IMCDA 2008 Race Report - Part 1 - Training

As most of you know by now, I entered into and successfully finished the Ford Ironman Coeur d'Alene triathlon, which was held on June 22, 2008. For those who don't know what that is...it is a long distance triathlon consisting of...you guessed it...three events: 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, and a 26.2 mile run (in that order). I know this race report is a little bit tardy but better late than never, right? First of all let me say what an extremely superb experience the whole thing was! I would totally recommend it to anyone...if not to complete for yourself, then at least to attend a nearby event to witness the whole thing. If you have one of these in or near your hometown, I strongly encourage you to go check it out. Part 1 of this race report is about "Training" or in other words, everything before race weekend.

Before I get into it here, I would like to take a minute to make a special note. This whole thing would not have been possible without the unconditional love and support that Sarah provided me with from day one. I am sure that my training wore on her in ways not to dissimilar to how it wore on me but she rarely let it show and always maintained a positive and inspirational attitude to help keep me going. She was my running partner, my swim coach, my nutritionist (i.e. "Are you eating again???"), my sounding board (who remained attentive even though I suspect that she doesn't care about gear ratios and aerodynamics nearly as much as I do), and my life partner. Without the better half of Team Upsall present for every step along the way, this would have been way...WAY more difficult. I hope that someday I can repay your support in some way, shape, or form. Thank you Sarah!

I committed to and entered the race almost a year ago, as is typical of the Ford Ironman races since they sell out within days (and sometimes hours) of the finish of the current years race. There are only 6 of them held in North America every year - Coeur d'Alene; Madison; Penticton, BC; Lake Placid; Arizona; and Florida. While there are probably hundreds of Iron-distance races held in the US every year, the Ford Ironman races are REALLY well organized and put on by a full-time staff of seriously anal-retentive race planners.

Seeing as how I committed to the race in about August, I had plenty of time to train myself to complete the race. I began doing some base training immediately but that was fairly relaxed and not necessarily triathlon specific (i.e. could have also included hiking, snowshoeing, marathon home improvement sessions, and/or beer drinking...never to early to start carbo-loading right?). I didn't get into the real guts of my training program until we got back from our trip to Vietnam in early November. While on that vacation I built myself an 8 month training plan based on the guidelines and tips set forth in Joe Friel's book "The Triathlete's Training Bible". From there, a steady progression of (mostly) endurance and (some) speed workouts for each sport in combination with systematic rest periods began slowly preparing my body to physically and mentally deal with the workout that would come on race day. My weekly training hours ranged from the single digits (during base and rest weeks) up to about 18-19 (during the end of my base phase training). I did most of my bike and swim training in the mornings before work and the run training fell after work typically. Long runs and rides were stuff for weekends, obviously, and eating...well I pretty much ate and drank what I wanted, when I wanted. Sarah helped keep me in a somewhat nutritional realm (at least in the same book that the food pyramid is printed in) but I would be lying if I said I didn't occasionally hoark down a half dozen Krispy Kremes on "Doughnut Friday" or three pieces of birthday cake (guys like me are the real reason why Milton never gets a piece of birthday cake - Office Space reference) at the office from time to time. I think that during much of the early training, she was put off by how much I ate while maintaining my body weight.

It is commonly recommended for first-timers not to run a marathon during their Ironman training, because that alone breaks down the body and requires enough recovery that you could set your training back several weeks and greatly increase your risk of injury. So with that said, the marathon leg of the event on race day was the longest run I have ever completed. In fact, race day also marked my longest ever swim and my longest ever bike ride as well...lots of firsts that day.

After all the tough training came a 3 week taper, where you decrease your training volume in order to let your body heal, strengthen, and get prepared for the race. It is a strange feeling going into a race of this distance knowing that your last long swim, bike, or run were over three weeks ago. The first week feels like a rest week...great...but then the next two weeks you start to feel lethargic as you start getting less of your exercise fix. In some sense, I felt like my body was going through withdrawal and I definitely felt like I was losing fitness. But I read a lot of articles in books and magazines, written by people with a lot more Ironman experience than I, that warned of these symptoms and said that you had to trust in your body and let it heal properly before the race. They say that during your taper, you are better off not working out at all for the whole three weeks than trying to get one last 100 mile training ride under your belt. During the taper I continued to eat a lot in order to fuel up my body. Sarah appeared more or less numb to my caloric intake by this point.

All that was left to do was pack up, hit the road, and get 'er done...