The magazine's editor wants to go faster, raise money for prostate cancer research

My goal is to beat an 81-year-old man.

I'm 42.

That's my personal challenge for the third triathlon of my life, our GeezerJock Masters Triathlon Championships sponsored by NOW Sports. The event takes place Oct. 28 in Orlando, Fla.

The 81-year-old man I want to beat is Charley French from Ketchum, Idaho. Charley is a stud. He's still a design engineer for ScottUSA, and he won USA Triathlon's 80+ national championship this summer. He finished the Olympic distance course in 3:03:32.

I'm hoping to beat that time. In my wildest dreams I'm hoping to run a sub three-hour race. The first two triathlons of my life were sprint distance events: a 750-meter swim, a 20k bike and a 5k run. The GeezerJock Masters event is an Olympic distance triathlon: a 1,500-meter swim, a 40k bike and a 10k run. (Actually,
it's a shorter, 5.5-mile run, which will help with my goal).

Nonetheless, the Olympic distance scares me. But, in my first two triathlons, I learned the value of training
hard. For my the first triathlon, I trained rather leisurely for about six weeks or so, running a 5k twice a week, swimming 20 minutes twice a week, and riding a bike for 30 minutes twice a week. I was completely unprepared for the race and didn't break 1:45 for the sprint event. That was in the spring of 2006. The second time around I improved my training habits. I broke 1:30 for that sprint event in the fall of 2006.

Now, I'm getting serious. For each of the three disciplines, I've figured out what I need to do to beat Mr. French's time. I'm hoping to complete the 1,500-meter swim in less than 40 minutes, the 40k bike in less than 80 minutes and the 5.5-mile run in less than 60 minutes. Provided my transitions are decent, that will give me a sub three-hour race.

To guide my training, I am using a book by Gale Bernhardt, who was a coach for the 2004 U.S. Olympic triathlon team and who helped out in our GeezerJock in Training program last year. The book is called "Training Plans for Multisport Athletes." The program includes running, biking and swimming workouts as well as weight training.

Here's a typical workout schedule from a recent week: I had two one-hour swimming sessions. I ran for 45 minutes one day and 1:19 a couple of days later. I went for a 21/2 hour bike ride on the weekend. And I lifted weights twice. I'm using Gale's 24-week training program. In my typical corner-cutting fashion, I started the regimen in earnest only 14 weeks before the race. My temptation is to cut out the 10 hardest weeks.

Hey, I don't have much free time -- I've got a magazine to edit, you know.

Now for my second goal, which is more important than running a particular time in a triathlon. I'm looking to raise money for Athletes for a Cure, a program started by the Prostate Cancer Foundation to help raise money for prostate cancer research. Prostate cancer will likely affect one out of every six men. Through the Athletes for a Cure program, we can help make sure that there are better treatments awaiting men who develop prostate cancer. On Sunday, Oct. 28, I'll be swimming 1.5k, biking 40k and running almost 10k. At least I hope I'll still be running by that point. The total distance covered is essentially 51.5k.

So I'm asking that you make a small donation (or a big one) to Athletes for a Cure for every kilometer I cover on that Sunday. If you pledge a dime for every kilometer, that would be $5.15. A dollar would be $51.50. And $5 would be $257.50. I don't know which is more likely: Someone making a donation of $257.50, or my crossing the finishing line in less than 3 hours. Well, it's always good to have goals.

You can make your pledges at http://athletes.kintera.org/geezerjock/callahan.

Thanks for any help you can offer.