Blood results are back, Got taken off of iron pills?

 Got taken off iron pills.  I have not taken iron pills in months.  I was scare it would show up on blood work.  When she told me everything look good I told her I had not taken the iron pill with Ferrous Gluconate.  She said i did not have too results are where they are suppose to be.  I am almost 2 years.

Guys seem to have less issues with Iron in general.  I haven't taken an Iron supplement in over a year and my last labs showed my Iron levels were slightly elevated.  I actually have a female friend that is encouraged to donate monthly because her Iron gets so high WITHOUT Supplements.  Everyones body is going to be different

Do you think I can do iron man?  How do you get started with somethinlg like that?

Can you do an Ironman or Half Ironman?  ummm Hell yes you can!

 

You can do anything you set your mind to and work for.  How do you get started well You run a little bit, you swim a little bit and you Ride a little bit!

 

First step i would suggest is to set a Goal, a number of post-ops have gone on to do Half and Full Ironman events multiple times.  Think deep and long on why you want to do it and how committed you will be to doing it.  I will say that a Full Ironman event is like taking on an additional job, the hours needed to train are many.  A Half Distance you can set as a goal and still have a life.

 

Pick an event far enough out that you will have adequate time to train 9-12 months, I am partial to the Augusta race because it is close to my home, doesn't sell out fast and is an awesome crowd to race with. The swim is down river, Bike is rollers with a couple hills at the end and the run is pancake flat!

 

Register for the event as soon as you can because Ironman Branded Races can sell out fast!  IM Arizona sold out in 4 minutes, many people will go volunteer at a race because volunteers get to signup right after the event so the are in.  Pick a race that is friendly to first timers, you don't want to go do IM St George Utah with thousands of feet of climbing if you live someplace flat or have never done this distance before.

 

Once you know when your race is make a training schedule or find one online most schedules will have you Swim on Certain Days, Run on Other days and Cycle on days it will spell out exactly what days to do what, for how long on how many minutes/hours.  Then train, remember training is not just a matter of the physical aspect but also getting hydration and nutrition strategies in place.  Yes you have to take in calories while you ride the bike or run and it can be a chore.  You training plan will also increase your miles by a set amount at various times.  For me I can go from my base to a Half Marathon in a few weeks of training, but just starting out you will build a solid base and then add to it and increase your base  for me my base was 6 miles I could run that whenever I needed, so from there I added 1 mile every week on my weekend long run.  Building the miles on the bike for me was fairly easy and I did it in jumps of 10+ miles.

 

During your training find smaller sprint distance races in your area and do some of them just to learn the format and get comfortable doing it.  I freaked out less going into a 1.2 mile swim in a river than I did in a 400m swim at my first race.

For me the reason for doing this is easy.  It started out as me needing to prove to myself what I was capable of, that I am better now than who I used to be. During my journey to the finish line at Augusta it took on so much more meaning though, I proved on a weekly basis that if I could commit to something that I could complete it, I started my journey to Augusta also with the motivation of honoring my family members who had fought life battles against cancer and other ailments and ultimately lost.  Earlier this year though my baby girl was diagnosed as being Deaf, well as most people can probably realize it is difficult when we believe the life we wanted our kids to have isn't possible, this gave me more motivation.  My daughter will now grow up seeing first hand that no matter what obstacles are in our way a goal is obtainable if it is Realistic and you work for it.

Ironman is a Realistic goal if you can commit and when you cross the finish line after what will prove to be the hardest day of your life you will feel like you have never felt before.  In fact if you are one of us sick whack jobs you will sign-up to experience more glorious pain.

 

If you want more info or advice send me a message and I will point you in the direction or help you anyway I can.

 

Thank you for sharing your experiences.  You just scared the Sht out of me!  Wow!  I think I like the physical aspects of the race than actually doing it.  I like to lift weights and run sometimes. Swim, maybe a lap.  How much weight did you lose in addition to surgery doing Iron man?  I too like you once committed I can do it, Just need to do it.  I am now 218 pounds down from 310.  I need something to motivate me to stay down.  I live in Indy, not much for iron man competitions, what else you suggest in getting a half in.

Lose? BAAHAHAHA I actually gained 9 pounds training. plus a few when I was down with an injury. 

All muscle gain!