Training Plan

Many people think of races and think, "there's no way I could run a marathon or do a triathlon."  What they may not realize is the race itself is pretty easy compared to all the training that goes into it!  For Jason and I to both be successful in Louisville and swim, bike, run (not swim, bike, walk) time is going to be our biggest challenge.  We both love our family time and being with the kids.  We know that time is going to be less as we go through our training, especially next summer, but we feel what we are doing and the lifestyle we will be raising them in is so worth it.  Fortunately we have a few months until we get to those long training days so for now our focus is strength training and weight loss, biking inside on the trainer, running outside and swimming when we can.  I had a great run yesterday, not exactly sure how far I went because I turned onto a little trail to go around a lake and before I knew it I was off the trail and not sure where I was...  It took a few minutes but eventually I got to a road and figured out where I was!  I ran for about 50 minutes and felt like I held a pretty good pace.  The bottom of my left foot is a little sore but I am hoping with a little ice, it will go away. 

Here we go

So I was sitting around one day, thinking about all the spare time I had (yeah right!) and wondering what I could do with it.  I grew up watching both of my parents compete in many road races and triathlons and did several in my younger years with the highlight being a half Ironman while on the triathlon team in college.  After that I took a break from triathlons but enjoyed watching and cheering on my dad, sister and brother in their races.  I liked being a spectator but recently starting thinking about how much better I liked being on the racing side.  So last spring Jason and I sign up and did a sprint distance race.  This was a first for him and the first in a long time for me.  He was hooked and I was re-hooked.  We had hoped to race more over the summer but our plans and reality just didn't work out.  In August we went to Louisville to watch my dad and Sean compete in the Ironman.  My dad had said this was his last race (unless he qualified for Kona) and I wanted to be there.  If you've never watched an Ironman, it's incredible.  I think it's pretty much impossible not to be motivated by what you see.  Jason was ready to sign up that night, I took a little longer to think about it.  We were already planning on signing up to do a half Ironman in May, and now we've decided go for the full in Louisville next August.  We are going to need a lot of help along the way and truly appreciate our family and friends who will help us accomplish our goal.  It's not going to be easy, but that will just make the accomplishment so much more worth it. 
I once said I would only get a tattoo of the Olympic Rings or the Ironman symbol after I participated in either of those things.  Well, in my early 20's it didn't look like either was going to happen so I got a tattoo of the sun (it made sense at the time...)  Maybe one more tattoo is in my future...