Where is the line?

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Venice Beach was charged with electricity. People were everywhere; excited, nervous, filled with anticipation. It was six a.m. on this autumn morning. Stress levels, of the healthy type, rising with the sun. It was chilly, yes, but only the weather felt that way. People were warm, welcoming, and wired up. It was foggy, yes, but only the air looked that way. People were smiling, with a clear sense of purpose and direction. At least that was what I thought was true for the rest of them. As for me, the day turned out to be a different story.

The Set Up
I had trained several months prior to this event. It was the first time I was participating in an Olympic-distance triathlon.^[1] I was filled with doubts: Would I drown? Would I survive? Would I be eaten by a shark? Would I spend more time transitioning than racing? Would I cycle past exhaustion? Would I have legs to run to the finish line? Did I train enough? Probably like the rest of us out there, I was overwhelmed by the voices inside my head, and I am not schizophrenic. These were real voices and I was soon to find out some answers.

We formed at the starting line and we jumped into that chilling ocean water at the first sound of the air horn. Triathletes rushed to the water with frenzy. Everyone was trying to get ahead. All of the sudden, I felt myself the easy target of elbowing, kicking, pushing, pulling, and crushing. Lots of people were fighting to occupy the very same spot in the water I was in. When I finally managed to get to the first buoy I paused to see where I was supposed to go and realized: “Where is the line? There is no line at the bottom of the ocean. There is no line on its surface either.” I did all my swimming training in the pool and nothing had prepared me for this. At that point I felt lost. In fact, I was lost.

The Set Down
The big waves lifted me high and sank me low. The undercurrents pulled me in many unintended directions. The fog and my goggles blurred my vision and hid the markers. The many swimmers that passed me by distracted me from my objective. I followed some of them who actually took me in the opposite direction. Algae filled me with terror at the first touch in the turbid sea. There were lifeguards on surf boards. I thought to myself, “They are here to help, if I follow them, I’ll get through this.” So I did, zigzagging my way through the waters, adding more distance than necessary, of course. After one long hour in the ocean, I was tired, in pain, and far from finished.

The Set In
I repeated to myself “I am not a quitter… I am not a quitter.” This was the phrase that got me through. I took courage. I forced myself, almost breathless, exhausted, hungry, to one last surge of power. When I turned the last buoy, I paused again to have a visual of the beach. I joined hundreds of swimmers fighting the rip-currents to exit the waters. The visual effect was like sardines on dry land, except that we were the ones outside our elements. When I finally reached the beach I could barely walk, dizzy and disoriented. I realized: “My training was not enough.” I did not learn proper technique for the ocean. I did not practice active recovery. And above all else, I did not know how to follow an imaginary straight line.

In our race of faith, we will face many distractions: 

• People trying to take advantage of us 
• Others with good or bad intentions misguiding us 
• Self-called saviors that could deviate us from our path 
• Blurriness, or lack of vision 
• Poor technique or unpreparedness 
• Big waves of trouble and difficulties 
• Exhaustion, fear, or pain 

In the midst of these, how do we find guidance in the high waters? How can we sharpen our vision? If we focus on these, and many other possible distractions, we risk our wellbeing. Our spiritual, relational, mental, and even our physical health is in jeopardy. We are closer to the dangers of quitting. I am sure King David was not a triathlete, but I can certainly relate to his feelings when he wrote (Psalm 69:1-2 NIV):

Save me, O God,

for the waters have come up to my neck.

I sink in the miry depths, where there is no foothold.

I have come into the deep waters; the floods engulf me.

Like David, we need to fix our eyes on God and call upon Him. He is the One mighty to save; the One gracious to guide; the One who will see us through until we come on top. As for guidance for your ocean swim, I learned the hard way that you need to lift up your eyes to a landmark and follow it; but remember that God is beyond the hills (Psalm 121:1-2a CEB):

I lift up my eyes to the hills.

From where does my help come?

My help comes from the LORD.

Next time you are in a situation for which you cannot find any guidance or you feel helpless, call upon God. I assure you: you will be surprised.

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NOTES:
^[1] Olympic Triathlon consists of a 1.5 Km (0.93 Miles) swim, a 40 Km (24.85 Miles) bicycle ride, and a 10 Km (6.21 Miles) run. These are the official distances used in the Olympics, thus its name.

Interview with an Elite Athlete (Part 3)

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This is the third and final piece of the interview with tri-athlete Hernan Rubiano.

JO: What or who motivates you to continue to be an elite athlete?

HR: At this point in my career, it's a personal challenge to know that I can reach places I didn't think were possible. If one intends to achieve, one can do it. And my motivation has changed over time - it was more a game for me at the beginning. I used to do my training almost "unconsciously". Now, I challenge myself daily to do my best.

JO: Where or who do you look to for inspiration?

HR: I'm inspired by seeing other athletes win, world champions like Alistair Brownlee. And I look to competitions and the fact that I now know that it is possible for me to win. The sensation of being a winner is awesome! When I win, I forget all the difficulties that I went through to get to the podium.

JO: What was (were) the factor(s) that allowed you to become a sponsored, elite-level, athlete?

HR: I think it was the combination of my dreaming or visualizing that I can reach the elite level in the sport and capitalism. I started winning and that caught the attention of potential sponsors. Professional athletes become consumable products, though. Once performance decreases, or the results are not what is expected, sponsorship goes away. I try not to think about that fact to stay motivated.

JO: How does it feel to make a living from a sport?

HR: It is very gratifying, especially because an elite athlete has a high quality of life. The basic needs are met at an optimal level (housing, food, plenty of rest). And there's a daily discipline and focus on doing one thing, and doing it right. The difficult part is to strike a balance between the self-confidence one needs and letting the ego take over when winning competitively.

JO: What is your mental training like?

HR: I have to be focused all day. It involves a high level of abstraction because I have to use both my mind and body. One of my mental exercises is to try to isolate specific times while competing. I record and internalize those moments, replay them mentally, and improve on them. I also meditate to clear the mind, though not frequently enough. A strong mind is critical during those times I simply want to quit in the middle of a hard training session.

JO: Do you have any advice for anyone thinking about doing triathlon?

HR: My advice is to take it easy. I know several people that were new to the sport, started with a lot of energy, and spent a fortune on equipment; six months later, they got fed up with it and quit. Triathlon is rewarding, but requires all of your energy.

Race of Faith appreciates Hernan's time and candidness in sharing his experiences and thoughts for publication in this blog. Whether Hernan wears a red cape, runs with his cycling helmet on, or refuses to shower the day he's competing, we think of him as one of our super heroes.

[Part 1] [Part 2]

Jairo Ospina

Interview with an Elite Athlete (Part 2)

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This is the second part of a three-part interview with elite tri-athlete Hernan Rubiano. He spent about three months in the Los Angeles area in a training camp with other young athletes with the purpose of improving his performance and learning new techniques from a renowned American coach. During those three months, Hernan spent a couple of days at our house before returning to his native Bogota.

JO: What is your routine like during training camp?

HR: The training at camp and at home varies in terms of intensity and the type of exercises performed. The frequency of and training time is about the same. I train 7 days a week with a one day break every 3 weeks. Four days of the week are spent training for 2 of the 3 sports; the remaining days, I train for all 3 sports within the same day. A typical day may go like this: I am in the water at 6 a.m. for up to 2-hours of swimming and water exercises (now that I am in Southern California, I train in the ocean). I eat breakfast, rest and hop on the bike around 11 a.m. Depending on what the coach has for planned for me, I could do a long ride or time trials. Right after, I do some speed work on the running track, followed by stretching and a full dinner. I sleep at least 8 to 9 hours per day, and take naps depending on the schedule.

JO: Which of three sports are you strongest on? Do you have a preference for any of them?

HR: The first question is somewhat difficult to answer. Every competition is different, so I may perform better or worse than expected on any of the three sports during an event. For the second question, I don’t have a preference – I enjoy triathlon as a single sport.

JO: What is the food/diet situation like given the demands of your training? [Note: Before you read Hernan’s answer, I witnessed in multiple occasions this guy eat anything and everything that was placed in front of him].

HR: I eat anything I can. I must plan to eat throughout the day, so I carry food everywhere I go. My focus is on consuming large amounts of protein. Not counting a snack before swimming, breakfast after swimming, and dinner after the day is over, I can down five large bottles of water, one banana, one protein bar, and four energy gels. I also take mineral and natural herb and animal oil supplements.

How many pairs?

In the first 9 months of 2009, Hernan was already on his 10th pair of training shoes and third pair of shoes for competition. He also spends a small fortune on sunblock, which he wears year-round.

JO:Are there any odd or funny things that happened to you during a competition?

HR: During my first competitive event, I ran for about one kilometer before realizing I was still wearing my cycling helmet. In the middle of swimming in the last South American championship, another participant grabbed me and ripped a hole in my wetsuit. I had to finish the rest of the competition with part of my rear-end showing. I have had multiple toe nails fall off during a competition and ran with tennis shoes soaked in blood due to burst blisters (common for triathlon competitions). The most serious thing that has happened to me during a competitive event: I broke my right thumb when I fell off my bicycle (but I did cross the finish line).

JO: Do you say a prayer or have a routine before entering a competition?

HR: I have several routines that I do unconsciously. One of them is that I prepare a list of everything I need before leaving for a competition because I hate forgetting to bring apparel or equipment. And I never shower the day of a competition.

[Part 1] [Part 3]

Jairo Ospina
jospina@race-of-faith.com

Interview with an Elite Athlete (Part 1)

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It is easy to think of elite athletes as superheroes. If it wasn't because the practice of the sport requires certain attire for comfort and speed, elite athletes would wear a red cape Superman style as they move gracefully through the wind, while keeping their 4-minute mile running pace (not the rest of the suit, though - it was never cool to wear underwear over your pants). Superheroes and athletes also have a certain presence; there is a feeling of awe, if you will, from those of us watching as he takes a child to safety from a burning building, or she crosses the finish line to beat her own world record by five seconds.

So when I met Hernan Rubiano for the first time, I noticed he wasn't wearing a cape. In fact, he was wearing a t-shirt, shorts and sneakers, just like many of us mere mortals wear in hot August afternoons in Southern California. He looked buffed under the loose-fitting shirt, but he was shorter and more slender than I expected for an elite athlete (or a superhero). “Ernie”, as his training teammates called him in the U.S., is calm, good-natured, and unpretentious. He laughs a lot and is shy, the way Clark Kent is shy, blushes and hides behind his large frame glasses.

I spent some time with Ernie during his brief breaks from training with tri-athletes from all over the world. He has participated in numerous triathlon competitions throughout Latin America and in the U.S. Ernie shared some of his experiences on and off the course, as well as some of his thoughts on life during an informal interview, conducted shortly after a 6-mile run at my pace during which Ernie didn’t even break a sweat. Below are abridged excerpts from the first piece of this three-part article.

Athlete Profile
In 2009, Hernan Rubiano won a gold medal in the triathlon Olympic distance category and a silver medal in the sprint distance category at the Bolivarian Games held in Bolivia. He placed second in the South American triathlon championship held near Medellin, Colombia. He placed 9th in the elite category in the Malibu, California triathlon in September. U.S. Olympic team male and female athletes participated in the Malibu event. And he won first place in the Playa del Rey, California sprint triathlon.

Jairo Ospina: How did you get to be a tri-athlete? How did it all start?

Hernan Rubiano: Since my childhood, my mother made sure my brother and I were physically active, which I think instilled discipline in us. I started with swimming lessons, and after a short time, I met a coach that helped me get better at swimming in my high school years. My swimming coach also practiced mountain biking, so he got me interested and I practiced that sport for about two years. During a rescue swimming course, I met and then joined a group of college-level tri-athletes. When they stopped training as a group, I joined a club of experienced tri-athletes shortly thereafter and never left the sport. That was 8 years ago.

JO: How do you compare the competitive level of Latin-American athletes to the American or European athletes?

HR: It is more difficult to practice in Latin America, in part because sponsorship for the sport is less solid and not as stable as it is for other sports. There are great athletes, worthy of competing at an international level, but there are less fans. Triathlon is simply more popular in the U.S. and Europe.

[Part 2] [Part 3]

Jairo Ospina
jospina@race-of-faith.com