Training for a half-marathon and then successfully finishing one (although not without an injury) hooked me on pursuing further challenges. I haven’t run a half-marathon as a way to prove anything. Rather the competition had given me an opportunity to reassure myself that I’m capable of carrying out longer undertakings. Ten weeks from zero to finish has been a fantastic learning experience so I am looking forward to the next step which is not only longer but also more challenging. I am committed to successfully finishing a complete Ironman triathlon (IM) race, that is: consecutively swimming 3.86Km, cycling 180.2Km and running 42.2Km while not dying in the process.
Just few months prior as a part of my life-changing course I have given up a lot of pseudo hobbies that I had never really enjoyed. I basically scrapped everything I did and started fresh. I found out that having just one hobby at a time is surprisingly satisfying. I doubt this is a widespread problem. For me, though, too many hobbies not only spread time and attention really thin but also take away joy. I feel happy to accept triathlon as my only hobby and to say “no” to anything else that comes my way. It’s cheaper this way, too.
I’ve seen variable amount of craziness across the web and in real life. Some Ironman participants set highly ambitious goals of preparing in shortest time possible. I am not one of them. I want to enjoy the whole process of training and the steady growth, just like I did with running. I had a belief I hate to run. With a little help from patience and discipline I followed a careful plan. And I enjoyed every single run. Not for a moment I thought about the upcoming marathon or what lies ahead. I focused on one and only moment - the present one.
I intend to piggy-back on the same mindset for IM. A chord of stress has already struck me when I realized that I must rush to prepare myself for the next step: completing a half Ironman next year. As soon as I noticed the fleeting feeling I stopped immediately. I’m not going to rush which means I’m likely falling out of the 2016 season. I’m aiming for an entry into a full IM in 2018. There, I wrote it. I find it REALLY difficult to commit to something so far ahead. But I believe it’s going to be yet another fantastic outlet for learning.
In the meanwhile I’m going to train and the things get really interesting from here. Unsurprisingly, there is so much information and advice available on the topic that I can’t put it in just one entry. So I’m going to write semi-regular posts on my training progress and findings. I’m completely unfit and unprepared for this challenge right now. I don’t even know how to swim properly. But I’m excited and looking forward to the long journey ahead!