davidhacquard.com

Update – 01/05/2011
Might wait for 2013 instead…

05/10/2010
After my first running experiences and especially my first marathon in 2009, I took a 6 months break from training. It was kind of necessary after 4 full months of extensive marathon training. Even if I could have been operational after only 4-5 days of rest, I finally resumed running only 2 weeks after the marathon. And then 6 months went by. Time to rest, to enjoy real family life again, to enjoy victory, to think and to re-think it, and to digest the past running year. I know, 6 months, it’s long, but it goes by very fast as well.

I needed new motivations to wear my running shoes more often than just once a week or once every other week. It was time to get back to it more seriously. Finally. My pants started to feel way to small (and it’s not what you think!). And these few last running sessions started to become more difficult, as if I came back to square one, as if I lost all this marathon hard work. Total waste.

It’s decided. Let’s move on. Let’s go. Let’s lift my butt off that couch. As the goal of running my first marathon before turning 40 has been pulverized, I needed another goal. But what goal? Another marathon? Hum, I mean, I will run another one sometime in the future, that’s a given. The question is more when will I run another one. That’s not a goal in itself. Then run a 50K, or a 50 miler? Which would mean choosing the path of becoming an ultra runner (running longer distances than a marathon: 50K, 50 miles, 100K, or 100 miles). Ok, that’s a goal, but it’s quite a bit. Not the 50K, really. It’s just 8K more than a marathon. Still, but well. I thought I would start doing something a little bit different for a change this year (2010).

Why not trying multi-discipline challenges? What about a little duathlon (run + bike ride) and a little triathlon (swim + bike ride + run)? Why not? Hm, I think it’s a good idea. And there, of course, the big word appears in front of my eyes: « Ironman ». Hold on, that’s the must of the races in terms of triathlon. Way too big and inaccessible for me, even in the best of my dreams. Just by thinking the word it hurts your legs. Imagine going for a 2,4 miles (3,86 km) swim, then 112 miles (180,25 km) of biking, and right after that running a full 26,2 miles (42,195 km) marathon, in the same day, one after another… Pfff… Wow, no kidding, brutal. On top of that there is a cutoff time for each section, with a max cutoff at the end otherwise you don’t deserve the title (even if you finish the race). You have to be in your best bloody shape I’m telling you. You have to be an athlete, no choice, even though you see sometimes people over 72 years old finishing the race… Anyhow, you don’t pronounce this word lightly. I don’t even allow me to think about it.

But…. What if I authorize myself to think about half of that? Hey? Half of an Ironman, it’s 1,9 km swimming, 80 km biking, and a half marathon. Here is something that falls into the « maybe one day I can try to do that, that would be cool ». There you go, it’s decided. I would like to participate in an half Ironman before I turn 40. How does this sound? Crazy, I know, but doable no? We call that officially an « Ironman 70.3 ». Why 70.3? Very simple. Its the total of the three distances in miles (113 KM if you wish). I have almost 3 years in front of me to get prepared. Doable. Unless injuries and so on. But feasible. Then, the little multi-disciplinary challenges this year, plus eventually one half marathon this year, and a full marathon in 2011, all this sounds like a natural and logical progression for the Ironman 70.3 preparation! Then I researched quickly what Ironman 70.3 was available around me here in Canada, and they are not that many. The Subaru Muskoka 70.3 in Ontario falls perfectly under my radar : September 2012. Before the end of the word as we know it (according to Mayans scheduled for December 21st, 2012), so I’m still good. There is also the Benton Harbor’s 70.3, in Michigan, that one being in July. These are not cheap races (and you have to drive up and take a hotel room), so it gives me also some time to put money aside

Subaru Muskoka Ironman 70.3

Here we go, the big project of my late 30′s is setup!

Now it’s up to me…

Ironman 70.3, see you in 2 1/2 years.

I will be there at the start line and I intend crossing the finish line before the cutoff.

As always, people, I count on you for your moral support, your cheering. This blog continues to live with the enthusiasm that is mine, each and every single time I raise my own personal bar a little higher. I will write once a while in the 2012 Ironman 70.3 goal category to keep you posted of what’s going on and where I am in this long journey for this new quest. This time, a new adventure, and I hope I will be able to take you with me through my articles. I also hope I will inspire some of you to push your own limits a little further, go stronger, always further you can think you can go. It is so worth it.