Transition: From Short Course and Half-Ironman to.... Ironman

The cats out of the bag. That's the saying, and our cats take it quite literally I'll admit.

But here I'm referring to the fact that I, Nina Jack, have officially signed, sealed and committed to training, fundraising and racing an Ironman distance triathlon. A race that I have previously deemed "silly", "crazy", "stupid" and "ludicrous". A race that over the past several years I have watched my husband and many friends train for and cross finish line. And slowly, in a sneaky, unsettling way, this event that had actually no appeal to me whatsoever, became something I had to do.

I chose Ironman Texas in 2013 for a variety of reasons, and for more on those reasons, I'll direct you to My Team Diabetes Website , because yes, I hope you'll decide to make a contribution to my silly, crazy, stupid and ludicrous Ironman adventure to raise money for the American Diabetes Association. Trust me, its easier than training and racing and its for an incredible cause.

I have actually been training since November but I kept quiet as I wanted to make sure I was going to be able to go through with this. I had been having some pain and soreness in my lower right hip/back area and needed to make sure it wasn't serious. Thanks to an team of professionals that I like to call my own personal Entourage - Coach Gareth, Trainer Pete Dack, Masseuse Scott Amiss and Chiropractor Glenn Lowenberg, we determined that I simply had common "late-blooming age-group triathlete" issues of tightness, imbalances, mis-alignments and general lack of strength. I am now on the right track to keep under control.

This was NOT my entourage, though Jeremy Piven did do the Malibu Tri.

My work schedule is also so uncertain that I am often lucky to even know where I will be next month, let alone next year, which makes planning big events rather difficult. This winter, though, I am SO excited to be back in Albuquerque for the final season of "Breaking Bad"! Its actually the perfect situation to incorporate my training with working. (And no, not so I can get blue meth as a training supplement!) I have an incredibly understanding roomate who let me take over a room for my trainer, the running trails here are stunning and the public pools are wonderful. The cast and crew are also wonderfully supportive of my training (though probably, understandably, a little worried for me too).

Breaking Bad cupcakes - the perfect training recovery food?

I also just knew in my heart that I wanted Ironman Texas to be my first, because you never forget your first they say (although I'm sure how you could forget ANY Ironman, even your 15th, for those REALLY crazy people).  And again, I shall direct you to my My Team Diabetes Website  for a more detailed story about why I chose Ironman Texas and what it means to me (sneaky, aren't I?)

So now the race is just over 4 months away and I feel like I've hit the 2nd trimester so I can tell the world. I've got a solid training routine incorporated with my work here in Albuquerque that is as ingrained into my daily schedule as brushing my teeth and tweeting.  My aches and pains are under control and only rear their ugly heads when I don't do my maintenance work.  I also don't get enough sleep, gave up on answering emails, eat all day long, do laundry every other day, smell like chlorine, wear run clothes to work, have no social life, spend the entire weekend training or trying to recover from training, spend ridiculous amount of money on strange sports food products and new gadgets, and about 95% of the my conversations are about triathlon (poor Dana), so I KNOW I have successfully made the transition to Ironman training.

And its AWESOME!