First off, it represents a new challenge to me and an unknown entity in the world of endurance sports. Not since my first marathon in 2010 have I done an event that seemed so intimidating. I think part of the reason I chose to do this is because the marathon, while still incredibly exciting to me, has become something of a standard race for me. Sure, I've only done 4 and have a modest PR, but I've gotten to the point with marathons that I know with some training I can do it and do it reasonably well. That's not to say I'm done marathon running. On the contrary, there are already plans in place to run the 2016 Chicago Marathon. However, the Ironman represents a massive challenge for me. The excitement of competing in an event where for me finishing will be the biggest accomplishment is legitimately intriguing to me. While I have time goals for the entire event as well as each individual portion, ultimately the goal is to finish.
That brings me to the second reason this is significant. The event falls just 6 days before my wedding. When I tell that to most people, the general reaction is to question my sanity or ask whether or not I think it's a good idea. The question ultimately falls to my fiance, whose response every time is, "I think it's awesome." That's all I need to hear. She has been supportive of this ever since July when I first mentioned doing it, and when we set our wedding date we had no problems making it 6 days after the Ironman. It just gives me extra incentive, since she regularly tells me she will only marry and Ironman...so I guess finishing is no longer a question.
So the direction this blog is going to take over the next 16 weeks is to recap what life is like balancing teaching (starting in August), coaching cross country, helping plan a wedding and training for an Ironman. While I have had a tendency to slack off in marathon training, I'm too scared of not finishing the Ironman to slack off in this training. Also, I have no excuses for the next 7 weeks or so because I am on summer break and have all the time I need to train during the week.
I've been getting advice from everyone I know, and I have what I think is a good training plan from a site called Active Training World so hopefully all will be well. Over the past few weeks, I've been building myself up, running about 4 days a week, and biking and swimming about twice a week. My long run is only up to about 10 miles, my longest bike has been 40 and my longest swim 2000 meters. I need to get up to 3800 meters swimming, 112 on the bike and 26.2 on the run. Here's hoping I can do it. I'll close with how I've been trying to get myself hyped to officially begin my training, with inspirational Ironman videos.
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