I finally got my computer back yesterday so I can now start writing again. Well folks it is June 1st 2011, this day was supposed to be important. Why? When I first started I told Coach K that I wanted to be ready for the Ironman by June 1st so we had time in case we needed to twitch a couple of things here and there. Well I am certainly not there yet. But it is not because of the training or Coach K or me. It just does not work that way. I just did not know that back in August 2010. My training needs to peak right before the event not 3 months before. That is how it works. For me that makes me nervous but to be honest after two half Ironmans especially the second one which I was confident the whole time, I can understand how it works. So where exactly am I? Well that has an answer too. I would say I am 3/4 of the way there. I could probably finish a 3/4 Ironman at this point and could with a BIG MAYBE finish a full Ironman followed by a prolonged visit to the hospital and a mental facility afterwards. I am not there yet.
I continue my training as evryday more and more discipline is requiered. As the training times become longer I need to remain focused. By now my life revolves around the event. I have made it a point of having my training completed by 7:30AM so I can be faithfull to my work and balance things out. Social events are out and most of the time is spent with my family or sleeping and recovering. I've come to understand how much support it is needed from the family and frankly I have come to apreciate the so called "bitching and nagging" wives of the Ironman. This is hard on familly, no question about it. When we adopted Jochi and Gabi someone gave us a very true advise. You are not the only ones adopting, the whole family is!!!! Very true. So is the Ironman. Today I disagree that this is an individual sport, the Ironman is a family sport because without their support there is no way you can get there. So.........I once wrote to the significant others about supporting us, and today it is our turn. Our families give us the time away from our minds and our precence so we can do this, so in turn lets make sure we make it count on the turn side.
So far I am only battling a swollen tendon on my left foot. I am also still working on that Orlando blister but in all I am good. I am getting stronger and in better shape but reality is slowly breaking in. I have modified my run and will use the 12 weeks remaining to perfect my run and my plan which includes probably walking the second half of the marathon and a combination of running walking in the first half. My time expectation remains the same. 16 hours, 59 minutes, and 59 seconds. Not a second more. I feel almost ready for the swim but I still need lots of miles on the bike and as you all know all the miles in the world will never get me ready to run a full marathon after all that.
My weight is steady at 220 which is very bad. I must say I am now addicted to chocolate cupcakes which I started using on the bike rides to get some sugar going. They are begining to be a problem. A 4 a day problem. I must admit. I am seriously stuck on that weight and as the training volume continues to increase it becomes more difficult to control my appetite. I am not taking any pills or medication and frankly I dont want to but I am getting desperate. Come next monday I have made a commitment to get off the cupcakes and get some structured help to loose the 40 pounds I need to loose before August 28th. We will see what happens.
When you are on cancer treatment there is a turning point. It is the point where you no longer see the bad but start looking forward to the future. You can see the day where no more chemo or meddles and that you will actually make it out alive. No more feeling funky and no more toilet hugging. You begin to feel like yourself again and know in your heart that you will be OK. 20 years later and in a totally different setting I feel exactly the same as I did 3 months before I finished my treatment. Actually as I have said, it will be exactly the same. How? Here is a story for you. For 12 months I never got a blood transfusion which in those days was very good considering the diseases you could get from blood transfusions. I took my last chemo treatment and it was truly devastating. My blood counts were close to 0 across the board. I could not even go to the bathroom under my own power. When Dr. B walked in he told me he knew how I felt but he was not about to give me a blood transfusion on my last treatment. He told me to hang on and suck it up and once I started to feel better I would have been cured of cancer and would be a new man. That is exactly how it went on and that is how the Ironman will go. I am sure the race will take all of my strength and will to finish but when I do I would be a new man. So you see history does repeat it self in many ways. My reasons are still the same, however I am now a much different person than what I was 9 months ago. I still despise the disease but I don't sit around anymore just watching how an apparent indestructible disease attacks with out mercy. Today I can do something about it by racing and collecting money for research and to find a cure. I should have done it long ago but as the saying goes it is never to late. I am indeed racing for someone else, I am racing for someone who might just get the cure just in time to survive. Maybe I will succeed and maybe I will fail, but in the end I tried and no one will ever take that away from me or the cause. Here is to cancer.........I hate you and despise you, you have hurt many people but we are gaining ground against you and when we do find a way to kill you we will do it like a holocaust. I might be insignificant on the overall picture but if it wasn't for me the picture would be smaller. So look around you SOB because once I finish those 140.6 miles we would all be that much closer and you would be that much farther.
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