The Ironman?

Along with my teammates on the Warner Bros. Triathlon Team, I just completed the annual Nautica Malibu Triathlon at Zuma Beach.  The team performed extremely well, achieving 2nd place in the Entertainment Industry Challenge – following back to back wins in 2009 and 2010.  As the team regroups and prepares to take back its rightful place atop the podium in 2012, I’ve decided to take on the greatest physical challenge of my life…

I’m heading Down Under to become an Ironman.  Yeah, you know, that brutal event that’s shown on TV once a year, where, after having given every bit of effort and energy they could muster for miles and miles of swimming, biking, and running, people are absolutely SUFFERING towards the finish.  They’re surrounded by volunteers ready to catch their weakened, stumbling bodies.  They collapse then fight to stand again, and if their legs just won’t work, they literally crawl across the end line as their bodies shut down from overexertion or dehydration…that one.  Well, the one you see on TV is the Ironman Championship on the Big Island of Hawaii.  I’m going to pass on that one and head to Australia instead.  I’ve been all over Hawaii – my parents live on Oahu – but I’ve never been to the Southern Hemisphere and have always wanted to go see what the fuss was about in Aussie-land and New Zealand.  The Western Australia Ironman is the perfect excuse.

Of note, I won’t be the first employee at Warner Bros. to finish an Ironman race.  I’m heading into this inspired by co-workers/friends, Chris Andrew, Jon Myklebust, Lara Klingman, and Matt McCormick who have already blazed the trail with races here in the USA.  Our WB Triathlon Team coach, Mary Kane, also an Ironman veteran, is racing with me in Australia, along with teammates, Chrissy Kane and Gayla Bassin.  The amount of pain I’m about to acquire, I can barely imagine, but at least I know my friends have survived and I’ll have others suffering with me!

You may or may not have heard about this Ironman Triathlon thing, so I’ll do a quick history and race distance explanation.  Modern triathlon started in San Diego in the mid-1970s at a much shorter distance.  A few years after the creation of the event, a U.S. Naval Commander who had been based in San Diego and participated in the original events, suggested that the three long distance championships occurring near his current home should be combined into one ultra distance triathlon.  His home?  The island of Oahu, Hawaii.  The three events: the Waikiki Roughwater Swim (2.4 miles), the Around-Oahu Bike Race (115 miles), and the Honolulu Marathon (26.2 miles).  Note that the bike race itself was a two-day race, however, the Commander wanted to combine all three distances into ONE day.  They chopped off 3 miles of the bike ride to match the finish of the Waikiki swim and the traditional start of the Honolulu marathon.  With that, you have your Ironman: 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, and a 26.2 mile run!  Total distance = 140.6 miles…ouch.  Oh, and this has to be completed within 17 hours or you don’t get the chance to cross that finish line.  You’re removed from the race.

There are generally three other triathlon race distances categorized below Ironman.  The next step down is the ½ Ironman which simply chops all of those distances in half, leaving a 1.2 mile swim, a 56 mile bike, and a 13.1 mile run.  Shorter than the ½ Ironman is the International (or Olympic) Distance, which consists of a 1.5 km swim (.93 miles), a 40 km bike (24.85 miles), and a 10 km (6.2 mile) run.  Any triathlon shorter than the International Distance is classified as a Sprint Triathlon.  So Sprints have no set distance designation and can vary from race to race.  The Malibu Triathlon that the WB Tri Team just sped through is a ½ mile swim, 18 mile bike, and a 4 mile run.

So, here I am, just over a month from covering this distance of 140.6 miles, (without resting) wondering how my body will respond, wondering what hurdles will pop up and attempt to derail me, and wondering if I’m just plain crazy to give this a shot.  Yes, I work in a Fitness Center, but this is excessive.  I do have duties at the Center that make it a little tough for me to train for a couple hours a day, let alone the 12 hours I’m hoping to finish within.  I played football, basketball, and ran cross country as a youngster – none of those require anywhere near the endurance nor quite the mental discipline to be able to survive 140.6 miles.

How AM I going to do this?  Well, from today through race day, I’m going to share my journey with you.  I’m hoping it inspires you to set a large fitness goal and try to tackle it yourself.  You don’t need to strive for an Ironman.  It should be your own high hurdle to jump.  Pick something out there and go for it.  Make it something you like to do or you think you’ll like.  Set an extreme goal, but include some attainable targets to overcome first.  Achieving little successes along the way will keep you motivated to fight on.  Please share your stories and bumps in the road with me in the comments section below.  Each of us has a new level of fitness/wellness to attain.  It’s not going to be easy, but hardly anything that you really want ever is, right?

Let’s do this!