The D-Day

This is it, the D-Day everyone was waiting for: Ondra's attempt for the Iron Man.

The plan was: to wake up at 5 AM, eat some pasta and go to the swimming pool to swim 3.8kms at 7 AM. Everything seems to go according to the plan, since the dining table is a mess with ketchup everywhere (but at least we know he woke up, right?).

While the bike support team is slowly getting ready, I got a phone call from our father at 7:25, that Ondra has finished his first kilometer in 22minutes and 55seconds. At 7:48 I got a second phone call announcing the 2nd kilometer in 24mins 35secs.

The swimming part:

Km	Time
1.	22:55
2.	24:35
3.	26:56
3.8	21:36
Total	1h 36min

Ondra arrived to Obrany and started the bike part at 8:51 (I did not see him so I don't know how he feels).

The bike part: (note: the timer is running even when he stops to take his drinks and snacks)
17 25

Km	Time
13.	35min
21.	1h 05min
38.	1h 43min
65.	2h 51min
74.	3h 11min
88.	3h 54min
115.	5h 04min
124.	5h 31min
138.	6h 27min
147.	6h 51min
160.	7h 09min
180.	8h 34min

The average speed is: 21.01 km/h


The bike support team is now settled in Café&Wine in Adamov - everyone is welcome to come:)!
The IronMan, looking motivated more than ever, passed by just in a flash - everything is all right, we even had an opportunity to conduct a very small interview, so here it is:
(I asked him if he wanted to tell something to his fans :)) )

 

(even thought you can't see his smile on the vid I assure you that he was smiling)

After his 2nd stop in Adamov he still had a smile on his face! Saying everything was fine, should M be afraid?

Third stop, first iont drink and first snack (the bike support team wanted to work on his bachelors thesis while waiting - but couldn't because Ondra is too fast  :( )

The bike support team is happy to welcome SIkachnak! Also our parents took some pics, have a look:

 The face says it all "let the pain speak to me"

 

The support team in all its beauty:

 The interview:

This is how the interview went:
Interviewer: How do you feel after finishing your 60. km?
The IronMan: Fine, I never thought I would say this, but I'm really looking forward to the marathon!
Interviewer: Do you feel any pain?
The IronMan: No, just my butt a little bit.

So here he is, still smiling and even has the energy to fool around (or maybe he is just playing it? :P).

Zuzka has just arrived to join the bike support team!
Few minutes later SImikin & family arrived too!
Of course we had to take a picture together, so this is the current mood of the bike support team:

But the support team is also composed of SImikin's sons - SIjonáš and SISImon - here they are cheering for uncle Ondra!

After his 7th stop he still looked like he had a lot of energy. When we asked how he feels, he seemed really happy:

Ondra: I just have to go there, then back, then once again, then back again, then I'll stop here and then just go to Obrany..!

Some more pictures..:
 

During last stage (9th), Ondra fell off his bike and then fearlessly got up and kept on going! Next expected fall in about 30mins.

Ondra surprisingly finished his bike part at 17h25 (we did not expect this). He even seemed very confident about his running part, even after 180kms of biking he still has a smile on his face! Maybe it was because he was not biking alone - Nikola Bartosek came to his aid and provided him with great moral support for more than 40 kms and so did our parents for more than 50 kms!


Let's see how he will manage to run a marathon after such an exhausting biking trip.
The running support team has moved to a diferent place now - we're in Obrany. The team is composed of the Def' clan, Kruml clan, SIaudun, SIkachnak and Zuzka.

He started running at 17h38.

The running part:

Km	Time
9.	54min
18.	1h 55min
27.	3h 08min

Last stop: 20h50
Second round is finished at 19:42; 18 km done, 24km to go. Now Jirka follows Ondra on the bike so the table will be updated when he comes back, hopefully in about one hour. However, the temperature is going down fast and Ondra starts to visibly suffer.

SIeracle: After being with Ondra for one trip, I'm starting to be a little bit worried - his will is really strong, but his body seems to have some problems (he's cold, his head was spinning for a while,...). But even in this state he was full of humour - he even asked if we're going to Hostimil after he finishes :)) (a PUB in Brno)... He also asked if he can sleep in my bed tonight - haha, no way bro' :D
 

 

 But the support team is still here even in a bigger number - there are 12 of us!

 Some pics..:

The moment when he finished his 180kms on bike:

 

Even this tired he stills finds a moment to look at a go board...

The start of the running part

After 16h05min - at 23h05 Ondra successfully finished the IronMan challenge!

it's a go!

The weather tomorrow should be a bit cold, but it isn't supposed to rain, so the timing looks good.

The plan:

I think the plan is quite clear, so no need for further comments.

If you want to show up, please contact my brother via facebook or via phone if you have his number. Especially if you'd like to come after lunch during the bike part. If you want to come for the running part then you can just show up in the pub "na konecne", hopefully someone will be there.

Tomorrow the blog is going to be updated hourly, so you can follow my suffering from your comfy couch. :-D

While at the hospital, in what were going to be his last hours, Fujisawa Shuko, one of the biggest go masters to ever live, asks for a canvas, ink and a brush. Despite being in pain he succeeds in his last fight leaving a message for his students and us: "Make Herculian effort"

This Sunday, huh

M. agrees to do the ironman this Sunday and its supposed not to rain, so we will go for it.

My brother will update this blog hourly during the day D., so you guys can follow my progress and cheer :-D.

My family agreed to support me during the race, so I don't "need" anyone to help me. Nevertheless if you want to come to cheer and hang out then there are two scenarios:

1) You want to come already during the bike part (9:30-18:00): contact my brother, he will tell you where he will be and I am sure he'll be glad if someone hangs out with him while I bike. I don't want to post his phone number here, so contact me somehow, so that I can give it to you. He will have his notebook with him and has the game "fish fillets"(1), so you'll have something to do :-P.

2) You want to come during the running part:(17:00-23:59) meet the others in "hospoda na konecne" in Obrany. I will have to "walk/run" to Bilovice and back around 5 times and will have a bike at disposal for the possible fans, so they can keep me company during the run. Bring some cool music on your phone, I don't think I'll be much into discussions! :-D


I would like to thank everyone for their encouragements was it when met, via facebook, this blog or in any other way. We had several good laughs about this challenge and it did really force me to train a lot. I think my set of mind got better and my physical condition of course too.

Thank you for your donations, I really appreciate it. I felt a bit humiliated when asking about the donations, but it was a good decision. Not only did it help me financially, but it also motivated me when I had a weak set of mind and didn't feel like training.

Let's hope I sleep well on Satturday,

yours faithfully,

SIscurge

Almost there ...

This week has been pretty nice. As the Ironman date is approaching, I have to make sure not to overtrain. I really respect the saying "It's worst to go for the ironman 1% overtrained than 10% undertrained" :-). Nevertheless I made physical activities almost everyday. I ran, biked, did musculatory exercices, played football and badminton.
I must say, I really do feel changes in my condition. I don't get exhausted that fast and don't have to sleep after longer training sessions anymore.

Now its time to decide when to do the ironman challenge and I start to feel that this Sunday should be the best. I haven't drunken any alcohol for two weeks (not even after football and at a go tournament!!), and I feel thats enough :-D. My brother said he has time for support, so now it depends on the weather and how M. sees it.

How do I see my chances? Mhmm... I think 25% should be about accurate.

I will for sure post again, once it's decided and someone will update this blog hourly during the day D.

Sexual desires

I changed the setting for posting comments on the blog based on the advice of L - thanks. Now it is no longer necessary to have an account to post comments.

This week my fighting spirit has been quite low. I did rest during my holiday in Italy but it also broke my training rythm. I had problems finding motivation not only to train but also to work for school, so it kinda sucked. Nevertheless I biked almost everyday, but only between 1-2 hours - that is until today. Today I biked for ~90kms.

I couldn't have chosen a better day for this long(ish) ride. The weather was simply perfect. Had I taken some water with me, I may have enjoyed it even more. I planned to go to Dolni Vestonice a small village at about ~ 40 kms from Brno. and I managed. I got lost several times in the process, so that's why the final length was around 90kms. It took me 5 hours, which is kinda slow but it was on my mountain bike, so it's acceptable I'd say.
The first 60 kms were without any problems, but I started to feel my legs ~  km 65. So it looks like I don't have enough strength despite all the training. Somehow after around 15 kms and some sugar the pain started to dissipate, so I could finish the ride honorably.

Since I do get bored quite fast, I started to listen to music while I ride. I put my phone in my backpack and put it very loud so that I can hear it. It's kind of cool, some motivational music really helps. When I had my crisis at km 65, the phone randomly chose the full album Sempiternal from Bring me the horizon, which I am very fond of. As my bike doesn't have any way to inform the other participants of the road traffic that I am behind them. I was hoping that people would react to the fast approaching music, but somehow it seems that it "doesn't ring a bell".

At the end of the journey I suddenly started thiking about beer. That wouldn't really be anything worth mentioning, as Czech guys do that quite often, but this time the thoughts brought by exhaustion and thirst were almost sexual. I mean, the beer looked so appealing. Old fashioned glass - very thin so that you can feel the cold liquid inside, not too much of foam so that you can reach the liquid immediatly and the top of the glass a bit dewy - as it should be. What a nice thought - pity that till the race I have an absolutely no alcohol policy.

Keep in touch

Relativity

As the gravitational waves have been recently confirmed, everybody seems to be relieved that what Einstein described was right.  Personaly I am not quite convinced yet. Let's take time for example: its behaviour should vary only around heavy and dense objects or when travelling very fast. I know for a fact that I don't travel at light speed, so why does it seem that time stops when I bike?

From now on I will try to bike as often as possible, even if I don't have much time, I'll try to go out even if just for an hour. I am getting accomodated to "the sitting", so that's one thing going for me. I also received new sport pants (black), so there is nothing stopping me now, mu ha ha. It would be nice if it stopped raining though.

Thanks for cheering ~

An Iron tale of an Iron fail...

It must have been the first time in the history of my new flat that I woke up before everybody else, perhaps it was even the first time that I didn't wake up last. As I wanted to eat some pasta at least an hour before swimming I set up my alarm clock at 5:30. The morning preparations went well and I jumped into the water at 7:03 - almost on time. The weather was not looking promising but it was supposed to rain only in the afternoon, so I didn't worry much.

When I left the swimming pool around 8 o'clock, I checked my phone and discovered several sms' and miss calls from my support team (l.b.J.). Apparently due to the starting rain it was a bad idea to make the attempt today: the road will be slippery, it is very cold and the support team didn't feel like standing for hours in the rain. As J. was supposed to bring me the road bike I was a bit disappointed, but I still released him from his duties - I was going to fight the rain with my mountain bike. I was quite surprised when I met J. at the meeting point with the road bike. It was not raining that much, so we decided to try it out.

Well, it was a bad idea... the rain became heavier and heavier every minute that went by and I got soaking wet in no time. After about 30kms we decided to call it quits.

I learned a few things today:
1) The road bike rocks. I was able to keep an average of 23km/h without any effort.
2) I am getting used to sitting on the bike,
3) Don't ever take white pants when you go cycling.

J.'s commentary: "where will you be when diarrhea strikes" :-)

This Sunday we are leaving for skiing with the whole family, so no serious training for a week ~(^^~)

Getting hyped!

Because of my bike problems I thought I was just going to run on Sunday, but guilt steped in the way (because I haven't trained much on Wednesday and Thursday) so I changed my plans. My father has his professional bike fixed to some kind of mechanism, that allows you to treadle at home in all comfort, so I decided to run to my parents place (about 8km), use the bike and run back. Their place offers also an other kind of advantage compared to my place - the "full-fridge" factor.

I biked for about 3 hours. It's a really cool training machine, not only you can change difficulties and so you can simulate an uphill road and work really hard, but you can also fix your phone to the handlebar and can watch movies while biking. I started with some Starcarft 2 commented videos and then watched some go on KGS and Wbaduk. You can see it on the video bellow :). I had one major problem while biking: sitting on the bike does really hurt :-D

After 3 hours of a rather rough training, I did my best to leave my parents place as soon as possible, so that I could try the bike->run transition. The first steps going down the stairs were indeed painful, but once I started running I felt really light and comfortable. I was so surprised and so happy that I could run that I really enjoyed the way home. Starting from about halfway I started imagining myself victorious at the Ironman challenge, thought about how I will mock M. once I finish the race and what kind of music I'll want my brother to play for the last hundred meters.
I really got hyped by this training and that's why I want to try the half Ironman this Thursday :-).

Damned bike....

I planed to ride the 90 km's on Wednesday but unfortunately I got busy that day, so I ended up doing nothing for the Ironman. On Friday I planed to amend for my mistakes and ride to Mikulov. Unfortunately my bike has some issues. When I treadle sometimes the movement isn't transfered to the wheel, so I am threadeling like a hamster in his wheel - without real purpose. It is really annoying when it happens on intersections, especially when I am turning left and want to get to the other side before a car from the opposite side passes. Usually the car drivers take it with a smile, since me treadeling at a speed of light without my bike moving forward does look funny. This used to happen everyonce in a while, but now it happens almost on a minute bases, so it is really annoying. I managed to bike for 50kms with a bike in this state, but it took a tremandeous amount of effort. I was surprised how much I could swear. I just couldn't help myself.

Otherwise my legs didn't feel tired after 50kms, but its really few, so I can't take anything from that. Also I got worried because my average speed was about 18km/h, which is not fast enough. I hope I'll get a speed boost when I change my mountain bike for a "road" bike, but it will be tough anyway.
Tomorrow I'll get my bike repaired, so hopefully soon I can restart the bike training. Today I'll go jogging - at least I can test my knee. 

Buayage

Since it was the first time I was gonna swim such a long distance, I wanted the pool to be as "croudless" as possible. That's why I decided to go there around 10am. The guys swimming before work should be long gone and so I thought the pool would be basically empty. I couldn't have been more wrong. The horrific scenery that displayed before my eyes made me blink. The pool was filled with buoyage - that is with slowly and steadily moving pensioners. Their speed didn't exceed 8min for 100ms and they were everywhere. Argh, after some time I found a line where there were only about 3 of them and started swimming. Getting past them was a bit annoying, but at least it made the swim more entertaining. At about 2kms I needed to take a break in order not to give a reason to the swimming pool crew a reason to add more chlorine. For the same reason I swam the last 500m as fast as I could. I am probably swallowing too much water while swimming.

After the 3.8 kms I didn't feel tired at all, and when I started biking my legs weren't heavy. I had time only for a 20km ride but it really went smoothly. With this positive spirit in mind, I plan to ride 90kms tomorrow.

Finally got a bike

As mentioned in the previous post, the real challenge starts now: this week is the beginning of the non-alcohol period (about 50 days, argh) ... Or is it? I feel that a real Iron Man should not be a "wuss" and have fun while keeping his body in shape. That's why I added a clause to this rule, I am allowed to drink "a bit"  after our weekly football match.

Otherwise I finally got my bike to my flat and so the important part of the training starts. As I don't have many classes this semestr, I am free to bike almost as much as I want. As my super good friend J. (D.) suggested, I could go to Mikulov, which is a city at about 55 km from my place. The advantage is, that the first 45km are super flat, so I it may be ideal for the competition as 45*4 = 180km, or at least I hope it does. Otherwise I've always wanted to visit the city of Telc, which is at about 100kms , so that will be one of the goals and also my grandma lives at about 200kms, that will probably be the max distance I'll attempt. Since I am starting this week and still want to practice swimming, tomorrow I plan to swim the full 3.8kms and then try to come back to my flat by bike, I'll see how it goes. Franky I am a bit afraid of the swim->bike transition, so I want to practice this as much as I can.

Otherwise I plan on becomming "half Iron Man" in about two weeks :-).

EZ PZ

On Thursday evening I went to my family's place for dinner and consulted my problems with the real iron man. I told him about my knee, which is apparently from overtraining and about our plan for the race. Since I will have (and will need) a support team, I was explaining to my father, that for the bike part I will have two groups of people waiting at the beggining and the end of my planned path, which will be 30km long (meaning I have to go there and back 3 times (=180km)). This way I will recieve support every 30th km. After a few seconds of thought he told me: Or you could have one support team in the middle of the way, it would fullfil the same role... :-D Those of you who thought of this solution while reading, I respect you.

On Friday I went to play football and my knee was fine after a few minutes of running. I remember this effect when I used to play football in a club - lovely adrenalin.

The turnament during the weekend was quite exhausting and I didn't manage to do any sports. Also on Monday I did very few as I was recovering from the afterparty. According to my plan I am supposed to have a long non-alcohol period before the race, so that  I don't exhaust my body unnecessarily. Starting around next week seems like the right timing.

First swimming:

I went swimming on Tuesday and I surprised myself as I was able to swim about 2kms in crawl-stroke with almost no breaks. Also I didn't feel especially tired, so I think the swim-bike transition may be OK. I just felt a bit dizzy because of all the chlor they have to put in the water.

On Wednesday I played badminton with U. Wargh, how she makes me run around..

Second swimming:
This was it! My first "biathlon". I decided to run to the pool (~5km), swim about 2kms and run back. There wasn't anything really worth mentioning apart from the people on the streets that keep staring at me in a weird way. It is true that I do look funny in my karate trousers, adhesive top, funny hat and a bag but they could encourage me instead of judging me. I gave those people a nickname for myself while I run - the walking dead. :-) Anyway... I was able to run right after swimming. My legs felt a bit heavy, thats true, but it was managable. Unfortunately on the way back my knee restarted hurting... what a pain... I think I will have to drop running for a while, anyway I plan to start biking from next week, so it doesn't affect my plan too much. I just hope it will be fine on the bike. On the day of the race I will eat a lot of pain killers and will manage, hopefully... but to do it everyday, I just don't feel it's right.

Otherwise I keep forgetting the distance I already swam when I am in the water, so the distances I post may not be accurate. I gave myself an "Iron" rule to solve this - when I am not sure I continue counting from the lower distance.

The problems begin ...

First of all, thanks everyone for your verbal and financial support. I thought my post on fb may be just a nusiance for everyone, so I was very pleasantly surprized. Now I really don't have any choice left, and just have to go for it. Actually the amount of money I gathered will allow me to buy a multiple entry pass to the swimming pool, so I have to go and buy it as soon as possible, since its about the same price as the new Starcraft expension... :-D

Back to the training...

The next day after the Tuesday 15km run, I felt quite ok. It looked like my body could keep the training tempo. As I don't want to overdo it, on Wednesday I planned only to play badminton with U. and make some basic exercices. I didn't start with the "Tabata Method" that "whatever" suggested yet. I'll try it in about 10 days. Actually the badminton was a good exercice too. U. is really experience and she made me run all over the field for the entire hour, so I felt more exhausted then after our football matches. I was a bit afraid on how my legs would hold, since I was supposed to run 24 kms the day after, but I felt nothing special. Unfortunately I woke up twice during the night and started caughing a little. It's very unusual for me so I took it as my body telling me that I may have choosen a too quick pace for my training.

Fourth run:
This morning I realized I've never ran 24 kms before but the distance didn't impress me much, since its only a little bit longer then the half marathon. Moreover I am lucky to have a friend D. that lives at approximately 12 kms from my place, so we agreed that I will stop by for some water with sirup. That way not only I'll get refreshed, but I'll have something to look forward during the first 12kms.
The first 4 kms were quite painful, as my muscles weren't as relaxed as in the previous runs, but it got better and till the 10th km it was a piece of cake. At the 10th km the problems began. My left knee started to hurt a little. It slowly went from annoying to unsupportable. I thought of my kung-fu training and tried to focus my attention elsewhere, but it turns out I suck at this, so it didn't work. I forced myself to reach the checkpoint without any break, but I wasn't sure if I could continue any longer. After the refreshement, the pain went away for a while, so I managed to reach about the 14th km while still running, but from then I did need to take breaks. My hearth frequency, muscle trieness and breath were satisfactory, just this damn knee... So the last 10 km I spend half walking an half running. To literally add insult to injury, I kicked some plastic bottle of beer by accident and its content spilled on my trousers. Turns out that beer can turn into vinegar if you provide it enough time. The last km of the parcour is through a very crowded part of city, let's just say that I tried to choose the shadowy alleys and that this time, I didn't get many "emphatic smiles"

Tomorrow I will go play football, I think my knee should be fine till then, but I will give it as much rest as possible. Also I decided not to go to the tournament by bike, since it would be a bit crazy, to leave at 5 in the morning, especially when I feel tired. I will just try to run ~ 5-10 km on Satturday. Next week will be dedicated to swimming. I am looking forward to this part of training, because (if I feel good enough) I will try running to the swimming pool, swim and then run back. I hope to get the ironman feeling from that.

The Ironman in 3 month training begins!

Why am I writing this blog?

1. It should work like a whip. Make me feel bad if I don't practice.
2. If I start improving, I'd like to scare my friend M., with whom I did this bet.
3. If someone will read it, I'd be very happy for advices. I am googling, but I am not too good at that.
4. I usally get very bored when I run. Now during my runs I try to notice funny things about which I could write here and am thinking about what I will write. It makes my exercices more pleasant.
5. To try to collect a little bit of money. I gave up my job few months ago, so that I can finish my 5th year of studies with dignity and therefore have not much cash. Normally I wouldn't need any, but since it's so cold outside I need to go to the swimming pool which costs 3euro. If anyone feels like supporting me, please make a donation of no more then 3euro at the paypall address: ondra@free.fr or to my bank account: 670100-2203574521/6210 (guess this works for czech peoply only). Thank you very much if you do, I promis to spend it on Ironman training related stuff, most probably on the swimming pool ticket.

So now about training:

On Wednesday I had my last school exam, so my training from Friday to Wednesday was quite feeble. I only did muscular training, particulary focused on the abdomen. Later on I will try to figure out how to train my dorsal muscles. I fear I may have serious problems with those, while riding for ten hours. I also do pull-ups on the children playground in front of my appartement. When I began I was suffering to make 3, now after a longer run 5 went quite easily. The human body is awesome.
Since Wednesday I managed to make three runs. My idea to complete the Ironman now is to build a solid basis, discover and train a heart frequency that I can keep up for several hours, therefore I do not try to run especially fast.

First run:
Thursday: it was so freaking cold outside I almost didn't go. One of the reason being I did not have any gloves nor a hat. But with the picture of the other Ironmans (or how I picture them atm) I thought I have no choice. The first run was supposed to be easy 8 kms, so no big deal... Well, the running part was ok, even the absence of the mentioned clothing was manageable, the problem was elsewhere. As we learned in our anatomy classes, some parts of the male body are situated externally to the main corpus, in order to achieve higher efficiency during a part of our lifecycle. Reason for this positioning being the decrease in tempreture. It also means, which was fatal in my case, that this area isn't provided by that match of body heating. Well let's just say, there are occasions when you are happy your girlfriend isn't waiting for you at home :-). Today (third run) I put 2 sets of underwear, and its all good.

Second run:
Friday: I felt quite good, so I decided to run to our football pitch. Its at the other side of the city, approximately 6km's but lot of "dénivellation". Unfortunately I had our jersies and football with me, so I struggled to put everything in my bag. Finally I gave up and decided to carry the ball while running. It was not very practical, but since I had to run through the city, the smiles of the people I was encountering were cheering me up :). I managed the run without problems, but after 45minutes of football I started having cramps and had to stop. I wonder if it could be out of exhaustion? I will try to eat more minerals, any hints?

During the weekend I played badmintion and pingpong, which probably doesn't count too much. Also I did drink quite a bit. I feel that in order to succeed I need to limit the drinking and also get psychologically stronger. Giving up on beer is quite tough, so so far I am going step by step - I am forcing myself to make the bed every morning.

Third run:
Tuesday: I don't have much time, so I need to start with the long runs ASAP. Today I ran 15kms. I could run faster, but didn't force myself, and managed it in 1h35, with the feeling I could run easily 10 more. So Thursday I will try something around 23km.
Also on Satturday I am considering going biking for the first time, since I am attending a go tournament 95kms from my place. It will depend mostly on the weather though, because I'd need to leave around 5am.  Why couldn't I have made this bet during spring...

Drinking problems ;-)

Argh, so basically I wanted to blend in with my new flatmates. With the idea of "team building" in mind I joined their "8 min abs workout" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-9L0J_9qag). What followed were two unfortunate weeks of suffering where I was barely able to tie my shoelaces. I never thought of myself as a coach potato, but I guess the release of Starcraft 2 really did affect my physical condition. Anyhow, since that day, my physical inability started to float in my mind, and as you know, you can only ignore your subconsciousness for so long...

Each Friday after our weekly soccer match we hang out with the guys, drink and laugh. I think (hope) I was finishing at least my fifth beer when we started talking about the Ironman. My father has been training for more then a year and is supposed to compete soon, so I know a bunch about the competition. First you've got to swim for 3.8km, followed by a 180km bike ride and if you are still standing you can attempt to finish with a marathon (42km run)... quite a feat, wouldn't you say? Well, not after 5 beers. I remember those distances seemed ridiculously short and since I wanted to start working out a challenge was of order. I estimated the time I'd need to complete these tasks, 2hours for swimming, about 10hours for the bike and 6 hours for the marathon, did the math and made a bet that I will complete the Ironman in less then 16hours until the 1st April 2016. Only in the morning did I realize what I did. Not only it may be impossible to complete it at all, but 2+10+6 is far from 16. Fortunately my very good friend M, the devil in person, allowed me to change the time to 17hours - the official Ironman time.

This blog will be about my following 3 months of training and my attempt to complete the challenge.

About this blog's name. As I expect to be facing laughter and mockery allow me to quote the Ninja from the band Die Antwoord. In the song "Enter The Ninja" he raps: "Fuck all of you that said I wouldn't make it. You said I was a loser. You said I was a no one. You said I was a fucking sucker. Look at me now, all up on the interweb. ... Enter the ninja"

My goals are ordered as follows:

1) Not give up due to a lack of spirit.

2) Not die of exhaustion.

3) Finish the challenge.

4) Make it in the time limit.