Officially entered in Ironman Canada 2009!

Yesterday I received the official confirmation that I'm registered for Ironman Canada 2009. I've been ramping up my training for a few months now but until yesterday I didn't have a spot in the event, so now it's for real.

I've never done a triathlon before so this is going to be quite a challenge. The good news is that I have the time to put in the training, the bad news is I'm not really a runner or swimmer, and only an average cyclist!

My plan is to do an Olympic distance (about 1/4 of an Ironman) tri in March, a Half Ironman in June, and then Ironman Canada on Aug. 30th 2009. Of course with lots of training in between.

When I started the swimming about 2 months ago, it was difficult to do one length (25m) without stopping to catch my breath. Now I can swim 500m without stopping, but not very quickly. Ironman swim distance is 3.8km.

Running is another issue. I can run at a decent pace (say 3h 45m marathon pace) for an hour without feeling tired and feeling like I could just keep going and going, however I'm struggling with lower leg pain (shins mostly) that is limiting my ability to run as much as I would like to. Right now I definately can't run consecutive days, and two days apart is pushing it a bit. I've gone to someone for a running analysis and hopefully we'll get it figured out soon. Ironman run distance is 42km (a full marathon).

I'm confident I can do the ride (180km), the question in my mind is how quickly and whether or not I can stay in the aero position for much of the ride. I'm finding it quite uncomfortable/painful to be in that position...and it's not my back that's bothering me. Something tells me I'm going to be trying a lot of different saddles before this is all over.