Will Jon Complete His First Ironman?

    

Jon's Road to Ironman France

In August 2013, Jon travelled to Louisville, KY to watch me compete in my second and final Ironman competition.  Training takes so much time, it is like having a second full time job.  During training I would see Jon in passing on the way to the pool or in the morning at breakfast.  We spent so much time apart that summer that I decided I would take a break from triathlons so that Jon and I could spend more time together.  It is important to have priorities in life.  Family is at the top of the list so it wasn't a hard decision for me.  

On that beautiful day in Kentucky, Jon spent it watching me and thousands of other athletes.  Louisville is known as having one of the best finishes in the sport. He saw professionals and first timers, old and young, of all shapes and sizes cross the finish line. This inspired him.  

He thought to himself, I can do this.  He let me have my celebration and then he said that he was going to do one!  It didn't register with me at first.  He had to repeat himself.  I don't know if I just thought, okay Jon, ya right.  Or if I just never thought those words would ever come out of his mouth.  This was coming from a guy that had never done any sort of race before.  Either way, I was blown away.  He knew how much it meant to me and he didn't want me to give it up, so he decided to join me.

This is Jon before he started his journey.  He was a big guy and had a long road ahead of him.  Jon comes from an athletic background.  He played all sorts of sports growing up including baseball, basketball and tennis.  He played collegiate baseball and since college his passion has been boxing.  But that means nothing when it comes to triathlon.  An ironman is an endurance sport, something foreign to Jon.  

For those of you that are not familiar with an Ironman, it consists of:

                    2.4 mile swim

                    112 mile bike

                    26.2 mile run

Usually people start out with a 5k race, maybe do a half marathon (13.1 mile run).  Then after a few years of pick up a sprint triathlon which takes a couple hours, at most, to complete.  Then there are Olympic distance triathlons that are a little bit longer.  Then half Ironman distance triathlons.  It's a progression.  It takes some athletes a good 10 years to build up to an Ironman distance.  

But not for Jon.  He decided he would start with the hardest.  To most, this seems foolish.  But not to Jon.  When he sets his mind to something, he will go to extremes to see it through.  

He started eating healthy and losing weight.  He bought a bike and some swim goggles and began his training.  I suggested getting a coach but he wanted nothing to do with that.  He could figure it out on his own.  And that's what he set out to do.  We had some great times together taking trips to beautiful places.

SWIM:

Let's talk about his swim.  He is a Florida boy who grew up in the water.  He is a certified scuba diver and has absolutely no problem going down 60+ feet in the ocean.  I thought, no problem.  Wrong. This would prove to be his weakness, something very common I the world of triathlon.  

Apparently he has never had any formal swim lessons in his life.  He could barley swim 25 yards when he started.  And let's just say it was less than perfect.  He would go to take a breath and would breathe in water.  His feet would sink to the bottom and he would be out of breath fast.  I have to say I was very concerned.  How was he going to learn to swim 2.4 miles in a few months?  He took a few swim lessons and started putting in a lot of time at the pool.

He decided to do an Olympic triathlon to get some race practice and time on the open water.  France is in the ocean so it's always good to simulate race conditions. He got his wetsuit on and we headed to the swim start for the 1.2 mile swim.  Most races have you swim with the current.  We noticed as we were walking to the start that the current was going the wrong direction and we would be swimming into it.  We decided it must be the wind playing tricks on us and there is no way they would make us do that.  Wrong.  As we jumped into the water it was clear it was into the current and it was going to be a hard swim.  Jon wasn't used to the crowds and the murky water and had a bit of trouble at the start.  He felt claustrophobic and panicked and lost control of his breathing.  Having to do the breast stroke so that he could breathe, he didn't make it very far.  He pulled himself together and was making progress but as time went on the current got stronger and the waves became huge.  Even as a strong swimmer, I thought these were horriable conditions.  Half the swimmers didn't finish the swim. This is not a great race to start in for your first.  After 1:45-2hours a guard came up to him and talked him into going into shore. He had only made it half way and with the current was standing still, or possibly moving backwards.  He threw in the towel.  Surprisingly it gave him confidence.  He now knew he could swim for 2 hours in horrible conditions.  The water in France would be a lot more clear and a lot more calm.  He also knew this is where his focus needed to be.

BIKE:

He never really spent much time on a bike but he picked it up quite quickly.  This is his strength.  He is a no fuss kind of guy.  Didn't need bike shorts and wanted nothing to do with a jersey.  His cotton clothes worked just fine for him.  

With two triathletes in the family, two bikes and lots of gear we needed a bigger vehicle.  So we bought a Jeep that could accommodate everything.

We really were enjoying this new life together!  We were healthy and happy!!!

The profile for Ironman France has many climbs.  Living in Florida we wouldn't get the much needed hill work, so we took a few trips north.

We head to the North Georgia mountains for hill work.  This is when Jon really started to excel on the bike.  

After changing out his cassette to one suitable to the mountains his climbing got faster.  His endurance is really improving.  And I have never seen anyone decend as fast as him.  Almost to the point where I am a bit worried that he is going too fast.  He was putting the work in and was seeing results.

RUN:

His run was decent.  He was used to running a couple miles a few times a week.  He is an extremely fast sprinter.  But a 26.2 mile run after all the swim and bike is something that's hard to even wrap your head around.  He had a lot of running to do in the months to come.

Overall his training was going good.  He had a few setbacks though:

-He battled a couple colds in the winter.  -He had numerous flat tires on his long rides cutting them short.  

-And his knees gave him a bit of pain off and on.  

Nothing major, nothing that would keep him from doing the race.

WEIGHT

Jon continued to eat healthy and the pounds contined to drop off.  

On January 1st, 2014 he weighed in at 238lbs.  Now, 2 weeks from the race, he is down to 185lbs.  He has lost over 50lbs in a few months time.  This alone is something to be very proud of!!!

TAPER

We are two weeks away from the race now.  His swim has improved so much.  His stroke looks great, you would never know he was a non-swimmer just a few months earlier.  I am a swim instructor and even I have never seen anyone learn how to swim so fast.  He is able to swim over 2 miles no problem in the pool.  His bike is awesome.  For the run, it just going to have to be mind over matter.

Finally, it's time to taper.  Work hard and recover hard!  We are dropping our bikes off at TriBike Transport today.  Next time we see them it will be in France!  We are starting to pack and will be on an airplane in a weeks time!

Jon is ready!  We are ready!  And couldn't be more excited!  

Will he finish his first Ironman!?  Time will tell!!!