Well, that goes without saying since I got one of those lengthy, alphabetic-hodgepodge of a Polish last names: Mioduszewski.

But every once in a while I get the other popular questions: So how did you get into triathlon? Sometimes it’s asked from family I haven’t seen in a while, from friends (especially ones not in the sport), and from just chatting with new triathletes. Most of the times I answer with a smirk & say “Larry/Becky dragged me into it.” But mostly I started doing this because it is great way to challenge myself and get ultra-fit. Yeah, there are some unexpected people that compete in Kona for the Ironman World Championship: a nun did it for 18 years into her late 70s; a winner from the Biggest Loser competed; disabled, amputees, and blind people have also finished the race. Now I am not saying that to compete in that race is what is driving me to do these crazy races (and, yeah, you do have to be a little off the wall), but once you finish one race it fuels the drive to do it again, and better. I remember after I finished the Nautica South Beach Olympic Distance Triathlon (04/11/2010) looking at my splits (swim time, transition 1, bike, transition 2, run time) thinking to myself: “Damn, I sucked that race”. I had to remind myself later on that I had not properly trained for it, had not done enough/any brick training (ie – a bike ride followed by a short run) before that.

I think there are two main reasons as to why I am doing this: seeing improvements and the support/motivation of a great training group: Try-a-Tri. I mentioned them in my last post but they are worth writing about again, and probably every post. The group has over 280 members registered on the Meetup site, but I think there are about 50 active members that train and compete. What probably makes this group different is that every single person is welcoming, supportive, easy-going, and willing to help in any way. A great example that happened recently: on two separate occasions two different TaTers (members of Try-a-Tri) came to help put up two different book cases onto walls. I might have been able to get at least one up, but both went up more quicker and probably better secured with their assistance. So hats off to Eli and Saffer!!

And one thing that I was greatly pleased about that has happened since I became a member of this group is that met Jessica Snug. I wasn’t planning on getting a girlfriend when I joined this group. But she was willing to help me learn to swim better and vice versa on her running. I slowly have gotten my swim stroke better (need to work on the endurance, even though I have completed a 1.5k) and she has made leaps and bounds on her running. We went on some runs, went on some dates, and then her roommate moved out and mine was planning on moving out, soooo….. we’ve been living together since May and have never been happier.    One thing is for sure: we will definitely be keeping each other company over the next few months training for Ironman Texas in May, 2011. Hearing what this training program entails sounds scary. My tush is still a bit sore from a 60 mile ride this past Saturday. It turns out it helps to help some amount of self-padding back there; I need to work on that. 

So I started going up to Larry’s house every Tuesday for what he called Boca Deca and after a few weeks started to get better endurance. I went from not being able to run 2 miles consecutively to competing in my first half marathon on November 15, 2009 with a time of 2 hours 15 minutes. Now as it turns out, most of the people that met at Larry’s house for the running were also triathletes; even Larry himself had competed in a sprint or two. So needless to say, after a few weeks of running with Larry’s group, he convinced me to join him for the Sunday tri training session at John U Lloyd. It should be noted that the name of this group is called Try-a-Tri, so it made the training session welcome. Now I didn’t have a bike at the time, so Larry brought an extra one for me. I enjoyed it, even though I could barely do the 400m swim, 10 mile bike, and then run afterwards. This cute redhead actually convinced me to do at least one mile with her (much more about Jessica Snug in later posts). So, thanks to persistence of Larry, Becky, and other TaTers (short for members of Try-a-Tri) I completed my first multi-sport race in Waldo, Florida, albeit a duathlon. It was so cold up there in February that I smartly did not chose to add the swim to the race. According to Jessica and Larry, the water was frigid. So I did okay in my first race and then continued on do actually do a complete triathlon in Sarasota in March.

Fast forward to April, I decided to try my luck at an Olympic distance triathlon (1.5k swim, 40k bike, 10k run) in South Beach. The coolest parts were that two elite triathletes also competed in Nautica South Beach Tri and that it was held the day after my birthday.   Here is where some people would say the rest is history, but for me most of it is still unwritten as I have yet to do the big ones: MiamiMan Half Iron (11/14/2010), Ironman Texas (5/21/2011), and the Goofy Marathon and a Half Challenge (1/7-8/2011). That Ironman is the big kahuna: 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, and then a full 26.2 mile marathon. My plan is to blog about my experiences training for it. And Jessica, too. Yeah, we’re doing it together. More about her in later posts, too.