Living in Southern California can spoil you.  We live in one of the best training climates in America.  This week our area was hit by some abnormally cool and windy temperatures.  The pool that is normally filled with swimmers was empty, the Saturday Swami group bike ride had about half the amount of cyclist. I have a healthy respect for my fellow triathletes that live and train in the true cold weather climates like Canada and the Northern United States.

I knew training under Peter's guidance would be demanding and rewarding. I am now six weeks into my Ironman Arizona training plan.  I started my training weighing 177 lbs.  After six weeks of training I decided it was time to step on the scale and see what
this Peter Reid training plan was doing to my body weight.  I weighed in at 164 lbs. 

I am quickly getting down to fighting weight!  I knew that spending four hours on a bike and and hour on a transition run would burn quite a few calories. I can honestly say that I feel great and my body is in better shape than when I was a young 21 year old
Marine.  My wife has been great counting my calories burned and making sure that I have a solid nutrition plan that will enhance my training gains. 

I never really trained seriously using a heart rate monitor until Peter starting coaching me.  My eyes are now open and I am a firm believer in heart rate monitor training.  Peter has me religiously sticking to my heart rate zones to build a larger aerobic capacity.  In six short weeks I can already see huge gains in my ability to ride a bike hard for four hours, transition to a run, and not feel dead after
the workout.

I discuss my daily training plans with my wife Sarah.  I suggested that Sarah gives some serious thought to finding a coach that could help her reach her goal of completing her first 1/2 Ironman.  I sent an e-mail to Peter and asked him his opinion concerning a potential
coach.  Peter e-mailed his friend Clint who hooked Sarah up with one of his coaches.  He agreed to coach Sarah so she can attain her Half-Ironman goal!  We are all very excited that Sarah has such a talented coach in her corner.

I have been given a once in a lifetime opportunity to be coached by a world champion triathlete. I am a thirty-eight year old age grouper triathlete who has been given a unique chance to be trained by a
three-time Ironman World Champion.  Additionally, I have been given sponsorship and a new bike from the great people at Specialized bike.  I am quickly running out of excuses not to get in the best shape of my life.  I think the average triathlete reading this
article would love to have the opportunity to have a world class coach and a world class leader in the cycling industry in their corner. 

If you see an average looking triathlete riding a Specialized Bike down the Pacific Coast Highway with a big smile on his face you will know it's me.  I know how fortunate I am to be alive and I am living the dream!

This Ironman training is tough! Peter has me clicking on all cylinders and my training is progressing rapidly. I think the hardest part of Ironman training is juggling a full work and family schedule with training. You find yourself trying to balance work, family, and training all at the same time. In order to accomplish my training plan I have decided to knock out at least one work out between 5 - 7 am. On days that I have more than one training event I reserve my lunch hour for logging additional miles. Brick training simply means an earlier start to my day.

I have realized that to be a successful Ironman triathlete I have to maintain focus and attention on the important things in life like family and work. My family has been great supporting me as I follow Peter's training plan for IM Arizona. My 4-5 hour Swami's bike ride consumes a large chunk of my day.

Luckily, I have an understanding wife who is a triathlete. This Sunday was a perfect example. It takes a special woman to get out and hit the road for a 13 mile run before breakfast! We followed up the run with a ninety minute family bike ride.

My thirteen year old son is just starting to get into cycling. We have been slowly introducing him to running, swimming, and biking. We recently gave him my wife's old road bike. My wife borrowed my son a pair of her biking shorts for the ride and my son found out that wearing a pair of underwear under your biking shorts isn't a good idea. The important take away for me was the fact that I have my family involved in my Ironman goal and they are supporting my dream to become an Ironman.

Ironman training is time consuming and requires the aspiring athlete to set aside countless hours of precious family time to achieve the dream. This week I learned that becoming an Ironman is really a "team"

effort requiring an understanding and dedicated family to support you. If any future Ironman triathletes are reading this I suggest that you sit down with your family and figure out a way to get them involved in your training. Getting the whole family involved in your training schedule will pay big dividends and make the goal of becoming an Ironman a shared family experience.

When I returned to Hawaii, I was looking for the next challenge and heard about a group of elite Marines that belonged to a unit called Force Recon.  Force Recon Marines are a small group of highly trained professional warriors who are responsible for conducting clandestine missions deep into enemy territory.  They are expert divers, parachutists, and are trained to conduct various types of missions in small teams.  I decided that I would undertake the grueling selection and training process that led to earning the title Force Recon Marine in 1993.  I relocated to Jacksonville, North Carolina and deployed several more times in support of operations in Kosovo, Albania, and Congo, Africa.

I decided I wanted to lead Marines on a higher level and was meritoriously commissioned from a Sergeant to a 2^nd Lieutenant after graduating as the honor graduate from the Officer’s Candidate School.  I commanded an Infantry Platoon for another tour in Africa before heading back to Force Recon as a platoon Commander.  My Force Recon Platoon deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and was responsible for conducting several direct action raids targeting insurgents in Fallujah and Mosul, Iraq.   The tours to Iraq continued with a third deployment to Iraq as an advisor leading an eleven-man team responsible for training Iraqi soldiers.  On February 20^th, 2006 my advisor team was hit by an IED ambush that killed my teammate SSgt Jay Collado and severely wounded SSgt Chris Claude, and 1stLieutenant Justin Waldeck.

Staff Sergeant Jay Collado was survived by his wife Judy and their six-year-old daughter Kaiya.  Jay was actually scheduled to leave Iraq the next day to attend her sixth birthday party as part of his two week leave break.  It was at that point that I decided that I would do whatever I could to raise money to ensure that his daughter Kaiya was well taken care of.  The team has since raised over $35,000 for her educational expenses.  The attack also took Staff Sergeant Chris Claude’s right leg.  I started raising money for a wonderful organization called the Injured Marine Semper FI Fund (www.semperfifund.org)  The IMSFF is helping Marines like Chris who are suffering from catastrophic injuries.  The IMSFF is providing financial assistance to these injured Marines so they can run, bike, and swim like us one day.  We are making great progress towards our goals for these wounded warriors.

In August of 2006 I wrote a letter to Specialized Bicycles asking them if they would sponsor me as I compete in endurance races to raise money for these two exceptionally worthy causes.  The great people at Specialized Bicycles agreed to help me and contacted three-time Ironman World Champion Peter Reid and asked him if he would coach and mentor me for my Ironman Arizona race.  I have been blessed in so many ways! I am glad to be an American, I am thankful to be alive, and I am driven to help my friends and comrades.  If you see me at Ironman Arizona, I will be easy to spot.  Look for the Marine carrying a full-sized American flag during the marathon portion of the race. That flag has special meaning for me and the rest of my team, as it was in the back of the vehicle on the day that Staff Sergeant Jay Collado was killed.  My teammates said I should carry the flag during every race so people will remember the sacrifices that are taking place in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Sometimes I wake up early in the morning and think about the hard 4:00 a.m. workout that Peter has on my schedule.  I think about my teammates who have been killed, I think about Chris missing his right leg and his long rehabilitation process, I think about how fortunate I am to be training for an Ironman race. Ironman Arizona will be tough, but having teammates and new friends supporting me will make the journey rewarding on so many levels.

SEMPER FIDELIS

ANDY CHRISTIAN