Welcome!

Welcome to my blog. My name is Cory and I am a work-from-home dad with two kids, ages 2 and six months (as of Feb 2009). I'm also an aspiring Ironman. This is my story of how to balance work, parenting, and multisport athletics. It's also a way for me to remember this wonderful time in the lives of my children, regardless of how the races end up.

Generally speaking, Ironman length races require about 24 weeks, or six months of training. For the uninitiated, a full Ironman length is a 2.4 mile swim, a 112 mile bike, and a full 26.2 marathon run, in that order. For the best in the world, a mark around eight to nine hours is the goal. For me, the goal is to run (or walk) across the finish line before they shut down the course, some 17 hours after it all begins. If I'm really having a good day, I may beat Scott Rigsby's 2007 time of 16:42:48. Then again, I have two more legs than the impressive Mr. Rigsby, a double amputee.

While I am not an unaccomplished triathlete, what I have accomplished needs to be viewed in the light of participation, maintaining fitness, and achieving one's goals. In every race I've ever done, there are people done before I even start the run. There are people who's entire race is completed in less time than it takes me to do the bike. There are even people who are running before I am even out of the water (after completing their swim and their bike!) But I have finished well over a dozen races, some with times that I am proud of because they represent improvements and overcoming obstacles, be they man made or physical -- in other words, life or my 30-something body threw me curveballs along the way. Nothing too dramatic, mind you, but the kinds of things one prefers not to have when attempting to train for triathlons.

So, that's where we are today. Maybe I'm an obsessive planner, but my goal is to find peak fitness and complete the Ironman triathlon in lovely Florianopolis, Brazil in some 15 months time (May 2010). I hope to have my wife, my kids, and maybe even parents and my sister there when I cross the finish line -- even if that means keeping them up well past their bedtime. But finish I will -- or at least that's the goal.

To get there requires taking things in a very formulaic manner, or at least I'm told. To start, I find that months upon months upon months of running (as opposed to swimming and cycling) takes a significant toll on my body. I am 36 years old, I weight about 235 lbs, and I live in very hilly San Diego. My knees are fine (knock on wood), but the pounding training for a marathon is something other parts of my body can only endure for limited periods -- let's just say 15 months straight won't cut it. So, the first item on the agenda is to compete in what's called an Aquabike race at the Ironman distance. Specifically, it's what it sounds like -- an Ironman length swim (2.4 miles), followed immediately by the Ironman length 112 mile bike. The goal is to get to swim and bike fitness, then gradually bring in the run for the Spring of 2010. It's not that I cannot run -- I did complete the Long Beach Half-Marathon in the fall -- I just know better than to do so for 15 months straight without already having the bike and swim fitness in my hip pocket. Too many injuries and too much fatigue waylay the entire regiment, and I'm smart enough to now know my limitations.

Because Aquabike races are limited in number (even though I could just do a regular race and leave after the bike, it's nice to complete an actual race course and not just slink off like some petty thief or worse, quitter!), there is one that stands out in my area. The Vineman race in Sonoma County, California, the largest independent Ironman length race in the country, has held an Aquabike category for years -- as an iconic race in a lovely part of the state, it seems a no-brainer.

August 1, 2009 -- that's the date of the Aquabike. As I mentioned, generally one plans about 24 weeks of preparation for an Ironman length race. What I didn't mention is that my job -- I have run my own immigration law firm since 2002 -- requires a fair bit of travel. As a result, I'm giving myself 26 weeks, knowing that I'll need to take a few days off here and there as required. I intend to train three days a week on each of the bike and swim sections, presumably on alternating days. There will be two weekly workouts in each discipline of under two hours, so as to fit with available child-care options and one longer workout in each, probably when my wife is available on the weekends. Once the run gets incorporated into my workout come the fall, I'll need to reassess, but for now I think the schedule I have in my head should work out fine. As far as how to work out, or what form they take, here's where I need to plug Triathlete magazine contributor and author Matt Fitzgerald. His book of Triathlon workouts, published in conjunction with Triathlete magazine, has been my workout bible for a few years now. Matt has a specified 24-week Ironman length plan in his book -- actually, he has a dozen, and I am choosing option three (the third lightest workload -- intended for those who want to finish and still hold down a job). I'm simply removing the run portion (for now) and hammering out the swims and bikes.

So now you must be wondering what I'm blogging about. Well, other than providing myself an opportunity to journal my routine, thereby forcing myself to be honest and keep it up (not to mention a great record for posterity), I'm also going to relate how it all fits in to the wonderful lives of my children, who for privacy's sake I'll simply refer to as the "Princess" (my daughter who will turn three late this Spring) and the "Pea" (my son born in Summer of 2008). Oh, and my lovely wife -- shall we call her "Lovely Wife?" It will also provide me an opportunity to thank the dozens of people who make such an effort possible, most notably in-laws, neighbors (who put up with the barking dog when I'm off to the gym), child care professionals and preschool teachers, and any number of other people who I'm sure I'm forgetting. To all of them, let me start by saying thank you.

But most importantly, let me start... and so it begins.