The IRONMAN marathon is as much a war of attrition as it is a race. Nobody cares what your 5K PB is when you’re on the run course of an IRONMAN, this is a completely different kind of event, which needs to be approached very differently.
Here are my top 10 tips from a decade of coaching IRONMAN athletes.
Don’t run a marathon as a warm up in training
Not only will this create a lot of fatigue, it also doesn’t replicate the IRONMAN marathon very well at all. Going hard on fresh legs is very different to dragging yourself round the course, trying your best not to walk.
Many like the idea of the confidence a marathon in training would give them ahead of the IRONMAN, but it is incredibly disruptive to your training. To be able to train for a marathon we probably need to be running three times a week at a minimum.
You’re a triathlete, you’re competitive, so you’re going to want to put in a good time. As a result, you won’t want to put in the minimum, you’ll want to run closer to four, maybe five times a week. This results in your swimming and cycling being neglected.
All these long runs will leave you tired and sore for days, as well as increasing the risk of injury. Very few elite athletes will run 42.2KM as a warmup to the IRONMAN marathon.
Nothing can prepare you for the IRONMAN marathon
When I help athletes prepare for a 70.3, I will do a race simulation with them. 1900M swim, 90KM bike and a 10KM run. This acts as a massive wake up call for many athletes, as they realise just how long the day is, and how rough they’ll feel on the run.
For IRONMNAN training, this is a terrible idea, and would create far too much fatigue. There is no way of knowing how you’ll feel coming off of that bike and onto the IRONMAN marathon without experiencing it yourself.
As soon as you take your first step onto the IRONMAN marathon course as a first timer, you are taking a huge step into the unknown. Keep your expectations in check as a result.
Don’t set yourself a target for your first race
The soundtrack of an IRONMAN marathon is the chirping of Garmin watches telling people they are running below their target pace. Athletes have a target pace they set and hope to hold over the marathon.
Unfortunately, in the vast majority of cases this is a bad idea. We going to be fatigued at the start, and what felt achievable on our long runs in training may well feel unattainable on the race course.
Having a reminder that you are running too slow isn’t good for morale, and having to disable the alert is going to feel like a failure. Even if you don’t set an alert on your Garmin, if you go into the race with a pace target you fail to achieve, this is going to put you in a dark place.
Even hoping to run every step of the IRONMAN marathon could be an ambitious target for the first timer.
You will experience a rollercoaster of emotion
Dismounting the bike is a massive relief for most. Even if the run is your least favourite discipline, you feel much closer to the finish. The first few kilometres should hopefully feel quite good as your body adjusts, but this is the start of a very long run.
You will most likely pass the finish line several times before being able to cross it, you might see the sun set, you’ll likely have nutrition issues, and the periods of running through the finish line complex will contrast starkly with long, isolated stretches.
The first lap will feel good, the second lap tougher, the third lap likely horrible, and the fourth lap jubilant as you realise you’re actually going to do it.
Try to keep your chin up when things get tough, and don’t let the dark thoughts take hold in the inevitable dark patches.
Focus less on the length of your long run in training
It’s natural for athletes to want to get in some nice long runs ahead of an IRONMAN marathon. Unfortunately, these come with a lot of fatigue, and high risk of injury if not executed in a mindful fashion.
The value of a long run over 2.5 hours in IRONMAN training is questionable. Many pros don’t run over the 25KM mark in training. What is more important is the weekly volume and consistency in training.
If we have a three hour long run on the weekend, we won’t be doing of a long ride, and our volume within the week itself, and the week after will be lower due to this long run.
Alternatively, we could have a two hour long run, with a good length long ride, and lots of shorter runs dotted within the week. Given the choice between a two hour long run and five hours of total running in a week, or four hours of total running, three hours of which is in a single week, I’d take the first option every time.
Consistency is king, as is total weekly volume. The length of your longest run is a bit of a vanity metric in IRONMAN training.
Include strength training in your IRONMAN marathon prep
Nothing will derail your performance more than injury. We can’t afford weeks spent with your feet up due to a dodgy achilles or painful knee.
Most injuries are caused by tight or weak muscles. By addressing these imbalances we can vastly reduce (but never eliminate) the risk of injury.
Being stronger will also improve our efficiency as we bond from stride to stride in a controlled manner, rather than twisting around or shuffling along while bent double. Embrace the unknown and uncomfortable by incorporating it in your training. Check out my fully comprehensive Introduction to Strength Training for Triathletes programme if you need help getting started for free.
Make a sensible shoe choice
For your first IRONMAN marathon, supershoes are probably overkill. At a stage in your athletic development where trying not to walk is the main objective, you will not be getting the most out of your carbon plated shoes. they could end up being an expensive white elephant.
Instead, focus on shoes which are comfortable and you know can get you through the 42.2KM in relative comfort.
Lean on the special needs bags
Making sure you have the right nutrition is critical. We want the limiting factor on race day to be your legs, not your stomach. If we can’t run because of nausea, or we spend more time sat on the toilet than running, then all of our hard training is going up in smoke.
There is only so far that energy gels and sugary drinks will get us. This is all well and good if we are getting round in ten hours, but if we’re into hour fifteen, we’re most likely going to be gagging for something savoury.
At the end of your next big day of training, ask yourself what it is that you’re craving the most. Is it a sausage roll? Bacon butty? Some starchy carbs? A greasy pizza? Whatever your body is craving, you need to listen to and respect that. Making sure you have something that vaguely resembles this food in your special needs bag for emergency use on the run course is a no brainer for me.
In one of my podcast episodes, an athlete of mine discusses how his race was saved by a sausage roll he stashed in his special needs bag.
Train with the on course IRONMAN marathon nutrition
Whatever nutrition is available on course, you need to practice training with it. If you don’t get on with it at all, you need to know this well in advance of race day. This gives you time to create an alternate strategy with products you know works for you.
The ideal situation is using on course products, but this may not be feasible. What you don’t want to do is wait until race day to find out that the gels they give our make you blow chunks, and have limited other options available to you.
Go slower on the bike
When we get off the bike, we’re going to be fatigued. There is no way of getting around that. However, we want to hop off the bike and start running with tired legs. Not lie there on the floor of transition 2 in tears at the thought of running a marathon.
Many athletes who have a disappointing IRONMAN marathon will put it down to poor run fitness and bump up their run training ahead of their next race. However, the solution will likely be cycling slower.
This can be especially difficult for strong cyclists who want to extend their advantage on the bike. But we need to look at the race as a whole. Being able to tell someone you rode the 180KM in 5:30 is nice, but telling them you finished in under ten hours is far more impressive.
The fastest IRONMAN athletes want to ride as fast as they can for the lowest effort possible, rather than the highest power possible. If they can optimise aerodynamics, handling and pacing, they could well ride at the same speed, or even faster than someone putting out 10-20W higher than them. They will however have notably fresher legs for the run.
Conclusion
A fast IRONMAN marathon is the holy grail of triathlon, and it will likely take several attempts for you to nail it.
The best thing you can do for your IRONMAN marathon is to work with a coach. Check out my bespoke coaching here if you want to supercharge your performance.
