Monthly Archives: January 2008

So yesterday was the first attempt at sticking to my new training program, and it was a sucess. My schedule called for weight training, which I was excited about, because I am, shall we say, a weakling. I can run, I can bike, I can swim, but I cannot win at arm wrestling. I went to the gym psyched, though slightly intimidated. I warmed up with an easy 2 mile run, and then I went to hit the weight area. That’s when I realized that I don’t know how to use these machines. My workout called for a list of 7 excersises in order:

1. Hip extention (squat, leg-press or step-up)

2. Standing bent-arm lat pull down

3. Hip extention (different from #1)

4. Chest press or push-ups

5. Seated row

6. Personal weakness (hamstring curl, knee extention, or heel raise)

7. Abdominal excersise

First of all, I had to look up diagrams for approximately 80% of these excersises before I left. Armed with my list, I headed toward the two different leg press machines. Both were occupied by huge men with hundreds of pounds of weights hanging from the sides. Ok, moving on. I decided it would be ok to do the abs first. No problem. At this point the standing leg press machine was open. I got on the thing with no weights, just to test how heavy the contraption was by itself. Let me tell you, it was heavy enough for me. I did my three sets of 20 with no weights attached, and I am pretty sure people were looking at me in dis-belief of my weakness. But I did it, and it felt good. With confidence gained, I figured out how to use the rest of the machines. I completed my sets, including squats and a bench press. I did a 15 min spin as a cool down, and with that, my first weight training session came to an end.

Fast forward to this morning. I am extremely sore, but in a good way. My schedule calls for weight training twice a week, and I can only imagine how strong I will begin to feel after a while. However, my scheduled run today? My quads are saying “I don’t think so.” 

I just finished inputting a 26 week Half-Ironman training schedule into my daily planner. It is daunting, I can tell you that much. But I figure the only way I will stick to it and get through all of the hours is to be very structured. I plan to buy another daily planner, one where you can fill in the schedule hour by hour. One of my goals for the new year is to waste less time. Therefore, every night, I am going to fill out my schedule for the next day, including work, training, and anything else I may need to get done that day. I am hoping this will help with my extreme tendency to procrastinate, resulting in my workout falling by the wayside when I realize I really need to get my work done. No more. I am also writing this down here so that I have another reminder of my goal. I think it will help to update my progress here, so that’s the plan!

I like to say that, even though my entire triathlon career consists of one sprint-distance race in which I almost drowned. This year, that is all going to change. I registered for a half-ironman this July. What was I thinking you ask? I was thinking that I am going for Ironman in 2009. Yes, I may be crazy. But I need some motivation people. 2007 was the first year in 5 years that I did not run a marathon, or really any other events for that matter. At first I thought it would be good to take a year off. I was wrong. I have never been so out of shape in my life. Okay, in the past five years, but it still sucks. Yes, I still ran and went for the occasional bike ride, but without a training plan I have no direction, no need to put in the miles.

The main thing that has been holding me back from becoming a full-fledged “triathlete” is a little thing I like to call swimming, or for me, doggy-paddling. It’s not that I can’t swim. I am a licenced SCUBA diver for crying out loud. The problem is in the technique. I am not a proper swimmer. The sprint triathlon I did consisted of a 1/4 mile swim. In the twelve minutes it took me (yes twelve) I believe I used a variation of the front crawl, back stroke, doggy paddle, side stroke, and dead man’s float. It was not pretty.

So my goal for now is to become a better swimmer. I have a weekly swim date at the Y, and in the four times I have gone, I feel I have improved immensely. Now it is time to map out a training schedule for the July 20th race. I know I can handle the running and biking, but the swim still scares me. Especially since it is in Lake Michigan, where there have been 3 foot waves on race day in the past. Fingers crossed for calm waters.

So I guess this blog will also consist of my training journal, and my road to Ironman 2009. I am going to add some blogs to the sidebar that I find inspirational as well. Maybe even my race calendar if I decide to get fancy. Or if I can figure out how to do it, whatever.