ANY Ironman Triathletes here?

I’m training at least 5 to 6 days a week and I Avg 2hrs per training session give or take. I’m not swimming yet so just cycling and running for me.
I need to start training like 15hrs per week to get ready for a half IM Duathlon in mid Nov.

 

Good advice in here. I'm a little late to the party, but hopefully I can add something.

The Mr. took up triathlons this year since we ran into insurance issues that wouldn't allow us to race motorbikes anymore. Fortunately we're still allowed to hurt ourselves under our own power. He's wanted to do an Ironman ever since he was a kid, and more recently had the goal of doing one before he's 40. He's signed up for the Florida IM in November. Started training last November.

So far he's done a sprint Duathlon, a couple Olympic Triathlons, some crit racing, and did a Half IM in July. From my point of view as training partner/support team and spectator, Sprints and Oly's are fun "races", HIM and Full IM distances are super nutty crazy person torture, that for most people are about survival. I don't understand wanting to suffer like that for 5+ hours, but I give y'all a ton of respect for doing it.

Some points we've picked up over the past year:
1. Get in the pool NOW. You can't start the swim training early enough. Unless you're already an experienced swimmer, take classes from the get-go to learn good technique. Don't start swimming by yourself to "work up to" taking a class, the chances of doing everything wrong are pretty good, and it's hard to unlearn those habits. Swimming 1.2-2.5 miles is pretty effing far, and is no cakewalk.

2. Practice bi-lateral breathing in the pool, and get good at it. You never know which way waves will be coming in. Like others have said, learning how to spot while in open water, and swimming straight is imperative.

3. Practice as much as you can in your wetsuit in open water (assuming you're competing places where it's cold enough to use one). It'll feel a lot different than swimming in a pool without one. If you enter events where you can wear a wetsuit, use one. The buoyancy will help you. Practicing will also make you good at getting that sausage casing on and off more quickly. Spray Pam is your friend.

4. If you can, talk to a cycling coach about the most efficient methods of cycling. There's different ways of isolating muscle groups while on the bike to give other groups a little rest. A good fitting might be a good idea as well. The Mr. has been riding lots of miles for years, and learned a ton with a coach in just a couple hours doing a fitting on his tri bike.

5. Get fitted for running shoes. You'll be putting on lots of miles and ill fitting shoes might manifest in various pains, some debilitating enough to halt your training.

6. Don't train all out all the time. Alternate easy long distance and high intensity.

7. Make sure you're hydrated enough the few days before a long event. Alternate water and electrolytes. You shouldn't be peeing clear, because that means all your nutrients are gone, but you should be peeing frequently. (This was info from a pro tri'lete who did a nutrition class with my cycling group I'd never heard before.)

8. Don't lose all the water off your bike going over a bump 1 mile into the bike (and if you do, turn around and get it!). There wont be more water for a long time and you'll screw up the rest of your race, and that sub 5 hour HIM goal time will turn into nearly 7.

9. Practice with the nutrition brand that will be supplied at the event. If you don't have enough of your own with you, you need to make sure that you can tolerate what the organizers give you.

10. Be extra super nice to your spouse/SO because they're going to have to take up extra chores around the house because of all the training you'll be doing.

His HIM in July was a mess because of point #8. He got dehydrated during the bike, blew up halfway in, and then his body wouldn't absorb water, and couldn't keep gel packs down. He kept trying to put water in, but it just made him bloat. The run was then pretty awful, and walked/dry heaved most of it. It took him over two weeks to recover.

Also, on point #5, he got a couple hundred training miles of running in on self-selected shoes, and then started running into ITB issues, and his knees were locking up. He tried switching shoes and then got plantar fasciitis. After getting fitted for shoes/insoles, he's been pretty much pain free, except that standing on his feet all day for work wont let the PF heal.

Doing the HIM was a HUGE learning experience, and a really good gauge for where he was in his training. I would recommend doing that distance first, because Olympic distance wont prepare you fully for the experience of a full Ironman.

 

Awesome man thanks for posting all this...

 

There you are
I was checking the forum daily to see when u were gonna finally ask this question lol
My Tripod 7 year old Dog got sick and that set me back big time, figured that when u guys were ready to take orders my money would have to be spend on something else :down:
The good news is that he's doing much better and I will be ordering soon Yesssssssss

 

ah damn, you guys got me wanting to do a little more than run now. I used to ride my road bike a ton, but the area I now live in kind of sucks (intersections, lots of traffic, sand, etc). Kind of a pain in the arse to come home and throw the bike n the truck iand then go ride somewhere. Kind of the reason I picked up running. I can leave straight from my house.

Question for you runners. I have typically trained to be quick (7:30 mile) and can carry this for distances around 10k. However, I signed up for my first marathon and have been running longer distances, but noticed my pace dropped dramatically (8:30-9 mile) over say, a half marathon distance. Have I gotten too comfortable at that slower pace and picked up a bad habit or is it normal to slow down a bit over long distances? What can I do to maintain my pace?

 

I always found that training slower made me faster. I would typically slow my long runs down and that made my race pace quicker. Long distance is all about managing your heart rate and energy output. Train with a heart rate monitor and learn to decipher what its telling you. 10k is a far cry from 40k. Don't worry about slowing down your body is probably just getting used to the longer distances. Your pace will come back.

 

Sorry to hear that, Alex

 

+1 I don’t really pay attention to how fast I go when I practice running, especially when training long distance. As long as I’m under 10 minutes per mile I’m ok.
During training I avg like 9 to 9 1/2 minute miles, 2 weeks ago while competing in an Olympic distance Duathlon I surprised myself by running the 5K in the high 7 minute mile range and the 10K in the low 8’s.
That just shows how you don’t have to KILL yourself during every single training session.
I also know that I wont be doing that pace when I run my first full Marathon distance in a few weeks, gonna have to really pace myself. We can’t expect to run 26.2 miles at the same speed we run a 10K.

 

Thanks man and great job with the WERA cycling kit man.
Can't wait to wear mine!!! :up:

 

I am not much of a runner yet, due to my injuries from last year but what I learned in my Half Ironman training is work on negative splits. Slow down your run 1-2 min a mile and speed up as your run goes on, (ie negative splits). There was a great article in runners world this past month on improving your 1/2 marathon times. Many of the tips they gave apply to full marathon as well. Another thing I picked up was the 10:1's run 10 min, walk 1 min or some flavor of that, run a mile, walk a min etc. Not sure the accuracy of the fact but was told that for many times your overall time by doing this is = to your time if you run and get slower as the race goes on. This gives your body and legs recovery over the entire race vs draining the entire race and doing all the walking in the end.

Lots of stuff online on training as well you could google. Good luck!

 

I'm probably gonna try that 10 minute run 1 minute walk deal tonight.
I'm sore as heck lol

 

Just signed up for this. It's this coming Monday, which I am not ready for, but what the hell. It's gonna be all guts as I've only been running a total of 3 months in my life. Gonna borrow a buddy's garmin watch so I can really monitor my pace as to not go out too fast initially. I will let you guys know how I did.

http://www.adtmarathon.com/#

 

Very cool. Good luck! :up:

 

Ur crazy lol
Good luck and yes let me know how it goes.

 

Alright gents. The results are in. Finished her up in 4:40. Not exactly the fastest pace in the world. A little over a 10.5 mile pace. I really struggled the last 5 miles. My left knee started acting up (tore some ligs in a motorcycle racing accident 2 years ago) and it was on fire with 5 miles left. It was not "the burn", it was real pain. Slowed me down big time. I did not really feel out of energy or out of breath, just plain hurt. It was a huge test and I learned a lot about myself yesterday. It was the most gratifying feeling in the world and easily the hardest thing I have ever done.

My two bits of advice for you guys. Whatever pace you think you feel good at, SLOW DOWN, especially in the beginning. I went out of the gate about 20 secs per mile to fast. It all adds up in the end.

Do exactly what your training is like. I generally don't drink any water until mile 12 or so in training. This time I made it a point to drink water every two miles. It sat there in my gut the WHOLE time. It was like my stomach had no clue what to do with it.

With that being said, I got absolutely smoked by a woman who had to be in her 70's. She was unreal. I gave her a hug at the end and told her she was my new hero!

Glenn #62 MRA

 

well done man you DID IT! :up:
Legs doing any better now?

 

Yeah, starting to loosen up a bit more throughout the day finally. My left knee is still killing me. I think it may be my IT Band. Now that I think about it, I am pretty disappointed with my time. As many times as I said, "don't go out too fast in the beginning" you would think I would listen to myself. I had the same mindset I do in qualifying for some reason. I just kept saying, "let me latch on to the back of him/her" and follow for awhile. Well, I latched on alright. I was doing an 8:20 mile for about 14 miles. A full 30 seconds faster per mile than I wanted to be. I was feeling good, but it all came tumbling down around mile 18 or so. Felt like someone stepped on to the trail and hit me with a 2x4 and said, "there....now try to run". I just plain screwed up, that's all there is too it.

The good news is that I sprinted the last quarter of a mile or so and I had lots of family and friends there to support me so it was very gratifying.

I am doing the Denver Marathon in October as well so I am going to plan my race and race my plan and see what happens. Goal will be under 4 hours and 15 mins this go round.

 

My second sprint triathlon is Saturday. This is my first "real" one, because it is in open water and the bike is 15 miles.

My realistic goal is 1:28:00, but my "extra" goal is to take one minute off each category and do a 1:25:00, but I don't know if that's going to be possible.

I'll post back with my results this weekend.

 

I was registered for Ironman Canada, if that counts for anything ?
After five years of training I had the entry, tickets for the entire family so I'd have someone at the finish line, even paid for a gold IM finishers pendant in advance of the race.

Unfortunately, about 8 weeks beforehand I had to start treatment for Hepatitis C and my endurance nose-dived so bad I had to rest going up a flight of stairs.

I also wanted to get the M-dot tattoo on my left calf after finishing, so that anyone passing me in a sprint distance race would know I might be turtle-slow, but I am one bad-ass, determined and stubborn turtle. Before I get too old, I'd like to give it another shot. I wanna cross that line and moan "I am an Ironman" before I collapse in front of everyone.

(BTW, blood has been clean from HVC for 7-plus years, so my consolation for missing was well worth it.)