My breaking point?

I’ve been sitting back and digesting life if you will especially after St. Gorge, which I can’t believe was a month ago! I have put a solid 15lb’s on since race date (that’s the digestion part). I definitely feel sluggish and out of shape but my wife continues to remind me that I am still only 151 pounds and the only difference now is that my eyes are not sunken in my face. I’m going to miss my daily regime of a medium coffee, Boston Crème donut followed up my a chocolate glazed and for whatever reason, a “low-fat” blueberry muffin. It’s easy to see why eating well has its benefits!

Recently, I have been thinking about what I’d like to try next. I came to realizes that the way I am wired I need to have aggressive goals and trips planned well in advance. Endurance racing and training has become my personal development lab. I’m a much more focused, productive and an all around more gentle person when I have this aspect humming in my life. I get up early and get so much more done each and every day.. So, it’s here to stay and every year I get better at figuring it out and trying to achieve that elusive state commonly called balance..

A few weeks back my teammate Mary wrote a blog piece to the affect that she loved Ironman because it was a forum where she could try and test her limits to see what her breaking point was. Sometimes, she never got to that point and sat back and wondered how far could she go?

Well, after completing, 3 marathons, 7 Half Ironman’s, 2 Ironman’s and a slew of other first time events in 2 short years I wondered the exact same thing. I had two very crappy Ironman races with a host of obstacles to overcome and as I sit here today, I loved every moment of it/them. In addition, I still wonder much like Mary what my breaking point is. I want to know how far I can go before I “cry uncle” and call it a day.  I want to know what that looks like. Where can I go to try that?

Coincidentally, recently I was bouncing off the wall late at night with my would be training energy reading about endurance and I downloaded racing the Sahara. I had seen parts of it before and at that moment I remembered how badly I wanted to try something like this even though I don’t like running as much as all the tri related preparation. Hmm, could that be a limit tester for me?

So here are the goals in rough form. Jesse and I still need to talk more to try and hammer out the last of the details. The interesting part will be how to maintain a triathlete body at the same time running a ton without getting injured due to the time in between events.  I’m going to also discuss with Jesse how we can reduce the in between preparation races to cut down on the away time from the kids and home, work.

So here goes,

On the calendar pre-paid is Pumkinman 70.3 this September. I’ve already started training for this in base phase post St. George. I ruled out a hernia via a CAT Scan recently. I still have a mild ab strain that looks like its scar tissue on my psoas. I’ll be hitting the gym hard to try and get back some core strength and balance to combat this.

March 6^th, 2011.  Atacama Crossing Chile. This race is titled, the driest place on earth with not a single drop of water registered for as long as man has been able to track. It will be 155-mile running race all completed in six days in the mountains and salt flats of Chile while carrying a 20-25lb backpack and sleeping in the desert. The temperatures are all over the map. I have never attempted anything like this and it’s going to be a great experience. The goal here would be to have a top five international finish and to be the first American. It’s part of the racing the planet series of the 4 deserts. http://www.4deserts.com/atacamacrossing

April 2011, Boston Marathon. I received a qualifying spot for this race with my 3:19 finish at the DC Marathon. I raced DC post Ironman Lake Placid. One of my goals has always been to complete a marathon in less than 3:00 hours. My first go-round and first marathon only three years ago was Boston, which I completed in 6:24 mins.  This is where the injury can come from with the amount of running coming off an Ultra.

July , 2011 Lake Placid Ironman

I love this course and I feel its set-up well with my biking skills. It is where I completed my first Ironman and broke 2 ribs and bruised my spleen. The goal here would be to get to Kona. It will be interesting balancing out Ironman training and Ultra running. The extra running could eat into power output on the bike. The swimming is great for fitness. 

Oct, 2011 Plan A, Kona. Jesse sent me an email a few days ago making sure I don’t let this goal fly by. He told me I’m not done with Ironman yet and that it was what I presented as a goal when we first met and he was not going to let me push that one away. Also, it’s rumored that Lance is racing it too!

Oct, 2011 Plan B, Sahara Desert racing the planet, 155 miles in the dessert and in the racing the planet series like Chile. http://www.4deserts.com/sahararace/

If Kona is not attained, I’ll be signing up for the Sahara desert Ultra marathon.

I’m also excited to announce that I will be doing all of this to raise funds and awareness for pediatric brain tumors via www.endurancetrust.org. Racing for a cause gives so much more meaning to an endeavor like this. I’ll be posting more in the weeks to follow and with a fund raising goal and site.

Also, due to safety and for fun, I’ll be linking myself up with a product called spot me. You will be able to follow me during each training session as well as on course throughout the world with GPS and real-time tracking.

Last, via the philanthropic side, blogging, media coverage I am looking for corporate sponsors who would like to increase their products visibility via the world stage, etc. If interested please contact me. Stay tuned!