5 Lessons Learnt from my First Half-Ironman
Listen to your body but ignore the pain … and more lessons from my first half-ironman
I was at the start line ready to take on my first Half-Ironman — a triathlon consisting of a 1.2-mile (1.9 km) swim, a 56-mile (90 km) bicycle ride, and a 13.1-mile (21.1 km) run. I was pumped with energy and thrilled to be out there with my team. The view from the start line of the pristine fresh water lake surrounded by gently rolling hills exhilarated me. Having followed my training schedule, I felt I was ready for the challenge, or at least that I could never be more ready. But I was wrong. I wish I knew these 5 things before I got to the start line.
1. Set r̶e̶a̶l̶i̶s̶t̶i̶c̶ low expectations
This may seem obvious since it was just my first Half-Ironman. But I had done several sprint and olympic triathlons and had a decent idea of my pace. I had also practised for the race since 2 months before the event. Leading up to the race, I was doing the 3 individual parts separately at a consistent pace. So I felt my actual times during the race may be 10% to 15% slower. That was far from the truth. On race day, I had a strong swim, but an hour into the bike, I realized that I was about 30% slower than my practice pace. This led me to push harder on the bike which ultimately came back to haunt me during the run when my legs felt dead right from the start. Even beyond the physical strain, the disappointment of not keeping up with my expected pace threw me off mentally. During the entire race my mind was occupied with the thought of how slow I was. I unnecessarily tried to attribute my loss of pace to factors that were simply beyond my control at that time. I could avoid all of this toxic burden by setting conservative expectations.
2. Hydration. Hydration. Hydration.
If there is one thing that you take away from this post, let it be this — drink more electrolytes. During previous races, my coach had repeatedly warned me that I don’t consume enough water and electrolytes because of which my legs cramped frequently. So this time, I upped my intake to 2L (split between water and electrolytes) every hour but my legs cramped nevertheless. During the 2nd half of the bike leg, I was budgeting my water intake between water stations. Moreover, my bottles were completely empty by the time I finished biking, which was a clear sign of me not consuming enough fluids. Next time, I will carry larger bottles or 3 bottles on my bike.
3. Listen to your body …
Long endurance activities pose a big risk to our health and triathlons are no different. Risk of death is low, but possible. Less major risks like physical injuries from accidents are far more prevalent. The swim portion by far is the most risky due to its potential of causing cardiovascular abnormalities, although external factors like heat can pose a serious threat during the bike and run too. Thankfully, my swim felt great. However, during the bike and run, I was conscious of how hot it got (97 °F or 37 °C) when the tarmac felt like a beam radiating heat directly onto my face. I kept looking for symptoms of heat stroke like headache, dizziness, nausea etc. Fortunately, I did not have to deal with any serious threats to my body but I did have to deal with muscle pains.
4. … but ignore the pain
By the 4ᵗʰ climb on the bike leg, my quadriceps cramped. Whenever I picked up my water bottle while handling the bike with one arm, my triceps hurt (I still don’t know why). During the run, I was on the verge of pulling my left calf muscle. Towards the end of the race, my hip flexors were sore too. How I dealt with all of it? By ignoring them. Triathlon is a fun sport but it is not without suffering. And during my previous triathlons I had sharpened my ability to ignore muscle pains. So as long it was a muscle related issue, I handed it the silent treatment. This proved to be extremely useful during the run when many different parts of my body — some of which I can’t even name — hurt immensely, but I had to walk with it (quite literally). This is however not to say that I ignore everything that my body throws at me. For that, I first listen to my body.
5. The type 2 fun is real
It sucks to admit this but no, I was not having a good time during the triathlon. Several muscles in my body were in pain, and my mind was pretty zoned-in on the activity I was performing — be it my breathing and sighting during the swim, my cadence, pedal stroke, and core during the bike, and my feet placement and posture during the run. Although I was on a beautiful course, I simply didn’t have the time and energy to appreciate it.
What I do have though are unforgettable memories from the day. A splash of cold water sprayed from a water gun at the end made me forget my pains instantly. A cold Margarita with my teammates at the finish (all of whom were there before me) lightened the mood right away. Memories of the games that we played in the lake right after the race with people pulling each other’s legs (literally and figuratively) replaced the memories of my struggle during the race. Stretching my muscles felt incredibly relieving. The burritos we hogged during dinner never tasted that great. Finally, at night when I prepared to go to bed, I recollected the entire day. Surprisingly, although I knew that I had suffered through the first-half of the day I could not feel the pain anymore. All I could feel was a smile appearing on my face recollecting the fun I had with my lovely teammates.
