Catching up
It has been 3.5 months since I started my mission to my first IRONMAN and it is time to reflect on what has happened so far.
During the first 2 months I mainly focused on getting used to training 10-12 times a week in all three disciplines. This was not easy, but I think I could master it and the main reason for that was that in my youth it was routine for me to train as often. But I was still too focused on swimming with 6 to 7 sessions a week compared to running and cycling.
Then I reached out to an old friend who I knew from the sports high school we went to. He used to play football and now has moved into crossfit and sports science. He agreed to coach me and took over planning my training cycles and daily/weekly sessions. This way I can focus on just the training. It was an important step for me as he also helps me with my shortcomings in running and cycling. So if you ever want to do something like me, try to reach out to a professional who can help you and also who guides you. If you think now, you could not do that because you don’t have the network from your past as I do, don’t worry, sports people are usually very open people and are happy to help. Otherwise let me know and I will be more than happy to make a connection.
For myself, now, I think the framework is properly set up to achieve my goal next year and further goals which I have in the back of my mind.
There was another highlight, which actually happened not long ago. I was allowed to go cycling with one of my former swimming team mates, who is today a successful pro IRONMAN athlete.
On one hand it was really nice to catch up and it brought back good memories, on the other hand it was amazing to get more insights, tips and tricks about the sport.
One thing I was really amazed about was how technology has evolved in sports particulary for my case in cycling. For our session I was allowed to cycle with one of his bikes. First of all this bike was super super light and it felt really nice to sit on and cycle with it but on top of it the bike had an electrical gear shift, similar to a tip tronic in a car. Wow, it was so much fun and I enjoyed it so much! I tell you, if you ever get the chance to try a bike like this you don‘t want to give it back anymore, well, if you like cycling 😉! We will see, it is important to have the right material and I will need to adjust mine at some point but for now it was really nice to get a taste of it 😊! See you soon....!
