Day 1. 37 week program

Consistancy is the key to Ironman.  Workout 6 days per week. Balance your efforts between the three disciplines, hang out with swimmers and cyclyist and runners.  Today I socialized with the cycling crowd.  Always an interesting group.  All about performance.  I do find it interesting, adults that form into teams....they wear team colors, talk team tactics, don't really like the guys on the other team.   I've never been one for team sports.  I'm still mostly unattached when it comes to the cycling thing - but it's nice to train with 'em.   About 15 people showed for a New Years day ride....cold.  25 miles.  We did a sprint down a gravel road for some reason I'm not sure.  Riding on gravel does develop your handling skills I suppose.  I got dropped from the leaders near the end and spent several miles solo between a group farther back trying to catch me, and the guys leading which I was putting all my heart and soul into chasing down...but couldn't do it today.  I haven't been on my bike in weeks and I could feel the burn.  My legs were like cold wind burned noodles when we finally reached the car.  I had the bright idea of cutting the index finger of my gloves off, just a little tiny bit, because they're too small.  That extra room felt great in the kitchen before I left, but not so good in 30 degree weather traveling on a bike at 25 miles per hour.  I needed a balaclava also - my face was frozen in no time.  Oh the perils of winter cycling.  It's not for the timid.   

So today marks the beginning of a dedicated training program.  I don't even really have a program to follow yet.  I found a few online that cost several hundred dollars which I don't want to afford.  I need to buy a new wet-suit, get tickets to San Francisco and figure out how to ship my bike there for Alcatraz.  That stuff cost some good money. 

One bit of advice should you ever choice to do Ironman/triathlon....write all your workouts down.  Keep cumulative track of the effort. Build on each week.  Writing it down doesn't let you cheat.  Or, better said it's clear when your cheating.  I cheat on running all the time - but not to my training log.  Write it down.