| Sure, your average triathlon is challenging, but not impossible. But this is the Ironman: is it even possible for me to finish?
PART TWO: Is it possible?
With the goal of finishing the Ironman, I began the 35-week training program in December of 2001. I agree with Stephen Covey’s principle to “begin with the end in mind,” but you still train for an Ironman one day at time. Each night I went to bed between 9:30pm and 10pm after I had carefully laid out my equipment, clothing and food for the next morning’s training session. Each morning I heard the alarm ring at 4:30am or 4:45am. Each morning I faced the tough task of crawling out of my warm bed into the cold morning for training. As motivation, I taped a picture of the Ironman finishing tunnel on our bathroom mirror. Sometimes I attached motivational messages onto my alarm clock. Each morning, I trained in one of the triathlon disciplines of swimming, cycling and running. The plan was to build a base of fitness and focus on technique. Then I worked on strength and power. Later, I focused on distance and duration towards the end of the training plan. During the base and strength periods, I utilized weight lifting to increase my strength, but later favored solely sport-specific training. I knew the course in Lake Placid was in mountain terrain so I sought run and bike routes with plenty of hills. When training, I utilized the periodization technique that leads the athlete to overload the muscles over multiple workouts and then allows less intense workouts for optimal recovery. The key is to rotate through these periods and through the three sports of triathlon. I used a spreadsheet and mapped the major milestones that I wanted to achieve over the 35-week period in each discipline. For example, I wanted to do a certain amount of swimming laps with planned 15-second rests (called repeats or intervals). My target number continued to increase as I worked to create speed in the water, but also extend my stamina in pursuit of the 2.4-mile Ironman swim. Our local triathlon club, Tri-KC, organizes open-water swimming in the lake at Shawnee Mission Park. This is great practice because you are not able to push off the wall, or follow the black line on the bottom of the pool. Also, swimming with a group of triathletes helps you get accustomed to swimming along side other triathletes that want to occupy your same space. At the lake, we have a course marked with buoys that measures approximately 250 yards. For my running, I traded the indoor treadmill for the proper outdoor running clothing. Much of my base running was done in the cold morning air. I found that the cold air, although brisk at first, actually was perfect for running once I warmed-up. I ran from downtown towards the Plaza to take advantage of the hills common on the Hospital Hill Run course. I also ran a route that used the Streamway bike path that led from my home to Shawnee Mission Park. That path is marked every half-mile, so I was able to develop a steady pace required for the Ironman marathon. The cycling training for triathlon is especially difficult. The bike portion of any triathlon is the longest distance that you cover during the race. For the 112-mile bike course, I needed to increase my cycling stamina and also increase my strength for the many hills that I was to encounter in Lake Placid. The family-friendly restrictions that I place on my training made cycling improvements difficult. I found limited light in the early hours of the morning before work, and two hours of cycling training is really just a warm-up as you try to develop your 112-mile attack. I moved the Blackburn trainer into basement and set my bike in a stationary position in front of a small television. After positioning a fan and water near the bike, I insert a Spinervals tape into the VCR. Spinervals is to indoor cycling as to Tae-Bo is to aerobics. Think of it as Spinning, which is normally offered at fitness clubs, in the comfort of your home with your own personal coach on the television. Troy Jacobsen of the Triathlon Academy created many unique Spinervals tapes. The Spinervals tape that I use is his ninth, which is two-hours of his toughest workouts. Coach Troy directs participants through the training by suggesting gearing, stance (standing or sitting), and cadence (pedal revolutions). After two hours of spinning, my odometer displays that I have “traveled” 42 miles, but my body feels like I have had an even greater workout because there are no stops or periods of coasting down hills—it is pedaling in the purest form. The computer on my bike helps me keep my cadence in synch with the video—ranging from 80 rpm and up to super spins of 170 rpm. To change my routine, I occasionally watch a Chiefs game or a NASCAR race while spinning on my trainer. I use the commercial breaks as a signal to sprint with a cadence of 120 rpm’s for the duration of the break. As you can imagine, riding nowhere fast in your basement for two or three hours can be very boring. My hope is that long rides on the trainer help build mental toughness to increase my concentration for the six-hour solo rides during training for the Ironman. If my cycling computer is the equivalent to an automobile’s tachometer on my bike, the heart rate monitor is my body’s tachometer. I wear my heart rate monitor (HRM) whenever I run or cycle. The HRM sensor straps around my chest and sends a heart rate measurement, in heartbeats per minute, to a watch-like wireless receiver on my wrist. The wrist unit is programmed with my personal heart rate “zones.” For the purpose of Ironman training or marathon training, my goal is to keep my heart rate in my aerobic zone between 131 and 150 beats-per-minute. The aerobic zone is the sweet spot for my training, and for the Ironman. Any effort below my aerobic zone is not properly training my heart and lungs for the effort that I will need for race day. Efforts above the aerobic zone put my body in anaerobic mode and create lactic acid production. The anaerobic zone is used by an athlete for relatively short bursts of speed or to overcome steep hills in quick time. However, the lactic acid produced while you are anaerobic eventually collects in your body and makes your legs feel very heavy and slow. It has been written that one minute of anaerobic effort on the bike will cost you ten minutes on the run. Therefore I wear my HRM to keep my training primarily in the aerobic zone, and occasionally in the anaerobic zone to tackle hills on the bike and run. I wear the HRM on race day to help me gauge my efforts throughout the day. This helps me manage the nerves of race day and the adrenaline associated with side-by-side racing on the course. The HRM reminds me to “race my race” even as others might be passing early in the day. The HRM reminds me of my strategy to go out conservative and set-up a strong finish. The HRM sends an audible series of beeps when I stray from my designated range that represents my desired zone. I can review the HRM to explore the duration I spent in, above and below my target zone. Often, my workouts are designed around time-in-the-zone rather than specific speeds or distances. Much of my 35-week training program was designed to build an aerobic base that would allow me to participate in my Ironman peak training. Peak training for the Ironman begins about seven weeks before race day and winds down into a taper about three weeks before race day. The peak portion of my training was designed to provide only a glimpse into race-day effort and duration. For swimming, I continued my open-water intervals at Shawnee Mission Park and extended my efforts to include two six-lap sessions with only one minute of rest which brought my swim workout to just over two miles. For cycling and running peak training, I combined my workouts into “brick” sessions that require six to eight hours and help the body become accustomed to the difficult transition from spinning a bike to running the marathon. Brick sessions begin early in the morning with a bike ride for up to six hours with a maximum of one stop to refill food and drink. I covered up to 100 miles on these rides that started in my driveway, looped through Lawrence, Kansas’ Clinton Lake and back to Olathe. My route offers many rolling hills and only two traffic lights. Following the six-hour ride, I hop off my bike and slip into my running shoes. Unless you have done this, you cannot appreciate the difficulty of transitioning from the bike to the run. Your legs have been spinning for hours, and now you are asking them to churn in another fashion. It’s a sensation that does not go away quickly. I try to extend my post-ride run for two hours. These run efforts are very difficult. You really learn how important it is to not “hammer” on the bike, but to maintain an efficient cadence that will better setup the run. I originally scheduled my peak training to take place on Fridays and Saturdays by utilizing Friday as a vacation day, thus preserving family time. However, my peak training coincided with my job change, which left me without an abundance vacation days. The result was both of my weekend days consumed with peak training. As you can imagine, this created extra stress around the Riess household. I assured my wife that my weekend absences were short-term and that I would return as a “normal” husband and father after the peak training. Peak training is a revealing time. You think about how far you have come, and you feel good about the accomplishment thus far. You think about how chilly mornings waiting for the pool to open for laps has turned into swimming continually for an hour at the warm lake. The boring hours spent stationed in front of the Spinervals video have turned into even more hours on the hot asphalt of Douglas County with a stiff headwind going both directions. Still, doubt enters the mind. My mind occasionally drifted to the upcoming morning of July 28 in Lake Placid. I wonder if I can actually swim a full 2.4-miles as 1900 other athletes compete for the same patch of water. I know I can ride 112-miles on my local course, but I think about the hills that are undoubtedly found in the mountains that hosted downhill skiing for two winter Olympics. I wonder how difficult it will be to run a marathon after spending at least seven hours earlier in the day completing the swim and bike. After three or four weeks of peak training, the athlete transitions into the taper period. Taper can also be nerve racking. It is certainly strange to greatly decrease your training volume for the three weeks prior to the event. I found myself feeling lazy and slothful during this time. However, the taper helps your body recover to maximum strength. Next section: Race day
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training
strategy was a blessing because, like me, he has a family and
understands that important priority. Kevin and I initially outlined
a 35-week training program based on my current abilities, my goals,
and my time constraints. Later, we discussed bike set-up,
nutrition, race preparation and even course specific recommendations
since Kevin had competed in Lake Placid previously. 
| Links: My Ironman Story
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