My Team

I will be introducing the members of Team All or Nothing as we go along. I am working with two of them today.

What's that you say; you thought triathlon is an individual sport. For many it is but when you are old and rickety like me and make the dubious decision to jump right to the Ironman distance when you enter the sport you require an entire team of people to prop you up an move you forward. Plus they are fun to work with!!

One of the biggest keys to this sport is being able to consistently put in the work day in and day out. Consistency is the key; and injuries (small or large) just kill your consistency. I have had a number of nagging injuries in the (almost) 3 years I have been at this all of which have been right leg injuries. Logic says there is a muscle or joint or some imbalance that keeps leading to this. So I had a series of tests done and am now working with a strength coach to make adjustments. Her name is Briana and she is fantastic. We get together twice a week for an hour to work on (mainly) my core muscle groups and my leg strength and balance work. 18+ years of shining a seat with my butt has led to some weird development of lower body muscle groups. Something I would never notice until I get up out of the chair and try to make these muscles swim bike and run.

The human body is an amazing thing and this process has been an education for me. The hip bone's is connected to the thigh bone.....the thigh bone's connected to the.......you get the picture. It is amazing to get an injury in one area of your body only to find that the source is in a completely different place. Then you fix this area only to find now the weakest link is somewhere else.

Anyway, Briana is my run and strength guru. In addition she also competes locally and nationally and coachs girls track at a local high school. She is the wife of local speedy guy Michael Boehmer who placed 3rd overall at the Lake Mills sprint triathlon this past weekend. Oh to be young and fast again (or really either one of those two things would be nice!!)

This afternoon I will be working with my swim coach Anita. That's right I take "swimming lessons" just like all the other tadpoles. Why? Because you would be amazed at the difference between "swimming" and swimming. Many who enter this sport view the swim as an afterthought (just survive it and get to the bike and run) and many more decide they just "suck" at swimming and will never get any better. Mr All or Nothing says if we are going to do this then we are going to do it correctly and I am going to try to be strong in all three disciplines. So 2X per month I get together with Anita and she watches me from the pool deck and corrects my stroke and gives me drills to "take home" and work on when I am swimming solo.

Also, most shorter distance triathlons (at least locally) are smaller fields and usually wave swim starts (goups of 50 people sent off in 2-3 minute intervals); Ironman races are mass swim starts. Wisonsin '06 was the largest mass start of any to date (something like 2500 bodies in the water). The first 20 minutes of that race (starting in the middle of that mass of bodies in a body of open water) was a pretty frightening experience. I have concluded that in a start like that you want to be either in the top 10% of the field (250 or so) or the last 10% (the back/side strokers). The middle 80% really sucks. I am working my way to the top 10% (hopefully in the next 3 years or so).

Both Briana and Anita are with Transition in Pewaukee; see my links on the side for their website. Great place to work with if you are in the area.