Toby's Ironman-In-Training Blog

This past Saturday Elizabeth and I ran in the Kentucky Derby Festival Mini-Marathon. I originally wasn’t going to run in this race but she and a couple other friends had signed up for it so I thought it would be fun to join them. I’m really glad that I did it, not only because I finished with a time I was rather happy with (1:54:15), but also because I think it’s important to get a few smaller races under my belt before the Ironman in August.

This race had about ten times more participants than the Louisville Marathon last fall, when I ran the full 26.2 mile distance. Unlike then, there wasn’t really any time during this race when I was essentially running by myself. Figuring out how to run in a crowd and still keep your pace is something you just can’t really practice before race day. In fact early on in this race I found myself mindlessly running with the pack, when I looked down at my watch and realized I had been running about a minute per mile too slow on my pace for quite a while.

Like in the full marathon last year, I think I ran a bit too slowly in the beginning on this one. I suppose that’s better than running too quickly at first, which apparently quite a few people do (at least those who are near my pace), because I passed a lot of people again in the last few miles this time. But unlike the smaller race, even during the last mile I was still running in a large enough group that I had to consciously navigate through them.

Because the race finished downtown, the turns were essentially at right angles and a couple times I tried to take the inside corner only to find myself bunched up in a tight group and had to slow down. In hindsight, I should have swung a bit wider and given myself more room.

There are a few other little things I learned, such as remembering to use foot powder and/or BodyGlide on my feet if there’s a chance of rain (my socks got wet and I ended up with a blister on one foot), making sure that the music player on my phone is ready to go before the race starts (I listen to PodRunner 180 bpm tracks to help keep my running cadence steady), and listening to my body if it’s telling me I need to hit the port-a-john one more time before the race (I had to run to the treeline about 30 minutes in).

If I had corrected all these little things during the Mini and not run with the pack for the first few miles, I’m pretty sure I could have gotten my time under 1:50. But I’m still really happy with my time, and I’m glad I learned some of these lessons now instead of during a longer race. But above all, it was a fun experience, and even though a larger race means bigger packs, it also means a lot more spectators cheering you on which can really help towards the end.

So what this has taught me is that I need to work in a few more races this year before heading into the Ironman, especially since I haven’t actually run any triathlons yet and need to get the same type of “race day experience”, especially in the transitions. Right now I’m thinking of signing up for either the Hoosierman Triathlon (sprint or olympic distance) and/or the Muncie Endurathon (sprint or half-Ironman distance). More on that later…

Miles ridden on bike today: 56.9

Average speed: 16.3 mph

Calories burned: 4446

Bugs accidentally swallowed: about 7

I decided this weekend that I needed to get serious about fully committing to my training, especially now that the weather is so nice. Since my free time during the week varies, weekends are the time when I can do my weekly long-distance training. So rather than plan other things during my weekend and then fit my training in where I can, I decided I need to flip it around and put my training first.

Elizabeth and I are competing in the Kentucky Derby Festival Mini-Marathon in two weeks so on Saturday I wanted to confirm my “race pace”, since next week I’ll be in the taper period (a period of time before a race where you give your body a bit of rest from heavy training; usually a week or two for a mini). I ran the 13.1 miles right at 2 hours, which is actually a little slower than I was hoping, but I felt pretty good afterwards so I’m pretty sure I could have started pushing harder even earlier. So I’m still gonna shoot for 1:50 on race day.

Then today (Sunday) was bike day. It may seem a bit much to have a long bike day on the day after a long run, but biking uses leg muscles differently than running and can actually speed up recovery from a long run. Last year when I was training for the marathon, at first my legs would hurt for days after running over 20 miles. Then I read that biking the day after a long run can help the muscles heal, and found that it certainly did in my case.

I have a “home field advantage” in training for the Louisville Ironman because the start of the bike course is only about 20 minutes from my house. My coworker Steve, who is an avid bicyclist and whose brain I was picking for bike-riding tips a while back, told me “once summer gets here you won’t be able to throw a stick on that road without hitting a triathlete training.” Even this early in the year, there are quite a few other bicyclists on the road.

The bike course begins at Waterfront Park and then takes River Road out to where it heads up a steep hill and meets with Highway 42. The traffic isn’t too bad on weekend mornings, but there are some really steep hills (see the elevation guide) that had me rather worried the first time I saw them. Going up them is obviously no fun, but going down them is still rather terrifying for me. Racing bike wheels are so skinny that I’m still getting used to just being able to ride in a straight line, so as I’m flying downhill at over 30mph with my front wheel wobbling the whole way I have visions of hitting a small rock and launching into the air. I’ve heard that it gets easier though.

I biked about 40 miles on the Ironman course this morning and then rode for another 16 or so in the evening. I’ve been delighted to find numerous long, smooth, varied (hilly/flat, straight/curvy) roads near my house that I never knew existed. There is a little town called Utica near me that sits on the Ohio River and it has some great roads along or near the river which are mostly shady and have very little traffic and no stoplights. I had been worried that I would have to go to one of the large parks in Louisville in the evenings to get some quality bike time but I can easily put in 20 miles or more in and around Utica and eastern Jeffersonville.

I’m also really happy to discover how great I feel after riding almost 60 miles. It’s nothing like running for four hours straight where my body feels like it was worked over with a pipe and my legs are so sore I can barely walk. I had a moment of despair a couple weeks ago when I started thinking about how long 112 miles on a bike really is, but now it’s feeling much more manageable.

I’ve always been something of a runner. I never really played in organized sports, so running just seemed like a good, low-barrier way to get some exercise. I enjoy getting out on the road with just my thoughts, or putting in a few miles on the treadmill at the gym.

I had never given much thought to participating in any organized event, until one day a couple years ago when I was flipping through Google Reader and came across this post at one of my favorite sites, LifeHacker.com. It linked to another blog post titled “By the time you finish watching this video, you’ll want to run a marathon“. Well, they were right. After watching the author’s five-minute slideshow where he discussed his experiences training for an finishing the San Francisco Marathon, I knew that I had to run a marathon too.

Long story short, I signed up for the 2009 Louisville Marathon and spent the next year or so training for it. After a minor setback (I sprained my ankle pretty badly while working in the yard), I finished the 26.2 mile run in 4:16:49, or 9:48 per mile. Nothing to brag about, but not bad for a first-timer either.

I was hooked. I loved everything about the marathon experience. I loved pushing myself to new limits and accomplishing my goal. I loved being in the best shape of my life, and dropping 35 pounds without changing my diet much. I loved the camaraderie of the race and being surrounded by other fit, motivated people, while at the same time knowing that the accomplishment was all mine. And yes, I’ll admit that my ego loved the admiration of others who couldn’t imagine running a tenth of that distance.

A couple months before the race, the Louisville Ironman Triathlon was held and as I read about what it entailed (2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike ride, then a full 26.2-mile marathon), I marveled at the thought of pushing my body to its limits not just for a few hours, but all day long. I told myself that if I finished the marathon, I would spend the next year continuing my training and then decide whether to enter the Ironman in 2011.

But I couldn’t wait that long. The physical, mental, and emotional high from the race was still too fresh in my memory and I told myself that I could finish an Ironman after training not two years, but one. So I signed up for the 2010 Louisville Ironman to be held August 29.

Since then, I’ve been training and reading as much as time allows. While there’s plenty of information available, I haven’t found a lot of in-depth, first-hand experiences of what it’s like for a novice to reach up to this goal. And as I began telling others about my training, I’ve found that a lot of them have become interested in following my progress. So I decided to start blogging about my experience. Since I’ve already been preparing for several months, I’ll spend the first few posts talking about what I’ve been doing since last fall to get ready.

I’d love to hear from anyone else who is training for this race, especially those who also live in the Louisville area. Hope I’ll see you at the finish line!