Since I've registered for the race I've slowly gotten back into a decent exercise routine. I started out by running a couple times a week, just 2 miles per workout. Last week I ran 4 times with one of the runs being the Thanksgiving Drumstick Dash (4.5 miles). This week I'm running everyday at lunch, 3 miles each day.
I'm starting to work on my swimming by practicing with a masters swimming team. I'll workout with the team 3 days a week, then swim on my own 1 day. This will be my biggest challenge so far in my road to the ironman. I've never been a good long distance swimmer. It will be fun to learn something new with a coach and I'm hoping to meet some training people for the summer.
I currently weigh 215 pounds. My goal is to be around 200 pounds by 1/1/09. The running should take care of it. I'm easing into a better diet. No more soft drinks or "overeating".
I'm running a marathon on 4/11/09. I start mileage in late January. It'll be 25-30 miles to start. Bring it on...
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Battle Plan
I registered for Ironman Louisville last week. The race is 8/30/09. It's an ironman distance triathlon consisting of a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, and a 26.2 mile run, 140.6 total miles. Mentally, I'm ready to do the race tomorrow but physically I couldn't even do the swim right now so thankfully I have over 9 months to train.
Years ago people told me I couldn't finish a 5K, did that. Then it was a 10K, did that. Then I had people laugh at me when I said I was going to do a half marathon, did that 6 times. In my mind it was all baby steps to the ironman race. First time I saw it on tv I knew I wanted to try it someday, it happens next August.
One day at work I mentioned to a friend that we should start doing triathlons instead of just running all the time. That was 5 years ago. Since then I've done 3 sprint distance, 7 olympic distance, and a half ironman. They all laughed at me doing the half ironman too, but I did it.
Do I do all of this to showoff to people that I can do it? No. I do the triathlons because I enjoy them, I compete against myself to finish, and it helps to keep me in decent health. Plus there's the part that's hard to explain. Whenever I complete a race, especially the part right before I'm done when I've almost reached the finish line, I feel really good about myself. It's a pretty simple concept but hard for a lot of people to understand.
Ironman Louisville will give me a chance to test myself mentally and physically more than I ever have before in a single day. The t-shirts, medal, pictures, people yelling my name, etc., will be really cool but all I want is that last 100 yards to remember for the rest of my life. I will cross the line with a big smile on my face.
I'm currently ~25 pounds overweight and a very poor swimmer. So, my "battle plan" for the next 3 months is to lose weight and swim at least 3 times a week...
Years ago people told me I couldn't finish a 5K, did that. Then it was a 10K, did that. Then I had people laugh at me when I said I was going to do a half marathon, did that 6 times. In my mind it was all baby steps to the ironman race. First time I saw it on tv I knew I wanted to try it someday, it happens next August.
One day at work I mentioned to a friend that we should start doing triathlons instead of just running all the time. That was 5 years ago. Since then I've done 3 sprint distance, 7 olympic distance, and a half ironman. They all laughed at me doing the half ironman too, but I did it.
Do I do all of this to showoff to people that I can do it? No. I do the triathlons because I enjoy them, I compete against myself to finish, and it helps to keep me in decent health. Plus there's the part that's hard to explain. Whenever I complete a race, especially the part right before I'm done when I've almost reached the finish line, I feel really good about myself. It's a pretty simple concept but hard for a lot of people to understand.
Ironman Louisville will give me a chance to test myself mentally and physically more than I ever have before in a single day. The t-shirts, medal, pictures, people yelling my name, etc., will be really cool but all I want is that last 100 yards to remember for the rest of my life. I will cross the line with a big smile on my face.
I'm currently ~25 pounds overweight and a very poor swimmer. So, my "battle plan" for the next 3 months is to lose weight and swim at least 3 times a week...
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