Day One

A journey of 1,000 miles starts with one step.

A journey of Ironman training starts with 25 minutes of swimming. Felt good. I also biked to and from the pool...and don't I feel virtuous for it! Tommorrow is a run and a bike, and it goes up from there. So before I start complaining about how much work this is or how sore I am or how much time this takes, I thought I'd post a happy thought!

8 months, 1 week and one day until the Vineman!

Fear is a Powerful Motivator

When I did my marathon in 2002, I did not tell many people. I did not want anyone to come watch me. And when it was over and I sat in the medical tent all by myself, rode the metro home all by myself, and sat on my couch, alone, icing my knee and kind of wishing I had someone to bring me champagne.

On the day of the Vineman, my husband will be on the course (at least in between the wine tastings he can do along the route). My mom is coming to watch me, and she is bringing 2 friends...and while they may also enjoy some wine tasting...they will be there too. I really, really have to follow through with this and finish the race. I have to make sure I train properly to complete this race. The fear of not doing that has me absolutely commited to the training program....which starts Monday.

I have a long way to go and a lot to learn....but I am absorbing all the information I can....out of fear. And when I workout, I think about what I have commited to doing, and I have noticed a decided uptick in my effort. It's fear.

My goal is just to finish....but just finishing is no easy task...and that fear will chase me all through the next 8 months....driving me to do this right.

Me = S-L-O-W

Now that my trip home to DC is over, I am eyeing the calendar for the start date to my formal training plan.

Yesterday was a great weight lifting day. I do cardio weightlifting with combo moves to get my heart rate up and work a lot more muscles in the time that I have. I know this is going to be the area that suffers when I get into the longer workouts, so I am focusing on that now. Hopefully, with the combo moves making for shorter sessions, this will be easier to keep up longer into the program.

Today I tried to do HIIT - High Intensity Interval Training. Essentially, you warm-up then alternate sprinting and jogging for 30 seconds at a time. And what I discovered is that I am, in fact, not fast. The difference between my jogging and my 'sprints' (I use that term oh-so-lightly) is negligible....you might not be able to tell at all except I breath a lot harder. I need to review my program and see if there are places that incorporate speed workouts....then I need to go buy some speed. Or ask Santa for some for Christmas.

After 10 minutes of my version of HIIT, I went to the gym and did it on the bike. I can actually sprint on a stationary bike...so that was really good. And I sweat like crazy!

A fabulous peice of news has me uber inspired too....my mom, and possibly 2 of her friends, are heading out to support me in the race. (They live in Florida.) My mom has coached me through so many different sports throughout the years....having her there will be really really helpful.

8 months, 2 weeks, 4 days until the race. Whoo hooo!

Building the base

The training program I am following will begin the end of November, but I need to shore up my base. I do run and bike now, mixed with weight lifting and other cardio such as the ellptical and rowing. This is been mostly in an effort to lose weight....I need to lower my BMI and I wanted to shed more of the excess before I started training.

I was highly motivated by the simple act of registration and starting the countdown. The 'extra' hour from the end of Daylight Savings helped too.....I got up early and got moving. I hope to make the early mornings more of a habit than they have been. I was always a morning person and love being a morning person....but I married a night owl who works late. Spending time with him (just having dinner with him) means staying up later than I used to, and is a challenge to my body's natural timing. But this is a change that needs to be made for the next several months. Then I can go back to watching The Daily Show every night.

Today's training: 4.5 miles run (split, to gym and back), 20 minutes upper body weights (chest, biceps and triceps), 7 miles on stationary bike (26:30 minutes).

8 months, 3 weeks and 2 days until the Vineman.

It is done...Registration is complete

And I have a ticker to count down the days. No stress there!

http://tinyurl.com/62m4q

Started running again, thought about running away

I started running again today after a 20-day layoff in an effort to give my knees a rest before I start the intense training. For some reason, in the middle of the run, I was thinking about registering for the race this weekend and I started to freak out....

For the last month I have been telling people that I am thinking of doing an Ironman. I identified the race, I found a training program, I drilled into DHs head what this was going to be like for him, I invited my brother to register with me........it's something I have been dreaming about doing for 15 years.

The registration opens Sunday and I know a lot of these races fill up fast so I need to pull the trigger.

Next August is SO far away. What if I get hurt? What if I get to the longer mileage in June and my knees start killing me? (No, I've never had problems before other than the occasional injury, but I am starting to freak out.) Sure, I have done triathlons before. I finished a marathon. I've done adventure races that took me nine hours....but still. This is an Ironman distance race.

And I'm 36, will be 37 for the race. Am I completely nuts???

I know this is just last minute jitters before actually commiting. I have been so excited all month....it just hit me today that in 2 days I have to make the commitment and in one month the training program seriously starts.

I won't run away.....really.....

O Brother, Where Art Thou?

I am trying to recruit my brother to do the race with me. He lives on the other coast, so we won't be training together....but it will be someone to trade stories with, keep motivated with, and run the race with (well, thinking about him up ahead of me....)

But it will be fun!

I have been focusing on weight lifting and walking right now for weight loss...giving my knees a rest before I start training. So far...I feel good. Looking forward to actually having a registration, a date on the calendar, a countdown to race day.

Whoo hoo!