Nelson Daranciang hadn't been on a bicycle in six months prior to January's start of training, but getting back in decent cycling shape didn't take him long.
Shaping up for
triathlon training
Good conditioning is needed just to
start preparations for an Olympic-
distance triathlon
No more excuses. No more back-of-the-pack finishes. And no more, "I know what I gotta work on next year."
It's time to put up or shut up.
Boca Hawaii's cadre of swim, bicycle and run coaches is guiding me and about 20 other novice triathletes through a 12-week training program, teaching us how to glide through the water, pedal in circles rather than squares and run rather than stagger for 6.2 miles.
If I don't have a respectable finish this year, I never will.
I'm not looking for a podium spot, just a place among the top third of all finishers.
This will be my first try at an Olympic-distance triathlon, though I do have a number of Tinman Hawaii Triathlon finishes under my belt. The bicycle and run distances are about the same, about 26 miles on bike and about 6 miles on foot. But at 1,500 meters, the swim portion of the Honolulu Triathlon is twice as long as in the Tinman.
OK, maybe a top-half finish.
Recreational athletes who prepare for races on their own often set unrealistic performance goals considering the amount and quality of their training or lack thereof. After each disappointing finish, we try to identify others we beat, especially the ones in group training programs.
They're easy to spot in the finishers area, exchanging times and congratulations. On April 17, I'm going to be one of them. And people disappointed with their performances are going to look at me thinking, "At least I finished ahead of HIM."
Preparing for the 26-mile bicycle portion of next month's Honolulu Triathlon requires Nelson Daranciang and his fellow trainees to put in many hours on stationary bicycles at Boca Hawaii on Cooke Street.
He now welcomes beginners in his masters programs. But no one in my training group is a beginner. And after looking over the first week's training schedule, it's no surprise.
Boca e-mails the coming week's training schedule to us so if we miss a day with the group we can do the workouts on our own. The first week's schedule includes instructions to do catch-up swim drills and one-leg drills on the bike. If you had never done those before you wouldn't know how to do them, or more importantly, how to do them properly.
The catch-up swim drill requires you to keep your forward hand in front of you until your other hand completes the stroke and comes back in front. It is designed to teach you how to get the most out of each stroke.
As the name suggests, the one-leg drill involves pedaling your bicycle with just one leg. The purpose of the drill is to condition your legs, pull up on the pedals, as well as push down on them for a smooth, efficient stroke.
Training started in the last week of January.
We meet on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays for coaching and instruction at different locations based on the type of training.
Three days a week. That doesn't sound too tough.
But the schedule also includes recommended individual workouts for Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. Friday is our only rest day, but suggested activities sometimes include a "fun" 500-meter swim.
Based on my personal experience, I had long preached that as you get older, your body takes longer to recover from physical exertion.
So if I did a particularly long or hard workout, I would have no problem rationalizing at least two days off to recover before doing another one.
By design, Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays are for learning technique and building speed and strength.
Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays are for building endurance. And since the workouts are less intense, they're supposed to allow your body to recover from the other days.
Having completed the Honolulu Marathon six weeks earlier, I thought I would still be in pretty good shape.
Wrong.
It's amazing how quickly your body loses conditioning, especially as you get older.
But it didn't take long to get back in shape. And even though it had been six months since I last rode my bicycle, it didn't take long to get into decent bicycling shape.
Swimming is another matter.
I had never been a good swimmer. And months had passed since I had been in a pool or the ocean. I tried swimming the recommended 1,000 to 2,000 meters on my own in the first week but struggled to swim four lengths of the pool.
My struggles continued in the group's first swim workout. I was the last one to reach the wind sock off Kaimana Beach and the last one back to shore.
As I continued to struggle during some swim drills back on the beach one of the coaches barked out these words of encouragement, "Some of you need to get in the water more, build up your endurance."
In the following weeks I did spend more time in the water and now halfway through the program, I can proudly say that I am good enough to keep up with the slow group.
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