Training for an Ironman (IM) requires a mixture, or "recipe" of commitment, time, energy, intensity, discipline, sleep, nutrition, mental tenacity, and perhaps most importantly, well-chosen expectations. The exact mixture of ingredients depends heavily on your goals - maybe finish your first IM (or triathlon, for that matter), set a new Personal Record (PR), place in your division, or maybe even win the whole race and be World Champion - and anywhere between.
Today let's tackle the first 3: Commitment, Time, and Energy. I'll address them all in the next few blogs, and then give a basic outline of my historical training plan, and finally the recent training plan - taking into account MS, family, and work - things that add to the complexity of life after 40!
Commitment: Finishing an IM requires an athlete to complete 2.4 miles of swimming, followed immediately by 112 miles of cycling, followed immediately by 26.2 miles of running all in under 17 hours (race starts at 7am with the course closing at midnight the same day) Why these distances? In 1978, the founders of the Ironman, living in Hawaii, took 3 existing competitions and just put them together: The Waikiki Roughwater Swim (2.4miles), the Around-Oahu Bike Race (112mi), and the Honolulu Marathon (26.2mi). Crazy to some - enticing to me (and many others). Finishing, while not a small feat, is less difficult than one might expect. I say this based on many many athletes who, after finishing their first IM, tell me, "You were right, that wasn't as bad as I expected." If you've never done an IM, keep that in mind as you weigh the sanity of those toeing the starting line. But one certainly needs to commit to the mixture needed to accomplish their respective goals. This October, IM World Championships will be my 17th IM, and my 6th race in Kona itself after qualifying 9 times. Thus while finishing the race serves as the fundamental goal, the main goal revolves around setting a new personal course record in Kona - currently 9:25 for me, set back in 2006 - you read that right - before all this MS stuff got started. My family (one of the best in the world!) fully supports the effort, and that support deserves lofty goals. Check that ingredient off: I (we!) are committed!
Time: A portion of commitment encompasses the understanding that doing all this training will require a certain amount of time - swimming, cycling, running, eating, sleeping, showering (something my family and co-workers find particularly beneficial), day-in and day-out for months at a time (or years, in my case). How much time? There begins the differences between how I train, and how most people train to race an Ironman. I am known as a "minimalist" trainer. I don't mean footwear, I mean time. My overall hourly volume of training falls on the lower (and in some cases, lowest) range of what most anticipate being required to finish, let alone race, an Ironman. Most folks "in the know" would probably suggest 18-23hrs per week of swimming, biking, and running during the last 10 weeks or so of IM prep. Prepping for IM New Zealand this past March, where I finished in 9:33 - my 4th fastest IM ever - I trained an average of 11.7hrs during the final 10 weeks of IM prep. My longest week was under 14hrs. That's what I mean by a "minimalist" trainer.
The trade-off comes in the form of intensity, which we will talk about another time. But suffice to say that I train at a high intensity. I occasionally train with some of the local pro triathletes here in Portland, Oregon, and one made the comment that what I'm doing is really pro-level training. I countered that the workouts may be at that level (at least biking and running - I won't kid myself about my swimming capabilities!), the underyling easy miles don't exist in my program. The extra 10 hours/week of training that would get added to my program, were I to have the time, would come in the form of base-level effort rather than high intensity. I guess you could say that I'm on the "Pro-lite" program. Perhaps that's why I have the endearing nickname, "Semipro." Thanks, Team Psycho... But the time expectations are in line with past IM training programs. I know what to expect there. Check that ingredient off: time. And a huge thank you to my wife and son for the family committment noted above, granting me that time.
Energy: By "energy", I do not mean the effort put into a given workout - "intensity" - but rather having the energy to successfully accomplish the workout(s) for that day. Quick physiology tip of the day: you get faster when you rest. Training, the stimulus, breaks the body down - physically, by damaging various cells in the body; nutritionally, by using up fuel and hydration resources; and mentally, by inducing some amount of central fatigue. Each of these topics reach way beyond the scope of today's entry. Take home the notion that training just breaks you down. Recovery allows reformation of damaged cells, rehydration and topping off stored fuel sources, and regenerating the ability to harness the mental tenacity to successfully tackle the next workout. Anyone can train hard, and train themselves straight into injury, or worse, burnout. One of the big keys, in my mind, to longevity of a training and racing career revolves around appropriate recovery strategies. I have used RestWise (www.restwise.com) for several years now, and found it a helpful objective tool to guide my decisions for completing, modifying, or sometimes just bailing on the scheduled workout of the day. Experience plays a huge role in determining those decisions as well, but RestWise helps.
Enter multiple sclerosis: the biggest complaint I have about MS (and one of the most common compliants associated with MS) is fatigue. While hard to explain - and I don't know that it can be well-explained so chime in if you have a better explanation - reminds me of "food narkiness". We have all experienced that point at which hunger turns sharply into downright nastiness - our temper flares, and we want nothing other than food - NOW! My fatigue is something like that. I will go from generally being tired and wanting a nap to suddenly being annoyed, angry, and needing a nap. Ironically, when training hard, those naps tend to be shorter (30-40min) than when I'm in a rest week, or taper, or off-season (1-1.5hrs). I used to like to take naps because they helped. My wife suggested I accept that I need to take a nap every day. And while overall, I think it's helped my general attitude, I have come to resent the need for these naps. My doctor - a sports medicine specialist, nutritionist, and generally really smart guy - believes that I need shorter naps when training because I sleep harder at night. That seems to make sense. I still don't like needing to sleep in the parking lot of my gym before a pool workout just so I can get through it. But there you have it. That has been my solution to making sure I have the energy to tackle the day's workout: naps. Love them or hate them, I need them. Add that to the time needed catagory, and commit.
Speaking of which... nap time. Thanks for reading and supporting the cause!
Good Training, and Good Night!
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