Hello everyone, from France

I have to start by congratulating this site, its authors and of course, all of you the members that give it such a life.

I turned 44 just a month ago or so, and I decided to give it a chance at triathlon after a 16 year break. Yep, that's true, my last one happened a month before I left the Special Forces where I learned about the sport during the 5 years I spent with them. At the time I was fit as one could be, and I had been smoking for 7 years or so by then. I registered a 2h23, if my memory does not betray me, on the short distance (olympic). At the time I was national champion in orienteering and had finished 2nd in the Iberia Military championships just a few months earlier. As a student I ran track (1.5K and 5K) and 3K cross-country for the Military High School team. I also ran a few 1/2 marathons, and each orienteering course was at least 16km. While at the army I used to clock at least 80km per week. I used to have a solid athletic base, that's for sure.

After leaving the military I started working for an international company that took me around the world, got married and now I have two kids, a boy aged 9 and a girl aged 5 who always follow me on my weekend runs riding their bikes while keeping with me through the trails. It was not until last year's birthday that I finally gave up smoking. Just like that, I gave myself a gift by never again touching a cigarrette. That was in October 2003 and I felt really happy for stopping, but silly as one can feel for ever starting to smoke, believe it or not at age 21 while in medical school at the university.

For the past 15 years I did hardly more than water-skiing in the Summer, some swimming now and then, the odd game of volleyball, plenty of golf, but little else really. In April this year I started picking back on sports on a regular basis. By June I was running 5K in 25 minutes, which I thought was an achievement, since my PR was 17:31 back when I was 17.

I decided to have a full medical and was surprised to find my MHR at 188!!! My doctor, a sports physiologist, was also surprised and after completing futher tests she gave me a clean bill of health and a green light to continue training. November 20th I am going to test for VO2 max and other to custom build a training program with tri coaches from the regional tri federation.

I currently run at least 4 times a week and weather and time allowing I bike at least once a week. I also do weight training. I always looked slim, but now I look fit and actually picked up some 4kg since April and I still need two more to be where I want. I will start swiming pool routine in December when I rellocate in Dubai, UAE, where I will be training outdoors until Summer time. I will be splitting my time with my current location, so this means I need to invest on a road bike and take my mountain bike with me to Dubai.

I plan to enter the first Sprint in April, and hope to do the Nice Triathlon, olympic distance off course, still in the Summer of 2005. My objectives are Sprint under 1h20 and by the time I go for the olympic distance I want to see if I can break below 2h40. I have no intention to do an Ironman one day, but one never knows...

My kids are incredibly enthusiastic since they feel they are part of it (they clock my speed and control the time just to get them involved), and at the office everyone is backing me up. Most say I can do better now than I did before, and I am surely working harder, because now I do not have the benefit of age, so only hard work can yield results.

So lets see if I can beat the bugger and build enough endurance to do this thing in 2005. I have the speed, I have the will, I have the stamina, all I need is enough endurance, and that I don't know if one season will be enough to get back. By the way I am now using a HRM and since I started to do so I am under the impression that I have been able to progress faster.

Am I day dreaming? Am I setting myself goals that are probably too high? Thank you for the feedback and for bearing with me to the end of this saga. :-)