day 0: directions for a path

so i made a decision to take a martial arts class.

there's various reasons why, and the explanation is somewhat extensive. but to be brief, i'll summarize it as follows:

1) i've always had an interest in the martial arts. just as much as any other adolescent boy has had. but i've just never gotten around to it, and other things have always taken a priority, and my family (or i) just never could budget it into our expenses. it's only recently that i've found time, motivation, and the resources necessary for martial arts.

2) self-defense. there's been a number of times (actually, many times) in my life when i've felt a peculiar sense of vulnerability, when i've realized i was in potentially dangerous situations, and the only means of defense i had were physical strength, speed, conditioning, mental aggression, and whatever adrenaline my body could muster. these times have increased in frequency as of late, as the crime rate in the neighborhood surrounding my school has begun to escalate dramatically. i've felt an increasing need to learn how to defend myself--not just as a means of achieving victory in a confrontation, but as a means of survival...although, to a certain degree, victory and survival can be seen as one and the same.

3) competitive performance and physical recuperation. my sport (triathlon) places a heavy toll on the body. particularly for the races i prefer to do (ironman). training for an ironman triathlon requires a supreme level of physical conditioning, discipline, fortitude, perseverance, diligence, sensitivity, and foresight, and requires that the athlete constantly ride the edge of physical training and overtraining. i have been exploring ways to improve my body's recovery time and recuperative abilities, as well as ways to improve my body's efficiency in generating energy for a given amount of effort. i believe that martial arts may assist in this area, since presumably they encompass the same objectives and have the benefit of centuries of accumulated observation, wisdom, and application to draw upon.

all these reasons came to a head after my performance at Ironman Arizona. there, my struggles in the heat and wind, and subsequent state of dehydration, shortness of breath, and periods of black out pushed me to the inescapable conclusion that i had to improve my training.

based on my times in practice, everyone had told me my target time was probably going to be around 12 hours. i ended up finishing at 14:55. this was, to be blunt, pathetic. awful. other people were kind of shocked. i was disappointed. annoyed, to be exact. embarrassed, to be honest.

yeah sure, it was my first ironman. but i know--and i fully expect--that i can do better. reviewing my performance, i suspect that my training had been off (actually, i know it was off), my taper had been too short, my race day nutrition had been waaayyyyyy wrong, and my acclimatization period for the heat had been non-existent.

but i also know that my breathing efficiency needed work. as did my muscular recuperative powers. ditto my muscular endurance and power output.

i researched sports performance sources, as well as sports medicine. i also consulted with professional athletes and coaches. but what they seemed to offer were things i'd already covered at some point. as a result, i decided i needed to look for alternatives. given my pre-existing interest and growing sense of urgency to learn self-defense, i decided to try out the martial arts.

of course, there's the issue of what martial art...

and that is a bit of a conundrum. in order to make a good decision, you need to have a base of knowledge to work with, to the point that you at least know enough to ask good questions. however, in order to acquire such preliminary knowledge you actually have to have made a good decision and chosen a good source from which to learn.

a bit of a problem, to say the least.