The Road to the Ironman – George Hood – www.RideGeorgeRide.com

What comes to mind when you say the names Michael Jordan or Lance Armstrong? How about Albert Pujols or even Tiger Woods (minus his recent activities)? To me they make something that is so difficult to do, play basketball, ride a bike, hit a round ball with a round bat and hit a tiny little ball very far and very accurate and make it look so easy to us mere mortals. That being said besides being truly gifted in their jobs, they work at it and work at it until they reach the top of their field. Too many times just by their actions they are made into role models.

I have the pleasure of meeting someone not to long ago that fills that role for me. A role model is hard to find, not just because of what that person is trying to achieve but more importantly how that person goes about his/her business. George Hood is that person to me. He is not only a great individual, but he makes all those around him better. He gets it!

For those who need some background, George is currently training to break the current record in spinning. Currently the record is 191 hours and starting on April 11th, George will be spinning for 300 hours or to make the math a bit easier, he will be spinning for 12 1/2 days! Crazy… yes, but it really is not the chase for the record that really impresses me. What impresses me there are so few times in ones life you meet a person that will affect everything you do going into the future. It is his dedication, his resolve, how he makes people around him better, and being truly unselfish! Sure the record will be a feather in his cap, but he also raising funds for the wounded soldiers coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan, along with raising fund for the local United Way. George is a former Marine (I guess you truly are never a former Marine) along with serving with the DEA. So he has put his time in serving this country, but as far as I can tell he has yet to say this is all about me. No he rather focus on the reasons why he is taking on such a task.

One word – Hero

Second word – Mentor

Third word – Inspiration

For us triathletes the names of Hoyt or Blais come to mind when these words are spoken, I personally can add George Hood’s name to this list. He is to be celebrated. In today’s world with so little good news or good role models (aka Tiger) here stands a man showing that good people still exist in this fast paced world.

George just completed his 40 hour training ride (think about that for just a moment.) It had been sometime since I rode with him since my duties now involve being part of his pit crew. I have been falling a bit behind in my bike riding and truthfully sitting on that trainer for hours on end waiting for the weather to turn is a bit depressing. So I decided to take me bike and trainer over to where George is training and see how things would workout. Just having company goes a long way in making the hours fly by. Needless to say with George’s help, plus the other riders spinning with George I was able to ride 56 miles on the trainer in 3:13 or the average was 17.3 mph. I suppose I could have sat at home and did the same thing but I find it really difficult to keep the motivation going after an 1 1/2 or 2 hours. So thanks George. I look forward to doing a 100 miler sometime during the event!

The biggest lesson learned was not the 56 miles. The 112 mile distance on the bike portion itself isn’t freaking me out as much as the time it takes to travel the 112 miles. I hope to finish the bike portion in 6 to 6 1/2 hours. That is a long time to be on a bike. But wait you maybe saying didn’t I just say George is going to be on his bike for 300 hours? I am complaining about 6? By no means am I selling the Ironman short, remember there is a swim before the bike and a short little run after of 26.2 miles, not to mention the elements, hills, turns and we will be going a bit faster. So each event is daunting to say the least. What I am learning from George is to take the event and break it down into segments. If you look at the entire race it is very intimidating but learning to break it down will help me stay mentally in the game.

So George is mentoring without George even knowing it.

One word – Thanks!

Running totals:

Running miles treadmill: 171.85

Running hours treadmill: 25:45

Running miles outside: 21

Running hours outside: 2:50

Biking miles: 493.30

Biking hours: 25:00

Spinning hours: 5:30

Swimming laps (25 yard pool) : 1,658 lengths or 829 laps

Swimming distance: 44,450 yards or 25.25 miles

Swimming hours: 14:53

Weight lifting hours: 10:15

Stair Master miles: 24.35

Stair Master hours: 3:00

TOTAL HOURS – 85 hours and 00 minutes