Are You Living It?

The process of training for and competing in an IronMan needs to be experienced to truly appreciate it. We spend months (and years) building up our training volumes and intensities in an effort to hit the starting line at peak condition. The physical training is long and hard, but I believe it’s the mental focus that sets athletes apart.

This mental focus increases in importance as the training winds down and race day approaches. About two to four weeks out, we begin our taper. The training volumes go way down. Any intense training is kept to very short sessions. Suddenly, we go from spending 20-30 hours training each week to only 10-15 hours. This may still seem like a lot, but it’s a big shock to our systems. We suddenly have lots of time on our hands, and it’s important to put this extra time to good use.

I like to arrive at an IronMan race about 4-5 days early. I’ll get in 20-30 minute practice swims each morning, take my bike for some very short rides to make sure it’s mechanically sound, and I’ll get in a few 15-20 minute runs to keep things loose. I’ll also try to drive the bike course and run course if possible. The registration process might take an hour, and it could take another hour for bike check-in the day before the race. Add all of this up, and you can see that I still have a lot of free time. What you do with this free time can be crucial. Use it wisely, and you should have a good race. However, if you abuse this time, your 10 hour IronMan can quickly turn into a 15 hour day you’d rather forget.

The Athlete’s Expo at an IronMan race is like Shangri-la for a triathlete. All of the industry’s vendors are there giving out hats, shirts, socks, etc. It’s a very social event, and most first timers spend hours poring over all of the merchandise. If you look closely, however, you’ll notice that there aren’t many pros hanging around. Sure, they each show up briefly for a required appearance with their sponsors, but that’s about it. They spend most of their time on their backsides resting up for race day, getting massages, or stretching. I spend more hours napping in the three days before a race than I do in the previous 3 months put together. A pro-cyclist friend gave me a saying to help reinforce this: if you’re standing, sit down; if you’re sitting down, lie down; if you’re lying down, prop your feet up.

I have a wonderful mental exercise that I go through several times prior to a race. I plan out a schedule starting with a nap the afternoon before the race and run through the sequence of events leading up to the finish line. Yes, it’s borderline obsessive/compulsive, but it works for me. It also allows me to relax knowing that I have things under control.

Most people think an IronMan is just an insane amount of swimming, biking and running. There’s a whole other side to this race, and I’ll share it with you in my next blog.