Wed 01 Feb 2012 1.05am

6 mile run in about 65 min

Seeing as how its the beginning of a new month I figured there was no better time than now to finally start my first-ever personal blog.  Gosh, that word is so hideous so I'm going to (un)officially change it to my 'MIT' page which stands for Mark's Ironman Training but it also has a Czech meaning: to have / possess, which I think is appropriate because what I should have or possess is ___________ (fill in the blank).  Perhaps, as the days, weeks and months go on that's one thing I'll discover.

So without further procrastination, hesitation or apprehension here you are......

Completed 6 mile run in about -6 C weather.  The sun was brilliantly shining but in the valley of Divoka Sarka it was downright cold.  My legs were hurting, slow, heavy and fought me every step of the way.  "How is it possible that I can be so sore after doing nothing?" I ask myself repeatedly but such questions are never answered.  My only solace was that I wasn't stuck in some office cubicle gazing out the window.

At this point, I haven't a solid training plan set up.  Its the top priority and must be completed by the end of week.

Thanks for your time,

MS

03 Feb 2012  11.49p

164 laps x 25 metres = 4100 metres.  By my calculations, that's 300 more metres than what's required for the 1st leg of the race and the longest single swim of my life.

Much like during a long run or cycle, as I swim my mind teeters between relevance and irrelevance, between sane thoughts and obscurity, from people of my past who held meaningful positions to completely useless 'tweets' I read during the day or sometimes my mind is completely void of any thoughts whatsoever, I think.  Its these sporadic jolts which help me and even motivate further.

In the later laps, my dad, who died almost exactly 10 years ago to the day (05 Feb to precise) and is the main of 3 personal inspirational figures I have, popped into my head and how his cronies used to call him Juice.  Why?  I still don't know and am not sure I'm old enough to hear the story but hearing it as I said it to myself really gave me a jolt of adrenaline and I powered through even more than I'd expected.  Its these small things you embrace when you're training for long distance races especially swimming because you can't take a gulp of energy drinks or a bite of some protein bar so it must come from within.

What I took away from today's training was 'remember my inspiration and don't stop til you complete your goal.'  Those are the only things I used to complete my 1st three marathons and they'll continue to get me through each and every one I complete as well as this behemoth.

Thanks for your time

MS