Do’s and Don’t of
Ironman Preparation.
Bikesport Owner, Tom Demerly at Ironman Canada 1999
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Largest Mass Swim Start in Triathlon History: 1750 Athletes.
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Ironman Canada 1999 was my third Ironman and each
of the races has been a different experience. An Ironman experience
can range from unparalleled joy to utter, grinding, abyssmal
misery and everything in between. What determines the quality
(or lack thereof) of your race are largely two factors: How
you prepared and how good your race plan is. Prepare well and
execute a precise race plan and you will have a good race. Take
shortcuts and ignore your plan on race day and you’re in
for a long, nasty day.
In ’99 I took a different approach to Ironman
preparation than my previous races. It didn’t work.
My first Ironman was Hawaii in 1986. That was
13 years ago. No aero bars, no race wheels, no Powerbars. I
was a kid with no endurance experience and did a 12:24:36. It
wasn’t fast even by 1986 standards, but I finished feeling
great. In’97 I went to Canada on the recommendation of
many of my customers. Members of the FAST (Ford Athletic Swim
and Triathlon) team said Canada was a great race. In particular
Geoff Fletcher and Ken Gutowski gave me a sales pitch on Ironman
Canada that was hard to resist. I followed the training recommendations
of Ken and Geoff and had a great race (for me) going 10:42:24.
I felt awesome at the finish. It is one of the most memorable
race finishes of my life.
In ’99 I went back after entering in ’98
and not being able to start when I got sick two days before
the race. It was intensely frustrating and after over 150 triathlons,
the first time I failed to start an event I entered- so a real
let down.
For ’99 I developed a new and different training
strategy based on a revised goal to go much faster than I did
in 1997. I needed both endurance and speed to finish in the
vicinity of 10:00:00. My training consisted largely of a long
phase of aerobic base building (during one week I ran 152 miles,
all with a 15 pound backpack, across the Sahara desert in Morocco)
followed by a period of hard, long rides and runs. I did no
swim training after the month of January whatsoever.
My race in ’99 was 2/3rds good: I had a good
swim for me, considering I didn’t train for it (1:08 and
change). I had a better bike following excellent coaching and
training with Wolverine Cycling Coach Michael R. Rabe. Mike
took me on long, 100 mile+ training rides at moderate intensity.
I did several solo 100 mile rides at higher intensity. My bike
split was 5:27 and some seconds. My runs consisted of hard,
long runs at a pace of 7:00 to 7:30. I was poised (I thought)
to run a 3:30 marathon. It wound up being a very unpleasant
4:23. My total race time was over one hour slower than my goal
at 11:07.
Perhaps the worst part about the race was not
knowing what went wrong. My swim was OK, my bike went well and
I felt strong, but my run was aweful. I had no idea why. It
boiled down to these common mistakes:
- Not enough long "brick"
workouts in training.
If I had done just one more 100 mile ride followed by a
20 mile run 1 to 2 weeks before the race I would have done
much better.
Incorrect food/Not enough food on bike and run.
- In ’97 I relied almost exclusively
on liquid food and it worked. I did it again in ’99
and it failed. I didn’t get enough calories
and paid for it on the run. By the time I got to the marathon
turnaround I was so far in the "calorie hole"
I couldn’t get out. I needed to eat and drink more.
Environmnetal conditions played a role also, as it was almost
20 degrees warmer in ’99 than ’97. During the
entire event I didn’t use a single energy gel, all
I used was Champion Nutrition Metabolol endurance, Cytomax,
Revenge and water. On the run I switched to Pepsi and Gatorade.
If I had used energy gels throughout the race I am convinced
I would have had more strength on the run.
- My taper was too long.
Tapering is part art, part experience and entirely individual.
At 37 years old with 20 years of endurance experience I
don’t need too much of a taper. When I raced bicycles
in the early ‘90s it was not uncommon to do 3 races
per week over 100 miles with long training rides in between
(I was living in Belgium at the time, where road racing
is common and popular). If I went without training for one
day I felt flat. After three I lost a lot of fitness. Before
Ironman I tapered for almost a week. On race morning I felt
totally flat. I learned it is important for me to do some
bike and run training right up to the event.
- I ignored good coaching advice.
With the proliferation of on-line coaches there seems to
be no shortage of coaching advice out there. Problem is,
most of it is bad. I would never, ever consider using an
"on-line" coach. The term "on-line coach
" is an oxymoron in itself . You can’t coach an
athlete over the internet. When legendary cycling coach
Mike Walden died several years ago the US lost an invaluable
resource. Walden was a brilliant coach who worked tirelessly
with his athletes everyday, face to face. Part of Walden’s
proven philosophy is: Race your strength, Train your weakness.
I despise swim training. You’re packed in a pool with
a bunch of other people, bouncing back and forth off the
walls. I prefer being out on a long stretch of quiet road
alone turning out the miles. If I had put in the time in
the pool instead of all those long rides and runs I could
have shaved 5-8 minutes off my swim. My bike and run probably
wouldn’t have suffered. They may have been faster.
I should have done a lot more swim training.
- Keep intermediate goals in check.
I had several intermediate goals throughout the race. One
was to break 20mph average speed on the bike. I was so focused
on that I probably went too hard on the bike, especially
toward the end. I should have saved more for the run. I
might have been four minutes slower on the bike, but I could
have saved a half hour on the run. My (limited) experience
with these 3 Ironman races is you can recover from a bad
bike ride and have a good race (I did in ’97), but
once you blow-up on the run, your day is over.
The cliché’ "hindsight is 20/20"
has never been more true. Using the experience of this year’s
Ironman Canada and my previous two Ironman races I’ve put
together a training plan that I think will be highly effective
for 2000. So I did the only thing you can do- I entered Ironman
Lake Placid 2000.
