Training for an IRONMAN: Well Worth the Effort by Sheila P. Hiestand raining for an Ironman is like nothing else you will do in your lifetime. It take patience, persistence, pain, and TIME. Did I mention TIME? While you can have patience and persistence in spades, and have an amazing pain threshold, most do not have extra time. But oddly, training for an Ironman teaches you valuable lessons in time management, clears your brain, and often gets you in the best shape of your life. For those of you not familiar with the sport, it was created by a handful of great surfers and athletes in Hawaii that did it on a dare. It has evolved into an international passion for thousands, and is probably one of the most rewarding things I personally have ever done. You have 17 hours to swim 2.4 miles in open water (river, lake, ocean), ride your bicycle 112 miles, and top it off with a marathon run of 26.2 miles, for a total of 140.6 miles. Most start at 7 a.m. and must be completed by midnight or you are considered a DNF (did not finish)—three letters that I despise. The race is the great equalizer where an unusually hot day can leave the pros dehydrated on the side of the road and those of us turtles with a little extra belly fat walking/jogging to the finish line. The very best part is that most of us are competing against only one athlete—ourselves. There are dozens of apps and training regimens, as well as hundreds of certified coaches in the sport. While the apps and pre-packaged plans are great, they don’t help you tweak your run in order to stop getting shin splints or so you can cut 10 seconds off each mile. It is my belief that coaches ultimately offer the best path to be success. My coach, Fred Scott in Tucson, is like family to me and has helped me overcome hurdles I once thought impossible. Training for one of these races is not a short term event. There is an off-season (December through March) but you would do well to stay in top physical shape during the off season by doing something like Cross-Fit or Orange Theory along with running, riding and swimming as often as possible. This is not an inexpensive sport, as you will need gym memberships, a pool where you can swim year-round, a great watch that keeps your splits (I love my Garmin), a lightweight, well-constructed bike that can range from $4,000$25,000, and running shoes every 300-500 miles—just to name a
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few items. You’ll also need a trainer to place your bike on for those dreary days when you cannot ride outside. Now that you have all your gear and are in good shape from staying fit during the “off-season,” it’s time to train, and train hard. You will train six days a week, and absolutely must have a rest day to allow your muscles to recover. Most folks begin with 12-15 hours a week of training, and work toward well over 20 hours a week of training as race day approaches. There will be days where all you do is a long ride (60-90 miles) or a long run (8-18 miles) and a lot of days where you will do a “brick,” which is a combination of two of the three disciplines. For instance, you might ride for an hour and run for an hour and a half. Then, the next day swim two miles and run six miles. The best way to keep track of all this is to use a program called “Training Peaks” that downloads the data from your watch or bike computer and allows your coach to tweak your daily and weekly goals. A good rule of thumb is to make sure you accomplish 85 percent of the workouts your coach has selected for you. That way, when life throws you a curveball, you don’t have a breakdown because you missed a workout. Always, always, always hydrate; and I have found drinking chocolate milk after a workout helps with muscle fatigue and micro-injury. Finally, if you are injured, seek treatment and discuss with your coach. This kind of extreme exercise can be hard on a body, and ignoring your body will only lead to worse injury, frustration, and worst of all, inability to compete. In summary, while competing in an Ironman or Ironman 70.3 (a half Ironman) is not for the weak of heart, it can be a great sport for people of all ages and activity levels. Once you get your base activity to a good level, find a coach, and swim, bike, run into the best times of your life.
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