From the beginning

I feel like i need to give some background on what lead me the goal of completing an ironman race; I have always been intrigued by people who have the mental toughness to push beyond their perceived limits. Triathletes, Navy SEALS, ultra-marathoners, & mountain climbers to name a few. I was fortunate to 'unlock' this ability in my own mind/body during my stint in U.S. Army Infantry School at Ft. Benning in 1992. Prior to this I never had much self confidence and was severely lacking in the ability to push myself beyond limits.
Fast forward to 2008: I entered the My First Triathlon at Lake Lanier, a sprint distance for fist-timers. I had an awful swim, great bike and run. It appears that open-water swimming is a challenge that will continue to haunt me to this day. I felt confident enough to sign up for another sprint distance called The Sumer Sizzler in Hiawasee. I had a great race that day and felt even more confident. I continued to train through the summer for one more race at Lake Lanier, the Emerald Point Sprint in October. I had another great race to end the season. I felt so good about my first season that I booked the next years season well ahead of time. I signed on for the My Next Tri (with wife), the Peachtree City Olympic Distance, the Summer Sizzler International Distance, and the Augusta Ironman 70.3 ( 1/2 Iron distance). I even signed up for the ING full marathon and started my training and was doing very well until I suffered an inflamed IT band on my right leg somewhere arounf the 22 mile mark in my training. Your IT band is a thin sheet of muscle that runs from your hip to your knee and be extremely painful and frustrating to treat. After several attempts i finally found some good therapy but was too late to recoup for the marathon. I was a little depressed about the upcoming Tri season that started in March with Peachtree City. After some gentle persuasion from my wife I decided to go through with my commitments to race. The whole family traveled south to cheer me on and I finished on my feet after a frightening .93 mile swim, great bike ride, and mediocre run with knee pain. Anna & I had a fun time doing the My First/My Next together. i did miss the Summer Sizzler for lack of training and "want-to". In late July the pain in my IT band started to diminish and I was able to begin regaining my distance running, starting with a humbling 3-4 miles. Augusta was less than 2 months away and would demand a 1.1 mile swim, 56 mile bike, and a 13.1 mile run. I was frustrating with both my ability to prepare and my laziness toward preparing. I was seriously contemplating not racing! In early September i decided to train hard ad see where I stood 2 weeks out from September 27th; it was not a pretty standing. I did a mock run on a hot Saturday afternoon inLawrenceville of a 1/2 mil swim, 30 mile bike and a 7 mile run...I thought I was going to die. There was no way I could make Augusta in 2 weeks! It was a roller coaster of decisions for the next week. I finally decided to go through banking on lots of walking and rest breaks. I also learned a lesson in fueling from my mock run, i need about 5X as much fuel as i thought I did. I needed to be consuming calories every 20 -30 minutes plus electrolytes. I got a great plan recommendation from a seasoned triathlete and decided to implement this for the big race.
September 26th, 2009; headed to Augusta with the family, butterflies, bad. Race check in, bike check in, dinner and bed. Feet hit the floor around 5:00 am on the 27th still not sure about my ability to finish. I made my way to the transition area, donned my wetsuit at sunrise and caught a bus to the swim start...nervous. The swim was 1.1 miles down the Savannah River with a water temp around 68 degrees and a 1 knot current, cool, literally! The first 1/3 mile was slow and relaxing until I got comfortable. I even took a nice rest stop on a kayak to clear my goggles. The next 2/3 mile was great. I found a rhythm and was actually surprised when i reached the finish, I even passed a few people! Whew! The hard part was over. I took my time in transition and refueled. The bike was a nice, easy 23 miles out and 23 back with exception of the headwind on the return trip that was awful. Just over 3 hours on the bike and i was back at transition and suiting up for the run, relaxing, and refueling. 13.1 miles to go now! The run was a zig zag through downtown Augusta, perfectly flat. I was fueling the entire bike ride and run by the way and it was really paying off now. I was feeling surprisingly spry at the half-way mark.
In the end I was able to finish the race in 6 hours,, 20 minutes feeling very strong in spite of poor training and preparation.
I felt so cocky at my accomplishment that I had to make myself wait to sign up for Ironman Louisville. I waited over a month to sign up so that I would not be doing it out of over confidence and cockiness. I woke up Halloween morning and decided that there was no better time than the scariest day of the year to embark on the scariest physical challenge of my life.
This blog will serve as my journal of my Ironman Journey and hopefully an inspiration to anyone who cares to read it.
Your comments, encouragement and suggestions are welcomed.
-MS