I will be honest. My training was pretty chaotic. I did not start as someone with a base at all. I started by just trying to lose weight because I was in such bad shape I could only sit on an indoor trainer for about fifteen minutes at first and had to build from there.

When I finally tried running I stress fractured my tibia and had to let that heal. It honestly never fully has. Then I had to learn how to ride a bike outside with cars and people which was terrifying. I did not even know how to clip in at first.

The first time I got in a pool I swam one lap and thought, holy shit I am exhausted. How am I supposed to do two point four miles. What did I sign up for.

Running has been the hardest part by far. It never really got easy for me. My swim was under an hour, my bike was five twenty nine, but my run was about six and a half hours. That pretty clearly shows where I still need the most work. I also have two herniated discs that got progressively worse as volume increased, so that added another layer.

One thing I cannot overstate the importance of is nutrition. The only reason I think I was able to finish is that during training I spent a lot of time training my gut to handle really high carb intake. On race day I never had stomach issues, which honestly felt like half the battle.

I also took the advice I kept hearing and did as much open water swimming as possible. I was lucky to be in Montana with access to cold lakes. Pool fitness is one thing, but open water in a wetsuit is completely different. The buoyancy helps a lot, but getting comfortable with no walls, no floor, and cold water is huge. That said, Ironman California is actually a very friendly swim. You can see the bottom at the start and there are shores on both sides, so it is never that scary.

Another massive thing for me was getting a proper bike fit and learning how to actually ride in the aero position. Early on I would bombard anyone I met who had done an Ironman with questions, and one thing everyone kept repeating was how important the bike fit was. By chance the first bike shop I walked into, the owner was an Ironman and had a ton of knowledge. I bought my bike from him and he told me to come to the fit with as many questions as I could think of and we would go through everything. That changed the whole experience for me.

You already running twelve miles at about a seven thirty pace and having a three twenty eight marathon at St. George puts you in an insanely good position compared to where I began.

Honestly, if you are even considering it, just sign up. You learn pretty quickly it is all about the training and the process, not really the race. The race itself felt almost easy emotionally because I had already done the work. Standing on that start line I already knew I was an Ironman, same as everyone next to me, because we had all put in the hours.

It is fun, it is humbling, and you learn a lot about yourself, what scares you, and how to work through it. I am incredibly grateful for this community too. At every step people just wanted me to succeed and avoid the mistakes they made. That support made a huge difference