The HITS project

“A ship in the harbor is safe. But that’s not what ships are built for”

The HITS project was commissioned in Jan of 2013. Originally it was known as Ironman Lake Placid “Redemption”. However as the project took shape it was decided that Ironman Lake Placid would not be feasible thus the HITS project was formed. It was determined that countless hours of training would be needed to have the project be deemed a success. From January until the completion of the project on June 29th nothing else would be as significant as the successful completion of the project.

The HITS project may as well be a top secret mission. It will have no fan fair, no great measure of success and even fewer people there to witness it as it ends. It will not be on par with Red Bull Stratos or have movies made about it like Zero Dark Thirty. What the HITS project is and or will become is a solo endeavor to see how fast I can do an Ironman. The distances will remain the same, 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, and a 26.2 mile run. The clock will start when I enter the water and it will end when I cross the finish line. What happens between those two points not many will know about.

Unlike major Ironman races I have done in the past, their will be no online tracking and no great amount of spectators. The amount of aid stations on the course will be limited, and contain only the bare essentials. And the number of other participants will likely not be more than 50. It will be me against the course, one on one for 140.6 miles.

Ordinarily training for a Ironman is a very lonely endeavor in and of itself. You get up early to head to the pool and swim while others sleep in. You ride your bike endlessly hoping to get just a few minutes faster over the course of a bike ride that last hours. Finally you relentlessly destroy your knees and back by running 50+ miles a week in search of that perfect marathon time. Countless hours spent training alone with no spectators, and no medal around your neck when you finish. Just you and a clock for 15+ hours a week in search of every last ounce of speed you can bring to the race.

Tomorrow the alarm will go off at 4:30am and I will go downstairs to ride my bike for 2 hours before work, and prior to the sun rising. No one will know about this, and no one will care. The reasons for these early morning training sessions will be to gain a level of fitness the likes of which I have never reached. The main goal to be faster than the last time I did Ironman. I will train to beat a man or woman that I have never met and will likely never see again. It will be a purely selfish endeavor. It will all be in pursuit of making the HITS project a success.