Quest for 11 Hour IM Has Begun

Just finished Day 1 of Week 2 of my 36 week Ironman program. I feel great. In fact the distances aren't challenging enough at this point. I am experienced enough to know not to push it though. It will get tough enough soon and 34 more weeks is a huge chunk of time to keep up the motivation. Motivation was my biggest concern when making the commitment to do another IM. How do I get the fire burning like it was in 2007? I think the answer is to light a different type of fire. Before becoming an Ironman was huge motivation. This time reaching my potential is what is getting me going. The fear of not doing the best IM and marathon I am capable of is driving me as I reach middle age. Trying to harness that into positive energy is something I am focusing on. It is okto fail on race day. It is not ok to not prepare to my fullest. I want every aspect of my training to be as perfect as possible this time. I want to finish knowing that I couldn't possibly have gone one second faster or more efficiently. It is all about the training. I know I can go 140.6, I already have. Now it is about the sun being up when I do finish.

50 Days of Core

In December I was thinking of how I could make a difference in the upcoming season. I was happy with the results form last year and the programs I have done were doable but challenging. So I thought about the little things I neglect on a daily basis. Core exercises were #1 on the list. Getting to the weight room regularly was the second. They were related in that I was doing abs at the gym.

Last year I took part in the 31 days of running with trifuel members and it was motivating to be held accountable. I was looking forward each day to posting my minutes and earned points. Doing the same with abs seemed a great way to insure I would do them. My initial goal was to get in around 200 to 300 reps a day. Then derek5 from trifuel took the challenge to the next level and I wanted to see if I could keep up. It is amazing what we can do when we put our minds to it. I have done 11,700 reps in 12 days. Today I did 3000 reps and I feel great. I really want to keep this going until my birthday on March 25. That would be 87 days of core work. After that working them 5 times a week throughout the season should be easy.

Goals

2009 is, hopefully, going to be another big year in terms of racing. It is also a big year because Iwill be turning 40 in March. That is a strange thought. 40. Anyway, this will be the first year in three years that I will be skipping a Spring marathon. I will defer my 5th Boston Marathon until 2010. The reason is the goals I have for the Chessapeakeman 140.6 triathlon.

I finished in 2007 in 12 hours 47 minutes and was ecstatic with my time and performance. It was satisfying beyond any athletic accomplishment I have ever achieved. It was also freeing in a way because I really felt and still feel that I don't "Need" to do another IM distance tri. But I can't seem to stop thinking about it, so I decided to give it another shot. The 1st time I set no goal except to finish. This time I want to finish in the daylight. That means taking 40 minnutes off my time. If I am going to take off 40 minutes I might as well try to take off 48 minutes and finish in 11 hours. The only way I am going to do that is to train like crazy on the bike. Stronger bike takes some time off that part of the race and sets me up to run stronger. Therefore, no spring marathon and lots of miles on the P2SL.

All of my training and races will be geared toward Chessyman in September. Iwill be competing in the Lehigh Valley Half Marathon in April, the BlackBear Sprint of HIM in June, the Steelman OLY in Aug., the PA Endurasport Hybrid Tri in Sep, the Philly Distance Run in Sep, and then the biggy. If I recover well I will also enjoy the Philly Marathon to celebrate my 10 anniversaary of the endurance lifestyle.

Setting up a Blog

I have been thinking about starting a blog for sometime now and took the plunge this morning. I had become a slave to training plans and logs a few years ago so I got rid of everything and haven't regretted it one bit. Since I am attempting another Ironman this year I thought a blog based more on the experience might be something I would be glad a did and would want to look back on.