From near zero to Ironman in 8 months
jjhenry5
Posts: 80 Member
This group is pretty slow, so I'd thought I'd share a little of my Ironman adventure.
I hadn't planned on doing an Ironman this year; it was always just something that was in the back of my head as a 'someday' thing. In Sept of last year I got an email from the charity group Team Challenge announcing they had slots for Ironman Chattanooga. I had been involved with Team Challenge before (my son has colitis) doing half marathons and an Olympic tri, but Ironman was brand new to their program. I cleared it with the wife and jumped on the chance, registering the same day I got the email. Now I was committed.
We started training the last week of January, 8 months from race day. At that point I was the heaviest I'd been in my life, and I was only putting in about 10 miles a week running, if that. I hadn't cycled in years, and the last swim I did was Alcatraz in May 2013. So I say I started from near zero, since I was still running a bit, and I'm a decent swimmer.
Anyways, after 8 months of training hard, I lost 40 pounds, completed an Ironman, and felt pretty good doing it. I came in at 11:35 beating my goal by almost an hour.
I hope this encourages others to take the plunge. If you can make the time commitment and have the support of those around you (I owe my wife big time,) do it!
I hadn't planned on doing an Ironman this year; it was always just something that was in the back of my head as a 'someday' thing. In Sept of last year I got an email from the charity group Team Challenge announcing they had slots for Ironman Chattanooga. I had been involved with Team Challenge before (my son has colitis) doing half marathons and an Olympic tri, but Ironman was brand new to their program. I cleared it with the wife and jumped on the chance, registering the same day I got the email. Now I was committed.
We started training the last week of January, 8 months from race day. At that point I was the heaviest I'd been in my life, and I was only putting in about 10 miles a week running, if that. I hadn't cycled in years, and the last swim I did was Alcatraz in May 2013. So I say I started from near zero, since I was still running a bit, and I'm a decent swimmer.
Anyways, after 8 months of training hard, I lost 40 pounds, completed an Ironman, and felt pretty good doing it. I came in at 11:35 beating my goal by almost an hour.
I hope this encourages others to take the plunge. If you can make the time commitment and have the support of those around you (I owe my wife big time,) do it!
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