You may have seen your colleagues, friends and family talking about or training for one and found yourself asking the question, what is an IRONMAN? It’s not just a Marvel superhero, let’s put it that way.
In the abstract sense it is the ultimate one day test of physical fitness. Completing one is the kind of achievement that will earn you instant respect from strangers, training for one will push you to your limit, and crossing that finish line will change who you are as a person.
In the physical sense, an IRONMAN is the longest conventional triathlon distance.
What are the components of an IRONMAN?
It starts with a 2.8KM (2.4 mile) swim in open water. That’s the sea, a lake, bay or river. Most competitors will wear wetsuits to protect them against the cold water. You are surrounded by thousands of other competitors and their thrashing limbs. There are no walls to hold onto or push off of and no black line to follow, this is a true test of swimming fitness. You have two hours and twenty minutes to finish the swim.
Once you are out of the water, you head to the transition area. Here you will change into your cycle gear and prepare for the next leg. This is a 112 mile (180KM) cycle ride that will push you to your limits.
This isn’t a family bike ride on a sunny August day. This is a challenge which takes the world’s fittest athletes four hours, with the average finishing time somewhere around the seven hour mark, depending on the event. There will be hills, and the worst of what the weather can throw at you. This may be blistering heat, driving rain, crippling headwinds, or maybe a mixture of the three. You need to finish the bike ten hours and thirty minutes after you start the swim.
Finally, we have the run. How long are you expected to run after swimming 3.8KM and cycling for 180KM? 42.2KM to be exact, or 26.2 miles. Yes, that’s a marathon. Just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse, you need to knock out a casual marathon. Remember when a marathon used to be the ultimate challenge? Well, IRONMAN would like to have a word.
You have 17 hours after the start of your swim to cross the finish line on that famous red carpet.
It’s the challenge of a life time, but when you cross that finish line, you will feel ten foot tall.
How do you train for an IRONMAN?
With lots of volume in your training. We’re not knocking out 30 minute runs a few times a week. We’re probably training six days a week for a total of around 12 hours or more as we get close to race day.
In the swim we will need to learn to refine our technique to become as efficient as possible. We will have hard intervals, sprints, technical drills, paddle work and long, steady intervals. We also need to train in open water wearing our wetsuit to get acclimatised to swimming out of our depth in cold water.
On the bike we will be putting in lots of long, steady riding. We’re training for 180KM, not to show off to our classmates by sprinting up a hill. This doesn’t mean there will be no hard intervals, I set athletes I coach punishing workouts that push them to their limit, but this is not every session. We not only need to build the fitness in our legs and our lungs, we also need to train our backside to spend several hours in the saddle, learn how to fix basic mechanical problems and develop the bike handling skills to make it round the course without crashing.
For the run we are focused on one thing, pushing out the duration of our long run without getting injured. The IRONMAN marathon is not pretty, it is a war of attrition. Nobody cares about your 5K time if you are walking after only 10KM of the run. Yes we will include speed work, but the focus is on long distance.
More than just swim, bike and run
While the even itself is all about swimming, cycling and running, we also need to focus on other areas of our life.
We need to eat well to fuel our training with good nutrition to give us the energy we need. To keep injuries at bay, we need to include strength training once or twice a week. We also need to develop the mindset it takes to commit to our training and line up on the start line.
It’s not for everyone
Most people will not have read this far. They will have read the first few paragraphs and run away. 99% of people will never even consider a challenge like this. They will choose to go back to their life of comfortable routine, predictability and scrolling social media. You may be one of the 1% who could complete this challenge.
If I have piqued your interest, check out my free training guide here. It includes over 100 training tips and gives you an insight into what it takes to achieve this challenge of a lifetime.
As a professional triathlon coach with a decade of experience, I have helped hundreds of athletes complete their first IRONMAN event, some coming from very little experience in any of the three sports. Check out my coaching programmes here or book a free, no obligation discovery call with me here.
