Ralph: Well, I might as well read the first chapter of this book while I am on my break. I am glad that The Kennel lets its workers bring their phones in to work (as long as no one sees me with it!) I fell asleep on the plane ride home, so I only finished reading the prologue. Mom says that it will not take but an hour or two to read this book. I should be able to finish a couple of chapters at work this weekend. Then, I will decide if I want to finish it.
CHAPTER ONE: THE FIRST TRIATHLON
October 20, 2001; Kissimmee, Florida. Great Floridian Ironman Distance
Triathlon; first transition area; 0755: I had a good swim this time. Not even one person kicked me in the head. It was helpful to talk to that veteran Iron Man before the race. He told me to stay WAY outside of the pylons. I probably swam two-and-one-half miles instead of the two-point-four that the course is supposed to be by doing that. I still beat my goal for the swim by five minutes, even though I only used my legs to walk out of the water. That should be helpful in the bike leg and the run course. I conserved some energy, too.
This swim was better than most of my swims before I joined that master’s swim group. I am a good swimmer, but a wave swim is a different animal. All of us back-of-the-packers wasted too much time at the beginning of the swim doing our Heckle-and Jeckle imitations. We were all trying to avoid the crowd, inviting eachother to go first. I finally just dove in. It IS a long race, though. Maybe I should catch my breath before I get on my bike. I am glad that I took my daily inhaler before the swim. That was helpful. Is that volunteer bringing me my bike? (Out loud: ‘Is that legal?’). He said just don’t tell anyone by pressing his forefinger to his lips. I won't.
0800: I’m afraid I would drop and break my phone if I used it to talk into it while competing. I must enter my thoughts in my journal as soon as I get back to my hotel room to remember this day, since it would be impossible to write anything down during this race. Who am I kidding? If I finish THIS race, I will remember every detail of it for the next twenty years!
0815: I suppose the people who started this tradition of torturing themselves to their physical limitations (or beyond) might have felt the same way I did the day I started training for this race after attempting to finish my first triathlon. I still like that course the best of any that I have ever done, even though I would have considered doing even a race of THAT distance to be impossible five years ago. I really DID consider this race to be outside of my normal parameters…
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I firmly believe that, every now and then, you must step outside ofyour normal parameters and try something extremely unusual. In short, at least once in your life, you
must attempt the impossible. That, to my understanding, is how the first Hawaiian Ironman distance triathlon came to be…
Three men, each an endurance athlete in his own sport, were arguing in a bar about which was the best-trained athlete in the world- a swimmer, a runner, or a cyclist. John
Collins, who was a Navy officer based in Hawaii, and is often referred to as “the father of the Ironman distance triathlon,” presented the idea for the distances of the race. He was also the runner in the group. However, he had also participated in the first triathlon that was staged in San Diego about five years before this discussion took place. It included a series of short runs, swims, and bike legs, each of differing distances. So popular was the race at the time that it was held under the lights of the participants’ vehicles since it was held after five p.m. on a weekday; so as not to interfere with anyone’s normal routine. (2)
Collins' idea was to combine the three sports, with each portion being the ultimate test of endurance in each sport on the Hawaiian Islands at that time. The swim leg of
the event was to be a two-point four-mile swim in the ocean, the Waikiki rough water swim, which is an annual event still done today by avid endurance swimmers. The bike
leg was, at the time, a two-day, 115-mile ride around the island of Oahu (known as the around-Oahu ride race). The ride was shortened by three miles so that its ending would
coincide with the starting line of the Honolulu marathon. This course was to serve as the run portion of the event. (2)
"Whoever can do this, is the world's greatest endurance athlete,” Collins said. “Whoever can do this, is the Iron Man.” (3)
All of eighteen people signed up for the first Hawaiian Ironman, all men. (This is quite a difference from today when 1800 slots are claimed in short order. About twenty percent of these slots are claimed by women. This would indicate that there is a large disparity in the "battle of the sexes," even in the twenty-first century.) Of that number, 15 showed up, but only 12 finished, including Collins. No small feat, since Collins had never run over three miles at any one time.
Gordon Haller, a former Navy pentathlete, won the first Hawaiian Ironman distance triathlon, turning the combined distances in a little under twelve hours, a respectable time. However, this time would seem to be light-years slower than the times that Dave Scott, Marc Allen, and Jurgen Zack would later achieve, some as much as four hours (or more) faster than Haller's time.
( Zack, my favorite triathlete at the time, earned both my and many other “agegroupers” respect after being told at the 2002 Hawaiian Ironman distance triathlon to walk the run course due to dehydration, fatigue, and physical exhaustion. Zack refused to pull out of the race. He conferred with the medical professionals at the race after developing cramps in his stomach and his legs during the cycling portion of the race. He was told only to walk the rest of the race, or risk suffering severe physical consequences. He later was advised to stop even walking the run course, causing him to have a DNF placed beside his name. This designation indicates that the triathlete did not finish the course in the allotted amount of time. It must have been a painful designation for the swift German because he was leading the race after both the
bike and swim legs of it.
Most professionals would have pulled out of the race when told not to try to compete for the win, because they have other races in which to participate. Using up energy just to finish a race would be a waste of time and energy.
Zack did not pull out of the race. However, he was later told by the medical professionals at the race that he needed to give up his quest for respect. He did so reluctantly, earning a DNF. Under ideal circumstances, Zack is one of an elite and very small crowd of triathletes who have finished an Ironman distance triathlon in less than eight hours.) (3)
“No one was seriously injured, nobody died, and the residents of Honolulu weren't too upset," Collins later declared, "That, in itself, makes the event a success." (4)
Collins finished the course in just under 17 hours, (the present-day cut-off time for the Ironman distance triathlon races) stopping off for soup and a beer at different points on the run course. Like ten of the other participants, Collins had no idea of racing, only of finishing the course. Haller and John Dunbar, a former Navy seal and an experienced distance
runner, began racing on the marathon course, leaving Collins and his nine peers far behind. John Dunbar finished 35 minutes behind Gordon Haller in the end. The last
finisher "passed under the wire" in 22 hours.
Since it is extremely difficult to earn a slot in the Hawaiian Ironman distance triathlon in this era, thirty-nine other races of the same description have cropped up around the world. There
are also many one-half Ironman distance triathlons (four of which act as “qualifiers,” for the Hawaiian event, the world championship Ironman distance triathlon, just as a
majority of the Ironman distance triathlons are.)
The world championship Ironman distance Hawaiian Triathlon was later moved to the big island of Hawaii, which is less populated than the island of Oahu. The course is
still just as challenging, if not more so. In fact, my personal belief is that this is the limit to which a sane, normal person would push him or herself to accomplish. Others may
believe that the Tour De France or the Badwater 135-mile run through Death Valley is the ultimate test of endurance. The Ironman distance triathlons, though, are just as
challenging, in my opinion, because one must be able to perform three different disciplines, all in one seventeen-hour (or less) day. This requires using one’s brain as much as
his or her well-trained muscles.
There are other races that give competitors the chance to participate in the sport without committing all their free time to training. A one-half-Ironman consists of
a one-point two-mile, open-water wave swim, (a wave swim consists of a swim in which all of the participants in one age group start at the same time, with each wave being staged three to five minutes apart) along with a 56-mile bike ride and a 13.1-mile run. An Olympic distance triathlon consists of a 1500-meter open water wave swim, a 40-kilometer bike
ride, and a 10-kilometer run. Sprint triathlons vary in distance, but the swim is usually one mile or less, along with a bike ride of under 25 miles, and a run of between three and
ten miles. A fairly new triathlon is the XTerra, with a 1500-meter open water wave swim, a 30-kilometer mountain bike ride, and an 11-kilometer trail run. There are also one-half
Xterra distance triathlons, that are ideal for those who are reluctant to invest time and money for equipment in a sport with which they are not familiar.
These shorter races let an athlete determine if s/he is willing and able to commit resources to this time-consuming (and sometimes expensive) sport. ***************************************************************************For me, my first triathlon wasn't anything nearly as dramatic as what John Collins had in mind. It was a sprint: A 300-meter seeded swim in a swimming pool, a 13-mile
bike ride on flat terrain, and a three-mile run in a shaded park. As one of the participants put it, it was just a dip in the pool, a ride around the block, and a stroll in the park.
I beat my modest goal of 90 minutes that day, having a full three minutes to spare. I was satisfied with that time, considering that I was riding a bike that was too small, and
this was the first triathlon in which I participated. This course remains my favorite to this day.
My physical reward for finishing this event was a tee shirt and a pair of plastic sunglasses. The real reward, however, was the exuberant feeling that I acquired from the
satisfaction of having done something I never would have considered even trying two years before.
My original plan was only to prove (mainly to myself), that someone with a chronic back problem, asthma, and a surgically rebuilt knee could succeed at this rather difficult sport.
From the time I crossed that first finish line, though, I was hooked on the sport and hooked on the feeling of having exceeded my goal. I knew I couldn't stop until I
accomplished what John Collins envisioned some 20 years before. I set my sights on accomplishing the impossible; the ultimate test of physical fitness, endurance, mental
toughness, and strategizing: Finishing an Ironman distance triathlon.
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