REV3 Triathlon
Anderson SC, October
2012
Two reefers, a van, a tanker, and three
bobtails were parked in the corner of a busy parking lot that was not
really designed for truck parking. Your local Walmart? A NASCAR
race? Would you believe it was the parking area for the racers at
the REV3 Triathlon in Anderson SC?
The first annual triathlon started in
1978 in Hawaii. The race incorporated three events, a 2.4 mile swim,
a 112 mile bike race, and a run of 26.2 miles. Since then, the
popularity of the sport, with varying distances, has grown every
year, and was included in the Olympics in 2000. Perhaps many
recreational runners and cyclists looked at the race as a new
challenge to replace the 10K runs or century rides they completed in
the past. But truck drivers? Who would have anticipated truckers
competing in races that can strain the best of athletes?
Pilot/Flying J, in cooperation with US Xpress's Highway to Health
thought so. In summer of 2012 they posted on the U.S. Xpress
Drivers facebook page that drivers would have a chance to compete
in a triathlon in October.
I had tried out a couple of the
shorter, sprint-length, triathlons in the past couple of years and I
was excited that I could be in a longer event. Especially a longer event where Pilot/Flying J would pay my entry fee. I did have a few concerns,
though. I had very little chance to swim while driving over-the-road. I did not own one of the race-style road bikes used in triathlons. Most importantly, I was planning to run a marathon in the month of October.
Do not get the impression I am some kind of fitness fanatic that happens to drive a truck,
though. As a third-generation trucker, I was not surprised that when
I first went into driving, I began to put on some
weight. Driving is a demanding profession, and at the end of a long,
stressful day I only wanted to grab a bite to eat and hit the
sleeper berth. When I met my wife in 1989, and we started driving
team, the challenges only increased. Driving around 22 hours a day,
we did not have the time, nor the energy, to exercise and learn to
eat right. My weight went up way past the point that I did not like
what I saw looking back at me in the shower-room mirror. I hit a
point where my energy was low, my back hurt all the time, and I would
get winded just by climbing up a few stairs. We decided to make some
changes after a trip to Alaska in 1992.
A short hike will allow visitors to
Exit Glacier, on Alaska's Kenai Peninsula, to climb up to the ice fields. The hike is considered moderate in difficulty. We wanted to see the ice fields, but knew that “moderate” may have
been beyond our limits. We had always planned to get back in shape
“someday.” For the first time, a possible adventure had come up,
and we were not fit enough to enjoy it. Out of our frustration, we
decided to set a goal. We wrote our goal on a piece of paper and posted it where we would see it eveyday. We wanted "To be ready for whatever may be in
store for us!" We began a journey that involved learning about
nutrition and exercise. The small changes we made became bigger
changes and then bigger goals. About thirteen years later, I set a
huge goal. I wanted to train for, and run, a marathon.
Most marathon training programs call
for building up weekly miles of running. I changed my priorities to
suit my goal. If the truck was stopped, I was running. My weekly
miles progressed up to twenty miles per week, then thirty, then
forty. Although most runners would consider me woefully
under-trained, I completed the Rock-N-Roll Marathon in Phoenix in
January of 2006. Running turned out to be a great way for me to
exercise on the truck. It was efficient, I could get my heart rate
up quickly. Running provided a great break from driving. Only
minimal gear was required, so not much space in the truck was taken
up with exercise equipment. I ended up running another marathon in
2009, and was training for the third when I read about the REV3
triathlon.
We got a kick out of seeing the trucks
parked in the racer's area. We wondered if the other racers thought
that it took several semi-loads of equipment to put on a race. One of the trucks looked familiar. A
distinctive owner-operator's paint-job made it stand out. Cindy
remembered that we had met the driver at another race, the “Big Rig
5K” at the Great American Trucking Show in Dallas the year before.
We also saw the “fittest trucker” in the America, a triathlete
named Siphiwe Baleka, who now works for the health division of Prime
Transportation. We received a warm welcome from the
representatives of Pilot/Flying J. Dave Parmly asked me if I wanted
some “racing skins.” Sure. What the heck are racing skins?
It turns out they are a set of
clothes for racing triathlons.
I had
somehow I managed to get in a couple of swim workouts since summer.
I had also acquired a road bike on Craigslist. I had finished my
marathon without hurting myself. As we arrived at the race area I
was sore, unprepared, and with a bike I had only ridden two miles.
But I had a goal. I was going to finish an Olympic-length triathlon.
The first part of
the race is the swim part. The length is 1500 meters, a couple
hundred yards short of a mile. I swam in high school, and planned to
get out near the front of the group of racers I was starting with,
then I would not have too much traffic to deal with. We were to swim out from shore, around four large buoys, and back to shore. I must have
forgotten that I was not in high school anymore, that I had not raced much in the water in 30 years, and (oh yeah) I was a sprinter in high school, not a distance guy. By the end I was
thrilled to have just survived as I moved into the transition area to
start the 40k bike part. Cindy cheered me on as I washed down lake
water with some Gatorade got on my used bike and headed out to see
if we could survive for 25 miles in hilly South Carolina.
I had paid $400 for
my bike. While shopping I had discovered that racing bikes cost
anywhere from $800 to $4000, and most used bikes were close to $1500. I
clicked pretty well with the cycling part of the race, and started
counting the total value of the bikes I passed. Me and my "vintage" Cannondale passed about $40,000 of fancier race and tri-bikes. About two miles from the end of the cycling part, I
finally had a mechanical challenge. The front chain came off the
gear. Reaching down, I thought I could get it back on while rolling
22 mph. After a few tries, I decided to stop and fix the chain
before I hurt someone. Especially me. Then when I stopped, I forgot
that I had on toe-clip pedals that keep your feet on the bike. I
just barely kept from crashing to the ground before finding out that
I could not lift my fatigued leg over the seat of the bike on the
first try. So much for dominating the cycle course. I looked more
like a Three Stooges routine. Chuckling at myself, I quickly got the
chain on and took off again.
Cindy was waiting for me at the second
transition area. She encouraged me while I dismounted the bike,
grabbed some more Gatorade, and took off onto the 10K (6.2 miles)
running course. Six miles did not sound that tough, after all the
marathon training. I started off pretty strong, but then walked
through a few of the aid stations and up one of the hills. During
the run, some of the racers who were doing the longer Half-length
triathlon caught up to me. They had started an hour before me, had
just swam, biked, and ran, about 65 miles, and were blowing my doors
off. I may have walked more, but a couple of them encouraged me to
keep it up. As I rounded the corner and saw the finish line, I
regained some energy from somewhere and finished the run a bit faster
than I had started.
 |
Swim 43:52, T1 5:27, Bike 1:27:39, T2 1:19, Run 1:02:39
Finish 3:20:56 |
I had
reached my goal. I finished two races in the month of October. I am
always excited to see the programs rolled out by Mary Augustino,
Wellness Coordinator with US Xpress, that teach us to set goals and
learn to eat right. I have come a long way from being seventy pounds
heavier, addicted to tobbaco, and unable to run a single mile. It
all goes back to setting small goals, learning consistency, then
setting new goals. My wife and I are glad to be working for a
company that continues
in a leadership role as an advocate for driver health. The Highway
to Health
brings to drivers an awareness that they can take their fitness goals
beyond just losing a few pounds. Maybe I will even get a chance to
try that hike up Exit Glacier someday.
