Friday, October 26, 2012

Miseducation of John's Feet : Intro

Honestly, it’s been a long time coming. I’ve been writing a bit, but mainly in my journal so I can remember all the crazy stuff I’ve cooked up over the years training for Ironman after Ironman race. And when I say remember, it’s really to taunt my yet to be born children with statements like “Whaaa, you had to run two miles in 20 minutes for PE class. When I was younger, I….” You see where that’s going. Nothing like taunting your unborn children for being soft. Anyway, while training for Ironman Florida has been fun this year, I’ve realized that my paper is empty. Paper, you ask? When I started training/racing triathlons, I wrote down my big “Pie in the sky” dream goals. They were simple:
1 – Qualify for Ironman Hawaii
2 – Win Cajunman
Well, both of those have been crossed off the list with a lot of hard work, a good bit of luck, and a ton of patient Elyse and family. After knocking these two off, and thinking long about my future in triathlon, I’ve decided that Ironman Florida will be my last Ironman race for at least a year*, maybe more. And what a wild, crazy, strange, exciting, exhausting, eye opening, frustrating, pure experience it has been. I’ve made a ton of wrong turns, had a bunch a bad “theories”, and generally did most all of the dumb stuff anyone training for triathlon could make. And while I’m not too thrilled with the direction of some of the fraternity / sorority / country club type crap that is infecting triathlon in recent years, I’d like to leave the sport even the tiniest bit better than when I started. And the best way that I know to do that is to write. What you’re gonna find is this series: The miseducation of John’s feet.
 All 9 years, shoehorned into a series of blogs about what I’ve learned, what has worked, what I wasted time with, what has helped me, and really what it’s like chasing after the two above goals when you have a full time job, some responsibilities, and awkwardly flat feet. I’m not a sports scientist, nor do I really know all that much about the technical jargon of kinesiology. Nor will I will not debate grumpy people on the scientific approach of the 20 chosen fit subjects in some Norwegian study with double blind control groups. I’m an experiment of one, and I’m here to share my story (warts and all).  I won’t get into the nuts and bolts of my training, but I will outline some of the stuff that has worked for me throughout the years as well as some stuff I straight wasted my time with. How will self-reflection and whining on the internet leave triathlon a better place? Well, when I started there wasn’t much out there in terms of real life guys / girls talking about “the grind”. Sure, they had sexy Triathlete articles about Peter Reid going up to an abandoned Hawaii girl scout camp and putting together 40 hours of solitary Buddhist monk style training a week. But what about us regular hacks that have to push papers all day? Are we doomed to glow sticks at every Ironman race? So that is my goal with this series. To put out there all I’ve learned, and some of what I’ve tried to forget, in a nice little package for you to read. And if it gives you one idea, helps you flip over another rock of improvement or avoid a bonehead move, then I have succeeded. So I hope you enjoy the series, and good luck on your journey.