Document text
Fit for a challenge photo by Bob Pennell By DON HUNT ASHLAND - Some people call Justin Adams a fitness fanatic. Others label him a glutton for punishment. Or just plain crazy. Adams has been depicted in such terms because of his fondness for marathons and, more recently, triathlons. The former Ashland High runner will take part in his first ironman triathlon Saturday at Camp Pendleton, Calif., near San Diego. The gut-wrenching event entails a 2.4-mile swim, a 112-mile bike race and full a 26.2-mile marathon, held in succession. "My family and friends keep telling me I need to see a shrink," Adams says. "They think I'm nuts." Kidding aside, the 26-year-old Adams is tackling a full triathlon for the same reasons a mountain climber scales Mount Everest or a seaman sails solo around the world: self-fulfillment and the knowledge you've accomplished something most wouldn't even contemplate. "It's a neat feeling to get yourself in the best shape you've ever been in and push your body to its absolute limit," Adams says. "The feeling I had after running my first marathon was pretty incredible, and I'm hoping this will be the same." Adams ran on the cross country and track teams at Ashland High, graduating in 1992. While attending Lewis and Clark College in Portland, he ran his first marathon in 1995, and has since added another dozen to his resume, including the 1999 Boston Marathon. "That was probably my best experience," Adams says of the Boston race. "There was a big crowd of spectators the entire way." Adams entered his first triathlon four years ago and has completed several more, most recently one at Lake Perris, Calif., last month. But those have been of much shorter duration: a 1-mile swim, a 25-mile bike race and a 6-mile run. The ironman event is the next logical step, Adams says. "I figured I better hurry up and do one while I'm still young and my body is still in one piece," he says. Adams will enter the competition with good friend Molly Luman, another former Ashland High runner who now lives in Colorado. The pair ran together at the Midnight Marathon in Anchorage, Alaska, last June. To prepare himself for the grueling event in Southern California Saturday, Adams has been swimming at Emigrant Lake, running in Ashland and cycling all over the Rogue Valley. A typical weekend might find him running 20 miles on a Saturday and cycling 100 miles the following day. He also intersperses the different events during training sessions to simulate what will happen during the real thing. "I might bike for 50 miles, jump off and immediately run 13 miles," Adams says. "One of the hardest transitions is going from the bike race to the run. Your muscles get real tight from biking because the range of motion is so small. "It's easy to fall down when you try to run. It's something you've got to prepare for." Adams admits his technique in the water isn't exactly on a par with Mark Spitz. "Swimming is my weakest part," he says, "and running is my strongest. I'm happy to get the swimming over with and get on to the other events - that's when I start passing people." Adams has painstakingly trained at Emigrant Lake in an effort to improve his crawl stroke and hopes to arrive in Southern California early enough to test the water in Del Mar Harbor, where Saturday's swimming portion of the ironman triathlon will be conducted. "I've never swum in salt water before," he says. "I'd like to get a taste of it, so to speak." Adams, who puts on science workshops for students and teachers throughout the Rogue Valley, has spent several nights recently dreaming about the laborious competition that will feature more than 2,000 entrants. "There's some definite anxiety going on," he admits. "I've woken up exhausted a few of times." Reach reporter Don Hunt at 776-4469, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.