A Pictorial - Things Don't Always Go As Planned ... Pt 1

Alot can change in 12 months ... wait, I mean 10 weeks

Though I still have a hard time accepting the sign up for events 12 months in advance it's an evil necessity at times these days. A number of us had signed up for Ironman Arizona and quite frankly I was the least likely to be at the start line in November of 2011 (I was coming off a knee surgery in Nov 2010 and didn't start easy running until January) I wasn't going to risk my health in the lead up to November so all my training was based on the longevity on my knee!

Fast forward to September 2011 and I had a very healthy build over the year that included shorter races and a July "freshening" period. When we hit September's Big Kahuna Tri our group of "IMAZ" athletes had dwindled to just two (me and TTE Nation's Mike Starkey) but we were both confident of the possibilities for November!

Above is a photo of the me in the last 200 meters of the BK race ... I had a really solid race there and was confident when the dust (sand) settled about how to approach the build up to IMAZ. Little did I now what was brewing in my body! The reality was I had picked up a virus and two days later I was sick with what seemed like a head cold. I was in a very easy recovery period/week anyway and figured I'd clear it quick .... HA! A never ending fever, turned to walking pneumonia, which of course meant there was no training for at least 2.5 weeks. The advice I got from the "experts" around me? "This type of virus should NOT be messed with ... RECOVER"

Things were about to get a little prickly and unclear about whether starting the race in November was even possible! At the time I felt bad about leaving my wing man, Mike, to solo training!

At this point I had no choice, the remainder of September was "for the dogs" ... lots of sleeping and simply waiting for the things to clear! I started back with a variety of very short session and in early October I realistically had a week to get things moving to see if I could pull this off. On Saturday October 8th I set out on a 4:30 swim-bike-run combo session to simply give it a test and see what the body could tolerate. It started horribly and the outlook wasn't good, but by the end of the bike ride the tide had turned! Uh Oh ... decision time !!!

Over the course of the year a number of things kept me motivated. One of them was my wife and how she pulled off two Ironman distance PR's in the span of 5 weeks. I decided to use that as part of my inspiration to move on. I figured if I am clear of the virus then let's give this thing a go! It may not be what I originally planned, BUT I'm gonna get a good 4-5 week block of training in, give it a whirl, and see what I can learn from this.

I'm gonna leave you there, Part II to follow ...