I was working down in the financial district in NYC full time, while spending my nights learning Brazilian Jui Jitsu at LA Boxing in Hoboken, NJ. One night after being sidelined in a Jui Jitsu practice I remember talking to friends about how it would be cool to race in an Ironman. Within hours I found myself on Ebay looking at triathlon bikes. It became an obsession looking at these beautiful, rediculously expensive bikes and I began to realize the money/technology involved with the sport. I had spent over a month researching Tri bikes and finally pulled the trigger on a used 2009 Cervelo P2, which was in great shape. I figured a well-maintaned used bike would be a better value than something brand new. I do consider it insane to spend $2,400 on a bike especially since I haven't done a single race yet, but this decision turned out to be a great one because I had to back up the value of the bike with good performance and frequent use.
I still didn't know what I was getting myself into. I had to answer questions like; Where am I going to bike? Where am I going to swim? How much added costs will be incured with new pool memberships? What added cost go into biking? What's the pool schedule each week? How many hours a day will I need to set aside to not only train, but gettting to and from training? How many hours a day/week/month do a train? etc.. I was accustomed to training for one sport and realized training for all three disciplines would be a huge obstacle, create more stress and would definitely need some getting used to.
I started solving all of these unknowns that I had been worried about. I began swim workouts at Steven's College in town and researched bike routes in the area to avoid any busy streets if possible. I had found a website http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/ that helped me link up with others to understand what is needed for a triathlon and give me a structured monthly plan of how to train for the races ahead. Looking at the training plans some weeks were in the 10-15 hour range, which seemed impossible. I knew it would be a long road, but I kept a positive outlook and tackled each day as it went by.
Jumping straight into a full Ironman for my first race would just be an idiotic way of starting out. I soon began to realize that there was more to a triathlon than just the "Ironman". "Ironman" is a long course distance, as well as, multiple races organized by the WTC.
There are many other race distances out there including:
1. Sprint(shortest) 2. Olympic(Midlevel) 3. Half Ironman (2nd Longest) 4. Full Ironman (Longest).
I decided to start of the season with a short sprint triathlon and build up to an Olympic Distance Event(1 mile swim, 24 mile bike, 6.2 mile run) in June and take the season as it went. This is where my first triathlon experiences began....
