Ironman just for the fun of it!

Just like most triathletes, the minute I finished my 1st triathlon in 2004 I began dreaming of completing an Iron. At the time a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike & 26.2 mile run seemed unattainable to me. In persuit of the big Iron dream I started biking & running longer & longer every weekend until I was riding my bike from Santa Fe to Albuquerque & then back on most weekends.

In 2005 I was scheduled to attempt my 1st Iron, but got in a bike wreck a few weeks before the race & was unable to race.

In 2006 I was training heavily for another Iron, but ended up qualifying for a slot to the 70.3 world championships & raced that instead.

In 2007 I was finally able to show up & attempt my 1st Iron distance triathlon. I didn't make the final bike cut off & got pulled from the course at mile 96 of the bike.

By 2008 I'd been training exclusively for Iron distance triathlons for 5 straight years! I was completely burned out with having to do 5-6 hour bike rides followed by a 45 minutes runs on my 1st day off of work, then upwards to 3 hour runs on the next. But because I still hadn't completed my dream of becoming an Ironman I signed up for Ironman Arizona 2008. To be honest the entire year of 2008 I was miserable having to do the training necessary to finish an Ironman, but my dream of crossing the finish line kept me focused & able to force myself to complete the long grueling training days. In 2008 I averaged 19.5 hours of training a week. As I look back it was amazing I was able to finish the 2008 Ironman Arizona at all. Since I was so burned out with training the long distances, I wanted to make ABSOLUTELY sure I finished the race by the cut off time, so I pushed myself WAY to hard, & didn't allow myself nearly enough rest & recovery. I ended up so overtrained & stressed out because of the miles & miles of training I was forcing myself to do without enjoyment I ended up looking to food for comfort. I ended up on race day weighing 237 pounds! Only through the grace of God was I able to finish in 14 hours.

Now after 2 years of not having trained for any races longer than a sprint I finally have gotten over my loathing of really long training days. Now, I actually miss the long days of cycling & running. There's nothing better for stress relief than a long peaceful bike or run! Just me & the road. It's an amazing feeling of freedom.

This time training for an Ironman in 2011 will be different than the last time. I'll actually be able to enjoy the training, I won't have the burn out I had before, & I also have learned from my mistakes of overtraining. This time I know I need to put more emphasis on sleep & recovery. Less is more. I'm really looking forward to this next year of training & am absolutely pumped about being able to race an Iron for no other reason than the enjoyment of it!