It’s Father’s Day and only 5 weeks before my first triathlon of the season. When I made my race calendar I committed to doing the Olympic Distance at the Inaugural Muskoka 5150. While I never posted it in the blog, I had a loosely structured framework in mind that would allow me to be flexible enough to get to where I needed to be fitness-wise for the race.
I am nowhere close. I won’t get upset: as they say, you can’t get upset at the results you got from the work you didn’t do (or something like that). The usual thing to do is look at why you didn’t live up to your plan and figure out what excuses you were making or whatever kept you from making your commitments. There is another point of possible failure though: maybe the plan wasn’t right for you and wasn’t really realistic.
It’s enough to make me want to throw in the towel on the whole season and say: “Next year I’m getting a coach, maybe online, with a daily plan that I have to stick to.” There are so many resources and training methods out there – maybe a Master’s Swim Group, plus a Cycling Club etc. etc..
I’m not going to do that, though. Why? Because of my father (you didn’t think I was coming back around to Father’s Day did you?), that’s why. I always wanted to be like my father. He was an Olympic level rower at one point, and he always stayed in good shape with tennis, cycling, cross-country skiing and probably a bunch of other stuff I can’t think of at this hour. He was a the kind of guy who could up and run 3 miles without getting sore the next day, in spite of not having run in several months. A natural athlete – so strike one on my chances to be like him.
He handled so many household repairs and duties himself; taking as good care of his home as he did his body. I already pay more people to do work for me than I’d strictly like, but I’m not giving up my passion and hobby to a professional. During a time of extreme stress in exams, my father told me: “Your brain hasn’t failed you yet.” So I’m going to keep doing things my way – DIY training is still the Iron Rogue way.
We lost my father to melanoma in 2000; and not a day goes by that I don’t miss him or think about him. I doubt I’ll PR at any races this year, but Shark Boy tells me he loves me every day (in both English and German), and so does the Lightning Kid (with his eyes). That’s worth more to me than any medal I could ever get.
And… not for nothing, but today I did a 1500m Open Water swim with about a 2:20/100m pace; that’s my second best pace for Olympic Distance Tri.