Ironman Training.

There are few races like Ironman; 3.8km swim, 180km cycle, 42km run!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thats 2.5miles, 112miles and a marathon on 'old money'. A long day at the office.

The atmosphere is fantastic, the people are friendly. The only downside is it's bloody hard work!

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Training

There is a lot of hot air talked about Ironman training, so I thought I would start with a couple of training logs, Paul's from 2000 and mine from 2001. Both are 20wk programmes - 20wks being a pretty good timescale if you are in good shape. With the Lanzarote Ironman running in May, your 20wks starts in January. The outcomes of the two races were very different - Paul clock 9:57:12, was first British finisher (25th overall) and qualified for Hawii, I collapsed with heat exhaustion on the sea front after about 11 hours with just 15-20km running left and then required 3 litres of intravenous fluid!!! My excuse was that it was 33degC - still I was very upset and it goes to show the need to be very careful about taking in fluid during the race (more of that later).

	Paul 2000
wk	Sw/km	Cy/km	Rn/km
1	0	84	16
2	2	113	27
3	7	148	21
4	2	56	48
5	6	177	6
6	6.5	201	30
7	4.5	121	6
8	6	185	0
9	6	229	0
10	6.5	134	13
11	9.6	201	32
12	8.6	169	40
13	3	266	46
14	8	306	56
15	4.8	306	0
16	6.6	410	10
17	0	206	70
18	7.6	370	54
19	3	214	14
20	6.3	381	69
ave	5.2	214	28

	Mark 2001
wk	Sw	Cy	Rn
1	4.6	207	20
2	2	193	20
3	5	153	37
4	1.5	75	21
5	8.6	163	44
6	4.2	110	18
7	6	161	43
8	3.7	305	6
9	5.6	316	26
10	3.5	119	24
11	6.5	216	15
12	2.1	287	6.5
13	7.3	162	31
14	3.5	119	24
15	4.5	225	36
16	9.1	173	25
17	3.4	343	28
18	8.3	262	30
19	6.5	90	10
20	9.4	230	36
ave	5.5	211	25

Learning from this?
Averages are pretty meaningless, initial strength is important, the long distances need to be long and the shorter ones need to be fast.

 

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Ironman 2003.

Races and Racers this year:::::

Ironman France - 21st June - Mark P & David W.

Ironman Austria - Helen and Jason

The Longest Day - 20th July - Angus, Kendo, Dave and Mark P.

Ironman Frankfurt - Wolfgang

Check out the Ironman 2003 website for all the info.

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Mental Strength.

An Ironman is hard work - I can tell you - and failing to to finish is not much fun either - I can tell you that as well.

Being relaxed and strong mentally is important, both during training and on race day.

Training.
I have put some tip on what to do at the start of you training on the training tips page. Being mentally strong starts from being confident in yourself and in your training - which means having a plan which give you the training to get you through the race - setting realistic milestones to guide you through your trainig - being flexible in your approach.

- Training logs. Write them out and don't lie to yourself. Be smart.

- Visualisation. Sounds crap but works. When training is getting tough (there is an inch of snow you your cycling mits and you 100km from home) think yourself through the race and to the finish line - it helps.

Race Day.
Expect to be nervious on race day. Try and keep it fun and positive.
Ironman has a different set of pressures than other races - unless your good your not racing - just getting round is the objective. But thay can be a negative thought - so you need to break the day up into sections and conquer each section as it comes. Work it out to your strengths, e.g. swim - each bike lap - each run lap.
A good idea is to decide what your swim plan is, e.g. were in the pack to swim and than plan the bike around your feeding and the run in 10km sections.

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Nutrition.

If you have done the training it is the nutrition that is going to let you down. Especially as it can be effected by the conditions onthe day. You have just trained during the British winter and now find yourself in Lanzarote in 35C!!! I know.

THE BASICS.
your body needs: 60 - 80g carb/hr. 60g carbs = 240kcal. IT CAN'T ABSORB ANYMORE!
10hrs (I wish) = 2400 kcal.

at 6% loading your sports drink will contain 60g carb. at 3% thats 30g. Most drinks on race day will be lower in concentration.
10 - 20l of sports drink during the say. Look at 1- 1.5l per hr. Check yourself during training in hot weather.

Water - on its own is not good if you drink too much. It removes electrolytes from your body and you end up PISSING all day long. Its great to clean your mouth out when the carb drinks get too much though.
Food - remember your body start shutting down the digestion during the day. IT WANTS CARBS. Eat because its is nice to eat: Bananas are good because they contain potassium salts, High5 bars are ok, crips are nice for the salt - but beware, apart from the carbs, salts and minerals most will end up staying in you stomach - ready to come up and say hello during the run.