Don’t get me wrong I am in awe as much as anyone at the sub 8 hr Ironmen of this world. I understand that this kind of athletic excellence comes off the back of tens of thousands of hour’s dedication and training. I also know that at the ripe old age of thirty I’m never going to get close to this calibre of athlete. But this is what these guys do day in day out.
There is in my opinion, an even more extraordinary type of athlete. The top Ironman age grouper. The athlete who manages to balance a full time job, in which they must be sufficiently successful to be paid enough not only to support a hugely expensive past time like racing long course triathlon, but also enough to support two children, a wife/husband, mortgage and all the other day to day bills of a family household. Then there’s the time. You don’t become a top age grouper with much less than 15-20 hours of training per week, throw into the mix the fact that your wife/husband is also a keen triathlete, the 45+ hours at work the clubs & activities of the kids, general domestic chores and enough sleep to support all of the above. That doesn’t leave much time to eat and keep up with the X factor.
Along with every other Ironman triathlete on the planet I dream of racing Kona, Hawaii. As my times slowly improve and I move closer to my dream, I spend less time with my family and become more detached from my occupation as a fire fighter. I decided to start this blog to share my journey trying to answer the question- how fast can I go? (without loosing my job, wife and children's affection)
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