So Tim has signed us up for a triathlon in Phuket, Thailand on December 2, 2007. Thankfully, it is only a sprint distance triathlon, in which you swim 750 meters (.46 miles), bike 20 kilometers (12.4 miles), and run 5 kilometers (3.2 miles).

I have only done one other triathlon – which was a full, Olympic length triathon: swim 1.5 kilometers (.93 miles), bike 40 kilometers (24.8 miles), and run 10 kilometers (6.4 miles). I did that one with my buddy DJ Tyler down at Kiawah Island, South Carolina back in 2000 – when I was a relatively youthful 29 years old. And that one nearly killed me – I hadn’t trained properly and didn’t realize how hard doing an Olympic length triathlon would be.

I had been training by swimming in the natatorium at the Ramsey Center at the University of Georgia (I was in business school at the time), but swimming in a pool and swimming in the ocean turned out to be two different things. The current ended up being against us, so it was at least twice as hard to swim the mile in the ocean. I overexerted myself so much that I actually threw up before I got out of the water. I could see the buoy marking the point where we turned and swam back in to shore to start the bike ride and it looked so far away I thought I would never make it. I kept saying to myself: “Please God let me get out of this water and get on the bike” – thinking that the bike ride would be easy.

I finally did make it out of the water and onto the bike. I wisely chose to ride my mountain bike for the triathlon – the one concession I made was to put some of DJ’s “slicks” – smooth tires instead of the normal nubby mountain bike tires – on my bike, but the wheel size, gearing, etc., are all very different on a mountain bike as opposed to a road bike. I was pedaling very hard on the bike ride and noticed other people flying past me and they were barely pedaling at all. Thankfully, Kiawah Island is very flat, so there were no hills to deal with – but even so it was very hot and by the end of the bike ride, I was saying to myself “Please God let me get off of this bike.”

So then I hit the beach for 6.4-mile run. One of the challenges of doing a triathlon is you use different muscle groups to swim, bike, and run, and your body has to adjust to each activity. Well, my body did not adjust. When I got off of the bike, I could literally not even walk normally – much less run. My calves were completely siezed up and all I could do was kind of hobble down the beach. I guess I hobbled about the first half mile or so before I was finally able to break into an extremely slow run. I would run for a while, hobble for a while, run for a while, etc.

The bottom line is that out of approximately 200 people in the race, I think I finished literally in the last 10 people. My buddy DJ, who is just generally a better athlete than I am and who had also been training properly, rode a road bike vs. a mountain bike, etc., finished at least an hour before I did. When I stumbled over the finish line (they were already starting to disassemble the finish line and platform, etc., when I crossed), DJ and his wife Ashley were sitting there drinking beer and eating pizza. I was so tired I couldn’t do anything. We went back to our hotel room, showered and changed clothes, and then got in the car to head back to Columbia. I felt physically ill and crashed into a near-coma state.

So now that I’m 36 it seems like a good idea to try it again! Thankfully it’s not a full-length triathlon – I honestly don’t know if I could do it. Even though this one is shorter, I am going to train more and take this one more seriously. Monday night I found a 50-meter pool to swim in and went swimming. I swam for one hour straight and did 25 laps (down and back), so I covered a total of 2.5 kilometers (1.55 miles). I felt pretty good, got into a rhythm, and the hour went by pretty quickly. When I got out of the pool, though, I was literally wobbly and I was pretty tired. I went and ate a big dinner, then crashed pretty hard that night.

Last night (Tuesday night), I went to the gym and rode a stationary bike on “hill interval mode” for 20 kilometers (which took about 45 minutes), then immediately got on the treadmill and ran 5 kilometers (about 30 minutes). I felt pretty good, but it was definitely a good workout. I’m trying to figure out how hard it will be to do the 750 meter swim plus the bike and run altogether – I think I could do all three right now, but it would be at at a very slow pace. Hopefully by December I will be able to at least complete all three together at a reasonable pace.

Somewhere in the dim depths of my mind, I have a thought that maybe I can get in good enough shape by December that I’ll actually upgrade to the full-length triathlon and give it another shot. We’ll see.

Overall, i am getting in pretty good shape. I’ve lost a total of 10 to 12 pounds since I’ve been here, am eating a very healthy diet, working out regularly, meditating, getting acupuncture, etc. People keep telling me I look too thin, but I think I’m actually getting close to my natural weight when I’m in shape. I’m definitely not trying to lose weight – just to be fit.