tan was getting dark and he was losing quite a bit of weight. He was working hard too! This was going to be quite a challenge.
On race day, Goliath, my wife, my daughter and I loaded up the van and headed down to Mokuleia. If you've ever watched the TV show "Lost", Mokuleia Beach is just a mile or so away from where they film all of the beach scenes for the show. It's a beautiful place for a race.
I knew that Goliath would beat me out of the water - he swims like a fish, and there's no way I'll ever be as fast as he is in the swim. Upon exiting the water, my wife told me, "He's only a minute ahead of you!" Not too bad, I thought I'd have a chance to catch him on the bike.
About two miles into the bike, I felt some tightness in my throat. I started to cough pretty hard. I burped a little, but I knew something in my stomach wasn't doing too well. Then I puked, and out came a very large amount of salt water! I felt much better after that, and picked up the pace on the bike, but I became a little worried when I didn't see Goliath anywhere on the bike course. At T2, my wife told me, "Less than 1 minute ahead!". I was inspired!
This is me starting the run:
http://img133.imageshack.us/img133/1708/picture076a6tj.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
About 1/2 a mile into the run, I caught up to him. "Hey", I said, "I'll run with you for a little while." We stayed together until just before the turnaround. He told me, "I can't run and drink at the same time" I knew that this was the perfect opportunity to make my move! I sped up before the aid station at the turnaround. I grabbed my water, took a little sip and poured the rest over my head. For the last 1 1/2 miles, I pushed myself right up to my lactate threshold, and kept that pace. I didn't look back because I was afraid I'd see him catching up to me. I finished about a minute and a half ahead of him - I slayed the giant!
Me near the finish (look at my face! I'm dying!!!):
http://img81.imageshack.us/img81/2227/picture077a7dk.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Goliath:
http://img239.imageshack.us/img239/6198/picture078a8hi.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
We both did really well, though. We were both within the top 1/3 of the field, and had greatly improved our running pace from last year. It's nice to have someone there to push you harder than you would otherwise.
Epilogue: I was having coffee with a mutual friend of ours, bragging (a little) about my performance. So my friend says, "You may have beat him in this race. But remember, he's 9 inches taller than you, he lives off of an 8 million dollar trust fund, and he has a hot 23 year old girlfriend." Oh well, so much for small victories:( .
Anyway, last year we did 2 races together. He beat me on the first race and I beat him in the second race. But whenever we talked about the second race, he never failed to bring up the fact that he lost his contact lens during the swim. The implication in his remark was that had it not been for losing his contact lens, he would have beaten me. :mad:
So this year, we signed up for the North Shore Triathlon in Mokuleia, Hawaii. It's a sprint race - 500m swim, 10 mile bike and 3 mile run. I started training like a madman, averaging about 8-10 hours/week training from early March until the race in May. I knew I had to work hard because I'm not as physically gifted as he is. I'm 5'7" with very short legs. He's 6'4 with really long arms and legs. I was determined to slay the giant!:)
As our training progressed, I noticed his tan was getting dark and he was losing quite a bit of weight. He was working hard too! This was going to be quite a challenge.
On race day, Goliath, my wife, my daughter and I loaded up the van and headed down to Mokuleia. If you've ever watched the TV show "Lost", Mokuleia Beach is just a mile or so away from where they film all of the beach scenes for the show. It's a beautiful place for a race.
I knew that Goliath would beat me out of the water - he swims like a fish, and there's no way I'll ever be as fast as he is in the swim. Upon exiting the water, my wife told me, "He's only a minute ahead of you!" Not too bad, I thought I'd have a chance to catch him on the bike.
About two miles into the bike, I felt some tightness in my throat. I started to cough pretty hard. I burped a little, but I knew something in my stomach wasn't doing too well. Then I puked, and out came a very large amount of salt water! I felt much better after that, and picked up the pace on the bike, but I became a little worried when I didn't see Goliath anywhere on the bike course. At T2, my wife told me, "Less than 1 minute ahead!". I was inspired!
This is me starting the run:
http://img133.imageshack.us/img133/1708/picture076a6tj.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
About 1/2 a mile into the run, I caught up to him. "Hey", I said, "I'll run with you for a little while." We stayed together until just before the turnaround. He told me, "I can't run and drink at the same time" I knew that this was the perfect opportunity to make my move! I sped up before the aid station at the turnaround. I grabbed my water, took a little sip and poured the rest over my head. For the last 1 1/2 miles, I pushed myself right up to my lactate threshold, and kept that pace. I didn't look back because I was afraid I'd see him catching up to me. I finished about a minute and a half ahead of him - I slayed the giant!
Me near the finish (look at my face! I'm dying!!!):
http://img81.imageshack.us/img81/2227/picture077a7dk.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Goliath:
http://img239.imageshack.us/img239/6198/picture078a8hi.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
We both did really well, though. We were both within the top 1/3 of the field, and had greatly improved our running pace from last year. It's nice to have someone there to push you harder than you would otherwise.
Epilogue: I was having coffee with a mutual friend of ours, bragging (a little) about my performance. So my friend says, "You may have beat him in this race. But remember, he's 9 inches taller than you, he lives off of an 8 million dollar trust fund, and he has a hot 23 year old girlfriend." Oh well, so much for small victories:( .