aurora

You want to say something important and significant. You want some phrase that simply captures something momentous...something like "In The Beginning", or maybe "And So Began", or "Once Upon A Time", or "All children, except one, grow up", or "A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away", or at least, "Marley was dead, to begin with." But ultimately it's a day, just like most other days, and so in most ways unremarkable. Except that today, January 9th, 2006, Ironman begins.

Of course I've been training for it specifically for more than a year, and it could be said that Ironman began after the Lifetime Fitness Triathlon in 2004, when I first dared say it out loud. Or on the morning of September 12th of this year, when I sat at my computer, refreshing my screen like I would an ebay auction, paranoid that IM Wisconsin would sell out in mere seconds instead of hours. But today is the day, for no other reason that in my mind, today is the day. In a more organized world last week, fresh start to the new year, would've been the day. Alas, mine is not an organized world. It's not a scheduling matter or a matter of timing. It's not even a feeling. It's an impulse or an instinct. Something. But there is it, and here we are.

So, status report: I'm beginning week 4 of an O2 - Oxygen - training course. It's been useful as part of my base training, as it's entirely heart-rate centric. It's allowed me to slowly creep back into shape. I'm beginning Week 1 of a 12 week Half-Marathon specific training regimen as well. As it is, I'm in horrible shape. Okay, terrible. Horror was a month ago, now it's just terror. Far from the fine tuned machine I'll work to become. I'm soft mentally and physically. I'm race - overweight, as the offseason tends to do to me. That's okay, I'm used to it - in the 3 months I enjoy as an offseason I tend to become gluttonous and sedentary. It'll all come around, and usually quite quickly. I do intend, this season, to shed as many pounds as I can, so I'm carrying less up the hill. We shall see.

My first race of the season will be a half-marathon in St.Cloud in April, so from now until then I'll tend mostly to the run, which is my Kryptonite. I've learned enough these last 2 years to realize that hours spent in the pool and on the bike yield maybe a few minutes of improvement. Useful, but not critical. The run, however, is where I notoriously melt down, and I can lose significant chunks of time in doing so, erasing any slight gains I earned in the first disciplines. So it will be my season long focus. I want to approach this season as a runner doing triathlon. Since I'm naturally neither a runner nor a triathlete, it should be interesting. But if one considers that the whole point is to get through 114.4 miles before finally embarking on a marathon, one wants to feel solid about his running.

I'll also be pushing back my entire season, and so training schedule, so that I peak in September, rather than July, which is what I'm used to doing. This means I won't start putting in serious time on the bike and the pool until early May. Which means my first triathlon - a small, short thing in early May - should be a farce. But so be it. I have three objectives for the season, and they are: Improve on the run. Develop a sound nutrition strategy. Become Ironman.

So, welcome aboard. I don't really have a grand plan for what I'll be doing in this space. If there's something you'd be particularly interested in, let me know. I'll do my best to appear regularly. Shows may not be nightly. Thanks for coming, and don't forget to tip the bartender.