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...