BE Strong | See Tom Tri: One man's mental & physical journey training to be a 2012 IronMan®

Will it be enough?

I have a feeling, no matter how I end up doing next month, I’ll wonder if I should have done more or did things differently. Is that natural thinking? Would it ever be enough, or would the ’satisfactory’ amount make me even more anti-social? Does it really matter anyhow?

certain

I had a little trouble with energy earlier this past week, so getting past this weekend the way I did was wonderful. Having a lack of energy is enough to discourage you from thinking that it will ever get better. To date, the longest run I’ve had was nowhere near long enough. I had to run at least 20 miles to stay on track. The theory goes….if you can run 20 miles, you can complete a marathon. Sounds a little strange, but I’ll buy it. In my mind, leading up to this weekend, I resolved myself to accepting having . . . → Read More: certain

it’s a toss up.

On Saturday morning, I got up early to drive over an hour to get to a swimming hole near Allentown PA. Swimming hole sounded weird, but that’s exactly what it was. A place called Dutch Springs I’m guessing was quarry at one point in it’s life. Their website is geared toward scuba diving but had one tiny paragraph about swimming. When I called the day before, they said I could use the whole hole to swim. It’s 1.3 miles around the perimeter of the water. Just after 9 am I pulled into the empty parking lot. I was instantly happy about that. When . . . → Read More: it’s a toss up.

speed demon (almost)

Check this out: With my new bike and just a 53 tooth chain ring (no long crank arms yet), my average speed increased 1.8 mph over 20 miles. So what, right? What’s 1.8 mph mean in the grand scheme? If nothing else changed, I’d finish biking 35 minutes earlier. I may even have time to eat lunch before I have to run. Run, get it?

The long awaited, much talked about crank arms are coming tomorrow (as long as UPS delivers them), and my ride on Saturday will be the test! I can’t wait. If I can add 1 more . . . → Read More: speed demon (almost)

The first time I….

On Sunday Chris and Steve took me to lake Wallenpaupak in the Poconos to try out my wetsuit for the first time in open water. Chris happened upon this lake like he finds everything else….. and I have no idea how. He showed me a picture of it on Friday and I have to admit it was a little intimidating. It’s a huge lake. There are three or four companies that rent boats that you can take on the lake. The plan was to rent one of the boats, and have them follow next to me in the boat as . . . → Read More: The first time I….

Sounds impressive

My wetsuit is called a Tsunami FS Triathlon Wetsuit. I can’t wait to test it out in open water! Here is a picture of it:

Looks impressive too, huh?

It seems like everyday I have a different favorite of the three sports. Today it was swimming (though running in this perfect weather wasn’t too horrible either). Since I get up really early to go swimming , it’s getting increasingly tougher to roll out of bed. It’s been really cold and the sun doesn’t even think of rising for a while. It feels like the middle of the night. But once . . . → Read More: Sounds impressive

Sounds made up

This week I hit 27,000 sit-ups, 5,000 push-ups, 2,000 miles on the bike, 250 miles run, and 50 hours in the water, all in just less than 250 hours (I should do 3,000 more sit-up in 3 hours to make all the numbers weirdly even). It’s pretty neat that all the numbers came together like that. I have no idea what the numbers will end up being come November 20, 2011, but just reading the totals makes me feel exhausted (excited to do even more).

it IS too

It’s too early, it’s too cold, it’s too hard, it’s too much work, it’s too much on your body. It’s too mentally taxing. It’s too physically draining. It’s too scary. It takes too much time. It’s too expensive. There is too much travel involved. I’ve thought of some of these things and some have been implanted into my head from people I know.

Though I’ve been pretty good auditing things I allow through my mind, some still creep in. I understand that some people may think some or all of the above. I may have at one point. It’s true that . . . → Read More: it IS too

2 more months left!

September 20, 2011: I have 2 months to the ironman, but just about a month of buid-up training to go. I can’t continually build up distances in November and have to take at least a week or two before it to ease off a bit. That’s the theory anyway. I don’t know how I’m going to build up those distances in such a short period. The furthest I’ve swam was 1 mile. The furthest I’ve biked was 112 miles and the furthest I’ve run was 15 miles. Even if I could do all my furthests in one day and I’m still . . . → Read More: 2 more months left!

It’s the weekend!

I never really looked forward to the weekend before. They were just two of the ordinary days of the week. Most of my days seem to run together and often I have to consult my phone to find out what day it is. Since I started training and doing triaTHlon THursday, I have become more aware of what day it is and now can’t wait for Saturday to come around. Saturday is 70.3 day (1/2 ironman day). I can’t wait to wake up way before the sun, have something to eat, then hit the road (path) on my bike. I don’t have a distance in mind for . . . → Read More: It’s the weekend!