The IRONMAN Journey -Part 1 -Training
This is a 2 part series of my journey to become an Ironman. Part 1 is a pre-race training and preparation post and Part 2 is a detailed race report post. I hope this series motivates you to take up this wonderful sport and help you become an IRONMAN. #swimbikerun
Prior Experience:
I started 2018 with my first 42km run, Mumbai Marathon and long distance cycling(Audax-Randonneuring). I finished a series of ultra-distance cycling events of 200km, 300km, 400km and 600km each within a stipulated cutoff time to earn the Super randonneur(SR) title.
I wrote a detailed post on the 400km here. The 600km ride was a tough nut with 5200m elevation and 30+hours on the saddle. I learned a lot from this ride, especially managing nutrition and hydration.
I was a regular swimmer doing swimathons(12h continuous swims. 14–16km) almost every year. By mid-2018 I could comfortably finish most of the long distance events of swim-bike-run discipline with decent pace. In 2017 I raced in the Pune International Triathlon in extreme heat and no preparation to finish Half-Ironman distance in under 8 hours. I had the distances and prior triathlon experience. So the next obvious goal was IRONMAN.
Swim 2.4 miles! Bike 112 miles! Run 26.2 miles! Brag for the rest of your life.
Inspirational words but I wasn’t sure of participating in an official IRONMAN distance owing to the cost($$$$$) and dedication to train(time and motivation). A gentle push from my friends Arkid and Neha, and I registered for IRONMAN Italy 2018. The event is scheduled for 22 September. I have barely 3 months to train. People usually train for a year with a plan. What was I thinking? 🙄
Targets:
I struggled to finish my first marathon(5h40min) with dehydration and flat-foot problems. My comfortable cycling speed was 25kmph and ~36kmph for 1-hour race pace. All these indicate I can barely finish IRONMAN Italy(cutoff time- 16 hours). I wanted to aim for the following splits:
Swim: ~4km (1h:20min @ 2:00min/100m)
Transition-1: 15mins (Italy has the world’s longest transition)
Bike: 180km (7h @ 26kmph)
Transition-2: 10mins
Run: 42km (5h @ 7:00min/km)
Target finish time: 13h:45min I can go a bit faster on the bike but I need fresh legs for the marathon as I always get acute pain in the lower legs post 25km(later on to be diagnosed arising from flat-foot). A few blogs suggested that as a first timer one should aim to build aerobic capacity and race comfortably as several things can go wrong on race day. So I didn’t have any extraordinary targets owing to just 3 months of training and no triathlons in the past 1.5 years.
pre-Training phase:
In the last week of June, I experimented with a few training plans for IRONMAN distance. I wasn’t comfortable with any of them. I finally found a free 16-week plan by Sufferfest, available on TrainingPeaks. I liked this plan because of the detailed bike workouts which aligned with improving my cycling splits. It also had yoga plans to increase my flexibility. This is an advanced level plan and it took me about 2 weeks to get used to the training volume and intensity.
For the first 2–3/16 weeks, I was replacing power based bike workouts with medium paced long rides. I never did the swim workouts as I thought I was comfortable with the swim leg. I did 2 ocean swims in earlier seas swims with a decent 2:30min/100m pace. Any major improvements in swim timings require consistent practice and I could probably save 10–15mins during the event. I was willing to sacrifice this race day saving to concentrate on the bike and run improvements.
Training:
As I was working full time with 3 hours of daily commute, I had less time to spare for training. Most of the days I woke up at 5am to finish the workouts, stretch and get ready for the long day ahead. Below are the TrainingPeaks snapshots of my planned and finished workouts.
Week5 Week6 Week7 Week8 Week9 Week10 Week11 Week12 Week13 Week14 Week15 Week16
Detailed training workouts are logged here on Strava.
Mumbai is a relatively tough place to train for recreational triathletes. My training period coincided with the Mumbai monsoons which meant limited outdoor training. I had access to a 50m swimming pool of my alma mater. Running track was far away for regular sessions and I had to travel 1 hour for my long runs. But it can be managed with planning and dedication. There is a healthy triathlon community here in Mumbai.
I got a fluid resistance Indoor bike trainer as a gift and time spent on the trainer made a lot of difference in my power outputs. Although I initially hated it, I came to love with the results. My FTP(Functional Threshold Power) improved from 170W in Week5 to 220W by Week12. I was on Cloud9. Everything is going well. What can go wrong now?
I was enjoying my workouts from Week5–11 but I overlooked stretching and resting as I was tired most of the time from training and daily commute. I lost my watch which meant I couldn’t train with HeartRate. In Week 12, during a 6-hour brick workout, I got severe pain in my right knee 2 hours into the ride. I pushed through nonetheless. Week 12–14 came with tight hamstrings, acute knee and shin pains. I couldn’t bike for more than 10–15mins. Runs were ok. Week 14, I was diagnosed with Discoid LM. A rare congenital anomaly and a tear started appearing in my meniscus. Doc suggested not to go into aero position and take 1-2 weeks off training. IRONMAN is just 2 weeks away now. 😲 😿 😭
Week12–16 I could do only 3–4 rides but used this spare time to concentrate more on the swim and runs. I’m glad I did a few swim workouts in the last 2–3 weeks as I lost my upper body strength and my swim technique fell apart. I was doing long runs coupled with a few short recovery runs. I didn’t include any sprint/fast paced runs just to avoid any injuries.
In Week 15 I was happy with my sustained run pace and swim improvements but I knew I couldn’t ride comfortably for more than an hour. I was considering pulling out of the event to prevent major injury and save on the race week expenses. But I chose to give it a try going slow aiming not for time but for a finish.
Another most critical factor in Ironman training is nutrition. I healthy well-balanced diet helps fuel you through the increasing volume of training. Towards the end of my training regiment, I used to be tired most of the time and I resorted to not so healthy diet. As I’m a vegetarian, it was difficult to manage my micro-nutrients. I used to eat whatever I could get my hands on in the last 3 weeks leading up to the race. Your training is a reflection of your diet and what you feed your body.
I packed my bike in a cardboard box hoping the airline handles it gently. It was a tiring travel from Mumbai to Cervia(Italy) carrying the bike box and 2 bags on 2 trains and a bus. All alone. I should’ve rented a road bike near the event. It wasn’t worth the hassle.
IRONMAN village:
I reached Cervia 3 days prior to race day and assembled my bike. I went for a slow medium run to explore the neighbourhood. I had mixed feelings about the next 2 days. Being a vegetarian, my dietary options in Europe are always limited. But I gorged on pizzas and pasta to get my carbs and dry fruits for fats and proteins. I stayed 8km from the event and it was a bit difficult going and coming back every day. But I used this opportunity to schedule my runs/walks.
I checked out the swim route and the water had poor visibility. My lack of sea swim practice sessions was giving me a few jitters. Day T-1, I finished registration and checked in my bike & transition bags. I needed a few cycling and running accessories but everything was so expensive near the venue that I chose to make a few compromises. If I didn’t need it for training, I shouldn’t need it for race day right?!
Part 2 will be a detailed race day report. Thanks for reading it through 😃
