How to be an Ironman and Have Your Wife and Kids Still Love You

Incorporate kids into your training.

For example, the week before the Pilgrim Challenge I found a way to take my daughter (age 5) along for my runs. Disclaimer: DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME!! I tied a scarf around my wrist and the other end to her scooter and basically dragged her through the streets of London. She had a blast, she was flying. Sure, she fell a few times but no harm done. The best part? Our chocolate cake break!  

My son (age 9) is old enough to accompany me on his bike. We've done up to 21 miles this way, me running and him cycling behind. As long as I keep him carb-ed up, he doesn't want to stop. 

Don't forget the baby! i just finished 100 squats with the baby strapped to me in the baby carrier. He laughed the whole way through, thinking it was some sort of game, while I did my parental duty and took care of the little one for a bit. Not to mention the extra 12 lbs helped my workout. 

We also choose events that are in locations we want to holiday in. That way it's a win win. We plan the year in advance, choosing the destinations that appeal to us and dates that fit our calendar. 

My Diet (v .02)

What i've tried

  • Paleo
  • Vegan
  • 80/10/10
  • Gluten free
  • Slow carb

What it currently is:

  • Modified 80/10/10
  • 80% Fruits/Veggies/Rice/Potaties
  • 10% Organic Meat/Nuts
  • 10% Happy food (Ben & Jerry's, chocolate cheese burgers, etc)

Typical day:

  • Green smoothie breakfast
  • Green & fruit salad for lunch
  • Green salad for dinner
  • + Fish on Saturday
  • + Red meat on Sunday

Advice for those doing their first Ironman 70.3 (v.01)

This is based on my experience. Do you own due diligence: 

Things to keep in mind (in no particular order):

  • Bricks(bike and run) are important
  • Spend lots of time on the bike 
  • Do allot of low intensity volume
  • Do as much volume as your diary permit, but grow the volume gradually
  • never increase volume more that 1.17 
  • Learn proper swim technique. I used total immersion swimming. Many of those who swim fast hate this approach. This worked for me. I was scared of the water and this technique worked well for me
  • Schedule an olympic distance ahead of the race so you can learn what works and what doesn't for you and to get over your fear of the open water
  • dont focus on time during your first ironman. Just get through it and get a base-line for future ones
  • join a club if you can
  • get a bike fit. makes a bike difference
  • lose weight if you can. being light matters in triathlon
  • find a Yoda someone to guide you
  • if you can do the each disciplines individually, you can do finish the ironman

Things not to worry about:

  • all the miscellaneous stuff that benefits the elite triathlete: Compression, obsession with gear, obsession with nutrition.  These are things that will come later
  • the swim. its probably what i spent the most time on and what was the easiest part of the race. the wet suit will keep you safe
  • other athletes during race day. race your race
  • power meters, turbo trainers, polar, garmin, aero bars, hoka, vibrams. that stuff comes later 

Zone 2 training...Going slower to go faster

Initial Brain Dump

  • First learned about it from reading rich rolls book
  • Blood lactate threshold test
  • My zones (put in picture here)
  • Done in Strictly Bikes by Mike Sherry
  • The idea is to build your diesel engine
  • (Put in Chris's email here)
  • Link to Rich Roll pod cast with Chris Hauth
  • Link to Ben Greenfield pod cast with Rich Roll
  • Mitocrondrial density
  • 80% of training should be done in Zone 2
  • Trains your aerobic system
  • Burns fat for energy very efficiently
  • Will most likely start with you doing what will feel like very very slow workouts
  • Most people train in their race pace(zone 3). This will result in marginal gains
  • Resist the urge to push your self.
  • I listen to audio books as a way to calm the urge to go fast
  • I have listened to many many audio books and podcasts
  • Pairs well with periodization
  • Some times you need to go slow to go fast
  • You get very lean doing this
  • Your body gets very efficient at burning fat for energy but also gets efficient at storing fat
  • This approach pairs very well with periodization.
  • You do your growing when you are resting, so after a block of 3 weeks of increasing volume decrease the volume to recovery.
  • Very very time consuming compared to others approaches
  • Results in less injury.
  • When running you should be able to speak to someone
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Ultraman UK DNF - The art of giving up (v.01)

  • -10km swim 260*1.6 km bike 85km run
  • registered when i was in egypt
  • 1000k
  • -obsessed over bike...the thing that destroyed me
  • ruined ramadan
  • midnight runs with/mocha & hamy
  • drunk peope making fun of us while running
  • chris hauth...the tough truth
  • not trained for failure
  • the art of giving up
  • the bike the bike the bike
  • ignoring advice, chris, shelby, the internet
  • turbo doesnt count
  • half the training planned
  • its not about the swim, its about the bike
  • trained in UK, US, 
  • bear mountain
  • tt bike
  • chris advice: stay comfortable, dont use tt bike
  • escaped in shame...still ashamed now