I was reminded this week of two athletes that completed their first Ironman races last year.  An excerpt from a recent note:

...I wanted to thank you for the training plan last year to prepare me for my first Ironman, Ironman Florida on Nov.1 2008.  I had never even run a marathon prior to IM Florida let alone do a full IM.  Your plan was easy to follow and prepared me perfectly despite the fact that I developed a knee injury about a month prior to the ironman.  Because I was so well prepared from months of training the knee injury really didn’t sideline me for long.  If anything, it just gave me a little more forced rest time.  I went into the race with no real expectations of time goals but was hoping to finish under 13 hours.  To my (and most all of my training partners) surprise I completed IM Florida in 11:18.  It turned out to be an awesome day.  The swim was relaxed despite a leg cramp early on.  I finished it in 1:10, about 5 to 10 min ahead of what I expected.  The bike leg was painful on my lower back but my legs were just ready to go and I averaged nearly 21 mph for 112 to split around 5:30.  Finally, the marathon was a total surprise especially with a hurt knee and never actually having completed one before.  I had a great run-walk strategy that carried me to a 4:13 marathon split – I was even getting faster as the day was going.  I finished on such a high, it was great.  I enjoyed every aspect of the race and the whole experience.  Thanks for helping me prepare.

Shortly after receiving this note I received another note from an athlete who reported a recent long-course race success and reminded me of his first Ironman race last September that he completed in 12 hours.

My reason for posting these two examples is to remind all of you beginner triathletes, or triathletes-to-be, that the goal of an Ironman can be acheived.  I work with athletes each day that find a way to acheive their goals while still balancing all of their otherimportant life roles.  You can make it happen!