A Brief History of My Fitness
Three years ago, I coughed, sputtered, flailed, waddled, and limped my way through a short but agonizing sprint distance triathlon. At the time, I weighed about 210 pounds and completing this shortest of triathlons was nearly impossible. Now, I'm about 229 pounds and couldn't even imagine how much more difficult such a triathlon would be--and yet, here I am contemplating a triathlon of over four times (!) that distance.
In my defense, I hadn't prepared much for that first triathlon so it's not an accurate representation of what I could do after some good training. If I complete my training for the 70.3 triathlon, I can conceivably finish the race without too serious a heart attack.
Additionally, I have run two marathons--both of which I completed while I was over 200 pounds. My best time was 4:16, which I believe to be quite respectable for someone who was bordering on obesity.
True to form, I didn't train nearly enough for the marathons either which further proves that with adequate conditioning a half Ironman should only result in a lesser myocardial infarction. It also proves that I have self-discipline problems when it comes to sticking to a training routine--problems I plan on resolving.
Why So Long?
Obviously, it seems ill-advised for such a large person to do such a long triathlon. Why not do a shorter triathlon, like a sprint or Olympic distance one? The thing is, I could conceivably complete a shorter triathlon right now, it would be hard, but I could complete one. However, the 70.3 is well out of my reach right now. In other words: I can't fake it. Sure, I could sign up for a shorter triathlon and hope to do the training, but realistically I'd probably not train very much and just show up for the race and finish it. With the longer distance I'm forced to train. There's no chance I could just show up and complete it; I'm far too fat for that.
So, a half Ironman it is. It may seem a bit much for someone of my girth but I saw a big dude on the Teevee just the other day crossing the finish line at the Ironman World Championships in Kona. He was easily pushing 300. Sure, he tested the expansion limits of lycra and most likely used all the Vaseline at all the aid stations, but he finished. And his heart didn't even explode.
My Training
I found the training plan I'm following here. It's an 18 week program and I started it 16 weeks from the race date, so I just chopped off the first two weeks of the plan and called it good. So far, the routine seems manageable. I've done about half the scheduled workouts to this point (see self-discipline problems in earlier paragraph) and I haven't been too tired.
I was most nervous about the swimming since it's the one activity I don't normally do. It hasn't been that bad. Swimming is the one workout that doesn't leave me feeling like I've been thrown into a burlap bag and rolled down several flights of concrete stairs. I actually feel looser and quite refreshed after a good swim; I definitely can't say the same for running.
A Blogging Cliché and a Mission Statement
Like so many have done before, I will use this blog to chronicle my training and weight loss experience. I will update my weight daily and give insights into how the workouts are going. Since no one will ever read this it will mainly serve as a personal journal of my efforts and as good writing practice.
The scale says:
"One at a time, please." (Thank you, Garfield.) And that I weigh 229 pounds
On the menu today:
- Swim 1000 yards: 300 yard warmup, 10 5x100's, 200 yard cool down
- Day 1 of p90x (Yes, really. It's a bit embarrassing, but more on this later.)
- A Beto's (although it's called Mi Rancherito or something now, it will always be Beto's to me) breakfast burrito.
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