The end of the journey
Well, as Tony Stark says "I AM IRONMAN"
I must admit, it feels great saying that. Even more so when I look at the medal and photographs, with all the great memories from the day. It hasn't come without a price though. This has been one of the most arduous, painful and ultimately selfish things that I've ever done. Admittedly, the sense of achievement is great and I don't think I'll ever get tired of saying that I have completed one of the toughest Ironman courses.
I have pushed myself to limits that I never thought possible, I've felt pain, from exercising, like nothing I've ever experienced before and I've had to make many sacrifices along the road towards my ultimate goal.
Even from the very beginning, just over 18 months ago, when I first started having those little niggling thoughts "What would it be like to do an Ironman? Could I actually complete an Ironman?" I've always said that a full distance Ironman would only ever be a one off and that's something that I still maintain.
I have managed to achieve a level of fitness that I never thought possible, taking up endurance sports when I thought that I was way past my peak, having a young family and with both myself and my wife working full time has all added to the stresses of training for and competing in Ironman. This has been a roller coaster of a journey with such a turmoil of different emotions that it's definitely taken it's toll. Not just on me, but on my family as well. All of whom have suffered as a consequence of my total immersion and single minded focus on getting to the start (and finish) line of Ironman UK 2014. When I first started training, I was certain that I could complete the distance on as little as 7 or 8 hours a week training and maybe I could have. But, as time passed and my fitness improved and as is my nature, it wasn't enough for me to simply finish the race. I had to do it knowing that there was absolutely nothing more that I could have done better and I think I almost achieved that. I ended up training every day, getting home from work and going out to train almost straight away, then disappearing for 6 or 7 hours at the weekend, to get those long rides in.
I'm still training, just keeping things ticking over, but instead of training every night, I'm just going to the club a couple of times a week and I'm fitting in a couple of sessions at 05:30 in the morning, so that I can spend more time with my family.
Will I carry on racing? Yes, definitely, but from now on my focus will be on my family and my training will be tailored to fit around them and the races that I do will be substantially shorter than IM distance (which I think will suit me better anyway), with a few longer ones thrown in for a bit of variety, I doubt anything even approaching Iron distance will be on my radar though, apart from maybe a few half distance ones. Although I seem to have accrued almost 12 months of DIY that my wife has been saving for me :-)
My advice to any would be Ironman is, it's incredibly easy to get swept up in the romance, passion, satisfaction and sheer buzz that Ironman gives you, but it can come at a price. Ironman and training for it can put a huge amount of stress on a relationship, the early mornings, late nights, moodiness when injured or unable to train. Not to mention the obsession with needing (wanting) every gadget under the sun, in pursuit of knocking 3 seconds off your time. Although we discussed it at length before I signed up, I never envisaged how massive and totally consuming it would all get. It's almost a bitter sweet feeling now. My own personal satisfaction at having completed it and feeling awesome about how fit I am at the moment. But also tinged with massive guilt at the complete neglect that I've shown my family for the past 10 months.
I have been lucky enough to be part of a fantastic Tri Club for the past 7 months or so and I honestly don't know whether I would have gained the level of fitness required to do justice to the Iron distance race without them and the guidance I've had. Something else that I've learned is how much of a psychological race Ironman is. You need to develop a real mental toughness to complete it, in the really dark places that you will almost certainly find yourself during the day, it's important to never ever forget that the pain will soon be over and that the body can endure incredible things, even when it's screaming at you to stop. I really like all the obscure sayings that float around the endurance world, things like "pain is temporary, quitting is forever" and "pain is temporary, pride and glory is forever" etc. All really cheesy I know, but those are the sorts of things that I found really helped me. Not to mention the sheer cameraderie between us all. Even though Ironman is an individual race, I'm sure that racing as part of a team has massive benefits. You never feel alone on the course and in your darkest hour there's usually one of them there either encouraging you, dragging you along or just plain taking the piss, all good natured though. I can honestly say that I call them friends as well as team mates and I think that's quite rare in a sport that has many ego's and can be very elitist.
Have I enjoyed the journey? Training - absolutely, putting my family through it - definitely not.
That said, to all you newbies that have signed up for future Ironman enjoy your journey and as my Ironman tattoo says:
"Pain is just weakness leaving the body"
Sutty
I must admit, it feels great saying that. Even more so when I look at the medal and photographs, with all the great memories from the day. It hasn't come without a price though. This has been one of the most arduous, painful and ultimately selfish things that I've ever done. Admittedly, the sense of achievement is great and I don't think I'll ever get tired of saying that I have completed one of the toughest Ironman courses.
I have pushed myself to limits that I never thought possible, I've felt pain, from exercising, like nothing I've ever experienced before and I've had to make many sacrifices along the road towards my ultimate goal.
Even from the very beginning, just over 18 months ago, when I first started having those little niggling thoughts "What would it be like to do an Ironman? Could I actually complete an Ironman?" I've always said that a full distance Ironman would only ever be a one off and that's something that I still maintain.
I have managed to achieve a level of fitness that I never thought possible, taking up endurance sports when I thought that I was way past my peak, having a young family and with both myself and my wife working full time has all added to the stresses of training for and competing in Ironman. This has been a roller coaster of a journey with such a turmoil of different emotions that it's definitely taken it's toll. Not just on me, but on my family as well. All of whom have suffered as a consequence of my total immersion and single minded focus on getting to the start (and finish) line of Ironman UK 2014. When I first started training, I was certain that I could complete the distance on as little as 7 or 8 hours a week training and maybe I could have. But, as time passed and my fitness improved and as is my nature, it wasn't enough for me to simply finish the race. I had to do it knowing that there was absolutely nothing more that I could have done better and I think I almost achieved that. I ended up training every day, getting home from work and going out to train almost straight away, then disappearing for 6 or 7 hours at the weekend, to get those long rides in.
I'm still training, just keeping things ticking over, but instead of training every night, I'm just going to the club a couple of times a week and I'm fitting in a couple of sessions at 05:30 in the morning, so that I can spend more time with my family.
Will I carry on racing? Yes, definitely, but from now on my focus will be on my family and my training will be tailored to fit around them and the races that I do will be substantially shorter than IM distance (which I think will suit me better anyway), with a few longer ones thrown in for a bit of variety, I doubt anything even approaching Iron distance will be on my radar though, apart from maybe a few half distance ones. Although I seem to have accrued almost 12 months of DIY that my wife has been saving for me :-)
My advice to any would be Ironman is, it's incredibly easy to get swept up in the romance, passion, satisfaction and sheer buzz that Ironman gives you, but it can come at a price. Ironman and training for it can put a huge amount of stress on a relationship, the early mornings, late nights, moodiness when injured or unable to train. Not to mention the obsession with needing (wanting) every gadget under the sun, in pursuit of knocking 3 seconds off your time. Although we discussed it at length before I signed up, I never envisaged how massive and totally consuming it would all get. It's almost a bitter sweet feeling now. My own personal satisfaction at having completed it and feeling awesome about how fit I am at the moment. But also tinged with massive guilt at the complete neglect that I've shown my family for the past 10 months.
I have been lucky enough to be part of a fantastic Tri Club for the past 7 months or so and I honestly don't know whether I would have gained the level of fitness required to do justice to the Iron distance race without them and the guidance I've had. Something else that I've learned is how much of a psychological race Ironman is. You need to develop a real mental toughness to complete it, in the really dark places that you will almost certainly find yourself during the day, it's important to never ever forget that the pain will soon be over and that the body can endure incredible things, even when it's screaming at you to stop. I really like all the obscure sayings that float around the endurance world, things like "pain is temporary, quitting is forever" and "pain is temporary, pride and glory is forever" etc. All really cheesy I know, but those are the sorts of things that I found really helped me. Not to mention the sheer cameraderie between us all. Even though Ironman is an individual race, I'm sure that racing as part of a team has massive benefits. You never feel alone on the course and in your darkest hour there's usually one of them there either encouraging you, dragging you along or just plain taking the piss, all good natured though. I can honestly say that I call them friends as well as team mates and I think that's quite rare in a sport that has many ego's and can be very elitist.
Have I enjoyed the journey? Training - absolutely, putting my family through it - definitely not.
That said, to all you newbies that have signed up for future Ironman enjoy your journey and as my Ironman tattoo says:
"Pain is just weakness leaving the body"
Sutty
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