| Critical Success Factors for a Great Ironman
by Cherie Gruenfeld
Ironman is a day of crisis management . But don't let that scare you because you can be prepared. That preparation will allow you to avoid a potential crisis or, if it should happen, to handle it and move on.
Training and racing successfully can appear complicated. We have a wide variety of publications dedicated to providing tips on how to do it. There are plenty of coaches available to guide the process and advice from someone who's just completed his or her first Ironman is usually plentiful. From my experience over the years, I've tried to uncomplicate it just a bit and have narrowed it down to the following six Critical Success Factors for a great Ironman venture. In no particular order of importance:
• If you eat and drink enough, you can do anything
Although the drop-out rate in an Ironman is extremely low (You worked too hard to get there and are not about to drop out), those who do get forced out often blame it on their nutrition — didn't get enough or couldn't keep it down. You must have a nutrition plan and execute it just as judiciously as you manage your pace. Eat early and often, keeping the fuel tanks topped off. It takes training to get your belly used to this so that's when you experiment to find the right fuel and teach your gut to handle the level of intake that's going to be required on race day.
What you eat is a very individual matter. A case in point is veteran Ironman Sue Osborn, who held the F30-34 record in Kona for a whopping thirteen years. The night before the race, she'd go to Wendy's for a big, greasy cheeseburger which she put in her special needs bag the following morning. At the halfway point on the bike, she'd eat her cheeseburger and fly through the rest of the race. Her rationale was simple: On her long training rides, there was a Wendy's at the halfway point. She got used to scarfing down a cheeseburger in training, so that's what she did - quite successfully - on race day.
I'm not advocating following Sue's choice of nutrition, but you can hardly refute the wisdom of using on race day what worked for you in training.
• Efficiency Will Save the Day
You have a very long day ahead of you and a finite amount of energy to power you through it. The key to avoiding a crisis is to dole out your energy very carefully, saving some for the end when it's most needed. What will allow you to do that is focusing on being efficient, and you'll need to work on this during training so that it's "burned in" on race day.
Maintaining good technique is the surest way to use energy efficiently, so you need to continually focus on that. However, few of us are able to maintain that level of concentration for the duration of an Ironman or even a long training session. But we can learn to focus frequently for shorter periods.
Swim: long strokes; head down; stretch and roll
Bike: smooth pedal turnover; steady cadence; relaxed upper body
Run: chin up; shoulders down; relaxed swing of arms at your sides rather than crossing the body; relaxed fists; quick, light steps; cadence of around 90
Every so often (you'll learn to do it automatically through training) go through your check-list. Doing this throughout the long day should help you to keep good technique and thereby use the least amount of energy. • Mental Toughness
An Ironman race, for most people, is half physical and the other half mental, but from about mile 18 of the run to the finish, it's 100% mental for everyone. Therefore, doesn't it make sense that mental toughness training and a race day mental strategy be part of the plan?
In training, doing your long bike and run workouts solo will make you stronger mentally. On race day, you're on your own when it comes to getting through the bad patches and staying positive. Better to make this something you've experienced and managed in training rather than dealing with it for the first time on race day. While out there training on your own, if you have the choice of a headwind or tailwind, flat or hilly, easy or tough, backing off when it gets hard or powering through it, always make the decision for the tougher alternative. You'll get a better physical workout and you'll come home mentally stronger.
On race day, staying in the moment is a good strategy. Looking at the long journey ahead when you stand at the water's edge is enough to intimidate even the toughest athlete. Look only at where you are and what you have to do right now . You will have, pre-race, broken down the bike and run courses into smaller, more manageable pieces, which makes them easier. Go to work on the immediate task at hand and when you finish, regardless of how fast or slow you covered it, put it behind you and move on, thinking only of where you are and what you have to do to get through the next piece.
• Do the Race You're Prepared For
By the time race day comes around, you'll know from the training what you're prepared to do and how you'll do it. The only unknown should be the conditions, and part of your race day planning should be to play through in your mind the adjustments you'll make if weather becomes an issue.
Set three goals (swim, bike, run) based on your training, experience, the course and expected conditions. Work on these goals as three separate events, never adjusting one because of what's occurred in the previous event. Make race day just another long training day — you've done it dozens of times before. This is a key approach in avoiding a race day crisis.
• It's All About the Run
An Ironman race includes three disciplines and it's not over until you accomplish the 26.2 mile marathon. No awards are given for having a swim or bike PR on that day. And having a good run starts during the 114.4 miles in the water and on the bike, before you put on your running shoes. Pace yourself and execute a good nutrition plan in preparation for the run and, instead of finding yourself explaining why your run time exceeded your bike time, you'll be accepting hearty Congratulations on a great IM race.
• Believe You Can Do It – With All Your Heart
When preparing for our first IM, each of us has said, aloud or to ourselves, "I know I can swim 2.4 miles and bike 112 miles and run 26.2 miles. But can I do all three together?" If you've had a well-designed training program, the answer is: Yes, you can. A good training program is designed to get you to the finish line and carries with it a subtle but important message: If you can do the training, you can do the race. So if you do the training, be confident that you can do the race.
Remember: Whether you believe you can or whether you believe you can't…you're always right.
By Cherie Gruenfeld multiple time Ironman Age group champion
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