I’ve decided to document my training for my first ironman. I’ve looked around for people documenting their training to learn what works, what doesn’t. To hear the stories of pain and enjoyment. To learn from other’s actions. But there aren’t too many out there. I did find a few good ones though that I’ll start following, but tribuddy hasn’t been updated in a while (Victoria Schlosser‘s seems solid).

Both of the about me sections of these two blogs do a great job of explaining what would push someone to do something as crazy as swimming 2.4 miles, biking 112, and running 26.2 miles. And yes, that .2 matters…it’s literally hell on earth.

For me, I want to push my limits. I want to prove to myself that I can do anything, even something I originally shot down as impossible. And I want to learn to enjoy the journey. I’ve always been about the results, and for once, I want to enjoy the process more than the outcome. That is my goal. So when I think about times, qualifying for Kona, finishing, etc…, i just want to run a good race. I want to feel confident going in that I can do my best because I’ve gone through the process and believe that I can do it.

I’m training for one of two ironmans: the st. george ironman in Utah in May of next year or the Arizona Ironman in November. I want to do the St. George ironman, but there are hills, and frankly, the distance alone is enough to scare me, why torture myself with elevation. But when I think about it, one of my strengths is going uphill, so why not use that to my advantage. So in my mind, May 2010 will be my first ironman.

I started training about 2-3 months ago. My training focused more on marathons, but I added cycling and recently added swimming. I’m doing about 8-10 hours of training a week right now. I’m running about 25 miles and biking about 60. Some weeks more, some weeks less. When I get into full swing, I plan on running about 30 miles a week, swimming a mile or two, and biking 150. Full training will be about 17 hours a week.

I run hard. They say that you should slow down by about 2min/mile from your marathon pace on long runs, but I’ve had trouble doing that. I run about 730 pace when its under 13 miles, and 8 min pace beyond that. I’ve been cramping (stomach), so we’ll see how long I can keep up that pace for.

I also bike pretty hard, but I want to get stronger and faster. I currently ride at about 18 mph when i go less than 2 hours, and about 15-16mph at 2 hours +. I’d like to comfortably do 18 mph for 100+ miles.

Swimming will hopefully be one of my strenghts. i swam for 8 years or so as a kid, and I think i can handle 2.4 miles. We’ll see though. You just never know.

The thought right now of working this hard is actually soothing. I find training to be a way for me to clear my mind and enjoy who I am. I feel great when I’m on the road with my music, taking in the views. It’s like meditation for my mind, except my body hates me.

So I’ll document the good, the bad…the bodily function breakdown, the nutrition, the heat, the cold, etc… I’ll give you the full story, and you can decide whether you’d like to join me on a similar journey one day in the future.

I leave you with this…in Run Fatboy Run, Hank Azaria states that he likes to run marathons, to which Simon Pegg responds, “Why?”. I’m sure many of you are thinking the same thing…maybe my journey can answer that question!