Thursday 28 January 2016

The problems begin ...

First of all, thanks everyone for your verbal and financial support. I thought my post on fb may be just a nusiance for everyone, so I was very pleasantly surprized. Now I really don't have any choice left, and just have to go for it. Actually the amount of money I gathered will allow me to buy a multiple entry pass to the swimming pool, so I have to go and buy it as soon as possible, since its about the same price as the new Starcraft expension... :-D

Back to the training...

The next day after the Tuesday 15km run, I felt quite ok. It looked like my body could keep the training tempo. As I don't want to overdo it, on Wednesday I planned only to play badminton with U. and make some basic exercices. I didn't start with the "Tabata Method" that "whatever" suggested yet. I'll try it in about 10 days. Actually the badminton was a good exercice too. U. is really experience and she made me run all over the field for the entire hour, so I felt more exhausted then after our football matches. I was a bit afraid on how my legs would hold, since I was supposed to run 24 kms the day after, but I felt nothing special. Unfortunately I woke up twice during the night and started caughing a little. It's very unusual for me so I took it as my body telling me that I may have choosen a too quick pace for my training.

Fourth run:
This morning I realized I've never ran 24 kms before but the distance didn't impress me much, since its only a little bit longer then the half marathon. Moreover I am lucky to have a friend D. that lives at approximately 12 kms from my place, so we agreed that I will stop by for some water with sirup. That way not only I'll get refreshed, but I'll have something to look forward during the first 12kms.
The first 4 kms were quite painful, as my muscles weren't as relaxed as in the previous runs, but it got better and till the 10th km it was a piece of cake. At the 10th km the problems began. My left knee started to hurt a little. It slowly went from annoying to unsupportable. I thought of my kung-fu training and tried to focus my attention elsewhere, but it turns out I suck at this, so it didn't work. I forced myself to reach the checkpoint without any break, but I wasn't sure if I could continue any longer. After the refreshement, the pain went away for a while, so I managed to reach about the 14th km while still running, but from then I did need to take breaks. My hearth frequency, muscle trieness and breath were satisfactory, just this damn knee... So the last 10 km I spend half walking an half running. To literally add insult to injury, I kicked some plastic bottle of beer by accident and its content spilled on my trousers. Turns out that beer can turn into vinegar if you provide it enough time. The last km of the parcour is through a very crowded part of city, let's just say that I tried to choose the shadowy alleys and that this time, I didn't get many "emphatic smiles"

Tomorrow I will go play football, I think my knee should be fine till then, but I will give it as much rest as possible. Also I decided not to go to the tournament by bike, since it would be a bit crazy, to leave at 5 in the morning, especially when I feel tired. I will just try to run ~ 5-10 km on Satturday. Next week will be dedicated to swimming. I am looking forward to this part of training, because (if I feel good enough) I will try running to the swimming pool, swim and then run back. I hope to get the ironman feeling from that.

Tuesday 26 January 2016

The Ironman in 3 month training begins!

Why am I writing this blog?


  1. It should work like a whip. Make me feel bad if I don't practice.
  2. If I start improving, I'd like to scare my friend M., with whom I did this bet.
  3. If someone will read it, I'd be very happy for advices. I am googling, but I am not too good at that.
  4. I usally get very bored when I run. Now during my runs I try to notice funny things about which I could write here and am thinking about what I will write. It makes my exercices more pleasant.
  5. To try to collect a little bit of money. I gave up my job few months ago, so that I can finish my 5th year of studies with dignity and therefore have not much cash. Normally I wouldn't need any, but since it's so cold outside I need to go to the swimming pool which costs 3euro. If anyone feels like supporting me, please make a donation of no more then 3euro at the paypall address: ondra@free.fr or to my bank account: 670100-2203574521/6210 (guess this works for czech peoply only). Thank you very much if you do, I promis to spend it on Ironman training related stuff, most probably on the swimming pool ticket.


So now about training:

On Wednesday I had my last school exam, so my training from Friday to Wednesday was quite feeble. I only did muscular training, particulary focused on the abdomen. Later on I will try to figure out how to train my dorsal muscles. I fear I may have serious problems with those, while riding for ten hours. I also do pull-ups on the children playground in front of my appartement. When I began I was suffering to make 3, now after a longer run 5 went quite easily. The human body is awesome.
Since Wednesday I managed to make three runs. My idea to complete the Ironman now is to build a solid basis, discover and train a heart frequency that I can keep up for several hours, therefore I do not try to run especially fast.

First run:
Thursday: it was so freaking cold outside I almost didn't go. One of the reason being I did not have any gloves nor a hat. But with the picture of the other Ironmans (or how I picture them atm) I thought I have no choice. The first run was supposed to be easy 8 kms, so no big deal... Well, the running part was ok, even the absence of the mentioned clothing was manageable, the problem was elsewhere. As we learned in our anatomy classes, some parts of the male body are situated externally to the main corpus, in order to achieve higher efficiency during a part of our lifecycle. Reason for this positioning being the decrease in tempreture. It also means, which was fatal in my case, that this area isn't provided by that match of body heating. Well let's just say, there are occasions when you are happy your girlfriend isn't waiting for you at home :-). Today (third run) I put 2 sets of underwear, and its all good.

Second run:
Friday: I felt quite good, so I decided to run to our football pitch. Its at the other side of the city, approximately 6km's but lot of "dénivellation". Unfortunately I had our jersies and football with me, so I struggled to put everything in my bag. Finally I gave up and decided to carry the ball while running. It was not very practical, but since I had to run through the city, the smiles of the people I was encountering were cheering me up :). I managed the run without problems, but after 45minutes of football I started having cramps and had to stop. I wonder if it could be out of exhaustion? I will try to eat more minerals, any hints?

During the weekend I played badmintion and pingpong, which probably doesn't count too much. Also I did drink quite a bit. I feel that in order to succeed I need to limit the drinking and also get psychologically stronger. Giving up on beer is quite tough, so so far I am going step by step - I am forcing myself to make the bed every morning.

Third run:
Tuesday: I don't have much time, so I need to start with the long runs ASAP. Today I ran 15kms. I could run faster, but didn't force myself, and managed it in 1h35, with the feeling I could run easily 10 more. So Thursday I will try something around 23km.
Also on Satturday I am considering going biking for the first time, since I am attending a go tournament 95kms from my place. It will depend mostly on the weather though, because I'd need to leave around 5am.  Why couldn't I have made this bet during spring...

Friday 22 January 2016

Drinking problems ;-)

Argh, so basically I wanted to blend in with my new flatmates. With the idea of "team building" in mind I joined their "8 min abs workout" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-9L0J_9qag). What followed were two unfortunate weeks of suffering where I was barely able to tie my shoelaces. I never thought of myself as a coach potato, but I guess the release of Starcraft 2 really did affect my physical condition. Anyhow, since that day, my physical inability started to float in my mind, and as you know, you can only ignore your subconsciousness for so long...

Each Friday after our weekly soccer match we hang out with the guys, drink and laugh. I think (hope) I was finishing at least my fifth beer when we started talking about the Ironman. My father has been training for more then a year and is supposed to compete soon, so I know a bunch about the competition. First you've got to swim for 3.8km, followed by a 180km bike ride and if you are still standing you can attempt to finish with a marathon (42km run)... quite a feat, wouldn't you say? Well, not after 5 beers. I remember those distances seemed ridiculously short and since I wanted to start working out a challenge was of order. I estimated the time I'd need to complete these tasks, 2hours for swimming, about 10hours for the bike and 6 hours for the marathon, did the math and made a bet that I will complete the Ironman in less then 16hours until the 1st April 2016. Only in the morning did I realize what I did. Not only it may be impossible to complete it at all, but 2+10+6 is far from 16. Fortunately my very good friend M, the devil in person, allowed me to change the time to 17hours - the official Ironman time.

This blog will be about my following 3 months of training and my attempt to complete the challenge.

About this blog's name. As I expect to be facing laughter and mockery allow me to quote the Ninja from the band Die Antwoord. In the song "Enter The Ninja" he raps: "Fuck all of you that said I wouldn't make it. You said I was a loser. You said I was a no one. You said I was a fucking sucker. Look at me now, all up on the interweb. ... Enter the ninja"

My goals are ordered as follows:
1) Not give up due to a lack of spirit.
2) Not die of exhaustion.
3) Finish the challenge.
4) Make it in the time limit.