Triathlon - Oshima, Nagasaki

As another Better Late Than never post ends, another begins. This time we are flashing back to my triathlon last summer which took place on the small island of Oshima in Nagasaki prefecture.

July 17, 2011

It started out like any other weekend. Friday evening I hung out with K and S around my house then woke up early Saturday morning to begin my road trip with S (this one is Japanese) toward Nagasaki prefecture where the race would take place. Before I talk about the race though, I want to preface this major check on my bucket list with a little background information.

For those of you who don't know, my arrival in Japan in August of 2010 was surrounded by turmoil in my life. I look back at pictures of myself then and think I must have been pretty unhappy. In March of that year I broke out of a four and a half year relationship, in May I graduated college and in July I moved home to throw most of my tangible memorabilia away and pack for a journey I was both excited and scared to take. It's no wonder I wound up with some ulcers in October of that year. These factors, combined with a generally change-friendly (flexible) personality made my transition back to "sportsman" (how my Japanese kids describe me now) a relatively easy to follow course (although a big boost from K really got me going on the process).

That being said, when I finished up the marathon in December and finally began to compete again starting around March (winter hiatus), it was all I could do to stop myself from running all the time. I had become an addict. My sister and mother will tell you that addictive personalities are a family trait and be it booze, gambling, smoking, or working - we quickly latch onto addictions when they make themselves available. So when I tell you that I am addicted to “いい汗をかく” (working up a good sweat) maybe you will understand a little better. It's more than the runner's high or hitting your stride because I have found that I can hit these states in other sports as well, but it has really become a type of meditation for me. I have presented this sentiment to two of the most spiritual people I know before essentially posing the theory out loud so hear me out.

I mentioned before I associate with no set religion. But, I have been meditating for years for the purpose of relaxation and self awareness. In college when I didn't have the solitude or drive to meditate regularly I tried to channel that energy into a semi-private yoga class I participated in once a week. Sometimes I actually felt like it was working. When I came to Japan in the midst of the aforementioned turmoil, I found myself so overwhelmed with my new environment that even if I had the drive to meditate, I found I couldn't clear my mind enough to find release.

Once running became routine, I found my mind beginning to wander on the longer runs to the point that I would no longer need to consciously think. My breathing became natural, almost relaxed and the sound of my own shoes tapping the pavement became no more than a whisper as my mind cleared and I released myself into the run.

Needless to say, after a few times of reaching this almost ethereal state, I had found my new meditation. Now, this doesn't happen every time that I run, and I can't even say that it happens sometimes. Rather, I could probably count its occurrence on my fingers. But you do begin to wonder if there are other ways to reach this state. I had a friend from college who I met up with recently describe a similar feeling while fighting kung-fu. He said of course it rarely happens but the sensations described were so similar to mine it was uncanny. You become one with yourself, time and your surroundings as much as you become separated and move beyond these things.

So you may be beginning to wonder how my triathlon has anything to do with this alleged nirvana. Well, I have always loved swimming. I anxiously await swim season here in Japan to the point that the gym teacher has actually made me a calendar outlining the cleaning, opening and closing schedule of the pool for this year and next. I am truly an ocean child. Water practically calls to me and Japan is torture for me once the public pools close for winter, and in April when I ran my last race of the running season it was all I could do to keep my clothes on until the pools startes opening again.

Knowing I wanted to maintain my current level of fitness but also curious still about whether I could reach my trance state in any other way, I began a rigorous training program for the triathlon. It gave me a break from the daily grind of studying for MCAT (which I might actually have been better off studying more for) and the chance to enjoy the beautiful weather outside after a winter of isolation.

Having never competed in anything like a triathlon before, I trained the only way I knew how - swimming, biking and running as much as possible. I swam in the school pool on breaks, ran when I got home in the afternoon and biked on weekends when I could get my hands on one. The trip home helped me a bit too since I didn't have to work and could study and exercise all day.

Overall, by the time the triathlon rolled around I felt pretty good about my preparation (more than I could say about the MCAT a few months later) and so when I got into the car with S on our way out to Nagasaki I was in a good place. We drove uneventfully to Oshima island where the event was to be held and with the remainder of daylight, drove the course. That good feeling I was talking about evaporated. The bike course (40km) was twice around the island. Up and down and up again. Considering most of my training for the bike section had been in Florida (NO MOUNTAINS) I about cried when I say all the hills (which looked like mini-mountains in my trembling mind).

We slept a fitful night in the car, both out of nervousness and because it was damn hot and woke up early the next morning to a slowly filling parking lot and a bright, shiny sun. Thinking about it now almost makes the snow outside my window as I write this feel welcome... almost. By the way, as I write this, the first snow of the year is falling.

After a quick dip in the water to get my wetsuit on, a few encouraging texts from family and friends and some juice for energy (I couldn't keep any food down because I was simply too nervous) I felt about as unready as possible when the gun finally fired. My tummy was rolling, head was reeling and I was feeling failure all the way down to my toes.

Just so you know, triathlons (Olympic distance anyway) have time limits. Thus part of the reason I was so nervous. The swim portion has X amount of time, bike - y, and run -z. If you don't finish each section within the time limit you are disqualified and unable to advance to the next stage. If you finish early, however, you can add that time to the next section. For my race, the 1.5km swim (about one mile) had one hour, the 40km bike (about 24 miles) an hour and 45 mins and the 10km run (about 6 miles) was given an hour. I finished the swim early which was good because I went a little over on the bike but overall finished with time to spare. It was far from easy, however, and I found out later that of the 500 or so participants, only me, S and about 15 others were tri-beginners. The rest ran from veterans to ironman competitors and all of them told us we did an excellent job just finishing. Of those 500 people only about 30 were women.

Yeah, the race was tough. The swim was in a bay in the middle of jellyfish season and thus every stroke had me pulling not just water but a small jellyfish. I wouldn't notice every inch of my skin left exposed by the lines of my wetsuit would be covered in jellyfish stings until a few days later. The bike, as I previously mentioned, was up big hills that I was untrained for, and the run was in the middle of summer heat where dehydration hit me like a brick. I look back and think I could definitely have worked harder because now I know it was  my mind that bricked and not my body (I wasn't sore the next day), but you learn from these mistakes and the experience. There is always this summer.

And someday... I too will be a veteran and an ironman. Someday soon. Love.

By the way, I have much better control of my body and mind than I did then. Meditative/trance states come more often and I can hit it during swimming and biking as much as running now. There really is power in the mind.

Also, I have no pictures from this event (I think both S and I forgot to bring our cameras) but here is a link to the results page if you are interested. My name is listed in Japanese as ファイフ　ニコール:
http://www.osy.co.jp/triathlon/results01.php