Shut up and take my money!

Rewind to Easter 12 months ago, I am enjoying the solitude of a long endurance ride up the King Valley in Victoria's Northeast. It's a beautiful day, the sun is shining, the roads are quiet and I'm in the zone, Zone 2 to be precise, riding an average 70% of FTP or conversation pace for non-cyclists for the 130km. The other zone was just one of pure enjoyment taking in the sights, sounds and smells of the countryside. As time ticked over, my mind went wandering back to a time and a place when I used to do triathlons. Anything from sprint distance through to half ironman, with my last serious event being the Canberra half ironman back in 2004. Flashback to 2004, there was only one Ironman event in Australia, not 3 (Port Macquarie, Cairns & Busselton) like there are now and you had to qualify for the national ironman championship. I did ok back then, but my wife and I were expecting twins in late May 2005 only weeks before the Port Macquarie Ironman. I thought to myself if I can qualify now, I can do it in 10 years’ time when the kids are a bit older. Little did I think it would be 18 years between major events and my babies are fast approaching their 18th birthdays.

Before I entered, I sat down with my wife and told her about my ride and desire to have a crack at the ironman in 13 months’ time. She said if you think you can do it, be present to our family and manage a fulltime job then go for it. I'll come back to this later and why it was important to get Paula's buy in.

First, let me breakdown what an ironman is. The first leg is a 3.8km open water swim, the second leg a 180.2km bike ride and the third leg is a marathon run, all 42.2km of it. The origins of the event go back to 1978, when US Navy Commander John Collins sought to resolve a universal conundrum of who was the fittest athlete with an event held around Kona, Hawaii..

What possesses a person to do an ironman? Firstly I've had friends across my lifetime who have competed in ironmans in their 20s, 30s and 40s. Some gifted athletes amongst them, while others were ordinary athletes with the ability to endure extraordinary suffering in the name of sport. This is inspiring on its own. I spent 12 years enjoying the sport at the lesser distances, so I feel doing the event will bring a sense of completeness knowing that I have competed in triathlon in every major event type. While there are qualifying spots or the world ironman championships to be held in Nice, France later this year, that is not my goal. For me it is also a challenge which is probably not too different from training for a marathon, a 3-stage tour or an epic event like 3 Peaks. You have a goal and then you put in place the process to achieve that goal.

Now I really want to publish this blog before the event this Sunday, so here is a summary of the last 4.5 months. I set up an event in my TrainerRoad App, setup my preferred schedule and time commitment. TrainerRoad pumped out a training plan using its knowledge of my fitness, ability and my goals. TrainerRoad adapted that plan using its Machine Learning (ML) to match the effort. Being a processed driven individual, I followed that plan, but did not do every one of them, because sometimes your body tells you it needs a break. There have been many friends and family who have joined me along the way for early morning swims, rides and runs and I want to thank them for their company along the way. And here I am 3 days before the Port Macquarie Ironman. It's been a great journey so far, yes, I’m a little bit nervous, but most of all I'm looking forward to the challenge of the Ironman on Sunday.