"Journey From Zero to Hero!" Preface & Acknowledgements

Over the next year and a half I will be bringing you all on my journey to Ironman Arizona.  Ever since I came back from Kona in October, I have really been determined to get back, not only to compete, but to conquer "The Big Island!"  My first experience on the island was unbelievable, the scene was everything I had pictured it to be, and more, from watching on TV.  Walking up and down the streets within touching distance of all of the triathlon legends.  It was an amazing experience!  It was just a shame that it had to end like it did, with a 26.2 mile death march through the lava taking nearly 5 hrs.  I learned a lot, and know that next time will be different!

But before i start talking about "Next Time" in Kona, I have to qualify, and that I will do!  The plan is to put in some serious mileage and hit a couple half Ironmans over the next year and a half, ultimately landing in Tempe, AZ in late November to redeem myself on the Ironman stage. 

I have been doing triathlons for coming up on 6 years now, and have really learned a lot and grown over that time period.  I came in a super speedy high school swimmer and runner, posting some impressive results along the way, but had no idea what i was doing.  Over the years I have learned about my body, what it can and cant take, and how to structure workouts around how I feel as well as around my life.  Over all those years, I have used speed as my gauge of performance.  Was I under 6 min pace in the run, did i hold 25 mph on the bike etc.  After reading some of the literature that is out there, I realized that my sole focus was all wrong.  Some courses are much more difficult and will not allow you to run sub 6 on, or bike 25 on, sometimes biking 22 mph will give you the fastest split.  The more I read, the more I realized that Heart Rate and Power were the main performance markers that needed to be focused on.  Even today, I still don't know anything about either of the two, but I do know that they are much more consistent measures on a race to race / workout to workout basis, and being as blessed as I have been with the opportunity to be on Evotri, and reap the great benefits they have to offer, I am at last given the opportunity to switch my focus to new performance measures. Huge thanks to CycleOps for my new Joule 2.0 Computer and PowerTap, as well as every single other great sponsor that represents Evotri! (QR, SRAM, ZIPP, HUB) Thanks to you guys, I will be well on my way to reaching the pinnacle of Ironman once again.

Over the course of the next year and a half I will be tracking my progress sharing my learning's, happily outlining great results and workouts, as well as laying out the setbacks and trying to understand what went wrong and how i can correct those mistakes. The major highlights will be Power & Heart Rate on the bike, and Hear Rate on the run.  The swim...well its swimming come on ;)

I greatly look forward to the journey ahead, and appreciate all the support and help along the way.  I wouldn't be where/who i am today without the help of all my close friends and family.  You guys are the true hero's!  So thank you all.