Let's get caught up...

So let’s get caught up on my training for 2007. First of all… I officially registered for the 2008 IRONMAN 70.3 Florida. It will be on May 18th at Walt Disney World (my kids are stoked). The 70.3 means it’s a half-IRONMAN triathlon. 1.2-mile swim, 57-mile bike, and a 13.1-mile run. Being my first triathlon I wanted to do a half distance to gain some perspective and experience before jumping into the commitment of a full IRONMAN (2.2mi swim, 112mi bike, 26.2mi run). If my 2007/2008 training goes well… then I may go ahead and register for an IRONMAN later in the year 2008. We’ll see on that.
My training for this year began late. My first bike ride of the year was on May 9th and was a puny 8.8 miles. I was totally out of conditioning. I had been recruited for a new job in the latter part of 2006 and the transition took me completely out of my aerobic training. All I did from November 06 to May 07 was lift weights and eat like crap. I put on some muscle (and fat)… but my aerobic conditioning was in the toilet. So, my training started late. So making 2007 a training year seemed like the wise thing to do. I still have 3 charity/century bike rides planned that will now serve as hard training rides.
By the end of May 07, I had nearly a month of bike training in and was, to be honest, getting bored! I had been riding since 1999 and this year I just wasn’t as inspired as years past. Though I registered for some pretty tough bike rides this year (Bridge-to-Bridge, Hurt, Pain, and Agony) something was tugging at me to do something different. I had always been intrigued with the multisport thing… but felt that my schedule and family would prevent me from being able to train properly. It occurred to me that now that I was working in a more structured job (Manager of a health club) that maybe I could do this. The club I run has a pool (though small, 20 yards), treadmills, spin bikes, etc. I could go on 15-20 mile bikes at lunchtime and my morning we’re more available now as I go to work at 8:30 now as opposed to 5:30 when I was a full-time personal trainer. I could run and swim in the early mornings. Saturday mornings I could do my long rides, runs, and brick workouts. So, I decided to go for it. I would do a tri. Luckily, my wife Nancy was supportive. I have 3 kids 14, 12, 8, and a baby on the way due in late October! So, you see family obligations will be a challenge. Luckily, I’m a morning person. I’m usually up at 4:40am. Morning training while everyone was still sleeping was going to be a given. Time to get serious. Now is the time.