An easy life...a difficult challenge

My life is easy.  I do not (normally) take this for granted, and it is especially apparent as I begin this Ironman journey.  Yes, I suppose I have minor problems, but nothing that cannot be overcome.  I have wondered lately how much of my "easy" life is due to luck, how much to circumstance, and how much of it is my doing?  I think it's definitely a combination of all three.

What made me think of this is Facebook.  Yes, social media has me pondering the philosophical, about my life anyway.  Like many people on Facebook, I have a variety of "friends."  Those from childhood / high school who I am glad to have reconnected with, even if only online; family; connections from my professional life, both from my current occupation and past; close friends; people I meet through social activities, which is mostly comprised of cycling and running; and then maybe the odd friend-of-a-friend connection.  I have noticed that quite a few of these "friends" seem to have difficult or dramatic lives.  Cryptic posts about being stabbed in the back, or betrayal, or "you know who you are" posts damning some mystery offender.  None of my close friends, however, post things like this.  I do not post things like this.  I don't really have much negative drama in my life, and again I wonder if that is due to luck, circumstance or choice.  I think much of it is choice.  Why would I want negative drama in my life?  It's not worth it.  I want to enjoy life, take advantage of positive opportunities, and have no regrets.  I also see a lot of posts, mostly (if not exclusively) from women, with encouraging sayings or poems all focused on not letting people tell you that you can't do something.  While I agree with many of these sayings, I find it sad that many women seem to have been told otherwise--that they can't do it, that it's not possible.  I have never suffered that--my entire life I have been surrounded by supportive family, friends, teachers, coworkers and others...and I truly don't understand why anyone would tell someone else "you can't do that, it's impossible."

What, do you ask, does any of this have to do with Ironman training?  It is a way for me to remind myself that this journey is something I have chosen because it will be something I enjoy...an opportunity to take advantage of...and in order to have no regrets, I have to commit to it fully.  This has been a problem for me in the past.  I am a planner-extraordinaire.  An idea person.  Ms. Prepared.  Confident.  But follow-through?  Yeah, that's my problem.  With an Ironman, I have to conquer that obstacle and change the mindset and approach I have taken in past endeavors.  My life is easy.  I have a great husband, who has committed to supporting me in this endeavor.  I am healthy.  I have supportive family and friends who believe in me.  I have a good job, no children, no difficult commitments.  So success is really all up to me.

My official training starts tomorrow, January 28th.  (It "starts" with a rest day, since Mondays will be rest days, but it still officially the beginning of the plan).  I am going to follow a 30-week training plan, which is slightly longer than most, but since I exercised so little from July through November of last year due to work, I figure this is the best approach for me.  The plan calls for heart rate zone based training, which I've never done before.  In fact, I've never used a heart rate monitor, and I hope the one that came with my Garmin works!  I will try my best to follow the plan as much as I can, meaning I want to miss as few workouts as possible, and when I do miss, I will not try to "make them up" as I have in the past.  I have half marathon scheduled in February, an Olympic distance triathlon in March, a half-ironman distance triathlon in April, a sprint in May, another Olympic in June, then I'll have to find either an Oly or Sprint in July.  And then August and Louisville will be here before I know it!

Unfortunately, I am going in to the beginning of this plan heavier than I want to be, which is completely my fault.  I have been eating out so much lately, which always causes me to gain weight.  But I am not going to let that deter me or get me down.  Nutrition will be a huge focus for me over the next 10 weeks.  Why 10 weeks?  The training plan is split into 3 ten-week sections.  The first 10 weeks focuses on building a base of fitness.  Since I won't have that many high intensity workouts, and the long runs and bikes will not be that long (relatively speaking), I should be able to focus on weight loss and getting to what I think should be my race weight.  After that, once the intensity and distance picks up, I'll need more fuel and losing weight will be much more difficult.

So I embark on the first section of my journey now, with the following goals:

• Focus on swim technique so that I don't feel like I'm constantly fighting the water (I am so sick of watching the women in my triathlon wave swim away from me!)
• Nutrition, nutrition, nutrition.  To be successful here I have to plan all of my meals, cook for the week on Sunday, and try to stay as "paleo" as possible.
• Early morning exercising--I have been so lazy with getting up early, and that is just not an option from now on.  This means early to bed, too. 

So, here we go!  Thanks for embarking on the journey with me!