324 days till the Ironman

Dec 30th. One day left in 2010.  What a year to begin the new decade. I renewed my love for triathlon.  More importantly, and more significantly, I married the woman I love.  I never thought I'd have found someone so supportive of this lifestyle.  I can't even begin to explain how much having her support makes a difference in my life.  I think I lost my interest a couple years ago because I did not have that support system, but never even know why.  I think a huge part of my new found love was knowing at every race, I would see her multiple times.  As the race begins, I kiss her goodbye and she wishes me luck as I prepare to dive into the water with 50 other lunatics only to hurry and get back to where we started.  The whole time I'm in the water, yes I'm thinking about technique, strategy, where to go, etc, but any time I find myself struggling, the one comforting thought is that I know within 10,15, 30 minutes, however long the swim is, I know my beautiful wife is going to be there with a big smile and words of encouragement for me as I hustle up the beach for the longest part of the race, the bike.  When I take off on the bike, sometimes she's there to encourage me on the next leg, other times she's not. Not because she didnt bother, but because I know my speed in transition was just faster than her's in rushing from the swim exit to the bike start, and I know.  Getting through the bike is a bear. It's a LONG time out there by yourself.  But, my thoughts always return to the fact that soon enough I'll be back, and I'll see that beautiful smiling face cheering me on.  This is where it gets brutal.  You don't even realize how worn out you are until you take that first step off the bike.  Your legs are jelly, your arms are tired and you still have 25 minutes at least of running ahead of you.  Busting through T2, and out the gate, my wife is almost always waiting at the run start for one last final huge burst of encouragement.  With her support, I know I can leave everything I have out on the race course.  As the run slogs on, and I start wanting to die, I know that I'll have her waiting for me on the other side of the finish line. And that possibly more than anything else, wills me to get through that finish line as fast as I can.  Knowing that she'll be there, possibly more excited and proud of me than I am(i don't have the energy to be excited at that point), always gets me through that finish line. 
I never realized how important having that support system in place means to me.  I don't know if other triathletes feel that way either.  But having her by my side is one of the biggest things and reasons why I know that I will become an Ironman. 
 I don't have much training to discuss right now because my Olympic race training starts monday and i'm taking the next few days off.  I thought I'd spend more time getting into my head a little bit. I didn't even realize the profound effect Rachel has on me until I began writing this entry.
I couldn't be happier to have her, I'm a very lucky man.

326 Days till Ironman Arizona

I just created this online blog so I can track my progress, thoughts, issues, everything else that will come up throughout this process.  Training has not officially started for the Ironman, but I have been doing some basic swim/bike/run workouts.  Nothing too big for now. 
I am planning on quite a few small triathlons during the season, with two being A type races. An A type race is one that you specifically train for, taper for, and plan your training so you will be at your peak performance level on race day. The first one is the Over-The-Mountain triathlon in Kings Mountain.  I raced this last year and did horribly. It was my first time doing an olympic distance(.9 mile swim, 27 mile bike, and 10k run) and it destroyed me. I didn't train for it specifically and felt the consequences.  I hope and expect to improve upon it greatly this year. I begin training for that on Monday, Jan 3rd.  My second A race is obviously the Ironman.  The training for that will officially begin on July 4th.
Here we go!