Our Next adventure!

Well, it has been a whole year since we last blogged about our wonderful European Adventure. Natalie and I just celebrated our one year anniversary and we ate some really old wedding cake which was actually okay! We've done a lot this year, Natalie got a job with a technical company as an Editor and I started my own business with Primerica Financial Services. Things are looking very bright for our future, but we felt that something was missing, that we needed some excitement.

One day a few weeks ago Natalie and I were discussing her running friends and how she really wanted to race again. It was hard for me to accept the invitation since I was at an extreme disadvantage in distance running since I had not done very much of it. So we settled on a compromise, we were going to compete in a triathlon. Not just any triathlon mind you, but an Ironman Triathlon.

For those of you who don't know what a triathlon is, let me enlighten you. The event consists of a swim, then a bike and finally a run to the finish line. Triathlons can be any distance and can vary dramatically. An Ironman triathlon is a 2.4 Mile Swim, followed by a 112 Mile Bike and finished with a 26.2 Mile run to the finish. We have committed to the St. George Utah qualifying Ironman race next May 2012. To compete is roughly $700 per person and we also need to purchase race bikes which run about $2000 a person. Counting the time and equipment it will take to complete this event, we will both invest over $10,000 in time and money to be Ironmen (and Women). If you would like to help us to race in the form of sponsorship or support please post on the blog or my facebook page:)

Training:
To be honest we are now in our 7th week of training, but I want to recap some of the training fun that has been going on.
Week One: We ran a total of 22.53 Miles, Biked 48.2 Miles and Swam 1100 Yards. It was not too hard, but seemed like a lot at the time!
By week Four we were really training hard and had run 23.88 Miles, biked 81.34 and swam 8700 yards. Week four was the first week we did a long Saturday run. Out of the 23.88 Miles we ran a 13.95 mile run in a time of 2 hours and 25 minutes which is approx. 10:25 Miles. It was a good start, but we didn't realize how fast we were going to get in such a short time.
Week Five: This was our first rest week, where we ran or biked short distances at high speeds. We ran a 3-Mile Pace run @ 7:12 Miles and did an 8 Mile Bike sprint averaging 3:33/mi. for 8 miles (not bad for mountain bikes with street tires!).
By week eight (this week) we were really stepping it up, running farther and faster and biking much farther. On Saturday (yesterday) we ran 13.97 Miles in 2 hours and 3 minutes for a pace of 8:48/mi. but that includes our slow warm-up mile, and this morning we biked 41.1 Miles biking out to Anaheim Hills and back from our house. Our weekly goals for week eight are 35 miles run, 65 biked and 7500 swam. I leave for Atlanta on Wednesday, so its going to be a challenge to be dedicated to working out without my workout buddy!
Natalie is a stud, pushing herself hard through all the training. She keeps me going when I don't want to give the extra.

The point of this blog is not to brag, but to show you that you can achieve anything you set your mind to. I am not a skinny running type of person. Every step I take puts 200 plus pounds of weight on my knees and ankles, but I'm doing this to show people I can do it. Natalie was not a swimmer 8 weeks ago, now she's turning into a fish. Our first race is the Mega Colossus on July 14th starting at State beach and finishing in Seal beach. If you want to come out, we would love the support. We'll also be posting pictures periodically to keep you all in the loop of our fun training.

Also, if anyone wants to run, swim or bike with us, let me know, there's always room for more! Check back soon!