Have you ever started working towards a goal that began as a joke about a far-out idea? We have. My partner, Matt, and I are out to achieve the ultimate; to finish an Ironman triathlon. Our goal is to join the 7% of triathletes who decide that putting your body through 10 to 12-odd hours of anguish is something to work towards. After completing an Ironman, wouldn’t you just feel like you could conquer the world and achieve any goal you put your mind too? We live on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast, so we certainly have a head start with the training conditions.
We were sitting on the couch one Sunday night in early April 2011 talking about the upcoming enticer triathlon at the Gold Coast. This enticer distance is 300m swim, 10km ride and 2.5km run. After talking about starting with that triathlon before entering the sprint distances (750m swim, 20km ride, 5km rum), and eventually completing an Olympic distance triathlon (1.5km swim, 40km, 10km run) in March 2012, I sarcastically said “Why don’t you just do an Ironman?” Then all of a sudden, a light switch came on in both of our brains at the same time and it started sounding like a great idea.
Matt and I love our sport – footy, soccer, triathlon, cycling, swimming, anything – but lately have found it hard to find something that motivates us to soldier on with training and getting fit. We lacked a goal. We are also not the type to do things half-heartedly. It’s always all or nothing. I played a lot of soccer and AFL in 2010 and threw in a few sprint distance triathlons during 2009 – 2010, but I am now 4 months pregnant and have been banned from almost everything except running, swimming and sitting on my wind trainer on the balcony overlooking the beach. So I guess you could say I have a few additional road blocks on the way to achieving our Ironman goal, but it will only increase my satisfaction and sense of achievement if I can achieve our goal after having a couple of children.
Matt has his own road blocks – a busy job and he’s not the spring chicken he once was. He turned 40 in March and says his body is feeling every year of it. I am 24 this year, so I’m hoping to recover a bit quicker than him!
Ironman... It rolls off the tongue pretty easily, and then you stop to actually think about what that involves. A 3.8km swim in water that will mimic a washing machine with all the bodies splashing around you while you cop the stray elbows and legs in God-knows-what-part of your body; a 180km ride on a tiny little seat, hunched over with no company but your own thoughts for about 6 hours; topped off by a marathon. Once you stop to think about how much mental and physical training and preparation goes into a feat such as completing an Ironman, the respect for everyday people with jobs and families like ourselves, who have completed an Ironman, skyrockets. Good on you guys, and bring it on!
There are a lot of Ironman training programs on the internet these days, but I believe the one thing we have to remember is everyone is different. I have done a fair bit of training based on programs given to me by past triathletes, but none of them never really fit for me.
Neither Matt nor I have ideal body types for triathletes. Matt played a lot of league during high school and his early 20’s and was a very strong swimmer. He’s over 6 foot tall and weighs 90-odd kilos. He doesn’t find the bike very comfortable after about 20mins and is built as a sprinter not a stayer when running. I did a lot of sprinting and stop-start sports (netball, indoor soccer, athletics) and have only recently starting playing sports with longer-distance running in them (soccer, AFL, triathlons). I have trouble running distances over about 3km due to tight hamstrings and calves after years of netball, however, luckily things like stretching, orthotics and acupuncture can help ease the tension. I have strong shoulders from doing a fair bit of swimming as a teenager, however I cannot think of anything more boring than watching a black line while swimming lengths of the pool. Also, the attraction of a quick rest at end of the pool is often too hard to say no too!
As you can see, there are a lot of things specific to my body and mindset that makes ready-made Ironman training programs not as attractive or motivating to me as they could be, therefore not as effective for me.
With all of that in mind, I have started our training off a little different to the generic sprint or Olympic distance training programs (for now). We are working towards trimming down and building our cardio base. As our first tri is an enticer with a 300m swim, Matt is a strong swimmer and I am not a fan of endless laps, we have cut our pool sessions down to 1-2 per week at the start. We live across the road from the beach so I will probably even pick a couple of landmarks and swim at the beach rather than in the pool. This will eliminate the option to stop every minute or so! I love the bike and Matt needs to get used to sitting on the bike, so we have put 2-3 bike sessions. We both need to get used to running longer distances, so I have put 3 run sessions in per week. All sessions are done at low intensity to burn fat and keep our heart rate fairly low.
Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat | Sun |
30min run | 30min ride (on trainer) | 40min run | 30min ride (on trainer) | 30min run | 40min ride (on trainer) | 40min swim (pool/ocean) |
We will re-assess the program and adjust as necessary after completing the enticer race and discussing what we felt we need to work on. As the races with longer distances get locked in (sprint and Olympic distance), I will ramp up the swim sessions so we (or more me) aren’t lumbering out of the water in last place. A rest day will also be incorporated in when the intensity of the training sessions pick up.
We don’t yet have a set time on when we are entering the ironman, but believe it will be somewhere between two and three years. We will lock in a date once we get a few Olympic distance and half Ironmans under our belt.
If there are any people on the Sunshine Coast who would like to join us in our Ironman journey, let me know. We are both very social creatures and would love company and another excuse to get out of the house and get the next training session on the way.
