Hi. My name is Aaron Dowd, and I am not an Ironman. Yet.

This is the first time in my life where I have set a really big, crazy goal. I’m going to finish an Ironman Triathlon by the end of 2018.

I’ve never considered myself athletic (I’ve always spent the majority of my time in front of a computer or reading books). Sure, I played some sports growing up, but I was never the strongest or fastest in the game. Never picked last, but never picked first.

As I’m writing this (April 28th, 2016), I’m in pretty good shape at 30 years old. I don’t know if I’m in the best shape of my life, but I’m pretty close to it. I’ve lost around 15lbs since the beginning of the year by cleaning up my diet and running and riding my bike more, so I’m sitting around 178lbs and 16% body fat (I’m 5'11").

Why are you doing this to yourself, Aaron?

So where did the idea to do an Ironman come from? I was sharing my fitness progress on Twitter (bragging about a 16 mile bike ride followed by a 7 mile run) and someone asked if I was going to do a triathlon. Without thinking, I responded, “Sure!”

Since the Ironman was the only triathlon I’d ever heard of, I assumed it was what I was committing to. Never mind that I had no idea how long an Ironman race was or how much training and preparation is required to finish it. Yeah, I thought, I can do that. How hard can it be?

What’s an Ironman?

In case you aren’t familiar, an Ironman is a race that consists of a 2.4 mile swim followed by a 112 mile bike ride followed by a 26.2 mile run. You have to finish all three sections of the race within 17 hours, and it’s considered to be one of the most difficult one-day sporting events in the world.

So yeah, I’m gonna do it, and I’m going to log my progress here.

Also, I’m not going to go from complete newbie to Ironman overnight. There are easier triathlons that I’ll be completing in the time leading up to the big one.

Here’s my timeline:

2016:

• 1+ Sprint Distance Triathlons (.5 mile swim, 12.4 mile bike, 3.1 mile run)
• 3+ 10k runs
• 2+ 30 mile bike ride
• 50 mile bike ride

2017:

• ITU Long Triathlon (1.86 mile swim, 49.6 mile bike, 12.4 mile run)
• Half Ironman (1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, 13.1 mile run)
• 100 mile bike ride
• 2 Marathon runs (26.2 miles)

2018:

• Ironman (2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, 26.2 mile run)

Gear I’ll Need:

1. New Road Bike — $800+

I’ve been riding around on an old Schwinn road bike since 2009. It looks sweet as hell, but it’s not exactly race ready (I converted it to a single speed). I’ll need to get a lighter bike with gears so I can go faster and further with less effort. A single speed bike is fine for cruising around town (or around a lake), but 112 miles is not something you want to do with a single speed road bike from the 80’s.

Update: found out I’ll need to buy a Tri Bike. Ok then. I went with a used Trek 2300 road bike ($280 on Craigslist) for the time being.

2. Bike Shorts — $50

I hate the idea of wearing padded bike shorts (ugh), but it’s not really an option.

3. Wetsuit — $100

For the swimming section. These help keep you warm and also help you swim faster, or so I’ve read. I’ve never worn a wetsuit before, so I’m kinda excited about this one. I’m already super comfortable in water, so having one of these will be like cheating.

Update: I’ll also need to buy goggles because it’s hard to swim the front stroke in a straight line without them. Normally I like the breast stroke better but my training book says that it’s not as efficient, so.

4. Running Shoes — Lots of Running Shoes — $100 x 5

I learned awhile back that you don’t want to buy cheap shoes if you’re going to be running a lot. I really like Mizunos, so I’ll be sticking with those for the foreseeable future.

Tracking Progress:

I’ll be posting updates weekly here. I did weekly updates with my weight loss challenge and it was really cool to be able to go back and see the struggles and how I progressed over time.