So You Want To Be An Ironman; 140.6 Miles to Awesomeness



Mdot logo trademarked and taken from Ironman.com

 "You can quit if you want to and no one will care.  But YOU will know for the rest of your life," is how John Collins, founder of The Ironman, described the race in Kona, Hawaii.  It was on a family vacation in Kona with my parents last fall during Ironman week I decided, without knowing much about the Ironman, that I wanted to complete the race.  I had no knowledge of the distances (2.4 Mile swim, 112 Mile bike ride, 26.2 Mile run all completed within 17 hours), I had no idea triathlons were a popular sport and I definitely had no clue the level of commitment required to be successful in this sport.

This week I've taken and will take incredible strides towards making this whole dream of completing an ironman a tangible goal.  With the blessing of my coach and having met the challenge of a sprint triathlon still finding joy in the sport, I registered for my first 70.3 Half-Ironman event.

Before choosing a 70.3 event, I made a list of things necessary for me to choose a race.  The list included:


1.  The race had to be driving distance from my house in close to or under 5 hours
2.  The race had to be in the spring of 2015
3.  The race had to have a history of being wetsuit legal
4.  The race needed to have a lake swim
5.  The race needed to be near an urban area so I could try to convince friends to come support me

When I received the email from Ironman telling of the spring 2015 races going on sale this week, the one event that met all my standards AND sounded like a really good time was the Raleigh, North Carolina 70.3 race.  When I got the blessing from my coach I was probably one of the first people signed up for the event!  I'm really excited and can't wait to go get a Half-Ironman under my belt and medal around my neck!  I think I'll finally feel accomplishment in this sport crossing that finish line!



Ironman Raleigh logo from Ironman website
My first Ironman event in 2015!


This weekend is another major step for me and my journey to the title "Ironman."  I'm volunteering and cheering on my friends at the Ironman Lake Placid race.  I honestly cannot tell you how excited I am to finally attend an Ironman race.  I've watched many races and finishes on line and on youtube, but I'm sure they are no comparison to the real thing.

I'm leaving for Lake Placid Friday morning and driving there for the weekend.  I've reserved a room at a place near the lake and close enough to downtown I can walk or ride my bike everywhere.  I'm volunteering at the bike checkout area in transition from 7:30pm until midnight on Sunday night.  I'll be stationed right next to the finish line as the late night finishers are coming across.  I expect to return highly motivated and ready to tackle the hardest of my trianing.

I chose my volunteer station for Lake Placid Ironman because it is a speedpass volunteer area.  Yes, a speedpass to register for my very own Ironman Lake Placid race Monday morning before any one else can register.  I will be meeting my goal and finishing Ironman Lake Placid in 2015.  I'm so overly excited and nervous I've had some trouble sleeping the past few days.  Sometimes I feel like I already want to throw up.  Having dreams is one thing, taking the initiative, going forward with all your heart and turning those dreams into goals is a big step.  The process of goal achieving is scary, it requires a lot of hard work and it requires you to go to visit some dark places in your soul to get through.  I don't think I'll be the same person in a year but I'm up for the challenge!

Ironman LP logo taken from Ironman website
The place my dream becomes reality

   When I return from Lake Placid, everything will be different.  I can already tell I'm different than I was last week after registering for the Raleigh race.  I've been more critical of my workouts, I'm trying to stick closer to the goals in my daily race training set by my coach.  I haven't left myself slack in training this week and my sore body is a testiment to this new found resolve.  I also haven't skipped any workouts, I moved a few workouts early in the week when I had more time and energy to devote to them.  I  started sticking to a well defined nutrition plan and I'm actively trying to cut weight.  I can't wait to meet the person I am next year at this time!

In order to document this process and attempt to share my experience as real time and realistic as possible I'm going to be creating a lot of content.  My plan is to share video and photos with the world to keep me honest in training and maybe just inspire someone to become healthier in their own lives.  I invested in a GoPro Camera, a few attachments and I've dusted the patina from a few of my old camera bodies for documentation.  I hope you enjoy the content and follow along!  I'll still be posting here on Monday and hopefully Thursdays but as trianing picks up two blog posts a week might be a challenge.  For the real time stuff please follow along on Twitter and the hub of my activity will take place on Instagram, handle @TheDoob


First GoPro photo grabbed after a ride this week.
An example of what is sure to follow as the quest begins

 As always, thank you for reading!  The journey gets real next week and I'm excited for the challenge.  As the United States Navy Seals say, "The only easy day was yesterday!"  Have a great weekend everyone, more next Monday when I get home from Lake Placid.