So, I turned 40 this past August (2013) and I've decided for my 40th year of
life, I would compete in my first Ironman distance triathlon. Oh... and also
document my trials and tribulations on a blog (also a first for me). I
say compete, but more than likely 'survive' will be a better description of how
I will contended with the race.
Over the years I have finished various sprint and Olympic distance
triathlons, but nothing compares to an Ironman: 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile
bike ride, and 26.2 mile run. I find it disturbing enough just typing those
distances on a computer, but actually physically doing them must fall somewhere
in the insane department. My first mental obstacle is the fact that
I have never swam, biked, or run any of those distances singularly, much less
all three in a row.
That being said, I will be using a 30 week training program, which will ‘hypothetically’
prepare me for the inevitable pain. The
program was designed by Don Fink, from his book “Be Iron Fit.” It’s a very good book and has three 30 week Ironman
training programs: competitive, intermediate, and just finish. The competitive program requiring the most
hours of training per week and the just finish program requiring the
least. I have chosen the competitive
program because I believe it will best prepare my race, but I can always switch
to a less time intensive program if needed.
There is one aspect of the competitive program I am concerned about, the
swimming. I’m just getting back in to
the swimming groove and the swimming workouts get pretty intense, pretty fast. Specifically, the first long swim in week
three is 2,500 meters straight; compared to 1,600 meters in the just finish
program. I’m counting on the four
swimming working outs prior to the long swim to getting to the 2,500 meter
mark. We’ll see how it goes.
As far as first blogs go, hopefully it wasn’t too painful for everyone. I’m excited about starting my training
program. Tomorrow is going to be a great
first day… Mondays are REST DAYS!
YEAH!!!
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