Doing a triathlon had been a dream for about 15 years now. It always seemed like that elusive goal that was always just out of reach. I think it was the challenge of doing it that really appealed to me since I was never very comfortable in the water. Every year I would add ‘doing a triathlon’ to my yearly goal list but fear always seemed to keep me from following through. This year, 2008, seemed like no exception as I added completing a try-a-tri to my yearly goal list I created with my wife and some friends on new years eve.
I had conquered many obstacles and achieved many difficult goals before including: battling my way through engineering to get my degree, getting over my fear of public speaking, my fear of heights by sky diving, my fear of rejection by entering the sales profession, my fear of the water by white water rafting, and I have trekked the mountains in Nepal into thin air. I battled my inconsistencies by learning to train for and complete a couple 1/2 marathon runs. I looked Multiple Sclerosis in the face and said “you picked the wrong guy, there will be a cure and I am sure I will be cured”.
Between July and August, I had my first real run in with MS Fatigue and I was just barely getting through the days. It was no way to live and I struggled to do much of anything for about 4 weeks during which time I could barely get off the couch. I saw another blog a while back and a think I remember seeing a slogan - ‘from couch potato to triathlete’, and that struck a cord with me. Now very self assured, and no longer afraid to do something and not be one of the best, I was ready to finally get myself off bottom and sign up for a try-a-tri. I signed up for the Lakeside II triathlon that was taking place on my birthday with my wife and one of her friends. I had given us about 6 weeks to do what seemed like the impossible to me.
I painstakingly dragged myself to the pool and had to work my way up from 50m to the triathlon distance; from struggling to walk 800m to running 2.5 km. Unlike other times in my life when I had to get back in shape, doing so with MS was like taking one step forward and two steps back. Rather than getting energised by brief workouts, it was exhausting like the times we trekked into thin air. I only got out for about 6 swims, 8 bikes, and 5 runs before the week of the triathlon, and I almost was defeated, prepared to pull out, as the race organisers changed the distances of the swim from 300m to 400m and the run from 2 km to 2.5 km. These distances don’t seem like much, but the swim increase almost broke my will, considering my conditioning and the fact that my longest consecutive swim during my training had been 200m.
We decided to just show up and give it a go. The worst case scenario would be that I would get pulled out of the water by one of the life guards. Actually, the worst case may have been I could have a severe muscle spasm, as is common with MS, and possibly drown in the water. To help avoid that possible outcome I decided to go to yoga classes 3x’s per week for a few weeks prior to the event. Having all agreed to go ahead, we rented some wet-suits, and were off to do the race. There were 3 heats, the men, the women and then the over 40 men and women all spaced out by 3 minutes. I figured if I could just complete the swim and hopefully not be the very last person out of the water, the day would be a great success.
I had never swam with a wet suit before, and after the start of the race it became apparent that breast stoke kicks where just not going to work with floating legs buoyed by the wet suit. I hadn’t been able to do more that 25 metres of front crawl during my swims, so that stroke was not an option. I resorted to scissor kicks with my breast stoke. I was able to take a few rests thanks to the wet suit and ended up finishing the swim much to my surprise and elation. Sure, I was the last guy under 40 out of the water, but probably the first of those with MS.
I knew I could survive the rest of the race at this point and was able to revile in the joy and exhilaration of knowing that I would complete one of my life goals. Despite having to do an extra 5-6 km during the bike due to a mistake by the race organiser, I was indeed able to finish along with my wife Lori and her friend.
Great success my first triathlon was completed!
There's more to come. Keep on working it!
Posted by: Slowdad | Jun 14, 2010 at 10:12 AM