Brain Surgery to Ironman

Here we are, 3 weeks working from home, 2 weeks of my son being home schooled and I don’t know when I’ve been busier.  At first I thought, working from home would make it easier to get workouts done, less travel time to the pool, the gym, my bike trainer.......boy was I wrong!  Instead I actually find myself working harder than usual to get it all in.  However, it is getting done, except the pool of course.  Gyms have been closed for 2 weeks, my last swim was March 13th and I can honestly say I miss it! The other thing that has been happening on an almost daily basis is race cancellations.  Now, I can’t speak for all endurance athletes, but for me the race is the celebration of all the training.  When you think about it, the race distance and time it takes to complete it pales in comparison to the miles and hours of training.  Last weekend I was supposed to run the Fallen Comrades Half Marathon at West Point and like all other races it was canceled. ...

Worry about what you CAN control and not what you can’t!  This is a mantra that I lived by from 2015 when I found out that I “might” need a second surgery until early 2017 when I found out I would in fact have a second surgery.  I truly believe that I had I waited for the other shoe to drop and not lived my life to the fullest, I would have wound up losing my mind! Here we are in March of 2020 and the country, actually the world is in the grips of a pandemic unlike anything most people have experienced in their lifetime.  The last time I remember witnessing something even remotely like this were the days following 9/11.  Long lines at the grocery stores, desolate parking lots at usually peak hours in town, even the gym parking lot was noticeably less crowded on this gorgeous Sunday morning.  Schools being closed, cities shutting down and what may seem minor to most in the grand scheme of things........races being cancelled. People, myself included, spend a tre...

So, it’s been an interesting week full of highs and lows.  Since I started running 7 years ago I have been keenly aware that the path to race day isn’t linear.  There are ups and downs like any other journey, it’s just a matter of making sure to remain as even keeled as possible.  This was one of those weeks.  As I mentioned in an earlier post, I will test in all 3 disciplines regularly so that my coach can monitor my progress.  This week was my swim test.  Each coach has a different method for conducting these tests, mine prefers a 1000 yard test.  The last time I performed this I swam my 1000 yards in 18:53.  Of all the disciplines, swimming has been the one that I’ve been seeing the biggest gains in lately so I was looking forward to this.  After completing my warm up I began the test.  I was cruising along and felt really good, but I also felt like I was swimming slowly, more on that in a minute.  As I got to the last 50 yards I...

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...