morning swim

Haven't yet had a chance to go through all the shots from this morning's cold swim practice, but here's one for now.

Saturday morning indoor spin

A cold Saturday saw the sensible people riding indoors.

Indoor Spin

I've uploaded a few more pictures here to share with the group. These are too grainy/ out of focus for the book, but I hope they captured the moment.   

During the spin, I noticed some nursing their injuries/problem areas.  (Laurie is icing her shoulder & hip in the picture above.) For me, injury is a very real part of training for an Ironman. I was at Performance Wellness weekly last time around, and I always ran into another teammate there.  It would be interesting to include a page with the human body with callouts to injuries and names.

100x100's

Photo's from the 100x100's can be found here.  Congrats to everyone who came out and swam further than they ever did before.

Right now, we're focusing on pictures of winter-specific events such as the indoor spins in lieu of a long bike.  Let us know if several of you are getting together to spin at home on a Saturday.

We'll do more the profile pictures as we get more into training.   

Interesting Metrics

We've received 36 questionnaire responses for the project, and a couple more are on the way.  Some numbers from the responses:

• 23 women / 13 men
• 14 married / 11 single / 8 in a relationship (3 married couples are training for IMCDA)
• 18 first-time IM / 18 repeat IM
• Favorites (with some duplicates): 11 swimming / 15 cycling / 13 running
• Dreaded (with some missing): 13 swimming / 5 cycling / 16 running
• Average time doing triathlons is 4 years. Range is from 9 months to 10 years.

pictures from the ride for Erin

Upcoming Photoshoot: 100 x 100's

The 100 x 100's swim is coming up this Sunday, and I'll be there at sunrise to take pictures.  I'm still learning how to use my camera, so I'm hoping for one good shot out of hundreds.   

The What, Why and Who's of the Everyday Ironman Project

First the What –

We are working on a book that will document the Ironman training of people who are not professional athletes.  We want to capture in photos and words not only the training but also life outside of triathlons.  The idea is to show how the average person deals with training, work, and family.

Now, the Why –

If you have watched the network broadcast of an Ironman race, there are two types of athletes that get profiled.  There are the professionals and then there are the athletes who overcame some type of challenge.  Similarly, if you peruse the sports section at Barnes and Nobles, you will find several books about the Ironman distance race.  Most of these are how-to books that focus on training.  A few are a collection of race reports, but none really focus on the average person, the hard work they put in, the task of balancing work, home and training and their overall Ironman experience.  We want to fill that gap. 

We have had something like this on our minds for several years.  We have several objectives:

1. Finally act on the idea, use our creative side to deliver a book that documents the Ironman experience.
2. Provide to the T3 Ironman Coeur D’Alene athletes, a chronicle of their six month journey to the finish line.
3. Develop the book in a professional manner so that commercial consideration is an option.

And finally, the Who –

Jane Bui, Gordon McGregor and Jim Opre.  All three will be posting here about our plans, progress and thoughts.