Fast forward many years later, a month shy of my 40th birthday. I'm a broken down, over weight, middle aged guy. Five years ago I made a similar change and lost a large amount of weight and was in arguably the best shape of my adult life. I felt confident, like I could do anything. At the time I was lifting weights and ended up falling in love with powerlifting. It felt good to be so strong and to see the numbers keep climbing. My totals got bigger, along with my waistline. There is a saying in powerlifting, "There are no skinny champions". I took that to heart! I gained a lot of muscle, but I also gained a lot of fat back too. At the time I was on my way to smashing my age and weight group deadlift record, so I didn't care. Breaking records was all that mattered. I had already set the state deadlift record and was just 25 lbs away from the national record. I was training 2 hour a day (on top of working a full and part time job and juggling family responsibility) I was dedicated to my craft and put the work in to be the best I could be. Everything was going to plan. My next meet the national record would be mine. Then disaster, I hurt my knee deadlifting. I tried again later in that session. It wasn't good. I took another week off and tried again. The pain was still there. I don't know how, why or what happened, but I just went into a funk. I didn't have my training to look forward to, I wasn't able to do much of anything in the gym. So I just ate and felt bad for myself. One week, turned into one month, turned into 3 months, turned into a year with only minimal training in between. A few months ago I recommitted to getting back on the platform, but only ran back into the same issues. Nagging injuries. Aching joints, and knees. I decided it was time to retire from powerlifting.
I was flipping through channels and I saw it again. It wasn't in Kona, but it was an Ironman event. It stirred up something inside me. Then I thought, no... I'm too old and out of shape, I have terrible knees, I'm not a runner, excuse, excuse, excuse. Then I saw something so powerful. It was an older man in his late 70's winning his age group. The announcers said he didn't start doing Ironman until his mid 50's! This guy was killing it! All those excuses I had made in my head didn't hold any weight anymore. Here is a guy in his mid 70' living life and doing a freaking Ironman. I just had to remind myself that "can't" needs to be removed from my vocabulary. I can do anything I put my mind to. I can be an Ironman. I looked up some shorter races and decided to sign up for an Olympic distance tri. 1 mile swim, 25 mile bike and a 6 mile run. Its not an Ironman, but it is a start. I am also planning on signing up for Ironman 70.3 Augusta (Half Ironman, 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike and a 13.1 mile run) which will be in September of 2017. I would absolutely love to do a full Ironman in 2018, but lets take one race at a time.
So here I am. I have a race in April. No bike, 70 lbs to lose and I cant run a mile without stopping. I have ALOT of work to do. I'm saving for a bike (they are expensive!) I'm walking, I still need to lose a few more pounds before I start pounding the pavement and destroying me knees. So that leaves me in the pool and the bike trainer at the gym. I started swimming a few weeks ago. I have fallen in love with the water. I love getting to the pool early in the morning, and feeling the quiet peacefulness under the water. I may not be able to run a mile without stopping, but I can swim one without stopping now!
This is the start of journey. I will start a weekly blog to keep me accountable and use it as a training log. Feel free to come along for the ride or just check in. Also, if anyone has a road bike or knows of one or just feels the need to donate to the cause let me know. I need some wheels!
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