IronMan? You're Doing What?

The most frequently asked question... What's an IronMan triathlon? Answer: A race consisting of a 2.4-mile open water swim, a 112-mile bike ride, and a 26.2-mile run. Most frequently asked response... Why the (insert expletive) would ANYONE do that?! Check out the video at this link to catch the spirit of the thing... http://www.nasports.com/mediacenter/fordvideo/fordvideo.php Peace, Dan

Please Give to Bridge of Hope

Dear Friends,

Though still a long way from being physically ready for the Ironman USA triathlon in Lake Placid, New York in July, I’m pleased to announce that my fundraising and awareness campaign for the Bridge of Hope has officially launched. My fundraising total already stands at $6,310… more than 25% of my $25,000 goal. Not a bad start! I now have five months to reach my fundraising and fitness goals. The campaign concludes on 7/20/07 (race day is 7/22/07).

Now that the clock is ticking, I am asking for your support. Please consider giving to this very worthy cause. My family has first hand experience with the workings of the Bridge of Hope. Many of you might be surprised, as I was, to learn of the plight of this segment of our society. The Bridge of Hope connects homeless women and children with a caring community, by training and developing mentoring groups within church congregations, so these families can achieve permanent housing and financial self-sufficiency while building a network of stable ongoing relationships. This is not a “hand out.” This is real, meaningful work with deep emotional investment for the families and mentoring communities. We have welcomed two such families into our lives.

The Bridge of Hope met my personal criteria for this fundraising effort…

Proven effectiveness. They have maintained close to an 80% success rate with this extraordinarily difficult mission.
Significant impact. This is a small organization that will benefit greatly from ANY GIFT that you might be able to give. They receive exactly ZERO government funding, relying purely on private donations. If we hit my fundraising goal, this effort will result in enough funding to support FIVE FAMILIES through their 12 to 18 month program.
Emotional attachment. Having some personal involvement, I know of the life altering impact the program has on the at-risk and volunteer families. Selfishly, I figured this would give my extreme training deeper meaning… occasionally helping me to get out of bed or finish off some particularly difficult day of training.

There are two ways to give…

Online: Log onto my blog at http://www.dansironquest.blogspot.com/. From there, connect to the “Donate to Bridge of Hope” link in the right hand margin. From that link, type in Dan Kerr under athlete’s name and you will be prompted from there. You can also track my training from another link on the blog. I update the blog about once/week so you can see what’s going on with my training & life in general.

Snail Mail: Send me a check made out to Bridge of Hope. I will record the donation and forward to them. My address is 1715 Ridgeview Avenue, Lancaster, PA 17603.

Thank you!

Juggling Act

For me, this is the toughest time of year to keep a consistent training schedule together. The winter and early spring months are traditionally the busiest at work… the boys transition from basketball to baseball seasons… volunteer activities are in full gear… daylight is limited and outdoor training conditions are pretty nasty… and racing season seems SO far away! It takes a pretty serious commitment to remain disciplined. It probably wouldn’t be possible to stay consistent if I didn’t truly enjoy exercise or have such a passion for the sport.

But consistency is the key. There’s a good quotation in the book “Going Long” (Friel and Byrn) by former IM world champ, Scott Molina; “Little and often fills the purse.” My interpretation - Getting some exercise every day is far better than making excuses some days and loading others up.

There will come a period this year (beginning of May through Father’s Day) when training for Ironman becomes my main focus. Until then it’s about effective time management as I juggle a bunch of priorities.

I bump into a number of folks who think this training regimen is downright selfish. I must be sacrificing my family or my vocation (career), right? Wrong! In fact, nothing has taught me how to focus on what’s most important in life, or given me a better sense of perspective, or given me a deeper thankfulness, than participating in life so fully. Taking time and energy to focus on destructive speech and action simply is not an option. What channel is “American Idol” on, anyway? I hear so much about it… Sure seems like it exudes a lot of negative energy. I’d rather talk to my kids or do some sit-ups.

Long Distance Lesson Learned by an Adrenaline Junkie

This blog is written for any long distance endurance athletes checking in…

I’ve experienced a bit of a breakthrough in my training. Did I break a 5-minute mile? Nope. Swim across the rapidly freezing Susquehanna River? Of course not! No, to most others this breakthrough will sound pretty boring. To me, though, it’s a satisfying validation of sticking to a training philosophy advocated by many endurance gurus and continually reinforced by my coach, Patrick McCrann.

I am like a lot of other underachieving endurance athletes. I lack patience. I’m an adrenaline junkie. I sometimes revert to a “crush and destroy” mentality when training or racing. That’s all fine for competing in sprint or middle distance triathlons, but it’s a recipe for disaster over a long course. I’ve learned this lesson the hard way - MAJOR bonks at my first half Ironman race and during some race simulations. There’s no better teacher than a good metabolic meltdown. Call it the school of hard knocks.

For the last couple of years I’ve been fairly consistent at sticking to a training philosophy of slowing down… of building basic aerobic endurance and efficiency. It hasn’t been easy. Positive changes come slowly. It’s counterintuitive to think that slowing down in training leads to faster long distance racing. Doubt easily creeps in. But I’ve become a believer.

So what’s the breakthrough? Over the past year I’ve managed to knock about 45 seconds/mile off my steady aerobic running pace – the pace I hope to run at Ironman LP. I’m now four years into my triathlon training, but have just begun realizing this improvement recently.

Want another example of the fruits of this training philosophy? Last year I ended the racing season with back-to-back races. On Saturday I pushed for more than two hours above my aerobic threshold at an Olympic distance triathlon. The next morning I stuck my beat-up body in the water at 7:00 am for a Half Ironman race. Most of my friends and family thought I was nuts (I kind of enjoyed that!). But my plan paid off. I knocked the natural aggressiveness right out of my system on day #1. I showed up on day #2 totally relaxed and truly enthusiastic. I raced the Half IM very methodically, totally unconcerned about pace. I didn’t really start “racing” until about mile 9 of the run. The result? A personal record, at my fourth HIM, by more than 14 minutes.

This is no fluke, folks. My body now reverts to steady aerobic gearing instead of the turbo overdrive it had become accustomed to, and the gains are undeniable. Pretty encouraging stuff as I approach my first IM!