I turn 58 in a few weeks, and I’ve decided to give myself two years to take a shot at something I’ve never accomplished. I'm going to attempt to qualify for the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship when I move into the 60–64 age group in 2028. Here's the thing: I’ve never qualified before! The closest I’ve come was three years ago at 70.3 New York, where I finished 19th in my age group. And right now? I’m not even in that kind of shape. So I’ve got some work to do. I’ll need to rebuild my swim, bike and run, get stronger, improve my body composition, recover well, stay healthy, and most importantly, be consistent. Basically, I’m going to have to see if I can become a better athlete at 60 than I am at 58. Will I qualify? I have no idea. There’s a very real chance I won’t. That’s part of what makes me want to try. I’m going to document the journey here; the training, testing, strength work, races, good decisions, bad decisions, setbacks and hopefully a few breakthroughs. I’ll also be putting the Endurance Strength System to the test on myself and sharing what I learn along the way. Two years. No guarantee of a successful ending. Let’s see if anything really is possible. Project 60 starts now! And since I’m putting mine out there… What’s something you haven’t accomplished yet that you’d still like to take a shot at?

“I don’t want to lift too much because I don’t want to get bulky.” I hear this from endurance athletes all the time. Here’s the simple answer: Getting stronger does NOT automatically mean getting bigger. In one 26-week study, long-distance triathletes added progressive strength training and improved their strength, cycling economy AND running economy…without a significant increase in body mass. That’s exactly what we’re after. More useful strength. Not unnecessary mass. Research: Strength Training Improves Exercise Economy in Triathletes⁠

We just finished 8 weeks of Ignite, and before I jump straight into the next Strength2Go program, I want to do something a little different. I want to hear from you. Not what you think you're supposed to be doing. What would actually help you right now? We're into September. Race seasons are in different places. Some of you are still racing. Some are winding things down. Some may have fallen completely off the strength wagon. So tell me where you are. A — I'm training and racing and need strength to fit around it. B — I've fallen off strength training and need help getting back into it. C — I'm beat up/tight and movement or recovery is the priority. D — I'm heading toward the off-season and I'm ready to get stronger. E — Honestly, I haven't been using Strength2Go much lately. You can just drop the letter. No explanation necessary. And yes — E is a perfectly acceptable answer. I'd rather know where you actually are so I can make this community more useful to you. Let's figure out where we go next.

You may have noticed I’ve been a little quieter in here this week. There’s a pretty good reason. After a long road, I just submitted my final MBA capstone presentation, and I’ll be presenting it on Thursday. So for the next few days, a lot of my free time is going toward getting ready for that. And honestly, it feels pretty appropriate after everything we’ve talked about over the last eight weeks. Sometimes life gets busy. Sometimes training, or work, family, or whatever else we’re trying to stay consistent with, has to flex a little. That doesn’t mean we’ve fallen off. We adjust. We handle what needs our attention. And then we get back to it. That’s exactly what I’m doing this week. I put up a post yesterday asking where everyone is right now and what you need next from Strength2Go. I’d really appreciate your input. I’m listening. Once Thursday is behind me, we’ll take what I hear from you and figure out where we go next. Until then, I’m going to practice what I preach, handle the priority in front of me, and then get back at it. And after Thursday, you can all remind me that I’m officially done with homework.

Workout 12 closes out Week 7. At this point, you’ve put in enough work that strength training should be starting to feel less like something you add to your triathlon training and more like something that simply belongs there. That’s a big part of what Ignite is about. Your path: IGNITE BW = Bodyweight track or IGNITE FULL GYM= Full Gym track Both versions of Workout 12 are posted in the comments. Today’s focus: Finish Week 7 with purpose. Don’t rush because you’re almost through the program. Use everything you’ve practiced over the last seven weeks: - Set up each movement well. - Own your range of motion. - Stay controlled as fatigue builds. - Progress where you’ve earned it. - Back off when quality starts to disappear. You’ve got one week left in Ignite. The goal next week isn’t to suddenly turn everything up to 11. It’s to show how much better you can move, train, and make decisions than you could back in Week 1. When you finish, check in below with: BW DONE or GYM DONE And one question heading into the final week: What has been the biggest change you’ve noticed since starting Ignite?