12 days to go

Ok, it hard to believe but there are just twelve days to go before my first triathlon. I started down this road about four months ago. Then I weighed 128 kg, today I'm 114. I'm not at the weight I want to be but I'm almost half way there.

My first triathlon is a tiddler, just a 250m swim, 10k ride, 2.5 k run. Still, its a start. I'm actually more worried about the advice in my training guide to go easy on the training the week before my first event (or any event to be truthful). Training is a habit I've worked hard to develop and a habit I fear I might easily lose.

Still, I want to do well. But what is well? I've never done this before, I have no idea of a good time, so what is well?

John Friel - the tri training guru has a line in one of his books saying we should seek the Tao of a triathlon. I actually feel a little uneasy borrowing from eastern philosophies, especially ones I havent really studied. But, still I will borrow away to define my success in this, my first ever, triathlon. I want to run a 'good' race, I want to swim strong, I want to ride hard but maintaining form, I want to run with my head high, working hard but not staggering over the line. I want to run this race in a way that makes me want to do the next on 2 Oct.