In the Footsteps of Legends

by Jonas Colting

I´m in San Diego for a long training camp. And it feels right. Not just because the sun always shines in southern California at a time when the snow still piles up back home.

And I´m not exactly disheartened by the shimmering ocean view from the balcony or the mountain backdrop featuring stunning roads and endless trails. Triathlon is in the air! And that´s why it feels just right! And the feeling is there because a few pioneers were struck with the same impulses some 35 years ago right here in San Diego and that became the humble beginnings of our sport. Not that they were aware; they just figured it´d be cool to mix in a swim during those beach runs, and since they were riding their bikes everywhere already, it was a done deal. Some time later a few of these individuals moved to Hawaii and drank too much beer a night after a running race and ironman was born.

Today there are millions involved in the sport at some level and thousands of races and it all stems from San Diego.

So when I´m running along Pacific Beach to Mission Bay, I´m chasing Scott Tinley's shadow along the horizon. Or when cresting the steep trails rising along the Torrey States Park, I´m in the footsteps of Tom Warren, winner of the 1979 ironman and a triathlete to boot even before the word was invented.

As a teenage triathlete in Sweden and proud owner of Tinley´s book “Winning Triathlon,” San Diego was a mythical place -- remote and exotic. It was my Machu Picchu; a place of sugar and honey where great deeds were done. I´m older now. So is Scott Tinley, who´s not running anymore but will meet over a cup of coffee.

Legends slow down but never die.

And I also know now that I didn´t have to travel to the other side of the globe to run amidst the past glory of champions. I just recently learnt that a runner by the name of Rune Gustafsson ran a world record for the 1000 metres in Borås some 60 years ago: 2.21. And that was on the same track that I´ve been plodding around, albeit at substantially lower speeds but in just the same striving frenzy towards my own greatness... adding footsteps for others to follow themselves.

2010 will mark Jonas' 20th season as a triathlete and his 14th year as a professional. Jonas has always considered himself a student of the sport which he believes has been the foundation of his athletic longevity. He is an accomplished writer in Sweden, having written two books on health, food and fitness, as well as writing for the Swedish edition of "Runner's World." In addition to sharing his insights into the sport of triathlon from both a esoteric and practical perspective, Jonas will be providing monthly recipes for EC readers.