Bout of depression and a Faux triathlon

I was determined to not become depressed following the unfortunate cancellation of the Capital of Texas Triathlon. After all, and as I am quick to point out to any who will listen, I am casual about marathon, ultra-marathon and even the new dimension of triathlon, not driven like all those “a” personality types.

Unfortunately, if I am more “b” than “a,” I am also a recovering alcoholic and one who knows a few things about manic. So I guess it’s not at all surprising that a dull depression set in for a couple of days following the aborted CapTexTri. My ice cream stash diminished and I neither ran, swam nor biked for several days. I went online to sign up for the Chicago Marathon and found registration already closed and looked at a stack of backburner projects while finding no impetus to pick any of them up. Yep. I was depressed.

During the 12-14 weeks of specific training for the CapTexTri I spent a good bit of time in the pool in addition to logging some cycling miles. Running has taken something of a back seat. All along, I have tested the various combinations of disciplines while never putting the whole package together. I was waiting for D-Day for the ultimate test. Well, D-Day never came and that gets a lot of the blame for not only my depression but I suspect for some down moods amongst all who looked forward to their Memorial Day exams.

Today I decided I really had to take control and snap myself out of the funk. I planned to do it yesterday, but the depression wouldn’t release its grip. So what did I do? I put together my various transition items, clipped my bicycle shoes into the pedals of my bright red Trek, and rode off to the gym. That couple of miles served as a warmup. I backpaddled a lap in the pool as a further warmup and then swam 15 laps with an extra for good measure (and in case I had miscounted). Transition back to the bike was awkward given that I was at the gym at a somewhat busy time. (It was about 7 pm by then.) In no way was this a competitive T1!

Biking was in somewhat heavy traffic down Fredericksburg Road toward Woodlawn Lake. I finally bailed on Fredericksburg and took a less trafficky way to Woodlawn. I would guess I was at about 3 miles when I began laps of Woodlawn Lake, 5 in all for a distance of 7.5 miles. A final 2.25 miles landed me at my front door where I did manage a pretty efficient transition into my running shoes and a final 5 kilometer run.

As I had prepared for the big CapTri I was stumped for an estimated elapsed race time. In the end, I had settled on 2 hours being a roughly rough estimate. And who knows what might have been with the adrenalin flowing and all the competitive juices (which I insist aren’t there). All I can tell you is that today’s faux triathlon took just under 2 hours. The only distance which I could absolutely certify would be the 5k run which was measured by my Nike plus iPod setup. But most important is that this exercise was a great workout, it lifted me out of the funk, and I am sure to sleep well tonight. I would be lying to say I look forward to getting back to my normal work routine, though that is surely part of keeping the depression from returning. But the best antidote will be the return to a good regular workout routine as I continue to scan the horizon for the next big challenge. Congratulations to you if you don’t need an event ahead in order to keep you on track. I am one who works best when there is a race, a goal, a D-Day. I’ll see you at the gym, swimming at the lake, or running and biking the streets of San Antonio. Let’s all stay strong!

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I’m so sorry..........Rained out

Condolences reading “I’m so sorry….” were received from both Zetta Young and Shelly Campbell recently. Had I not immediately understood, I might have feared the word was out about the goldfish which went belly up last week.

But no, Zetta and Shelly were saying “I’m so sorry” not just for me, but for the thousands of athletes who suffered equally from the cancellation on Memorial Day of the 2007 CapTexTri. Mother Nature had her way as she dumped rain on Austin early Monday morning, creating a cold and messy Town Lake. The skies continued to drip even after the swim was canceled, eventually forcing the biking and then the run to be scratched. Wouldn’t you know it? The sun forced its way out in the afternoon and I am sure many wondered what the fuss was about.

Although races all pretty much have a liability disclaimer which all the participants must sign off on, the organizers of the CapTexTri surely made the right decision. The safety of the athletes was clearly the motive, especially considering that the entrants ran the gamut from hard core seasoned triathletes who would have managed the conditions, to first timers such as myself who would perhaps have been just reluctant enough to create havoc. Although I never saw a hard figure on how many participants had registered for the various events (Olympic, Sprint and First Tri’s, plus a Relay), I heard a range of 2-3 thousand. That’s a lot of folks to have swimming in runoff polluted water and with a tricky current. And imagine the seasoned (and fast) cyclists sharing a slippery road surface with hundreds of less sure cyclists! In the end, one must conclude that the decision to cancel was the right move.

I had imagined the CapTexTri experience would be the culmination of this particular blogging topic. After all, there can be only one first time, or First Tri(athlon). But like many others at the CapTri who were also first timers, I remain untried, a tri virgin. So this blog topic will continue. I know there are some readers and lurkers to this blog who also were shut out in their effort and I would love to hear from you.

My experience, for what it is worth, was enjoyable. An old friend who is a swimmer but doesn’t run or cycle came along with me to packet pickup and remarked on how great everyone looked. It’s true, and it’s one of the things I enjoy about going to the gym. It’s great to see fit people, or at least people who are making the effort to get fit. If you are one of those who stand to the side, shaking your head in bewilderment at those of us who distort our daily schedules in order to swim, bike or run, you should join in. As Zetta has told me from the start, the tri community is very inviting and enthusiastic about helping in any way they can. That’s certainly been my experience thus far. So come on! Let’s all get active.

So what now? This is the tough part after all those weeks and months of training. The long faces I saw as I went to retrieve my bicycle from the transition pen spoke of supreme disappointment. I talked after the aborted race with Phil Arno, a former musician colleague of mine who is a seasoned ultra-athlete. He is enthusiastic about a triathlon series being held at Ft. Sam Houston. Called Heart of Texas Triathlon, the series of five events is run by John Purnell of Run-A-Way. Shelly Campbell has also recommended it as “a great series” and she sent this link: Heart of Texas Triathlon.
Seems to be worth checking out and maybe that’s where you will find me come mid-June.

Whatever we decide for ourselves, let’s keep training. There’s always the next run, the next swim or the next bike ride. Let’s fortify ourselves with plenty of electrolyte fluids and soldier on.

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Final week, and Beach to Bay

Like Texas thunderstorms, races always seem to blow up on you in a hurry. It’s why you learn with experience to take advantage of those early and middle weeks of prep so as not to be caught under-, or worse yet, un-prepared come race day.

I recall wondering before my first marathon if I was really prepared. How would I feel at mile 20, or 22? This is one of the appeals of these things, though it still leaves me somewhat uneasy as I now find myself less than a week away from the CapTexTri. Generally, assuming I don’t flounder badly in the swim, I feel mostly prepared. But here again there is a real difference when compared to training for running events. In the case of a marathon, or half-marathon, you have trained by running, and then running some more. As a rookie triathlete, I wonder if I have given enough attention to each of the disciplines. I may have mentioned previously that I feel unfaithful to my original mistress, running. I am sure other triathletes, coming from cycling or swimming backgrounds, must feel the same. Believe it or not, I have missed the weekly long runs of 12-15 miles, an essential element in distance training. But, of course, I didn’t dare expend that much energy on running while still a newcomer to cycling and swimming. Time will tell, and time will accelerate as well, as the final days of tapered training come around.

Beach to Bay
I must admit that I did focus upon running this past weekend as my Mid-Texas Symphony running team made its second run at the Beach to Bay Relay Marathon in Corpus Christi. This year’s team was slightly reconfigured from last year’s bunch, but remains by employment or familial ties connected to the Mid-Texas Symphony. We thought we might have ended up allowing a non-musician onto the team when we asked Fred Ramirez, hubbie of Dorian, to join us, but it turns out Fred is a former trumpet and baritone player. He’s also, with Dorian, in his second year of triathlon. So, how’d we do? Not bad, he replied, despite the need for some creative logistics. Bottom line is we finished in 3 hours 38 minutes 10 seconds, not bad for a bunch of musicians. The funny thing is we shaved almost 5 minutes off what we ran last year. What's so funny about that? Read on.....

Now I’m the slowest (also the oldest, if that even makes a difference). The young doc-to-be Jonathon Hager is the race horse, which is why we have run him at anchor both years. This year, however, part of the team, including Jon, was staying on Padre Island. This was great for me and Jon’s dad, Steve, since we both had early legs which required us to start on the island. By the time the first wave of runners was finished on the 4 miles of beach (I ran this leg for our team), a Texas sized traffic jam was forming as runners, shuttle buses, and spectators all headed towards the causeway at once. It was bumper to bumper for 8 miles and took almost 2 hours for me to get across and reunited with my leg 2 and 3 runners. Unfortunately, Jon got caught in the mess as he was driving to his handoff point. We all assumed the worst, that we would just have to write off this year’s race to experience. But surprisingly, despite Dorian of leg 5 having to wait at the handoff point for 4 minutes while wondering what had become of Jon, the team finish was good enough to place us in the upper 20 percent overall. We got great legs from all the runners.

Weekend athletes like myself and my teammates will often say we do it for the fun and to simply test ourselves against ourselves, and that is true mostly. I know competitors who say, emphatically, I don’t do fun runs. None of the runners on my team (Dorian and Fred Ramirez, Liz Levin Pittel, Jon and Steve Hager, and myself) turn our noses at fun runs, and Beach to Bay definitely is a fun run, in the very best sense. Nevertheless, as several of us reflected the next day on our performance, we thought of how our finishing time might have looked if not for that 4 minute gap.

“But we’re not competitive,” said one teammate. We looked around the circle and each of us understood the coded message. Just wait till next year!

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I love swimming

Who would have thunk it, that the same guy who was reluctant to get his feet wet 8 or 10 weeks ago, would now declare his love for swimming? Admittedly, I remain apprehensive about encountering open water with hundreds of others all around me. (Oh please don’t kick and scratch me and hold my head under water. <--bad flashback to a cousin who was a bully.)


Now that I have gotten beyond the water wings, I am finding that there is truth in believing the water will support you. And the fluid movement through the water is really a thrill. Not only that, I like the feeling after the workout. The chest feels even more bellowed than when you run hard, or bike hard, and I guess that’s to do with the increase in muscle. I’m first to admit I don’t have the swimmer’s body of Josh Davis, but I do like the increasing upper body strength which is coming with three encounters a week with the pool.

You want to know something else? I like not having to brush the stinging sweat out of my eyes. Maybe there’s a little burn from the chlorine, but your body temperature stays temperate. That said in favor of swimming, there’s still a puzzle in my mind which I raised 5 or 6 weeks ago. I can feel myself dehydrating. Some have said that we do sweat when we swim, it just washes away. But where I dry out is in my mouth and throat. It’s probably not a real issue for a sprint triathlon swim of 750 meters, but surely this must be a concern for the half iron and ironman swims. Does anyone else wonder about this? Is so, please post. I’m dying to know how others address the issue.

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Stress-breaker

As many of you may already know, this blog and the related podcast, iExercise, originate to some degree from Texas Public Radio. I’m James Baker, and my day job (which is actually an evening shift) is hosting classical music on the radio. I’m also a working musician in addition to being a wannabee athlete. But what is important here is the relationship to public radio. I’ll only say it once because I don’t want to sound like a commercial, but if you are reading this and live in the broadcast range of Texas Public Radio (KSTX-89.1 fm, KPAC-88.3 fm, and KTXI-90.1 fm) I encourage you to become a member of Texas Public Radio. Go online to TPR.org to find out more. Please remember that First Tri(athlon) (this blog) and iExercise would not be here if not for Texas Public Radio.


The real reason I mention public radio is that the week of a pledge, or fund, drive is very stressful. I am sure all of you have moments of high stress, whatever your day jobs may be, so listen up. Stressed out, I left work late this afternoon, rode my bicycle to the gym, swam a mile of so, then biked on home. The ride to the gym was challenging in late rush hour traffic, but once I hit the water the stress washed away. After an hour of working out, I left the gym just as some storm clouds lingered in the dimming twilight. The air, cooled by scattered showers, was just right and the ride home was ecstasy.

We train for our health. We train for upcoming competitions where for the most part we compete against ourselves. We train to look good and feel good and all of this is reason enough to make the effort. But today my training was a stress-breaker. It turned a difficult day into a positive day and reminded me that this too is why we exercise.

Turn your day around. Go for a walk, a bike ride, to the gym. Help yourself feel good. And if you want to feel even better, make a pledge to Texas Public Radio.

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