This past Saturday I set out on an ambitious 50-mile solo training ride. I had ridden 45 miles two weeks ago so it wasn’t the distance that concerned me. Well it did have me a little worried – I had some severe leg cramps in the last two miles of that ride. But what really concerned me was my back. After six weeks of relief from my bulging disc, I had really messed my back up last weekend and was still trying get over that. I took three days off from training this week and had eased back into it with a swim and ride on Thursday and a run on Friday and thought that I would at least try to ride on Saturday. I thought if my back starts hurting I’ll just turn around.
Tag: Triathlon
For months I’ve been bothered by low back pain that extends into my hip and at times down my left leg. The pain has been annoying but manageable. An MRI a few weeks ago shows that I have two bulging discs, a tear in one of my discs, and one of the bulging discs is impinging a nerve. I’ve tried chiropractic adjustments, spinal decompression, dry needling, kinesiology tape, cortisone injections, massage, physical therapy, heat, ice, and various anti-inflammatories. While some of these therapies have offered some relief nothing seems be curing the problem.
If you had told me four years ago as I stood at the finish line of the first Witt’s Warriors challenge – a 5k mud run – that I would go on to do a marathon or a triathlon I probably would have said that you were crazy. Not surprisingly when my buddy, Tony Alger, approached me back in 2013 and said “I’m gonna do an Ironman next year and you should do it with me” I think my response was something along the lines of “Heck No! Are you out of your mind?”.
The 2016 Witt’s Warriors challenge is still seven months away but it has been in my sights since June. I’ve read five books trying to understand what it will take to reach this goal and meet this challenge. I’ve been training for nine months already. I’ve logged 2,400 miles of swimming, running, and cycling just to reach the fitness threshold I need to begin a training plan. In the months ahead I’ll be training 10-15 hours each week. Sounds crazy right?
Well as I said in my last post, Witt’s Warriors is about challenging myself far beyond anything I’ve ever done. This year’s challenge will certainly do that. It will be tougher than any physical challenge I’ve ever faced. On September 25th I’ll be competing in my first Ironman Triathlon – a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike ride, and a 26.2 mile run. I’ll be racing Ironman Chattanooga to raise awareness of Congenital Heart Defects – the leading cause of birth defect associated illness and death in infants. I’ll also be raising money for Mended Little Hearts of Nashville. Mended Little Hearts is a national volunteer led non-profit dedicated to providing hope, help, and healing to heart patients and their families. If you would like to support me in reaching my fund raising goals you can make a tax deductible donation through my fund raising page.
Honestly, this challenge scares me. But over these last four years I’ve learned that we’re capable of doing far more than we think we can. I’ve learned that we let fear keep us from doing the great things that we dream of. I’ve learned that motivation and inspiration can help you overcome your fears. And I’ve learned that when you overcome your fears and you do something great that it changes you forever.
Four years ago, I had just hit forty and was sitting on the couch growing more and more frustrated with my inactive lifestyle and growing waistline. I looked everywhere for motivation but came up empty everywhere I turned. Then one day I saw an advertisement for a Warrior Dash race. For those that aren’t familiar, the Warrior Dash is a 5k (3.1 mile) muddy run through an obstacle course. It looked like a lot of fun but for someone that couldn’t even run to the mailbox I thought that the race might be too challenging for me. But that’s when I saw that the race coincided with the 2nd Anniversary of Witt’s life saving heart transplant. Remembering the fight he had been through and how he courageously fought that battle I knew that I couldn’t back down from the challenge of the Warrior Dash. So I registered for the race, recruited some good friends to join me, started a Couch to 5k training program and Witt’s Warriors was officially born.
