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168 Hours in a Week

February 10th, 2013 Comments off

I always used to make fun of people training for the Ironman who would count backwards from the number of hours in a week to figure out training times. “That’s crazy, I’ll never be one of those people.”

I’ve become one of those people.

It turns out there are 168 hours in a week – and for the next few months I’m going to need all of them. For me, without a concrete plan, I completely fall apart. “I don’t know, I think the plan is to run tonight… maybe” will eventually become “nah, I can watch 2 hours of West Wing tonight, and run tomorrow – or the next day”. And then I’m in a bad place.

With the full marathon quickly approaching (one month?? when did that happen?!) and the Half Ironman shortly afterward – it’s time to get serious about training. To that end I’ve come up with a schedule that let’s me get enough exercise time in.

But, it’s funny, but in order to have time to run at night, I have to leave work right at 5pm. To leave work at 5, I need to get there right at 8am. To get to work at 8, I need to go swimming at 5am. To get to the gym that early requires a 4:30am wake up time. And the only way I’m ever going to wake up that early is to do it everyday, even weekends – I don’t even know who I am anymore…

The big downside to a 4:30am morning is that it requires a 9pm bedtime. Shutting my day down so early will be the toughest part for me – also waking up in the mornings – also actually exercising. Ok, it’s all going to be the toughest part. But if it wasn’t difficult, it wouldn’t be any fun, right?

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A Journey Begins

November 9th, 2012 Comments off

Well, I did it – I signed up for the 2013 Florida Ironman! Which, even that proved challenging. The 2012 IM sold out in 16 minutes, so I knew this one was going to be quick as well. Sunday morning I was sitting at my computer frantically refreshing the registration page. Good thing, it turns out, as the 2013 IM sold out in under a minute. Whew. Now that I’ve got that out of the way, it’s all easy from here, right? :)

 

With Lauren’s birthday on Monday, I got a late start on the training plan. In fact, I didn’t do any physical activity until this morning. Which was a pretty successful run, and I’m proud of myself for being able to wake up at 5 am and run in temps in the mid-30′s. I guess it’s only going to get colder from here, but as I hate treadmills, it’s the lesser of two evils.

 

I haven’t yet put together the full training plan, but I know long runs will be Sundays and long bike rides will be Saturday. I’m not very excited about riding my bike in the morning in winter, but getting to 56 miles by May is going to be tough if I wait for nicer weather.

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