Credit where credit is due for my Ironman Triathlon Training Diary

I realized this afternoon that now that this is online I should give some credit for some sites that I have looked at that have given me good training advice as well as some motivation while doing my Ironman Triathlon Training Diary.

The first site is pseudo where I am trying to mirror my daily trainings to. I found one of their Ironman Triathlon Training week by week guides very useful so I've been trying to follow at least what to do on each day. The site is http://www.beginnertriathlete.com after navigating through it a while you can find FREE, yes free, training exercise for any length or triathlon you want to compete in and you can select from a variety of lengths at which to get you to your accomplishments. While I've found the swimming to be spot on as to increasing my distance per time swimming as well as the variety of workouts suggested on each day, so far I've found the running and cycling to be off in opposite directions.

I'm no where near an experienced cyclist in fact I just got my first bike since I was fourteen and its the first non-bmx bike I own. For Christmas my parents got me a the Trek 7.3 FX hybrid road bike , sweet present I know. So you can I've only been "cycling" for just over a month and a half before I decided to train for this Ironman and all of that was done indoors on a trainer because there has been snow on the ground since I got the bike. Now by no means do I think I can go out there and finish even the road portion of a full Ironman but some of the workouts so far seem really easy. The 30-45 minute workouts I only even begin to break a sweat towards the 30 minute mark and then most of the time its over. I've found in 22nd gear i can sustain a 65rpm pace for about an hour and a half fairly easily which works out to 25.5 miles (17 mph). I don't want to question their methods quite yet, as I'm sure many people that have written these Ironman Triathlon Training guides have competed in and maybe even won an Ironman, and I see that in a few weeks the training really picks up one day a week but still I've consistently been going over the time I'm supposed to because I want to feel like I really got a workout in.

On the other hand. I feel like I'm a pretty good runner, by no means would I consider myself and elite runner or even a distance runner, but I've been struggling with some of the runs. Most of the training I've seen for just a beginner marathon are not at this high of an intensity this early on. Now this might just be because of my competitive nature and my inability to run at a slower pace for long periods of time, this actually seems to put pressure on my knees so I find it more comfortable to run at a slightly higher pace, but most of the trainings seem to be based on time then miles. Again I feel at the slower pace not only am I getting little to no burn but even at the end of a 90 minute run I feel like I have plenty of energy to keep going. If I complete the same amount of miles in a shorter say 60 minute run at the end I feel tired and like I got a work out it. Again I don't want to question their methods but I think for my Ironman Triathlon Training program if I don't see the results I want, in a few weeks I may modify it.


Now the other web site, which I don't use for any training tips, that inspired me to chronicle my expereince is http://www.triathlon-ironman-myfirstironman-ironstruck.com/. It gave me a first hand experience of what he went through to prepare and then do his first Ironman. The thing I loved about reading his stories where they were real first hand accounts of what an amateur should expect from training for and doing an Ironman. On the other hand the thing I totally disagreed with was his stretching and swimming tips.

He basically tells you that he got no benefit from stretching before ANY workout so you DON'T need to do it. In everything I've learn through out my grade school, high school and collegiate experience as well as my own random pick-up game of any sport since then is that stretching is paramount before you do any exercise. I follow this so much that if I'm doing two exercises back to back in my training, swimming/biking, biking/running, or swimming/running I stretch in between each one. Anything I have ever read in my entire life has said that there are no downfalls to stretching, as long as you are doing it properly that is, and that not only will stretching prepare you for the workout you are about to do it can strength and maintain muscles while you are inactive as well as increase your flexibility and speed during activities.

Also his swimming tips are dead wrong. Well doing free-style will increase the distance you can swim, just doing free-style with out kick drills, pull drills, and other drills will only cement any bad habits that you have in your stroke and rather then learn to build those flaws into a proper stroke you will develop improper stroke technique and perhaps even hurt yourself in the long run because they can lead to muscle and joint problems. Well i might not have agreed with all the training tips of the other article this guy is just dead wrong about these two and to back up my swimming knowledge so you know I'm just not totally off base I was a competitive swimmer from the time I was 5-22yrs old. I was a certified lifeguard from 15 until now a certified lifeguard instructor for the last 6 years have held my WSI license for 8 years a swim coach on a USS team for 4 years and was an Aquatics director at a YMCA for 2 years. To say that I know how to swim and how to teach swimming would be an understatement.


As I find new sites that I get tips from I will add them to the list as I said I believe in giving credit where credit is due. I don't want you to think that I'm going out there blind with out reading up on what I'm getting myself into or seeking advice in an place I can. Ironman Triathlon Training is no joke you will be putting your body through tough workouts that will more then increase your heart rate if you have any health concerns please consult a Dr. In future blogs I will be talking about nutrition tips that I learn from different sites and will start experiment with both meals and in training nutrition. I had no idea until a few weeks ago that people eat, and are encouraged to do so, durring the Ironman events.