Irontwit

Yes, of course you could.

If life were that simple then I suspect many more people than the 100,000 worldwide who tackle an Ironman distance event worldwide would actually do so. However, life isn’t quite so simple and there are loads of barriers (actual or imaginary) that prevent people doing one.

I’m not even going to get into the question of why you would want to do one as plenty of people have questioned my sanity (myself included) before lining up for the start at Ironman UK last Sunday; I’m simply going to try to answer the question, could you do an Ironman?

Of the 1400 who started the race last Sunday I’m going to put an arbitrary figure of around 10-15% of entries were “competitive” people who were experienced triathletes aiming to try and qualify for the Ironman World Championships at Kona (Hawaii). The majority of the rest, myself included, were what I call “challenge” competitors whose number one priority was to finish the race. Of these, quite a large number were tackling their first Ironman, and there were even some who were tackling their first triathlon. Others of this group might have been experienced Ironmen aiming for a PB.

I am not a triathlon coach and I have no formal qualification except to say that I have been racing triathlons for 7 seasons, and so anything I might say should be taken in that context and not treated as gospel.

Barriers to entry

The biggest barrier to entry to an Ironman is your mind. That was certainly the case with me, I simply couldn’t get my head around running a marathon after cycling 112 miles. In practice, the transition from bike to run was the best executed part of my Ironman and I ran the vast majority of the marathon course.

The second big barrier is age and body shape. “I’m too old to do this”, or “I’m not fit enough.” There were folk of all body shapes and ages competing last weekend.  The oldest competitor at Ironman UK was 73 years old and one of the youngest (at 20) was the winner. It’s a fact that endurance tends to build with age and the 40 to 49 age groups are considered amongst the largest and most competitive in Ironman. The weight issue is also less of a barrier than might be thought – I lost 10kg in the 10 months building up to race day and feel immeasurably better for it. You are likely to lose weight simply through training. However, if you really are overweight for your age and height it’s vitally important to seek medical advice and start training at a pace and volume that you can cope with. Joining a gym can help for some as they can draft a training plan to suit your needs.

The third big barrier is commitment to the training plan. Top Ironmen will put in 30 to 35 hours a week training and good amateurs will be putting in 20 hours a week or so in the few months building up to the race. A look at my training diary shows that I trained for an average of less than 10 hours a week. If that still seems a lot then lets see how it broke down: having a young family is always an issue for any athlete and it was no different for me. My main target was to have one long run a week (building up to about 2:30), one long swim (building up to 1:30) and one long bike ride (building up to 5-7 hours). The swim and the run always took place on a weekday evening, and the bike ride at the weekend. These sessions would be supplemented by commuting to work by bike 2 or 3 times a week and doing runs straight off the bike after arriving home from work. I also added 5 cycle sportives as extra tough bike sessions in the months building up to the race. The big problem for most is the bike training. A 5 hour training ride is a big chunk of your weekend and don’t expect to be much use to anyone after you’ve got back. The key requirement is flexibility, don’t get stressed if your key run session gets put back a couple of days, or even dropped that week altogether. Keeping an eye on the bigger picture always helps and make sure that you schedule in some key weekends in the family diary, not just yours.

The lesson here is that if you want to do an Ironman, you must make it a shared task. Involve family fully in the discussions. There will always be tension between what you perceive as your essential training targets and family life. If your family are behind you, these moments will be far less frequent.

Finally, triathlon has the perception of being an expensive sport requiring lots of pricey kit. If you read the triathlon press there is masses of editorial on aero this and lightweight that, and it’s true that the top bikes that the top people ride won’t see much change for £5,000. I’m going to write a separate article about kit requirements, but you can find kit packages from the major triathlon suppliers for £1,500 or less containing practically everything you need to get started. In reality, the place to start is with a bike and a pair of running shoes. A decent fitting mid range pair of runners is essential (mine cost £55). You don’t need to go for super high  volume, high cost running shoes as you won’t be doing the mileage to warrant the expense. What you should do is get good advice from a good running shop so that you get shoes to suit your running style and weight.

If you are going to spend money anywhere, then I suggest it should be on your bike as you and it will develop a fairly intimate relationship. I saw nobody doing Ironman UK on a mountain bike – plenty of people dip their toe in the triathlon water at short events using such bikes, but you’d be a peculiar brand of masochist to tackle an Ironman on one. Similarly, don’t buy an aero bike. For the majority of athletes, especially inexperienced cyclists, a road bike is the best option. Spend as much money as your budget will allow – there are some fantastic bikes around the £1,000 mark. I would suggest that if you buy very cheap (less than £600) you’ll get a heavy bike with cheap gear on it that will lead to frustration and breakdowns on repeated long distance training sessions. The last piece of advice I would offer is spend the extra £60 or whatever it takes to get a professional bike fitting, it will repay you in spades on those bike rides.

Should I jump straight in to Ironman distance?

There were quite a few athletes for whom Ironman UK was their first ever triathlon, let alone first Ironman. That’s a pretty incredible achievement, but it’s a high risk strategy, and I would be interested to know what percentage of the 150 odd athletes who didn’t finish were in that category. I think it’s very high risk for several reasons.

Firstly, you have no experience to build on. By racing shorter distance triathlons you build race craft, practice transitions between disciplines and go through all the pre race programme over and over again making the Ironman experience immeasurably less stressful.

Secondly, many people experience hyper-ventilation and panic attacks at the beginning of open water swim races (I did at my first triathlon in Windsor way back when). These are often controllable as you settle in, but do result in a number of rescues. I can’t imagine the feelings of someone who had put in months of training, only to be rescued within a few hundred metres of the start. Doing some shorter events will obviously build experience and help prevent this sort of thing.

Thirdly, it takes time to build endurance. Before starting on a build up to an Ironman you need to realistically appraise your existing state of fitness. It may be that a season of doing shorter distance triathlons building up to a half-ironman at the end of it might be a much better strategy than going for it in a single season. If you already have a good base of fitness because you are a marathon runner, regular sportive rider etc then a single season might be a reasonable option.

One thing I noticed that as I get older (I’m 46) I need more rest between sessions. I never scheduled a hard training day after a long run or long bike ride, and often had 2 or even 3 rest days after the toughest sessions. Occasionally I would schedule 2 or 3 tough days back to back, but these would always be followed by extended rests.

Training your weaknesses

Many people come into triathlon with a background in one of the disciplines and want to broaden things out. There is an obvious tendency to favour your strong suit and swimmers in particular are guilty of this. Please note, the swim in an Ironman is only roughly 10% of the total and therefore, should only be about 10% of the total training time. Those long training rides on the bicycle through the winter are the key element to Ironman success. Long efforts on the bicycle and running are not replaceable by long pool sessions.

I’ve never had a coached training session in 7 years of triathlon – some might say that I should have had plenty! While I’m sure that it means my swim in particular has never been much good, I’ve never felt the need to make that commitment. Joining a club, however maybe of great benefit to many newcomers to avoid some basic training mistakes. Regional search here.

Choose your races

Ironman races come in many flavours, some feature a tough sea swim (South Africa, Brasil, Lanzarote), while others make the bike leg a “feature” (Lanzarote, France, and maybe UK), some sell out virtually instantly (Austria, Germany). Make sure you research your race carefully – any race featuring a sea swim (even if it’s normally calm) can have a potentially really tough start (Ironman Brasil’s swim this year caught out a lot of people). Some races such as Austria have official agents who sell travel and accomodation packages including race entry after the event has sold out.

There is always the temptation to make an Ironman race part of a family holiday. If you do, be realistic. The three days leading up to the event will be taken up in large measure by race prep, registration, racking bikes and doing as little as possible. And you’ll be as useless as a chocolate teapot for a minimum of 3 days afterwards.

“You’re an Ironman”

There are few physical challenges that are as easily accessible yet as tough as an Ironman, and there are few moments in your life that will exceed that one when you cross the finish line and hear the announcer say “… you’re an Ironman”. In an age when pantomime donkeys finish the London Marathon and celebrities race the London Triathlon, the Ironman challenge still stands apart. Are you up for it?

Both images from Richard Seipp at qwertyphoto.com