Ironclyde 2.0

I began doing bootcamps in January of 2008 as a New Year's resolution. I had spent Christmas in Mexico and was too embarrassed to go shirtless and that was it. I had played college football in Canada and was always big but ballooned up to 324lbs. 

 I knew I was a decent little swimmer and decided maybe I'd do triathlon because I hated running and thought that at least that would let me do some different sports. 

Well, the joke was on me. I was quickly running as much as before in addition to biking and swimming. My coach had finished 2nd at Ironman Canada and was really inspirational to me so I decided to sign up for a sprint tri in the Summer of 2009. That went pretty well and that year I completed 2 sprints and a couple of Olympic distance races. 

I was hooked and really decided to go whole hog and do an Ironman in August of 2010. As a lead up I did the 70.3 in California in March of 2010. 

So the very long-winded answer to your question is that I dedicated myself to doing and training in earnest for about 14 months. I used one of the programs on this site and did okay.

However, I would recommend that anyone NOT do the style of training where you do long distance training and no weights. 

For my 2012 Ironman I did the Crossfit style training and this was an unqualified success. I have a full time job and 3 kids 3 and under so time is beyond valuable. The crossfit style means you do about 1 hr to 1 1/2 hour workouts where you go HARD but then you're done. This saves you time and also helps to limit over use injuries that are common, especially for us bigger folks.

This being said I would recommend you do at least one long run and one long bike per month to get your mind convinced you can do it. Because on race day your mind is the greatest hurdle to overcome. 

I'm sorry to go on and on but I just love this friggin' sport so much!!!