helens cafe

"what got you so into triathlons?" - larry is into finding ways to push his body to the max.  he's into tweaking variables to mentally overcome physical weakness and optimize maximum output.  he's competitive amongst his friends.  and looking over his shoulder, he sees a peer in myself who works out regularly, has the physique to handle a more vigorous exercise regime and suckers me into his fanatic obsession.  i do it for vanity.  he does it for the challenge.  it's a good balance...until i get obsessed...

with only a week of exercise under my belt.  i agreed to a 6am half ironman.  i kind of knew i'd be able to do it, i just wanted to see how i'd perform.  and as expected...the swim was no problem.  the bike portion posed some challenges getting up to 石碇。 but the fact that we became mini celebrities on the mountain was pretty cool.  "你們那麼厲害。。。youbike到這裡？".  came down via 新店 parked the bikes and ran to 公管。。。then up through the park...

whats not pictured here is me.  in a borrowed from larry red bike shirt that struggled to stay on.  desperately clinging on at the shoulders and barely holding itself over my belly during the run.  it kept the heat in, and made me sweat even more.  embarrassingly fat yet still impressively enduring through the day.  felt even better with a beer at the end.  not sore at all the next day.  =)

i love watching movies where the protagonist is training.  he loses in the beginning...and goes back to nature to find oneself and train organically.  filmed with inspirational songs with the grace of nfl films.