Training for an Ironman

It has been ages since I have posted anything on this blog and so much has happened since my last post.....it is amazing what life will throw at you especially when you are not expecting it. The biggest change is that I now have a full time job and I am no longer spending a good portion of my time training other people for triathlons or coaching them on their swimming. The time I have to devote to training others has diminished but my desire to do it has not.....I just have to figure out how to make my passion for training people into my life's work that feeds my soul AND helps pay the bills. So at the time of my last post I still had some new triathletes that I was encouraging to embrace the multi sport lifestyle and not simply stop after one race. There has been some attrition but all of the ladies and gentlemen grew from the experience and many are still training....if not for triathlons they are still in the gym or out running or encouraging others to jump on the fitness band wagon. It is that exact band wagon that I jumped on as I looked for some direction and for continued contact with my awesome circle of work out friends.


For me it all started fresh when I was having doubts about whether going back to work was the right thing for me to do and people started to say the dirty M word. That word would be MARATHON. I had sworn off of those events back in 2007 when I finished one, it was a major life event and I checked it off of my bucket list.....never to me done again. I had done it and even though I thought I would be faster finishing it was good enough for me. The training plan had given me a new focus and lifted me out of the trenches of my ongoing separation/divorce. My soon to be ex-husband lived 2 blocks away and his girlfriend had moved in from Northern VA. People were always asking about the divorce and how was I doing and it was tough to always be rehashing details. Once I started training for the marathon people started asking about my training and that was so much better. The training was tough and I had multiple injuries but I did it, took a sip of beer at the finish line party and then I used a sharpie to mark it off my bucket list....DONE, finished, horrible grueling event but I survived it and so I would survive the divorce.


So this fall Trish starts talking about doing a marathon and everyone starts to form groups on facebook...like kickin asphalt....and they are talking about their training and so I joined in because I needed something to keep me focused and involved since my job took me out of the loop during the day. The amazing thing was the support that I got from people as they tried to work with my new work schedule. For example since I had to leave the house for work by 0615 Rob was a good soul and he would run with me at 0445 so I could get my mileage in while training. Then at times Christine would join in at what Julie called the butt crack of dawn and then Bridget joined in with the early morning crew. This was even more incredibly supportive than it sounds because they all had to meet at my house since I have the kids and they would run a 1.6 mile loop around the neighborhood....over and over again. I would never have gotten out of bed to train without such dedicated training partners and that further proves my theory that it truly does take a village to train for a triathlon. The beauty of it is that everyone is so supportive and it is such great therapy to get out and run in the dark on a regular route....we are a regular sight at 0500 at least two mornings a week. Rob says he likes it because I talk the whole way and he simply has to run and listen. I get a lot of venting taken care of at poor Rob's expense!

And so that is how the journey to the Ironman began......peer pressure to do a marathon AGAIN even though I swore I never ever would...EVER. They do say to never say never and so I now have a journey to take you on....the one where the average, I will never do an Ironman person makes the decision to train for an Ironman.