The Past Year in One word: "Liberating"

Twelve months ago, I made a "crazy" decision to try the triathlon. It was a leap of faith as I hadn't been swimming for years, and I had a fear of the open waters. Also, three sports? Weren't I busy enough with one (running) already?

But having a colleague who's the world's number two ultra-ironman started me thinking "Maybe I could do it..."

So I bought a bike, and took to the pool to learn the front crawl.

The first swim lesson, my coach shook his head in disbelief after watching me swim just one lap. "How many laps can you swim free-style?" he asked. My response: only one. So began the swim drills. To be honest, I didn't like the drills. Not because they were boring (they are!), but because water got into my nose. And that gave me sinuses and backdrips.

I watched videos on Total Immersion Swimming, read books on how to swim and kept visualizing good swim techniques. After months of drills and hard work, I managed to do a decent lap. Then two. Three, etc.

My work was not done yet. Even as the distance improved, I had to keep working on technique, and still have to. The tendency is to be sloppy, and then bad habits kick back in.

Then there was cycling (triathletes prefer to call it biking). It couldn't be that difficult right? After all, I had learnt how to cycle when I was 13. And all I had to do was just pedal.

Yes and no. I didn't figure on (a) butt aches, (b) learning technical stuff about the bike - cadence, wheels, tires, aerobars, etc, (c) hills, (d) clipless shoes, among others.

Just the other day I was discussing the merits of clipless with another friend KL. It took me almost 8 months before I decided to try them. Just as I feared, I fell on my first ride with them. Not to mention countless more falls after that. And I have many scares to remind me.

Well, the upside of it is that clipless shoes and pedals improve efficiency. The up stroke matters as much as the down stroke. And the outcome is faster speed.

That is the much sought after goal - speed.

Just when I thought my bike speed is good enough, coach told me today that I could improve further. 2:45.

2:45??!?! That meant much faster bike and run. I still have doubts whether that is possible for this old guy. We'll have to see.

Then I started thinking about the tri journey for the last year. How I started and my struggles along the way. And today, I am pleasantly surprised that I have completed 1 sprint event and 3 OD triathlon races (in addition to 4 marathons). And that each race seemed easier.

Which leads me to an interesting chapter I read last night from a book by Nancy Ortberg "Unleashing the power of rubber bands". She was describing how one word helped her through a time in her career - "Flourish". This word guided her in her leadership, through tough times, and became a vision for the organization.

What would that one word be for me? This morning, as I was running, the word came to me - "Liberating"

So as I plan to complete the shortest ultramarathon (50km) and a 70.3 over the next 6 months, I am already starting to plan for the next 12 months. Lining up a couple more 70.3s and then possibly a full IM in 2011.

Liberating:
To set free, as from oppression, confinement and constraints.