The past few months I've really been focusing on my run. This week is the Peaman 6th Annual Jingle Bell 5k Run. It will be the first race that I've had where I can compare how far along I've come in a year. Last year the Jingel Bell 5k was the first 5k that I had ran. My time back in 2009 was 23:44 which was a 7:38 per mile pace. The most recent 5k that I've ran was the PATH 5k back in October. I ran a 20:39 with a 6:38 per mile pace. So in less than a year I have shaved off 1 minute per mile at the 5k distance, and this weekend I'm looking forward to shaving off a few more seconds. I have been trying to run a 19 minute 5k and I'm thinking what better way to end the year than to do it this weekend.
This was the first race I did.. Thanksgiving Day 2009 3.5 mile Run
December 2009 Jingle Bell 5k Run - 23.44
February Team Mango Triathlon (1/2 mile swim, 15 mile bike, 6.2 mile run)
March 29, 2010 Lavaman Waikoloa Triathlon (1.5k swim, 40k bike, 10k run)
April 2010 Peaman Carboman 10 mile run
Hawaii Ironman 70.3 (1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, 13.1 mile run) 6hrs. 3 min.
October training day 16 mile run..
Alot of people have asked me why I started doing triathlons. I was always one of the top athletes in each sport I played. After moving out to Hawaii I quickly became bored with th lack of talent in the baseball and basketball leagues and I needed something to challenge myself. Triathlons were something new and I knew I would have to work extremely hard to become somewhat competitive. It is a sport in which you can do alot of soul searching and find out how tough you really are.
To most it seems pretty crazy. I myself thought that people were nuts for doing Ironmans and Marathons. All I can say is don't knock it till you try it. I started just simply by running. Started with 1-3 mile runs twice a week. Then eventually started swimming. When I first started swimming I could barely make it 25 meters without stopping. Coach Steve Borowski worked with me and within 2 weeks I was swimming in masters class and doing between 1,500 to 2,000 meters each class. Then I invested in a bike and took my first ride with Sam and Jim and realized that it was a little harder than going out for a joy ride on the old Huffy. Now we do rides of 50+ miles with ease and enjoy ever minute of it.
When I started out I weighed 191 lbs. Now a year later I'm down to 163 lbs. I've lost nearly 30 lbs. in a year. I'm not going to say that Its the easiest way to loose weight, but it definitely will do the job. Don't be affraid of taking on the challenge. One thing I've learned over the past year is that each day brings on something new. Some days you're going to get out of bed and dominate the workout. Other days you're going to wake up and the workout is going to dominate you. It will humble you and yet still give you the confidence to fight through it. If you get a chance, go on youtube and search for "Jimmy Valvano Espy Speech". Watch it and listen to it. No matter what obstacles you may be facing NEVER GIVE UP, DON'T EVER GIVE UP.
No comments:
Post a Comment