The Road to IRONMAN: Managing a Bad Attitude
Mike Drak, Author and Senior Contributor for Booming Encore, has publicly shared his goal to complete the IRONMAN race in Cozumel in November, 2022. He is currently undergoing an aggressive training schedule and shares updates with us on his progress.
I’ve been in a bad mood for the past week because of a leg injury suffered in a bike crash.
I haven’t been able to train other than some one-legged swimming and the thought of not making it to Ironman Cozumel has been bothering me each and every day.
I’ve been cranky with my wife, my training partners along with my coach. I began to feel a little depressed similar to how I felt when I was suffering from retirement shock.
I had no energy and began to entertain thoughts about giving up on my Ironman dream but thankfully I woke up and the fever is broken.
You see, I realized that finishing an Ironman at age 68 was not the real goal after all. The real goal was to get my health back and I have accomplished that with all the training I’ve been doing.
When I started training I was borderline obese (53 lbs overweight) and my blood pressure was in the 160’s. Today I’m much lighter, my clothes fit better and my blood pressure taken this morning is 106.
So what’s not to be happy about?
When I think about it I wasn’t training for an Ironman but rather training for my seventies, eighties and beyond.
I’m still not in the kind of shape that I want but I’m pretty confident that if I stay on the trajectory that I’m on I should be there by the end of next year.
And once I’m there I plan on staying there for as long as I can. My plan for next year is to do the 2 day Ride To Conquer Cancer in June again and then finish off the summer by doing the Niagara Falls Half Ironman.
Along with my renewed body comes a renewed attitude along with a renewed confidence. I’m back to my happy, I can do anything self. I haven’t felt like that for a long time.
One other thing I learned is that Ironman training is not for me.
I find it all consuming and I want time and flexibility to do other things. Don’t get me wrong the athletic life is a good life I just don’t want it to prevent me from doing anything else.
I still plan on travelling to Cozumel and attempting Ironman on November 20th to see what happens. I’ve been training for the past twelve months and I’m hoping the base I have built up over that time will be enough to carry me through.
I feel confident that I will be able to handle the swim it’s the bike and run I’m not so sure of. What I do know is that participating with others will energize me. Hearing my family cheer for me along with the other spectators might just be enough to get me to that finish line in time.
I have a big “WHY” for doing what I’m doing and I’m relying on that big “Why” to get me through the rough patches on race day. It’s going to be a long day and there will be more than a few times when taking the easy route and throwing in the towel will be tempting but I don’t want to do that. I just want to do the best I can on that day.
Even with my knee problem I think I can make it close to the 17 hour cut-off because I’ve always been a little stubborn. I don’t think my loving wife shares the same opinion I do so there is only one way to find out.
Either way I can’t lose because I have already won in my mind - I have my health back and I plan on maintaining that health so I can do as many fun things as possible with the time I have left.
