I am signed up for Ironman Wisconsin 2008. One of the things that I keep reading and hearing is you must know your reasons for doing Ironman if you want to succeed. Here are my reasons and my contract with myself.
Why am I doing Ironman?
I want to prove that I can be an athlete. That I can become greater than I am. Too many times I have hacked my athletic achievements. Too many times I’ve willed marathons instead of trained for them. Too many times I’ve competed when I hadn’t done the training. Too many times my depression and self loathing have prevented me from competing at my full potential. I will prove that through training and dedication I will out perform my every expectation. Through training and dedication I will perform at my peak level of performance. I will not skip workouts because I just didn’t feel like it or I felt a little achey. I will perform every work out to its fullest and give each workout and each training session all that I can give it keeping in mind the ultimate goal of proving that I can with hard work and dedication complete an Ironman. Only not just complete but perform, race, compete and excel at the sport. I will not allow myself to spiral into depression. I will not let me be self defeating. I will look at the positive and always try to improve my training, racing and competition. The work will not be done until after post Ironman recovery. The training will not be complete until October 7 2008 after recovery the race doesn’t end until I have recovered.
Focus only on what you can control let the rest be up to God. If something happens during the race and it is outside of swimming, biking, running, and transition. You can not be blamed, you are not responsible. God will take care of you and his plan is only visible to himself. If I am taken up during the race I want to be taken up knowing that at the very moment I had been taken up I did my absolute best. I will not hold back during the race.
Sunday, November 18, 2007
My Running History
I started running in 2005, my reason was simple. Lower my blood pressure by losing weight, and running was my method. I entered a 5k and was hooked. I immediately started looking for my next challenge. I found the sunburst 1/2 marathon in South Bend, Indiana but it was only 2 months away. Never the less I signed up and in early June I was running my first 1/2 marathon. I trained hard and ran it 2:24 Slow but I did it. About a week after the Sunburst 1/2 marathon, I wanted a bigger challenge.
I signed up for the 2005 Chicago Marathon. I found a training plan online from Hal Higdon and started training. I trained well but as all first marathons go it was slow and I finished in 5:20. For a month afterwards I couldn't get myself to run, I didn't have a goal. In late November I was accepted into an internship with mercedes-benz and was to move to Germany in January of 2006.
I found a site called marathonguide.com and found a marathon I liked. It was the city of Rome Marathon in April. I figured it was perfect, close to Germany and it would be at a nice temperature for that time of year too. I started training in December that gave me five months to get in decent training.
When I got to Germany a lot changed because I didn't have a car I walked every where and because Europe's food is much higher quality I ate less. Consequently I lost weight. I also lived in a part of Germany that had lots of hills. Hill training was unavoidable I was always either running up or down. During training my mile times dropped from 9:30-10:00/ mile to 5:40-6:30/mile depending on what day it was. Training was going really well, and as the marathon approached I felt really good. The day had finally arrived and I hopped a plane to Rome.
My parents were going to meet me there. The marathon happened to fall on their college's spring break so they decided to use it as an excuse to travel. I meet up with them but as usual they put me in a really bad mood. Not good. I went to bed and woke up my parents continued to hound my about all kinds of irrelevant things and I got in an even worse mood. I walked to the start and off we went. It turns out this is not a good race for a PR. The incredibly rude competitors, who ran the race only as a way to tour the city and clog up the streets while they took pictures(thats right DURING the race!), and the lack of proper champion chips made the marathon a nightmare.
My bad mood got worse. At some point during the race my chip fell off. The officials decided that the tried and true method of chip fixation was not good enough so they taped it the back of the race number. My entire goal for the race was time oriented. I wanted a serious PR but even if I was able to run the entire race fast from the very beginning I could not get that official time without the chip. I was incredibly demoralized and was not thinking clearly, at mile 20 I dropped out. It was stupid I know, and I have regretted it to this day.
After the race my parents wanted to see where I lived so they flew to Germany with me, it was an OK week. I put on a good face and after a week they left to go back to America. I got on the computer still reeling from the previous weekend's defeat and found another marathon just 3 weeks away. It was the Sao Antonio Maratona in Padova Italy near Venice. That marathon was also a disaster.
I was not recovered from the previous marathon and in those three weeks the temperature rose 20 degrees Fahrenheit. I had trained all winter in temperatures that ranged from -20 to 40 degrees Fahrenheit but I had not trained for a 98 degree marathon! My time was incredibly slow probably due to the major dehydration i suffered from in the hot italian sun. I finished in 5:24, it was absolutely horrible.
After that I signed up for Chicago 2006 as I would be home and this would give me some reason to keep running; though I didn't feel like it. The summer months passed away and my runs had been confined to 10-15 mile runs along the Neckar river just because thats what I did. I moved back to the US in august and tried to convince myself to train but I just could not. August became September which became October but I hadn't done any serious training since Germany. The race came and was freakishly cold. Once again I was not prepared for the temperature and I froze. Race day was 28-31 and snowing! I finished the race in 5:27 with no training. After that I really couldn't get myself to run.
I didn't stop completely but I started gaining back all that weight I had lost in Germany and then I gained back all the weight that I had lost in 2005. Dark days indeed. As spring rolled around I decided to get back to running. I had found something new to be excited about; trail running. I also discovered barefoot running which made running all the more fun and easy! I lost alot of the weight that I had put on during winter and started gaining back my endurance, though not my speed. I have now started biking and swimming and am working my way towards triathlon. I will be competing in Iron Man Wisconsin 2008.
I signed up for the 2005 Chicago Marathon. I found a training plan online from Hal Higdon and started training. I trained well but as all first marathons go it was slow and I finished in 5:20. For a month afterwards I couldn't get myself to run, I didn't have a goal. In late November I was accepted into an internship with mercedes-benz and was to move to Germany in January of 2006.
I found a site called marathonguide.com and found a marathon I liked. It was the city of Rome Marathon in April. I figured it was perfect, close to Germany and it would be at a nice temperature for that time of year too. I started training in December that gave me five months to get in decent training.
When I got to Germany a lot changed because I didn't have a car I walked every where and because Europe's food is much higher quality I ate less. Consequently I lost weight. I also lived in a part of Germany that had lots of hills. Hill training was unavoidable I was always either running up or down. During training my mile times dropped from 9:30-10:00/ mile to 5:40-6:30/mile depending on what day it was. Training was going really well, and as the marathon approached I felt really good. The day had finally arrived and I hopped a plane to Rome.
My parents were going to meet me there. The marathon happened to fall on their college's spring break so they decided to use it as an excuse to travel. I meet up with them but as usual they put me in a really bad mood. Not good. I went to bed and woke up my parents continued to hound my about all kinds of irrelevant things and I got in an even worse mood. I walked to the start and off we went. It turns out this is not a good race for a PR. The incredibly rude competitors, who ran the race only as a way to tour the city and clog up the streets while they took pictures(thats right DURING the race!), and the lack of proper champion chips made the marathon a nightmare.
My bad mood got worse. At some point during the race my chip fell off. The officials decided that the tried and true method of chip fixation was not good enough so they taped it the back of the race number. My entire goal for the race was time oriented. I wanted a serious PR but even if I was able to run the entire race fast from the very beginning I could not get that official time without the chip. I was incredibly demoralized and was not thinking clearly, at mile 20 I dropped out. It was stupid I know, and I have regretted it to this day.
After the race my parents wanted to see where I lived so they flew to Germany with me, it was an OK week. I put on a good face and after a week they left to go back to America. I got on the computer still reeling from the previous weekend's defeat and found another marathon just 3 weeks away. It was the Sao Antonio Maratona in Padova Italy near Venice. That marathon was also a disaster.
I was not recovered from the previous marathon and in those three weeks the temperature rose 20 degrees Fahrenheit. I had trained all winter in temperatures that ranged from -20 to 40 degrees Fahrenheit but I had not trained for a 98 degree marathon! My time was incredibly slow probably due to the major dehydration i suffered from in the hot italian sun. I finished in 5:24, it was absolutely horrible.
After that I signed up for Chicago 2006 as I would be home and this would give me some reason to keep running; though I didn't feel like it. The summer months passed away and my runs had been confined to 10-15 mile runs along the Neckar river just because thats what I did. I moved back to the US in august and tried to convince myself to train but I just could not. August became September which became October but I hadn't done any serious training since Germany. The race came and was freakishly cold. Once again I was not prepared for the temperature and I froze. Race day was 28-31 and snowing! I finished the race in 5:27 with no training. After that I really couldn't get myself to run.
I didn't stop completely but I started gaining back all that weight I had lost in Germany and then I gained back all the weight that I had lost in 2005. Dark days indeed. As spring rolled around I decided to get back to running. I had found something new to be excited about; trail running. I also discovered barefoot running which made running all the more fun and easy! I lost alot of the weight that I had put on during winter and started gaining back my endurance, though not my speed. I have now started biking and swimming and am working my way towards triathlon. I will be competing in Iron Man Wisconsin 2008.
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
What I Want In Life
Freedom to explore the world. I want to be able to be helping people in Africa one month and then the next be exploring the mountains of south America the next. I want to travel all over the world. I don’t a nice house a nice car and “comfort” I want to be living in pup tent on the Savannah or wandering the Sini peninsula. I want to experience everything God has created and all his people. I want to make a difference in the world. But I want the freedom to do it on my own terms.
I don’t want to be stuck in an office somewhere eternally chained to a desk worrying about getting downsized. Or be in a shop some where stuck doing blue collar hard labor until I’m 60 and then dieing I want freedom. Freedom to travel, to train, and to make a difference in the world. Possessions don’t make life! I want a life different from what America can offer.
I want freedom, excitement, danger, and to help people on a personal level. I don’t really care about money. If I have the life I want I will be dirt poor in possessions and money. The truth is materialism is a sickness that I don’t want to have. The western world has become drunk with money and things and I don’t want them. I want to be interacting with locals helping them in their time of need. The most important thing is that I don’t want to be stuck here. Whatever I do it must involve travel and interaction with local peoples around the world. Weather they are Arab or African or Asian or European or South American I don’t care.
I do want adventure, and unpredictability, something that requires a creative mind, and something where I can make a difference. I am not content sit back and follow the American Dream. I have visions of John the Baptist wandering in the desert or of Paul on his missionary journeys, all though I don’t think I have what it takes to be a missionary.
I do want to help change peoples lives all around the world. I am not against hard labor, I am not against desk jobs. I just don’t want to be doing either of those when I’m 60. I want a fulfilling life, a life I can justify living. A life where I can change the world, and give everything for others. I don’t know how to get this lifestyle or what jobs I could find that would help me accomplish what I need to accomplish. I am open to suggestions.
I don’t want to be stuck in an office somewhere eternally chained to a desk worrying about getting downsized. Or be in a shop some where stuck doing blue collar hard labor until I’m 60 and then dieing I want freedom. Freedom to travel, to train, and to make a difference in the world. Possessions don’t make life! I want a life different from what America can offer.
I want freedom, excitement, danger, and to help people on a personal level. I don’t really care about money. If I have the life I want I will be dirt poor in possessions and money. The truth is materialism is a sickness that I don’t want to have. The western world has become drunk with money and things and I don’t want them. I want to be interacting with locals helping them in their time of need. The most important thing is that I don’t want to be stuck here. Whatever I do it must involve travel and interaction with local peoples around the world. Weather they are Arab or African or Asian or European or South American I don’t care.
I do want adventure, and unpredictability, something that requires a creative mind, and something where I can make a difference. I am not content sit back and follow the American Dream. I have visions of John the Baptist wandering in the desert or of Paul on his missionary journeys, all though I don’t think I have what it takes to be a missionary.
I do want to help change peoples lives all around the world. I am not against hard labor, I am not against desk jobs. I just don’t want to be doing either of those when I’m 60. I want a fulfilling life, a life I can justify living. A life where I can change the world, and give everything for others. I don’t know how to get this lifestyle or what jobs I could find that would help me accomplish what I need to accomplish. I am open to suggestions.
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