10 Brutal Truths About IRONMAN That Triathletes Learn Too Late transcript

Even with the best training, your first full IRONMAN triathlon can throw some unexpected challenges your way. Here's what I learned about pacing and nutrition and preparation that can help you race smarter and enjoy the day more. Your first IRONMAN is a massive challenge, and no matter how well you train, there are things you only truly understand once you've been through it from managing your effort across all three disciplines, to dialing in your nutrition and avoiding common pitfalls.

There's a lot that can make or break your race day. Over the years, I've helped countless athletes prepare for their first IRONMAN, and I've seen the same key lessons come up time and time again. In this video, I'll share everything I wish I knew before my first race so that you can go in prepared, race smarter, and make the experience as rewarding as possible. So my first full distance triathlon was the Outlaw in 2014, which is in Nottingham, England.

And like all races of that length, it involved a 3.8 K swim, 180 k cycle in a 42.2 K run. So I've completed several more since then, but that one sticks in my mind for being the first, despite being nervous beforehand, I guess it went as well as could be expected for a first timer. However, there were still several things I wish I'd known beforehand, and I'm going to reveal them for you here. I admire anyone who sets out to train for an IRONMAN because it's tougher than any other triathlon distance you see with half distance or Olympic or sprint triathlons.

You can usually just about fit your training around the other things that life throws at you without having to compromise too much. I. But training for a full IRONMAN is a bigger challenge physically, mentally, and logistically. The point I'm trying to make here is that training for an IRONMAN isn't a great idea if you're already dealing with major life stress. I'm talking about things like moving house, starting a big new job.

Becoming a parent, renovating a house, or going through a tough breakup because it's just too much all at once. These things are normal in life, but they're also headwinds when it comes to IRONMAN preparation. In 2015, I trained for IRONMAN Barcelona soon after becoming a new parent, and it wasn't that much fun, if I'm honest. , I had little sleep and constant guilt about my training and I often cut my sessions short just to help out at home and be around more, and I found it was really hard to stay motivated because my focus was elsewhere.

Training is much more enjoyable when your life is stable because you have more time and energy to focus on your preparation and recovery. One of the biggest lessons from my first full distance triathlon was that the swim is really just a warmup for the bike and run. Of course, you do need to be in good swim shape to get through it comfortably and still have energy for the rest of the race, but at the end of the day, the swim is by far the shortest part, so it's worth keeping that in perspective.

When I was training, I gave almost equal attention to all three disciplines, three swims, three rides, and three runs each week. But every swim meant an early alarm call de-icing my car in the dark, and a 30 minute round trip to the swimming pool. And looking back, I wish I'd just swam twice a week because my final swim time barely impacted my race. Sure, that extra session might have made me 30 seconds faster, but also left me more tired and stressed each day.

Instead, I kind of wish I'd stuck to two swims a week and gradually built up to four kilometers in those swims over a period of months, and that's 2.5 miles. That way, I'd have gained the endurance I needed without all the unnecessary time travel and fatigue during an IRONMAN. Pacing yourself on the bike is absolutely crucial. The harder you push on the bike, the more you'll drain your legs and it'll make that marathon feel even tougher.

You also need to consider the effects of air resistance, which increases exponentially with speed. That means that small gains in speed require a big jump in power output. For example, going from 15 miles per hour to 20 miles per hour takes about 70 more watts. But increasing from 20 to 25 miles an hour takes over 100 extra watts, so the faster you go, the harder it gets to maintain. I was quite lucky in my first full distance triathlon because I paced the bike well, which meant I had good legs for the run.

The key takeaway here is that you should never feel out of breath or like you are pushing too hard on the pedals, and you should always be able to hold a conversation. If you want precise heart rate and power targets, I've put together a guide on pacing an IRONMAN, and the link is in the video description. And if you're looking for structured training to get race ready, you can check out my training plans while you're there, and they're used by thousands of athletes worldwide.

When you are preparing for a triathlon, it's only natural to set yourself target times for the swim, bike, and run. For example, you might say to yourself that you're going to smash the swim in one hour and 25 minutes. And you're gonna ride the bike in six hours and conquer the marathon in four hours and 30. But my recommendation is not to set those kinds of individual goals for your IRONMAN. And why is that? Well over such a long race distance, it can be hard to predict how things will go because there are so many variables.

The problem with setting yourself target times is that if you don't make them, you'll start feeling like you're failing. Maintaining a positive mindset is vital because negative thoughts will affect how you perceive fatigue. When I did my first long distance triathlon, I expected to swim a few minutes faster than I did, so I got out the water feeling disappointed, like I'd already fallen short. That feeling stuck with me on the bike, and by the time I finished that section, I wasn't just behind my target times, but I was also feeling pretty down about my whole race.

But then to my surprise, I had a really strong run and I crossed the finish line with a time and a position that I was really proud of. So the thing is, in such a long race, you will inevitably go through good and bad patches and small changes in variables like temperature and winds can make a really significant difference to your times. That's why it's better to set sensible targets based on heart rate or power output.

Instead of individual finished times in the three disciplines. During an IRONMAN, you'll burn somewhere between 8,000 and 12,000 calories. And that's the equivalent to five days worth of your normal food and drink. Around 30 to 50% of your energy will come from stored body fat, while 50 to 70% comes from glycogen, which is your body's stored form of carbohydrate. The problem is your body only holds about 1500 calories of glycogen, so unless you top it up, you'll soon run out.

And when that happens, your performance will drop fast. The tricky part. Well, by the time you're halfway through a tough IRONMAN, your stomach won't be feeling so great. Nausea, bloating, and even diarrhea is common, but they're avoidable. The key is practicing your nutrition in training. Depending on your size and experience, you should aim for 60 to 90 grams of carbohydrate per hour on race day. Some people even manage 120 grams, particularly on the bike section.

And since research shows that you can train your gut to handle higher amounts of carbohydrate. That's exactly how much you should be taking in your training sessions too. When you break it down, it's a lot. 60 grams of carbs is roughly two and a half to three energy gels per hour, and that's at the lower end of the range. So if you are aiming for 90 or even 120 grams per hour, that's more like five or six gels per hour.

Most people find it easier to aim towards the upper end on the bike section and the lower end of that carbohydrate range on the run section. But the more you practice your fueling and training, the better your gut will handle it on race day. So start practicing this from 12 weeks out and in all your workouts that are one hour or longer. When I did my first long distance triathlon, I barely knew anything about electrolytes.

It was a roasting hot day, and while I understood the need to stay hydrated and fueled, that was about all I knew. Luckily, I paced myself well, consumed plenty of energy products, which contained some electrolytes, and since I'm not a particularly heavy or salty sweater, I got away with it. But here's the thing, you can nail your pacing and nutrition and still fall short if you don't get your hydration right. Electrolyte needs vary based on your sweat rate, race conditions, and individual sodium loss.

But most athletes should aim for between 501 and a half thousand milligrams of sodium per hour during an IRONMAN. Sodium is the key player when it comes to electrolytes, but potassium, magnesium, and calcium also play a role, and most hydration products contain a mix of all four. These days, I don't just plan my carbohydrate intake before a race. I also plan my hydration. I check the labels of things, and then I add up how much sodium I'll be getting from the energy drinks, gels, chews, and capsules that I'm planning to consume.

If the weather forecast is around 20 degrees Celsius or 68 Fahrenheit, I aim for around 1000 milligrams of sodium per hour, along with around 1000 milliliters of fluid per hour, which is a normal kind of bike model. Of course everyone's needs are different and conditions play a big role here. You can estimate your own sweat rate by weighing yourself before and after a workout, and then factoring in how much fluid you consumed.

Some hydration companies even offer tests that measure the saltiness of your sweat. Either way, it's not an exact science, but here are the key takeaways. If you don't consume enough electrolytes, you risk cramping, fatigue, and a drop in performance. If you consume too much sodium without enough water, you could end up with stomach issues. The solution. Test your electrolyte intake in training and find out what works for you.

I won't go on about this point, but something as simple as skin rubbing can ruin your whole race. I learned that the hard way in my first IRONMAN, and let's just say it was brutal. By the time I got off the bike, I was looking forward to the marathon run just to give my backside a break. And it's not just the subtle area. Chafing can hit your neck, armpits, nipples, or underarms too. In a short race, something cheap like petroleum jelly might do the trick, but when you are racing all day long, you need a lubricant that lasts or you'll need to put it on again.

Mid-race. The best IRONMAN lubricant I've found so far is body glide and that comes in different sizes and it seems to last all day for me anyway. I also carry a small lip balm stick in case I need a top up mid race, and that's a simple hack that can save you a lot of pain. By the way, if you have any IRONMAN Race Day hacks that I've missed, please let me know in the comments section. It was absolutely boiling hot during my first long distance triathlon, and I'd done absolutely nothing whatsoever to prepare for that.

But looking back, I reckon it would've been more enjoyable if I'd been better acclimatized. The good news is that heat acclimation is relatively easy to do and it's worth it even if race day turns out to be cooler than you expected. Studies show that adapting to heat helps you race more efficiently in pretty much any temperature above 10 degrees Celsius or 50 degrees Fahrenheit these days. My go-to method is wearing an extra layer during all my low intensity training sessions starting about eight or 10 weeks out from my goal race.

So I build that up gradually over a few weeks by putting a little more clothing on every week, and if ever I feel sick or dizzy, I just strip off again. And by the end of that process, I can comfortably train in extra layers without feeling too hot. One important rule though, don't try this in high intensity sessions because you'll just end up frying yourself and having a terrible workout. There are other ways to adapt to heat too, like sitting in a 40 degree.

Celsius or 104 Fahrenheit bath for 30 minutes after training or using a sauna post-workout, whichever method you choose. If your target race is likely to be warm, it's 100% worth preparing for it. Being aerodynamic makes a huge difference on the bike in an IRONMAN because wind resistance is the biggest thing slowing you down. A well optimized arrow position can save 10 to 15% in power at the same speed compared to sitting upright over 180 kilometers or 112 miles.

That can mean saving 15 to 30 minutes or more without working any harder, but here's the thing. Arrow only works if you can hold the position comfortably. For IRONMAN, you need to balance aerodynamics with comfort because you'll be riding for such a long time. I've never felt that comfortable during any of my IRONMAN bike legs. And as the hours tick by that discomfort slowly turns into fatigue and pain. I. I was chasing low drag, but staying in that super area position was making me tired and sore.

It's all well and good having a low drag coefficient, but remember, you'll be riding for hours often on bumpy, twisty, or hilly roads. You'll be looking up to see where you're going, grabbing food and drink shifting position. So your setup needs to be something that you can comfortably hold all day. At my last bike fitting session, I went for an ultra arrow bike setup, and it felt great for short rides. But during IRONMAN events, it led to neck pain, bum pain, and general misery.

For my next race, I'm gonna tweak my setup with the help of a bike fitter to find a better balance between comfort and aerodynamics. And if you are racing long distances, I'd suggest you do the same. Before you enter an IRONMAN, you need to be clear on why you are doing it and what's driving you. This really matters because at some point it's going to get tough, whether in training or on race day, and you are gonna need to fall back on that motivation to keep you going.

So be brutally honest with yourself about what's pushing you forward. For me, it's about performance targets. I usually set a specific time goal or I aim for an age group placing that I'll feel proud of in the years to come. And if I'm being completely honest, I also kind of like it when other people think I did well too. Another big reason for me is that I like having goals in my life. Having a structured plan gives me direction and purpose, and IRONMAN training fits that perfectly.

But we're all different and your reasons might be completely different to mine, and that's totally fine. The key is knowing what they are and then sharing them with the people around you so that you stay motivated and get the most out of the experience. If you're raising an IRONMAN anytime soon, good luck and if I can help in any way, just reach out. If you like this video, check out the one on the screen right now and you can also try watching our nutrition for endurance sports playlist because that gives you loads of videos with everything you'll need to know about fueling for an IRONMAN.

So don't forget till I can subscribe this video and I'll see you next time.