The Road To Ironman
An Ironman triathlon is such an extreme and crazy thing that you never seriously consider doing one. I mean you don’t even think about doing it. The thought never even enters your mind. Swim 2.4 miles? Bike 112 miles? And then run 26.2 miles? That’s frigging crazy. It seems so far removed from being doable as to be impossible.
I had run marathons. I had ridden a century ride on a bike (100 miles). But I couldn’t swim. I had so many ear problems when I was kid that most times I wasn’t allowed to go swimming.
After I qualified for the Boston Marathon, I kind of floundered. I didn’t know what to do next. I could run more marathons, but I had been there and done that. I didn’t have another goal. I targeted a few marathons. But there was nothing exciting.
I signed up for a 30 mile mountain bike race. It just seemed like something interesting. I also wanted the get the 25 Active Health points that I would get at work for doing a bike race over 15 miles. The race was fun and challenging. A lot of ups and downs on rough dirt roads suited for 4×4 vehicles. As I was pushing my bike up yet another hill steep enough that it was easier the push than ride, I saw the guy in front of me had a 140.6 tattoo on his calve. I asked him if he had done an Ironman. He replied back that he had, and that it had been easier than this ride. I was incredulous. There was no way that an Ironman could be easier than this mountain bike race. I finished that race in just under 2.5 hours.
The guy’s comment had planted a seed in my head. I had had friends complete Ironman triathlons. My fitness was already good, and I knew that I could easily complete the bike and run portions of a half Ironman race (56 mile bike, 13.1 mile run) on any given day. These were training distances. But there was that whole pesky swimming thing.
I decided to do an Ironman. I told only a couple people about it, other people seemed to guess where I was heading.
I signed up for 4 weeks of adult swim lessons at the local community center. The class (usually just me) was taught by a high school aged life guard. He asked me if I could swim across the pool. I said I’d give it a shot. I started to swim front crawl and by about halfway I scrambling frantically to get to the far wall where I could breathe. He asked if I could swim back. I said I would try. Pretty much the same thing happened. He tried to get me to float. But I don’t float. I sink. My body is just too dense. With his help to get me started, and watching some Total Immersion videos I got to where I could swim across the pool, catch my breath, swim back, and catch my breath. I went to the pool two and three times a week to swim laps, one length at a time. I increased the number of laps. Gradually I became more and more comfortable in the water. I was able to relax more. The more comfortable I got, the easier it got. I bought an underwater mp3 player, and that helped the laps go by.
I was going to try to sign up for the Lake Placid Ironman. It was the closest to where I live. But it sold out on site, and never went online. I looked at other Ironman triathlons. The next nearest Ironman was the Louisville Ironman. I wanted to find one close enough to drive to, so I wouldn’t have to deal with shipping my bike. When registration opened, I signed up in the first 5 minutes. After one easy payment for $575, I was committed.
I continued training, and preparing. I worked my way up to where I had swam 2.4 miles in the pool doing part freestyle, and part backstroke. I bought a tri bike online on clearance. I bought various other gear that would hopefully improve my chances of finish the race.
My first triathlon to help me get my feet wet was an indoor triathlon at the local YMCA. Then I did the Tupper Lake Tinman which is a half-iron distance race. It was my first open water swim. I was able to wear my wetsuit. I swam most of it doing the back stroke.

Posted by Rob in Triathlon on September 1st, 2009 | No Comments