Spence Smith

Ben Davis does life… very well these days.

I saw this video when it came out a couple of years ago and saw it again this past weekend. When I watched the first time, I teared up at the end when I realized the Ironman finish line Ben Davis was crossing was Ironman Louisville, which I had raced the year before in 2009. I haven’t had to lose 120lbs but I know the journey to Ironman all to well.

I see videos like this and I’m continually inspired to do more and go farther than I’ve ever gone.

I watch this video and think the same thing about Ben that I do about me when it comes to change.

If I can do it, you can do it.

Don’t ever think life can’t change for you.

Don’t ever think you can’t put your mind to something and accomplish something bigger.

Don’t ever think you have to settle for a life you don’t want or one that’s not healthy.

God gives us the ability to go beyond what we think we are capable of.

When you watch this video, don’t think to yourself… I’ll never be able to do that.

If Ben Davis can do it, you can do it.

You have to want to do it.

Since this video, Ben has been running like crazy and doing well. You can follow his progress on his blog Ben Does Life and follow him on twitter. @bendoeslife

Enjoy.

After a few years of weekend training behind me, I’ve come to realize that a big weekend of training is just as much a mental challenge as it is a physical challenge.

If you are training for a half marathon or a full marathon, each and every weekend, your long runs continue to increase in mileage. To the point that you know… these miles are going to take a while so I better be prepared.

As I got ready for Ironman, my Saturdays and Sundays were consumed with training. A 100 mile ride on a Saturday could take 6-7 hours for me then a 15 mile run the next day followed by an hour and half swim. Easily another 4-5 hours gone from my Sunday.

That’s a lot in anyone’s book for one weekend not to mention having to do this for weeks on end and if you aren’t prepared mentally, it’s going to be even harder than it sounds.

This weekend I’m headed into some heavy training to kick off my 2012 triathlon season and just like learning to pace myself on a run or on a bike ride, mentally pacing myself is just as important.

Here are a few things I do mentally to get ready.

1. I prepare my gear ahead of time. I get together every piece of clothing or gadget I’m going to need for my training ready. I clean my bike, check the tires, lube the chain, charge up the bike computer and get my on-the-bike nutrition ready to go. I also get my running clothes, shoes and swim gear laid out. The less I have to think about my gear being ready, the more I focus on the training ahead of me.

2. I plan out my weekend of time spent with friends or family so that I can get in bed at a decent hour. Training for most of us takes place at an early hour and we need all the sleep we can get. I’ve been guilty of over doing it to the point that you would think I wasn’t training for anything and find myself worn out from a late night out.

3. Before I go out for dinner I get an idea of what i want to eat before I get there. What I eat today, fuels my body for tomorrow. It’s hard eating healthy when you aren’t eating at home. I usually look at the soups and a salad first then see if there is anything on the menu with fish and veggies. That’s my go-to. Yours might be different.

4. Plan Your Training Routes. Whether it’s running or cycling. Know where you are going and if at all possible plan some stops along the way in case you run out of liquids of food or need to go to the bathroom. There’s nothing more frustrating than running out of nutrition or needing to go have a little alone time in a clean bathroom.

5. Take your phone and a little extra cash. If you get stranded from exhaustion (hopefully not) or you get a flat and forgot your spare tube. It never hurts to be able to call someone to come pick you up. I’ve had to do it and it’s no fun. But sometimes it’s needed. Also… you never know when you need to buy an extra bottle of go juice or a snack. Take some cash. When I’m on my bike, I put my phone and cash in a zip-lock bag in case it rains or I spill liquid on it.

6. I think through the mileage I’m about to do. The miles might seem overwhelming but the more I break them down in my head to smaller chunks of miles, the easier it is for me mentally. Remember, training is a process.

When I think about this process, I find myself applying this to basic parts of my life. Traveling, Focused time with my wife, A weekend with the family.

In short, I think it pays to be prepared and ready and it’s honestly more of a load off my brain when I know I’m going into something more prepared.

Knowing what’s ahead of you and knowing how you will get there is half the battle.

The other half is just doing it.

If you aren’t new to this, how do you prepare for a weekend of training? Anything to add?

Compassion International has finally launched Team Compassion. If you have ever wanted to run a 5k, 10k, Half Marathon, Marathon, Triathlon or a long bike ride and raise money for a great cause, then now is your chance. ( www.team.compassion.com)

This has been a long time coming for Compassion and I’m really excited to see this happen. You see, I got into running through Team in Training. The experience TNT gave me while training for my first half marathon set something in motion for me that I never knew was really there. I just thought… I’ll do something I thought I would never attempt and at the same time raise money for a great cause and mark it off my bucket list. Sounds good right? Change my life to change someone else’s life.

What I didn’t count on was that I would love it as much as I do. Since then I have gone on to get involved in triathlons and participated in an Ironman race which I would have never guessed I would ever do such a thing! Much less want to do it again.

So here we are… For those of you who love Compassion and want to do something for yourself and for others, now is the time.

Why do I keep saying for yourself?

I truly believe we have been given our bodies as a temple to be taken care of. For most people, running a race is a huge accomplishment… a mile stone in their lives. It was for me… and what a better way to take on this journey than by raising money that will impact the lives of children all over the world in major ways.

You see. Around 470,000 people completed a marathon in 2009 in the United States. Imagine that. Imagine how many of those marathoner’s ran in support of someone else. I don’t have that number but I can tell you one organization raised 80 million dollars last year for their efforts.

Now that changed a few lives don’t you think?

I will leave you with this.

The journey to the starting life is where it’s at. Once you get to the starting line, you are now celebrating all the time effort and money you put into changing your life to change someone else’s. Crossing the finish line is just icing on the cake that you will eat tons of after the race!

The community, the support, the pain and the excitement you go through while training will teach more about yourself than you will ever imagine.

So go for it. Join a few of my friends who are training for the San Diego Half Marathon in June 5, 2011. Or sign up for your own race, create your own team and have a blast doing it with Team Compassion.

Feel free to email me with any questions as we get Team Compassion off the ground.

Question: Have you ever done anything like this? If so, what was it like for you?

Question: If you have never done anything like this, what would it take for you to get off the couch and lace up some running shoes?

This past week I was asked to write a post for Justin and Trisha Davis’ blog Refine Us. They asked me to write on redemption and how that fits into my story. I decided to post it on my blog today just in case some of you missed it. There’s a great discussion going on over on their blog. You can join in there.. or here. I hope it’s encouraging to you…

Not everyone who goes through a divorce has the exact same experience. Mine… well… it wasn’t easy at all. As you can imagine, it pretty much sucks and can suck the life right out of you. But what I didn’t expect was the blessings that came out of my divorce through the redeeming moments I’ve been able to experience over the past 5 years of being a once-again-single-guy.

Redemption takes on many forms. For me, I needed some sort of task to get me through the transition of married guy to divorced single guy. It’s not a place I ever planned to be in life, but here I was anyway. I was one unhealthy human being, not just physically, but mentally and spiritually. I knew this about myself and it was time to get healthy, own my mistakes and learn to live my life again.

What I have learned about myself and what I really believe about God has been more eye opening than I could ever imagine. One thing is for sure… Break-ups, no matter if you are dating or married, are tough and all come with memories of good times and bad times. It’s what you choose to do with those memories that will help you move forward in life in a healthy or unhealthy way. I choose healthy.

Sometimes memories are like scars. They each have a story and you might see some of them everyday even though you may not pay attention to them like you once did when they were forming. Even though I sometimes I forget about the tattoo on my back, every once in while I catch a glimpse of it in the mirror and remember why it is there and that it will always be with me.

So what do you do to avoid the emotional roller coaster of memories when you walk into a room where there was an argument, a tough conversation… or a memory that left you feeling helpless and lost? And what about those times when you remember the happy moments and get upset because you know… this isn’t the way it was supposed to work out.

Well for me… ending 8 years of marriage and finding redemption took on many forms. What I’m about to tell you is ONE way I dealt with my past so that I could live in the present. Again… this is just ONE way of many things I did to grieve and bring redemption into my life.

Since I travel a lot, there were quite a few times where the struggles of our marriage were dealt with on the phone while I was on the road… or sometimes when we traveled together. Depending on what we were dealing with at the time magnified the memory of that place. As in… “I was standing in this spot or in this building or looking out over this view when ‘XYZ’ happened. It was a hard memory that I’d rather not revisit.”

For someone who travels to the some of the same places year after year, you have to imagine there are a lot of memories wrapped up in even an airport, an arena or looking out over the mountains… or… places in town you would go for a date.

Over the past 5 years of being single, I was able to travel back to EVERY place in the world where we had had some hard moments and arguments… and even some places where we had happy moments together.

What I decided to do was to redeem those places and times so that when I visited there again, I knew in my heart there was healing and closure. Now when I go back to any of these places or times. The emotional impact of those moments has changed and been replaced with something that allows me to celebrate a new memory. However… Remember you never forget what happened… you just know that you dealt with it… and now that part of life has new meaning.

For instance, I was able to go back to the city where we had our honeymoon. I was with a group of friends and I decided one morning to go for a run alone. As I was running I found myself crossing this major bridge that led to the resort ahead. As I ran to the middle of the bridge, I stopped… looked out over the city and the water below and thought about that honeymoon week… and in a short moment I was in complete tears… great, big, alligator, sobbing tears. Grieving for the loss of a marriage that I played a part in losing. It wasn’t supposed to be this way… but here I am single, no kids and starting life over. So as I cried it all out, I looked out over the view, took a few deep breaths and did as I had been doing all along the way of the healing process and decided to make this moment one I can celebrate. It’s almost like burying the old life and starting a new one. My cousin told me this was going to be the biggest ‘do-over’ ever and he was right.

I knew I was there to enjoy this particular moment now and not run from it… So… I ran into it. I continued my run… literally, took in the sites along the way and created some new memories that day. By nightfall I looked at one friend and told him what a tough but great day it had been. I got to re-live a few moments of my marriage, grieve over them and appreciate the place they held in my life because this is where the honeymoon was…not to be forgotten… but to be recognized as a significant part of my life that is now gone.

Other redeeming moments I’ve experienced haven’t always been as emotion filled. But they are still redeeming moments.

Let me tell you… this journey has been really tough at times but has been refreshing, healthy, and a huge blessing. It doesn’t matter if I’m doing this in Nashville, Franklin, Rome, Monterey, Australia, the UK or a little town in Texas… I’ve found redeeming moments everywhere and I always told myself I would deal with them when they came up no matter how tough it might be. There’s no use in letting the past get you down when you have your own chance of making new memories.

I still believe in marriage and I still believe in love. I wouldn’t be the man I am today if I hadn’t gone through the divorce. I learned a lot from my marriage and I learned a lot from my former spouse. We experienced some great memories I will always have with me. Including the happiest memory I have with her…

August 30, 1997.

It was our wedding day.

I was so excited and, at the time, seeing her walk down the aisle was the happiest moment of my life. The smile on her face and grin in her eyes is a picture I will always remember… I was smiling so much my cheek muscles hurt! Everything… and I mean everything was right in the world for that moment and we were both beaming.

With such a great day as that, how could I possibly redeem the anniversary and memory of our wedding day?

It wasn’t easy at all.

The first few years, those anniversary days were really dark and quiet. I grieved them as they were very tough days to get through. Now I cherish the memories from that day, but I still wanted to redeem the day by doing what I thought was the impossible.

Now when I see that day… I know this.

Yes… it was my wedding day, but on August 30, 2009, what would have been our 12^th wedding anniversary… was the day I became an Ironman.

That day was a proving ground for me. Not just physically… but emotionally. I did what I thought was the impossible. I finished the greatest physical challenge of my life and got through it with a physical and mental strength I never new I had. Just like going through a divorce, I never thought I would ever go through one and come out of it alive. But that day gave me closure for a significant moment in my past and quietly replaced it with another significant moment filled with happiness, tears and a whole lot of sweat!

Now I can inspire others to go on their own journey of redemption and create their own redeeming Ironman moments… literally or figuratively.

I can honestly say… If I can do it, you can too.

So here’s the question for you… Are you redeeming parts of your life that you need to take back for yourself? Are you owning your part so that you can move forward and live life to the fullest?

If you aren’t, now is just as good of a time as any to start.

If I can do it, you can do it.

Time to redeem those moments…

I was given 50 Ways To Identify Triathlon Obsession a while back and thought a few of you would really get a kick out it. I can’t tell you how true all 50 of these really are!

50. You are over 30 and there is still someone in your life that you refer to as “coach”.
49. Your last bike cost more than your first car.
48. You have peed outdoors more times in the last year than you did in your first year of university.
47. You think of mowing the lawn as a form of cross-training.
46. You’ve worn a heart-rate monitor to bed.
45. And it wasn’t when you were sleeping.
44. You refer to the front hall of your house as the “transition area”.
43. When you get home from a training session at the pool, the newspaper is just being delivered to your house.
42. You have changed more flat tires this year than light bulbs.
41. The most frequently used software program on your computer is the one that keeps track of your workouts.
40. You have no idea why they call Cal Ripken Jr. “Iron Man” when, after all, he was a baseball player.
39. The first three items on your grocery list are Gatorade, power bars, and gels.
38. When you floss at night, it’s to get the bugs out of your teeth.
37. Your legs move in a cycling motion while you are asleep.
36. When you see a drop of blood, your first reaction is that you spilled some red Gatorade.
35. You know how far you biked and ran last year, to one-tenth of a kilometre.
34. You think the ultimate form of wallpaper is about 64 racing bibs.
33. A 19-year old kid who works in a bicycle shop know more about you than your next-door neighbour.
32. Your children are more likely to recognize you if you put your bicycle helmet.
31. You have a vanity licence plate with the word “Kona” in it.
30. About half the shirts you own have at least a dozen logos on the back of them.
29. You don’t find the word “fartlek” in the least bit amusing.
28. When you refer to your “partner”, you mean neither your spouse nor the co-owner of your business but the person you run or bike with three times a week.
27. You shave your legs more often than your wife.
26. The closest you came to punching somebody was when they disagreed with your position on whether wearing a wetsuit amounts to cheating.
25. It doesn’t feel right that you can’t “clip “ in and out of the pedals in your car.
24. There is a group of people in your life about whom you are more likely to know how fast they can swim 100 metres than their surnames or occupations.
23. Some of the shorts you wear today are tighter than the ones you wore in high school.
22. You are frustrated with the latest Garmin Forerunner because its live readings have a margin of error of approximately three per cent.
21. There’s a separate load of laundry every week that is just your workout clothes.
20. One of your goals this year is to be faster at getting out of your wetsuit.
19. You failed high school chemistry but you could teach a course on lactic acid.
18. All you want for Christmas is something called a carbon crank set.
17. You wore a digital watch to your wedding.
16. You have to have completely separate meals from your spouse because he or she is on a low-carb diet.
15. Your bicycle is in your living room.
14. You have stocked up on a brand of cereal because it has a coupon that will save you money on your next two pairs of running shoes.
13. In order to establish a new personal best, you considered peeing without getting off your bike.
12. One of your proudest moments is when you lost a toenail.
11. When a car follows too closely behind you, you accuse the driver of “drafting”.
10. When you went for a job interview, you wrote your social insurance number on your arm in black marker.
9. Your spouse cried during Terms of Endearment; you cried during the television coverage of the Hawaii Ironman.
8. You are comfortable discussing the sensitivity of your nipples with other guys.
7. Your spouse is looking forward to the day when you will slow down and just run marathons.
6. You have paused in front of the mirror in your wetsuit and thought, “Hey, I look like Spiderman.”
5. You see no issue with talking about treatments for chafing or saddle rash at the dinner table.
4. You recently asked your spouse out for dinner by asking if he or she wanted to “fuel up” together.
3. For you, “bonking” no longer has a sexual connotation.
2. The magazine secretly tucked under your mattress has pictures of really expensive bicycles in it.
And the No. 1 sign you’re obsessed:
1. Most of this list doesn’t seem like a joke to you.

Triathlon is fast growing sport right now. I know in the Nashville area the tri community is growing like crazy. People are catching the tri bug and it’s really fun getting to see so many people take the plunge.

But with triathlon being such a new sport still for most people, there’s a lot of confusion as to the lingo surrounding triathlons.

The question I get asked is what the distance of a FULL triathlon is. Kind of a funny question and yet a logical question in it’s inaccuracy.

Because Ironman Championship in Kona, Hawaii is on TV, most people think this particular race is the only triathlon race there is or that it is what all triathlon races are made of. This isn’t the case. In order to go to Ironman in Kona, you have to qualify in the top three spots of your age group. There are just over 30 Ironman races in the world each year and all are qualifying races for Kona.

On with the race…

A triathlon is three sports. Swimming, Biking and Running. In that order. So when a person asks… “is it a full triathlon?” Yes… all triathlons are full because they have three sports. What people are really asking… “are you doing the ironman?”

The answer is not every triathlon is an ironman.

Ironman is just the longest of the triathlon races.

There are four different triathlon distances. The longest and toughest being the Ironman (2.4 mile Swim, 112 mile bike, 26.2 mile run) then there is a Half Ironman (half of the Ironman distance) then there is the Olympic distance (1 mile swim, 25 mile bike, 6 mile run). The shortest triathlon is called a Sprint which is roughly half the distance of an olympic distance triathlon. Truth be told. If you are a strong triathlete, sprints can be really tough. Because they are really short, you have no time to make up ground on who is ahead of you and not room to slack off to beat those who are behind you. Long distance race give you a little breathing room to make up time and to pace your self well.

Also, Olympics and Sprints will vary in distance by a mile or two on the bike and run and vary a little on the swim.

So… I’m hoping you are getting a mental picture. For those of you who know marathons and half marathons. There is only a marathon (26.2 miles) then the half marathon(13.1 miles). Then 10k’s (6 miles) and 5k’s(3 miles) typically. But if your friend says…”I’m running a 10k this weekend.” You probably aren’t going to say… “is that a full 10k?”

And there you have it… a simple little explanation from dear ole me…

Make sense?

Wanna tri with me?

Every year I make a plan for what’s next in the year ahead. Most people do this in January, but I seem to keep my life calender in a fall to fall rotation. Mostly because when triathlon season is over in September then it’s time to figure out what happens between September and May when Triathlon season starts up again for us in the Nashville area.

Since finishing Ironman Louisville, I’ve been able to take much need rest and travel to get a couple of tours started for Compassion. It’s been refreshing, energizing and focused. So… I have a plan for the athlete side of me. This plan is in no way a reflection of anything else going on in my life like work, family, friends, travel, etc… this plan is just one part of my life.

So here it is… This next year will be my 4th year training for triathlons and every year I have focused on one of the three sports more than others so I can learn that sport and get a little faster in it. First it was just doing a sprint. Get in the water, hop on a bike and hope I can run after all of that. The 2nd year I had caught the triathlon fever so I focused on the swimming. I biked and ran when I could. This past year, I signed up for Ironman Louisville and focused more on the bike. This next year… it’s all about the run and improving my times over all for all three sports.

Running has probably brought me through the toughest times in my life but is also my toughest sport. I really enjoy it and most days I love it, but I don’t exactly float on air when I’m in my full stride.

Knowing what I need to do to meet my goals, I’m going to run a half marathon in early December but possibly one in November or January.

This plan will take me through the holidays as they are a rough time to train with all the Christmas parties and eating going on, not to mention training in cold weather isn’t something I’m very eager to do. It’s ok though. I’m determined to see it through.

That brings us into January. January starts 5 months of more intensive training to be ready for the summer.

Summer of 2010, I will probably do at least 3 maybe 4 olympic distance triathlons a couple of sprints and one half Ironman. I was supposed to do two half ironman races this past summer but my travel schedule didn’t allow for it. So I’m going to go back this summer and tackle one. The one Half Ironman I’ve decided on is Vineman Half Ironman. It’s in wine country…. Need I say more?

For those of you following along, A half Ironman is…wait for it… half the distance if an ironman. 1.2 mile swim, 56 miles on the bike and 13.1 run. Sound fun? Come on…

I like having a plan. It helps me meet my goals and allows me to stay focused.
So… there you have it.

Do you have goals for yourself? Wanna tri with me?

Yesterday in the ongoing triathlon training for Ironman Louisville, I rode Bike The CRAM (Clarksville Rotary Annual Metric). It was nothing short of a blast and a great training ride. The weather was perfect and I got to know a few people on the ride as we cruised our way around the farmland surrounding Clarksville, TN.

As I rode I noticed my gears weren’t shifting so at the first water stop there was a bike mechanic from The Bicycle Center of Clarksville. This guy hooked me up and completely replaced a gear cable in about 5 minutes. My bike rode like a dream for the rest of the day.

After I rode, I went to buy my first tri bike – A 2009 Cervelo P2. I’ve been shopping for the right bike for some time and I had finally found what I was looking for. For those of you not into tri’s, this is different bike than a normal road bike. I’ve been riding a great road bike by Giant but it was time to take things to the next level. I’ll spare you the boring details about the differences between a Tri bike and a road bike and just tell you that it’s fast, very aerodynamic and very cool. I’m really excited about all that is in-store for my training with this bike.

I bought the bike at ACME Multisports and those guys took great care of me. They know their bikes and they how they should fit for triathletes. It was a great experience and I highly recommend going to see them if you are in the Nashville area.

These were my two big winners for the weekend.

The big take away here is customer service and attention to detail mean everything…

Today was the last of 7 Tri’s I did this summer. In the middle Tennessee area, the season has come to a quick close. There are several more Tri’s around the country through out the year, but they are mostly in the warmer climates.

This past season has been a lot of fun for me. I appreciate all of the emails, texts, facebook messages and phone calls from all of you who have been tracking my progress over the past year and even more with this past summer. Your encouragement means the world to me and helps me to keep going. And keep going I will.

Next on the agenda is prepping for a marathon in November. Shortly there after I will officially start training for the Louisville Ironman with a coach. I have little goals I want to meet along the way as well with these events so again…I’m looking forward to the process.

As for today’s race…I’m not going to sugar coat this one. It was tough. Why? Well it seems that Ike’s weather fingers made it our way today with wind gust of 35 to 40 mph…so…just try to image what that looks like on a lake. The water was so rough that the bouy markers used to tell us where we are and where to turn for the mile swim where breaking away and floating off. Not to mention people where getting pulled from the water because the water was too rough to swim in. They had let about 25% of the racers start swimming before they called off the swim portion. Once those swimmers came back on shore and the race official got plan b figure out, we were off for a new start. Jump on your bikes, then do the run. ok…so at this point it seems good because we are down to just the two sports…remember the choppy waters from the wind? Well the wind didn’t stop there. There were times when i was on my bike and I thought i was literally going to fall off my bike from the wind knocking me over. I was leaning into the wind while going 25mph so i could stay on my bike…it was frustrating.

Once the bike was done the run started off great until my knee started giving me fits which slowed me way way down…

In the end…i’m so glad I did it and I’m thankful that I could have the summer I’ve had.

It’s been a great summer…now onto the rest of the show…

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There are a lot of you who have been asking me lately how I got into doing triathlons so I thought I would share with you the little process I went through.

In January of 2007 I came back from Africa with a little bit of a new perspective on life. Africa has that effect on people. When I came back I had decided I want to take my fitness level to another level. I wasn’t a great runner but I loved running, I wasn’t a swimmer but I loved to swim recreationally. I was on a swim team when I was a kid so I thought I would find a swim team to join. I had heard you could do that. What I found was a group of triathletes who swam together 2-3 times a week.

The group is called Excel Aquatics Triathletes.(Here is the new blog site for Excel Aquatics Triathletes)I joined just to see if I could get into swimming a little bit. Well I did…and I loved it. The next thing I knew I was signing up for my first triathlon. After I did the one tri. I was hooked. That was one year ago.

What happened after that was so much fun! Within the community of swimming triathletes, I started to get to know a few who were biking as well. And…within this group  I found out these crazy people were also training for Ironman events. WOW!

They key for me in all of this is the community around it. Whether your here in Nashville or else where. If this is something you want to do…find others to train with.

Most major cities have triathlon groups you can join and train with. Nashville has a great community of triathletes. We range from slow to fast so you will have no problem finding  your level somewhere in between.

Is it scary? No. Is it intimidating? Yes…but only at first. It’s kind of like geting in cold water for the first time, eventually your body adjusts and feels warm. You get comfortable with it and it feels normal.

Even though I’m not a fast runner, running for me is something I do mostly on my own except long runs. But hanging with these people will help you to feel confident that you can do it.

Please note this though…EVERYONE and I mean EVERYONE struggles with the swim part. Thats why I train with a team. Everyone in our group now can swim long distances. The key is to finish, not finish first. Unless you really want to finish first…

So what do you need to start?

Swim: swim suit, for guys these are called Jammers. Googles, swim cap, fins, paddles and a buoy. When you go to a swim store, you should find all of these items and the person at the store will be able to help you pick out what you need.

Cycling: A decent road bike if you are a beginner. As a beginner you can modify the bike to add aero bars if you want them..If you are a cyclist already, it’s up to you, but a good tri bike would be the bomb. Bike shoes to clip in to your pedals, cycling shorts, jersey, and a bike helmet. Everything else is accessory…except a water bottle or two. You can spend as little as $1,000 and as much as $6,000 just on the bike. The bike is the most expensive part. There’s always something else to buy for your bike to help you go just a bit faster…it’s a little addicting.

Running: great, not good, but great running shoes and then whatever you want to run in. I like anything dry fit that wicks the moisture away. Good compression socks and a fine buy as well.

There are so many sites you can find online to give you a better idea of what goes on so make sure you google a bit.

I do believe this is my most important thing to tell you…Exercise with a purpose. Make it count and mean something to you so that you can own it as a part of your life. I believe most people fail at exercise because they have no goal or end result. Set a goal, not just a weight goal, but a fitness goal…i want to run a mile, then two, then 4…then a ahlf marathon…maybe a sprint triathlon…see what I mean?

When I got into running I first did it with Team In Training. It was a community of people doing the same thing with a coach, a schedule and a purpose for a good cause. It gave me a great foundation of what I wanted to achieve for my personal fitness.

Friends…if you want to do this, you can. Literally…one step at a time. If you want to talk about it all, just email me…I’ll have you running or in a pool in no time and loving it:)