Brain Surgery to Ironman

6 months from today at this time I will be 14 hours into my Ironman.  It is way too early to tell where I will be on the course as I’m still in the build phase of my training, but I know that I will be closer to hearing Mike Reilly call me across that iconic finish line than farther!  Now, to most people 6 months might seem like a long time, 180 days, half a year, but I can tell you that the time will be here before I know it.  The key as far as I am concerned is to continue to enjoy the journey.  The countless miles of training be it on my bike trainer alone in my basement, running along the local streets or following the black line at the bottom of the pool.  The race, 6 months from today will be my reward, my victory lap, a celebration of all of my hard work.  Some days and weeks will be great, some will be good and some will suck!!!  The important part is to remember that I am lucky to be able to do this even when things get tough.  This was a...

Sorry for being MIA!  Been a busy few weeks with work and a quick family trip down to Florida, but I’ve finally strung together a few solid weeks of training.  I know, I know.....we’re early on in the training cycle, but it’s very important that I’m moving forward otherwise I’m moving backwards.  My coach puts my workouts in a program called Training Peaks and when I complete a workout it is coded as green, if I miss a workout it is red and if I partially finish a workout it’s orange or yellow.  Obviously I prefer to see green across the board, but an occasional orange is ok, red is just not acceptable in my world.  So, over the last few weeks I’ve seen a lot of green across the board which makes me happy.  Even when away, green.  Work gets a little crazy, green.  The key is to make sure that I prioritize my workouts.  That doesn’t mean I neglect my family or work, it does mean getting up a little earlier if necessary though to get it done. ...

“The best way to treat obstacles is to use them as steppingstones.  Laugh at them, tread on them, and let them lead you to something better.” January 2, 2020, the start of a new year, a new decade and it was supposed to be the start of Ironman training.......WAS being the operative word. Instead of going to spin class I woke up with a fever and chills.  It would be several hours later that I would find out that that fever and chills were........THE FLU!!! Seriously?  No aches, no real pain, certainly didn’t feel like the flu, but the test said it was.  Once again the flu shot was about as effective as a meteorologist.  The only good thing about having git the shot, they symptoms are far less. So after a week of forced rest, Ironman training commenced albeit a week later than anticipated.  I showed up at PWR spin on Thursday ready to begin this journey.  Class was tough, but not as bad as I had expected given the fact that I hadn’t done any exercise...

January 1st, 2020.  New Year, New Decade.  This is the day that most people start talking about their New Years resolutions.  What changes are they going to make to better themselves.  As most of you who are reading this know, I’m not like most people and therefore I don’t believe in resolutions.  What I do believe in is GOALS.  Set a big goal, get your tribe on board, let your training partners know and find a coach who will push you right to your limit.  By doing this you now have accountability. So my goal for 2020 actually materialized in 2019 and became even more set in stone when I found out about a small aneurysm in my brain.  Not that I needed more odds to overcome or obstacles in my way, but this entire journey from 10k to Half Marathon to Marathon to Half Ironman wouldn’t have started without a little adversity. On August 23rd I will toe the line at Ironman Mont Tremblant.  For those not familiar with triathlon it is a 2.4 mile sw...