When I first started training for Ironman it was extremely difficult mentally. I had to accept the new me physically. I was comfortable with what I did in the gym and the sports that I trained for. I put in years of hard work to be able to do 62 pull ups in a row and dead lift 3 times my bodyweight. I liked my larger chest and my wife tells me it was a good pillow.

However once I signed up for the Ironman I accepted that I needed to be all in. I will grow and change by trying new things. I am looking forward to this journey and what I will learn along the way but I will enjoy returning to my true self at the end of this pursuit.

The first thing I did was set some ground rules for myself. There are times when I need to be inflexible and times when I need to be open to flexibility. I will always expect more from myself, my body, and mind. When I fail I will learn from it and when I succeed I will never be satisfied. I will never make excuses when I fail; only corrections.

As far as training goes, so far I have only begun to establish a base by developing my aerobic capacity. I’ve also focused on eliminating what I don’t need. In 3 weeks, I have lost 15 pounds of upper body muscle, which would serve no purpose for Ironman and would only add weight that I don’t need to carry for 146 miles.

I’ve started working on my endurance training foundation. It is generally easy (a relative term) and rarely very hard; just time consuming. It has been difficult not going hard all the time. It is a challenge for me to keep the big goal in mind and focus on the baby steps I need to take to get there.

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