ironman bond

Today at work I had a customer who was doing his first Ironman next week. He is headed down to Panama City to do Ironman Florida. It was interesting that when I revealed that I was doing my first Ironman in June, we seemed to have a million things in common. The more engrossed I get into the sport of triathlon, the more I realize that it is kind of like belonging to a fraternity. The faster I get and the longer races I attempt - the more respect you get from your fellow triathletes.

Through my friend Mark Helton (the first Ironman I ever met in person), I have a group of people that I have met that compete in Ironmans. They all live and train in the area. Seemingly as soon as they found out that I was doing Couer D'Alene they have mentioned that I should do long rides and runs with them etc. As if the key to gaining acceptance to their group was to step up to the magical distance of the Ironman. Half Iron?...that's kiddy stuff right? I haven't even completed an Ironman yet...but by accepting the challenge and daring to go for it, I already feel the Ironman love. The culture of Ironman is a pretty neat thing and being around those who share that some bond really get's me going for what the next 8 months will bring.

Training Update:
Training is going very well for the Rocket City Marathon. I've done three twenty mile runs and have two more to go. This week is a recovery week with a shorter long run of 12 miles this weekend. Then I'll go up to a 50 mile week with a 20 miler for the long rung, the recover, then back up for one more long week with one last 20 miler, then three weeks of building down to the race. I'm starting to build into some base mileage on the bike and am planning on bringing in some swimming next week.