Change of Plans!

 So I guess I haven’t gotten much better about posting more often.  In my last post I talked about all the races I wanted to get done if my body held up.  In October I ran a 5K with Anne and did my 2^nd 70.3 Iron Man. In November I ran the DRC 1/2 Marathon, and in the beginning of December I ran the Rock N Roll 1/2 in Vegas again.  Well I must have jinxed myself because my body didn’t hold out for the rest of the season. 

   I had my gallbladder out in December and had the chance to go skiing a couple of times, once in January and then again in February. On the trip in February, two weeks before I was suppose to run the half marathon at Cowtown, I fell and injured my knee.  Skiing with a 3 year old is tricky business.  I thought it was pretty bad when it happened but I was able to ski the rest of the day. By the next morning I couldn’t walk on it.  I called my Doctor on the way home and he saw me that night.  In the end it was not as serious as I had thought but running the half in a few weeks was out of the question.

   

My recovery took a lot longer than I had expected but it gave me some time to think my about decision to run 40 marathons or half marathons by the age of 40.  After many conversations with Anne I temporally changed my goal! For the next year I am shooting for my ultimate test of endurance the 140.6 Ironman.  This race will take the better part of 16 hours to complete.  I spent some time looking at the race schedules and tried to find the perfect race that would fit into our busy lives.  I ended up picking Ironman Texas in the Woodlands.  http://ironmantexas.com/

This race is really early in the season and that means a lot of indoor winter training.  I also came to the conclusion if I was going to try and conquer this distance I was going to need some help.  A friend on mine, Drew Carnes, was using a company called Playtri and coach Aaron Patel.  Aaron came highly recommended by Drew so after a few phone calls I signed up to be one of his clients. He promised to get me through Ironman Texas. 

First order of business was testing that needed to be done down at Playtri’s facility.  We made a weekend trip out of it.  I was very curious about the way the programs works but Aaron informed me that he could tailor the workouts to my schedule.  Once a week I send him the days and hours I am available to work out for the following week.  Then he creates my training schedule with a mixture of runs, bikes, swims, and some weight training.   I have been on his workouts since May and I can tell that my body is stronger than it has ever been before.  As part of my training I will be running 70.3 Austin Ironman in two weeks and then I hope to pick up some half marathons this winter while I am training for Ironman Texas.  I will also be attending a training camp in April that is set on the course for the swim bike and the run for Ironman Texas.  The 70.3 Ironman Galveston is also on my schedule for the middle of April.  This will be one last tune up for the big one. 

I will try and post more often, when things come up and probably some of my training schedules just to give you a glimpse into what goes into getting ready for a race like this.