It’s official. This blog outlining my training journey from now until I start the 2015 Bellingham Traverse with a Chinook division, 100-series bib number, starts today! I have threatened to race in the traverse under the men’s solo division before, but that proclamation usually happens about a month before the next scheduled race, and because of my “hit or miss” training schedule, the motivation to follow through with that short term goal was pretty minimal. Not this time.

For your entertainment only.

This collection of journal entries is purely for entertainment. I fully encourage anyone to join me on my quest, but I don’t intend this blog to provide health advice. Each person is different and I have my own team of physicians, chiropractors, trainers, and massage artist to help me along my way. I encourage you to do the same, or just read along and laugh at my experiences.

I’ve given myself a fair amount of training time until the race.

Roughly 9 months. 9 short months to whip my admittedly soft body into race condition, and I truly believe that 9 months should be plenty of time. I’m not a stranger to working out having been a member of various fitness groups over the past 5 years like Bellingham X-Fit and Trailhead Athletics, but since I started Ketchup+Mustard, my time has been dedicated to growing the business. I’m ready to balance that out, and having a goal like this only encourages that kind of work/life balance. My motivation is this race, the net benefit is a healthier Brian. Win/Win in my opinion.

Goals and junk and stuff. 

At this point in my journey, the goal I have is to stay injury free and simply finish the race. I’m not too concerned with stage times, but I’m guessing, and hoping, that those things become important sometime during the training. I have a great support team (some who don’t know they’ll be helping me yet) that will help me along the way and will update this blog with details of how I’m progressing. I’m aware that you may not know who I am, or why you should care about my self-fulfilling experiences, so I will definitely include some training benchmarks with my posts to provide some insight to the progress I’ve made (if any).

Benchmarks

Running – I think my current average mile time is about 8:30/mile (I think it’s called the “pace?”). I’ll be running a LOT over the next 9 months and plan on hitting the track for a two mile benchmark run every other week. The first of these runs will happen this weekend and I’ll post the results. My current shoes are Nike Free Run 3’s, but I’m considering getting some Hoka’s. Thoughts?

Mountain Biking – I’m no stranger to the saddle of a mountain bike. I used to be an avid downhill rider but have sold all my gear and currently ride every now and then on my crappy Frankenbike. I’ll need to upgrade my equipment before the race.

Road Biking – I’ve called road biking “joyless riding” since I can remember, but I’ve learned to see the value in it. I don’t currently own a road bike (other than a steel cyclocross bike I won from nashbar.com), and really haven’t actively attempted to ride for speed. Any suggestions are fully appreciated.

Trail Run – Probably my strongest leg of the race, based on experiences up until this point. I can run on trails. Doing it after finishing the other legs will definitely be a challenge.

Kayak – I dread this leg of the race. I’ve only kayaked once in a crappy plastic kayak, and nearly tipped it many times. I am definitely going to need a coach for this section of the course, just to keep me alive.

Feedback is appreciated

They say it takes a village. Granted that usually refers to raising a child, but I think it applies to this situation too. I’m happy to listen to any advice or feedback during this journey and encourage your contributions and I know that having a community behind this process will only help me along.

I will be working with Trailhead Athletics along the way, with this event as the goal. I know they are great at what they do and will be a HUGE asset to my training. I know I will feel like shit for a large portion of this 9 month period, so get used to hearing me complain about it. I know that I will be offsetting my exercise with drinking beer (being an owner of the Bellingham Tap Trail has it’s pros and cons. Mostly pros). I know that this will be hard, but also rewarding.

Thanks in advance for reading and following along.