Weeks 25 & 26 of Ironman training – Lessons Learned

Weeks 25 and 26 of training brought me to my very first triathlon event.  I participated in an Olympic distance tri in my current city of Verona.  For those not familiar with, the Olympic distance is a .93 mile swim, a 25.5 mile bike and a 6.2 mile run.  I completed all disciplines without incident in a just under 3 hours and took away a few nuggets from the experience.  1) The swim doesn't bother me at all, I'm calm, fast, and relaxed in the water and the crowd.  Now I'm told this can change at any moment but I don't imagine a scenario where I really panic as I can always roll to my back and float in the buoyant wet-suit until I settle down.  2) I'm slow on the bike, I seem to make up for it on the up hills but on the straight-a-ways I'm getting passed by Ms. Daisy.  I let this get into my head a few too many times during the race.  3) I need to focus more during the transition.  I left the transition from the bike to the run still wearing my biking shorts.  Now this is fine for a short 6 mile run, but this could be problematic during the 26.2 mile run as the bike shorts have considerably more padding in them which makes running uncomfortable.  4)  I'm letting my competitive nature get the best of me and I start racing the event.  This is bad, very bad as the full Ironman (the first time around) is not about racing against others or for a particular time, it's about finishing the race in the allotted 17 hours.  It doesn't matter if you come in 2,500 out of 2,500 so long as it's by 16:59:59.  If I don't come to terms with this I could have a disastrous day on September 7th risking going out way too hard and bonking at some point during the event.  I have one more practice event to get my pace under control at the half Ironman in Racine on July 20th.  This will truly be a dress rehearsal for the big day in September.  I want to have the correct pace to easily make the finish line feeling like I could continue going if necessary.

I guess you should do as I say and not as I do in your own training, even if you're not targeting any events to demonstrate your fitness.  There are lessons to be learned from each workout you do, in the form of what clothes to wear, how far to go, whether or not to pack toilet paper, what you should eat before/during/after, etc.  Store these little nuggets away and don't let anyone tell you differently about what you've learned personally about your body.  You will, over time and given enough opportunities, become an expert in what it takes to get you to your goals.  Keep after it!