First, I wanted to thank the community. I wouldn't of been able to accomplish my goals w/out all the helpful & knowledgable people on this forum. I wanted to make this post for people in similar circumstances to be able to search in the future to reach their goals. The ironman was a "bucket-list" thing... I previously had zero experience in endurance anything and now I love the sport of triathlon!
I did the Ironman (Florida 2012') in 12:18.
Swim - 1:18:54
T1- 14:28
Bike - 6:21:14 (w/ a flat)
T2- 9:19
Run - 4:14:47
Background:
Swim: 16 years of surfing, but didn't learn how to swim until Jan of this year. My shoulder muscle endurance is strong, but when I first started to swim, I would hyper ventilate after 2 of lengths of the pool.
Bike: Before March of this year I had been on a road bike 1 time for a 15 mile ride ( off the couch sprint tri). So I have ZERO bike background of any kind.
Run: I was a average track runner in jr high & high school. (high jump & 400m). During IM training the farthest I had ever ran was 10.5 miles @ an 8:30ish pace. During training I got a mild ITband injury... so in the spirit of not overtraining myself & getting really hurt, I completely stopped running. I didn't run for the majority of my IM training.
Race History:
2x Sprint Triathlons (the 1st one I did, I had to walk the swim)
5k - ran @ 20:00
Very little run base. I have always keep active with surfing & mma. I'm 6'2 and 185lbs w/ about 12-15% body fat. 31 years old
Training: I used the 13 Hour / 13 week training plan.... but started building a 4 hour a week base before that plan started... since about July-ish of this year... (I could look it up if you wanted that info). During this plan I never surpassed the allotted numbers of hours a week. Usually fell short of the weekly hours target by 1 or 2 hours.
Swim Training: Just over 33 hours in swimming total. Never really worked on speed, just worked on building time and distance.
Long swims were - 1:15 twice & 1:30 once. Lots of 45 minute swims. Once I got the breathing down, my surfing background carried me big time!
Bike Training: Just over 1,500 miles total. Started in March of this year, as I stated above. Utilized 4-5 group rides towards the end. The rest of the rides were alone.
Long rides were- 60 miles, 61 miles, 64 miles, 77 miles, 94 miles
Run Training: Only 250 miles total (w/ no base before). Because of MILD ITband injury during the beginning of my IM training all run volume was done on an elliptical machine. There was a couple of times I jumped roped for 10 minutes & I tried deep water running once.
Long runs (before injury) were- 7 miles, 7.3 (treadmill), 8 miles (treadmill), 10.5 miles. All runs at about an 8:30ish pace.
During the Swim:
I lined up wide. I was the farthest one down the beach and went wide on all the turns. I did the swim alone the entire first lap. Never really had anybody within 10 feet of me.
During the Bike:
Got a flat that took about 13-20 mins... other then that pushed at a relaxed pace. I wanted to make sure there was plenty left for the run.
During the Run:
A buddy, who is an accomplished runner recommended run/walking the marathon because I am such a long run beginner. That's exactly what I did! I would swear by this now. First, I power walked the first 3 minutes out of T2 (it's hard to ignore the cheers) to get my heart rate down. Then I did a 4:00/0:30 run/walk spit. 4 minutes @ an 8:30 pace then power walked for 30 seconds. I did that for the entire marathon, but my body started fading for the last 6 miles or so. If is didn't use that ratio, there is no way I would have been able to hold my pace through the entire race. Even running for another minute would of chewed up my leg muscles too much and too early. That ratio worked perfect for me.
Post Ironman - Despite getting a flat tire in the first 15 miles of IMFL the day went really smooth. Never had cramps and nutrition worked well. I have a really high threshold for pain and I'm a very focussed person, so I was able to really power through on that run despite my minimal running background. As of right now I have 3 and a half black toenails and still can barely walk (4 days after race). I wish I could have had some more long runs.
My tips (stolen from this forum)
-Better to be way undertrained then 1 day overtrained
-The race doesn't begin until mile 18 of the run. Bike slow.
-Carbo-pro is awesome
I had such a rewarding day, I'm so happy with how everything turned out. I had a lot of fears and doubts going into the race.
I did the Ironman (Florida 2012') in 12:18.
Swim - 1:18:54
T1- 14:28
Bike - 6:21:14 (w/ a flat)
T2- 9:19
Run - 4:14:47
Background:
Swim: 16 years of surfing, but didn't learn how to swim until Jan of this year. My shoulder muscle endurance is strong, but when I first started to swim, I would hyper ventilate after 2 of lengths of the pool.
Bike: Before March of this year I had been on a road bike 1 time for a 15 mile ride ( off the couch sprint tri). So I have ZERO bike background of any kind.
Run: I was a average track runner in jr high & high school. (high jump & 400m). During IM training the farthest I had ever ran was 10.5 miles @ an 8:30ish pace. During training I got a mild ITband injury... so in the spirit of not overtraining myself & getting really hurt, I completely stopped running. I didn't run for the majority of my IM training.
Race History:
2x Sprint Triathlons (the 1st one I did, I had to walk the swim)
5k - ran @ 20:00
Very little run base. I have always keep active with surfing & mma. I'm 6'2 and 185lbs w/ about 12-15% body fat. 31 years old
Training: I used the 13 Hour / 13 week training plan.... but started building a 4 hour a week base before that plan started... since about July-ish of this year... (I could look it up if you wanted that info). During this plan I never surpassed the allotted numbers of hours a week. Usually fell short of the weekly hours target by 1 or 2 hours.
Swim Training: Just over 33 hours in swimming total. Never really worked on speed, just worked on building time and distance.
Long swims were - 1:15 twice & 1:30 once. Lots of 45 minute swims. Once I got the breathing down, my surfing background carried me big time!
Bike Training: Just over 1,500 miles total. Started in March of this year, as I stated above. Utilized 4-5 group rides towards the end. The rest of the rides were alone.
Long rides were- 60 miles, 61 miles, 64 miles, 77 miles, 94 miles
Run Training: Only 250 miles total (w/ no base before). Because of MILD ITband injury during the beginning of my IM training all run volume was done on an elliptical machine. There was a couple of times I jumped roped for 10 minutes & I tried deep water running once.
Long runs (before injury) were- 7 miles, 7.3 (treadmill), 8 miles (treadmill), 10.5 miles. All runs at about an 8:30ish pace.
During the Swim:
I lined up wide. I was the farthest one down the beach and went wide on all the turns. I did the swim alone the entire first lap. Never really had anybody within 10 feet of me.
During the Bike:
Got a flat that took about 13-20 mins... other then that pushed at a relaxed pace. I wanted to make sure there was plenty left for the run.
During the Run:
A buddy, who is an accomplished runner recommended run/walking the marathon because I am such a long run beginner. That's exactly what I did! I would swear by this now. First, I power walked the first 3 minutes out of T2 (it's hard to ignore the cheers) to get my heart rate down. Then I did a 4:00/0:30 run/walk spit. 4 minutes @ an 8:30 pace then power walked for 30 seconds. I did that for the entire marathon, but my body started fading for the last 6 miles or so. If is didn't use that ratio, there is no way I would have been able to hold my pace through the entire race. Even running for another minute would of chewed up my leg muscles too much and too early. That ratio worked perfect for me.
Post Ironman - Despite getting a flat tire in the first 15 miles of IMFL the day went really smooth. Never had cramps and nutrition worked well. I have a really high threshold for pain and I'm a very focussed person, so I was able to really power through on that run despite my minimal running background. As of right now I have 3 and a half black toenails and still can barely walk (4 days after race). I wish I could have had some more long runs.
My tips (stolen from this forum)
-Better to be way undertrained then 1 day overtrained
-The race doesn't begin until mile 18 of the run. Bike slow.
-Carbo-pro is awesome
I had such a rewarding day, I'm so happy with how everything turned out. I had a lot of fears and doubts going into the race.