The author and your boyfriend (now husband)
Why I will become an Ironman?
In 2012, I was busy performing in the local professional belly dance scene, when I started dating Michael, who was training for his fourth Ironman. Both of us had made it clear with the other: “I have interests that take up a lot of my time,” and “I¹ll do my best to support your interests, but you¹ll have to understand that there are limits!”
I was curious about what would drive a person to get up at 4am every morning, swim laps in a pool or jump on his compu-trainer in his garage and then run outside in the snow, cold, wind, or rain. Some days he was doing double workouts at both ends of the day, and I thought this was quite insane!
When it got closer to his race, he asked if I might be interested in coming to see him race. I had this intuition that if someone asks you to be on the other side of the finish line of his Ironman, this was a pretty big honor, so I said yes, and we planned for a trip across the country together, close to his hometown of St. Agathe, Quebec, for the 2012 Ironman Mont-Tremblant. Suddenly, something inside of me began to stir.
Despite the wonderland transformation of Mont-Tremblant village during an Ironman, I don¹t think it really hit me until the horn blew and I watched Michael slide away from the shore with thousands of others in an endless sea of arms and legs. I witnessed human bodies transform into salmon going to spawn, struggling against some unseen force on their souls to embark on the final leg of a journey. I witnessed a lot of people smiling on their bikes as they whizzed down a steep hill, and a lot of grunting and gritting of teeth as they came back up the same hill. On the run, there was a lot of hobbling, walking, and a few tears.
At Lake Stevens Olympic Distance Triathlon Sept 12 2015. 4th in Age Group.
My boyfriend crossed the finish line as the sun was low on the horizon, both happy and sad that it was over. When we returned to the finish line to watch the final finishers near midnight, I felt my throat catch several times as the last of the Human-Salmons returned home. It hit me again. I wondered if it were possible if I could ever do something like this.
It was really this moment that put that first wretched wonderful ache-filled call on me, but I pushed it deep down and silenced it. I had been sick off and on for several years, and something like an Ironman seemed reckless.
So much has happened between that moment and today! After 2.5 seasons of training for Sprint, Olympic, and Half Ironman distances in a steady progression, and receiving a diagnosis of Celiac Disease with complications that have landed me in the hospital several times, that reckless feeling turned into something new — focus and physical healing. And what better way to celebrate and mark such a decision and accomplishment surrounding the transformation of my own health than to go back to where my journey began: Ironman Mont-Tremblant. I get to celebrate my husband’s birthday (we got married!) the day before the race, and revisit the nervous and exciting memories that have stayed with me since 2012.
This past year, I went to Maui for a triathlon camp. I didn¹t even know how to pack by bike in a bike box, what a newbie! On the second day of the trip, the group took a fun ride to the Maui Winery, and on the way back, we were rewarded with a tailwind that allowed me to clock some of my highest speeds! I had no idea I was an Adrenaline Junkie!
The next day, I had an awesome ride on the Road to Hana, a twisting road that gives riders generous turns on the way to the beach in Hana. As we were climbing back, I stopped to take a picture, and as I clipped out, my clip slid on the newly-paved and slick road, and I fell. Unfortunately, I fell on top of a small rock, which got embedded below the kneecap. That little trick earned me another trip to the ER, stitches, and no more bike rides for ten days! Yet there is nothing like a road block or a challenge to make me try harder! After the stitches came I out, I was that much more determined to train harder. Seven weeks later, I completed my first Half Ironman at Victoria.
At Victoria 70.3 June 14 2015, before the swim start
My coach, Michael Covey, had put me on a training plan that included heavy volumes. The volumes are sometimes enough to confuse an outsider as to what distance I was training. However, he also knew that I had completed several difficult half marathon races, and he oversaw my progress in learning to swim and to bike hills and distances.
So when I told him I was interested in training for an Ironman, he didn’t question if I had any issues with the heavy training. He had already witnessed that I have a strong intuitive connection with my body, and that I train smart.
Fitting in the training is always challenging. I¹m fortunate to have my own business where I have most of my mornings free, and I normally have a three-day weekend every week. Having a spouse who is a triathlete (Xterra) and an Ultrarunner also makes it easier; he completely understands the training cycle, and he’s on board with my needs, cycles of fatigue, and never questions the amount of food I need to pound down! I really helps, as well as having computers and other devices to track data, upload workouts, and stay organized. I consider recovery an important part of training; I’m happy to report that I am a fantastic sleeper!
But there’s another reason I train hard. After I got diagnosed with Celiac Disease, I did a lot of research into the healing time of the average person with my disease, and the prognosis and recovery time was not very hopeful. Many people struggle with Leaky Gut issues for years, and only 30% of those initially diagnosed reported a full recovery from symptoms in the first two years on the gluten-free diet alone. I wanted something better for myself, so I laid out a plan to combine triathlon training and a severely restricted gluten-free/AIP diet to promote a faster recovery time than average. Endurance athleticism encourages higher cell turnover rates throughout the body, and my hope was to see my guts mediate a better outcome for my immune system overall. I started healing and feeling stronger. When I saw what I could do with nutrition and endurance sports, I thought, “Why don’t I use this to help others?”
Part of my plan for the remainder of 2015 and for 2016 is to use my training for IM Mont-Tremblant as a platform of awareness and education as well as crowdfunding for the Center for Celiac Disease, Research and Treatment. Researchers there are developing a medicine that will help people like myself and potentially 70 million others worldwide, so that when we are accidentally exposed to gluten in our food, we won’t be put in the same life-threatening situation that I have faced several times since my diagnosis. It’s this precarious situation that has made this disease so isolating, as I often eat about 95% of my food at home to reduce the potential for cross contamination. This medicine will need to go through the FDA process after it finishes clinical trials, and the cost to get it to market will exceed $20 Million, but you can imagine what this would do to change the lives of so many people. So I¹ve dedicated my first Ironman training year and race to a goal of raising a minimum of $10,000USD in the first year by asking fans and supporters to donate directly to the CCDRT; I¹ll have links up on both the Ironman YourJourney Your Cause page by November 2015, and on my website launch for MyAllergyAdvocate.com (currently available on Facebook and Instagram), a website I’m dedicating to the food allergic and autoimmune disease community.
One hundred percent of the money donated goes to the CCDRT via Mass General Hospital. Of course, it will be on my own to pay for my training, flight, accommodations, and race fee, not to mention that my food costs are up to three times more expensive than average to ensure that it is safe for me to eat. Still, it’s totally worth it to me to bring attention to this worthwhile cause. We can save a whole generation of children, young adults, and newly diagnosed older adults with Celiac Disease and other types of gluten sensitivity from the near life-long suffering I went through before I could be properly diagnosed.
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Bernice Imei Hsu, RN, LMHC, RYT, Artist lives in Redmond and Seattle WA with her husband and her Applehead Siamese cat, Loomi. An avid triathlete and new trail runner, Imei has been known to burst into spontaneous song or bust out a move on the dance floor. You can find her on SeattleDirectCounseling.com, MyAllergyAdvocate.com, and @HipsForHIre.
The post Why I Will Become an Ironman by Bernice Imei Hsu appeared first on Hilary's New York Lifestyle Blog.