July 2024 — couldn't run a mile. November 2025 — IRONMAN.
In July 2024 I was 210 pounds and couldn't run one mile without stopping. Five months later I finished a half IRONMAN on one week of swim practice. Sixteen months later I finished the full. Here's the plan — and the parts you shouldn't copy.
July 2024. 210 pounds. I went out for a run and couldn't finish a mile without stopping. That's the whole starting point. No running background, no swim team, nothing.
Late November. I got on a road bike for the first time since I was a teenager.
December 15. I did a half IRONMAN in Florida. I had practiced swimming for one week. I nearly drowned on the swim — I don't have a better word for it — came out of the water at 180 beats per minute and stayed there. The bike was survival. I walked large parts of the run.
I finished. Five months after I couldn't run a mile.
January. My body sent the invoice. Groin surgery. Simple procedure, two months out.
March. Ran a marathon anyway. I was not prepared for it and the race told me so. Finished it run-walking, which is a sentence I could write about every race that year.
April. The groin went again. Second surgery, another month out. I came back too fast, re-injured it, and lost another month on top. That one was entirely my fault, and it cost me more than the original injury did.
July 2025. I actually started training. For a race on November 1st.
November 1st. I finished my first full IRONMAN.
Add it up: sixteen months, and roughly five of them I couldn't train. Every program you'll find online assumes clean, unbroken blocks of compliance. Mine never had one. The real skill wasn't executing a perfect build — it was knowing what to cut, what to protect, and how to come back without ending up right back on the table.
I'm not telling you this because it's impressive. Half of it was reckless. I'm telling you because if a plan only works when nothing goes wrong, it isn't a plan.
I'll say the quiet part. Somewhere around month three, when the alarm goes off at 4:40 and it's dark and you don't want to, the honest motivation is not longevity or heart health.
It's that "I'm training for an IRONMAN" is a completely different sentence than "I've been meaning to get back in the gym." Women notice. So does every room you walk into. So does the guy in the mirror, which is the one that actually matters at 4:40 in the morning.
Use whatever gets you out the door. The alarm doesn't care why.
Week-by-week progression from zero. Swim, bike, run, strength. What every session is for, so you can modify it instead of skipping it.
Where I broke, why, and the rebuild protocol that got me back. Plus the warning signs I ignored the first time and caught the second time.
One week of swim prep before an open-water race was stupid. Coming back early from surgery cost me a month. This chapter is the difference between a story and a program.
Acclimation timeline, sweat rate testing, and how to pace a race where the temperature is the actual opponent.
The taper, the checklist, hour-by-hour nutrition, and a contingency section — written by someone whose rental bike didn't show up.
Most people quit at the swim. I came out of my first one at 180 bpm. The progression that fixed it is in here.
If you're already competitive. This is a first-timer's program. If you're chasing Kona, you need a coach, not a book.
If you want a shortcut. There isn't one. This is 8–14 hours a week for most of a year. The plan says so on page one. Better you find that out now than after you've paid me.
Free
The opening block of the plan, plus the before-you-start assessment. No card. Just tell me where to send it.
$29
The full 52-week program, the story, the injury protocols, the race-week playbook. PDF and ePub.
Get the book$79
The book, plus everything I actually used to execute it:
$149
Everything above, and then we get on a call. Thirty minutes on your actual situation — where you're starting from, what your calendar really allows, which race, what already hurts — and we shape the plan around it instead of you guessing.
Limited slots. I'm training too.
Book the callIt starts around 5 hours and peaks around 14. The plan tells you which sessions are load-bearing and which you can drop in a bad week.
That was close to my starting point. Weeks 1 through 12 assume it.
Then you'll be where I was, twice. There's a full section on modification, cross-training, and re-entry. It's the part of this I'd have paid the most for at the start.
No. I finished my first IRONMAN on a rental I had never ridden before race week. The gear chapter covers what actually matters.
The book and the kit are not — they're a plan you execute yourself. If you want me directly, book the intro call.
TODO: state your policy. 30-day no-questions is standard and removes more hesitation than it costs you.
Start with the free four weeks. If it's not for you, you've lost an email address.
This program is educational and reflects one athlete's experience. It is not medical advice. Talk to a physician before starting any endurance training program, particularly if you have a history of cardiac, respiratory, or musculoskeletal conditions.