My good friend Charlene Brouwer approached me with a seemingly simple request a short while ago. Can you train and prepare me to complete an Ironman?
I have been training with Charlene for 2 years. Her first target was a sub 60 minute 10k which we ticked off early in 2012. We entered a few sprint adventure races together and at the end of 2013 completed a 120km adventure race with team mates Ian and Staci Katsivalis. That race took us 23hours non-stop in pouring rain and was a good character test.
At the beginning of May Charlene ticked off her first half marathon in just under 2hr12. I sprung that one on her as a surprise. She has been following a simple weekly running plan and we have slowly built up the weekend long run to the point where I knew she was ready for a good half marathon run. I think the text conversation went something like
me: ‘Do you want to run a half marathon on Thursday morning’
Charlene: ‘This Thursday?'(it was Monday evening)
me: ‘Yes’
Charlene ‘I’m in’
and that was all it took.
Charlene is tough, determined and has enough of a ‘f#$k you’ attitude to make me believe that she can handle the training needed to get to the start of an Ironman. I didn’t have to think too long before I said yes I’ll train you and I’ll join you.
We will be using Mindful Runner to document our progress. I will be training right alongside her and also looking to complete my first Ironman. We remain runners and adventure racers first and that is how our training will be orientated.
