Iron Man training begins now

When it comes to my current job in the Foreign Service, I'm enjoying more freedom than I have in years. I still work full-time, but I don't have to commute to anywhere but my downstairs office, and I don't start at 8 AM. Because I'm working on a DETO and I'm in a different time zone from DC, my supervisor prefers I start at 10 AM so our hours have some overlap. 

The beauty of this, I soon realized, is that I have a nice chunk of time in the morning to work out. As it happens, the morning is the best time to do any kind of outside activity in The Gambia, where I live, because it's hot year-round. Over the past five months, I've been determined to make the most of this precious newfound time of mine.

Iron Man?!

Is that sufficient to explain my sudden desire to complete an Iron Man? Or does it still sound like an insane idea? An Iron Man is a grueling triathlon that most people would probably only attempt if you gave them a million dollars. Given the distances involved (3.8 KM swim, 180 KM bike ride, 42 KM run), I never thought it was something I could possibly do.

That feeling changed recently. I'm pretty sure it happened the exact moment I crossed the Ultra X finish line last month after completing a 110 KM race through the hills of north Rwanda. I can't explain it any other way. The logic is: if I can run for two days, for a total of 17:42 hours, without feeling particularly tired, then my limit is not where I thought it was. I don't know where it is. Let's find out!

Half Iron Man

To start, I'll try to do a (half) Iron Man 70.3 event in August. I figured I should probably try a triathlon at least once before I enter a full Iron Man competition. I feel pretty confident about running, but I definitely need more experience swimming in open water and biking for hours on end, and learn how to fuel, manage transitions, and figure out what kind of bike to get.

I signed up for a 'beginner friendly' half Iron Man in Duisburg, Germany, which should do the trick of preparing me for--or turning me off—the full Iron Man I hope to complete in December. I'm cautiously optimistic that if I start training now, I'll be able to finish the half distance comfortably within the time limits. Maybe that sounds cocky, but I have my reasons.

One race, three sports

First of all, I have a decent base in all three sports—swimming, biking, and running. Unlike many people, I don't "hate" swimming. I love being in the water. My freestyle technique needs some work, as I was told in no uncertain terms by a friend who is also swim coach, but that doesn't worry me. I can learn. If I swim at my current pace, poor technique and all, I theoretically still make it within the cut-off time of 70 minutes. That means any gains I will hopefully make during training will be bonus!

When it comes to biking and running, I feel like it's just a matter of doing it. I've been biking on a daily basis since I was five years old. To be fair, I rarely bike long distances and I've never been on a modern race bike before (I ride a vintage Gazelle I got from my dad), but there's still plenty of time to practice that. Running is the least of my concern, because I ran three marathons last year and an ultra last month. Though I'm sure running a marathon after ten hours of exertion will be tough! 

The Plan

The plan is simple: for the next two months, I'll focus on working the (half) Iron Man training plan into my daily life. I'll start going to the pool regularly, bike more, and run a little less than I'm used to. I'll measure the pool, program my Garmin, and hook up my bike trainer. Next, I'll start a proper 16-week training plan to prepare me for Iron Man 70.3 (half). And if that goes well... what's gonna stop me from doing an actual, full Iron Man by the end of the year?!