Those Closest

Those who are closest to me have endured me talking about is Ironman for months. Never, not once has anyone close to me shown any sign of Ironman fatigue. If anything I believe I have gotten more tired of the topic than I have. With this talk there have been many times where I have talked about doubt in the journey.

" Working hard is important, but there is something that matters even more. Believing in yourself"

The amazing thing about those closest to me is that even when I doubted myself, they always believed in me and I owe many thanks. I wanted to share with those people that tomorrow I do believe I will swim 4kms, that I will bike 180kms and I will complete my 15th marathon and much of that belief comes from the support I have from them, thank you.

Oh and the deep wisdom I shared above... Harry Potter.

Have you ever been scared?

I was trying to think of a time when I was truly scared about something. I don't mean scary movie scared, or someone jumping around startled scared. No, I mean a long drawn out concern of something leaning towards scared.

I am scared for Sunday to come. I am scared of swimming the 4km, scared I can't do the distance. I am scared of having my legs seize up. I an scared of the fact that I under trained. I am scared that I won't finish and that I will have to have the same conversation repeatedly, explaining why I failed or fell short.

3 Things I know

1) Congrats to Keith and Elena.

2) whistler will not be the same without Cooper.

3) It has been too long since I spent time with my cousins!

So it begins

Well the cat is away getting back to her root(s) in Australia, so the mice play. A month long road trip for Cooper and I.

The trip got off to a good start! We set out to leave at 8, so of course we left at 11, I consider this about right. The car if FULL, Cooper is perplexed and I am excited. Highlight of the trip was pulling over in Virden because of a hail storm that left visibility at nonexistent. It was about this time that I remembered what I forgot, which was inevitable. Tomorrow to Calgary, Stampede Week!

3 Things I Think

1) Packing for a Ironman, wedding and camping trip is a task.

2) Leaving ones bike front tire... Not good.

3) Swift Current, mosquitos like Winning, Trans-Canada through the centre of town and Cooper and I  resting here for now.

Bite off more than one can chew

The phrase "don't bite off more than you can chew" was first written in the 1877 book 'Western Wild' although it is widely believed that it had previously been used in regular conversation before being written. Regardless of where the phrase derived from we all do it at some point.

I have recently bitten off more than I can chew. Although I am more than confident in regards to my ability to complete a physically active endeavour I am worried about completing the 4km swim portion of the Ironman Canada. I am just not a very competent swimmer. I'm don't struggle with the aspect of being able to swim, but rather I am just not sure I can complete a 4km swim in an acceptable amount of time and I at the moment certainly can't do it with the freestyle stroke. Triathlon blogs unequivocally state that the breaststroke is too slow and too tiring to be considered an appropriate stroke for an Ironman.

The purpose of this blog is to journal my progression towards Ironman Canada 2014. I can't imagine it will be interesting to anyone other than myself, but I do feel it is an excellent way for me to track my progress and hopefully keep me in some way, shape or form more accountable to my training.

If you do decide to follow my progress I hope you enjoy it... If you don't that is just fine :)

Day 1 training: 45 minute pyramid bike training.
Weight: 200
Day 2 training: 50 minute tempo ride.
Weight: 201

Procrastination

Why is it when it comes to writing report cards I am such a procrastinator? When it comes to the majority of kids I know exactly what I want to say, I'm capable of writing it, but yet I sit staring at my laptop. I literally hang over every word, type, delete, type, ponder, delete. Hours and hours of procrastination for a child to read it once, show his/her friends and depending on their grades go home and show their parents. Parents will either like it or not and then it gets put in some memory book till said child moves away for University of after University.

Is procrastination nature or nurture? My Dad is a procrastinator and my Mother is the opposite. Is it a character law or is it that I thrive under the pressure of a deadline? I always mumble to myself that I wish I had more time to get hings done, but when given that time it is left wasted. I'm still left racing to get the job done and only slipping in under the deadline.

Running

December 8th, 2012
Time: 1:20
Distance: 16km
Conditions: cold, no wind and very slippery
Felt: Great, no fatigue or light headedness, but a bit hungry by the end of the run.

Things I Like

• Sleeping in.  

Things I Don't Like

•  I'm stating the obvious, but how quickly the weekend goes by. 

Running

Never Too Late To Restart?

As you may or may not know I enjoy running. Despite the fact I dislike the term 'passionate' I am passionate about running. I've been long distance running for approximately 15 years, I've completed 11 full marathons and a number of other races. I would some day like to run a 3h10m marathon, but a lack of commitment and motivation have gotten in the way.

 I'm trying to make a number of small changes in my life that will allow me to take a genuine shot at attaining this goal. Some of these goals are running a half/full marathon clinic, running outdoors throughout the winter regularly, I work at a running store and I have become more motivated.

There are also a variety of hurdles if you will that are standing in my way. Some of these hurdles are lack of time, the half/full marathon clinic (please refer to time if you don't understand this dilemma) and I need to cut back on beer and red wine.

I think chronicling my running may be an extrinsic motivator when it comes to developing my commitment to 3:10 and I feel like writing more, so this is what this very outdated blog is going to do.

I have not posted on this blog n who knows how long and there are significant changes in my life since I last posted. The following are the bigger ones.. new girlfriend, new house, new country, new job, different group of friends and I am much older and not really that much wiser.

This has been a rather serious post, most will not be, but rather they will be cynical and hopefully somewhat humorous. They will also chronicle my running and some post will only be about a run. This may be boring to most of you (not that anyone is actually going to read this), but I don't care.

Running

December 7th, 2012
Time: 1:05
Distance: 13.5km
Conditions: cold, no wind and very slippery
Felt: Great, no fatigue or light headedness at the start of the run.

Things I Like

• No work on today so that I can write report cards.

Things I Don't Like

• Report card writing.

Boo!

Boo!