How I Went From a Newbie to an IRONMAN + My Training Plan
My Training Plan Template: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1yvaGz6ZJ8AyNGslQmYB_MuhpiI6TAAlZ2pehIfy1wKI/edit?usp=sharing
When I was a young kid I earned the nickname “ketchup” because I was always dragging behind the group and would punish any food I ate with an onslaught of tomato ketchup….. I wasn’t exactly a sprouting athlete. I was a slow mover, and I liked to eat. Not much has changed, but now I have a little metal that says I am an Ironman. An Ironman is a triathlon with a 2.4-mile swim, a 112-mile bike, and a 26.2-mile run. How did I get here with no “significant” athletic background?
Well, I played baseball for a handful of years until high school and lived on a farm, which meant lots of farm work. Hauling hay was the biggest fitness undertaking I would take on for many of the first years of my life. It was great, but it didn't make me a fast runner.
In high school, I did one season of cross-country running where I realized that I didn’t love running, and certainly hadn't trained hard enough to be fast. I didn’t get kicked off the team, but the nearly-retired coach could beat me on training runs. I could go the distance but want even close to a podium, ever. After high school, I got into the fire service where I spent the first four years hiking around in the mountains learning how to stuff my face with calories and endure foot pain like I had never experienced. I now view this as my first phase of “Ironman” training.
I would hike and run a decent amount during one of my off-seasons while working and going to school and so when invited to do a triathlon by a friend I committed without a second thought. We signed up for an Olympic distance tri, and I hardly knew how to swim. We talked about how cool it would be to someday complete an Ironman, but that was a long way off. I could run a 10k without much difficulty, but not fast and I had a mountain bike but I had never ridden more than about 5 miles at a time.
In the two months leading up to the race, I focused on swimming. I could hardly get across a 25m pool at the gym without gasping and grasping for the end. It felt impossible to imagine doing even two laps, let alone 800m. On the advice of some YouTubers and people at the pool, I focused on getting comfortable with my face in the water and training my brain to relax. I didn’t need the air I wanted so badly, my body just was kicking into a fight or flight type response.
Two months of swimming a couple of times a week in a pool brought me to the event, and things went ok. I got kicked in the head, and everywhere else. It felt like swimming in a wave pool and trying to protect your head. It was extremely challenging for me, but I made it. I slowly cruised through the bike ride on a borrowed bike and trudged through the run. We made it.
I then moved to Idaho and dove into my new career as a city firefighter. I started running more, and over the first few years worked up to doing a few marathons. Again, slowly. I got a mountain bike and began casually riding with co-workers and over the first 4 years began to love riding. I did a couple of mountain bike races of fairly short lengths, then one big one of 198 miles in the mountains over two days. It was brutal, but I was so pumped.
This brings me to the summer of 2022 when I saw the posting for the Coure De Alene Ironman and decided the time was now. I had run and biked the distances on my own and felt like the capacity to combine them and a long swim was within reach. I bit the expensive bullet that is an Ironman signup fee. It was on.
I bought a used road bike with a set of aroe bars, got a gym membership at the YMCA, and bought a new pair of running shoes. I had about 10 months to train, and I wasn’t about to waste my money and not finish.
First, let's talk about Training:
I called a local friend who is a prior competitive triathlete and now a fireman and asked for advice on training since he understood my experience and lifestyle. This is a simplified version of what he said.
-Focus on building capacity, not speed.
-An injury is the biggest risk, don’t overtrain.
-Measure your training using heart rate and time, not speed or distance.
-Only increase your training volume by a small amount each week
-Focus on aerobic threshold training 90+% of the time. Only add intensity days if your body is feeling great and recovering well.
-If I have terrible nights at work, train only as much as you want to. Prioritize recovering.
-Oh, and don’t get hurt.
I didn't hire a coach or pay for a training plan, I just made one on my own. With his advice in mind, and this is what it looked like. I divided up the weeks at a ratio that roughly matched that of the race day. So I would spend the majority of the time biking, then running, and the least amount of time swimming. I would generally bike 3-4 days, run 2-3 days, and swim 1-2 days.
I could do two separate training sessions in a day if I was recovering well. Each week, the total volume grew by about 30 minutes, working up to 15 hours per week in the final month of training. I tracked it all manually on my spreadsheet so I could monitor my volume, and on my watch so i could look at distance and speed data just out of curiosity.
This plan worked, even with a couple of minor injuries and sicknesses along the way. I biked primarily on my indoor trainer since it is quite cold here in the winter, swam in a 25-meter pool, and ran on the road or treadmill.
I tapered for a few weeks, then came race day.
Next, Nutrition:
I had brought a rough nutrition strategy that said I would need roughly 10,000 calories for the day of the race. One of the biggest challenges for many people is maintaining adequate caloric intake throughout the race. Because of the massive needs, I get it. Fortunately, this is the one area I have trained for all my life! Because of my work, hobbies, and lifestyle I have always eaten “on the go” and have not had a hard time getting sufficient calories. Many people experience gut aches or some other GI problem, and they run out of fuel somewhere along the way. This is often a race-ender.
Through training, I set out to eat by feel and not calorie restriction. I knew that in a caloric deficit, while useful for losing weight, would make it much harder to recover and increase my training load. I didn't count calories but made sure that I was eating plenty of good, whole foods. I cut out alcohol for the most part as well.
Come race day,I crushed a bowl of oatmeal before leaving our room, some fruit and coffee on the way, and an apple fritter just before the race. Throughout the race, I had packed my transition bag with another apple fritter, gummy bears, goos, and other odds and ends. I mixed some electrolyte and energy mixes and stayed consistent in consuming those throughout the day. I also attempted to stop at most aid stations and eat something, going off of what I was craving.
I felt pretty good but by about hour 9 my appetite had waned and I was getting sick of crushing as much food as possible, but I didn’t stop.
The Gear:
First off, I highly recommend getting a decent watch and heart rate monitor. Tracking your training is crucial in building your capacity and heart rate is typically the most useful metric. I use a Garmin Fenix 7 because of its ability to give great data and last many days, even when recording training.
For the swimming, I only had a cheap set of goggles and a swim cap. I used my watch to track my laps in the pool and didn't get fancy with any swim training tools. For race day and a few of the final training swims in open water, I bought a wetsuit since the lake we were swimming in is cold and they are allowed. Wet suits need to fit well or they can act as a major mobility limitation or a drag in the water. You can rent them for race day only too which is a more inexpensive way to go.
For biking, I primarily trained in my shed on my road bike that was mounted on a Wahoo Kikr smart trainer. It connects to my watch or phone, and you can use apps to control the resistance and do workouts or you can just spin. This made it easy to train through the winter and when time was limited. I did a few road rides to make sure I was comfortable on the road. I had a set of aero bars attached that were nice, and a peak design phone mount to hold my phone to watch YouTube videos while I rode. I recommend getting a bike that fits you well and learning how to troubleshoot chain, derailleur, and tire problems. I carried a spare tube, patches, and pump on race day. I now use an app called Trainer Road that uses my goals, data, and level of fitness to program workouts specifically for me. I wish I had used this during my Ironman prep too.
For running, I opted for very cushioned shoes to lower the impact and hopefully avoid injury. I used Hokas and liked them, though I had run only in Altra’s for many years prior. I used compression sleeves on my calves for race day to help with the shin splint issue I had experienced, and they seemed to help.
The Race:
The swim went well, I lined up hoping to be sub 1:30 minutes. The route took two large loops in the lake with a quicksand transition between laps to cross the sensor. I took a relatively hard pace, focused on going wide to avoid getting kicked, and relaxed and conserving my legs. I got out of the water at 1:19, which I was happy with. I stripped out of my wetsuit and wet boxers in the transition tent and put on my biking bib and jersey and off I went. I don’t have a tri suit, and didn’t want to spend the money on one for the few seconds it saves.
I snagged my bike and popped my apple fritter in my mouth. As I took off, my chain flew off and I had to get it back on while holding the donut in my mouth. I looked like a goon but people were cheering me on and several laughed at the donut. The bike took 6.5 hours to cover the 112-mile course with over 7,000 ft of elevation gain. It was long but I loved it. I had aero bars but only used them about half of the time since I was not super comfortable in that position.
The run came and so did the pain. Once back on the street my body quickly felt like it was bonking. It got a bit hot and I was feeling nauseous. I trudged along, taking walking breaks frequently and stopping at every aid station. This felt like a lifetime, but 13.5 hours after diving into the water on my swim I finally made it to the finish line. I was pumped. I was happy with the time and felt tired but ok.
So what did I learn and what advice might I pass on from one amateur to another?
Have realistic expectations: Each discipline is hard, but a relatively fit person can slog through even without a lot of training. An Ironman is not the same. To make it, you must train a lot. Period. And you will not be setting any speed PRs. Also, make sure your family is on board with this. It takes an immense amount of time and energy from you and them to support your early mornings and late nights of training. I know Sadie was a big reason why I was able to be successful.
Low-intensity training for the win. I did not do a lot of high-intensity training, and I don't regret it. I spent much of my time in my zone 2 heart rate developing my aerobic capacity, and it paid off. If you are not comfortable with the distances a long ways out from the event, I would recommend my method. Even with careful tracking I still developed shin splints, fortunately, they subsided on the day of the race.
Having nice gear is great, but don’t get too carried away. While there is nothing cheap about doing an Ironman, you don’t need the most expensive gear to get it done. My bike was less than $1000, which is not much compared to the hundreds of 5-15k bikes lined up. I didn't buy any swim training gear other than a swim cap and goggles. Fins, paddles, floaties, and other things would be nice, but simply swimming works too.
Track your training. If you want to use a coach and software, awesome. There are lots of good options. If you want to do it like I did, that works too. I'll link up my spreadsheet for anyone who might want to modify it and use it for their training. If you don't track you will not be consistent and will likely overtrain into an injury or undertrain and not be prepared. Both are bad.
Practice eating and training. If you are unable to eat and drink adequately on race day, you probably won't make it. It’s a long day, and the caloric needs are high. Don’t worry about eating “clean” on race day, you need fast calories. Listen to your body and eat as much as you can of whatever it craves.
Do some test days. Pick a distance that fits your training plan, and practice transitioning between events, changing gear, and eating. I did a half-ironman distance training day about 2.5 months out from the event to test my equipment. It was a good confidence booster and teacher for what needed to change.
Don’t go out too hard. I, in the end, felt like I could have pushed it a bit harder on the swim and the bike. I love biking but was worried about the coming run and didn’t want to go too hard and blow up to the point of not being able to complete it.
Race your race. If you want to set a time goal, go for it. For me, I had an idea in mind but what I wanted most was to complete the event and not be destroyed. I hurt after, but I was far from broken. I felt like my training had paid off and I felt pretty good only a few days later. If you try to complete someone else's goals on your first one you are setting yourself up for failure.
Don’t think you can’t. If I were to ask my younger self if I thought I could do an Ironman someday I would have undoubtedly said “no”. All it takes is time and effort, anyone can do it. I saw so many people of varying ages, shapes, and sizes that were out there crushing it. If this has been something you have thought would be a cool challenge I highly recommend it. In the end, I decided that biking was the thing I love and will continue to pursue over triathlons, but I feel immensely proud that I was able to put in the work and earn the medal and It will give me the confidence to take on any challenge I desire for the rest of my life.
While I am not planning to do another triathlon, moving forward I am pumped to take on different challenges, focusing on mountain bike racing and bikepacking. Today I am finishing packing up to fly to Arizona for a 6-day bikepacking trip through the mountains with my brother and a buddy and am no longer in doubt of my ability to endure long, challenging days of biking and plan to continue focusing on that. Sadie and I are planning to bike across Spain this year and I look forward to sharing that journey with you all as well.
If you want to see the spreadsheet or some of the things I used for my training and race, check out the links below. Hit like if this was helpful, and please leave any questions you have in the comments. Take care!
