A Challenge, from Me to You!

Lately, I have been feeling like my life has been in the doldrums.   I don't even know exactly what a doldrum is, or where it's located.  Is it like a dumpster?  Because that's more where life's been lately - The big ol' trash dumpster.

So one night nearly a month ago, I saw that a blog-friend of mine, M-Cat, had posted on FB 

(don't you love it when your blog-friends transform into FB friends?  I do!)

that she was doing the Ironman Challenge.  Now, this Ironman differs from the three event, run a marathon, swim 2.4 miles, AND bike 112 miles All In One Day Event,  in one way:   you do it over a 2 week period of time.  

This hit me in the head, struck a chord with me, and totally put me right there!  

So, the Monday after Thanksgiving, I got busy with it.  Since the idea is to do all of the events spread out a reasonable period of time, you could break down the events any way you want to.   For me, the best way was,  with with the running and the biking, was to alternate doing a lot of one and a little of the other each day, and throw in the swimming where I could.  

The swimming is what I was most worried about.  We have an awesome new rec center (relatively)  near our home, so that wasn't an issue.  It was that my techniques was terrible - pretty much a cross between a dog paddle and a side stroke, alternated with a backstroke so I could catch my breath without drowning.      But I was pleasantly surprised - I ended up really enjoying the swim.  And next time, I will try to do the bike ride on a real bike, instead of the stationary one that I am grateful that we have, but really bothers my butt!  

So, to get to the point, I did it!  And, if you are at all into fitness, I would completely recommend it.  Although before doing this, I couldn't imagine how someone could do all of it in one day, and now, I really really don't know how a person can do it ALL IN ONE DAY!  Do you?  Have you or has anyone you know ever done it, and how did they train for it?  Just curious....


I am planning to do this again sometime after Christmas.  Who wants to join me?  Last time I posted my progress on FB, but I could post it here, too.