Sunday I traveled to Augusta to watch the Augusta Ironman 70.3. It’s always funny to me when I travel to triathlons. First there is the feeling of wishing I was doing the race, then I slowly return to reality and think of all the training the athletes have been through (especially for a 70.3 distance race), and I return to “cheering is fine for the day”. Witnessing the pros sprint by at a 7 minute pace to the age grouper hanging on for dear life gets my adrenaline pumping (if you’re spectating a triathlon its hard not to cheer), and to know people competing it’s electrifying (The ATC really represented well sunday). Also, it provides an enormous amount of motivation to make it to my own work outs.
Last week was a steady week for me in the work out dept., though I did skip a few workouts, I’m telling myself it is fine because I had initially planned to take two weeks off following my last race on September 12th. Now it’s time to pick things up and not skip the long weekend runs in preparation for a marathon. The run coach for the group said a few weeks back we should be averaging somewhere around 25 miles for the week, I’ve been slacking around 12 miles, and now that number increases - Yay (sarcasm). I will gradually increase my distances through the next couple of weeks to reach that point though.
This next week I’m planning to pick it up a little. I've started writing out my work outs before hand to help keep me honest. Writing out my workouts is completely new to me but I’m interested to see if it helps me, once I figure out how to put a chart in this blog i'll post them here also. 49 weeks seems really close to me for some reason, probably because I’m a little scared. I will say it’s probably best I have never witnessed a IRONMAN before registering, I saw some serious painful expressions this last weekend at the half and those looks of pain didn’t really say “You should try this”.
Congratulations to all my friends who completed the Augusta IRONMAN 70.3, you guys' determination alone fueled me for over 6 hours to bang that drum, not to mention seeing MR come out of the water in tears (super inspiring). Congratulations to all the ATC’ers, great job to you all!
Monday, September 28, 2009
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
So it is
On March 9th, 2009 I began the endeavor of triathlon with a call to Jim Boylan inquiring about the Atlanta Tri Club. Initially, I was skeptical if triathlon was something my body would be able to handle. While in college I tore my Achilles tendon and everyone from the doctor (who performed the surgery) to my sister (a nurse) told me how I should be careful following the surgery because it was highly likely I would re-injure myself. Four years later with not doing any running or leg lifting, I looked like the muffin man (muscular on top - skinny on bottom). In a state of a quarter life crisis and really looking for things I liked in a relatively new city, Triathlon was right on time.
The first weeks of my two mile training runs felt like marathons. While swimming and biking came a lot easier for me, running was/is a task. I would literally get home and not be able to walk, and to be honest I was pretty ashamed of how bad at running I was. Paying for a tri-club membership and the desire to not be the worst was exactly what I needed to push past what I considered my comfort zone and to keep me attending the training sessions. Through all the pain, and wonderings of why the hell am I doing this, I kept training because I couldn’t let triathlon beat me – sort of my quarter-life reawakening. By the time I finished my first race on May 30th I was hooked.
During 2009 I completed three triathlons, one Sprint distance, and two Olympic distance races. While I improved each time on the Olympic distance races, I didn’t reach all of my goals – I am 3 for 3 on finishing though. Knowing I was racing on my tooth picks for legs this year, I was really encouraged heading into the winter on strengthening my legs and completing a marathon (2 miles to 26 I am still in awe). In my rejoicing that my season was over and that I could return to lifting and cut back on some of the other training, someone from the Tuesday night run group sprung the idea of an IRONMAN on the newbs. Initially, I told myself I wasn’t ready nor was I willing to commit the time needed to adequately prepare for an IRONMAN distance race the next spring, not to mention coughing up the dough. I even reached out and enlisted the help of a friend who doesn’t do triathlons to talk me out of even considering it. Well that friend (cough Josh) was having none of it and even predicted I would do it, not to make him sound like a genius because he’s not, and low and behold I registered for IRONMAN Wisconsin with 25+ other club mates. I can remember watching the IRONMAN world championships in Kona on NBC as a child thinking “that’s not hard I could do that”, partially because I was a knucklehead child who thought I could do anything and because my mother always said “can’t shouldn’t be in your vocabulary, hard work can beat just about anything”. Those words still hold true and will guide me through my journey the next year. While this is definitely the biggest athletic endeavor I have ever undertaken, I am excited about the journey. I will use this blog to update workout routines, setbacks, and all the other random things that come to mind. Thanks for reading and let the journey begin.
The first weeks of my two mile training runs felt like marathons. While swimming and biking came a lot easier for me, running was/is a task. I would literally get home and not be able to walk, and to be honest I was pretty ashamed of how bad at running I was. Paying for a tri-club membership and the desire to not be the worst was exactly what I needed to push past what I considered my comfort zone and to keep me attending the training sessions. Through all the pain, and wonderings of why the hell am I doing this, I kept training because I couldn’t let triathlon beat me – sort of my quarter-life reawakening. By the time I finished my first race on May 30th I was hooked.
During 2009 I completed three triathlons, one Sprint distance, and two Olympic distance races. While I improved each time on the Olympic distance races, I didn’t reach all of my goals – I am 3 for 3 on finishing though. Knowing I was racing on my tooth picks for legs this year, I was really encouraged heading into the winter on strengthening my legs and completing a marathon (2 miles to 26 I am still in awe). In my rejoicing that my season was over and that I could return to lifting and cut back on some of the other training, someone from the Tuesday night run group sprung the idea of an IRONMAN on the newbs. Initially, I told myself I wasn’t ready nor was I willing to commit the time needed to adequately prepare for an IRONMAN distance race the next spring, not to mention coughing up the dough. I even reached out and enlisted the help of a friend who doesn’t do triathlons to talk me out of even considering it. Well that friend (cough Josh) was having none of it and even predicted I would do it, not to make him sound like a genius because he’s not, and low and behold I registered for IRONMAN Wisconsin with 25+ other club mates. I can remember watching the IRONMAN world championships in Kona on NBC as a child thinking “that’s not hard I could do that”, partially because I was a knucklehead child who thought I could do anything and because my mother always said “can’t shouldn’t be in your vocabulary, hard work can beat just about anything”. Those words still hold true and will guide me through my journey the next year. While this is definitely the biggest athletic endeavor I have ever undertaken, I am excited about the journey. I will use this blog to update workout routines, setbacks, and all the other random things that come to mind. Thanks for reading and let the journey begin.
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