I have been training for New Zealand Triathlon since early December. When I started training in December I did not really believe I would be so crazy as to actually sign up for the March ironman, but I begin training nonetheless figuring it would be good off-season conditioning.
My triathlon quest is very much inspired by the performances of my teammates Stuart McIntosh and Keren Miers at last August's Ironman Korea.
Stuart and Keren recommended a training schedule by a Gale Bernhardt from Triathlon Online. Following this 13 week schedule has made the seemingly impossible, at least apparently doable. My main goal is to simply finish the ironman, though this training program is designed for intermediate triathlons seeking to complete the event in 12-14 hours. On the New Zealand IM entry form I put down 14 hours for an estimated time, so I guess I qualify, just barely.
Unfortunately I did not have a great base of training in any of the three components of the triathlon going into December. In fact my beat-up, old bicycle had been unridable since September and my swimming had consisted of a handful of swims in the ocean off Shimoda, Japan and at the Mukilteo, Washington YMCA. I had been consistently running 2-4 times per week.
Ms. Berhardt's training schedule calls for only 8:45 training hours the first week, and I launched into the program with much fervor, doing over 10 hours of training, including 3 one-hour swims and a 3-hour bicycle ride.
...and I promptly came down with a cold which set me back again. Fortunately I managed to get back on schedule in week three (December 18-25) and have beenlargely on the schedule since then.
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