IronMan is a race in which the participants swim 2.4 miles, bicycle 112 miles and then run a marathon, 26.2 miles; all of which must be completed in 17 hours. Surprisingly, there are many spine patients that are able to participate.
Since March of this year I have been training for this year's IronMan Florida to be held this Saturday, Nov 2. The training is all consuming; up at 4:30AM, swim, bike or run for 90 minutes, work all day, then swim, bike or run that evening; four days a week. Saturday consists of a long bicycle ride, up to 100 miles, with Sunday having a long run up to 20 miles, with a 2 mile swim mixed somewhere into that weekend. Both myself and my IronWidow, I mean wife, are looking forward to this being over.
The fallout from seven months of this insane training regimen is:
- Swim: 73 miles
- Bike: 1,752 miles
- Run: 432 miles
- Calories: 128,846
Though I weigh the same, body fat % has gone from 10 to 6, and my waist size is within an inch of what it was when I graduated high school in 1981.
There have been limitations from my two cervical fusions and two M6-C's. Namely, swimming without a snorkel is contraindicated. I've done it only twice; once for 2000 meters and once for 300 meters. Two days after the 2000m swim (back in April) I had all the same debilitating symptoms that I had in 2009 that led to my double ADR; it took about 6 weeks to recover. After the 300m swim a few weeks ago, I had a lot of muscle spasms in my upper trapezius and neck; which are just about gone. At least for me, use of a snorkel is required.
If you get bored Saturday and want to check-in on me, IronMan's web site posts real time tracking updates at 15 or so distance intervals;
- go to the IronMan site
- hover over "Races" and select "Live Coverage" from the popup
- select "Ironman Florida" (the only race that day)
- select "Athlete Tracker"
- my bib number is 2964
The race starts at 7AM EDT, and if I complete the swim in time, I'm expecting to finish between 9 and 10:30PM.