Today my Ironman training gets serious.  I know, I’m thinking the same thing too: “What have you been doing for the last 5 months?”  That training was all well and good (and hard), but that was all considered “base building”.  Now is when the real fun begins.  For the next three months I’m going to be pushed farther than anyone should be.  There will be quite a few “triple” days, a couple 5+ hour days, and a handful weeks that resemble a part-time job of exercise.

So with all that in mind, I’m going to challenge myself to something that may be even harder than an Ironman.  For the remainder of my training, I’m going to clean up what I’m putting into my doughnut-loving, ice cream-demanding, fried food-craving face hole.  Instead of inhaling whatever calories I can get my hands on, I’m going to be more selective and deliberate with my choices.

I’ll give you a moment to regain your composure.  Yes, I realize it’s … ok, stop laughing … I re … I realize it’s perhaps a bit counter intuitive.  If I’m exercising more, why not eat more of everything?  This is going to be the only Ironman I do — yes, really —  and I want to get myself to the starting line in the best condition that I can.  From now until race day — November 17th — I’m going to what I can to focus on eating right, which means a drastic decrease in visits to such favorites as Cow Tipping Creamery, Red Rabbit Bakery, and anything that can be abbreviated to BBQ.  That goes for alcohol too.

To be clear, this isn’t any sort of Lent-like “super strict cold turkey” type of thing, nor a formal “diet”.  I’ll certainly allow myself a reasonable amount of food that falls into the category of “calorie-bomb”.  I’m just preparing you for fewer Facebook posts of beautiful ice cream sandwiches, chocolate-covered bacon, and extra cheesy pizza.  I’m sticking with “garbage in = garbage out”.

Why bother sharing this with you?  Simple!  Social pressure.  There’s no way I can hold myself accountable to this.  We’ll see how long I can keep it up, but the goal truly is to go from now through race day.  Just remember, not none; just less.  Here goes nothing.